Week of April 13
Guanajuato, Mexico
What is coming up?
April 13 (M)
1:30-2:30, Title Coordinator & Principal Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
7:00-8:30, Joel to River Road Community Organization Meeting (River Road Annex)
April 14 (T)
10:15-11:15, Joel and Sara Green meet about the super-boundary (Joel’s Office)
2:50-4:50, Staff Meeting (Library)
Agenda: A Conversation about Race in Dual Language Program
6:00-7:00, Parent Group Meeting in (Room 9)
April 15 (W)
8:45-2:45, Visitors from Guanajuato, Mexico (In classrooms)
1:45-2:45, PLC Collaboration Time
April 16 (H)
Joel out of the building- at the COSA Workshop “All Means All” with Anthony Muhammad
2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting
April 17 (F)
Joel out of the building -at the COSA Workshop “All Means All” with Anthony Muhammad
12:00-3:00, BAW Teacher Leaders to Being a Writer Meeting (We need someone to go to this.)
12:00-3:00, 504 Training Meeting- Jaime Jones attends.
6:00-8:00, Peace Jam Conference with Rigoberta Menchu Tum- Camino del Rio Marimba Band Plays!
April 20 (M)
8:00-2:30, Fluoride Varnish Clinic at River Road
April 21 (T)
3:45-5:15, Joel to Full-Day Kindergarten Meeting (Ed Center)
April 22 (W)
Admin Professional’s Day (formerly Secretary’s Day)
Earth Day
1:45-2:45, PLC Collaboration Time
April 23 (H)
Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day
2:45-3:45, (IPBS) Mod Squad Meeting
April 24 (F)
4:00, Meet up at Hop Valley
What is going on?
• Spanish Spelling Bee A Success– This last Friday was a very exciting day for the Spanish Spelling Bee team. Those students who participated went to Forest Grove and began the competition around 10:00 AM. Leslie and Aiden represented El Camino del Rio and 4j in the competition. In addition, we had 5 other students attend. Aiden’s father, George, and Megan Murphy brought the students all the way to and from Forest Grove. Leslie was able to place in the final 12 students of the 60 or so who competed. I am so proud that our students made it to this event. This event is good for our students, our program, and providing opportunities for students to have their language skills be seen as assets in the public eye. A big thank you goes out to Hannah Golden, the Spelling Bee Coach, Megan Murphy, and the Birns family for their support. Here is an article with pictures of our team included!
Summer School Update – It is a priority for parents to hear from you about Summer School. The office needs all teachers to communicate the need for Summer School directly from you. When they hear from you it makes a huge impact on the importance of the program. Please make those calls for your students so they can take advantage of this valuable resource.
• Expo Process Update– I am proud to announce that we have made a permanent hire for our 1.0 ELL Position. Nancy Schaal McHarry will continue in her position for the next year. Nancy has done a great job in her ELL classroom and has jumped at the chance to help us integrate technology in ELD lessons, create an inclusion model in kinder, design a FLOSOM oral language proficiency model for our building, and participate in our PLT. Her team player attitude and hard work fits nicely with the changes our dual language program has made. Please congratulate her if you see her on Monday on staying with the Camino del Río team.
The 1.0 and 0.5 FTE positions in 1st and 5th grade are still open. We did not find a viable candidate on Thursday last week. If there are candidates who apply, I my attend the 2nd round of EXPO. At this time, I am actively seeking external applicants.
• Attendance Pilot is in Full Swing- This last week we sent out our second set of attendance letters. We sent 23 letters for the month of March. For this last week the attendance letter list dropped to 10 students. That is good. Parents are responding to the letters and we have seen a drop in unexcused attendance in the last couple of weeks. Soon, I will be making referrals to Mark Barr, the truancy officer. This practice will continue on a weekly basis now that the office is trained and the system is set up. We will also use this system in the Fall as well. Thank you to Yasmin for her persistence and hard work on this project.
