Diario Camino del Río

Week of March 2

What is ahead?

March 2 (M)

Dr. Seuss Week Begins

Pajama Day

Maria de Pilar Zentz begins on Monday 1:30-3:00,

1:00-2:30,Immersion Principals Meeting- Joel at Fox Hollow

6:30-8:00,Spanish Smarter Balanced Info Night for Parents

March 3 (T)

Crazy Hair Day 4th Grade Math Planning Session with Reid

2:00, Parent Advisory Board with Alicia, Edna, Joel, and parents.

2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting

March 4 (W)

Hat Day-
Eat (and contribute to) at the Classified Staff Celebration at lunch beginning at 11:00 AM in the Staff Lounge.
8:00-11:00    Joel at Skillful Teacher Co-observations-(Corridor)

12:30, Fire Drill
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 8:00-12:00, 5th Grade Math Planning Session with Reid 5:00-6:00,  Superintendent Candidates Public Forum

March 6 (F)

Favorite Book Character Day

March 9 (M)

10:00-11:30, Joel to 15/16 Staffing Allocation Meeting (Ed Center) 8:00-12:00, 3rd Grade Math Planning Session with Reid

March 10 (T)

8:00-12:00, 2nd Grade Math Planning Session with Reid
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting, main focus will be Staffing

March 11 (W)

1:45-2:45, Grade Level Math PLC in the Library ( All K-5 grades, please fill out your PLC form)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Recker’s Room

March 12 (H)

8:30-9:10,PRIDE Assembly-for all students.

9:30-12:00, Joel to CLLAS Conference at UO

12:00-4:00, 1st Grade Math Planning Session with Reid

March 13 (F)

8:00-12:00, Senderos PD at Camino del Rio K-2 Primary
12:00-4:00, Senderos PD at Camino del Rio 3-5 Intermediate
4:00-5:30, Hey staff, let’s go bowling! Firs Bowl
5:30-10:30, Benito Juárez Birthday Celebration at Kelly

What is going on?

Hi Everyone,

Monday, March 2nd through Friday, March 6th marks the celebration of Classified Employees Appreciation Week! Contributions by classified staff to our school, students and families are immeasurable! Not only would our school be unable to operate without our classified staff, our school is by far a better place for the classified folks we have here at Camino del Río. Your dedication and hard work, whether it’s going that extra mile for a student or taking over a classroom or taking over a group in a pinch, know that your efforts have not gone unnoticed. Camino del Río is a better place for having you all here!

• Teacher Pathways Program – 4J is participating in the Lane County Teacher Pathways Program, which will pay tuition costs for the licensure program on a Pay-It-Forward, Pay-It-Back system. The Pathways program is working to diversify the teaching force in three ways: linguistically, culturally, and socio-economically. They are actively seeking people who speak multiple languages, are culturally-diverse, and/or are first-generation college students. Meeting one of these descriptors is a bonus but not a requirement. Please share this information with anyone who you think would be a good candidate for the program. Attached is the Lane County Teacher Pathways Program brochure and applications. The deadline to apply is March 13th, so it’s a fast timeline if there is anyone you plan to share this with.

• TalentEd Password & Login Update – HR let principals know that Netchemia, the organization that provides TalentEd Perform, made upgrades to the system last week. As a result, when you log into TalentEd for the first time since then, it will look different. The different systems available for purchase within TalentEd are Discover, Recruit & Hire, Perform, and Records. Netchemia has now made it possible for their customers who use more than one system to log in using one password, though 4J only uses Perform and not the other systems. So the next time you log onto TalentEd, follow the directions given to you when you login and remember the following:

1) You are not required to change your password, necessarily. You will be prompted to change your password, but can “change” it to the same one you were using before IF that password had a “special character” in it and meets all other requirements they set up for passwords.

2) Put at least one “special character” in your password. These are such symbols as: @ # $ % ! …etc.

3) To make your password more secure, you may want to create one that has at least eight (8) characters in it and has a combination of lower case letters, upper case letters, and numbers.

