Diario Camino del Río

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

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