Week of October 20
Schedule of Events of The Week
October 20 (M)
8:00-4:30, Rosa Molina Visit to consult on our schedules and district wide issues. See the schedule in the main blog post.
I will not be attending the Title Meeting nor the Principal’s Meeting in order to host our guest Rosa Molina throughout the day. I will try to attend each of the grade level meetings with you pending disciplinary needs.
First Day of BEST
October 21 (T)
8:15-12:15, Priority School Support Team Meeting (SST) (Conference Room)
12:30-1:30- Math PD Planning meeting with Reid Sheppard and Maddie Ahearn (Conference Room)
2:45 3:45 – TLT Meeting (Conference Room)
6:00-8:00, Latino Family Meeting @ NEHS
October 22 (W)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Maestra Recker’s Room
6:00-8:00,Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event
October 23 (H)
7:30-9:30, Joel at Priority Schools Meeting with fellow Principals in Springfield
10:00-12:00, Joel in Meeting with Audrey Lucero and Edward Olivos
3:00-5:00, Design Committee
4:30-6:30, Joel to the 4J Equity Committee
6:00-8:00 PM, Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event
October 24 (F)
Joel in Portland with Karen, Alicia, and Sara Cramer to learn about Early Literacy.
10:15-11:00, Asemblea Andina with Ethnomusicologist and parent Ed Wolf.
October 27 (M)
2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting for October
October 28 (T)
1:00-3:30, Superintendent Berman to observe classrooms and chat with staff at Staff Meeting.
3:45-5:30, PLT Meeting for CAP Revisions (Extra Duty Contract for PLT Members)
October 29 (W)
1:45-2:45, Wednesday Collaboration Time
October 30 (Th)
3:00-5:00, Design Committee
October 31 (F)
Halloween- Costumes to be worn in classroom parties only.
November 6 and 7- Parent Conferences.
Here are several items of note for the week:
This week will be very busy for many of us. Do not forget to take time to enjoy the interactions with your students and be in the moment with them. We are solidifying our schedule and making some great decisions with our students in mind. This is so important for the future of our program. I could not be more proud of the interactions I have seen in classrooms over the last week. You are all doing a great job with our students. Keep it up!
Rosa Molina Visit Schedule:
Here is the schedule for the grade level consultations with Rosa Molina next Monday, Oct 20. We will have two roving subs to cover classes while teachers are meeting with her.
8:15-8:55 Grade 2
9:00-9:40 Grade 1
9:45-10:25 Kinder
10:30-11:30 District meeting
11:30-12:00 Lunch
12:00-12:40 Grade 3
12:45-1:25 Grade 5
1:30-2:10 Grade 4
2:10-2:30 Break
2:30-3:30 Specialists
3:30-4:10 Grade 6 (Hector Cash from Kelly)
Here are some Resources available in the Family Resource Center on El Dia de Los Muertos:
If you are interested in checking them out, please let Alicia know and she will get them to you. Below you will find a list of useful Día de los Muertos links. Please let her know if you have any questions.
Resources:
Día de los Muertos Activity Packet
Day of the Dead SMARTBoard Activity
Books:
The Festival of Bones/El Festival de las Calaveras
El Día de los Muertos
Mi Familia Calaca/My Skeleton Family
Links:
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/dayofthedead.htm
http://latino.si.edu/dayofthedead/
http://www.mexonline.com/dayofthedead.htm
http://www.celebrate-day-of-the-dead.com/
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/byrnes-celebrations/day.html
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/dia-de-los-muertos/?ar_a=1
http://www.niu.edu/newsplace/nndia.html
http://holidays.mrdonn.org/dayofthedead.html
http://www.mommymaestra.com/2010/11/brief-history-of-dia-de-los-muertos-for.html
http://www.inside-mexico.com/noes.htm
Students will not wear costumes to school. They must arrive in regular attire. If a teacher decides to hold a Halloween party, students can put on their costumes for the event and the teacher will inform families on their own. Individual teachers will determine if Halloween parties will take place in their classrooms. If teachers permit costumes during this holiday celebration, the following dress code will be enforced, as it pertains to costumes:
• NO weapons
• NO weapon-like props
• NO excessive bareness (no spaghetti straps, exposed bra straps, bare midriffs)
• NO “gang” attire
• NO dress as another ethnicity or race
• NO masks
• NO especially scary or gory costumes
We will provide an alternative activity for families who do not promote costume wearing, such as the Jehovah’s Witness community. The music and PE specialists will provide a sing along /movement session at the END of the day for 40 minutes while parties occur. Please plan all classroom parties from 2:00-2:40 so Jehovah’s Witness parents can pick up students from home after the academic instruction has happened.
Here is a link to the 4J Healthy Snack Guidelines for Parties: Remember, we (nor parents volunteering) cannot serve students candy at school.
New School will be designed on the west of the existing school:
The new school will be built to the west of the existing school. The design team provided an update to the school board this evening, sharing information about the siting decision and how that decision was reached.
Now the more detailed design work begins. The design committee will continue to be as responsive as possible to neighborhood, family and community input as the design of the new school takes shape. The new school is scheduled to break ground in 2015 and open in fall 2016.