4) If your attempts to log in don’t work – PLEASE CALL HR AND THEY WILL CONFIGURE YOUR PASSWORD ON THE SPOT TO GET YOU IN. The “Forgot your password?” feature doesn’t seem to be working too well since the upgrade. Please don’t keep trying and end up frustrated.

• New Nutrition Services General Manager – 4J has a new Nutrition Services General Manager and is the Howard PTO President, Kaylynn Olney. Some of you know Kaylynn has worked in 4J as the Operations Manager since 2012 and worked for Oregon State University Catering for six years before coming here. If she comes by to check in, please say hello and congratulate her.

• Math PD Sessions with Maddy and Reid – As some of you may know, grade level teams are meeting with Reid and Maddy between now and Spring Break.  This will be a tremendous opportunity for finding the gaps in the math program and sharing common strategies. Here is the agenda.

• Complete the staffing survey by March 9th –Don’t forget to complete the staffing survey. This is for all classified and certified staff.

 The Staffing Survey– Click on this form to begin.

• Ems Emazing Readers Assembly Incentive Assembly, 3/18 at 1:00 – This is a fun assembly kickoff for the Eugene Emeralds’ Reading Incentive program. The program will run the like previous years, but Aline will distribute information to classroom teachers on how the program works, which is essentially classroom teachers set a reading goal for students and if students meet that goal they get two free tickets to attend an Em’s baseball game this summer. For the assembly, we will meet in the gym at 1:00 so Sluggo can motivate kids to meet their reading goals.

• Proficient bilinguals see higher earnings, research shows– Patricia Gándara shares important research on the economic advantages of being bilingual. The work you do with children gives them an immense economic advantage in the workplace of the future.

Have a great week everyone and enjoy the festivities of the week!

Best,

Joel

Week of February 2

What’s Ahead?

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 26

Dear Staff,

This last week was another impressive week for me at El Camino del Rio.  I really enjoyed teaching in the Engineering Night.  Our team once again did an amazing job.  It was so encouraging to see parents and students working together to do science and engineering.  Aline and Alicia did a tremendous job teaming up to organize this event. Thank you both for your hard work. Also thank you to all the teachers who took time out of their evening to support this important work. We continue to build a strong bi-cultural community and that’s exciting! Lastly, as we enter school choice season Edna and Nikita have gone the extra mile to help us look strong out there in the expo and with our new flier.  We will be posting our new information in the lobby for incoming parents to read. Come by and check it out so you have a good feel for what we are sharing with the public.

 What’s coming up?

January 26 (M)
8:20-9:45, Joel in formal observation
9:00-10:00, Early Learning Meeting
10:30-11:00- Design Debrief Meeting
1:00-2:00, School Choice Tour
2:30-4:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room) (Joel cannot attend- Olivia facilitates.)

January 27 (T)
8:00-3:00, Joel and Karen at Charlemagne for Learning about Learning Network
9:00-10:00, School Tours- Alicia/ Edna conduct the tour.
2:00-2:35, Final Music Assembly (Gym)
Staff Meeting cancelled due to grading week.
7:00- 9:00, Forum with Rob Saxton Asst. Superintendent from ODE, North Eugene HS- This is guaranteed to be an informative (and lively) event.

January 28 (W)
8:30-9:30, Joel in formal observation
10:15-11:30, Joel in formal observation
1:45-2:45, PLC Time- Main focus Mathematics Report Card Reporting, use time for peer support and communication.  Report using the PLC Form.

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)
Grading Day – No School
9:00-11:00, Edna, Yasmin, Joel meet with Kevin Boling to pilot the new  4J attendance system.
1:00-2:00, IEP Meeting Joel attends.
2:30-3:30, Joel attends second IEP Meeting
6:30-7:30, Ballet Folklórico Introductory Session in the cafeteria. All students invited.

