Week of January 19

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 December 1

Calendar of Events for December

(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 4^th.  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

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

An activity from Alexis’ Class

Week of November 17

Weekly Calendar of Events

November 17 (M) –

9:00-9:30, PSS Meeting to discuss progress in implementation of Green School curriculum.

9:30-1:00, Joel doing walk through observations through out the building.

(Focus: Objectives and Student Awareness of Objectives)

Fire Drill at 1:00- Pending Weather

1:45-5:00 Joel at Principal’s Meeting

November 18 (T)

More walk through observations through out the day.

2:45-4:45, Staff Meeting-

1. Anne doing general medical information awareness and nursing supports.

2. PBIS Climate Update- Cafeteria Plan

3. United Way Update

4. CAP Update for Staff

5. Dual Language A-Z Book Discussion- Please come prepared to discuss dual language a-z Chapter 1.

6:00-8:00, Parent Group Meeting

November 19 (W) 

10:00-3:30, Joel at Principal Network Meeting ( Lane ESD)

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting (Recker’s Classroom)

November 20 (H)

8:30-11:30, OIEB Tour and Visit of our School- Tour of classrooms and conversations about our work.

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

4:30-6:30, Joel to Equity Committee (Ed Center)

November 21 (F)

Regular Day

November 24 (M)

Fluoride Rinse Day

2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting

November 25 (T)

Staff Meeting- PD with Reid Sheppard and Maddy Ahearn

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

2.  Parent Involvement and Early Learning Vision 3:45-4:05

3.  New Building Design Update for Teachers and Time for Input, 4:05-4:45.

November 26 (W)

2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting- Shorter Meeting due to the holiday.

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)

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)

1:00-1:35, PRIDE Assembly- (Gym)- Tentative

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

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

December 5 (F)

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

Hi staff,

Here are several items of note for the week.  Please know that you are appreciated by so many young people.  Perhaps this video from Kid President will remind you of the HUGE impact you have on on all of us. Thank you teachers and all of you for your amazing work!

• Action required of Teachers:

First assignment for Dual Language Instruction from A to Z, due November 18th.

Read Chapter 1, pages 1-42.

Do a review of the checklist  in the last part of the chapter. Make your own self assessment of our program based on the checklist and be ready to converse with a partner about it.

Write a short reflection on “how we are doing” according to the standards laid out by Hamayan, Gennessee and Cloud. ( 1 page or 1/2 page) Be prepared to share it with a partner at the November 18th staff meeting.

• Action required of Teachers

Math Survey:

To guide our work with Reid Sheppard and Maddy Ahearn in math professional development this year Karen helped us by creating a survey.  In SST, it was decided that this was a task that needs to be completed before we move into doing more in depth PD.  Please complete the survey by our staff meeting on November 18th.

PLEASE COMPLETE BY TUESDAY!

• Fire Drill, Monday 17th at 1:00 – Weather dependent, we’ll plan to hold our November Fire Drill on Monday, November 17th at 1:00. If we’re rained out, we’ll try Tuesday morning at 9:10. It is our third try. I hope this time is a charm!

• PTO Meeting, Tuesday at 6:00 – The November PTO meeting will be this Tuesday, 6:00-7:00 PM in the library if any staff are able to attend. We had a big turnout at the last meeting, which was a great show of support for the PTO’s work. Hope to see you there!

• 3-5 Being A Writer Teacher Leader Rep – Last call for a 3-5 Being a Writer rep. The Developmental Studies Center staff will be here in December to meet with Being a Writer (BAW) Teacher Leaders by region. This is chance to see Being A Writer taught by a master teacher and ask all the questions you might have. The North Region meeting will be Thursday, December 11th, 8:00-3:00. See the attached document for details and let me know if anyone is willing to be the 3-5 BAW Teacher Rep.

• Rosa Molina returns on December 1 PD Day – Rosa will be back to help us with SLA/ELA curriculum mapping on December 1st.  The schedule will include time to collect all your lesson plans and reading instruction materials in order to lay out what has been covered in your classroom thus far.  She will work with us to help write out curriculum maps for each grade level for the last three months. She will also give us some ideas for how to forcast what remains in the year and how to capture those lessons. This will have a very strong bent towards aligning our SLA/ELA time to Common Core Standards. Rosa’s session will run from 8:00-12:00, Lunch, then 13:30-2:00. 2:00-4:00 will be teacher’s designated prep time.

• Request From Guest Teachers – HR meets once a month the the substitute teacher union, EAST, and EAST leadership asked HR to communicate the following to licensed staff regarding the best way to communicate sub plans to guest teachers:

Dear Building Administrators:

Every month I have the opportunity to meet with the leadership team from E.A.S.T., our licensed guest teacher union. At our recent meeting, they requested that we communicate with licensed staff about the best ways to electronically communicate lesson plans and sub notes so that our guest teachers are well prepared and most effective.

