Diario Camino del Río

Week of September 25, 2017

Hello Shining Star Staff,

This was a very exciting week and it feels like we are beginning to get used to more things in our building.  I have noticed some new patterns that are good.  The greatest pattern I have noticed is a lot of student learning.  It is so thrilling to talk down the hall and see so many classrooms engaged.  Honestly, I love it.

Here are many items of note for the week: 

• Attendance Resource: 

  Justin Potts shared a very comprehensive attendance resource passed along by the National School Psych Association (NASP). Come see me if you want a copy. Also linked here is the National Center on Intensive Intervention tools charts (academic/behavioral resource). Our attendance awareness month will be in October and many strategies in this attachment will be used by our attendance team. Data team also is collecting chronic absence issues ongoing.

• Bus Safety Announcement:

   As required by OAR 581-53-002, all students in Eugene School District 4J are to receive instructions on bus safety during the first half of the 2017-2018 school year.  The intent of the rule is to reach the occasional riders who find themselves on a bus because of a field trip, activity trip, etc.  

Bus Safety Elem. 2017-2018 Instructions

Riding The Bus Safely – English

Riding The Bus Safely – Spanish

Above are instructions and information to use for this training.  The video link for this training is http://staff.4j.lane.edu/bus/BusTrainingVideo.html.  It can only be accessed through Google Chrome.  If this video link is not working for you , go to the 4J website, go to departments, go to Transportation, to the right side of your screen click on Bus Safety Video. I will submit that you have completed the training  before conferences in November 20. There will be a compliance form to sign on by the mailbox for classroom teachers to sign between now and then. Classroom teachers: It is your responsibility to show this video and inform me of completion.  Please fit it in your plans between now and conferences.

• Restraint and Seclusion Reminder: 

1. Contact the parent as soon as possible; schools must provide verbal or electronic notification of incident by end of school day
2. Complete required documentation and provide written documentation to the family
3. Within 48 hours, hold a debriefing meeting with administrator, staff members involved in the intervention, and invite the parent/guardian. Written notes must be taken and a copy of the written notes must be provided to a parent or guardian of the student, whether or not they are able to attend. 
4. If there have been 5 or more incidents of restraint and seclusion a team must convene  to revise the FBA/ BSP
5. Make sure that you are in communication with your SSD administrator and behavior consultant if interventions are not effective
6. If your school needs more training and assistance with conducting FBAs and BSPs, please register for the trainings offered this fall and/or reach out to your behavior consultant for coaching. Staff can register using this form.

If you have questions about what constitutes restraint please come to me so I can explain the nuances of this practice.

• LearnZillion update from Jaimee Massie:

Check it out! Online Practice for Grade 2-5 provides an additional experience for students. It can be found at the top of the blue bar next to the PD Library link.

• Trauma Informed Care Resources: 

  There are some excellent resources (articles, infographics and other) at the ECHO Parenting Website http://www.echoparenting.org. The site allows visitors to download materials at http://www.echoparenting.org/resources/  

• Safe Routes to Schools: 

  September is a great time for active transportation like walking and biking to school, whether it’s once a week or every day. Click here for more on why and how a child can walk or bike to school from 4J’s Safe Routes to School program. More questions? Contact Sarah Mazze. She is a parent at our school too!

• Family Preparedness Workshop Hosting:

  The district is  looking for four schools (one in each region) to sponsor a Family Preparedness Workshop for all of the schools in the region. If you wish to sponsor the event, provide the name of one or more people from your school who will work together with Karla Schmidt Murillo (from Community Navigator Organizer & Trainer). Together your school personnel and Karla will plan and organize the families and volunteers for the “talleres”/workshops. The office of Equity, Instruction and Partnerships will support the event by providing the binder and binder materials for each of the participating families. 

     Once they have locations and dates for the events in each region, we will send out a notification for schools to inform their families and community.

If you are interested in our school sponsoring a Family Preparedness event for your region, please contact Dra. Karen Pérez-Da Silva our district Equity, Instruction and Partnerships Administrator at perez_k@4J.lane.edu. By the way, she is a parent in our school too!  Are we awesome or what?

• 2017 Project Community Awards: A mini-grant program supporting youth education

Submission Deadline: October 15^th: Northwest Community Credit Union’s (NWCU) annual Project Community has awarded over $100,000 to educators in the communities we serve over the last two years and we are just getting started. We hope you’ll pass this funding opportunity on to teachers and administrators in your district.