February 2 (M)
Second Semester Begins
National School Counseling (We love Jennifer! 😀 ) Week

February 3 (T)
8:00-12:00, Joel out in the AM for HR Training and speaking event at UO.
12:30, Earthquake and Evacuation (Fire Drill)
2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting

February 4 (W)
8:20-9:30 Joel in Formal Observation
1:45-2:45, PLC Time – Please get back to using math formative assessments and document this using the PLC Form.
4:00-6:00, Digital Learning Day (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

February 5 (H)

Last day to submit grades so we can print and send in Monday folders on February 8th.
8:00-2:30, IIPM Consult Data Team Meeting
2:45-3:05, Joel in pre conference meeting
3:00-5:00, Design Committee

February 6 (F)
8:40-10:00, Joel in Formal Observation
4:00-6:30,Winter Social at Eugene Wine Cellars

This week’s announcements

• School Choice Visitation Week – Just a reminder that this week is School Choice Visitation Week #1. We have a few families already signed up for tours (mostly at the younger grades), so don’t be surprised if you see me walking visitors around the building and into classrooms this week. The Showcase was excellent. We had a great turnout from families as well as staff to assist.  I want to give a big thank you to Edna, Nikita, Karen, Jill, Nancy, Jessica and many others who either showed up to help or put in many hours to create our fabulous new posters.  It really showed Estrella Pride!

• January 30 Grading Day Staff Expectations – Taking classified staff first, this is a regular work day for most classified folks, so remember there are many workshops available this same day at the EA Extravaganza, but if you have any comp time coming, this would also be a good day to pay back extra time that’s owed to you. For licensed staff, HR has gone back to being more flexible about grading day expectations. The following rules were sent out to principals, which now allow teachers to request to work from home on grading days:

Unlike a planning or PD day, where the District has a firm expectation that all teachers report and be physically present throughout the work day, we have exercised greater flexibility for grading days in recognition of teachers’ professional status. On grading/ report days, principals have discretion to require that all teachers report and work on their grades at the building, or alternatively, to allow teachers to request permission to work from home, and report to the building when grades are completed. In exercising this discretion, please consider the following:

(1) Would allowing a teacher to work from home on this day interfere with work that needs to be done? For example, do you have teachers who need to collaborate with each other in order to prepare reports? — if so, it does not make sense to allow them to work in isolation;

(2) Grading day is a work day. It costs the district about $480,000, and it is not intended to be a vacation day.

(3) Teachers are highly visible members of the community, and part of our expectation of them as professionals is to be good stewards of public resources. If you do allow teachers to work off site this day, please remind them public perception issues and work to protect them. This means that if we grant flexibility to work off-site, it is critical that they work during work time. We grant flexibility to principals to allow teachers to work off-site on grading day, but if it is abused, we will not be able to continue to do so.

(4) The flexibility to work off-site is a privilege, and not an entitlement. Whether you allow any teacher to work off-site is within your discretion. I believe the best practice is to communicate to teachers is that you expect them to work in the building on this day, unless they have requested and received your advance permission to work from home.

So in short, if teachers would like to work from home this day, let me me know, but be sure to make plans ahead of time if you need to collaborate with colleagues for grading. Also, be sure to use this time for grading and not use it to run errands around town.

• Winter Social at Eugene Wine Cellars on February 6th– Come have a glass of wine and bring a little cheese to this social event on the Friday after grading as we mark 1/2 way through the school year.  We will be there from 4:00-6:30.

• Synergy Attendance Reminder from CIS –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.

• Mid Year Check-In Meetings & Observations – This is the time of year principals are supposed to begin conducting our mid-year check meetings with licensed staff regarding educator goals. I am continuing to try to see all staff in a formal observation.  I will do my best to contact each of you to make these appointments.  The mid-year check in process will begin in early February.  Please bear with me as I try to see each of you teach and provide feedback.  It is a priority for me to make sure I observe everyone. If you want to combine your mid goal meeting with the pre-conference or post conference, let me know. That will make things easier for all of us. Make sure you have your SLGO smart goals ready to analyze at the mid term meeting.