Could you please share with your staff that if they want to send plans electronically, the best way to do so would be to attach it to the absence request in AESOP? This will ensure that the teacher accepting the assignment has access to the plans. The other sure fire strategy would be to email them to someone in the school office, and share so that they can be printed and given to the Guest Teacher.

Some teachers are being very cleaver and emailing them to the Guest Teacher directly. Sometimes the timeline is so tight that the Guest Teacher doesn’t have the chance to check their district email and print the plans before arriving for the position.

I so appreciate any conversation or communication you can have about this request from E.A.S.T.

Let me know if you have any questions.

~ Karen Hardin

• Thanksgiving Classroom Reminder – Keep in mind that student conceptions of Native Americans often come from classroom activities around the First Thanksgiving. The conception of Native Americans gained from such early exposure is often both inaccurate and potentially damaging. When planning activities, be aware that what most of us learned in school about the “Pilgrims” and “Squanto” and the “First Thanksgiving” is a mixture of both history and myth. Thanksgiving activities should avoid reinforcing historical myths and should avoid stereotypes (ie. NO warbonnets). It’s best to shift the focus away from the “First Thanksgiving” and instead focus on items children can be thankful for in their own lives and on their families’ celebrations of Thanksgiving. Some resources on what to avoid and what to teach can be found at Teaching Tolerance and Education World. Here is a good article with a Native American perspective on Thanksgiving. Also, the 4J Natives Program is a resource that is available for classroom presentations and can offer an accurate picture of Native American culture.

Winter looks like it’s come early. Stay warm this week!

Joel

Week of October 6

Hello Camino Staff,

Last week was a very busy week. This weekend was a great cool down for me I and I feel recuperated. I hope staff found the Maravillas training helpful. There was a lot of information in the training and it will take some time to digest it all.  I am so happy to settle in and see more classrooms and learning this week.  I will continue to visit your morning meetings to get a feel to how classes have adjusted to that routine and structure. Teachers, it is time to focus on your goals. Please contact me to set up a time to meet and discuss them.

October 6 (M)

Joel visits morning meetings.

4:00-8:00, Joel at Equity Committee Retreat

October 7 (T)

Joel visits morning meetings.

2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting

October 8 (W)

Joel visits morning meetings.

1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaboration Time

2:45- 3:45, IPBS Meeting

October 9 (TH)

Joel visits morning meetings.

1:45, School PBIS Assembly

2:45-3:45, Design Committee

October 10 (F)

No School, Statewide In-service Day- non-contract day for teachers and EA’s

October 13(M)

Joel available all day to do goals meetings.

October 14 (T)

2:45, Staff Meeting

October 15 (W)

1:40, Collaboration Time- Please meet in library.

2:45- 3:45, PBIS Meeting, Classified encouraged to come in exchange for an hour of comp time.

October 16 (TH)

3:00, Design Meeting

October 17 (F)

Joel available all day to do goals meetings.

• Rosa Molina visit October 20th All Day– Rosa Molina is confirmed to visit on October 20th.  By October 16th, I will need every teacher to complete their weekly schedule that was given to you by Sarah Knudsen.  If you can get it to me next week, I can give you advice or tips on how to improve it before the visit occurs. You will be meeting with Rosa and your grade level team for 40 minutes to consult about the fidelity of the program you are delivering.  Please, be prepared for this tremendous opportunity! We will also be spending time with Rosa on December 1st to do Curriculum Mapping as a staff. This will help us prepare to do the mapping on December 1st.

• Being A Writer Materials – If you are short any Being A Writer materials, let me know by Wednesday. Downtown is providing additional materials for classrooms or SPED teachers who are short or missing any items. SPED teachers should have materials for grades 2, 3 and 4 only. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• TalentEd Update – TalentEd has now been updated for the 2014-2015 school year. This page provides a link to the TalentEd for login and Quick Start Guide. This link can be found on our 4J web site under Human Resources Teacher Effectiveness and Growth Systems.  I’ll set October 31st as the due date for the self-assessment and goals. Goals Meetings- Octboer 13th and October 17th are set aside for me to work on goals for you. Please have an idea of how you would like to set  your SLGOs for these meetings or write some up. In PLT this week, we will be discussing school wide SMART Goals for your convenience and to align with many of our CAP goals.

• Office Hours: The office will now be open from 7:45- 3:45. Being that our classes start at 8:20, 7:45 feels like ample time to get students to school and class. Yasmin or Edna will be there every day at 7:45. Yasmin will supervise from the office. Craig will begin opening the doors a little later each day as well.

