Week of December 3, 2018
Hi everyone,
I hope you had a nice weekend. I had some fun times with my family around the house. We also volunteered at the Chanukah fair to help younger kids enjoy the holiday. I hope you had a chance to do something meaningful with family or friends this weekend.
Here are a few opportunities and reminders for the week ahead:
• Balancing the Holidays in Your Classroom– While teachers are guaranteed a certain level of academic freedom in what they teach, we want to balance that with being inclusive of all students and families, so please be mindful in your class activities and displays as we enter the holiday season. Religious pluralism is a value we should strive for. This Teaching Tolerance article serves as a nice reminder, where the author writes that each year at this time, teachers are faced with a dilemma: How to balance the holidays to create the most inclusive environment? As Hanukkah (December 2-10) and Christmas (December 24-25) approach, many teachers will decorate with candy canes and construction-papered dreidels, but there are more holidays being celebrated this month. Muharram begins this month, the liturgical new year of the Islamic calendar. Meanwhile, Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day this month. December also marks Kwanzaa, the Hindu family holiday Pancha Ganapati, and Yule for pagans. Many secular people either have winter solstice parties or observe no holidays at all. “By opening our hearts and minds to all religious traditions, we are serving the greater good and our connections with others grow deeper.” See the above link for more related articles and this link for additional resources. Winter themed activities, such as these WeAreTeachers Winter Craft Ideas, are always an option as well.
• STEM Opportunity– At Lane ESD we are offering a free 1-day NGSS science workshop specifically designed for K-5 teachers! Here is some additional information:
- Dec. 5th, 8:30-3:30 at Lane ESD
- Sub Reimbursement
- PDU’s
- Information and access to Lane ESD’s STEM Kits checkout system (well-designed, fun, free STEM kits for checkout!)
- Opportunity to collaborate with other Lane County Elementary Teachers!
Sign up here: www.lesd.k12.or.us/workshops. If you have any questions regarding the workshop, please email Heidi at hrebar@lesd.k12.or.us.
Master Schedule Changes Ahead: Starting Wednesday, December 5 we will be switching the lunches around to create safer environments for our youngest students. 1st and 2nd will now be having recess first. Kindergarten will have recess alone. Then, 3rd grade will have a solo recess and 4/5 will have no changes to their recess. During the 1/2 recess Dr. Dene and Mr. Adee will take in a class at a time into the gym to run a recess. This will support the supervisors outside to have less students to watch on the playground. The 1/2 recess will have about 90-100 students outside (and 28 -30 in the gym) at once instead of the 175 students currently in the k/1 recess. The idea is to reduce the ratio of adults watching students and to help students play in a safer environment. This decision was made in PLT last Wednesday and is final. Though, there will probably be some adjustments made to make it smooth. More detail on exact times will be share in the staff meeting on Tuesday.
Staff Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, December 4
(Classified are encouraged to attend. I will pay you to stay.)
Master Schedule Changes and details.
Understanding Trade Time forms for Classified Staff
Planning Noche Cultural as a Staff, Choice Time Projects
2nd Artist in Residence Preferences- Larry Meyers or Esteban Camacho (APRIL 2019)
Planning a meeting with families on prevention of disrupted learning.
Keep using that Second Steps curriculum. It matters!
Here are the upcoming events to be aware of:
December 3 (M)
7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office
December 4 (Tu)
3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting
December 5 (W)
3:15-4:00, PLT
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)
December 6 (Th)
10:00- 11:00, Joel at ESSA Conversation
11:00-12:00, Joel at El Camino del Rio Access Conversation
December 7 (F)
Fire Drill Day
8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela
2:00-3:00, Behavior Framework PD for all staff #6, A210
3:00-4:00, Teacher Prep Time
6:30-8:30, Family Movie Night
December 10 (M)
7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office
Regular Day
December 11 (Tu)
8:30-12:00, Joel at the All Admin Meeting
4:45-5:45, Site Council
6:00-7:15, Parent Group- with conversation/ presentation about disrupted learning
December 12 (W)
3:15-4:00, PLT
December 13 (Th)
Regular Day
December 14 (F)
8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela
2:00-3:00, Spanish Language Development Discussion Time- CLD Learners/ SPED with Karen Apgar
3:00-4:00, prep time
4:30-6:00, 4J Science Teacher Leader Meeting ( Howard STEAM Room)
December 17 (M)
Joel and Teachers at Dual Language Observation at North including Lily Chaves, Marcy Hellman, Aline Baissac, Nancy Schaal McHarry
7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office
December 18 (Tu)
8:00-12:00, Elementary Admin Meeting
3:15-4:00, PBIS- Whole Staff Meeting
December 19 (W)
3:15-4:00, PLT
December 21 (Th)
Regular Day
December 22 (F)
8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela
2:00-4:00, Double Prep Day – not that this is switched in with the 14th. A nice time to have a double prep. 😉
4:00, Winter break begins!
January 7 (M)
Professional Development Day 8:00-1:30, 5.5 hours of PD Details to be announced. It will be choose your own adventure style. 2.5 hours of planning time.
January 8 (Tu)
School resumes
3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting- Noche Cultural Planning (Parent Group Attends for first part.)
January 9 (W)
Regular Day
3:15-3:45,PLT Meeting
January 10 (Th)
Regular Day
January 11 (F)
Regular Day
2:00-3:00, PLT Meeting
3:00-4:00, Prep time
Fire Drill- Time TBA
Three weeks until winter break. They are going to be awesome!
Joel
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