• Feb. 13 Camino del Rio PD/Planning Day – We will be continuing the work with Edward and Audrey on February 13th.  This session will more specifically address how assessment fits in to the instructional cycle.  Audrey and Edward will continue to weave in components of the Skillful Teacher work so we can address each of these issues.

• Denver Public Schools Series on Dual Language Videos – It is always good to see examples of what other schools are doing. Take a look at this video series if you have time.

• PLC time this week – All teams are expected to continue to meet in the library each Wednesday. Also,  continue to use the PLC form each time that we meet. It is important that we document how our PLC time is going for the state and so I can monitor progress in this area. This information is submitted to the priority schools SST team and the Office of school improvement.  Please complete it for each grade level.  This week, I encourage you to use your PLC time for familiarizing your self with math report cards, especially if you are new.  You could even collaborate and help each other record progress of students on the report cards together during this time. This falls closely in line with our math assessment focus of PLCs.

• Concussion Policy – Attached is the final district concussion policy. This document represents the collaboration of 4J Athletic Trainers, Nurses, and the Regional Traumatic Brain Injury Liaison. It has also been reviewed and approved by our Insurer. School nurses have offered to present the document at staff meetings, which we will likely do at a future staff meeting, but I thought I’d share the policy now if staff wanted to get a preview.

• Full-Day Kindergarten Updates – Attached is an informational flyer about full-day kindergarten that was shared with families at the School Showcase by district staff. Also, Sara Green shared with principals this week in her newsletter, though nothing is definite at this point, that she’s proposing a 23:1 ratio for full-day Kinder. Keep in mind that it is a proposal and where we end up may be somewhat different, but this would be significantly better than the current district elementary average of 28:1. Sara’s been advocating for less than 23, but there are a number of competing interests and it’s challenging to put all the budget eggs in one basket.

• Key multimedia skills all educators should have – Educators provided input about multimedia skills that help in the classroom as part of a recent national survey conducted by T.H.E. Journal. The following are the top five skills that teachers should master, according to the results: troubleshooting technology, embracing curiosity, incorporating video, using multiple display devices and using technology to create presentations.

• How Integrating Arts Into Other Subjects Makes Learning Come Alive – Here’s a good article from Mind/Shift on the value of including the arts in core instruction and not viewing it as an elective or add-on. The main crux of the article is viewing art not as an extra, but as integral to learning.

Thanks and have a good week!

Joel

Week of January 12

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.

Parking 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.

• 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 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 October 27

 Schedule of Events of The Week

October 27 (M)

2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting for October

October 28 (T)

8:30-9:30, Three Guys and A Ball Assembly on Bullying and Harrassment (Gym)

1:00-3:30, Superintendent Berman to observe classrooms and chat with staff at Staff Meeting. Classified Staff, please come and accumulate comp time to be part of the conversation.

3:45-5:30, PLT Meeting for CAP Revisions (Extra Duty Contract for PLT Members)

October 29 (W)

1:45-2:45, Wednesday Collaboration Time

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting for November

October 30 (Th)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

October 31 (F)

Halloween- Costumes to be worn in classroom parties only.

November 3 (M)

IIPM Data Consult Meeting to be rescheduled due to conflict.
1:30-2:30, Aline and Joel to Title 1 Coordinator and Principal’s Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principal’s Meeting (Ed Center)

November 4 (T)
8:00-12:00, Picture Retakes (Library)

November 5 (W)

8:00-3:30, Joel to Learning About Learning Network Meeting (BV)

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

November 6 (H)

1:00, Fire Drill and Lock Down Practice immediately afterwards.

4:00-8:00 PM, Conferences

November 7 (F)

8:00 AM -8:00 PM Conferences

Hi everyone,

Here are several items of note for the week. Last week felt like a marathon and I think it was!  I am looking forward to a more routine week though we all know any day in our building is filled with richness of discussion and learning.  I am also really looking forward to our Día de Los Muertos Event as it’s my first time to go. I am planning on bringing my kids to the event to celebrate, decorate and learn.

Site Council Agenda October 27th

A Conversation about Parent Involvement, Decision Making, and Language of Power.