Learn more about the site selection and public engagement process:
River Road School Site Selection Process — school board presentation slideshow, Oct. 15, 2014
River Road School Site Selection Evaluation Matrix
River Road School Design Public Engagement Process
• CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant – The CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant Program is a competitive grant open to PreK-12 teachers and is designed to help teachers implement technology in their classrooms to increase student achievement. They will consider requests of up to $5,000 submitted by full-time classroom teachers, with a deadline of January 2, 2015. Grants will be awarded in April. If you’d like any help putting together a grant, let me know and I can maybe even ghostwrite it for you or a group of teachers.
• VIDEO: White Privilege – Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart had an epic showdown over white privilege that’s well worth watching. I nearly saved this for a staff meeting, but it’s a bit long. Still, it’s definitely worth playing the 12 minute segment after school one day to see Stewart do an excellent job of countering O’Reilly’s various detours (the playing field is now level, reverse racism, the bootstrap theory, etc.) throughout the face-off. Since it’s from The Daily Show, it’s also quite funny and entertaining.
• Free/Reduced Meals Forms at Conferences or sent home.– Our Free and Reduced Meals percentage is currently at 67%, which is a drop from where we were at the end of last year, which was around 72%. Please highlight the program to families at conferences and have some forms on hand. Besides the importance of making sure families who could benefit from the program are accessing it, our F/R count directly impacts our classroom and Title staffing, so it’s a good idea for many reasons to encourage families to enroll in the program even if they don’t plan on using it. Monday, October 20th is the “drop off” day if families had service last year. Parents will need to reapply to get the service again if they had it set up in 2013-2014.
Dual Language Links of the Week:
A New Vietnamese Dual Language School in Portland
Reducing distraction with bilingualism
Have a fabulous week everyone!
Joel
Announcements, Equity, Parent Involvement | Comment (0)Week of October 13
Hi all,
I had a wonderful experience on Friday night at the benefit for Centro Latinoamericano. I sat beside Ramon Ramirez, the President of PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste). He was the keynote speaker and delivered a powerful message about migrant workers rights, sustainability, and education. He shared his experience of marching with many people from Selma to Montgomery Alabama fifty years after the original march. It was encouraging to hear him say that education is one of the greatest ways to make a difference in children’s lives whether they are from a migrant family or not. His speech was powerful and inspiring. I encourage you to read more about the work of PCUN. They have been fighting for migrant farm worker’s rights in Oregon since 1977.
Here is a similar message from President Ramirez 2 years ago.
• Here is The Schedule of Events for the Week:
October 13 (M)
8:00-4:00, Stella Dadson will be guest administrator in office- Joel doing goals meetings and informal observations all day.9:00-9:30, Joel in meeting with Hayden Spence, UO Pre-education major and my former Madison science class 6th grade student.
7:00- 9:00, Joel to Common Core State Standards Information Night at North Eugene, All teachers are welcome to attend.
October 14 (T)
9:00-10:00, Meeting with new SST Leader- Kathy Krieder and Kathy Larson
1:45-2:30- Youth Orchestra- Strings Project- Recruitment –4/5th Grade Assembly in Cafeteria (SORRY for the late Notice)
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting, Please arrive on time unless on duty.
6:00-8:00, Parent Group Meeting- Kindergarten Presenting
October 15 (W)
8:00-11:00, Joel to TAG Coordinator Training (Leaving early)10:00-10:00, Joel returns to meet with ODE Shanda Brown
2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting- 1 hour paid to all classified who attend.- 3 positions available- We need your input!
October 16 (H)
4:00 PM-Schedules due to submit to Rosa Molina via Dropbox folder.
3:00-4:00, Costume Swap- after school.
3:00-5:00, Design Committee in Library
October 17 (F)
Joel in goals meetings and informal walk-through observations.- Another guest administrator will be in the building to support us to complete goals meetings.
October 20 (M)
8:00-4:30, Rosa Molina Visit to consult on our schedules and district wide issues.- Sarah Knudsen will send schedule out this week.
Title Meeting for Aline.
Title Coordinator and Principal Meeting
First Day of BEST
October 21 (T)8:15-12:15, Priority School Support Team Meeting (SST) (Conference Room)
12:30-1:30- Math PD Planning meeting with Reid Sheppard and Maddie Ahearn (Conference Room)
2:45 3:45 – TLT Meeting Conference Room
6-8, Latino Family Meeting @ NEHS
October 22 (W)6-8,Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Recker’s Room
October 23 (H)
6-8,Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event
3:00-5:00, Design Committee
4:30-6:30, Joel to the 4J Equity Committee
October 24 (F)
Joel in Portland with Karen, Alicia, and Sara Cramer to learn about Early Literacy.
8:25-9:10, Asemblea Andina
November 6 and 7- Parent Conferences.
Here are some items of note for the week:
• Please finish your grade level weekly master schedule: Make time to complete your weekly master schedule this week. It is due by Friday at 4:00 PM to be inputted into Rosa Molina’s Drop Box.
• Goals Meetings: Make you goals appointment with me this week or next. I am available as early as 7:15 some days.
• Parent Group Meeting, Tuesday at 6:00 – The October Parent Group meeting will be this Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 PM in the library if any staff are able to attend. There was a big turnout of staff and families for the September meeting, which was a great show of support for the Parent Group’s work. Hope to see you there!
• Classified Staff Comp Time reminder.- Please ask Edna for the comp time form to keep track of your comp time on a monthly basis. This makes it easier for us to manage and keep track of.
