Diario Camino del Río

Week of October 30, 2017

Hello Estrellas Brillantes,

What a beautiful week! I am very proud of the many things I have seen in classrooms lately. All of you make me smile and bring me hope. I was impressed with so many teachers emphasizing complete sentences during instruction.  That really took off in the school.  I was also impressed with the teamwork to support some of our neediest students. Our response time to help students get refocused and back in class is lightning fast. The cafeteria continues to get refined and more orderly.  Thanks to the classified staff who make it a cheery, clean, positive, and safe place four our kids.

Here are some of the announcements of the week:

• ArtSpark Eugene:  This year the district is working with Rotary to provide  a free artist in residence program.  We will get to choose our ArtSpark artist in residence and plan it soon.  PLT will be involved in completing this  with Erin Bucklew’s leadership.  Thanks Erin!  I believe we will get four sessions per classroom through this program.  We will need to plan these opportunities over the next few weeks.  It is my hope that we can begin the sessions right after winter break.

Check out this video if you want to get pumped about this project:

https://vimeo.com/207405900

•Supporting Undocumented Students – Supporting Undocumented Students. The most important point is 4J is committed to a safe, inclusive, and supportive school environment for all students, regardless of their national origin, immigration or documentation status, which in practice means we do not collect or share any information regarding immigration status. Tis fall we will be running another Know Your Rights session. I encourage you to attend. You will learn a ton.

• LearnZillion Tips – Principals had a mini-training at our last elementary principals meeting and were told what were the top “Power Moves” for successfully teaching the new math curriculum. They were:

• Learning Targets – How do teachers communicate criteria for success?
• Manipulatives/Visuals – How do teachers help make student thinking visible?
• Anchor Charts – How do teachers help make academic language accessible?

•Voluntary Elementary EA Workshops – 4J added some quarterly training opportunities in addition to the EA Extravaganzas. The quarterly trainings will be a 1-1/2 hours, on early release days. They will offer the same training on three different days to accommodate the various early release times/days in buildings across the district. Over the course of the year there will be four different trainings offered, two on behavior and two on math. These are voluntary trainings. If they go beyond the EA’s workday, they may check with their building administrator about using trade time. Our first training topic will be focused on behavior during supervision and presented by our 4j Behavior Consultants: Systematic Supervision:  Creating a Safe and Positive Playground and other Common Areas. In this workshop, participants will learn to-

• Develop playground scanning methods that incorporate movement and proximity strategies 
• Establish and maintain positive environments and relationships with students
• Focus on positive appropriate behaviors and Respond to problem behavior/take action

Schedule for quarterly trainings:

• November 3, Auditorium 1:30-3:00 Behavior 1 (Supervision Focus)
• November 8, Auditorium 2:00-3:30 Behavior 1 (Supervision Focus)
• December 6, Tower room 1:30-3:00 Number Sense 1
• December 8 Auditorium 1:30-3:00 Number Sense 1
• January 10, Auditorium 2:00-3:30 Number Sense 1
• February 7, Auditorium 1:30-3:00 Behavior 2
• February 9 Auditorium 1:30-3:00 Behavior 2
• March 7, Auditorium 2:00-3:30 Behavior 2
• April 11, Tower room 1:30-3:00 Number Sense 2
• April 13, Auditorium 1:30-3:00 Number Sense 2
• May 9, Auditorium 2:00-3:30 Number Sense 2

*They may move a Behavior 2 right after Behavior 1 so there is an opportunity to try things and come back and share

Hold the date! – Elementary EA Extravaganza, February 2nd. Contact Marlee Litten if you have any questions x7586.

•Allison Kreider’s science blog: has important information including every grade level kit.
https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/4jscience/
This is an amazing resource. BOOKMARK IT! There is every target skill that is printable and can be put up in the room. It also includes curriculum resources that teachers have asked for. Use it!

Don’t forget to ask her to do a model lesson in your classroom. 

•Karen’s absence and opportunity: Once Karen begins her administration work at Spencer Butte we will have a roving sub who can support classrooms. Contact Karen if you want a half day or full day to observe  teachers at our school. She will create a Google doc for the six weeks she is out. Please sign up for a sub so you can learn from each other. This is an amazing opportunity!

• 3 ways to boost brain function – It is possible to boost brain function and capacity in students, asserts Eric Jensen, a brain-based teaching and learning expert and former teacher. In this EdSurge Commentary, he shares three ways to kick-start this process to better serve students living in poverty.

Here is the calendar for the next two weeks:

October 30 (M)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

October 31 (T)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

3:00-4:00, Alice Refresher in Conference Room

No costumes or parties.