     The goal of Project Community is to help educators create learning experiences for kids that might not otherwise be funded by school budgets. Educators submit their funding needs/wishes to NWCU through a competitive, submission process. From requests for classroom supplies, technology, and books to funding for projects, programs or field trips — Northwest Community would like to hear what you need to engage and serve your students. Submissions will be accepted now through October 15, 2017 with winners awarded in December. Learn more about this program and how to apply for this opportunity athttp://projectcommunity.nwcu.com or contact Kim Clark, NWCU Community Relations Coordinator, at KClark@nwcu.com or 541-744-9738.

• Be College Ready – Opportunity for Elementary Schools

     The Oregon 529 Savings Network launched the Be College Ready program as a pilot program in five school districts and was implemented in their elementary schools for the 2015-2016 school year. The simple goal of Be College Ready was to help young families learn the value of saving for higher education early in a child’s life using the Oregon College Savings Plan. With results showing an increase in Oregon College Savings Plan accounts among participating school districts and communities, we expanded Be College Ready from five school districts to 15 school districts for the 2016-2017 school year and saw similar results.

Based on the success of our Be College Ready pilot program these past two school years Be College Ready is now a statewide program for the 2017-2018 school year. The program is open to all public elementary schools, private elementary schools and homeschooled children of elementary school age across Oregon.

     Be College Ready was uniquely designed to be easy for elementary schools to incorporate. Here is how the program works:

• Participating schools will receive free homework folders, pencils and bookmarks for every student. When a school goes online to place their order they will be able to say how many English kits do they want and how many Spanish kits they want, as well as how many English brochures and Spanish brochures.
• 100 families (20 per each of the five congressional school districts) will be eligible to win a $100 Oregon College Savings Plan account.
• Schools will simply be asked to distribute information to parents and provide opportunities for parents and families to learn more about funding higher education expenses and how the Oregon College Savings Plan can help.

     Schools/school districts can visit www.becollegeready.net to order free supplies for their elementary school students. Elementary school supplies can be ordered directly by the elementary school.

     If you have any questions or concerns regarding Be College Ready and/or would be interested in having our staff come to your community to inform the public about Be College Ready and/or other programs please contact the Oregon 529 Savings Network Outreach Director John Valley at john.valley@ost.state.or.us or 503-432-1618.

• New Building Updates:

1. Blinds- That are being fixed this weekend. Hopefully they will be functioning properly on Monday.
2. AMX- Send all ongoing AMX  issues including your microphone to 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu.  Peggy or Misty will help you get this fixed.
3. Devices in each classroom.- We are still working with the technology department to get more laptops for 4th and 5th grade.  Let me know if there is any shortage in other rooms.
4. Recess transitions- Recess is improving with the kinder separation.  Please follow times closely so kids get a full 15 minutes of recess.
5. Tables in the cafeteria.  We are still working on getting more straight tables in the cafeteria.

• Wednesday Morning Assemblies–

We will be having green slip drawings every Wednesday in the morning assembly. All staff must be in the cafeterias by 8:10. Right now, the cafeteria is not going so well for assemblies. We need all teacher present to make it work better. Aline, Nancy, and David are working with me to come up with a better assembly arrangement in the mornings. Until we get the full set of straight tables,  we cannot arrange students for maximum attention in one direction.

Calendar of Events over the Next Two Weeks:

September 25 (M)

2:45-3:45, Joel at IEP for 1st grade student.

September 26 (T)
8:15-11:15, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

1:00-4:00- Joel off site for personal reasons.

3:00- RR/ECDR Technology Meeting (Conference Room)

September 27 (W)

2:00-3:00  PLC Time- Optional Teacher Goals Writing Session with Reid Sheppard and Joel (Library) 

4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

September 28 (H)

3:00-4:00, Mod Squad Meeting- Intensive Positive Behavior Supports Team for Students

5:30-6:00- Tacos, Beans and Rice for Families and Staff together in the Cafeteria.

6:00-8:00- Curriculum Night 

September 29 (F)-

3:00-3:30, PLT (Conference Room)

September 29-30, The 25 hour start of Yom Kippur will be at sundown on Friday, September 29.  This will not effect the school day on Friday unless families take their students early to visit family.  

1:00-2:00, Section 504 Synergy training for new 504 coordinators (or those wanting a review). Bring your computer. (Tower Room, Ed Center)

 2:00-3:30,  504s and the Law – new updates (Tower Room, Ed Center)

October 2 (M)-

3:15-4:15, IEP Meeting in Conference Room

October 3 (T)-

Regular Day

October 4 (W)-

Staff Meeting- Review of PBIS Expectations, Discussion, Clarification, 

October 5 (Th) –

1:00-3:45, Ed Center Auditorium, TAG Coordinator Meeting. Contact Sarah Prater

4:00-5:30, Ed Center Auditorium, Math Teacher Leader Meeting: Facilitating Mathematical Discourse. Contact Jaimee Massie

5:30-7:30, Grand Opening Celebration

October 6 (F)-

9:00-1:30 – Caminata Walk-A-Thon

Week of September 18, 2017

Hello Shining Stars,

Nice job, everyone, making it through our first full week of school, smoke filled indoor recesses and all.