• New Library Resource for Teachers from Eugene Public Library Youth Services – The Eugene Public Library website has a new Teacher Resources K-6 website, which includes:
  

  • Library’s online resources, targeted by subject
  • Links to books in the collection on teaching those subjects
  • Links and search tips for finding books and media in the collection to check out for the classroom
  • Lists of curated websites by subject
  • How to contact the library for assignment support and tour requests

  If staff have any questions, they should feel free to contact Michele Green, the Eugene Public Library Youth Librarian, by email (michele.e.green@ci.eugene.or.us) or by phone at 541-682-8480 (Sun – Thurs).

• Book Room Materials Organizing and Clean Up– We need to clear out many of the materials in the book room or at least begin to store some of them.  This is to make space for Maravillas resource materials.  If you have materials that you want to use, please come by and pick out what you need. Piper, Megan and I are going to remove materials that are considered out of date or unnecessary by October 31.

• PBIS Assembly 1:45 Thursday– Do not forget to work with your grade level or specialist team to make up a short 10-30 second skit for the PBIS assembly. We will be presenting ourselves to the school in a fun-hearted fashion on October 9th.

• El Día de los Muertos Planning Meetings– Are you wondering how the El Dia de Los Muertos Night is going? Last week, many staff members planned out some fun stations for the event and I heard that we will be having some serious fun!  Please check in with Alicia about this event that happens on October 29th from 8-6.

• BEST  begins soon: Jessica Zapata has been working hard to hire candidates for the EA positions in BEST and has been working to set up a great program for the year. With Aline and Bryan’s help, this will be an amazing support for best. Attached are the details that Jessica wanted to share with you about our program this year.

BEST-Information for Principal’s blog 10_14

• No School Friday October 10 for State In-service Day– Here are some opportunities across the state.

2014-Inservice-Bulletin

fall-flyer-2014

Supporting English Language Learners under New Standards — Open Oregon State | Oregon State Ecampus | OSU Degrees Online

• “Talking and Books” presentation on October 22 and 23 for Kinders- Mr. Lavin and Ms. Ramirez will read to your children while they demonstrate simple and effective ways to enjoy books with your children and get them talking!

Book talk They will talk about popular and age-appropriate books that a child may read independently and high-interest books that parents can read aloud to their children.

Time to Read Parents and their children will have time to read together.

All Families will take home a beautiful new picture book. All are invited to wear their jammies! Children may want to bring their favorite stuffed animals.   Childcare will be provided for all preschool children.

• SBAC Preparation: Marlee Litten posted several links for Smarter Balanced last week.  Here is one on the tools: It is under ESC>State Assessments on the Teacher Resource page)  The video of a PLC team is still not working on YouTube so I am trying to get a copy sent to us.  http://www.curriculum.4j.lane.edu/esc/elementary-state-assessments/

• Lock Down Review, Karen Ramirez had some great tips from last weeks lock-down drill.

Lockdown Drill was a success! Here are a some reminders for all of us.

Week of September 29

Calendar of the Week’s Events

September 29 (M)

8:00-8:40, Joel in 504 meeting.
8:00-11:30, Being a Writer Training for all teachers.
12:00-3:00, Joel at Being a Writer Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, September Site Council (Conference Room)
3:45-4:45, Meeting with Kerry Delph about our Camino Facebook page.

September 30 (T)

Kathy Larson Visit
Life Touch Picture Day (Gym All Day)
8:00-8:45- Joel visiting morning meetings.
9:00-9:45, Joel meets with new Chief of Staff, Charis McGaughy
2:40-3:00, Joel Meeting with Risk about Hilliard Traffic

October 1st (W)

8:00-8:45- Joel visiting morning meetings
1:40-2:40,Collaborative Planning Time
2:45-3:15, Dia de Los Muertos Planning Meeting in Room 9.
6:00-8:00, Curriculum Night- Plan de Estudios de Noche

October 2 (H)
Joel in Portland at Coaches and Principal’s Meeting
3:00-5:00, Design Committee

October 3 (F)
Academy Day- No School
8:00-12:00, Maravillas Training with a McGraw Hill PD Consultant
12:00-4:00, Teacher Planning Time in relation to Maravillas.

This week on duty:

Inside lobby: Olivia
Front of school: Erin Reckers
Bus area #1: Marcy
Bus area #2: Erin Piper
Bus area #3: Nancy
Please remember to take your class a few minutes early if you are on duty.