November 1 (W)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

2:00-3:00- Staff Meeting

Agenda for Staff Meeting:

2:00-Parent Group Intros – Information on who they are, 5 minutes
2:05-RJ Follow Up.- Restorative Process Explanation- 15 minutes
2:20-Leadership Plan Discussion and decide: 25 minutes (hopefully decide)
2:45-MTL and Science Report- 15 minutes

3:00-4:00,  Teacher Prep time
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

6:00-8:00, El Día de los Muertos Event- (Gym, Cafeteria, Lobby, Library)

November 2 (H)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

3:00-4:00, Guardians of the Galaxy

6:00-7:00,  Zumba for Families in the Cafeteria

November 3 (F)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

3:00-3:30, PLT

Joel to LatinX Alliance Meeting

November 6 (M)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

November 7 (T)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

1:50-2:20, Alice Prep Lesson

November 8 (W)

9:00 AM, Alice Drill

9:30-11:00, Classroom Observations

2:00-3:00, PBIS Meeting in Library

November 9 (H)

9:30-11:00, Classroom Observations

6:00-7:00,  Zumba for Families in the Cafeteria

November 10 (F)

No School- Veteran’s Day

Looking a little further ahead:

• November 16, North Eugene Spanish Visioning Session at El Camino del Rio- 5:30-7:30.
• November 20, Parent Teacher Conferences, 4-8
• November 21, Parent Teacher Conferences, 8-8
• November 22-24, Fall Break December 1, KYR Session with attorney Luis Garcia(Chavo’s brother)
• December 3, Centro Latino Americano, Fiesta del Invierno at our school. 
• December 6, City of Eugene First Responders bilingual outreach event at our school. December 16, Winter Break begins.

I am so excited for el Día de los Muertos at our school. It has taken a personal tone for me. In addition, this is going to be an amazing event for our community in the new building. I hope to see you there.

Joel

Week of October 23, 2017

 

• Number Talks Follow-Up – Thank you, teachers, for continuing to learn and implement Number Talks with your students. I know it’s a lot of work on top of already learning LearnZillion (along with the new science, reading, and writing curriculums the past three years), but you all are amazing and Reid has commented on how many teachers are utilizing his help in class rooms. Keep it up!   A few items that were covered or maybe we did not get to from Friday’s Number Talks training:

• Number Talks Cliff Notes: The green 4J Number Talks 101 Notebook is a nice Readers Digest version of the big fat Number Talks book, but here are some pages from the big book to take note of:

⁃ K-2 Number Talks Overarching Goals – Page 25
⁃ K-2 Possible Focus – Page 67
⁃ K-2 Rekenreks Uses – Page 82
⁃ 3-5 Number Talks Overarching Goals – Page 230
⁃ 3-5 Highlights importance of developing strong foundations before moving into Number Talks that focus on computation with larger numbers – Page 230 & Page 182
⁃ Question/Answer Area – Page 368
⁃ General Prep for Number Talks – Page 16

• How to Access Online Video Clips: If you would like to access all the clips at once, follow these instructions:

1. Go to http://mathsolutions.com/myvideos and click the Create New Account button at the bottom of the Log In form.
2. Create an account, even if you have created one with Math Solutions bookstore. You will receive a confirmation email when your account has been created.
3. Once your account has been created, you will be taken to the Product Registration page. Click Register on the product you would like to access (in this case, Number Talks: Whole Number Computation).
4. Enter key code NTWNC and click or tap the Submit Key Code button.
5. Click or tap the Complete Registration button.
6. To access videos at any time, visit your account page.

Page XXVII shows the video clips by chapter. Page 337 of the book has comments from the author on each of the videos, which are more for teacher prep than student viewing. At 3-5 Number Talks per week, the progress students make will start to shine through over time. Maybe not during Number talks right away, but students also make connections in whole group math time. And remember that Reid is available to come out to meet with folks to provide any support or assistance you might need.

• When Students Are Traumatized, Teachers Are Too – Trauma in students’ lives takes an emotional and physical toll on teachers as well. See this Edutopia article where experts weigh in on the best ways to cope, which include talking it out with colleagues, building coping strategies (whether it’s deep breaths or drinking coffee), and establish some coming home rituals.

•New EA opening- There will be a spot for  one assistant to work 5 hours in mid November: This position will be focused on title One reading groups. Strong biliteracy and bilingual proficiency in Spanish and English is vital to this role. This employee will run reading groups in Spanish and English. This employee will also support our response to intervention reading program for both Spanish and English in grades k through 5. Time will be spent recording data about student growth and progress, instructing small groups, and being involved in helping students get to grade level in Spanish or English reading. Supervision at recess is also a part of the duties in this position.

•Conference Sign Up Information-Please share with families ASAP so you get a full schedule. Also,  an item of note for teachers with large class sizes from the CBA-

10.1.9  ELEMENTARY CONFERENCES: Elementary school principals will collaborate with the school’s unit members before deciding when and how to conduct all-school parent conferences. Elementary school unit members who participate in all-school parent conferences after 4:00 p.m. will be compensated with an equal amount of workday hours off. If an elementary school unit member has greater than twenty-eight (28) students for the all-school parent conference, he/she will be compensated for one half (1/2) day at his/her per diem rate.

Here are some upcoming events and my schedule for the next two weeks:

October 23 (M)

Joel in meeting at 8:30

Classroom Observations  – 9:00-11:00

Lunch and Recess Supervision- 11:00-11:50

12:30-2:30- Office Hours

2:40, BEST  After School Program Begins

3:00 PM- Discussion and decision of Tier 2 Spanish Interventions in classrooms in the conference. Room. Any teacher or EA welcome to attend.

October 24 (T)
8:15-11:15, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

Joel on lunch duty.

Joel in classrooms all afternoon.