• Guanajuato, Mexico Visit – Armando Morales will be guiding the Guanajuato students to visit our school this Wednesday. There will be 19 students and 3 teachers. They are very interested in how the United States education system works, and will be especially interested in the dual language program. Several are used to visiting a high school environment so the age level will also be new to many of them. Expect to have 2-3 guests in your classroom visiting and observing. They are all very excited to visit our school. I will begin the day with a presentation to them about how our program works.
• Staff Meeting PD Session with John Lockhart – On Friday, John and I met for a couple of hours to plan and discuss the professional development we will be having at our next staff meeting. The topic ties closely to the conversations we have had in our Taking It Up Equity meetings. We will discuss the dynamic between Anglos, Latinos, and other racial groups in the context of our dual language program. A precursory question to think about is:
“In your role, how does your cultural sense of self and others both allow you to and inhibit you from helping students of color and white students develop healthy racial identities?”
We will reflect, share observations, and formulate ideas together. The meeting will run from 2:50-4:50. You will be paid an extra hour for attendance. Carmen Urbina and Jennifer Harris will follow up with us on May 1st in the morning to help us continue the conversation.
• Lane County Family Mediation Family Check-Up – Lane County Family Mediation are offering a “Family Check-Up” program developed by the UO to provide brief, family-centered interventions that identify strengths and weaknesses in family functioning and help participants become motivated to make positive changes. The services are available to parents and their children, ages 2-17, who are members of Trillium Community Health Plan. They will conduct assessments of family interactions, encourage self-reflection, promote positive family management skills, and provide referrals to community services. Families can earn $150 (provided in gift cards) by attending three appointments, which take place over a four to five week period.
Please feel free to share this information with any interested families. I will also be sending the attached flyer to families. I did check to see if this is available for Spanish speaking families and they said it unfortunately is not at this time.
• Earth Day, April 22nd – Schools across the country will be celebrating Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22. Teach your students how to care about their world — and how they can make it better! — throughout the year with these resources from Edutopia.
• Federal lawmakers may be close to draft NCLB bill – With state testing right around the corner, I thought people might be interested to know that federal lawmakers reportedly may be getting close to a new draft bill for the rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This article offers a glimpse at some of the potential changes, including giving states more flexibility on testing requirements and expunging the language inserting “portability” of Title 1 funds (which would have been a devastating to Title 1 schools like us). The education committee is expected to mark up a bill this week.
• Downtown Admin Updates – HR Director Sarah Brown has accepted a position in Florida, her home state, as the Chief of Human Resources for Manatee County Schools. She will be leaving April 24. There has not yet been an announcement regarding who will be the interim Director of HR.
Have an good week, everyone! 39 more days!
Joel
Being a Writer, English Language Learners, Equity, PLC Collaboration Time, PLC time, Staff Meeting Agenda, Staffing, Title 1, Two Way Immersion, Uncategorized | Comment (0)Week of March 16
Hi Everyone,
Congratulations to our OBOB Team! Although they didn’t advance to the next round, they did get to the elite 8 of 52 Lane County teams participating at this year’s competition. A big thanks to this spirited team and the great coaching efforts of Megan Murphy. It has benefited all our students. Also, a big thank you to parent Sabrina Gordon for volunteering to help our students this winter.
March 16 (M)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
March 17 (T)
Picture Day for all grades in the Library
12:00-4:00, Kinder Teachers Meeting with Reid and Maddy.
1:00, Joel in NERA Meeting with Retired Educator volunteers for homeless youth.
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting- Agenda,
a. Approve staffing plan, discuss intervention needs for 2015-16.
b. Senderos discussion and listing of pros and cons
2:45-4:45, PLT Meeting- Planning and Parent Handbook Work
March 18 (W)
1:00-1:30, Eugene Emeralds Assembly (All Classes)
1:45-2:45, Grade Level Collaboration Time – Math PLC meets in Library. Please enter on your Google form.