• Classified Staff AESOP Reminder – When entering an absence into AESOP, when you get to the Time section, always select “Custom” and then enter your work hours. If you forget this step, AESOP defaults assigning the sub to an 8 hour day. Let me know if you have any questions on this.
• Conference Compensation for Large Classes – Most teachers probably already know this, but section 10.1.9 of the contract states “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.” How this was handled last year was that following conferences teachers with 29 students or more signed an extended contract form to receive their additional half-day pay.
• Elementary Leadership Plan Changes – While we need to wait for the School Board to ratify the new EEA contract, I wanted to let everyone know how the Elementary Leadership Plans will be more generous this year. The old plan I had was to divide our 14 days among 4 people (3.5 for for School Climate, 3.5 for for Technology and 3.5 for Differentiation and TAG Support ), but pending board approval we will now get 18 days to divide among up to 6 teachers. This means we will need to revisit and update our plan. The 18 days could be evenly divided among our four current leaders or we could add new compensated leadership positions and decide how to divide the 4 additional leadership days. Let me know if you have ideas or preferences on how to distribute our 20 days, so we might have a starting place for discussion at our next staff meeting.
• District Admin Updates – Tryna Luton has been hired as the Staff Growth and Effectiveness Administrator, taking the place of Tasha Katsuda who became the new Federal Programs (Title 1) Coordinator. Since 2008, Tryna has been serving as the Director of Federal Systems for the Oregon Department of Education. One of her many responsibilities in this role was to collaboratively direct the teacher and principal evaluation system implementation. Before her work with ODE she worked at Oregon State University as a P-12 Outreach Coordinator/Administrator and she also worked for 10 years as a teacher in the Lebanon Community School District.
• Resources for Smarter Balanced – Marlee Litten posted several links for Smarter Balanced last week. The one link about universal tools is now expired, but Oscar had downloaded the video so it is loaded on the Teacher Resource Site under ESC > State Assessments on the Teacher Resource page. If you have found other resources to share, please send them to Marlee or myself. The video of a PLC team is still not working on YouTube so downtown is trying to get a copy sent to us of that one.
• Title 1 Newsletter – If you’d like to know what’s happening in Title 1 from the district perspective, here is the latest Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is again mostly coordinator compliance tasks, but there is an interesting video on close reading strategies with informational texts.
• Recycle Art Challenge – The deadline for this is Wednesday, but here’s an opportunity for teachers to raise awareness about waste control and promote recycling education PLUS win cash for your classroom. The contest is open to all Lane Country children grades K-5. Winning artists will receive a pizza party for their homeroom class and $350 will also be award to the class of each winner. In addition, each winner will personally receive a $50 gift certificate to the Maude Kerns Art Center. See the flyer for details.
•Bilingual Education turns 40– Did you know that bilingual education as we know it is 40 years old this year?
Here are two articles that outline the landmark ruling that shifted English Language Learner’s Education if you have the time to read them.
Students effected by Lau vs. Nichols from San Francisco Unified School District
How Lau v. Nichols Transformed Bilingual Education
Forty Years Since Bilingual Education Ruling, Challenges Remain
Have a rewarding and enriching week with your students!
Saludos cordiales,
Joel
Announcements, Engagement, Office Procedures, Staff Meeting Agenda | Comment (0)Week of October 6
Hello Camino Staff,
Last week was a very busy week. This weekend was a great cool down for me I and I feel recuperated. I hope staff found the Maravillas training helpful. There was a lot of information in the training and it will take some time to digest it all. I am so happy to settle in and see more classrooms and learning this week. I will continue to visit your morning meetings to get a feel to how classes have adjusted to that routine and structure. Teachers, it is time to focus on your goals. Please contact me to set up a time to meet and discuss them.
October 6 (M)
Joel visits morning meetings.
4:00-8:00, Joel at Equity Committee Retreat
October 7 (T)
Joel visits morning meetings.
2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting
October 8 (W)
Joel visits morning meetings.
1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaboration Time
2:45- 3:45, IPBS Meeting
October 9 (TH)
Joel visits morning meetings.
1:45, School PBIS Assembly
2:45-3:45, Design Committee
October 10 (F)
No School, Statewide In-service Day- non-contract day for teachers and EA’s
October 13(M)
Joel available all day to do goals meetings.
October 14 (T)
2:45, Staff Meeting
October 15 (W)
1:40, Collaboration Time- Please meet in library.
2:45- 3:45, PBIS Meeting, Classified encouraged to come in exchange for an hour of comp time.
October 16 (TH)
3:00, Design Meeting
October 17 (F)
Joel available all day to do goals meetings.
- Rosa Molina visit October 20th All Day– Rosa Molina is confirmed to visit on October 20th. By October 16th, I will need every teacher to complete their weekly schedule that was given to you by Sarah Knudsen. If you can get it to me next week, I can give you advice or tips on how to improve it before the visit occurs. You will be meeting with Rosa and your grade level team for 40 minutes to consult about the fidelity of the program you are delivering. Please, be prepared for this tremendous opportunity! We will also be spending time with Rosa on December 1st to do Curriculum Mapping as a staff. This will help us prepare to do the mapping on December 1st.