3:00 PM- Goals Support Completion

October 25 (W)

8:20-8:40- Caminata Goal Reveal Assembly and Virtudes

Classroom Observations  – 9:00-11:00
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting ( Howard Conference Room)

6:00-7:30, Talking With Books  Parent Involvement Activity for K and 1st Grades

Isaac Johnson’s Birthday

October 26 (H)

In late @ 8:30- Meeting with mastermind PD group 7:00-8:00 AM.

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

3:00-4:00, IPBIS Meeting  (GOTG)- In Skoubo’s Room

6:00-7:00, Zumba  for Families in the Cafeteria

October 27 (F)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

3:00-5:30, Produce Plus Program after school in Cafeteria.

3:00- 3:30, PLT- Focus planning

AGENDA
Science Grant Implementation
Ballet Folkorico Grant Implementation
Art Spark Implementation
Setting Math Peer Observation Dates
Instructional leadership overview of teams- graphic build
PBIS Posters Update

October 30 (M)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

October 31 (T)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

3:00-4:00, Alice Refresher in Conference Room

No costumes or parties.

November 1 (W)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

6:00-8:00, El Día de los Muertos- (Gym, Cafeteria, Lobby, Library)

November 2 (H)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

3:00-4:00, Guardians of the Galaxy

6:00-7:00,  Zumba  for Families in the Cafeteria

November 3 (F)

9:00-11:00, Classroom Observations

Joel to LatinX Alliance Meeting

Looking a little further ahead:

November 7, ALICE Lesson 
November 8, ALICE Drill 
November 20, Parent Teacher Conferences
November 21, Parent Teacher Conferences

Can’t wait to be in your classrooms this week!

Joel

Week of October 16, 2017

Francisco de La Torre @fdelatg

Hello Shining Star Staff,

We are back for another short week! Also,  last week I realized that my blog is getting  really long. I plan on keeping it shorter and prioritizing news to share with you essential to your classrooms in the coming weeks.

 I am so excited to start the week with our cultural event with the Venezuelan  Trio- Mochima.

As part of the UO Latinx Heritage Month celebration, the World Music Series’s first concert features Venezuelan music with Trio Mochima this Sunday, October 15 at 7:30 PM in Beall Hall. Joropo, merengue, parranda and other genres will featured.  They are also playing at our school.  How lucky we are to have this cultural experience!

Trio Mochima, made up of flutist Javier Montilla, Euclides Aparicio (maracas, vocals), and Roberto Bonaccorso (cuatro, vocals).

Here is a map of the location of Mochima National Park in Venezuela:

Mochima is the name of a National Park and a small coastal town in Venezuela. It is a small but beautiful part of the coastal culture of the north.

Our assembly will begin at 9:15 on Monday morning.  I will call classrooms down via the PA system starting around 9:05.

• Halloween Decision:  No Costumes. After last weeks discussion, the staff present at PBIS (which was a great majority of staff) decided we will not allow costumes at school this year or in the future.  This decision will stand for coming years as well.   In the meantime,  I will enforce this new decision with families and students.

Here is the rationale for not allowing costumes or parties if you add to your newsletter:

1.  It is a major distraction from learning.
2. Exclusion or offense to religious groups that do not celebrate Halloween during the school day.
3. Teachers may not have the time or parent support to plan activities for Halloween.
4. The risk of students dressing up as another person’s culture, called cultural appropriation 
5. Students feeling bad when their family cannot afford a costume while others have fancy costumes.

Teachers are encouraged to learn about Halloween and other holidays that explore death during  the fall season. This is an important part of our history and must be explored, not shied away from. The next Wednesday is fall colors

• Student Care Team Referrals, Oct. 25 – The Student Care Team will meet in two weeks, which means student/family referrals to the team are due this Friday. DHS has been great about helping quite a few of our families, pointing them towards resources for a variety of different situations (homelessness, assistance with bills, incarcerated parents, counseling resources, and many others), so please consider referring a student or family in need. Try to get a signature on the 4J Release Form (editable PDF and non-editable PDF) so we will be able to openly discuss the student(s) by name and also so DHS can research the family situation to see what services they would qualify for. If there’s a situation where you can’t get a signature for whatever reason, you can refer “hypothetical” student or family situations. Let me know if you have any questions about potential referrals, but if it’s a situation that’s on your mind, it’s probably a worth referring to the team.

• Conferences Info Coming Soon – Believe it or not, it’s time to start getting read for Parent/Teacher Conferences. Jaime is prepping parent sign-up sheets and the online system for conference information to go home soon and she will support scheduling of conferences for everyone.  The online system will help you schedule your students in a fairly efficient manner. We will block out a dinner both days for staff. I have requested that it be early.  Please plan on scheduling your own breaks on both days. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Produce Distribution Day, Oct. 27– Fresh produce is available for FREE to families once a month out of our school. This month’s distribution will be on Friday, October 27th from 3:00- 5:30. It is open to all 4J families but is advertised in the North Region. Feel free to spread the word.

