Week of April 13


April 13th, 2015

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

Week of March 30


March 29th, 2015

This Venn Diagram reminds me of our staff!

 

What is happening this week and next?

March 30 (M)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room)

March 31 (T)

STAMP Testing practice 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 2 items:

1st hour: Senderos discussion and decision.

2nd hour: Math Practices Review and planning PD for Spring and next year.

Also: Updates on curriculum analysis from a culturally relevant lens and staffing.

April 1 (W)
April Fool’s Day

9:00-9:35- 3rd, 4th, 5th Grade Assembly for Spelling Bee in the Gym
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)
IIPM Data Meeting- Artist in Residence to provide activities for students during your hour. Subs wil escort them to the learning spaces.

April 6 (M)

Regular Day

April 7 (T)

2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting

3:45-5:15, Full day Kinder Meeting for all  K teachers and principals

April 8 (W)

1:45-2:45, Collaborative Planning Time- Math Focus- Please complete the PLC form.

No other meetings.

April 9 (H)

2:45-3:30- TLT Meeting

4:00-7:00, Joel to Job EXPO (Ed Center)

April 10 (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

 

Some items for the week:

• Formal Teacher Observations – I’ll be back at it with the formal observations and informal observations this week.  Some teachers still need a second formal observation.  I will contact you if that is necessary.

• Staffing Updates

SPED- We received 0.5 FTE for Sped teacher staffing for next year. We received 4.5 hours of Sped EA hours.

Grade Level placements changes:

I have placed Marcy Hellman in Kindergarten for next year.

I have placed Jaime Jones in 2nd grade for next year.

I have placed Sarah Knudsen  in 5th grade at 0.5 for next year.

We will have vacancies at the EXPO for 1st grade 1.0 and 0.5 FTE in 5th grade.

• Wednesday Meetings such as PBIS switched to Thursday for the rest of the year. 

To reduce the amount of time teachers are spending in meetings on Wednesdays, I have moved all of the scheduled PBIS, TLT, and IPBS meetings to Thursdays.  This also makes it easier for Jennifer to make it to all our meetings. This will guarantee a full hour of preparation time for all teachers regardless of their responsibilities on other teams. 2:45-3:45 should be free for all teachers to work together or on their own. PLC Math Collaboration will continue from 1:45-2:45.

• Prep Time Update for 2015-2016 – Details on this will be worked on over the coming months, but downtown let principals know that the current plan for meeting the 90 minute weekly prep requirement for next year is most likely going to be done through additional PE and Music classes, which will equate to a third prep section for each teacher. This is different from what was shared with principals earlier, but the reason for this is 4Js attempt to make headway with the upcoming PE requirement for 2017, which is for 150 minutes of PE a week. More to come on this one since we’ll need to know 4Js plan in order to finalize a building master schedule.

• Title 1 Newsletter – Here is the latest district level Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is again mostly coordinator specific information and tasks, but there is a nice infographic titled “7 Things to Remember About Feedback” and an excellent 4 minute video from Jay Smooth titled “Moving the Race Conversation Forward.”

• PDUs from Journeys Training – Linked here is a PDU Certificate for teachers who attended the Journeys trainings on March 13th. And FYI, you don’t actually need to have a paper copy of this form. You just need to keep track of your training name and it’s PDU hours on your Log of Professional Development Activities form, which can be found on the 4J HR Forms webpage.

• Job EXPO Information – FAQs – Since Camino del Río is growing and adding licensed teaching positions next year , I thought people might be interested to know the details on this year’s Job EXPO which may fill these vacancies.

• Job EXPO Openings & Process – Vacancies included on building staffing plans will generate openings for Round 1 of the EXPO. HR will post all increments of FTE at the EXPO (per agreement with EEA). Any new vacancies created by hires from the Round 1 of the EXPO will go to a 2nd and then 3rd Round. EXPO dates will be Thursday, April 9, Tuesday, April 14 and Tuesday, April 21, all from 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
• Temp Employees – Recently EEA and HR met to discuss allowing Temporary Employees access to the first round of the EXPO. The two groups agreed that Temporary Employees could participate in all three rounds with the understanding that Contract employees are guaranteed an interview (temps are not guaranteed an interview) and Contract employees have priority over temporaries in most situations (i.e. displaced teachers with job rights).

And feel free to let your colleagues around 4J know about our openings if you think they’d be interested and a good match for our school!

• NAACP Family and Youth Conference! April 11th – Please take note that the 8th annual NAACP Family and Youth Conference will be held Saturday, April 11th at the Downtown LCC meeting and learning center from 10-to 4pm. This free event is meant to assist parents and youth navigate the education and community resources available for student success. There will be two parent workshops and two youth workshops, free lunch and a guided tour of local African American historic sites, including the first African American Church in Eugene.

• District Admin Update – HR announced that Dr. J. Andrew Dey, Ed. D. has accepted the position of Principal at South Eugene High School beginning July 1, 2015. For the past five years Andy has served as Director of K-12 Curriculum and Professional Development at the The International School Nido de Aguilas in Santiago, Chile, but has roots here in Eugene. He taught science at Roosevelt Middle School (3 years) before becoming an assistant principal at Thurston High School (3 years). Andy then served as principal at Agnes Stewart Middle School (2 years).

• Convergences of Practices between CCSS/NGSS in support of Language Development (Venn Diagram) – Here is a a venn diagram that’s worth checking out which compares the high leverage practices that support Math/ELA/NGSS and language development.

•Are you going to share anything about Cesar Chavez Birthday this week? Here is a little to help you out.

A Resource to Teach Students About Cesar Chavez Day

 

That is it for the week!

All the best,  Joel

Week of February 23


February 22nd, 2015
http://multimedia.en.mehrnews.com/Original/1393/12/02/IMG14415825.jpg

Did you know that last Saturday was International Mother Language Day? This is an event sponsored by UNESCO each year.

What is ahead?

February 23 (M)
School Choice Visitation Week #2
10:30-11:00, Joel in the Design Debrief with Go to Meeting (Joel’s office)
12:00-2:45, Joel to Research for Better Teaching Training (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting at River Road

February 24 (T)

7:40,3rd Grade Student Support Meeting (Jennifer’s Office)
1:00-2:00, School Tour
2:45-4:45, Staff Meeting- 2 hours

February 25 (W)

1:45-2:45, Grade Level Collaboration (Library) & Classified Supervision Meeting (conference room.)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting
5:30-6:30, Evening School Choice Event

February 26 (H)
8:30-9:30, School Tour
3:00-5:00, Design Committee
4:30-6:30, Equity Committee

February 27 (F)
School Choice Application Deadline

4:00-Happy Hour at Tio Pepe’s

March 2 (M)

Dr. Seuss Week Begins
Pajama Day
1:30-3:00, Immersion Principals Meeting

March 3 (T)

Crazy Hair Day
2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting

March 4 (W)

Hat Day
1:45-2:45, Grade Level Collaboration Meeting (in Library)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting
4:00-5:00, North Region Principal Meeting
6:00-8:00, Dr. Seuss Night

March 5 (H)

Crazy Socks Day
4:00-6:00, Equity Committee

March 6 (F)

Favorite Book Character Day
3:30-5:30, Superintendent Interviews for Equity Committee

Looking way ahead: There are 16 school weeks left in the year. Here are some of the biggest events at our school for the rest of the year.