- Being A Writer Materials – If you are short any Being A Writer materials, let me know by Wednesday. Downtown is providing additional materials for classrooms or SPED teachers who are short or missing any items. SPED teachers should have materials for grades 2, 3 and 4 only. Let me know if you have any questions on this.
- TalentEd Update – TalentEd has now been updated for the 2014-2015 school year. This page provides a link to the TalentEd for login and Quick Start Guide. This link can be found on our 4J web site under Human Resources Teacher Effectiveness and Growth Systems. I’ll set October 31st as the due date for the self-assessment and goals. Goals Meetings- Octboer 13th and October 17th are set aside for me to work on goals for you. Please have an idea of how you would like to set your SLGOs for these meetings or write some up. In PLT this week, we will be discussing school wide SMART Goals for your convenience and to align with many of our CAP goals.
- Office Hours: The office will now be open from 7:45- 3:45. Being that our classes start at 8:20, 7:45 feels like ample time to get students to school and class. Yasmin or Edna will be there every day at 7:45. Yasmin will supervise from the office. Craig will begin opening the doors a little later each day as well.
- New Library Resource for Teachers from Eugene Public Library Youth Services – The Eugene Public Library website has a new Teacher Resources K-6 website, which includes:
• Library’s online resources, targeted by subject
• Links to books in the collection on teaching those subjects
• Links and search tips for finding books and media in the collection to check out for the classroom
• Lists of curated websites by subject
• How to contact the library for assignment support and tour requestsIf staff have any questions, they should feel free to contact Michele Green, the Eugene Public Library Youth Librarian, by email (michele.e.green@ci.eugene.or.us) or by phone at 541-682-8480 (Sun – Thurs).
- Book Room Materials Organizing and Clean Up– We need to clear out many of the materials in the book room or at least begin to store some of them. This is to make space for Maravillas resource materials. If you have materials that you want to use, please come by and pick out what you need. Piper, Megan and I are going to remove materials that are considered out of date or unnecessary by October 31.
- PBIS Assembly 1:45 Thursday– Do not forget to work with your grade level or specialist team to make up a short 10-30 second skit for the PBIS assembly. We will be presenting ourselves to the school in a fun-hearted fashion on October 9th.
- El Día de los Muertos Planning Meetings– Are you wondering how the El Dia de Los Muertos Night is going? Last week, many staff members planned out some fun stations for the event and I heard that we will be having some serious fun! Please check in with Alicia about this event that happens on October 29th from 8-6.
- BEST begins soon: Jessica Zapata has been working hard to hire candidates for the EA positions in BEST and has been working to set up a great program for the year. With Aline and Bryan’s help, this will be an amazing support for best. Attached are the details that Jessica wanted to share with you about our program this year.
BEST-Information for Principal’s blog 10_14
- No School Friday October 10 for State In-service Day– Here are some opportunities across the state.
- “Talking and Books” presentation on October 22 and 23 for Kinders- Mr. Lavin and Ms. Ramirez will read to your children while they demonstrate simple and effective ways to enjoy books with your children and get them talking!
Book talk They will talk about popular and age-appropriate books that a child may read independently and high-interest books that parents can read aloud to their children.
Time to Read Parents and their children will have time to read together.
All Families will take home a beautiful new picture book. All are invited to wear their jammies! Children may want to bring their favorite stuffed animals. Childcare will be provided for all preschool children.
- SBAC Preparation: Marlee Litten posted several links for Smarter Balanced last week. Here is one on the tools: It is under ESC>State Assessments on the Teacher Resource page) The video of a PLC team is still not working on YouTube so I am trying to get a copy sent to us. http://www.curriculum.4j.lane.edu/esc/elementary-state-assessments/
- Lock Down Review, Karen Ramirez had some great tips from last weeks lock-down drill.
Lockdown Drill was a success! Here are a some reminders for all of us.
- United Way Drive: This year Nancy Schaal is our United Way Representative. United Way is a great program that directly benefits our students in many ways. Please consider donating a small amount this year. It makes a huge difference in their lives. United way is the largest community support network in our community. As staff members, you ca make a big difference in our students lives with the small funds you donate. Ask Nancy how you can help. She will be contacting you soon to help you make a donation.
- Race Conversations: Last week, an announcement was made by North Eugene about a teacher of color who was targeted by disgusting flyers. I shared this with many staff at the end of the training last Friday. This was shared with the North Principals, and I felt, we as a staff need to be aware of it and how it may effect our students who have big brothers and sisters there. As teachers and staff members, I hope that you can incorporate conversations about difference including race in your class meetings and morning meetings. One of the great take-aways from the student actions against this flyer and treatment of adults and students is to enrich our conversations across the schools in 4j. We must directly address microagressions when we see them happening. The video below shows how some students have reacted to the microagressions they feel daily on campus at Harvard University. Our children in our classrooms are no different.
Week of September 29
Calendar of the Week’s Events
September 29 (M)
8:00-8:40, Joel in 504 meeting.
8:00-11:30, Being a Writer Training for all teachers.
12:00-3:00, Joel at Being a Writer Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, September Site Council (Conference Room)
3:45-4:45, Meeting with Kerry Delph about our Camino Facebook page.
September 30 (T)
Kathy Larson Visit
Life Touch Picture Day (Gym All Day)
8:00-8:45- Joel visiting morning meetings.