Several items of note for this week:

• Staffing Update –  This week Pilar Zentz was hired to be our BEST Coordinator.  Congrats to Pilar for doing this important work.  This gives Pilar an opportunity to coordinate and design a top notch BESt program serving our bilingual students. I am thrilled to have such a strong bilingual coordinator working with our students this year. We will be posting a new 5 hour position soon to do bilingual Title 1 reading instruction.

• Keep Submitting Tech Help Tickets. There is a team of people to help you! – If teachers are having any type of technical issue – sound, interactivity, 8-button touch, cables – submit a ticket to 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu 

If you’d like help and/or training on any of this or any other technology topic, Misty will be back again at next week. Just send her an email at jackson_misty@4j.lane.edu with what you’d like to meet about and if there’s a particular time you’d like to meet. You can also always email Peggy at 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu

•Informal Walk-throughs: I am determined to be in classrooms more this year.  One reason, to give teachers extra behavioral support and to know students better.  The second reason, is to know you teaching style better and give you more authentic informal feedback. I also will let you know if I begin to write something down for an informal observation ahead of time.   Let me know if you want to get an informal out of the way early in the year.  

• Optional Building SMART Goals Meeting Wednesday September 27th – Reid Sheppard is going to help us out in a week and a half! On Wednesday September 27th at 2:00 in the Library will be an optional meeting to discuss potential building wide SMART Goals. My current thinking is to continue to use reading and math easyCBM as the two academic goals with adjustments to how we measure growth, and also to change the professional goal to focus on either something around the math adoption or possibly a technology goal around teachers specializing/getting certified in a particular piece of educational software . Teachers are, of course, welcome to create their own goals, but it’s nice to have everyone with the same goals and I know it also saves teachers time of drafting their own. Understanding how to use Learnzillion materials will also be a great professional practice Goal. Reid Sheppard is going to help us guide this work. Remember that Smart Goals are due on October 1st.

•Staff Meeting This Week- Our Wednesday staff meeting begins at 2:00 and ends at 3:00. You will have from 3:00-4:00 to work in your rooms or to collaborate. This week we will meet as a full instructional staff to discuss our first PD topic, ELD strategies to support strong language.  This is our PD theme of the year.  It may be supporting better writing strategies or better math strategies.  The first topic will be how to build strong anchor charts.  All instructional staff are EXPECTED TO ATTEND.  This includes: music, PE,Title 1, Special Education, instructional assistants.  If your shift ends at 2:30 or 2:45 you may leave at the end of your shift.  The goal this year is to work together to support our students.   Lily Gold our ELD Coordinator of the district is leading this PD session.

•PBIS Checklist To Nancy- Please do not forget to turn in your PBIS checklist.  Remember, you will get a free drink from Global Delights for doing so.  It also helps us verify that every student has reviewed school wide PBIS expectations. Thanks!

•Parking Reminder- Please park as far from the front of the school as possible.  There are many kinder families who have to park all the way across the lot and walk with their child through traffic. Please park by the ball fields so our youngest families can get their child inside safely. At least the first three rows are reserved for parents unless you need ADA access.

•Olivia Randall Retirement Celebration- As you know Olivia retired and we would like to honor her with a dinner and a gift basket. Thank you Karen for organizing this.

1. Teachers 3rd-5th please have your students write a memory or a card/class card for Ms. Randall

2. Please sign the card for staff to sign in the staff room.

• Student Care Team Info – Our first Student Care Team meeting is not until the first week of October and there is already a on family situation referred to the team, but I did want to extend the offer to staff if you have any student situations you would like brought to the team, please let me know.

For staff newer to El Camino del Rio, The Student Care Team is part of DHS’s Self-Sufficiency Program. Meetings are intended for directing community resources and services to families looking for help, and avoiding families falling through the social services cracks. The goal of the team is to prevent child abuse and neglect by working together as a team to discuss concerns about children/families, problem solve solutions, collaborate, and assist in brokering resources for families. Families typically sign a disclosure form, which allows DHS to do a lot of research before we meet, looking into family history and what types of resources they would or would not qualify for. In addition to situations where families are seeking help, we’re also able to discuss hypothetical situations (not using names) with DHS representatives, which can be very helpful for how to address challenging situations where families will not sign a release. Our partnership with DHS’s Self-Sufficiency Program has been an extremely valuable resource for us and for our families.