March 12 CLLAS Latino Conference at UO
March 13 Joint PD Training on HMH Senderos Curriculum with BV
March 23-27, Spring Break Week
March 30-April 3, STAMP Assessment Given (3 and 5)
April 6,7,8,9- Caring For Kids Trainings- A variety all week.
April 16, Kinder Orientation Night
April 29, La Fiesta del Niño
May 1 District Professional Development Day-Possible Equity Training or Oral Proficiency Assessment Training
May 1 Fiesta Event at Camino del Rio
May 6 Math Night
May 14 and 15, 5th Grade goes to Outdoor School
May 11- May 21, New OAKS Assessments in 3,4,5
May 22, Final Camino del Rio PD Day- Curriculum Mapping and Possible Math Training
May 25, Memorial Day, No School
June 4, Talent Show
June 5, Grading Day
June 10,  5th Grade Promotion
June 11, Field Day
June 12, Grading Day and End of Contract Year
June 12,13- OABE Conference in North Clackamas School District (Portland Area)
June 15 & 16, Priority School Funded Curriculum Mapping Days (Outside of the contract year)
June 23,24,25,26,27, CFEE Summer Workshop
June 29, 30,31, ATDLE Conference in Palm Springs

What should you know about?

Here are some items of note for the week:

• School Choice Visitation Week – Just a reminder that this week is the second School Choice Visitation Week. We do not have many  families signed up for tours, but don’t be surprised if you see me walking visitors around the building and into classrooms this week.

• 2015-2016 Staffing Timeline – Principals will receive next year’s staffing Monday, March 9th and building staffing plans will likely be due the day before spring break. Once I get our staffing allocations, I’ll share the numbers with everyone that same day. I’ll hold a Staff Meeting on Thursday, March 10th at 2:45 in the library for staff to give input on the different staffing scenarios, which I’ll email out ahead of time. After staff have had a chance to reflect on the different plans, we’ll hold an additional PLT Staff Meeting on Tuesday, March 17th at 2:45 in the library which all can attend.  I will then submit a final plan to all staff for final recommendations via email.

The preliminary enrollment projections have us projected for more students than we were staffed for this year, which should mean we’ll see an increase in staffing next year as long as the staffing ratio stays the same.

• Spring Break Activity/Lunch Program – Nutrition Services setting up a spring break lunch program for area students, ages 2 – 18, Monday through Friday over the break. The meals will be served from 12:00-1:00 and would be served out of the Howard cafeteria to Camino del Rio and Howard kids. The one catch for the state grant is that an “activity” needs to be planned each day, though that activity can be as simple as coloring books, showing a video, singing songs, open gym or free choice on the playground. Nutrition Services also asked if there are any staff willing to donate an hour of their time to supervise and/or lead one of the activities. They are casting a pretty wide net for volunteers, so please don’t feel any obligation to volunteer unless you truly want to. I’m pretty sure Nutrition Services will be able to find folks to get this covered.

• Technology Skills Practice for Smarter Balanced (and practice test) – This is a repeat from earlier in the year, but mentioned at the 3/4/5 Smarter Balanced Assessment training, the Vacaville School District in California has created a site for teachers to support students becoming proficient in using the keyboard and mouse/track-pad/touchscreen for the tasks they will be asked of by the Smarter Balanced assessment (highlighting, clicking and dragging, etc.). It’s organized by grade level and has direct links activities for each of the skill areas. Also remember that the Smarter Balanced Interim Assessment (which are closer to the real thing than are the practice tests and which in theory provide results that can be used to guide instruction) are available through the OAKS Secure Browser. And here’s the new link to the OAKS Portal.

• New Title 1 EA, Welcome Maria (Pilar) Zentz!, As many of you know, we have had an open position in the Title 1 classroom. Last week and before we interviewed several bilingual candidates for Jame’s old position.  I am very excited to announce that we found an excellent candidate.  Maria (Pilar) Zentz will begin as our new EA next week.  Maria has worked for interpretation and translation services for the last three years. She has become one of the most highly sought after interpreters in the district.  Maria is very excited to join our staff and begin to teach and supervise students in our classroom.

• New Associate Director of Technology – Kim Ketterer has accepted the position of Associate Director of the Technology Department. As you know, Kim has been serving our district and students since 1987, most recently as the Interim Director of  Technology. Another downtown staffing change of note, Simone Sangster, the Director of Financial Services has accepted a job in Bellingham, WA and will be moving on at the end of April. Andrea Belz will be interim head of Financial Services and retired Financial Services Director Hillary Kittleson will be coming back to help provide support.

• Youth talking about micro aggressions – “Oh, you’re so pretty for a black girl.” “Do you speak good English?” Though they might be unintentional, these offensive phrases – called micro-aggressions – are heard all too often in everyday conversation. And while they’re frequently said in a joking way, the meaning of those words can have lasting negative effects. In a video created by SheKnows, a group of teen girls explain how micro-aggressions can be hurtful to their self-esteem. “Because they’re micro, because they’re very subtle — they’re small — you feel like you don’t have a reason to be upset,” says one girl. “We try to just use jokes to make this less awkward, ease social experiences,” adds another. “But… you need to aware of what you’re saying and who you’re speaking to.”

Site Council Agenda for Monday, February 23

Family Handbook Feedback

CAP Update

Technology Update

Curriculum Update

Staffing Update

Staff Meeting Agenda on Tuesday, February 24

Technology Agreements- Decide

PBIS Booster and Focus For Spring- Inform

HM Journeys, Senderos, Maravillas Discussion- Inform

Family Handbook Updates and Homework Conversation- Decide

STAMP and Formative Oral Language Assessment- Discuss and Inform

Staffing Update and Survey to be done in Meeting

 

 

That’s it for this week.  Have an excellent week!

Best wishes, Joel

Week of February 2


February 1st, 2015

http://f.tqn.com/y/womenshistory/1/S/R/u/2/Chisholm-WisdomQuotes.png

 

What’s Ahead?

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/c5/af/dd/c5afddf4f619a5786702a82af12a6ad9.jpg

Langston Hughes, African American Poet (Born February 1, 1902)

 

February 2 (M)
Second Semester Begins
National School Counseling Week
7:30-8:00, Pre conference with teacher
8:30-9:45, Joel in Formal Observation
2:45-3:45- Joel and Jaime work on 504/TAG Writing with Synergy

February 3 (T)

8:30, Joel at HR Training in hiring.
10:00-12:00, Joel at UO as guest in Roscoe Caron’s Class on Poverty in Schools
12:30- Joel back to our building.
1:00, Earthquake and Evacuation Drill (Please review with students beforehand.)
2:00, Parent Advisory Board Meeting
2:45-4:45, PLT Meeting- Agenda Topics: Smarter Balanced, HM Materials, Decision Making Model, Parent Handbook Tasks, Math PD Proposal

February 4 (W)

Kevin Boling does admin support 8-12.
8:15-10:00, Joel doing pre-conference and formal observation of teacher.
1:45-2:45, PLC time with all teachers of grade level in the library.  Remember to fill out your PLC form to document work on math. PLC Recording Form-Please complete this week.
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting
4:00-6:00, Digital Learning Day (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

February 5 (H)

8:00- Early Learning Committee (Room 9)
2:50- Joel in pre-conference with teacher

February 6 (F)

8:00, Joel meeting with budget committee member, Evangelina Sundgrenz (Joel’s Office)
11:00, Joel to meeting with Kyle Ennis and Sara Green about the Stamp test.
4:00-6:30, Eugene Wine Cellars Party for River Road Staff! Please bring a snack, cheese, or something yummy! I’ll me bringing some of my favorite salami pre-sliced.
255 Madison Street, Eugene, OR 97402 (541) 342-2600