9:00-9:45, Joel meets with new Chief of Staff, Charis McGaughy
2:40-3:00, Joel Meeting with Risk about Hilliard Traffic
October 1st (W)
8:00-8:45- Joel visiting morning meetings
1:40-2:40,Collaborative Planning Time
2:45-3:15, Dia de Los Muertos Planning Meeting in Room 9.
6:00-8:00, Curriculum Night- Plan de Estudios de Noche
October 2 (H)
Joel in Portland at Coaches and Principal’s Meeting
3:00-5:00, Design Committee
October 3 (F)
Academy Day- No School
8:00-12:00, Maravillas Training with a McGraw Hill PD Consultant
12:00-4:00, Teacher Planning Time in relation to Maravillas.
This week on duty:
Inside lobby: Olivia
Front of school: Erin Reckers
Bus area #1: Marcy
Bus area #2: Erin Piper
Bus area #3: Nancy
Please remember to take your class a few minutes early if you are on duty.
Here are 16 items of note for the week:
• Design Update– On the evening of September 25th we had a turn out of about 30 people. The majority of people attending were neighbors from the surrounding community. We presented an East option and a West option. The discussion was heated and clearly, specific neighbors feel they will be adversely effected by the West option. We will be debriefing again Monday by phone to land on an East or West siting option. The East option has benefits of providing more open space. Unfortunately, it will cost money to tear down classrooms to make an east option work. This will cost 750K and means less money put into the building itself. The West option is also attractive and can be built with a slightly larger budget since there will not be tear downs. The West option also will mean less disruption and no loss of capacity as we need more kinder classrooms in 2015-2016. Most likely, the team will move forward with a site decision in the next week either way. The cons of the west plan are related to the outside play options and clear separation of traffic and play. The team is working on other options this week to share more ideas about the West option to come up with ways to solve these problems. Here is the latest presentation provided by our architect team. There are also plans in my office on poster board which I will put up in the staff lounge this week.
• PBIS Assembly on October 9th- Get a small skit prepared with your grade level team or specialist team. The skit should be fun and short. Each piece should be 10-30 seconds.
• Next Parent Group Meeting is October 14th- Consider coming to the next parent group meeting. Our new parent group president wants to help families to hear from teachers about what is happening in classrooms. Drea wants to see if teachers want to do a short sharing of a particular grade level. It makes sense for us to start with kindergarten this month. Maestra Bucklew and Maestra Fleming, can you come to this event?
Copy Counts and conserving copies- I know many staff have been feeling the pressure of limiting copies in the IMC. Please understand that I am working hard to conserve our general supply funds. Last year, our school overspent these funds by over 8,000 dollars and we had to cover these costs with reserves from fleet funds. This is why Edna and I are watching the counts closely. It may be that we need to up the quota for all staff sooner than December. Also, please use Instaprint as much as possible. A little thinking ahead can make a big difference in reducing costs. Also, there is currently no limit on Instaprint orders. In addition, we are looking into limiting the office copying by using a hybrid online/paper system to cut costs there. At open house next week, please ask parents for their latest email address so we can make sure that system is as accurate as possible. Edna will provide a sign up sheet for you next week. If we could deliver our newsletter to a quarter or even half of our families via email, it would drastically reduce our copy costs in the office.
• Northwest Conference on Social Justice October 18th– Jill Torres is helping to organize staff who are interested in going to the Northwest Social Justice Conference. There will be a bus provided to 4j employees who want to go. It will be in Portland this year. It is 8-4:30 on October 18th, 2014 at Madison High School 2735 NE 82nd Ave. Portland, Oregon 97220
• Operation School Bell – Alicia wanted to inform you that tthere are Operation School Bell envelopes in your boxes. If you got some, please make sure to send them home with the student on Monday, September 29. The envelope contains time sensitive information. Please let Alicia know if you have any questions. Thank your for your assistance.
• Safety Week Continues – This week is Safety Week, where we’ll practice all of the most common safety drills. The schedule for the week is below. Of course, if it rains, we will have to adjust the schedule. Staff did an excellent job getting students outside for last week’s fire drill. I have included a link here if you want to read more about earthquake safety and preparedness.
• Monday, Sept. 29– No Drills.
• Tuesday, Sept. 30– Room Clear, time decided by teachers
• Wednesday, Oct. 1 – Earthquake/Fire Drill
• Thursday, Oct. 2– Lock Down (Code Blue and Code Red)
All of these drills are listed in the “Emergency Procedures Manual” which is the rainbow tabbed notebook that should be hanging in every classroom (let me know if you don’t have one). I won’t be making any announcement before the drills, so it’s okay for staff to prep your students before these drills take place. For the Lock Down drill, please review the Code Blue and Code Red procedures, which include steps that are specific to River Road and are more detailed than the general ones in the Emergency Procedures Manual. I will probably have Karen or Edna run this drill since I will be out of town that day. Please let me know if you have any questions.
• Sub Folders to Edna – If you haven’t already, be sure to give your completed sub folders to Edna. For licensed staff, EAST, the substitute teachers union, provided a list of what information is most useful for them when they go into a classroom, which teachers may want to take a look at before completing your sub folders.