Common referrals, though not limited to, are:

• Death of a parent
• Incarcerated parent -­ concerns about recent incarceration or pending release
• Homeless or impending homelessness
• Unknown if open child welfare case but has concerns that were called in
• Domestic Violence
• Extreme behavior issues – ­additional supports needed outside of school
• Specific resource needed but unknown where to refer
• Medical concerns about the child or other family

DHS staff have been great about connecting families in difficult situations with various community resources and helping out with difficult situations, so please let me know if you have any students/families you’d like referred to the team. Linked below are the release form that families sign for their situation to be openly discussed by the team. One release form is editable with Adobe and the other is a standard PDF (editable and non-editable).

• Tardies Definition – To make sure everyone is on the same page for when to mark a student as tardy, here’s the agreement. Any student not inside the classroom before the 8:20 bell rings is considered tardy. Yasmin begins giving out tardy passes and recording tardies in Synergy after 8:20. For any students in the building before then who are not yet in class, teachers need to record that as tardy in Synergy. Please make sure you record your attendance on time and updates if needed! 

•Wednesday Assemblies This Year for Virtudes:  This year we are moving our assemblies to Wednesdays. This next week will be our first opportunity to award students with Virtues awards.  Please ask Nancy for wards this week if you do not have them.  Please begin writing virtues on Monday.  Each week we will be recognizing students for these positive school attributes.  Also, the assembly will be run primarily in Spanish in order to focus our attention on raising the status of the target language Spanish.

• Level 2 Forms Coming The new Minor Behavior Referral Forms (Level II) should be delivered by InstaPrint later this week. No update on when the new Major Behavior Referral Forms (Level III) will be finalized and sent out to schools. They are bilingual too!

• Air Quality Guidelines – I’ve mentioned this to quite a few people, but so everyone knows, the guidelines schools are following in regards to air quality in and whether to allow or not allow outside activities is done by monitoring the Air Quality Index (AQI). If the AQI is above 100, schools are to hold indoor recess and limit any outdoor activities. There is to be NO outside exertion between 100-150. Kids should not be running around or breathing hard until the AQI drops below 100. If you want to monitor the AQI, you can go to the Lane Air Protection Agency website.

• REPEAT: District Policy Review – If you haven’t done so already, please review the District Back-to-School Memo (link or PDF). Signed acknowledgement form  put out by the District are to my mailbox next week by Friday, September 29th. Copies of the form were given out at the August 30th meeting.  

• Managing Concussion in the Classroom – Principals were asked to share that the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Team for 4J wants to get the word out about a free 3-hour presentation on Tuesday, October 3rd, titled, Community of Care for Managing Concussion In and Out of the Classroom, featuring nationally recognized presenter, Gerry Gioia. The sponsor of this free training for educators is the Center on Brain Injury Research and Training.

• Helping Children After a Natural Disaster – Children watching the news about natural disasters can feel anxious and afraid. As an educator, there are a number of ways to support both the students and families immediately impacted, as well as those watching from afar. Linked here are resources offering guidance to families and schools for offering support following a natural disaster.

• DACA Resources-Here are the most recent DACA Resources provided by the LatinX Alliance. Use them as appropriate for families.  Share with students.

September 23 is a key date.  There is another flyer for an event in Portland but it is pretty short notice.  That is today, September 17th.

Flyer Jornada Gratuita renovación DACA esp

PME110671.17 Anexo 3 Infografías DACA (1)

Free DACA renewal DAY eng (1)

DACA Renewal Clinic English Poster

DACA Renewal Clinic Spanish Poster

• Schedule of Events for the Week 

September 18 (M)

10:30-11:30- Joel in BEST Planning Meeting with Pilar, Aline, and Molly (Conference Room)

4:00-5:30, Joel to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

September 19 (T)

11:00- Joel in volunteer orientation meeting.

1:00-2:00- PSS Meeting

3:00-4:00- New Teacher Check in-  Discuss PBIS

September 20 (W)

2:00-3:00 Staff Meeting- All instructional staff are expected to attend. This includes PE, Music, Instructional EA’s. 

September 21 (H)

Rosh Hashanah – Do not plan any assessments on this day.  Children who’s families celebrate Rosh Hashanah may not be in attendance.

Joel out all day.

September 22 (F)

First Data Team All Day- See Karen’s email forthcoming for the schedule.

September 25 (M)

2:45-3:45, Joel at IEP for 1st grade student.

September 26 (T)
8:15-11:15, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

1:00-4:00- Joel off site for personal reasons.

September 27 (W)

2:00-3:00  Optional Teacher Goals Writing Session with Reid Sheppard and Joel (Library)

4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

September 28 (H)

3:00-4:00, Mod Squad Meeting- Intensive Positive Behavior Supports Team for Students

5:30-6:00- Tacos , Beans and Rice for Families and Staff together in the Cafeteria.