February 7 (S)

8:00-3:00, Joel, Jennifer, and Karen to the OALA Conference (University of Oregon)

February 9 (M)

Report Cards Sent Home
8:45-10:00, Joel in a Formal Observation
10:30, Design Debrief Meeting
1:30-2:30, Joel to Title Coordinator & Principal Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
7:00-8:30, Joel to North Region 4J Parent Information Night: Smarter Balanced Assessment (NEHS)

February 10 (T)
Regular Day
8:00-9:00, Joel at the dentist.
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting
6:00-7:00, Parent Group Meeting

February 11 (W)

1:45-2:45, PLC Time
3:45-4:45, TLT Meeting

February 12 (H)

8:00-2:30, Data Team Meeting
2:00-3:30, Joel at Talent Ed/ Teacher Evaluation update.
3:00-5:00, Design Meeting

February 13 (F)
Camino del Rio PD/Planning Day – No School
8:00-12:00, Training with Edward Olivos in the morning on Assessment, All instructional staff are encouraged to attend. This PD is for licensed and classified instructional staff.
12:00-4:00, Planning Time

 

Hi All,

I have so much gratitude to share this week.  Firstly, this week is National School Counseling Week.   I think we all know how amazing Ms. Jennifer is! Jennifer does amazing work with children, their families, and our staff.  Her skills in creating and providing intensive behavior supports are exemplary. In addition, I see her as a very strong leader for social justice in our school and district. Her participation on the District Equity Action Team is so invaluable to students in our school.

Secondly, we have two staff members leaving us this week. Mr. 80 and Ms. Kelly will be greatly missed. The first semester was a truly wonderful experience for all of our students. Your teamwork across disciplines has been wonderful to watch. Thank you Terry and David for your hard work and passion for teaching.

My favorite immersion video of the week:

Notice the level of student engagement and the excellent sheltering techniques these teachers use. It’s inspirational!

• BLACK History Month- Four Black History Month Must-Haves – With Black History Month upon us, here is a Teaching Tolerance post that lists four things that will not only highlight black history but will strengthen those critical analysis skills that the Common Core State Standards highlight.

1. Begin with student voice and experience.
2. Educate students about the socio-political context.
3. Highlight the role other communities of color play in black history.
4. Introduce complex descriptions of key figures in history.

Here are two other sites worth going to for resources:

Smithsonian African American History  Resources

NEA Black History Month Lesson Plans

• EAST Request: Half Day Assignments – At HR’s monthly meeting with E.A.S.T. (the substitute teacher union) they was asked about whether the district supports Guest Teachers taking two-half day assignments. HR responded with a clear and resounding “yes”. There are fewer unfilled licensed absences but unfortunately it still happens and this is something that would reduce how often this happens. HR has encouraged guest teachers to take two-half day assignments if they can be coordinated well together and asked schools to support guest teachers in their willingness to accept two assignments in one day. I did clarify with HR that a few minutes late between jobs is okay, but subs are not to take an 8:00-12:00 job at one school and an 11:30-3:30 job at another.

• Effectiveness & Growth Cycle Contract Year 3 – The district added the task of formal observation to contract year three  TalentEd task lists. It turns out the state the state changed what they are requiring of 4J and that this was supposed to have been there since the start of the school year.  So for those of you on Contract Year 3, this year of the cycle is pretty much the same as Year 1, with one formal observation and 3 informal observations.

• HM Journeys Updates & Training, March 13th – Most of the new HM Journeys materials will be delivered before Spring Break. The staff still needs to discuss how to use these materials. Every school in the district received them. In December, PLT discussed the opportunity to get these materials and we decided to jump on it.  Now that HM schools have most all of their materials, there will be a PD session for teachers with the Houghton Mifflin trainers on the reinstated March 13th Professional Development/Planning day. 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. They will be going over all the hard copy materials as well as getting everyone online access to the digital materials.

In addition,  this is a conflict for us right now.I do not know if we will be able to attend this HM session.

This is because Maddie Ahearn and Reid Sheppard will be continuing Math Common Core training with us on March 13th. We will probably have to participate in the HM training at a later date. The Math training is something I have been trying to fit in for months and it directly relates to our CAP.

• Smarter Balanced Update–  Last week, Karen and I went to be trained on Smarter Balanced.  Soon, we will have access to interim assessments for this new tool.  It will help us to help our students understand how the system works and to give them a chance to see the level of complexity of the tasks.  In order to use these interim assessments, we will need all all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers are trained as test administrators. There are many similarities to the OAKS interface that many of you used last year.  There are also many new regulations and changes to how accommodations re applied. We will let you know more details on this very soon and it will also be discussed in PLT this week.

• Design Committee now moving to every other week.– The design committee meetings are slowing down a little.  They will begin to meet every two weeks throughout the Spring. This will be a welcome relief as I try to catch up on mid term goals meetings and observation pre- and post conferences.

• Camino del Rio joining the Attendance Support Pilot – Kevin Boling met with us last Friday to help explain the attendance support system.  Starting this week, the office will begin a systematic attendance system to improve our students overall attendance. We will be among 4 other schools who began this pilot in October. My hope is that with an improvement in attendance and a reduction of chronic attendance problems we will be able to increase our students overall literacy skills in both languages.

• Synergy Attendance Reminder from CIS (Repeat from last week) –We received an email from CIS asking us to remind teachers to mark student attendance every day for both AM and PM sessions. If you are using the “Take Attendance by List” option in Synergy instead of the seating chart option, you are most likely correctly marking both the AM and PM absences. Please see the above directions if you are not using the list view option to begin using this attendance screen. Edna or Yasmin will adjust attendance for those students who arrive late after 8:00 and for students who leave early. For students who arrive tardy before 8:00, teachers should only mark the tardy for AM and not PM. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like any help with this.

• OALA Conference February 7th– Next weekend Karen, Jenifer and myself will be at the OALA Conference. There are some truly dynamic speakers that will be there. We are looking forward to it and will share back with staff some nuggets of experiences at the next staff meeting on February 10th.

• Spanish Spelling Bee Competition in April(I got no takers two weeks ago. Could the Fourth or Fifth grade team check in with me about this opportunity?) 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?

• SEHS Principal Opening– The South Eugene Principalship is open now. The deadline to apply was extended to Friday February 6th.  Do you know an administrator who you think should be in that position?  If you do, encourage them to apply.  I am hoping to have a strong advocate for equity and excellence and a new voice for social justice in the district and for the South Region.

• Start getting rid of stuff!– Are you the kind of teacher who keeps hold of things for many many years? Not that that is a bad thing, but this will be incompatible with a move into our new building. The new building will have limited space for storage of materials.  And given that we are less than 16 months away from moving to our new home, I encourage you to to take a good hard look at the materials in your classrooms.  Now is the time to weed your unused materials so you are not overwhelmed.  As a general rule when I was a teacher, if I had not used it for 5 years, it was passed on to another teacher or recycled.  I encourage you to begin this process now so you will not be completely overwhelmed on moving day.

2nd Semester Kinder Breakfast– Beginning this week, we will be moving the kinders to have breakfast in the cafeteria Instead of classrooms.  This aligns with more with the EEA CBA for teachers to allow for adequate prep time.  I am hopeful that with Craig and the morning supervisors support, we will be able to make a strong start for these students becoming more accustomed to breakfast with the big group. Thank you Bucklew, Tracy, Craig and Cathy for helping brainstorm ideas to make this work.

Have a great week, everyone!