Here are 16 items of note for the week:

• Design Update– On the evening of September 25th we had a turn out of about 30 people.  The majority of people attending were neighbors from the surrounding community.  We presented an East option and a West option. The discussion was heated and clearly, specific neighbors feel they will be adversely effected by the West option.  We will be debriefing again Monday by phone to land on an East or West siting option. The East option has benefits of providing more open space. Unfortunately, it will cost money to tear down classrooms to make an east option work. This will cost 750K and means less money put into the building itself. The West option is also attractive and can be built with a slightly larger budget since there will not be tear downs. The West option also will mean less disruption and no loss of capacity as we need more kinder classrooms in 2015-2016. Most likely, the team will move forward with a site decision in the next week either way. The cons of the west plan are related to the outside play options and clear separation of traffic and play. The team is working on other options this week to share more ideas about the West option to come up with ways to solve these problems. Here is the latest  presentation provided by our architect team. There are also plans in my office on poster board which I will put up in the staff lounge this week.

• PBIS Assembly on October 9th- Get a small skit prepared with your grade level team or specialist team. The skit should be fun and short. Each piece should be 10-30 seconds.

• Next Parent Group Meeting is October 14th- Consider coming to the next parent group meeting. Our new parent group president wants to help families to hear from teachers about what is happening in classrooms. Drea wants to see if teachers want to do a short sharing of a particular grade level.  It makes sense for us to start with kindergarten this month.  Maestra Bucklew and Maestra Fleming, can you come to this event?

Copy Counts and conserving copies- I know many staff have been feeling the pressure of limiting copies in the IMC.  Please understand that I am working hard to conserve our general supply funds. Last year, our school overspent these funds by over 8,000 dollars and we had to cover these costs with reserves from fleet funds. This is why Edna and I are watching the counts closely. It may be that we need to up the quota for all staff sooner than December.  Also, please use Instaprint as much as possible. A little thinking ahead can make a big difference in reducing costs. Also, there is currently no limit on Instaprint orders. In addition, we are looking into limiting the office copying by using a hybrid online/paper system to cut costs there.  At open house next week, please ask parents for their latest email address so we can make sure that system is as accurate as possible.  Edna will provide a sign up sheet for you next week. If we could deliver our newsletter to a quarter or even half of our families via email, it would drastically reduce our copy costs in the office.

• Northwest Conference on Social Justice October 18th– Jill Torres is helping to organize staff who are interested in going to the Northwest Social Justice Conference.  There will be a bus provided to 4j employees who want to go. It will be in Portland this year. It is 8-4:30 on October 18th, 2014 at Madison High School 2735 NE 82nd Ave. Portland, Oregon 97220

• Operation School Bell – Alicia wanted to inform you that tthere are Operation School Bell envelopes in your boxes. If you got some, please make sure to send them home with the student on Monday, September 29. The envelope contains time sensitive information. Please let Alicia know if you have any questions. Thank your for your assistance.

• Safety Week Continues – This week is Safety Week, where we’ll practice all of the most common safety drills. The schedule for the week is below. Of course, if it rains, we will have to adjust the schedule.  Staff did an excellent job getting students outside for last week’s fire drill.  I have included a link here if you want to read more about earthquake safety and preparedness.

• Monday, Sept. 29– No Drills.
• Tuesday, Sept. 30– Room Clear, time decided by teachers
• Wednesday, Oct. 1 – Earthquake/Fire Drill
• Thursday, Oct. 2–   Lock Down (Code Blue and Code Red)

All of these drills are listed in the “Emergency Procedures Manual” which is the rainbow tabbed notebook that should be hanging in every classroom (let me know if you don’t have one). I won’t be making any announcement before the drills, so it’s okay for staff to prep your students before these drills take place. For the Lock Down drill, please review the Code Blue and Code Red procedures, which include steps that are specific to River Road and are more detailed than the general ones in the Emergency Procedures Manual. I will probably have Karen or Edna run this drill since I will be out of town that day. Please let me know if you have any questions.

• Sub Folders to Edna – If you haven’t already, be sure to give your completed sub folders to Edna. For licensed staff, EAST, the substitute teachers union, provided a list of what information is most useful for them when they go into a classroom, which teachers may want to take a look at before completing your sub folders.

• Eugene/Springfield NAACP Resource Center – The Eugene/Springfield chapter of the NAACP just had their Resource Center Kick-Off Event and I wanted to highlight some resources staff may want to recommend to students and families. There are a couple programs aimed more at secondary students, which are the Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) and the Youth Council, but the program that would most benefit our students and families is the Back to School/Stay in School (BTS) program, which offers free tutoring, computer lab and academic/Parental assistance and counseling every Saturday (beginning Oct. 4) from 10:00-12:00 at the LCC Downtown Campus.