6:00-8:00- Curriculum Night 

September 29 (F)

Regular Day

October 5 (Th) – Grand Opening Celebration

Joel

Week of September 11, 2017

Hello Shining Stars,

What a momentous week we had!  Our Watermelon Social was a resounding success.  A special thank you to David Adee, Marcy Hellman, and all the social service organizations who came to the event. It was wonderful to have Eduardo Wolf’s group playing at the event as well.  Navarro’s Latin Creole Cuisine and El Sitio were excellent food.  It was great to support these local business and provide authentic food from different parts of Latin America.

Here are many items of the week:

Staffing Updates:  Yesica Meza will begin her student teaching this week. As she begins her long term leave, there will be a sub provided for her. This will be a short term sub at first, then a long term sub. Interviews for BEST Coordinator happened on Friday.  Molly and I will make an announcement about that position once the reference checks have been completed.  

Master Schedule Updates: Here is the latest Update of the Master Schedule https://docs.google.com/a/4j.lane.edu/spreadsheets/d/1I_TvDOGxh9vboYSsnb0YQlY5M-idjCmAKS3Ow3Uswh0/edit?usp=sharing

REPEAT: District Mandatory Policy Review for all Staff – If you haven’t already reviewed the District Back-to-School Memo (link or PDF) and returned the acknowledgment form to me, make sure you turn it in to my mailbox no later than Friday, September 29th. I have three signed forms so far.  

• LearnZillion Unit 1 Begins This Week – To stay on track with the LearnZillion Pacing Guide, all classes should begin with Unit 1 this Thursday. It’s important teachers keep up with the pacing guide so that all material is covered by the end of the year, and that grade level teams stay in the same place so Title 1 and SPED can better support core. Pacing guides can be found on the 4J LearnZillion website. I’ve also linked them here; KG, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade.

• 2017-2018 Leadership Plans – HR just sent an email to principals that Elementary Leadership Plans will be due November 8th and will follow the same process as in the past. The current contract gives us 18 teacher release days not to exceed 6 teachers.  Last year’s plan, which compensated teachers for Student Leadership, Technology, 504/TAG Coordination, Parent Involvement, and PBIS  leadership roles. If you have thoughts on this year’s plan, please let me know. I’d like to share Leadership Plan proposals at the final September Staff Meeting in a couple weeks and then vote on a plan at the first October Staff Meeting.

• Fire Drill Info for September 12th – Our September Fire Drill will be later this Tuesday, September 12th at 1:00 PM. This time we are going to test utilizing ONE Collection point under the covered play.  The evacuation routes for 2nd floor are directly out the West stairwell. The 1st floor routes are out the commons nearest to your room, NOT the West Stairwell. Evacuation procedures can be found in the Camino Staff Handbook. Let me know if you have any questions on this. An updated evacuation route with names will be available to you in your box on Monday afternoon.

• Grupo de Padres this week on Tuesday – This week,  September 12th from 5:30-7:00 will be the first Group de Padres Meeting of the year. This year will be a brief mini session on site council to introduce site members and explain Site council’s role. YMCA is providing care in the gym. It’s typically the best attended meeting of the year by families, so it would be great if any staff can volunteer their evenings to come show support for parents who made time to come be involved in their child’s school. Mark your calendars and hope to see you there! We will meet in the media center.

• TAG Identified Students – Teachers, if you have any TAG identified students in your class this year, Katie Hynes Petty will contact you. She is our TAG Coordinator. Please check in with her to begin to address these student needs.  Also, consider potential students to add to the TAG identification list as you wrap up your EASY CBM lists.  I am considering asking the district to do a school wide screening to look for more students who might qualify for TAG.  I believe we are under identified in our school.

• Sub Folders to Office – For both classified and licensed staff, if you haven’t already, be sure to give your completed sub folders to MariCarmen. If it helps in completing your folder, linked here is a list of suggested sub folder information/items HR said staff should consider when making lesson plans. MariCarmen can provide extra folders if you don’t have one. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO COMPLETE FOR EA’s AND TEACHERS.

• SSD Health Services Info – SSD sent principals an email with several pieces of information related to school nurses and health services, but I wanted to highlight a couple points. One is that nurses need adequate notice for field trips (10-14 days) so that they can train persons to cover the field trips, have medications ready, etc. Often they are asked to go on field trips with no notice and this puts other students and schools at risk. And two, for teachers to require that permission slips be received back to the school 3 days in advance of a field trip so that the nurse and teacher has adequate time to review the list of students participating for critical medical concerns. Nurses serve multiple buildings and need adequate lead in these matters. This year Ann has been working a lot of extra hours supporting on of our most vulnerable diabetic students.  The training on Tuesday to learn more about diabetes is critical for ALL staff.  Everyone must know how to support children with this condition.