Joel

Week of January 19


January 19th, 2015

What’s Coming Up?

January 19 (M)
No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 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 Night

January 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 meeting

January 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 Meeting

January 30 (F)

1:00-2:00, IEP Meeting
Grading Day – No School

This 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

Week of January 12


January 11th, 2015

Queridos maestros e empleados,

Last week was a good week. It was good to see how quickly teachers helped students get back into routines.  So many of our students need the structure of school and you provide it! We are quickly approaching school choice season.  If you want to help out in any way with the showcase event on Saturday let me know. It is so important to our program that people know how amazing our program is.

On a bittersweet note, I wanted to briefly share how much I will miss having Sarah Lauer on our team. She is an amazing educator and so dedicated to the work we do with all our students. Sarah’s work with kids for the past 13 years and her work within the equity committee will not be forgotten. I hope she comes back to visit us in the future from Minneapolis. She is an example of how we as educators make a huge difference in the lives of children and their families. Thank you for your service Sarah. Best of luck in your new life in the Midwest.

What is coming up?

  • January 12 (M)

Wear green and gold!

Reading and Math Winter Benchmark Testing Week, EDL Continues

7:30-9:45, Joel at Latino Community Breakfast (Ed Center)

10:00-10:45, Joel and Monica Olvera discuss Ballet Folklórico practices in the building. Potential access for students after school.

11:30-12:00, Design Debrief in Joel’s office.
3:30-5:30, Joel at the TIU Planning meeting.

  • January 13 (T)

Joel and Jennifer out. Kathy Larson will support and call me if discipline needs to be addressed.

8:00-3:30- Taking it Up Training Day 1 (8 staff attend at Auditorium)

2:45-4:45, Staff Meeting- Professional Development with Edward Olivos and Audrey Lucero, Zone of Proximal Development and tying assessment in to the  instructional cycle.
6:00-7:00, Grupo de Padres/ Parent Group Meeting (Library)

  • January 14 (W)

Joel and Jennifer out. Karen Ramirez Gutierrez will support and call me if discipline needs to be addressed.

8:00-3:30- Taking it Up Training Day 2 (8 staff attend in Auditorium)

1:45-2:45-  PLC teams in the library. (Focus is still formative math assessments.) Please fill out the form each week, thanks.

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting (Erin Piper’s Room)

  • January 15 (H)

1:30-2:15, Hat Speeches in conference room 1:30-2:15, Note the change in day. PBIS team attends if possible.

3:00-5:00, Joel, Karen, Marcy, Alexis to Design Committee (Classroom Focus group session.) Please come if you want to give input.

  • January 16 (F)

8:30-9:00, Joel meets with Roscoe Caron

12:00-1:00, Joel in Formal Observation

1:30-3:30, Joel to Super Boundary Meeting (Ed Center)

4:00-?, Mystery event.

  • January 19 (M)
    No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Joel to MLK March at John Serbu Campus. Come join me if you like. There is no official Camino del Rio participation but I’d love to march with any colleagues that want to walk in solidarity.

WEB-MLK-POSTER-BLACK-AND-WHITE2015Parking is available at Serbu Youth Center (2727 MLK Blvd) then we are gathering in front of PK Park. We will start gathering at 9am and then we will start the March at 10am. We will head down MLK Blvd. to the Shedd Institute where there will be a short program of speakers.

  • January 20 (T)

8:30-9:45, Joel in Formal Observation

2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

  • January 21 (W)

8:30-3:30, Joel at Principal’s Network Priority Schools Meeting (Lane ESD)

1:45-2:45-  PLC teams in the library. (Focus is still formative math assessments.) Please fill out the form each week, thanks.

2:45-3:45, IPBS in Erin Recker’s Room

  • January 22 (H)

8:00-9:00, Joel to Super Boundary Meeting (Ed Center)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee (Library)

4:30-6:30, 4J Equity Committee (Parr Room)

  • January 23 (F)

9:00, Lockdown Drill

10:00-11:30, Joel in Pre conference and formal observation

  • January 24 (S)

9:00-12:00, Elementary School Showcase (Ed Center)

 Some items of note for the week:

The Reinvention of Bilingual Education in America’s Schools Here is the my article pick of the week. It describes the trends well in dual language programs today.

A New Mexico student at the state Spanish Spelling Bee in April 2011.

A New Mexico student at the state Spanish Spelling Bee in April 2011.

 

• HM Journeys CCSS Updated Materials – The updated Houghton Mifflin reading materials will be delivered sometime this week. For those not on PLT, the district got a highly discounted offer from HM to upgrade our old HM reading materials to their current CCSS aligned version. This also came with a 6 year subscription to the online version of the curriculum, which can be accessed from laptops or iPads and includes the leveled readers.  We purchased the English version only to support and better align materials to Common Core. The materials are going to be stored in the Craig’s shed next week and will stay there until the district organizes their the teacher trainings, though teachers can get them earlier if you’d like.

• Schools Showcase Volunteers, Sat. Jan. 24th, 10:00-12:00 – The School Showcase will be held again this year on Saturday Jan. 24th at the Ed Center, 9:00-12:00. It is also an elementary only event this year.  Last year there was an informational presentation about the school choice process from 9-10 and then the showcase from 10-12. This event is for interested families to learn about all 4J schools in one place at the same time. Last year they provided breakfast, including a vegetarian option, for staff helping at the event. Let me know if any of you are willing to help me promote Camino del Rio and tell families why they should come to our school. You are the best marketing tool for our school.

• Superintendent Search Updates – We should know who our new superintendent will be by spring break. The school board had a work session last Wednesday to review all of the staff, students, families and public input. They plan to do a first round screening of candidates soon and will then do site visitations. In March, they will have different stakeholder groups conduct interviews with the finalists. That input will then go back to the board who will announce the new superintendent by spring break.

• Process for Requesting District Behavior Support – Camino del Rio staff are already good about going through the building IPBS process for challenging students before calling in ESS behavior consultants for, but ESS has now created a Tiered Intervention Flow Chart of steps that are to be followed before calling in one of the behavior consultants. “The Mod Squad” IPBS Team already follows these steps, but feel free to look at the chart if you’d like.

• Call for Student Presenters on Digital Learning Day! (Feb. 4th, 2015) – Ketterer send something out to cert_all, but Kellyclare Gardner sent a Digital Learning Day flyer to principals specifically calling for student presenters for Digital Learning Day that I thought I would forward. If you have any trouble accessing the link to our online sign up form through the PDF, here you can follow this link if you want to represent Camino del Rio at this event.

• Jan. 30 Educational Assistant (Professional Learning) Extravaganza – Back by popular demand, downtown will be hosting a variety of instructional workshops for all educational assistants who wish to participate. This all day event (8:00-3:30 at the Ed Center) allows for classified staff to choose presentations within your scheduled work day while teachers are working on report cards. They will be presenting multiple workshops at at time, in order to give you choice and flexibility to fit within your daily schedule. A schedule of the workshops and more details will be sent out soon.

• DonorsChoose.org Opportunity – Most of you are probably familiar with DonorsChoose.org, but it’s an on-line charity that connects the public to easily fund grants for public schools. For the College Football National Championship game, all attendees at the game will receive a $25 DonorsChoose.org gift card to use on a classroom project that inspires them. While there’s no way to predict how many recipients will use the funds, there will likely be a bunch of folks from our community looking to support a classroom, so it this may be a good time to put up a low cost grant (headphones, curriculum materials, class supplies, etc.) on their website. Here’s a link to the teacher section of DonorsChoose.org to submit a grant if you’ve never put one up before.

