Diario Camino del Río

First Diario of the year- September 3, 2018

 

Hi Camino Staff,

This is my weekly blog.  I put major information here and the weekly calendar with most school events. If you are new staff, this is the place to go to find out what is going on.  I have kept this blog up for 4 years and so if you are ever wondering about what we do or how things have changed, click on the old blog entries. There is a ton of information on here. 

Second,  I am so grateful for our first week of school.  It was great to see so many of you having fun, working together, learning together and planning together.  In a word, you are amazing  !  I am so grateful to be a part of this staff again. You make me very proud.  I know you are all here for the right reasons- you love kids and get great joy from seeing them learn and grow.  

Here are some items of note for the week:

• PE & Music Start Date –  Dene and David 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. Please let them know if you WILL NOT be going to specialist times this week.

• Need More Second Step Posters? – Classroom teachers, let me know by the end of the week if you’d like me to order you any additional Second Step posters in Spanish or Engl. One poster was sent with each kit and downtown sent principals an email that they are doing a one-time purchase of these posters, so let me know if you want one.

• easyCBM Benchmarking & Title 1 Updates – Four updates for teachers.

1.) Testing starts Monday, September 10th and goes through Friday, September 14th. Please get as much done as possible that week so Title staff can get the diagnostic testing completed the following week to form groups. Aline will work with EA’s this week to oversee the schedule for testing. The KRA is th priority this week in order to complete kinder placements.
2.) Jaime is overseeing and organizing testing with Aline this year though she will be here mostly in the afternoon. Expect an email from her outlining the details. 
3.) Our hope is to begin Title 1 service by September 24th but managing assessment well is the first priority. If it takes longer, we won’t fret about it. 

4. EasyCBM Sub Days are reserved for Kinder and 1st grades only. This is directed by the district. 2nd grade teachers, if you need more time for assessment, I can provide sub days from Title 1 dollars.

• School Bus PBIS & Positive Slips – Bus drivers have their own version of a PBIS positive slip, which teachers should honor just the same as our PBIS positive Rayos de Luz for weekly class drawing, which will start the first full week of class. Transportation fully supports PBIS in our school.

• Class Buddies – Teachers, if you haven’t already, let me know who you Buddy Classroom will be for this school year. Class Buddies should be across grade levels and met at least 4 times per school year for bonding and relationship building activities.

• No Scents, Fragrances, Perfumes – Please do not wear any scents, body sprays, perfumes, or such at school. We have a number of students and staff with allegories who can have serious potentially life-threatening allergic reactions.

• Classroom Newsletters and home communication  – Classroom newsletters, classroom dojo invites, seesaw invites, or however you communicate with families is of great interest to me. Keep me and your families in the loop!  It is expected that parents should have some form of communication from you (the teacher) once per week.  In addition, it should be bilingual communication. Synergy also has an online communication system for your use.  Please reach out to families often and tell them about cool things going on in your classroom.  If you want to share pictures, that is encouraged!  Check with me in case  parents have said no photos of their kids. These days, that is pretty rare. 

• Google Permission Forms – If you have students who do not have permission to use Google apps such as Google Classroom, linked here is the 4J Google Permission Form (English and Spanish). The forms can also be found online at the 4J Instructional Technology Resources & Links webpage. 4th and 5th grades should get started on using this tool early this year. Misty Jackson will be a great resource to teach you this skillset.  Alexis and other upper grade teachers used it last year quite a bit.

• Voicemail Set-Up – Teachers, if you changed rooms this year or are new to Camino, please take time to set-up your voicemail by using the linked Quick Start Voice Mail User Guide. If you have questions, please contact Peggy at 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu or call (541) 790-7777.

• Enrollment Updates – Enrollment is down a lot of student in the district.  4J is about 580 students short in k-5.  Our enrollment and all 19 other schools are under enrolled.  However,  we are pretty close to enrollment projections, 581 students versus the projected 588. We were 5 over projection in Kinder. 2nd grade is bigger than it was in June. All other grades have had a lot of coming and going, but they are steady in size. We have grown since June! We were 351 before the 5th grade was promoted to Kelly. We now have 30 more students. 

 Meet Your Teacher – Meet Your Teacher is Tuesday, September 4th at 12:30-2:00. All non- classroom staff should be available to direct families, passing out school maps with highlighters to help guide families, and also passing out a flyer about the first day of school and parking lot procedures. MariCarmen will be in the gym with Yasmin to collect contributions. Teachers, please be available in your classrooms and in the classroom hallways to support families to find your room.

• There will also be a transportation table for communication about bus stops.  We will need two EA’s to work at this desk
• We will also need two EA’s to be guides for families. You will hand out maps and provide guidance to families. (This will be in the gym.)
• All other EA’s and specialists will need to help MariCarmen and Yasmin collect fees. This year,  MariCarmen and Yasmin will be handling the money only.  You will support them by organizing families and providing “customer service” to help them with forms.  You will also provide the staff handbook.

 It might also be a good idea to create an informal roster and contact sheet to collect basic information.  If you plan on using a communication tool like classroom Dojo or Seesaw share how to get on during the meet your teacher time.  We’ll also give staff a complete set of class lists to be used this day and also on the first day of school.

