Week of March 6, 2017
Hello Shining Stars,
This week is Classified Employee Appreciation Week, celebrated each year to honor our classified employees. If you never realized it, there are far more classified staff in our building than any other employee group, which means our school could not function without these tremendous employees! Thank you for your dedication and tireless work here at El Camino del Río! We have an incredibly skilled and caring classified staff. You really are a talented group. Look for some goodies in your mailboxes this week as a small thank-you. This Friday, our certified staff will be hosting a special potluck in your honor so look forward to some yummy treats.
Our Superstar Classified Staff: 
Margarita Ascencio-Woodke
Maritza Chavez
Socorro Dominquez
Lilliana Forsman
Lupe Hernandez Ceja
Michelle Hoffman
Peggy Lima
B Loftis
Yasmin Marquez
Maria del Carmen McFadden
Yesica Meza
Dan O’Donnell
Heliane Pinto
Ingrid Quirke
Rita Reece
Antonio Salgado Nolasco
Michelle Williams
Craig Young
Peggy Vega
Pilar Zentz
Here are some items for the week:
• LEL Science Observations in our building this Wednesday! – Here is a draft of the observation schedule for LEL this upcoming Wednesday. Please take a look. I will adjust it to help teachers make it fit in your schedule. As I have stated before, the district expects us to change our schedule for one day to show science instruction in the morning. Please take a close look at the schedule to let me know if this will not work for your classroom. I will be happy to make adjustments.
•Professional Development on Tuesday, March 7 3:00-5:00 with Audrey and Edward– We will be focused on Chapters 8, 9, and 10 from Teaching for Biliteracy. The focus is deeply understanding “the Bridge.” Please preview the text before coming. Also, bring some materials from an upcoming unit you might want to experiment with for a biliteracy Bridge work.
• 2017-2018 Staffing Updates – Still no word on our ESC, or Classified SPED staffing, which are kind of holding up finalizing our staffing plan for next school year. The ELD staffing possibility is also up in the air depending on how Jeffry Johnson decides to staff ELD across the district. I may have some flexibility to allocate ELD in the building IF he allows it. The licensed classroom plan survey is out and I heard from most staff last week at PLT. However, the all the staffing plans are up in the air until we get the rest of our allocations from downtown
• District Safety Drill Trainings – At last week’s All Admin Meeting, principals were given information about a rollout plan for safety drill trainings for students. Principals will be trained and will then train teachers on how to teach evacuation and lockdown drills to students, incorporating ALICE tenants, although the student training will be nothing like what staff went through (it’ll be more like a tabletop discussion for students). I’ll have more details later, but in April there will be district communication going home with families about the safety drills. In May, teachers will do tabletop discussion exercises on these safety drills with students (not actually practicing the drills).
On a related note, principals also received a Care Team supply package (this is the district team who responds with on-site counselors if there is a tragedy, not North Region Student Care Team). The package is stored in the counseling office, though hopefully we’ll never need to use it.
• Buses and Student Dismissal – Please remember to be there for your colleagues in a timely manner to help dismiss students from the GYM. It is really important that we support each other as a team in this area. It is safer for kids and prevents students from making poor choices while waiting for the bus.
• 10-Day Notification for Bus Requests – If teachers need to request a bus for field trips, the Transportation Department requires at least 10 business days prior to the field trip in order to schedule a bus. This means you should plan ahead. Please get the field trip requests in far ahead of time to MariCarmen as we approach Spring Field Trip season.
• SBAC Practice Test Links – Here is a link is a link to the New OAKS SBAC Practice Test. Add it to your bookmarks and I will ask Peggy to add it to the learning links next week.
• Care Team Resources – Here are a few new resources we learned about at the February Student Care Team Meeting if you know of any families who can use these:
Family Preparedness Plan for Undocumented Families – Linked here is a Family Preparedness Plan for Undocumented Families created by the Oregon Law Center and LatinoNetwork. I attend this training on Friday with Alicia and Yasmin. We will have much more information for you on this soon.
SNAP Training & Employment Partnership (STEP) – STEP is for people receiving SNAP (food stamps) who need assistance with employment and/or training. DHS has contracted partners who can help with supports such as work related transportation, interview clothing, career advancement, training, budgeting, etc. The individual can contact any of the partners listed on the flyer. The back shows which partners may be able to help with what supports.
Collaborative Parenting Series – The Collaborative Parenting Series is a weekly group for parents and caregivers of children with challenging behaviors and/or mental health concerns.