• Title 1 Newsletter – Here is the latest district level Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is again mostly coordinator specific information and tasks, but there is some information about summer school for staff who work there and are wondering when it will be this year.

 

Have a great 5 day week.

Saludos cordiales,

Joel

Week of December 15


December 14th, 2014

I Teach

Weekly Summary of Events

December 15 (M)

8:00-3:00, Data Team Meeting

December 16 (T)

SST Meeting, 8:00-11:00

4:00-8:00, Joel to First Aid Training

December 17 (W)

My mom visits as principal for a day.

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting

December 18 (H)

1:00-1:35, Pride Assembly Rescheduled from December 4 (AM kinders parents can come visit to see students get awards too.)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee Meeting

December 19 (F)

Last day of school before Winter Break!

January 5 (M)

School Resumes

Hi everyone,

Well, we are in the final stretch towards winter break. This often means that students are stressed, not to mention the teachers. Please make sure you listen closely to students and consider their needs and anxiety of the upcoming break.  I can come by and help if you need it.

Here are several items for the week:

  • Love food not waste is beginning at Camino del Río- With the help of Craig Young, Lisa Livelybrooks, Tim Whitley and PSS, we are starting the City of Eugene’s Love Food Not Waste Program.  This is a program that will help us reduce our school garbage bill and reduce landfill amounts tremendously.  Please talk to Marcy, Nikita, or Megan about getting helpers in your classes to help make this a smooth process.  Also, if you are aware of families that might want to volunteer supervising students, that could be an easy way for them to help out.  Please advertise it in your weekly newsletter.

  • Pride Assembly will be this Thursday- Thank you all for bringing me the Pride Awards this week.  Please keep them coming.  I hope to represent each class in the school during this presentation.  In addition, we will be recognizing kindergartners from both am and PM.  Please make calls to parents or send them a not home in an envelope.  We want this to be a big deal for students on Thursday afternoon.  Also,  we are going to recognize our amazing First Lego League Robotics Team.  They brought home three trophies! The assembly will be about 25 minutes. Please seat students in a neat line in order with your grade and keep classes separated for ease of recognition.  A seating chart will be available by Thursday afternoon. Below is the agenda starting at 1:00 PM. Edna will call classes down. Please stay in classrooms until she calls your classroom.

1. Mr. Adee will start students off with a song or two to set the tone. (Please remind students of PBIS Assembly expectations.)

2. We will present the Golden Tray Award to two classes.

3. We will present the FLL Team to the school and give them an applause.

4. We will recognize the students who read to the City of Eugene.

5. Megan and the Student Leadership team will quickly remind us what the Virtudes Award is and how to get it.

6. We will read the names of students who received pride awards.  Teachers will come to the front to present awards. Mr. Lavin will read names.  We will read K through 5.

7. Students will be excused by classroom.

 

IMG_0726

Three Trophies for First Lego League competition last weekend.

  • International Human Rights Day Declaration was a success.– See the pic below taken at the Hult Center.  Our school is really getting some positive attention.
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This is a shot of our students presenting the International day of Human Rights on December 10th. They did a tremendous job in front of the public.

  • EEF Announcement Soon-  We should know the EEF announcement of our $5000.00 grant before Winter Break. If we do not get the full amount, it may be possible that we can get the funds via another source.  I have been networking with some business leaders in our community that have interest in supporting our programs.

 

  • PLC Wednesday and Tech: Please remember to fill out your PLC Form each Wednesday that you meet. I have invited Misty Jackson to return so she can support you with your iPad technology needs. We are inching closer to a 4th grade 1:1 initiative.  Edna purchased Reflector for all classroom teachers and ELL.  Peggy will come by to do installs on tablets and laptops this week. I really like this model, ( having an expert come in who can help on a specific topic.) I am hoping I can convince Reid Sheppard to come by on a Wednesday or two in order to help with formative math assessments.

 

  • Classrooms Input in New Building- Please speak with Erin Skoubo, Marcy Hellman, Alexis Screen, and Karen Ramirez Guttierez about their input on the classroom design.  The glass from floor to ceiling in parts of the classroom I believe is a real problem for storage, wall space, custodial maintenance and too much distraction.  I need you to provide input to the teachers involved about your opinions.  The ed spec process asked for these windows in Howard and our school. Please provide input with your opinion as it may make a difference. If Allan Chinn and I can make a compelling argument together to change the Ed Specifications, we may be able to shift this in both our schools.

 

  • Global Delights Coffee Fundraiser- Soon we will begin a fundraiser to help support the Outdoor School Program in 5th Grade.  I am recommending that 4th and 5th grade get involved.  If our 4th grade can raise funds this year, we won’t be in such a pinch during the next school year. Nikita, Megan, Jaime, and Jill: Please see me about organizing this fundraising event.  We could make  600.00 for every 100 pounds of coffee that we sell. This could also be a school-wide event later in the year. They also will be saving 1.00 for us for every pound they sell in the kiosk throughout the year. Go local and help our students go to Outdoor School! The date for Fundraising will begin in the second week in January.

 

  • Kindergarten Expo Next Week- Some of you may have noticed that there was a position open for kindergarten in our building this week in an email from EEA and Cyd Vandercar.  I will attend the expo session next week if there are any applicants to our position within the district. If there are not, then this position will go public starting over Winter Break or in early January.  I will be advertising far and wide over break. Many unknown factors remain about staffing as December is an extremely early time of year to think about all of this. It has prompted me to ask several questions to staff about their intentions to be kinder teachers in our building and even what their other intentions are for other grades.  If you’d like to approach me earlier about your staffing interests, do not hesitate to speak with me.  Later in March, I will be sending out a more formal survey about your interests and intentions for 2015-2016.

 

  • Enrollment Numbers- For 2015-2016 we are projected to have 366 students. This is an increase of 33 students over 14-15  projections.  The district also projects that we will have 75 kindergartners next fall. They slated 3 positions for us in full day kinder next year.  We will have to make some classroom placement decisions once we have a clearer picture of staffing.

 

  • Monday 12/15 – Friday 12/19 is Secret Snowman Week -Starting Monday, December 15th, you are in charge of leaving your S.S. something special for each day of the week. Remember, it can be a poem, piece of candy, or an encouraging note. The max you can spend is $10.00 total for the week, so be creative. Friday, December 19th right after school we will reveal our person in the staff room. Please join us for a few minutes of holiday cheer before winter break! Staff had a lot of fun last year trying to guess who our S.S. was.

 

  • Progress on late entry policy-  I have been asked by the district to submit a policy proposal regarding late entry students in the River Road /Howard super-boundary.  Briefly, the proposal would ensure that we would remain a neighborhood school and we would not accept students after Fall of 2nd grade into the program. The policy will also outline a policy for how to accept students who are heritage  Spanish speakers and others who have specific designations and abilities. I have been referring to some master plans from California, Connecticut, Utah, and Colorado for research.  In addition, Abby Lane, Tom Piowaty, Allan Chinn, Eric Anderson, Sara Green, Rosa Molina, and others will contribute. This proposal will be submitted to the board and hopefully have some resolution before school choice season is in full swing in late January.

 

  •  CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grants Due Jan. 2 – I sent this out once before, but I thought I’d remind anyone interested in applying for a grant they are due Jan. 2nd. The CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant Program is a competitive grant open to PreK-12 teachers and is designed to help teachers inventively 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.