First Days of School –  We will also need all-hands-on-deck to help at 7:55 on Wednesday, September 5th and Thursday, September 6th. Here’s the plan for the first and second morning with students:

First Day
• Students will come in at 7:55 and breakfasts. Simple breakfasts. The wall separating the cafeteria and gym will be open.
• Classroom teachers, also at 7:55 when the doors open, will be in the cafeteria, gym, and courtyard to meet students. Each teacher will have tall t-square signs with teacher name and room number (except for kindergarten, who’s doing something different this year). 1st – 5th grade will meet in the Gym. KG will start their day in the classroom and find out the temporary classroom near the library on the social stair.
• Non-classroom staff, also starting at 7:55, will be at the front entrance, the gym, and the cafeteria to help guide students and families. All staff will be given class lists to help guide students as well as a handful of building maps to pass out.
• After the first bell at 8:25 rings, Joel will make a brief announcement from the stage and then dismiss classes to go to their classrooms. Non-classroom staff will have assigned areas to help with student flow and for students arriving late. Staff will be stationed at the front entrance, cafeteria & gym, the hallway corners of the library, and one person in each wing (upstairs and downstairs).

Second Day
• Starting this day, students will follow our normal routine, but non-classroom staff should still to be available one more day 7:55-8:25 to help students with that routine of breakfast, 1st – 5th to the playground, and lining up right before the 8:25 bell. Begin practicing lining up under the covered play in fire drill fashion. Kinder students will eat after breakfast at 8:35.  Kinders will start their day in the temporary classroom. After the 8:25 bell rings, non-classroom staff should again take their same places as the day before to help guide any lost students or families.

Staff helping should hold onto their class lists and maps from Meet Your Teacher and the first day to help guide families on the second day. If you can’t flex your hours to come in earlier these two days, please let me know so I can adjust where people are stationed.

• Technology CTL Reps K/1 and 4/5 – To support teachers with the transition to all iPads, the Technology Department has developed a 2-year PD plan. The first step in the plan is enlisting CTL reps similar to reading, math, and science. Schools will select three Technology Teacher Leaders (K/1, 2/3, and 4/5) who will attend district meetings/trainings to bring information and PD back to their schools. I had two volunteers for the 2/3 and 4/5 rep. We still need one more rep for k/1. 

• Support El Camino del Rio with eScrip, SmileAmazon, Fred Meyer Rewards! – An easy way you all can support Camino is by signing up for eScrip, Smile Amazon, and Fred Meyer Rewards. With eScrip, you link you debit and/or credit cards and when you make purchases around town at places like Market of Choice, Sizzle Pie, El Tapatio, or Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, it supports El Camino. eScrip also supports purchases through a number on online retailers including Best Busy, Target, and Amazon if you first go through escrip.com. Fred Meyer also has their own rewards program that Camino is a part of. Sign up for the Fred Meyer Community Rewards program by linking your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to Camino Elementary School. 

• Insurance Stuff – Two insurance relating items:

• OEBB Mandatory Open Enrollment – You’ve likely gotten multiple cards and emails, but OEBB will end all current medical, vision, and dental plans effective September 30, 2018 unless you enroll before the deadline on September 15th. See the 4J Employee Benefits webpage to enroll. With the Sept. 15th deadline, it might be wise to do it now before you get caught up in the start of the school year craziness.

• Almost Free Sunglasses! – Here’s something fun I just learned about. Most of the vision insurance plans provide a glasses frame allowance each year, covering up to $70 once every 12 months that can be applied towards non-prescription sunglasses if you go through VSP. I wasn’t quite clear if there was a $20 deductible.

• Northwest Community Credit Union Mini Grants – 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 (up to $1,500) to NWCU through a competitive, submission process. Submissions are being accepted now through October 8, 2018 with winners awarded in December. Grants can be for supplies (e.g.,calculators, dissection specimens, art materials, basic school supplies, etc.), books & materials ((e.g., books for classroom libraries or to support curriculum, funding for field trips, etc.), technology (e.g., iPads, Chromebooks, Boogie Board e-writers, headphones for listening centers, etc.), and more. Follow this link to submit your grant to the NWCU Mini Grant Program.

• Math Workshop Resource – At last Friday’s PD, I attended a session on Math Workstations that shared a video from Dr. Nicki Newton, an education consultant who works with schools and districts around the country on elementary math curriculum, where she had some great advice on how to set-up math stations at the start of the school year.

Gender Neutral Words- How to use them and make everyone feel included.  I am including this article for those who want to learn more about how to be gender inclusive for our student and staff community.  Language matters.

 Schedule of Upcoming Events

I will be in classrooms starting with the first day of school. See you there!

September 3 (M)
Labor Day – No School

September 4 (T)

12:30-2:00, Meet Your Teacher Event

3:00-4:00, Staff Meeting-  PLC, DLI Non-Negotiable, SLD, Choice Time

September 5 (W)
Classes Begin, Hooray!

3:15-4:00, Equity Team Meeting in David Barnes Room- Camino Declaration Details

5:00-7:00, Parent Group Planning Event

Kinder Zone Day 1

September 6 (H)
Regular Day

Tacos y Sandia- 6:00-8:00 (Staff attendance is optional.)

Kinder Zone Day 2

September 7 (F)
2:15-3:00, Early Release PD- Behavior Framework Module 3 (Nancy’s Classroom, A210)

3:00-4:00, Teacher Golden Hour Prep

Kinder Zone Day 3

4:00, KG Class Lists Posted

September 10 (M)
easyCBM Benchmark Testing begins

Rosh Hashanah Jewish Holiday- Be sure to check for religious absences.  Consider delaying EASY CBM if you have absences due to a religious holiday.

September 11 (T)
9:00-12:00, Joel to All-Admin and Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting- Planning PD for staff?  Direction for the year.

September 12 (W)
3:15-4:00, iPad Training in the Library.

September 13 (H)

First attendance screening done by Yasmin and Joel

September 14 (F)
easyCBM Benchmark Testing Ends
2:00-3:00, SLD Collaborative Planning (Nancy’s Room, A210)

3:00-4:00, Teacher Prep Time- Alone or together.

Joel

 

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