• Know Your Rights Workshop – Thursday, October 26th, 6:30 p.m. Churchill Auditorium is a workshop intended for immigrant families and support staff interested in knowing the rights of undocumented families. There will be a 30 minute presentation on the rights of immigrant families followed by a question and answer time with a local lawyer. Families will also have the opportunity to pick-up a family preparedness kit and to sign-up for a one-on-one appointment with a district employee to organize their family preparedness folder. For more information or to make an appointment contact: Marcos 541-790-5151 (at Churchill) The office of Equity, Instruction & Inclusion is planning a follow-up to their Know Your Rights Workshop for an event to take place in Mid November or Early December, but feel free to share the Churchill event with interested families.

Calendar of Events:

October 16 (M)

Jennifer out to facilitate at CFEE all week.

9:30-10:00, Venezuelan Music Assembly (We will delay 3,4,5 recess if it goes a bit over.)

10:00-11:00, Joel observing classrooms.

3:15-4:00, Student Support Meeting

4:00, Joel to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)
Caminata Envelope Turn In Day! The Deadline.

October 17 (T)
9:00-11:00, Joel observing classrooms.

3:00-4:00, New Teacher Check-in  (Snacks provided)

October 18 (W)
8:10-8:40-Caminata Awards Celebration for Class-wide Participation and More

9:00-11:00, Joel observing classrooms.

2:00-3:00, Staff Meeting

1.Leadership Plan Discussion and Proposals

2. PBIS Data

3. GOTG Update

October 19 (H)

Picture Day

9:00-10:00 and then 10:30-11:00, Joel observing classrooms.

10:19 on 10/19: Great American Shake Out- Earthquake Practice (No Evacaution)

12:00-4:00- LEL Orientation for Erin Bucklew

6:00-7:00, NAMI Sponsored Zumba Class for Families (Cafeteria)

October 20 (F)

No School- El Camino del Rio Academy Day

All Classified EA’s should attend until 2:00 PM. Special Education EA’s should attend. PE and Music Specialists- Please see me for making other plans during this day. 

Coffee and Snacks provided.

8:00-10:00 Number Talks with Reid Shepard

10:00-10:15 Break

10:15-10:35- Fred Meyer Click It Program

10:35-12:00- Oral Communication and Math Instruction

12:00-12:30- Free Lunch provided by Fred Meyer

12:30-2:00 – More on Oral Communication from Lily Gold

2:00-4:00- Teacher Prep Time

October 23 (M)

9:00-11:00, Joel observing classrooms.

First Day of BEST

October 24 (T)
8:15-11:15, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

October 25 (W)

9:00-11:00, Joel observing classrooms.
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Howard Conference Room)- Jennifer attends with a referral.

1:40-2:40- Grade Level PLC Time- Use this time to plan in meetings and evaluate assessments of your grade level.  Planning AIM4S3  units or evaluating Math Assessment Data is a great use of time. Planning field trips is not a great use of time.  Please focus on instruction.

October 26 (H)

9:00-11:00, Joel observing classrooms.

6:00-7:00, NAMI Sponsored Zumba Class for Families

October 27 (F)

9:00-11:00, Joel observing classrooms.

3:00-3:30- PLT Meeting

3:00-5:30 Produce Plus Program  in the Cafeteria

Upcoming Important Events of Note:

October 31 (T)

No Halloween Costumes 

November 1 (W)

6:00-8:00, El Dia de Los Muertos  Family Involvement Event  (Across the school)

That is all for the week!  Have a nice 4 day school week.

Joel

Salto Angel- The Angel Falls, Venezuela

Week of October 9, 2017

Indigenous People’s Day is Monday, October 9.

Dear Shining Star Staff,

Well, last week was pretty great!  I thing we showed so much pride in our new space. It was thrilling to see so many staff present at the grand opening.  Our community deserves such a beautiful place and our kids truly seem to be thriving in these new learning environments.  

Here are the main items for the week:

Safety Week Schedule:

Monday- Fire Drill at 12:00 PM

Tuesday- Earthquake Drill at 12:00 PM

Wednesday- Room Clear Practice- on your own schedule.

Thursday- Bus Safety Video – on your own schedule.

NO LOCKDOWN TRAINING UNTIL NOVEMBER

See email for procedures.

Library begins this week: – It took us a while but we have got it running.  Pilar is ready to have students come in to check out books this week. Here is the library permission slip.  Please make sure it is signed by parents before  checking out books.

Leadership Plan and October 18th Staff Meeting, 2:00-3:00 – The October 18th Staff meeting will be focused on the Leadership Plan.We want our new leadership plan to be built using more staff input from scratch to reflect current staff and their priorities. We will do this on October 18 at a full staff meeting.  Please arrive on time.

1. Leadership Plan Discussion (30)
2. LearnZillion updates (10)
3. PBIS/GOTG updates (5)
4. Choosing a science teacher leader (5)

ALICE Training for new employees: ( Required Classified and Administrators, Optional for Teachers)

• Teacher Inservice Day: There is no School on Friday, October 13.  Classified staff have a work day.  If you have some time banked in compensation.  Please fill out a comp form with Maricarmen this week to take that day off and communicate directly with me to get any approval in writing.

• Talking With Books: The upcoming Title 1 event called “Talking with Books” will be from 6-8pm on October 25. This teaches comprehension skills and early literacy strategies. We need helpers to work this event to teach kinder and 1st grade families reading strategies. The UO CTL program is also supporting this event. See Karen Ramirez Gutierrez  if you want to help out.