• AESOP Absence Data – HR sent principals an email about AESOP Absence Data that was interesting. The one thing I wanted to highlight for staff, particularly for teachers, is that if an absence related to PD was entered within 4 days of the PD, the chance a sub would pick up the job starts is much higher. If it is entered within 2 days the chance of a sub taking the assignment drastically drops. So if you have any planned absences, please don’t wait to put in for a sub and prearranging with one of our regular subs, both classified and licensed, is always the best way to go.

• REPEAT: Classified & Licensed Goals and Self Assessment – All staff, both classified and licensed, need to complete a self assessment before the end of September. Licensed staff need to complete their self assessment in TalentEd. Classified staff need to complete the Classified Employee Self Assessment form, unless you completed one at the end of last year.

• DACA Info Night – Monday, Sept 11 @ El Camino del Rio Cafeteria – Quick notice on this if you know of families to share this with. The 4J Office of Equity, Instruction and Partnership is coordinating a DACA information night Monday, September 11th from 6-7pm at our school. This night is open to all families and students who are interested from 4J and neighboring districts. The organization CAUSA will be providing Information followed by a question and answer time facilitated by a local lawyer. This is the first of several information nights for our immigrant and undocumented families that 4J will be hosting this year around the district. Linked here is a bilingual flyer for staff and others in the community to distribute.

Here are some of the latest resources I have found on DACA in case you have parent questions. It is important to stay informed on this issue for your parents. These were posted on September 7th so this is the latest information available to the public on the issue.

ILRC DACA Updates Note-Taking Guide

ILRC end of DACA – SPANISH

END OF DACA – ILRC 9-5-17

• A Phone Call Home Makes All the Difference – You don’t have to reserve phone calls to parents or guardians for bad news. Try the tips in this article to deepen communication with families, which include introduce yourself by your first name, begin the conversation with a positive, describe only actions— avoid labeling, ask questions seeking support, calling with good news, and tips on sending texts and emails.

• The Impact of Students Reading Culturally Relevant Texts – In this Teachers College Record article, Kathleen Clark reports on her study of the impact of African-American elementary school students reading books featuring culturally familiar characters and settings. The study compared a study group and a control group (reading books without African-American characters and settings) over a semester of instruction. What were the results? Students who used culturally relevant texts significantly outperformed students in the control group. See the above link for more details.

Schedule of Events for the Next Two Weeks

September 11 (M)

9:30 AM -meeting with Janene Block about mural.

6:00 PM, DACA Information Night (Cafeteria)

September 12 (T)

1:00 PM- Fire Drill

3:00 PM- ALL STAFF to Diabetes Training including office and custodians. (Office will be closed.)

Meeting in the Cafeteria

5:30-7:00 Site Council and Grupo de Padres (Childcare Provided and a light meal) -Media Center

September 13 (W)
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

2:00- PBIS- All EA’s, Yasmin, and teachers encouraged to attend in library. Nancy will share agenda via email.

September 14 (H)

3:00-4:00, El Camino Equity Meeting (Conference Room)

September 15 (F)

3:00-3:30, Friday PLT Meeting

September 18 (M)
4:00-5:30, Joel to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

September 19 (T)

3:00-4:00- New Teacher Check In (Conference Room)

September 20 (W)

2:00-3:00, Staff Meeting agenda includes leadership plan and some PD on ELD school wide strategies.

September 21 (H)

Rosh Hashanah – Joel not at work.

Do not give any tests or required assessments on this date.

September 22 (F)

8:00-2:30, First Data Team Meeting 

Have a great first full week back and let’s make our kids’ hopes for the year come true!

Joel

Week of September 5, 2017

Dear Camino del Rio Staff,

This is my weekly blog to inform you of events and information you need to succeed this school year. I try to place things here that you need to know about that are important. This year, I will try to keep it as brief as possible for you. The new building is weighing heavily on all of us and I do not want to put extra things on you to read or do.  However,  there are some items that excite me that I can’t pass up to share.

• Staffing Updates –  Over at the YMCA after-school program, Jordan Young is the new  Site Coordinator and will be partnering with BEST this year. If you ever need to get ahold of her, her email is emma@eugeneymca.org Lastly, we  still are working on hiring a new BEST Coordinator. The position was closed on Friday. We will have screening of applications this week.  