• Eugene/Springfield NAACP Resource Center – The Eugene/Springfield chapter of the NAACP just had their Resource Center Kick-Off Event and I wanted to highlight some resources staff may want to recommend to students and families. There are a couple programs aimed more at secondary students, which are the Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) and the Youth Council, but the program that would most benefit our students and families is the Back to School/Stay in School (BTS) program, which offers free tutoring, computer lab and academic/Parental assistance and counseling every Saturday (beginning Oct. 4) from 10:00-12:00 at the LCC Downtown Campus.
• Language Link Interpretation Services – For individual parent meetings and phone calls requiring translation services (including Parent/Teacher Conferences), the ELD Office is highly recommending that staff use the Language Link phone service (see attached document for details). This is a company the district contracts with who are well versed in education jargon, can translate multiple languages and are quite experienced in translating for schools. The ELD office will still try to schedule an in-district translator for conferences, but just know that this is also an option and in some ways might be better for connecting with families since you’d be able to better avoid having everyone talking to the translator instead of talking to each other. Of course, during our conferences, most classroom teachers will conference in the language of the parent since we have bilingual teachers.
• Ed Center Artwork Display – The Ed Center has two glass display cases begging for student artwork. It needs to be either 8×11 flat or three dimensional no larger than 8 inches on any side. If you are interested in participating, please let me know. This is a great way to help kids fell empowered and proud of their artistic skills.
• Papa’s Pizza Student Incentive Award – Papa’s Pizza is offering achievement awards that can be given to students for good behavior or reaching other teacher set goals as an incentive. The students receiving the awards can redeem them at Papa’s Pizza for a free mini pizza. If you you’d like some of these for your class, please let me know by end of the week how many you’d like. Papa’s said they can provide them all school year long. I already received 25 last week to begin this program.
• City of EugeneTeaching Resources – The City of Eugene offers a wide range of K-12 resources that teachers can use to add interest and local content to lesson plans. This brochure offers some examples of these great opportunities for students, including RiverPlay/Discovery Village Field Trip, Hunting for History, Snow Plow Art, the annual Public Works Day and many others.
• UO International Cultural Presentations for Classrooms – The International Cultural Services Program is once again making their student ambassadors from across the globe available for the 2014-2015 school year. Since the program’s inception almost 30 years ago, ICPS participants have brought cultural diversity to our community through group presentations, panel discussions, and demonstrations of regional dance, music, food and many other forms of cultural expressions. This program is K-12 and is offered free of charge. If you would like to invite an international student to speak to your class, you can submit a request by filling out this online request form. If at any time you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the ICSP Coordinator, Lindsay Pepper, by email icsp@uoregon.edu or phone (541) 346-7429.
• VIDEO: “Hey White People: A Kinda Awkward Note to America by Ferguson Kids” – A radio station from Ferguson, MO made a pretty smart and snappy video highlighting common detours to discussing and addressing racism in America, our local community and even in ourselves.
• Hispanic Heritage Month- Check out the UO Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration organized in part by Jessica Zapata
Ten un buen semana de escuela!
Director Joel
Announcements, Being a Writer, Equity, Evacuation Drills, Maravillas- McGraw Hill, Office Procedures, Open House, Parent Involvement, Uncategorized | Comment (0)Week of September 8
Weekly Schedule
September 8 (M)
Fall Benchmark Testing and KRA Continues8:30, Reading to Piper’s Class
9:15, Reading to Nikita’s Class
10:30, Reading to all of first grade.
1:30-1:45, Website Design meeting with Peggy (Principal’s Office)
1:45-2:30, Joel to BEST Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting (Conference Room)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
September 9 (T)
Fall Math Benchmark Testing and KRA9:00-9:30, Family Night Planning Meeting (FRC Rm. 9)
10:15, Joel reads to Recker’s Class
12:00-1:00, Meeting with Federal Programs Director, Tasha Katsuda (Principal Office)
2:30-3:30, PLT (Conference Room)
4:00- 5:00, Joel meets with Kerry Delph to set up Facebook Page.
6:00-8:00, Parent Group Meeting (Library)
September 10 (W)
8:30-9:00, Family Resource Center Meeting (FRC Rm. 9)
1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaboration Meeting (Objective and Unit Planning in classrooms together)
4:30, Joel to United Way Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-4:45, First Design Committee Meeting with Staff (Library)
September 11 (H)
Joel begins walk through observations in classrooms.- Personal notes taken on iPad. No notes will be added to the Teacher Effectiveness and Growth System.
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting (Library)
September 12 (F)
Joel begins walk through observations in classrooms.- Personal notes taken on iPad. No notes will be added to the Teacher Effectiveness and Growth System.
September 16 (T)
8:15-11:30, Joel and IPBS Team to CICO Training (Lane ESD)September 30 (T) Life Touch Photo Day
Hi Everyone,
We did so well our first week back and the school year seems to be off on a great start thanks to everyone’s hard work!
Some items of note this week:
• Skillful Teacher (Cohort 3) Camino Rep – 4J is starting a third Skillful Teacher cohort and is reserving a spot for each school to send a rep. Speak with Karen and Megan can let you know their experience with it, but the first session for Cohort 3 will be Friday, September 26th. Attached is a calendar of Skillful Teacher Trainings for the year. There is a possibility of multiple teachers from our school being able to attend if other schools do not fill their spots. If you are interested in being part of Cohort 3, let me know by the end of the week.