2:45-3:45, Joel, Karen, and Nancy go to STAMP TEST Planning Meeting (Ed Center)
March 19 (H)
8:30,Virtudes Assembly
2:45-4:15, Taking it UP Meeting in the Library with Carmen and John Lockhart
4:30-6:30, Joel to the Equity Committee at the Ed Center
March 20 (F)
12:30-2:00, Movie Award Day in Classrooms
2:00, BEST Field Trip leaves for lunch and boarding the bus.
11:00-2:00, Joel and Jessica Zapata to meet with the Mexican Consulate
March 23-27
Spring Break – No School
12:00-1:00, Spring Break Fun Time – Lunch & Activity (Cafeteria at Howard)
March 30 (M)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
March 31 (T)
STAMP Testing begins in 3rd and 5th Grade.
1:00-2:30, Senderos Consultation Meeting with Zulma Cifuentes (Conference Room)
2:45-4:45, Staff Meeting, 2 hour meeting focused on Math Practices and Maddy and Reid’s work with grade Level Teams. (Library)
April 1 (W)
April Fool’s Day
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)
April 2 (H)
3:30-5:00, Joel to North Region Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
April 3 (F)
Regular Day
Coming up:
April 15 (W) Guanajuato Teacher Student Exchange Visit to El Camino del Rio- This exchange will bring Mexican students and teachers into every classroom for one day. They want to see how our program is designed and how we teach and support students. It will be a day of learning and cultural exchange.
April 17 (F) Peace Jam Marimba Performance for Rigoberta Menchu Tum at University of Oregon
Here are some of the items of the week:
•Irma De La Guardia wins National Bilingual Teacher of the Year
• HM Journeys/ Senderos and ThinkCentral – In our staff meeting on Tuesday, we will discuss and decide on Journeys and Senderos. After listening to different perspectives on this idea, I will say that I still strongly support a move to have both Senderos and Journeys. I believe that in the long run, we will be able to provide adequate supplementation to these materials in order to avoid redundancy and directly translatable texts. I believe there is more than enough material to use in both languages to support our students with out having issues of redundancy. The value of having curriculum mapping done for use across languages is very important. We will make our decision about Senderos on Tuesday this week after the staffing decision.
On the practical end of things:
Since we had our HM Journeys/ Senderos training last Friday, let me know if you’d like the upgraded HM Journeys materials delivered to your grade level and I’ll put Craig to work bringing them down. Remember, regardless of a Senderos decision, we will be replacing Journeys Materials. And if you misplaced the trainer’s email, it was “Cifuentes, Zulma” <Zulma.Cifuentes@hmhco.com>. Also, all licensed staff should now have access to ThinkCentral if you’d like to check that out. If you’d like to use it with your students this year, let me know and I’ll load your students into the system as well.
And regarding old HM materials, Craig can cart away any materials you don’t want to keep. I’ll probably try to sell our old materials to Follett in Summer, but feel free to keep any leveled readers, big books or others materials from the old curriculum that you still have a use for.
• SLUGGO READING Assembly at 1:00 PM WEDNESDAY– The annual SLUGGO assembly will be on Wednesday. I rescheduled our VIRTUDES assembly forThursday to give teachers one more day to get the awards written and communicated to families. In addition, it seemed like too much to have two assemblies in one day. Please review assembly expectations for both asemblies with your students.
• Virtudes/ Virtues Awards THURSDAY, March. 18th @ 8:30 – This Wednesday is the March Virdudes Awards. Virtudes certificates are located in the office in your boxes. When you turn in your Virtudes nominations, be sure that you let Edna/Yasmin know who and why each student is being recognized so she can put their name up on the board. Also, you are encouraged to communicate with families to invite them to the assembly.