• Updated 2017-2018 Master Schedule –

Master Schedule including PE/ Music/ EA Assignments/Bells

• PE & Music Start Date – David is ready to support you with music at the start of the year. Ronny is working hard to complete organization of her space.  As long as Ronny has a PA system she should be able to begin PE by the end of the week.  Ronny have said they are ready to start seeing classes the first day of school, but they also understand if teachers want to wait a few days before starting. Communicate with Ronny or David about your schedule. For now, plan for full operation on Monday, September 11.

• Library Start Date – Classes will begin visiting the library as soon as it is unpacked and ready to go.  Please give us a few weeks to get this completed.  Expect to have the library accessible by September 25. 

• Meet Your Teacher – Meet Your Teacher begins on Tuesday at 2:00 to 4:00 PM.  All non-classroom staff should be available to direct families and support the contribution collection areas. We are moving the contribution areas and transportation tables out of the gym.  It is not ready.  See Yasmin if you have not gotten an assignment to a table yet. Families can enter the classroom wing, the office and the media center. They are not allowed on the playground, the gym, or the cafeteria at this time.  If you do not have an assignment, come to the office and we will provide maps for you to share with families. Each person will be provided with a complete set of class lists to be used this day and also on the first day of school. 

• First Day of School – The morning of the first two days of school I would still like to have all-hand-on-deck. At 7:45, when the doors first open, all available staff should help guide students to the cafeteria, and then when the first bell rings at 8:15 help students gather in the gym. Staff helping should again hold onto their class lists and maps from the day before to help guide families. 

• District Mandatory Policy Review for all Staff –  The District Back-to-School Memo, which covers a variety of district rules, policies and guidelines. Section 1 is the portion that staff are required to review. I covered much of this at the BTS staff meeting, but as I shared there, all staff must review the memo and sign & return the check list acknowledgment form signifying that you have read and understand the memo. Forms should be returned to me no later than Friday, September 29th. I’ll place hard copies of the acknowledgement form in staff mailboxes this week. Looking over the memo, take note of updates to the Notice Requirements for Leave section, which is regarding sick days, personal days, various leaves, etc. An addition was also made to the district’s non-discrimination policy, clarify how the policy applies to supporting undocumented students, adding the policy. 

District Back-to-School Memo

Notice Requirements for Leave

FAQ on undocumented students.

• New Level 2s and 3s – I shared last year that all schools across 4J will be using the same minor (Level II) and major (Level III) behavior referral forms. The new minor forms are finished and being sent to schools this week. The formatting is different from our form, but the content of what it’s asking for is pretty much the same. We’ll continue to use our own Level 1s referrals (Ay Yay Yay’s) this year and the the major referral forms are almost ready to be sent to schools. Yasmin will have the Level 2’s available in Spanish and English  on paper next week if you need one.

New English and Spanish (Level 2)

• School Bus PBIS – Just as last year, school bus drivers are handing out Transportation Dept. PBIS positive slips and schools are asked to treat them the same as our positive Beep, Beep slips. The same also goes for the bus Incident Reports, with teachers talking to student if they receive a Minor Referral and the principal talking to students if they receive a Major Referral. 

• LearnZillion – Here are a few notes from Friday’s LearnZilion PD:

• Website – If you haven’t already, bookmark the 4J LearnZillion website. On this website is the 2017-2018 Pacing Guide for each grade level, individual lessons and units, the videos, additional supports, and other resources. Additional math resources can be found on the 4J Curriculum Server.

• Unit Zero – Unit Zero is a suggested (not required) lesson. If teachers have a different back-to-school refresher/team-building type of math lesson for the start of the school year, it’s fine to continue using that, although Learn Zillion Lesson Zero does introduce students to some of the LearnZillion routines.

• Pacing Guide Start Date, 9/14 – The pacing guide for Unit 1 starts on September 14th, so everyone should start the new math curriculum on this date.

• Classroom Newsletters – I’d love to have copies of classroom newsletters when teachers send/email them home to families. This helps me get school events on the building calendar, keeps me up to date on what’s happening or going to happen in classes when families ask, and it also lets me know details of any class activities that I might be able to get the local media to come out and cover. School-wide expectation is that these go out every Monday with homework folders.  Thank you.

• Student Username/Passwords and Other TeacherVUE Reports – If teachers need a reminder how to find your students’ usernames and passwords, linked here is a quick-sheet on Printing Reports in TeacherVUE. There are several reports teachers can generate from TeacherVUE. For example: To see which students have permission restrictions. A list of student user names and passwords for testing. To print a class list, student/parent directory, health conditions, emergency contacts etc. To print labels to send mail home. 

• Staff Parking Areas (not the front row) – Starting this week, I’d like staff to use designated staff parking areas, which is anywhere in the parking lot except for the front row of parking spaces. The front row is reserved for families. We have 67 parking spaces.  When in doubt, ride your bike or carpool! 