• Language Link Interpretation Services – For individual parent meetings and phone calls requiring translation services (including Parent/Teacher Conferences), the ELD Office is highly recommending that staff use the Language Link phone service (see attached document for details). This is a company the district contracts with who are well versed in education jargon, can translate multiple languages and are quite experienced in translating for schools. The ELD office will still try to schedule an in-district translator for conferences, but just know that this is also an option and in some ways might be better for connecting with families since you’d be able to better avoid having everyone talking to the translator instead of talking to each other. Of course, during our conferences, most classroom teachers will conference in the language of the parent since we have bilingual teachers.

• Ed Center Artwork Display – The Ed Center has two glass display cases begging for student artwork. It needs to be either 8×11 flat or three dimensional no larger than 8 inches on any side. If you are interested in participating, please let me know. This is a great way to help kids fell empowered and proud of their artistic skills.

• Papa’s Pizza Student Incentive Award – Papa’s Pizza is offering achievement awards that can be given to students for good behavior or reaching other teacher set goals as an incentive. The students receiving the awards can redeem them at Papa’s Pizza for a free mini pizza. If you you’d like some of these for your class, please let me know by end of the week how many you’d like. Papa’s said they can provide them all school year long. I already received 25 last week to begin this program.

• City of EugeneTeaching Resources – The City of Eugene offers a wide range of K-12 resources that teachers can use to add interest and local content to lesson plans. This brochure offers some examples of these great opportunities for students, including RiverPlay/Discovery Village Field Trip, Hunting for History, Snow Plow Art, the annual Public Works Day and many others.

• UO International Cultural Presentations for Classrooms – The International Cultural Services Program is once again making their student ambassadors from across the globe available for the 2014-2015 school year. Since the program’s inception almost 30 years ago, ICPS participants have brought cultural diversity to our community through group presentations, panel discussions, and demonstrations of regional dance, music, food and many other forms of cultural expressions. This program is K-12 and is offered free of charge. If you would like to invite an international student to speak to your class, you can submit a request by filling out this online request form. If at any time you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the ICSP Coordinator, Lindsay Pepper, by email icsp@uoregon.edu or phone (541) 346-7429.

• VIDEO: “Hey White People: A Kinda Awkward Note to America by Ferguson Kids” – A radio station from Ferguson, MO made a pretty smart and snappy video highlighting common detours to discussing and addressing racism in America, our local community and even in ourselves.

• Hispanic Heritage Month- Check out the UO Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration organized in part by Jessica Zapata

Ten un buen semana de escuela!

Director Joel

Week of September 22

Calendar of the Week Plus

“An artist is above all a human being, profoundly human to the core. If the artist can’t feel everything that humanity feels, if the artist isn’t capable of loving until he forgets himself and sacrifices himself if necessary, if he won’t put down his magic brush and head the fight against the oppressor, then he isn’t a great artist.” Diego Rivera

September 22 (M)
8:00-11:00, Joel to Skillful Teacher Co-Observation (Ed Center)
1:30-2:30, Title Coordinator & Principal Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

September 23 (T)
Kathy Larson visit. (All day)
9:00-10:00, Data Meeting Analysis of General Trends before Data Consult Day
2:45- 4:45, Staff Meeting with PD on Effective PLC Practices
4:30-6:30, Joel to 4J Equity Committee

September 24 (W)
1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaborative Planning Time (Library with support from Sarah, Aline, Karen and Joel)

September 25 (H)
12:30-2:30, Joel to Skillful Principal Being A Writer Training (Ed Center)
4:30-5:30 Design Committee (Library)
5:30-7:30, New School Design Public Meeting- Camino del Rio (Library)

September 26 (F)
Regular Day

September 29 (M)

8:00-11:30, Being a Writer Training for all teachers.
12:00-3:00, Principal Being a Writer Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, September Site Council (Conference Room)

September 30 (T)
Kathy Larson Visit
Life Touch Picture Day (Gym All Day)

October 1st (W)
1:40-2:40,Collaborative Planning Time
6:00-8:00, Curriculum Night- Plan de Estudios de Noche

October 2 (H)
Joel in Portland at Coaches and Principal’s Meeting
2:45-4:45, Design Committee

October 3 (F)
Academy Day- No School
8:00-12:00, Maravillas Training with a McGraw Hill PD Consultant
12:00-4:00, Teacher Planning Time in relation to Maravillas.

October 6 (M)

2:45- 3:45, PBIS Meeting, Classified encouraged to come in exchange for an hour of comp time.

October 7 (T)

2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting

October 8 (W)

1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaboration Time

2:45- 3:45, IPBS Meeting

October 9 (Th.)