Staff Meeting Agenda October 28th- begins at 2:45 and ends at 3:45.

1. Greeting and United Way Presentation by Nancy Schaal McHarry -5 minutes

2. A Conversation with Superintendent Dr. Sheldon Berman -40 minutes

3. A Short iPad Training- 10 minutes

The Growth Mindset and Malcolm Mitchell:

Many of you have heard of Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset. This video explores a great example of how the growth mindset actually manifests itself in everyday life.  I loved this story.  I encourage you to share it with your classes and have a discussion about reading and working hard at it.

New Building Design Update

We have moved quickly into the stage known as schematic design in design committee. This last week, our team was able to see some rough models of initial layouts. As most of you should know by now, the building will be sited on the west side of our building.  In addition, our team is also exploring the idea of removing our old gym early in order to design a building with less constrictions on space.

On Friday, I also had a chance to see Trillium Creek Elementary in West Linn.  This was inspirational and clearly a building designed with kids in mind.  This gave me motivation to always keep the child in the forefront of my mind when working on our design.  Here is a short clip of me coming down the slide in the Trillium Creek Library.

Earl Boyles Visit

Our visit to Earl Boyle Elementary was truly inspirational.  I was amazed to see a school designed to support families from age 0 to 11.  There were so many features of their program which we would like to emulate.  I will share more about this in a future staff meeting.  The greatest learning for me was their parent group structure.  It is called Parents United.  The group conducts all parent meetings in Spanish. They set an educational agenda for them selves and their bi-cultural parent coordinator helps them find the resources to learn what they need to further their parenting skills. Fundamentally, all parents are seen as asset holders in the children’s learning, and they are assets!

Tasha Katsuda will be forming an early learning task force which I will be joining.  This group will be looking to find partnerships in the community to help us to find a way to include a preschool program in our building in the future.  I will also begin to work with the design team to discuss possibilities of making space in our building for a preschool program.

Some November 6 and 7 Conference Details

Dinner on November 6 and 7- I am still working out the details of this. I will be checking in with Parent Group to see if they have a way to support us with a meal one night. The school will have a meal on a second night. I will share this with you next week.  Email me if you have suggestions for dinner.

Free/Reduced Meals Forms at Conferences- Be sure to have free/reduced meal forms on hand during conferences and please highlight this program for families. We’ll have extra copies available in the office.

November 10 Classified Staff Expectations- Monday, November 10 is a regular work day for Classified Staff, but is not a work day for licensed staff who worked extended hours for conferences. Since this is a non-student day, I would encourage classified staff who have comp time coming to use it this day. Please submit your comp form to me to ensure you have these hours accumulated. If you are planning to work on Monday, please connect with your primary cooperating teacher on how best to help out this day.

Linda Darling Hammond on Equity and Literacy in the 21st Century

This is an excellent article on equity in schools.  Linda Darling Hammond from Stanford is one of the giants of multicultural education.  When I read this article, I realized that we as a staff are battling many factors that are out of our control and some that we can control.  Fortunately, we have resources, very qualified staff, and expertize to help our students and support them in high levels of literacy. Some of the questions asked of Linda in this interview article directly relate to our building. It was affirming to hear that there are a lot of things we are doing right!

Math PD Planning

Last week Karen and I met with SDS Reid Sheppard and Math Director  Maddy Ahearn.  They shared many ideas about how to support our staff with more math professional development.  In addition, we discovered with their research many things that could help us this year.  One,  there are math Investigations Teacher Editions in Spanish.  We are exploring how to acquire these for our staff.  Two Smarter Balanced or New OAKS  Math Assessment will be offered in Spanish! Our students can study math in Spanish and take the test in Spanish!  This is huge!  Reid and Maddy will be planning more PD with a focus on math practices this year.  Our major focus will be on using the 8 math practices at appropriate times to improve students math thinking skills. Here is a document that Kathy Larson shared that unpacks ways to consider using the CCSS  in Math. It is North Carolina’s Math Common Instructional Framework

PBIS Cafeteria Plan Reminder

Our PBIS focus on improving cafeteria behavior continues. This week, the tables will begin getting points for their class behavior in their seats.  Teachers, please remind students about this system and give them positive feedback for points earned for appropriate cafeteria behavior next week.