 

  • The Threat of Stereotype – Stereotype threat is a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about their social group. Stereotype threat and the responses it elicits can play a powerful role in the relatively poor achievement of certain students—African Americans, Latinos, and girls in math-oriented domains. The following article is an excellent piece that discusses the impacts on students and more importantly how educators can help.

 

  • Teachers can take a cue from Google to encourage innovation – Technology firms, including Google, have found success with a strategy that allows employees to spend one-fifth of their time on “passion projects.” Now, the approach appears to be catching on in education, with some teachers setting aside time for students to work on inquiry-based projects. This article includes 20 tips to help educators adopt this approach.

 

Thanks and have a good week.

 

Saludos cordiales,

Joel

Week of December 8


December 7th, 2014

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Hi Everyone,

We are moving into a very exciting week during the day and the night.  Put on your seat belts and jump into the fun and learning.

Some items of note this week:

• More Housing in the Super-boundary  Area – The City of Eugene announced that they have conditionally approved a tentative subdivision located between Maxwell and North Park Ave. (the field across North Park from Kelly), which will be 40 residential lots and one commercial lot. This is within the Howard Elementary catchment area and could effect us down the road.

On a related note, the apartment complex on River Road, named the Ecco Apartments, is now accepting applications. Looking at their website, they’re marketing themselves as having “resort-style community amenities” and are renting 1, 2, and 3 bedroom apartments. Allan Chinn, the principal from Howard contacted them and said they plan for tenants to begin moving in around mid-January and plan on opening their final building in March.

• Pride Assembly in last week of December –  The Pride award or “Virtudes” Award is to reward students who show the many areas of PRIDE which are exemplified by perseverance, integrity, diversity, and excellence.  I hope to present students from EACH class with awards in the assembly on Thursday the 18th. So far, I have only received 1 award this school year, and I know we have some awesome kids!

In the next week, take time to write 2-5 pride awards for your class. These awards, found in the IMC, are for students who day in day out are working hard and doing the right thing. Sometimes, they even step up to commit a really caring positive act which you feel you need to recognize. Kindergarteners through fifth graders deserve these awards. We will be presenting them with their certificate, taking their photo, and displaying their photo near the front of school. Please write these PRIDE awards this week and return them to my box near  my door in the office.  Any staff can write these awards, but please check in with the classroom teacher to make sure you don’t duplicate. Also, a student with a level 3 cannot earn a pride award this time around, but they can if they are referral free in January, February, and March.

• Technology Integration Update: Apple ID access reminder and newer tech purchases.  Here are the instructions for doing Apple Purchases.    Some of you might have lost your apple id or password.  If you have, come see me and I can help jog your memory.  Misty Jackson sent me all the teacher info last week. Also,  I have authorized Peggy to install Reflector on all teacher computers in the next week or so.  Peggy and Edna will work together to purchase and install it on all your laptops.  This will allow you to use your iPad for many more instructional purposes as I mentioned in my email last week. Do you have any app requests?  Please contact Erin Skuobo about your app interests if they are paid apps. In our meeting with Kim Ketterer last week, she also mentioned that we could demo apps to try. If you are an “early adopter” type, let me know and we can work more closely with Kim to try out new technologies.

• “Taking it Up” in mid- January – There will be an opportunity next month for any staff member, licensed or classified, interested in attending “Taking it Up” who have not already attended. The two-day seminar will be offered January 13th and 14th. Downtown is paying all of the registration fees and our building will pay for substitutes. We are sending 7 staff to Taking it Up!  Way to step up team!

For those not familiar with “Taking it Up”, it is a provocative seminar focused on helping educators, school board leaders, and community members deepen their understanding of the institutionalized racist barriers that hinder elimination of Oregon’s racial achievement gap. This focus on working from the inside out will challenge participants to step out of their comfort zone and create new entry points for becoming aware of, understanding, and interrupting inequitable policies and practices in our schools. There will be a couple more opportunities for staff to attend Taking it Up or the full week CFEE experience.  It is a priority for us to have 100% attendance in this program.

In addition, we are mobilizing a Camino del Rio Equity and Inclusion Team.  Our next meeting is this Monday at 7:30 AM. We will have another meeting in January.

• Smarter Balanced Updates – Downtown has scheduled the site test coordinator training for Smarter Balanced for the end of January, so we’ll have more information to share after that. In the meantime, attached are some item you may want to read over now and will probably answer a lot of the questions you may have:

The Test Administration Manual, which is required reading for access to TIDE and the Smarter Balanced/OAKS Assessments
The Accessibility Manual, which covers the Universal Tools, Designated Supports, and Accommodations for the SB/OAKS Assessments
Test Administrator checklists to aid in your planning

• Houghton Mifflin CCSS Upgrade – The School Board did approve the HM CCSS update for Camino del Río and all of the other six HM schools (Howard, YG/Corridor, Buena Vista, Edgewood and Edison) who’s staffs were also interested in getting the updated materials. I did get answers to a couple questions that came up at our meeting on Monday. One, we will be getting both hard copies of the updated program and also digital versions that will work on laptops and iPads. And two, the timeline is up to us in terms of when to begin using the updated materials. I’ll share more once we get more information about trainings and planning time.

• Superintendent Search Updates & Online Survey – The school board is seeking input on what you’d like for a new superintendent. This online survey will be up Monday, December 8th through Dec. 19th to solicit input. There will also be a parent forum December 16th, 7:00-8:00 PM and a public input session at the December 17th School Board meeting. Final candidates will be in Eugene for community meetings March 4-6..

• Title 1 Newsletter – Here is the latest district level Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is again mostly coordinator specific information and tasks, but there’s a good video on how to use a Socratic Circle (also known as a Socratic Seminar) as a dialog approach to understand information in a text. The video features a 2nd grade classroom from San Bernardino, CA.

• Learning Palace Coupon – Learning Palace sent me a 15% off coupon that can be used at any of their store locations. The coupon is valid from Dec. 8th – Dec. 15th.

• Study: Active learning helps black students with STEM subjects – This study was done with older students, but it can easily apply to younger students. Using active learning, rather than lectures, to teach science, technology, engineering and math may help to close the diversity gap in STEM fields, according to recent research on how black students learn best.

• Madison Loves Books– Take a look at how enthusiastic this child is about books. Personally, when I saw this video, it gave me a lot of hope.  This video would be GREAT to share with kids.  I believe students need to see that reading is an act that is desirable and something that other peers think is valuable.  Check it out and smile!

 

 

#Creativity is #inventing, #experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, & having fun. ~ Mary Lou Cook.

Calendar of Events

December 8 (M)

7:30-8:10, Equity Team Meeting (Joel, Karen, Jill, Jennifer, and anyone else!) (ESC Office)

10:20, Fire Drill and Lock Down Practice- Lock Down occurs sometime between the fire drill and 10:50.

2:00-5:00, Joel at Principal’s Meeting Parr Room- Ed Center

December 9 (T)

7:30-8:15, Behaviorial Support Meeting for student. Joel, Brie, Jennifer, Debbie, and Tracy attend.

8:30-10:30, CAP Taskforce meets, Karen, Aline, Joel, Kathy

2:45-4:45, Staff Meeting (Remember to finish your Chapter 2 from Dual Language A-Z)

1.  2:45-2:55, Nancy and Karen present on CCSS Argumentation within the new  ELD standards.

2.  2:55-4:55, Hour Staff Meeting with Edward Olivos and Audrey Lucero on Dual Language Instructional Delivery Practices

6:00-7:30, Parent Group Meeting Visioning- You are encouraged to attend! (Library)

December 10 (W)

7:30-9:30, Joel to Latino Breakfast at Ed Center (Parr Room)

2:45-3:45, PLT in the Conference Room

6:30, International Human Rights Presentation at the Ed Center (Our students are reading the rights!)