• Enrollment Updates –  This is the latest enrollment shot of our school.  Kinder may be a little inaccurate since we have many school choice families who are not in synergy yet. I over estimated there based on reports from kinder teachers last Friday at the playdate. Also, we have 18 pre-k head start students on campus. They do not count in our 4j enrollment but are part of our program. Our overall projection was 363 from Oscar Lauriero.  This is a little less than I expected. I was thinking we would be at 350. October 1st is when enrollment settles out for us  I expect us to be about 350 by that date.

• Learning About Learning Network – For several years, 4J has had Learning About Learning (LEL) Networks. Each school has the principal and two teachers participate, where a team of school meets at one school to conduct classroom observations, which this year will focus on math instruction. Teachers commit to the LEL for two years.  

The purpose of a Learning About Learning network is to orient members to the Instructional Rounds process and to begin the process of building teams of leaders who are able to learn from one another around the craft of leading instruction. The goal of instructional rounds isn’t to provide feedback to the teachers being observed, but for LEL members to compare their own instructional practices with those of the teachers they observe. The chief benefit of this approach resides in the discussion that takes place among LEL members at the end of the observations as well as in subsequent self-reflection. Nancy will be stepping down this year and Alexis will stay on one more year. We need a new participant.  It is preferable to have a classroom teacher.   Let me know if you are interested. 

Instructional Rounds link.

Edutopia article on instructional rounds.

• ThinkCentral – If anyone has tried to log onto Journeys’ web portal ThinkCentral, you likely noticed it did not work because students and teachers are being uploaded this weekend. It should be up and running by Tuesday.

• Student Username/Passwords and Other TeacherVUE Reports – If teachers need a reminder how to find your students’ usernames and passwords, linked here is a quicksheet on Printing Reports in TeacherVUE. There are several reports teachers can generate from TeacherVUE. For example: To see which students have permission restrictions. A list of student user names and passwords for testing. To print a class list, student/parent directory, health conditions, emergency contacts etc. To print labels to send mail home.

Base Camp–  I have been using this software with an organization I have been a part of.  It is free to teacher and educators.  I think it could be a very valuable tool for our staff to organize PLT, PBIS, Site Council, and Staff Meetings.  It is a modern tool that helps you keep track of various documents and to use for collaboration.  This could be an alternative for Wiki’s and the difficult to navigate Google Drive. Did I mention it is free and ad free? Check it out and let me know what you think.

Base Camp

• Classified & Licensed Goals and Self Assessment – All staff, both classified and licensed, need to complete a self assessment before the end of September. Licensed staff need to complete their self assessment in TalentEd. Classified staff need to complete the Classified Employee Self Assessment form.

• 4J Vision 20/20 – You might have noticed that Superintendent Dr. Gustavo Balderas has made the Vision 20/20 a major focus of the school district this year. Linked here is the school district website 4J Vision 20/20 website as well as the 4J Vision 20/20 Strategic Plan Framework, which details the 3-5 year guiding plan. If you attended the District Back-to-School Event at SEHS, this was a major focus of Superintendent Balderas’ speech to staff. During his speech he actually used the What Do You Hope? video.  He also ended his speech with a video I hadn’t seen before that I liked quite a lot, which was a nice reminder of why we all work in education. In fact, it made me cry.

Schedule of Events for the Week – 

September 5 (T) 

Meet Your Teacher  2:00-4:00 in lobby and media center.

5:30-6:30, Garden Meeting

September 6 (W) 

The First Day of School

All staff supervise 7:45-8:15 in cafeteria.

1:40,Early Release 

All staff dismiss in the gym, bus loop, or pick up zones.

2:00, Quick Stand Up Meeting in Media Center

3:30, Teacher Meeting

September 7 (H) 

KRA and Easy CBM

Joel Screening BEST coordinator applications

Principal visits classrooms

3:15, Teacher Meeting

September 8 (F) 

KRA and Easy CBM

Principal visits classrooms

3:30, Joel to LatinX Alliance

6:00, Saludos y Sandía Open House Social Event

September 11 (M) 

KRA and Easy CBM

September 12 (T) 

KRA and Easy CBM

1:00 PM, Fire Drill 

3:00-3:45, Diabetes Training Meeting- All staff attend.

September 13 (W) 

PBIS Meeting- All EA’s attend and some licensed staff.

4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS) 

September 14 (H) 

1:45-2:15, Glucagon Training for some staff. (Leave KRA and CBM work for this training.)

3:00-3:45, Equity Meeting  (Conference Room)

September 15 (F) 

3:00-3:30, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

Joel to LatinX 

Let’s make the first week with kids a great one! Joel