Common Core ELA in kid friendly Language

Here is a link to a poster/ word wall anchor standard poster of the new ELA CCSS Standards in very kid friendly terms. They are in Engish.

ELD Project with UO

Abby lane and I have been working with Julie Heffernan on a new practicum program for students who are in the UO Teach Out Program.  There will be many students learning from our ELL’s by interviewing them. They will use the data to share plans on how to support ELL’s in the classroom.  More details to come, but this will begin in Winter term.

iOS Apps of Note – Here are a smattering of interesting apps I’ve come across from various sources:

• Free app teaches lessons about digital citizenship – A new app aims to help students become responsible digital citizens. DigitalCitizen, by Learning.com, teaches students about online safety, the proper use of digital tools and how to handle cyberbullying through the use of games, videos and quizzes. The app is available at no charge from the Google Play and Apple store.
• Classroom Management Apps – In the School Library Journal article, “Classroom Management Tricks” by Richard Byrne, he recommends three apps that help with classroom management:

• Random student name selector
• Countdown timer
• Noise regulator

• Flocabulary App – Flocabulary is a collection of content-based songs and videos using hip-hop themes and catchy phrases and mnemonic devices to help students remember basic content.

 

That’s all for this week.  Have a spooky week!

 

Joel

Week of October 20

Schedule of Events of The Week

October 20 (M)

8:00-4:30, Rosa Molina Visit to consult on our schedules and district wide issues. See the schedule in the main blog post.

I will not be attending the Title Meeting nor the Principal’s Meeting in order to host our guest Rosa Molina throughout the day. I will try to attend each of the grade level meetings with you pending disciplinary needs.

First Day of BEST

October 21 (T)

8:15-12:15, Priority School Support Team Meeting (SST) (Conference Room)

12:30-1:30- Math PD Planning meeting with Reid Sheppard and Maddie Ahearn (Conference Room)

2:45 3:45 – TLT Meeting (Conference Room)

6:00-8:00, Latino Family Meeting  @ NEHS

October 22 (W)

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Maestra Recker’s Room

6:00-8:00,Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event

October 23 (H)

7:30-9:30,  Joel at Priority Schools Meeting with fellow Principals in Springfield

10:00-12:00,  Joel in Meeting with Audrey Lucero and Edward Olivos

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

4:30-6:30,  Joel to the  4J Equity Committee

6:00-8:00 PM, Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event

October 24 (F)

Joel in Portland with Karen, Alicia, and Sara Cramer to learn about Early Literacy.

10:15-11:00,  Asemblea Andina with Ethnomusicologist and parent Ed Wolf.

October 27 (M)

2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting for October

October 28 (T)

1:00-3:30, Superintendent Berman to observe classrooms and chat with staff at Staff Meeting.

3:45-5:30, PLT Meeting for CAP Revisions (Extra Duty Contract for PLT Members)

October 29 (W)

1:45-2:45, Wednesday Collaboration Time

October 30 (Th)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

October 31 (F)

Halloween- Costumes to be worn in classroom parties only.

November 6 and 7- Parent Conferences.

Here are several items of note for the week:

This week will be very busy for many of us. Do not forget to take time to enjoy the interactions with your students and be in the moment with them. We are solidifying our schedule and making some great decisions with our students in mind. This is so important for the future of our program. I could not be more proud of the interactions I have seen in classrooms over the last week. You are all doing a great job with our students.  Keep it up!

Rosa Molina Visit Schedule:

Here is the schedule for the grade level consultations with Rosa Molina next Monday, Oct 20. We will have two roving subs to cover classes while teachers are meeting with her.