Churchill Know Your Rights Session  is October 26th

•Produce Distribution Day will be Friday, October 27- Produce: This a Fresh Produce Pick Up day for families from 3:00- 5:30. It is open to all 4j families but is advertised in the North Region. 

• October 20th is our First Academy Day designated for El Camino del Rio. There is no school. All classified EA’s and teachers are required to attend if you work with students in any part of your day. The focus will be on Math Number Talks and English Language Learners. Reid Sheppard and Lily Gold will be there to help us through learning from 8:00- 2:00 PM. 2:00-4:00 PM will be planning time.

•Dia de Los Muertos – It will be on November 1st 6-8. Please work with Aline to volunteer. She is the coordinator.  Sign-up in the staff lounge.  Altar for the main platform in the Gym.  Alexis will bring it to school. El Día De Los Muertos  Volunteers are needed. Alicia Longoria will share a short article on the cultural aspects of the DDLM celebration. Please share it with your families in mid-October.

•Fall Conference Scheduling: Jaime Jones will be arranging for Fall Conferences. Conferences are on November 20 and 21. November 22 will be a compensation day. Then, it is Thanksgiving!  Jaime will be using the same format as Megan used in previous years.  Jaime will provide instructions for this via email in the coming week. There will be an online and paper sign up format again.

•Staff Climate and a need for Regular Grade Level Meetings –  There are several reports from teachers seeking more support from their grade level peers. Some are worried they do not have enough time to communicate with their colleagues.  The PLT team really felt that we need regular PLC meetings.  They expressed that they need more grade-level team time with collaboration.  Cross-grade support with a teaching partner on your own schedule.   Grade levels, establish regular times to meet and report these times to the office to put on the Zimbra calendar.

The expectations from the principal are below:

RESPONSIBILITIES OF GRADE LEVEL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

The Grade Level PLC is responsible to the principal. The Grade Level PLC is in charge of planning, instruction, and formative assessment at that level. All Grade Level PLCs will have the following duties and responsibilities:

Assess and evaluate needs of the grade level in terms of staffing, materials, equipment and other resources

Conduct periodic and planned grade level meetings, focused on student learning and instruction.

Share email minutes from meeting to principal and team.

An agenda is a best practice for PLC time.

Serve as liaison between administration and teachers.

Monitor progress of program goals and objectives

Represent faculty as necessary at various functions

Meet two Wednesdays per month and another 2 designated times decided by the team.

Planning field trips should be a very minor proportion of time used in this committee.

Discussing student data, AIM4S3, LearnZillion, Science Kits, Maravillas, Tier Two Instruction, Inclusionary practices are all relevant collaborative conversations for PLC time.

Specialists should use scheduled PLC time to communicate with grade level teams when possible. 

•Halloween Rules on Parties and Expectations:

Individual teachers will determine if Halloween parties will take place in their classrooms. Please consider families religious identities before deciding on a party. If teachers permit costumes during Halloween, the following dress code will be enforced, as it pertains to costumes:

Costumes must be easy to put on and may not be worn before 1:00 PM. They must be easily put on in 5 minutes. So, 1:00 PM to 2:40 is when parties may occur and costumes put on.

    NO costumes appropriating another person’s culture or ethnic identity.

    NO weapons

    NO weapon-like props

    NO masks.

    All student faces must be recognizable.

    NO especially scary or gory costumes

Alternative activities for families who do not celebrate will be provided in the library. These activities include board games and other fun interactive activities. 

No students wearing costumes will be in the library.

All families who request to have their child not attend from school will have excused absence recorded after 1:00 PM.

Parents and guardians are invited to attend parties. 

•PBIS  transitions and routines communication– Please do not tell supervisors how to change routines.  Communicate directly with the Nancy or Joel if you have a suggestion.  Many have great ideas on improvement, but it confuses our staff when supervisors get mixed messages. Please do not tell playground/cafeteria supervisors a change you want.  Communicate directly to me or send an email to myself  and Nancy and we will discuss in the PBIS meeting this Wednesday and in future PBIS meetings.

•PLT Notes Shared Weekly: Some have complained that they do not know enough about what is happening in PLT.  From now on the shared Google Doc will be pasted in an email every Friday before 4:00 PM.

• Licensed Staff Sub Folders – Most all classified staff have tuned in their sub folders to the office, but we’re still waiting on a number of licensed staff member sub folders. If you haven’t completed and turned yours in to Maricarmen, please do so by the end of this week. Linked here is HR’s recommended list of Guest Teacher Folder Content.

• AESOP Job Note for Classified Subs – Classified staff, please enter your job title into the “Notes to Substitute” section of AESOP when you put in for a sub. AESOP is not good at giving subs a clear idea of what jobs they are picking up and this helps clarify.

• Classified Comp Time – Overtime and Compensatory “Comp” Time must have prior, written approval from a supervisor, which is most easily done by emailing me before to the date(s) you’re planning to accumulate comp time. Some additional notes regarding comp time:

• Overtime or Compensatory (comp) time (time and a half) for any time worked in excess of 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.
• Comp time requests must be submitted in writing (or email) prior to being accumulated.
• Only for occasional and irregular overtime work.
• Maximum of 240 hours may be accumulated.
• Must be used or paid within 26 months of earning.