2:45-3:45, Design Committee

October 10 (F)

No School, Statewide In-service Day- non-contract day for teachers and EA’s

This week on duty:

Inside lobby: Alexis

•  Fire Drill Practice and Details: Later this week, you will find a daily instruction packet in your box about Safety Week.  Craig and I spent some time redoing the classroom order outside.  The numbers will be repainted on Monday. This year, due to classroom changes, there will be  new order along the track lines. Please rehearse and practice lining up on the fire drill lines once or twice this week so you are familiar with the location of your line.   Inserted here is the updated fire drill map including the classroom line placements.

•  Design Committee Update: This week, there will be an evening event on Thursday, September 25th from 5:30- 7:30. You are invited to attend to see the proposals that will be posted for viewing.  We will be presenting 2 main concepts. One on the East of the Site and one on the West of the site. In general, what we are discovering is that overall costs before construction will be less if we build on the west.  There are some proposals that have been put up for us to discern that describe demolition of classroom wings or the gym before building. Our design team has discouraged these because of the costs that could be incurred.  Avoiding demolition saves funding to be put into the final building and saves disruption to our classrooms and learning.  After this week’s open meeting, the team will process the public’s feedback and we will make a final decision on the site of the new building. Here is the presentation from last Thursday’s session.

October 3rd PD on Maravillas: I have spoken to the McGraw Hill Representatives to plan our October 3rd PD.  They are bringing in a professional development expert to help us get a good overview of the Maravillas Program.  The professional development will run from 8:00-12:00 on October 3rd. The main topics planned will be:

• How to use these materials in a Dual Language Program.
• How to integrate English Language Materials into the ELA block that relate to the themes, concepts and objectives  in the Maravillas materials.
• How to structure Tier 2 instruction using Maravillas Materials.
• The use of the online features of Maravillas.

Your afternoon will be planning time. The Maravillas team will provide you with some tasks to become more familiar with the materials that afternoon that you can work on with your grade level team.  I expect that the EA staff, SPED Staff, and ELL staff to attend the AM session as it will directly benefit our students if you understand this program.

• Change in the date for Rosa: October 20th is the new date that Rosa Molina will be coming to Oregon.  She had other engagements on the 13th of October so we have pushed it back a week.  I will update you on the topics and use of that day after further conversation with her next week.

•  Good Behavior Game Free Training – Trillium Community Health Plan & Lane County Public Health is offering free trainings for the “PAX Good Behavior Game.” You can read more about The PAX Good Behavior Game here and here. Subs will be provided and and trainings will be held at the Lane ESD Oct. 8th for teachers new to the program and Oct 9th for a booster training for teachers who have been previously trained.

•   SELCO Educator Mini-Grants – SELCO Community Credit Union accepts Mini-Grant requests each fall from K-12 educators in the 26 counties they serve. Mini-Grants of up to $500 are awarded to educators to implement creative education projects and to help fill in the gaps left by school budget shortfalls. The SELCO Mini-Grant application process is simple – please carefully read the funding criteria to be sure your project is eligible for a SELCO Mini-Grant and use the online application form to tell us about your classroom project. The deadline for applications is October 3rd and recipients are announced November 19th.

•   Facilities Use: Use of 4J Schools – Annual Reminder –   Facilities sent their annual reminder that as public employees, no person may use district property for personal financial gain or offer it free to the community, or for use that is inconsistent with districts public purpose, or in a manner that will discredit the district. It occasionally comes to their attention that 4J employees are using the school buildings for, music lessons, sports, exercise and many other types of classes/meeting. Please see the attached 4J School Board Policy on the use of district property.

All 4J schools are public property and are subject to public scrutiny.  The District has established Board Policies to address staff and outside groups wanting to use 4J facilities.  In order to establish fairness to all groups, including 4J staff, Administrative Rules have been written to address these issues.

If employees wish to use 4J Facilities and/or equipment for private instruction or for non-school community group meetings, or any other reason, they will need to (1) get approval from the Superintendent or his designee (i.e. Facility Scheduler: Natalie Medina) and (2) they will need to complete the online Facilities Request Form and Online Scheduler

•    TalentEd Update – TalentEd has now been updated for the 2014-2015 school year. This link provides the “home” page for you to click on TalentEd for login and Quick Start Guide. This link can be found on our 4J web site under Human Resources Teacher Effectiveness and Growth Systems. We will discuss school-wide goals and expectations at the staff meeting this week.

•  Latino Heritage Month:  Yes, it is Latino Heritage Month! I do not have a bunch of materials to share with you at this point, but I will point you towards one of my favorite bloggers, Larry Ferlazzo. Larry makes lots of great resource links to support ELLs and they are good for all learners! This set of links  is focused on one of my favorite Mexican artists, Diego Rivera.

•  Math Teaching Methods- Great example of a strong math discourse:

Reasoning in Multiplication and Division  Take a look at this excellent video of a teacher using number talks and math discourse.

Have an excellent week!