• Employee reimbursement limit increase to $250.00 – The employee reimbursement limit has been increased from $100.00 to $250.00 per reimbursement, subject to the usual criteria of the spending qualifying for reimbursement and timely receipt of the request, which are:
• Should be for small purchases. The district provides contracts for most supplies, so please check first before purchasing supplies with personal funds.
• Have a limit of $250 per reimbursement.
• Must comply with district purchase guidelines including reimbursement amounts and documentation such as copies of detailed invoices.
• Completed reimbursement requests, including mileage, should be received by Financial Services within 60 days of when the expenditure was incurred.
• Smarter Balanced assessment and testing exemption (“opt out”) — process, form and information – With the Smarter Balanced assessment testing window opening last week, you may get inquiries from parents about the Smarter Balanced tests, state testing in general, and/or about opting out of state tests. This is a reminder that the district has created a process and published an exemption request form and accompanying frequently asked questions document. If a parent asks for information or tells you they want to to opt their student out of state tests, you can direct them to me or to the State testing opt out FAQ and request form, the FAQ about the Common Core State Standards and Smarter Balanced assessments or the district information webpage about the Smarter Balanced assessments.
• Concussion – What Teachers Should Know – Attached you will find a one page document called Concussion-What Teachers Should Know. This was shared with principals and we were asked to encourage teachers to post this in their classrooms, for easy reference.
• Lessons for successful maker programs – Students are natural makers, and maker programs can help take learning beyond students’ comfort zones, according to Guatemala-based educators Adrian Catalan and Ceci Castillo. The pair shared four tips to help educators launch successful maker initiatives during their SXSWEdu session, Making Makers: From Guatemala to the World.
Five days until our nine day Spring Break!
Best,
Joel
Announcements, English Language Learners, Math Training, Opt Out, PLC time, Staff Meeting Agenda, STAMP, Two Way Immersion | Comment (0)Week of March 9
Hello Camino del Rio Staff,
I am apologize that my blog went out so late. I spent much of the weekend having fun at the beach with Lila, Solomon, and Anna. It was worth it!! The beach was amazing and I feel very rejuvenated. Therefore, I am sending it out now!
What is coming up?
March 9 (M)
10:00-11:30, Joel to 15/16 Staffing Allocation Meeting (Ed Center) 8:00-12:00, 3rd Grade Math Planning Session with Reid
March 10 (T)
8:00-12:00, 2nd Grade Math Planning Session with Reid and Maddy.
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting, main focus will be StaffingMarch 11 (W)
1:45-2:45, Grade Level Math PLC in the Library ( All K-5 grades, please fill out your PLC form)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Recker’s Room1:45-9:45, Joel, Karen, Nancy, Alexis to Portland for a session on push-in ELL Programs in the Douglas Garden’s School District. (Marylhurst University)
March 12 (H)
8:30-9:10,PRIDE Assembly-for all students. (Don’t forget to fill out your Pride Awards!)
9:30-12:00, Joel to CLLAS Conference at UO
12:00-4:00, 1st Grade Math Planning Session with Reid
1:00, Joel meets with North Eugene Retiree Association Meeting to support Camino del Rio (Joel’s office)
3:00-5:00, Design Committee
March 13 (F)
8:00-12:00, Senderos PD at Camino del Rio K-2 Primary
12:00-4:00, Senderos PD at Camino del Rio 3-5 Intermediate
4:00-5:30, Hey staff, let’s go bowling! at Firs Bowl on River Road by Bimart.
5:30-10:30, Benito Juárez Birthday Celebration at KellyMarch 16 (M)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)March 17 (T)
Picture Day for all grades in the Gym.
12:00-4:00, Kinder Teachers Meeting with Reid and Maddy.
2:45-4:45, PLT Meeting- Planning and Parent Handbook Work
March 18 (W)1:00-1:30, Eugene Emeralds Assembly (All Classes)
1:45-2:45, Grade Level Collaboration Time – Math PLC meets in Library.