• Safety Week, Sept. 29 – Oct. 2 – I’d like to again hold a Safety Week this year and schedule it for the end of this month so we can practice all of the most common safety drills (and also take care of the September and October fire drill requirements all in the same week). Craig and I will be reviewing the previous year’s drills and will update manuals in the next week or so. We are also working with Matt Cornwall from downtown in order to ensure that our evacuation routes are clear. This is a good way to bring awareness to staff, students and families about the various safety procedures right at the start of the year. The schedule for Safety Week will be:
• Monday, Sept. 29– Fire Drill, 9:00
• Tuesday, Sept. 30– Room Clear, time decided by teachers
• Wednesday, Oct. 1 – Lock Down (Code Blue and Code Red), 9:00
• Thursday, Oct. 2– Earthquake/Fire Drill, 8:30
It’s not for another three weeks, but I wanted to let staff know now to help with planning. All of these drills are listed in the “Emergency Procedures Manual” which is the rainbow tabbed notebook that should be hanging in every classroom. I won’t be making any announcement before the drills, so it’s okay for staff to prep your students before these drills take place. For the Lock Down drill, please review the Code Blue and Code Red procedures. These steps are more detailed about our lockdown procedure than the more general ones in the Emergency Procedures Manual. Please let me know if you do not have a manual or if you have any questions.
• Principal Visits to Classrooms – If you haven’t already set up a time for me to come read to your class, let me know a good 15-20 minute block for me to come in this week or next. I’ll read a favorite story to your class and chat with the kids a bit. Thank you!
• Being a Writer Training for Teachers – On September 29th, representatives from the Developmental Studies Center will be conducting a Being A Writer Training for principals from 8:00-11:30 here at the Ed Center in the Auditorium.
• News Crew Starts This Week – Megan will be training some 4th graders in News Crew this week, which means we’ll be starting morning announcements this week! We will make the bilingual announcements short and they will begin at 8:30 so we do not disrupt morning meeting.
• Copier Codes – The copy code for teachers is the last 4 digits of the teacher employee number in case you need that.
• Please take attendance early. –It is very important that you input attendance IN SYNERGY before 9:00 AM. This is a safety issue and parent communication issue. All classroom teachers should have Synergy up and ready to input attendance before class begins. Please make this part of your regular routine.
• Confidentiality of Free and Reduced Lunch Information.– The district expects that the Food Service Coordinator will not share any private information with staff. The only person who is authorized by the Superintendent’s office to use this information would be the administrator. Please do not request this information of Rene as it puts her in a difficult situation.
• District Mandatory Policy Review for all Staff – Attached and linked here is the District Back-to-School Memo, which ALL staff must review and sign & return the acknowledgement form to Edna no later than Friday, September 26th.
• Title 1 Newsletter – If you’d like to know what’s happening in Title 1 from the district perspective, here is the September Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is mostly a lot of coordinator business, but here it is if you’re curious.
• Supporting ELL Students Under New Standards (Free Online Course) – This eight-week online course is designed to help teachers support English Language Learners in meeting new, rigorous standards. Specifically, the course will focus on a key practice within both the Common Core State Standards and new English Language Proficiency Standards: constructing claims supported by evidence. Endorsed by the Oregon Department of Education for Oregon K-12 teachers, the content is also open to teachers outside of Oregon. I signed up. Won’t you join me?
• Oct 10 Statewide In service & Professional Learning Opportunities – This is a non-paid day, so staff are under no obligation to work or attend any of these trainings, but if you are interested in knowing what is being offered this day, attached is the 2014 Oregon Inservice Bulletin and also a flyer from Educational Explorations, which had paid classes offering credit through PSU.
• Visitors and Volunteers – We have many families who have been wandering the halls during pick up. We need to be very careful about this.
Please follow this procedure:
a.If a parent or adult is helping volunteer in the classroom, they should go through the volunteer criminal background check process before helping in class.
b. If you have a visitor in your class, they need to sign in daily. If they are visiting, they need to state their purpose, to observe, to share a skill, or to communicate with a teacher. Please ask your visitor if they have signed in each day and make sure they have a visitor sticker.
c. If you have a regular volunteer in your class please communicate with staff what their regular schedule is. Sometimes, there are custody conflicts which you may or may not be aware of. We can help you work through these if both parents want to volunteer in the same classroom.
Some resources for Morning Meeting – Below are some great resources on Morning Meeting if you are looking for ideas on how to integrate language skills in the meetings. I was really impressed with Ms. Noonan’s class. Using sentence frames and a word wall can be great strategies to support our students in morning meeting.
Developmental Studies Center You Tube Channel for your Caring For Kids Ideas
http://youtu.be/PH3vTEKiSTs?list=UUibvNgcTZQ02PucorqcTvLg
Article on Engagement – This article explores the several factors to help teachers know they are actually increasing engagement amongst students in the their classroom. I really liked it because it does not sugar coat engagement. Many times, having fun or seeing students working are described as engagement. This article dispels much of that perspective.
Effective Engagement in the Classroom- “the 7X Effect”
Announcements, Being a Writer, Engagement, Equity, Evacuation Drills, Morning Meeting, Office Procedures, Skillful Teacher, Title 1 | Comment (0)
Week of September 2nd
Week of September 1st Schedule of Events
Monday, September 1st
Labor Day
Tuesday, September 2nd
Teacher Planning-8:00-2:45 PM
Open House 2:45-3:45 PM – See note below.