Joel

Week of September 15

Where will we fly to? Only our student’s imagination can say!

Calendar of the Week Plus

September 15 (M)
Tier 2 Groups begin
10:00-11:00, Joel conducting walk through observations for general dual language characteristics.

September 16 (T)
8:15-11:30, Joel to CICO Training (Lane ESD)
12:00-12:30 , Joel in meeting in office to discuss bible group program.
1:00-2:00, Joel in meeting with  Julie Heffernan on Transgender Resources in the Community
2:45-3:45 TLT Meeting to approve Technology Plan (Library)
6:00-8:00 Latino Advisory Committee at NEHS

September 17 (W)
Tier 3 Title Interventions commence.
1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaboration –  1st through 5th grades, please meet with your team in the library and plan amongst peers. Karen and Sarah, and Aline will provide support for your planning.
Kinder and ELL will meet in Room 6 with Lavin, Fleming, Bucklew, Lauer, and Schaal.
2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting Conference Room- need one or two classified representatives.

September 18 (H)
2:45-5:00, Design Committee Meeting

September 19 (F)
Regular Day
September 22 (M)
8:00-11:00, Joel to Skillful Teacher Co-Observation (Ed Center)
1:30-2:30, Title Coordinator & Principal Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

September 23 (T)
Kathy Larson visit. (All day)
9:00-10:00, Data Meeting Analysis of General Trends before Data Consult Day
2:45- 4:45, Staff Meeting with PD on Effective PLC Practices
4:30-6:30, Joel to 4J Equity Committee

September 24 (W)
1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaborative Planning Time (Library with support from Sarah, Aline, Karen and Joel)

September 25 (H)
12:30-2:30, Joel to Skillful Principal Being A Writer Training (Ed Center)
4:30-5:30 Design Committee (Library)
5:30-7:30, New School Design Public Meeting- Camino del Rio (Library)

September 26 (F)
Regular Day

September 29 (M)
2:45-3:45, September Site Council (Conference Room)

September 30 (T)
Kathy Larson Visit
Life Touch Picture Day (Gym All Day)

October 1st (W)
1:40-2:40,Collaborative Planning Time
6:00-8:00,Curriculum Night- Plan de Estudios de Noche

October 2 (H)
Joel in Portland at Coaches and Principal’s Meeting
2:45-4:45, Design Committee

October 3 (F)
Academy Day- No School
8:00-12:00, Maravillas Training with a Maravillas PD Consultant
12:00-4:00, Teacher Planning Time

This week on duty:

• Safety Week-ish, Sept. 26 – Oct. 2 – Safety Week changes due to Being a Writer. Craig, Edna and I are still working on new maps. We will get those to you soon along with updated procedures.

• Friday, Sept. 26– Fire Drill, 9:00

• Monday, Sept. 29– No Drills Many Staff out due to Being a Writer

• Tuesday, Sept. 30– Room Clear, time decided by teachers

• Wednesday, Oct. 1 –  9:00, Earthquake/Fire Drill

• Thursday, Oct. 2–  8:30 Lock Down (Code Blue and Code Red)

• Shiniest Stars of the Week- There are so many!

Cathy- Thanks so much for your amazing efforts to get Maravillas up and running. This was a great help to many teachers and to the office.

Aline- Thank you for working on so many schedules and documents for the start of the year. Your organization, leadership and vision for data team and IIPM support for our kids is greatly appreciated.

Karen- Your work on data team, easy CBM testing, and overall positive upbeat mindset have been so helpful in the last thee weeks.  It is truly amazing that we have finished KRA, Easy Cbm and are now moving into a new era of Spanish Summative assessment with your support.

Sara and Nancy-   Wow! ELL Powerhouse. It is so fun to watch how quickly and efficiently you both work together to help our English Language Learners. Your flexibility and innovative approach are so supportive of our whole program.

Sarah- Puzzle master and visionary.  I am so impressed with your great thinking and clear vision for SLD supports, Dual Language Fidelity and Programmatic Support. Thanks for helping to redesign so many schedules so that everything we do fits together so well.

Edna- Our school is just humming along, thanks to you.  Our families react so positively to your support.  It is such a pleasure to know that our kids and staff can rely on you to help us in so many ways. You rock!

 • All Meeting Minutes will now be on Zimbra Briefcase and on this Blog-

You will be able to access all minutes and structural documents via my blog and the the briefcase on Zimbra. Peggy can support you to access the briefcase if you need support in that area.

 • Website Updating and Media Request-

I need your help to update the website.  Please pass on ideas of content you’d like parents and students to see on there. Share photos with me that we can put on there.  Also, look for errors  that you see on there.