December 11 (H)

8:00-3:00, Being a Writer Meeting all day at the Ed Center  (Joel and Jaime Jones attend)

6:30-7:30, River Road New Building Design Open House to Public in the Cafeteria

6:30 p.m. Presentation
7:00 p.m. Questions
7:30 p.m. Wrap up

December 12 (F)

1:00-2:45, Joel at the Late Entry Policy Meeting at Corridor

6:00-8:00, Camino del Rio Movie Night!- Kids, parents, and staff are invited!

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131030002123/rio/images/5/56/Rio_2_film_(1).jpg

December 15 (M)

8:00-3:00, Data Team Meeting

December 16 (T)

SST Meeting, 8:00-11:00

4:00-8:00, Joel to First Aid Training

December 17 (W)

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting

December 18 (H)

1:00-1:35, Pride Assembly Rescheduled from December 4 (AM kinders parents can come visit to see students get awards too.)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee Meeting

December 19 (F)

Last day of school before Winter Break!

Week of December 1


November 30th, 2014

Calendar of Events for December

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(No Site Council in December)

December 1 (M)

8:00-2:00, PD 5.5 hours with Rosa Molina (Library) 2 hours prep time.

10:30-11:00, Joel, Bryan,and Jennifer at IEP Meeting in Conference Room

3:45- 4:45, PLT Meeting- PLC Proposal and Debrief of Rosa Molina visit.

December 2 (T)

2:45-3:45, TLT Meeting (Conference Room)

December 3 (W)

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting (Piper’s Room)

4:00-5:00, North Eugene Principal Meeting at NEHS

December 4 (H)

1:00-2:00, Teatro Assembly  -Pride Assembly Rescheduled  for Thursday December 11.

3:00-5:00, Design Committee (Library)- Focus Groups attend.

5:30-6:00, 5th Grade Outdoor School Meeting

6:30-8:00, David Adee 4/5 Teatro Espectaculo in the Gym

December 5 (F)

5:30-6:00, 5th Grade Outdoor School Meeting

6:30-8:00, David Adee 4/5 Teatro Espectaculo in the Gym

December 8 (M)

10:00, Fire Drill and Lock Down Practice

2:00-5:00, Joel at Principal’s Meeting Parr Room- Ed Center

December 9 (T)

2:45-4:45, 2 Hour Staff Meeting with Edward Olivos and Audrey Lucero on Dual Language Instructional Delivery Practices

6:00-7:30, Parent Group Meeting- You are encouraged to attend! (Library)

December 10 (W)

7:30-9:30, Joel to Latino Breakfast at Ed Center (Parr Room)

9:30-11:00, Joel at Corridor for Skillful Teacher Co-observations. (Corridor)

2:45-3:45, PLT in the Conference Room

December 11 (H)

8:00-3:00, Being a Writer Meeting all day at the Ed Center  (Joel and Jaime Jones attend)

Design Committee- Cancelled

6:30-7:30, River Road New Building Design Open House to Public in the Cafeteria

December 12 (F)

1:00-2:45, Joel at the Late Entry Policy Meeting at Corridor

December 15 (M)

8:00-3:00, Data Team Meeting

December 16 (T)

SST Meeting, 8:00-11:00

4:00-8:00, Joel to First Aid Training

December 17 (W)

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting

December 18 (H)

1:00-1:35, Pride Assembly Rescheduled from December 4

3:00-5:00, Design Committee Meeting

December 19 (F)

Last day of school before Winter Break!

 

A list of some items of note for the week:

Reading Assignment for December 9th– Please read Chapter 2 from Dual Language A-Z for the meeting with Edward Olivos and Audrey Lucero on December 9th. I also encourage you to skim Chapter 3 again since it is very closely related to our work with these consultants on that day.

December 1 PD Outline– Here is a rough schedule of our day together. (If there is a snow/weather day, this could be cancelled or delayed.)

Professional development and mapping will all occur in the library. Please bring all materials you need (Maravillas/HM) to the space in the morning including iPads and computers. The focus of this work is SLA and ELA curriculum mapping for vertical and horizontal articulation. The main outcome is to become more familiar with this process, align materials to the CCSS, to map curriculum for the last 3 months (possibly + future months), and to establish common objectives and themes for each grade level.

Coffee and snacks will be available.
We will begin promptly at 8:00. Please be on time.

8:00-8:30- Coffee and Introductions
8:30-9:00- Rosa and Kathy explain the use of the map.
9:00-10:15- Staff work on using materials to begin the process of looking back at previous months.
10:15-10:30- A break
10:30-12:00 More work on mapping
12:00-12:30- Lunch- (on your own)
12:30-2:00 – Work on mapping more.
2:00-4:00 PM Teacher protected planning time
4:00-5:00- PLT Meets to debrief the visit and discuss professional learning communities proposal. (compensated with CAP funds for extra duty beyond the work day.

Here are some helpful links for Monday. Also, see the email from Wednesday with the documents for curriculum mapping and depth of knowledge chart.

SLD WIDA Standards

Oregon ELA CCSS

California Spanish Literacy CCSS Standards

•One iPad? No problem!- Here is a great way to use the iPad in the classroom for instruction that increases student collaboration in mathematics, or any subject.

 

•December Holidays – Here is a list of the major religious holidays of December 2014. If you are planning on describing or discussing winter holidays in your curriculum, please include a wide variety of cultures in your winter holidays unit.

December 1 is World AIDS Day, which was created to commemorate those who have died of AIDS, and to acknowledge the need for a continued commitment to all those affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

December 8 is Bodhi Day, a holiday observed by Buddhists to commemorate Gautama’s enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, India.

December 10 is International Human Rights Day, established by the United Nations in 1948 to commemorate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

December 12 is Feast Day at Our Lady of Guadalupe. This day commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary near Mexico City in 1531.

December 16-24 is Las Posadas, a nine-day celebration in Mexico commemorating the trials Mary and Joseph endured during their journey to Bethlehem.

December 16 (sunset) – December 24 (sunset) is Hanukkah (Chanukah). Also known as the Festival of Lights, it is an eight-day Jewish holiday recognizing the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. It is observed by lighting candles on a Menorah—one for each day of the festival.

December 25 is Christmas, the day that Christians associate with Jesus’ birth.

December 26 – January 1 is Kwanzaa, an African-American holiday started by Maulana Karenga in 1966 to celebrate universal African-American heritage. It is observed by lighting candles to represent each of the holiday’s seven principles, libations, feasting, and gift giving.

• Furlough Days? – The School Board has not made a decision about the two furlough days, but the word on the street is that downtown expects there two be hazardous weather days between now and Spring Break. Those snow days will become the furlough days, but if we don’t have any hazardous weather days this year, one of the furlough dates is likely going to be the March 13th PD/Planning Day. Who knows, as of writing this, there’s a chance of snow and ice being predicted for Sunday night and Monday morning.

• Teatro Espectáculo Assembly this Thursday, Dec. 4 – This Thursday is the Music Assembly by David Adee. The students are  extremely excited to share their musical talents with the whole school. Please review assembly expectations with your students.

• Design Focus Groups Meeting this Thursday, Dec. 4 – We will have enlarged plans for each area.  An architect will be assigned to help facilitate the individual session.  Staff members who have expertise and interest in a particular area will provide input.  The following are the Focus Group Areas and a schedule for Thursday, December 4th.  Many of you signed up already but some have not. We have plenty of representation in Pr-k and general classroom.  If you cannot come to this meeting but have an area to look at, please send me an email with the ideal time for you. I might be able to arrange a “go to” online meeting with the architects at that time.