Wednesday, September 3rd
First Day of School-2014-2015
Early Release at 1:40
1:40-2:40 Collaborative Planning Time with your Grade Level Team or Specialists
Thursday, September 4th
School Wide BBQ 6:00-8:00 PM
Friday, September 5th
Green Team Meeting at 2:45 with GPS
Happy Friday
Hi all,
I had a great three day weekend and I hope you did too. I have not had a chance to get all of our PD materials listed in the tabs above yet, but will work on this during the day tomorrow. You can expect all the materials from PD sessions to be up with the exception of some of the Caring for Kid’s Planning materials. I have those in paper in case you missed it. Erin Gaston will probably get those to me in electronic form by the end of the week. I hope you all get settled in nicely to your routines. Enjoy getting to know your students. I am especially excited to get to know them this fall. In fact, I haven’t been this excited for the start of school since well, maybe 1984 when I started 5th grade.
I changed my blog address this week to remove the Awbrey Park reference. We are now Camino staff! Please bookmark this new address.
Here are some items of note for the week:
• Open House Procedures: Staff should greet families in your classrooms from 2:45 to 3:45. I will come on the PA to thank families for their visit at 2:40 and encourage them to go home. Please collect fees in your classroom of $ 25. This will help reduce the lines in the cafeteria for paying fees. Provide a receipt for them and keep track on a roll sheet. Edna will get these to you tomorrow before the open house. If families choose to, they can pay in the cafeteria. Families can pay for more than one child at once in your room IF you keep track of all payments. Edna, Yasmin, and any licensed specialists (Sarah, Karen, Bryan, Aline) available are encouraged to support fee payment and bus information distribution in the cafeteria.
• Supervision First Week of School – All available staff should help supervise in the morning out front and in the hallway areas. Students and buses generally start arriving at 7:50. Staff should also help out at dismissal in the bus area and by the front of the building near the sign. Even if you are not on the supervision list, please make yourself very visible on the first few days. It makes a big difference to relieve all those new school jitters and it’s just helpful.
• Staffing Updates – PE Position to be interviewed this week. We have not hired a Temporary PE position yet due to a lack of applicants. Still, just this weekend, a couple new applicants were referred in NEOGOV. Allan Chinn and my self will be reviewing these applicants and most likely doing interviews within a week. In the meantime, there will a a guest PE teacher to begin the PE schedule. The first day for PE is Thursday and a PE teacher should be here. Music also begins this week with David Adee.
Due to a large kinder class (85 at last count), I am lobbying the district to increase staffing for our kinder EA’s. I will keep you all up to date on how we are doing with that and if we get more hours to support kinder soon.
• PBIS Focus: Virtudes de Ganas PRIDE Focus is Respect– The September PBIS monthly focus is a great connection to your CFK Morning Meetings. Once you get beyond names and greetings, consider using respect as a theme for the month of September/October for conversation.
• Classroom Newsletters – Please forward me electronic copies of classroom newsletters (electronic version preferred) when teachers send/email them home to families. This helps me keep up to date on what’s happening (or going to happen) in classes, and also lets me know details of any class activities that I might be able to get the local media to come out and cover. I love promoting our school!
• District Mandatory Policy Review for all Staff – Attached and linked here is the District Back-to-School Memo, which ALL staff must review and sign & return the acknowledgement form to Edna no later than Friday, September 26th.
• Camino del Río Staff Handbook Review – Attached is the updated Staff Handbook for 2014-2015. All staff must review the handbook and sign & return the acknowledgement form to Edna by Friday, September 26th.
• Principal Visits to Classrooms to Read and Greet – I’d like to again visit every classroom sometime during the first couple weeks of school to greet students. I’ll read a favorite story to your class and chat with the kids a bit. Teachers, please let me know a good 15-20 minute block of time to come and visit in Spanish or English. Thank you!
• TAG Identified Students – Jennifer and I will be reviewing any TAG identified students in the next week. We will send you an email to ensure you are aware of the student needs. We may be meeting to revise TAG Plans as needed.
• Information Supplied for Guest Teachers – In this email from HR is a list of suggested information/items that teachers should consider when preparing lesson plans for Guest Teachers. With the goal being seamless transition and a successful day when our permanent staff are out, it is essential that our Guest Teachers receive the best information possible.
• 4J Admin Updates – Maddie Ahearn is the new Math Curriculum Administrator for the 2014/15 school year. Maddie was previously a math teacher leader in 4J, working at North Eugene and Roosevelt. I was on the interview team that helped hire Maddie into 4j in 2010 and am happy to see her take on such an important role in our district. Before coming to Eugene 4J in 2010, she worked in Baltimore Maryland as a math instructional coach and teacher. Randi Bowers-Payne was just hired for the Risk Manager Administrator position. In Lansing, Michigan, Randi acted as the entire Human Resource department for a Regional Education Service Agency.
• Dept. of Ed. projects public schools will be ‘majority-minority’ this fall – If we needed an additional reason to focus on issues of race and equity, a milestone is expected to be reached this fall when minorities outnumber whites among the nation’s public school students for the first time, U.S. Department of Education projections show. This is due largely to fast growth in the number of Hispanic and Asian school-age children born in the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data.
That’s all for now. Have a great week.
Joel
Announcements, Back to School, Equity, Open House | Comment (0)