Let me know if you have any questions.

• Math Updates – Linked here is an email update sent to Math Teacher Leaders, but the short version for math teachers is:

• Rekenreks – For K-2 teachers, you DO NOT have to use these but may. If you won’t be using them, please put them in your plastic tub.

• Printing Assessments – Assessments are on the grade-level pages of the 4J LearnZillion website and Jaimee will add them to the LZ Assessment Page as well.

• New Level 3 Form – Linked here is the new 4J Major Behavior Referral Form (i.e. Level 3) we’ll begin using once they are delivered sometime this week. The content of the form is pretty much the same as what’s on our current Level 3 form, but the format is fairly different.

These will be printed in triplicate, white on top (parent), pink in the middle (homeroom teacher) and yellow on bottom (office). As you can see on the form, there is a section of information that gets filled out on the second page, which does not go to the parent on the first page. Downtown is in the process of having the form translated into Spanish.

• Stop, Walk, Talk Review – I shared this last year, but below is a good video teachers can use for a class review of Stop, Walk, Talk at a Caring School Curriculum class meeting. Also, linked here is a Stop, Walk, Talk step-by-step Stop, Walk, Talk Lesson on teaching this strategy, which I believe was created by Brianna Stiller.

• Equity, Instruction and Partnerships Website – The 4J Office of Equity, Instruction and Partnership has a new website! The purpose of the website is to provide teachers, staff and administrators with community and district events, family resources, free/low cost professional growth opportunities in our area, and links to interpretation services and an application form (to a very small pot of money from the Equity, Instruction and Partnerships’) for student enrichment opportunities in our area (for bus, materials…). Dr. Karen Pérez-Da Silva said to let her know if there are articles, video, film, event, etc. that you recommend for the website, so feel free to email me anything you think should be posted to the website and I will forward it on. The website will be updated bi-monthly so please bookmark it for future reference.

• UO The International Cultural Service Program Presentations – The International Cultural Service Program (ICSP) is now open for 2017-18. ICSP provides free presentations and classroom visits by specially trained international UO students. They can give cultural presentations, participate in panel discussions, and introduce activities from cooking, song, dance, and crafts, to martial arts, yoga, traditional sports, and storytelling. An updated ICSP Brochure is coming soon, but for an up to date list of available ICSP students, please visit the International Cultural Service Program website (or this link to request visits) or watch is video to see them in action.

• Classroomscreen.com – A teacher from the Netherlands made a simple tool with all their favorite digiboard widgets. They couldn’t find such a thing, so they made it it themselves. classroomscreen.com Just project the website on your board full-screen and you can:

• choose a background
• type your instructions in the textbox
• choose a work symbol
• set a timer or show the clock
• use the traffic light
• pick a random name
• do some simple math
• draw in-screen or full-screen
• generate a qr-code
• drag and drop the icons in the right place

It’s a pretty cool simple tool for interactive white boards!

https://youtu.be/2O70WXwHZKg

•Know Your Rights Workshop-Thursday, October 26th, 6:30 p.m. Churchill Auditorium. This workshop is intended for immigrant families and support staff interested in knowing the rights of undocumented families. There will be a 30 minute presentation on the rights of immigrant families followed by a question and answer time with a local lawyer. Families will also have the opportunity to pick-up a family preparedness kit and to sign-up for a one-on-one appointment with a district employee to organize their family preparedness folder. For more information or to make an appointment contact: Marcos 541-790-5151 (at Churchill) *The office of Equity, Instruction & Inclusion will work next with the North Region Administrators to plan a follow-up to their Know Your Rights Workshop for an event to take place in Mid November or Early December. All families are welcome to the Churchill event.

Here are the upcoming events for the next two weeks:

October 9 (M)
Indigenous Peoples’ Day- This day is an official holiday in Eugene like it is in Corvallis, Seattle, Springfield, and Portland. Find a way to celebrate in your classroom. It is no longer an official holiday recognized in Eugene for the Italian colonizer, Columbus.

8:30-11:00, Informal Observations

Joel at  lunch  and recess.

Fire Drill at 12:00 PM

October 10 (T)
8:15-11:15, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

Joel at  lunch  and recess.

Earthquake Drill at 12:00 PM

Site Council Meeting from 5 to 6.

Parent Group Meeting from 6 to 7.

October 11 (W)

8:30-11:00, Informal Observations

Joel at  lunch  and recess.

Room clear practice in every classroom throughout the day.

2:00-2:45, PBIS Meeting -All Classified Attend (Office Closes)

4-5, Joel at the North Region Principal Meeting

October 12 (H)

8:30-11:00, Informal Observations

Joel at  lunch  and recess.

Bus Safety Video and Lesson done in Every classroom throughout the day.

Join the Equity Team at this showing: 3:30–5:00 p.m.

Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon?: A Hidden History-Walidah Imarisha is coming to the University of Oregon on October 12^th to give a powerful talk from 3:30–5:00 p.m. in the Harrington Auditorium of the Jaqua Center.Walidah gives a very concise history of the whiteness of Oregon in an accessible and dynamic format. You can get a sense of her and her talk here:

October 13 (F)
No School — State In-Service Day
Regular Workday for Classified Staff
Non-Contract Day for Licensed Staff
8:30-11:30, ALICE Training for New Staff (Churchill HS)

October 16 (M)

8:30-11:00, Informal Observations

1:50-2:00, Enter assembly.

2:00-2:40- Venezuelan Trio to present music for the students. Then,  dismissal.

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

October 17 (T)

8:30-11:00, Informal Observations

3:00-4:00, New Teacher Check In- You bring the questions. I’ll bring the snacks!

(Conference Room)

October 18 (W)

8:30-11:00, Informal Observations

2:00-3:00, Staff Meeting

3:00-4:00, Planning Time (Can be collaborative)

October 19 (H)

8:30-11:00, Informal Observations

12-4, LEL Training from for  Erin Bucklew, new member of LEL. (Ed Center)

October 20 (F)

No School- El Camino del Rio PD Day.

Have a good week, everyone!

Joel

Week of October 2, 2017

Hello Shining Star Staff,

There is a lot going on this week. Get ready to move, ride, and celebrate!

Here are several items of note for the week:

• Guest Teacher Folder Reminder- We re into October now but one important task is to help prepare for and support Guest Teachers that will be responsible for students when teachers/educational assistants are absent. This is important prep work to do BEFORE staff you are absent. 
•  Walk + Roll to School Day is Wednesday, October 4 – Please remind your students that this Wednesday is Walk + Roll to School Day, where students are encouraged to walk, skateboard, bike, scooter, or use another non-motorized mode of transportation to get to school this day. Marcy is our main school organizer working with Sarah Mazze to promote the day. There will be stickers and tattoos for all students who participate as well as a raffle for some helmets, and other prizes to be named by Marcy! We will announce the winners at the end of the day. We will be running Walk and Roll events each month this year to promote healthy ways to get to school.
• The Grand Opening, Thursday, October 5th, 5:30 – 7:30- On Thursday evening there will be a grand opening celebration at the school.  Architects will be there to give a tour.  There should be a few speeches from the Superintendent, the school board chair, and some other officials. There might even be a little punch and cake.  The presentation will be brief and will be interpreted. In addition, there will be site tours provided by the  architects. Interpretation and visuals have all been translated for families into Spanish. The translators will be running tours and tagging along with the architects.  Although,  most of the tour can be self guided too.

Starting Informal Observations this Week-  I will begin to run informal observations this week in classrooms. Most days I will be in classrooms across the school from 9-11 AM. I will be coming in to take notes, give feedback and watch you teach and get insight on how children are learning.  Please be prepared for me to enter during that time period. I will also be doing several goal meetings this week. Check your inbox for Zimbra invites for these meetings. If they do not work in your schedule, be proactive to help me complete these meetings with you so all can complete their goals by October 15th. 

• Wednesday School Wide Staff PBIS Meeting-Please bring your Restorative Circles  in Schools for a Book Talk. This will be part of ourPBIS RJ training on the 4th from 2-3. All Classified Staff and Licensed Staff including specialists should attend this meeting so we can be in alignment on our PBIs expectations.
• State In-Service Day, Friday, Oct 13 – Friday, October 13th is State In-Service day. This is a regular work day for administrators and 192 & 196-day classified staff. For classified staff, you are required to attend an ALICE training (see item below) if you have not already been trained. If you’ve already attended a training, this would be a good day to take any accumulated comp time (which officially is not supposed to be accumulated without giving me prior notice). For licensed staff, this is a non-contract day. If you are ever wondering about work year dates, most all of your questions can be answered on the 4J Employee Work Year Calendars webpage.
• IPBS Team Representation- Currently, there is no representative on the Intensive Positive Behavior Supports from 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. We need at least two teachers from these grades to relay information about student needs and report on the efficacy of interventions being implemented.  Please see Joel or Jennifer to make a commitment to this important team.
• ALICE For staff unfamiliar with ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate), it is a response protocol to emergency situations, such as an active shooter, which 4J and many other Oregon school districts have adopted and are now teaching students. 

• Student ALICE Training & Staff Refresher – With Safety Week coming up at the end of the month, I wanted teachers to note on the calendar that on Tuesday, November 7, all classrooms are to teach the ALICE Drill Protocols before we conduct the drill on Wednesday, November 8. I’ll hold an optional refresher training for staff on Tuesday, October 31 at 3:00 in the Conference Room for new staff and anyone who wants to review how to teach the ALICE Protocol Student Lesson.

Linked here is the PowerPoint presentation (and a PDF version with notes) that classroom teachers will use to teach the safety drills to students on 11/8. After going through the PowerPoint, teachers will read the book I’m Not Scared, I’m Prepared (let me know if you do not have a copy of the book) with the linked guiding questions. The following day on Thursday, Nov. 8nd at 9:00, we’ll practice the Lockdown: Evacuation Drill. For that drill I hope to press the office lockdown button (dropping curtains, locking exterior doors, and closing [not locking] doors to each wing) and will announce the following:

Attention students, staff and visitors: This is a LOCKDOWN: EVACUATE DRILL, this is a LOCKDOWN: EVACUATE DRILL. Repeat, this is a NOT A REAL EMERGENCY. THIS IS A DRILL. We are pretending there is a dangerous person (or intruder) in the building on the other side of the building from your classroom. We are pretending there is a dangerous person (or intruder) in the building on the other side of the building from your classroom. WE ARE IN A LOCKDOWN: EVACUATE DRILL.

