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:
- It is a major distraction from learning.
- Exclusion or offense to religious groups that do not celebrate Halloween during the school day.
- Teachers may not have the time or parent support to plan activities for Halloween.
- The risk of students dressing up as another person’s culture, called cultural appropriation
- 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