2:45-3:45, Joel and Karen go to STAMP TEST Planning Meeting
March 19 (H)2:45-4:15, Taking it UP Meeting in the Library
4:30-6:30, Joel to the Equity Committee at the Ed Center
March 20 (F)1:00-2:40, Movie Award Day in Classrooms
11:00-2:30, Joel to meet with the Mexican Consulate
March 23-27
Spring Break – No School
12:00-1:00, Spring Break Fun Time – Lunch & Activity (Cafeteria at Howard)
Here are some items of note for the week:
•PBIS Movie Award Day on March 20th from 1:00-2:40
Each class will earn 10-15 big green slips to attend the whole school movie party. Each grade and ELL will show a G rated movie from 1:00-2:40 on March 20th. Kids will sign up from the list of movies available which we will send home next week. Any students with level 3 referrals for the month of march who do not have behavior plans will do a quiet calm activity in title or the library such as read to self or coloring. Let me know which movie your grade wants to show and I will make a list to send home. This should be super fun and a nice way to build school community by combining grades. Please tell your students about this opportunity today and begin the challenge. We will provide snacks for each kid during movie.
• Surprise Assembly on Wednesday, March 11th at 12:45 PM
There is a surprise assembly this Wednesday due to the support of Jill Switzer and her connections to the UO. We will be hearing and watching this special concert with the whole school on Wednesday afternoon to experience the rich culture of Puerto Rico and learn more about Bomba. The concert should last about 45 minutes. All PE will be cancelled the last hour.
Pablo Luis Rivera presents a Concert of Puerto Rican Bomba with Proyecto Unión
An interactive performance by the director of the non-governmental organization Restauración Cultural and affiliated musicians. Rivera, who holds a PhD from the Center for Advanced Studies on Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, will lead an ensemble exploring the world of bomba music. Bomba is an Afro-Puerto Rican drum and vocal music that features the interaction between dancers and the drums. The event will include music-dance performance, a narrative explanation of bomba, and an open invitation at the end for students and the public to enter the arena and improvise with the lead drum. Since 1998, the Restauración Cultural has undertaken the task of preserving the music and dance traditions of Puerto Rico. Through workshops, musical performances, and cultural exchange, the ensemble has traveled throughout Puerto Rico and the world, sharing both Bomba and a message of the importance in keeping the arts in education.
• HM Journeys/Senderos Training, March 13th, Reminder –The training for grades K-2 will be from 8:00-11:00 and the training for grades 3-5 will be from 12:00-3:00. It will all occur in the library. The rest of the day will be planning time. They will be going over all the hard copy materials as well as getting everyone online access to the digital materials in ThinkCentral. They are asking that teachers bring your Journeys Teacher Edition Vol. 1, the Student Edition (text) and your laptop. I believe all of our materials have been delivered, so teachers can feel free to gather materials. Ask Craig to help you find the TE Editions. And if teachers would rather I grab your teacher guide and student text, just let me know and I’ll put them in your mailbox.
What: Senderos Training for Spanish teaching buildings (Camino del Rio y BV)
Where: Camino del Rio
When: March 13th
K-2nd 8-11:00 am
3-5th 12-3:00 pm
Bring: Your Teacher Edition volume 1, the student edition (text) to go with it, and your computer. (I will work with Craig to pull these our for you. They are in the building.)
• ELA CCSS 6 Shifts Workshops: Instructional Strategies for the Common Core REMINDER – Gretta Sagolla sent an email reminder last week, but teachers should remember to sign up for Session 3 of the ELA CCSS Workshops on the 4J Workshop Page. The K-2 sessions will be offered March 10th, 12:00pm-3:00pm, March 11th, 8:00am-11:00am or March 12th, 8:00am-11:00am. The 3-5 session are offered March 9th, 12:00pm-3:00pm, March 10th, 8:00am-11:00am or March 12th, 12:00pm-3:00pm. And remember to bring a piece of text you plan on teaching in your next unit (or perhaps your next unit teachers manual) and your laptop.