If the lockdown system is not yet fully operational, we will still have you lower all external blinds and we will manually close the classroom wing doors.

Teachers will then direct students to evacuate the building to the nearest location on the perimeter of the school grounds. Classes will stop at the edge of the property and wait for my all-clear announcement. In a real emergency, students and staff would evacuate well past the edge of the property, getting much further away. I’ll share more details at the refresher training, but those are the basics. Please let me know if you have any questions.

• ThinkCentral Teacher Log-In – A few teachers contacted me last week having problems with the teacher log-in for ThinkCentral. Username and passwords are:

USERNAME: your full email address (i.e. chinn@4j.lane.edu)
PASSWORD: Capital first and last initials, followed by _t, followed by your 6-digit employee ID number (i.e. AC_t654321)

If you continue to have trouble logging in, you can also reset your password (though it may revert back to the above password after the nightly sync with Synergy). To get a new password, select your state, district, and school from the pull-down menus on the login page, enter your full email address for the username, and click Reset Password. You will receive an email with instructions on resetting your password.

If you do not get an email or get a message that it can’t find an account, send an email to 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu that includes the school name so Tech Department staff know where to give your access. Also, I still have admin access to ThinkCentral from when Howard piloted Journeys a few years ago and can reset your password.

• Instructional Technology Fall Workshops – A few staff members have asked where go to register for any of the Instructional Technology workshops this fall. Just go the the 4J Workshops webpage. There is an Introduction to SMART Notebook workshop at Howard Elementary on October 16th, which I’d encourage anyone to attend who is not familiar with the application. All workshops have PDUs for attending. If you need help registering, just call or email Misty Jackson (x7567 or jackson_misty@4j.lane.edu) for help.

District ALICE Training for New Staff – 4J is holding an ALICE training October 13th, 8:30- 11:30 at Churchill High School for staff new to the district who have not previously received ALICE training. This is a required training for any untrained classified staff, but this is a non-contract day for licensed staff, so it is an optional training for licensed staff members. Registration is required, which you can do by clicking this ALICE Training Registration link.

• School Choice Calendar Changes – As an FYI, there will be some changes to how the school choice process works this year. Linked here is the complete email sent to principals and secretaries, but the Reader’s Digest version is that the visitation and application period will be only in January and not February, with an application deadline of January 31st. The School Showcase will still happen, but will be earlier in the year and only 2 hours.
• Talk Time: Conversational English – Feel free to share this Eugene Public Library event with families as you see appropriate. “Learning English? Come meet other learners and practice together! Drop in for ‘Talk Time,’ a casual, conversational gathering at the Downtown Eugene Public Library on Thursday, October 5, 4:00 p.m. Everyone’s welcome and admission is free. For more information, contact Eugene Public Library at 541-682-5450 or http://www.eugene-or.gov/library.”

Here is the calendar of the next two weeks:

October 2 (M)-

Joel in several Goals Meetings

9-11- Informal Observations

11:30-12:00-Translation Support for our school meeting with Vanessa Vasquez and Karen Perez DaSilva

October 3 (T) –

Goals Meetings

9-11- Informal Observations

8:30-9:30- Joel in meeting with Sue Wilson about Math Dual Language Supports and AIM4S Cubed.

October 4 (W)

Goals Meetings

9-11- Informal Observations

Staff Meeting- PBIS andRestorative Practices Agreement

5:30-7:00, Joel presents at the Lion’s Club on our school and the new building.

October 5 (Th)

Goals Meetings

9-11- Informal Observations

3:00-3:45- IPBS Team, “Guardians of the Galaxy”

5:30-7:30-Grand Opening Celebration

October 6 (F)

Caminata Schedule

Gomez, Garcia, Screen: (8:55) 9:00-9:30 (9:35)

Flores, Piper, Reckers: (9:40) 9:45-10:15 (10:20)

Hernandez, Ramirez Tate: (10:25) 10:30-11:00 (11:05)

Bucklew, Brougher, Skoubo: (11:35) 11:40-12:10 (12:15)

Forsman, Barnes, Hellman: (12:20) 12:25-12:55 (1:00)

1:00-2:00 Clean Up Caminata

October 9 (M)

9-11- Informal Observations

October 10 (T)-

8:00-11:15, Joel to Principal Meeting

October 11 (W)-

9-11- Informal Observations

October 12 (Th)-

9-11- Informal Observations

October 13 (F)-

State Inservice Day- No Teachers or Licensed Staff

Regular Work day for Classified (192 and 196) and Administrators.

October 20 (F) –

No School. Our first of three El Camino PD Days of the year.  Instructional focus will be on ELD and Number Talks.

We made it through the first month of school. In my opinion, this is a huge accomplishment considering the smoke, the construction, and the move.  We all have so much to be proud of.  Nice work everyone.

Best, 

Joel