• EEF Grant Applications – The timeline is a bit later than in the past, but the EEF grant application process is now posted on their website. EEF aims to award $5000 to each school, but every year the amount available in their grants fund varies so they cannot guarantee award amounts. Schools can submit two $2,000 and two $500 grants, or they can combine grants to create one $5,000 grant. This year, we are submitting an entire $5000 grant  proposal towards getting high quality authentic Spanish language books. This will include fiction and non-fiction.  Grants are due to EEF by November 13th. This was approved in June.

• Technology Skills Practice for Smarter Balanced (and practice test) – Here is a nice  site that demonstrates tech skills for SBAC from Vacaville School District in California. They have created a site for teachers to support students becoming proficient in using the keyboard and mouse/trackpad/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.

• Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) Resource – Here is a link to the official Smarter Balanced practice tests. This website also has FAQ’s, teacher information and other resources with options to download. Here is how to try out the practice tests. They are not run of the mill and I must admit that the one I tried did give me pause:

• Click on the box near the bottom of the page labeled, “Take The Practice and Training Tests”
• Once there, click on the green box labeled, “Student interface….”
• Then, click on “Sign in” leave all of the boxes blank
• Finally, select a grade level and click “yes” under “Guest School”

Now go forth and show your math and reading prowess!

Color Printing:  Remember, color printing is very expensive.  Please be mindful that if you need to do color printing to be prudent how much you need.  We can make copies in the main office in a pinch during off hours but not during the busiest portions of the day. Also, consider using Insta Print and plan ahead as this saves a significant amount of supply funds and precious time for office staff.
Food Reminder-

Bring the student’s number cards EVERY time they go to lunch.  Hand them their cards and pick them up at the end. There is no need to hang around with the students in line. Rene and the cooking staff will appreciate it.  This seems to work very well for 1st grade right now and they are trying to learn their numbers quickly.  Please do this at all grades.   Kinder will continue to use their method of pick up of grab and go lunches.

• Synergy New Student Reminder – A quick reminder that if you have had new students added to your class, teachers will need to move them over from the column on the left of the main Teacher VUE screen into where the pictures of all your students are located. There is a red alert triangle at the top of your Synergy screen that will notify you when you have new students added to your class, but be aware you need to move them onto your roster before you will be able to see them for attendance and other Synergy purposes.

• Teacher Effectiveness & Growth Update – HR has let principals know that they have almost transferred all of the necessary information over for teachers to begin using TalentEd for the 2014-2015 school year. I’ll let teachers know once it’s ready to go and will schedule goals meetings at that point, as well as sending out the building goals if you’d like to use them. Also, here’s a link to the district Teacher Effectiveness and Growth Systems website, which can likely answer any questions you may have about the system.

• Camino del Río Staff Handbook Review – Attached is the updated Staff Handbook for 2014-2015. All staff must review the handbook and sign & return the  acknowledgement form  to Edna by Friday, September 26th.

• New Teaching Tolerance Curriculum for Teachers – Three years, 300 texts and 20 anchor standards in the making, Teaching Tolerance’s K-12, literacy-based, anti-bias curriculum is finally here! Start exploring Perspectives for a Diverse America today.

• 2013–14 OAKS results: District-wide analysis & key points – You may have seen the recent article in the Register Guard, but OAKS were released last week by ODE. In terms of measuring growth, Howard held pretty steady, though our overall scores dropped, as did most of the district and state, particularly in math. Attached is a district summary of scores, some of it broken out by school, along with an email that was sent to principals with an analysis of the results.

• Curriculum Night will be October 1st – Aline, Karen, Alicia, and I have been working on a plan to create a passport style curriculum night.  More details to come.  The ad will be sent home on Monday with our first mailer.

Here are some ideas  for sharing on curriculum Night (October 1st from 6:00-8:00)

• Parents want to know what their students are expected to learn this year and how they can help them succeed. Think about creating a handout or packet that gives an overview of your year’s scope and sequence. Bonus points for including information about how parents can help with each big topic/project.

• Explain the standards. If you’re teaching the Common Core, the PTA has put out a great collection of parent guides. These guides are a great way to teach parents about the CCSS.

• Include examples of student work. If you have copies of projects that students have done in the past, show these as examples of the kind of work students will be expected to do this year. Alternatively, show a few (nameless) examples of student work from the beginning of the year. Talk about the work students have been doing and where you will go from there.

• Take a few minutes to preview areas where kids might struggle and how parents can help. For example, your students might use a different strategy to solve math problems than their parents and that might make homework challenging. Or, talk about how the rhythms of a classroom have highs and lows — say, how you’ve noticed that every December your students start to get antsy for the holidays and are easily distracted.

Explaining the Common Core in Spanish to families. Need help explaining the CCSS to families?  Here is a nice video.

Have a good week, everyone!

Joel