Resident Storyteller at Camino del Rio: In April, Thaston Riklon will begin a storytelling series for 4th and 5th grade. On April 8th and 15th Thaston will tell some sacred stories from his home country, the Marshall Islands. These are indigenous stories from the Marshall Islands that he has permission to tell from his tribal leader in his country. Thaston will be coming to share with other classes too if you have interest. Thaston will share in full Marshall Island
• Spring Break Lunch/Activity Flyer – I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Nutrition Services is holding a free lunch and activity program at Howard for area students 1-18 years old living in our area. Attached is a flyer for the event. We received hard copies of the flyer last week, which should go home with student if you didn’t send them home already. And let me know if any of you are interested in volunteering 12:00-1:00 one day over the break to lead an activity (coloring books, showing a video, singing songs, open gym, free choice on the playground, etc.) one of the days.
• Can learning through play benefit all students? – Educators in early grades — and more recently middle grades — are incorporating play in learning, writes Hilary Conklin, an associate professor at DePaul University and fellow with the OpEd Project. She notes in this article that recent research supports learning through play for all students, even high-schoolers.
• Spanish-language books for kids have a new LA home– Here is an article about a couple of women who started a Spanish Language bookstore in LA. As many of you know, finding authentic Spanish language literature is difficult,. This business is working to make it easier on the West Coast. I also know of one bookstore on the East Coast called La Casa Azul Bookstore in East Harlem. You should read more about these bookstores as they promote literacy for the love of reading Spanish literature. That is a good thing.
2 weeks (9 student days) until Spring Break!
Joel
Week of January 19
What’s Coming Up?
January 19 (M)
No School – Martin Luther King Jr. DayJanuary 20 (T)
8:30-9:45, Joel in Formal Observation
11:30, Design debrief conference call
1:25-1:45, Joel in post conference meeting with teacher
2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting (Agenda items include: Taking it up debrief, math PD ideas, other issues, new PE schedule)January 21 (W)
8:15-9:40, Joel in Formal Observation.
10:00-3:00, Joel to Priority Schools Network meeting.
1:45-2:45, Grade Level PLC Meetings (Focus is on math assessment)
2:45-3:45, IPBS (Will review truancy concerns, please refer students.)
6:00-8:00, Engineering NightJanuary 22 (H)
7:30-8:00, Joel and Megan in meeting with parent.
2:45-3:10, Joel in Post conference
3:00-5:00, Design Meeting- Focus is on budget and moving into the next phase.
4:30-6:30, Joel at 4j Equity Committee (Parr Room)January 23 (F)
7:30-8:00, Taking It UP Debrief- Equity Meeting (all are welcome) (Conference Room)
3:30, Joel in a parent meetingJanuary 24 (S)
9:00-12:00, Elementary School Showcase (Ed Center)January 26 (M)
9:00-10:00, Early Learning Meeting
1:00-2:00, School Choice Tour
2:30-3:30, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room) (Joel cannot attend)
January 27 (T)8:00-3:00, Joel and Karen at Charlemagne for Learning about Learning Network
9:00-10:00, School Tours
2:00-2:35, Final Music Assembly (Gym)January 28 (W)
8:30-9:30, Joel in formal observation
January 29 (H)
12:00-3:30, Joel and Karen to Smarter Balanced Test Administration Training (Ed Center)
3:00-5:00, Design MeetingJanuary 30 (F)
1:00-2:00, IEP Meeting
Grading Day – No SchoolThis week’s announcements
• Article of the Week – After reflecting on the past week, I recalled an important document which I believe all educators should read read. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” , is an open letter written by Dr. Martin Luther King which still holds true when we are seeking social justice and freedom for the students we educate. I have included the link to the scanned original document which Dr. King sent from Birmingham to an editor. The document is found on the The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Website. This is a highly recommended space to find resources on Dr. King that are authentic and helpful for teaching.