• ACE Awards Nominations – In case you missed the Ace Awards nominations email, they are now accepting nominations for this school year. If you’d like to nominate any of your colleagues, either licensed, classified, or volunteers, follow this link to the Ace Awards website. Nominations are due the day before spring break, Friday, March 24th. I have no doubt that several of you deserve this award. Let me know if you need help nominating one of your colleagues.
Teaching and Learning with Emergent Bilinguals:
• 6 tips for better communication with parents – Empathy can help enrich communication with parents, educator Terri Eichholz writes in this blog post. She shares communication lessons for new teachers based on her 26 years of experience in the classroom, including being proactive, don’t take it personally, asking parents for advice, getting involved in the community, choosing your battles, and admitting when you’re wrong.
• Teaching For Biliteracy Blog –Shifting Toward a Multilingual View of Biliteracy-Building Background Knowledge and Oracy: Why, When, and How? Part 1 of 2 by Melody Wharton
The entry explores the idea of oracy and how important it is to teaching reading and language skills.- Take a look!
Calendar of Events
March 6 (M)
9:15-10:30, Priority Schools Tour with Mike Garling
Classified Employees Appreciation Week
3:00, TAG Support Meeting
March 7 (Tu)
8:30, Joel in Informal Observation
10:30, Fire Drill
3:00-5:00, 2 hour Staff Meeting with Edward Olivos and Audrey Lucero on Biliteracy, + discussion on Staffing Grade Level Configuration.
March 8 (W)–
School Choice Lottery Results Emailed to Parents
Science LEL B Visit
1:45-2:45, PLC Time, Please arrive on time to meet with your team. Focus: Assessment- Math/ Planning
March 9 (Th)
Joel at English Learners Alliance Conference- Tom Maloney covers.
3:00-3:45, Mod Squad Meeting
March 10 (F)
Friday Potluck for Classified Staff 11:00-1:00 PM
Joel at English Learners Alliance Conference- Tom Maloney covers.
Joel and Jennifer in attendance Support Meetings
March 12 (SU)
Daylight Savings Time – Spring Forward
March 13 (M)
12:00-12:30, Eugene Emeralds Assembly- In the Gym (Non-PE/ Music Day)
March 14 (Tu)
10:00- 10:30, Joel in Informal Observation
5:00-6:00, Site Council Meeting- Focus 2017-2018 Calendar, End of the year events for 17′, Final Staffing Decision Shared with parents and site council.
6:00-7:00, Parent Group Meeting- Focus: Fiesta
March 15 (W)
Staffing spreadsheets are due to Human Resources
9:00-11:00- Joel at construction meeting.
1:45-2:45, PLC Time, Please arrive on time to meet with your team. Focus: Assessment- Math
5:30-6:30, Kinder Orientation at El Camino del Rio
March 16 (Th)
2:00-2:40, Title 1 Survey Assembly in cafeteria.
3:00-4:00, Equity Team
March 17 (F)
St. Patrick’s Day- No pinching!
March 18 (SA)
9:00-11:00, OBOB Regional Competition (NEHS)
March 20 (M)
4:00-5:30, Joel to all admin meeting
March 21 (Tu)
8:15-11:15, Joel at Principal’s meeting
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting with a focus on Moving and Science Instruction
March 22 (W)
9:00- 11:00, Joel in construction meeting
1:45-2:45, PLC Time, Please arrive on time to meet with your team. Focus: Assessment- Math
March 23 (Th)
Joel potentially out all day for Equity, Instruction & Partnerships Manager Interviews
Cafecito with Parents- Needs to be rescheduled if there are interviews.
2:45-3:45, Mod Squad
March 24 (F)
Regular day before Spring Break- PLT will be rescheduled.
March 27-31– Spring Break
April 3 (M) No School, PD Day
April 4 (T)
8:15-11:30, Joel at Principal’s Meeting
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting
3:45-4:45, PLT Meeting
April 5 (W)
9:00-11:00, Joel at Construction Meeting
1:45-2:45, PLC Meetings Focus on Math Planning and Assessment
1:45-2:45, April PBIS Meeting
4:00-5:00, Joel at North Region Regional Meeting
April 6 (Th)
10:30, Fire Drill
April 7 (F)
8:15-10:15, Joel at LeadershipAttendance Support Meeting
10:30-11:00, Joel in attendance follow up meeting.
6:30-8:30, Movie Night
May 6 (Sa) SATURDAY- Fiesta Community Party 12:00-3:00
And thank you everyone who came out to help at Literacy Night! We had an amazing turnout of families and I think the night was a huge success! Thank you, everyone!
Joel
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