  • General Classroom  3-3:45pm
  • Pre K Classroom        3-3:45pm
  • Admin Area                 3-4pm
  • Gym/Music                  3-3:45pm
  • Library/Media             3:45-4:30pm
  • Cafeteria                       3:45-4:30pm
  • Community Room/Family Resource Room   3:45-4:30pm

• Preparing for Full Day Kindergarten in 15-16 – It was exciting to hear from the superintendent that we will be able to move forward on a full day kindergarten next year and that the board is gong to fund it.  I asked HR to begin working hard on Spanish language elementary pool openings and they have created that  now! In the next week, I will post a requisition for Dual Language Elementary Teacher. Please let me know if you have interest in remaining a kinder teacher or becoming the 3rd (maybe even 4th) kinder teacher.

• Rethinking Schools Articles on White Teachers in Spanish and English-

Dear White Teachers….  by Chrysanthius Lathan

Queridos maestros blancos… Por Chrysanthius Lathan, Traducido por Nicholas Yurchenco

Here is a great article written by a black teacher in Portland that describes her experiences in the middle school classroom and how she navigates issues of race in the classroom/ school setting every day. It is a powerful passage that I highly recommend you read in order to think deeper about your role as a change-maker in our school system.

 

Have a great school week!  I believe in you and the kids do too.

 

Saludos cordiales,

 

Joel

 

Week of November 24


November 23rd, 2014

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Si un niño no puede aprender de la manera que enseñamos, quizá debemos enseñarles de la manera que ellos aprenden.
—Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Estrada

Weekly Calendar of Events

November 24 (M)

Fluoride Rinse Day

8:00-9:30, Joel at Charlemagne to work on Late Entry Policy

11:30-12:00, Joel in design phone call.

2:00, Joel phone appointment.

2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting- Main topic: Late Entry Policy and it’s effects on our school and the region.

4:00-5:00, Early Learning Meeting in Family Resource Center

5:00-7:00, Joel at Lane ESD to present on working to increase equity and inclusion in schools.

7:00-9:00, Joel at the Common Core Standards Spanish Language Meeting in Ed Center.

November 25 (T)

Staff Meeting- PD with Reid Sheppard and Maddy Ahearn- Please come on time! Our guests Maddy and Reid will begin the meeting promptly at 2:45. 2:45-4:45

1. 8 Mathematical Practices  Professional Development (Continued) 2:45-3:45

2. Leadership Plan Explanation and Possible Vote, 3:45-4:15

3.  New Building Design Update for Teachers and Time for Input, 4:15-4:45.

November 26 (W)

No meetings.

November 27 (H)

Thanksgiving Holiday- No School

November 28 (F)

No School

December 1 (M)

8:00-2:00, PD 5.5 hours with Rosa Molina (Library) 2 hours prep time.

3:45- 4:45, PLT Meeting- Rescheduled.

December 2 (T)

2:45-3:45, TLT Meeting (Conference Room)

December 3 (W)

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting (Piper’s Room)

December 4 (H)

1:00-2:00, Teatro Assembly  -Pride Assembly Rescheduled  for Thursday December 11.

3:00-5:00, Design Committee (Library)

6:30-8:00, David Adee 4/5 Teatro Espectaculo in the Gym

December 5 (F)

6:30-8:00, David Adee 4/5 Teatro Espectaculo in the Gym

December 8 (M)

2:00-5:00, Joel at Principal’s Meeting Parr Room- Ed Center

December 9 (T)

2:45-4:45, 2 Hour Staff Meeting with Edward Olivos and Audrey Lucero on Dual Language Instructional Delivery Practices

December 10 (W)

7:30-9:30, Joel to Latino Breakfast at Ed Center

2:45-3:45, PLT in the Conference Room

December 11 (H)

8:00-3:00, Being a Writer Meeting all day at the Ed Center (We still need a rep for this!)

1:00-1:35, Pride Assembly

Design Committee- Cancelled

6:30-7:30, River Road Open House to Public in the Cafeteria

December 12 (F)

1:00-2:45, Joel at the Late Entry Policy Meeting at Corridor

 

 

Here are some of the main items of the week:

• We STILL need a Being a Writer Rep. : Could someone please step up to be a rep for this.  I have tried three weeks in a row and no one has volunteered.  If you do not have any extra responsibilities in the building please consider adding this. We really need someone there to help us learn about this new curriculum.

• December 1 PD-  Two Way Immersion Literacy Curriculum Mapping with Rosa Molina

You may recall that on December 1st Rosa Molina is returning to work with our staff.  The main outcome of this visit is to spend time mapping our literacy units completed this fall and to do some planning ahead.  The last 8 weeks or so, you have spent time getting familiar with your new Maravillas Materials and have tried to implement some of the concepts that both Audrey Lucero and Edward Olivos taught us in August.  The December 1st PD session will give you time to organize these units and align to the CCSS. Kathy Larson, Karen Ramirez and Rosa Molina have contributed to a new curriculum mapping tool that you and your grade level team will use on December 1. Ultimately, we hope you will be able to map what you completed and consider what you might have been able to accomplish for the year had these materials not been brand new.  The ideas is that you will have a road map for next year that will make your planning more efficient for next school year and that this will help us solidify our program further.  In addition, if you and your team are efficient, you may have some opportunities to plan ahead for January, February, and beyond.

Please bring all literacy materials to the work session that you use. Spanish AND English. Also bring your laptop or iPad to access online Maravillas materials.

Our December 1 Schedule:

Coffee and fruit and donuts provided. Something gluten free too but I am not sure what yet.

We begin PROMPTLY  @ 8:00-12:00 will be the main mapping session.

There will be time for lunch on December 1 at 12:00.You are on your own.

It will run from 12:00-12:30. 12:30-2:00 you will continue to work with your team.

After 2:00 PM, you will have time to plan independently or in teams.

The end of the work day is 4:00 PM on December 1.

 

• Smarter Balanced Sample Tests & Accommodations – Kerri Sage said she’d send these, but I haven’t seen the email yet, so here is a link to the 4J Curriculum website, which contains the CCSS and assessment information she shared (install VPN on your laptop if you’re accessing this website from home or outside the 4J network). Also, here is a link to the Smarter Balanced website if you’d like take your students though the practice tests or look at it yourself.  A number of folks also asked about testing accommodations. I’m sure 4J will put their own spin on these in terms of what is acceptable, but here is a link to the ODE webpage regarding the statewide assessment accessibility supports (formerly the Accommodations Tables).

• District PBIS Newsletter – 4J Behavior Consultants, have started putting out a newsletter that was shared with ESS licensed staff and principals. The November Newsletter is attached, and it has some good information that that I thought staff might be interested in reading as well. There are some excellent behavior ideas, especially for those difficult to support kiddos.

•Dual Language Program Bridges Home and School This is an article about  making literacy connections in the home in Racine, Wisconsin. In this school, the teachers have been doing some innovative work to help improve dual language literacy in their school. The parents are a part of the team.

•Derek Redmond: A relentless athlete to inspire us. Here is a video I saw last week at the Principal Network Meeting about perseverance and relentless effort.  It is powerful and fitting.  We will work together to help our students succeed. We will not do this alone.

Have a fabulous (though I’m sure a little wild) three-day week!

 

Joel

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An activity from Alexis’ Class