• Equity Meeting This Week – This upcoming Friday the 23rd we will have another equity meeting in the morning in the conference room. All who are interested are invited. The idea is to meet and discuss the Taking It Up Seminar and how it has effected current staff. We will also discuss further action if we have time and set a future date to talk again. I would like to thank all those who have attended TIU and or CFEE this year. It really feels like we have a critical mass to support our students and staff on issues of racial identity and discrimination. Thank you all for your dedication to this very important topic in education.
• Spanish Spelling Bee Competition in April – Here is an opportunity I do not want to pass up! This Spring there will be a Spelling Bee up in Forest Grove. Perla Rodríguez, principal extraordinaire, is the organizer. This is a great opportunity for us to show Eugene and Oregon how well our students know Spanish and to excite our students that the Spanish language is a special talent and skill. A professor friend of mine named David Wacks also shares the enthusiasm for Spanish language. He teaches medieval Spanish and Sephardic literature at University of Oregon. David has helped us enlist a university student who would like to help us coach some 4th and 5th graders to go to the Spanish Spelling Bee! Hannah Golden is the student’s name. She will be able to meet with the students after school once a week to practice for the competition. I am happy to cover the registration costs. Now all we need are the participants! 4th and 5th grade teachers, can I count on you to enlist your students in this competition?
Spanish Spelling Bee Registration Link
• App Purchases and iPads are coming soon to 4th Grade and beyond – This week Edna and Misty Forsman will be working on imaging the incoming iPads. Edna will be assisting Misty in the iPad volume purchasing and will get the proper licenses for a variety of effective creation and productivity apps. The image will be prepared downtown and delivered sometime in early February. Our tech plan was approved. This means we qualified to receive 35 X 2 iPads on COWS that will be in the building before February 9th. These iPads will be used mainly in 4th grade. The surplus iPads will be available to pilot using in 1st grade. Erin S. and Alexis will experiment with using the iPads in creative ways and also to see how effective our web based programs such as RAZ Kids & Maravillas function on the iPad. This means you should have greater access to the lab and the MacBook Airs as they become freed up by 4th grade for more widespread use. I am hoping to get approval on further purchases this year of iPads for use in another grade. Stay tuned on that one.
• Classroom design meeting debrief – The classroom design meeting was frustrating yet predictable. There were two things that teachers walked away with unhappy about. There will be cubbies inside the classroom and there will remain to be full windows into the commons. On a good note, the architects were able to increase the amount of tack-able space for the classrooms and we will have more than any new building in the district. We chose a classroom layout that included a combination of carpet and concrete flooring. We also spent time looking at furniture configurations to get a feel for how the layouts of classroom would work.
• New Director of Technology – Steve Menachemson is the new Director of Technology and will begin on Feb. 2nd. Steve has been with Symantec since 2008, and for the last three years has worked as a Senior Manager with Global Support Delivery. Before working with Symantec Steve worked eight years as the Vice President for TechNet Group (consulting services) in Santa Monica, California. Steve also worked two years as a project manager and senior consultant for an firm that provided hardware and software sales and technical support as well as project management services to the Santa Monica community (1998-2000). Steve will also be bringing global perspective to 4J. He began his career in Cape Town, South Africa as a project manager and senior support engineer before being advanced to a regional manager for the same company in Windhoek, Namibia.
• ELL Position Filled – I am happy to announce that we have selected our replacement for Sarah Lauer. James Longoria will take over the 6 hour ELL position. This will begin immediately on Tuesday. We will need to begin to look for a replacement for the 4 hour title position very soon. I will be working with Karen Hardin to post the 4 hour title position in the coming week.
Have a nice 4 day week next week.
Joel
Announcements, Back to School, English Language Learners, Equity, Maravillas- McGraw Hill | Comment (0)