8:15-8:55 Grade 2
9:00-9:40 Grade 1
9:45-10:25 Kinder
10:30-11:30 District meeting
11:30-12:00 Lunch
12:00-12:40 Grade 3
12:45-1:25 Grade 5
1:30-2:10 Grade 4
2:10-2:30 Break
2:30-3:30 Specialists
3:30-4:10 Grade 6 (Hector Cash from Kelly)

Here are some Resources available in the Family Resource Center on El Dia de Los Muertos:

If you are interested in checking them out, please let Alicia know and she will get them to you. Below you will find a list of useful Día de los Muertos links. Please let her know if you have any questions.

Resources:
Día de los Muertos Activity Packet
Day of the Dead SMARTBoard Activity

Books:
The Festival of Bones/El Festival de las Calaveras
El Día de los Muertos
Mi Familia Calaca/My Skeleton Family

Links:
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/dayofthedead.htm
http://latino.si.edu/dayofthedead/
http://www.mexonline.com/dayofthedead.htm
http://www.celebrate-day-of-the-dead.com/
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/byrnes-celebrations/day.html
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/dia-de-los-muertos/?ar_a=1
http://www.niu.edu/newsplace/nndia.html
http://holidays.mrdonn.org/dayofthedead.html
http://www.mommymaestra.com/2010/11/brief-history-of-dia-de-los-muertos-for.html
http://www.inside-mexico.com/noes.htm

Students will not wear costumes to school. They must arrive in regular attire. If a teacher decides to hold a Halloween party, students can put on their costumes for the event and the teacher will inform families on their own. Individual teachers will determine if Halloween parties will take place in their classrooms. If teachers permit costumes during this holiday celebration, the following dress code will be enforced, as it pertains to costumes:

•    NO weapons
•    NO weapon-like props
•    NO excessive bareness (no spaghetti straps, exposed bra straps, bare midriffs)
•    NO “gang” attire
•    NO dress as another ethnicity or race
•    NO masks
•    NO especially scary or gory costumes

We will provide an alternative activity for families who do not promote costume wearing, such as the Jehovah’s Witness community. The music and PE specialists will provide a sing along /movement session at the END of the day for 40 minutes while parties occur. Please plan all classroom parties from 2:00-2:40 so Jehovah’s Witness parents can pick up students from home after the academic instruction has happened.

Here is a link to the 4J  Healthy Snack Guidelines for Parties: Remember, we (nor parents volunteering) cannot serve students candy at school.

New School will be designed on the west of the existing school:

The new school will be built to the west of the existing school. The design team provided an update to the school board this evening, sharing information about the siting decision and how that decision was reached.

Now the more detailed design work begins. The design committee will continue to be as responsive as possible to neighborhood, family and community input as the design of the new school takes shape. The new school is scheduled to break ground in 2015 and open in fall 2016. 

Learn more about the site selection and public engagement process: 

River Road School Site Selection Process — school board presentation slideshow, Oct. 15, 2014
River Road School Site Selection Evaluation Matrix
River Road School Design Public Engagement Process 

• CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant – The CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant Program is a competitive grant open to PreK-12 teachers and is designed to help teachers implement technology in their classrooms to increase student achievement. They will consider requests of up to $5,000 submitted by full-time classroom teachers, with a deadline of January 2, 2015. Grants will be awarded in April. If you’d like any help putting together a grant, let me know and I can maybe even ghostwrite it for you or a group of teachers.

• VIDEO: White Privilege – Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart had an epic showdown over white privilege that’s well worth watching. I nearly saved this for a staff meeting, but it’s a bit long. Still, it’s definitely worth playing the 12 minute segment after school one day to see Stewart do an excellent job of countering O’Reilly’s various detours (the playing field is now level, reverse racism, the bootstrap theory, etc.) throughout the face-off. Since it’s from The Daily Show, it’s also quite funny and entertaining.

http://youtu.be/3-KBFuobhDk

• Free/Reduced Meals Forms at Conferences or sent home.– Our Free and Reduced Meals percentage is currently at 67%, which is a  drop from where we were at the end of last year, which was around 72%. Please highlight the program to families at conferences and have some forms on hand. Besides the importance of making sure families who could benefit from the program are accessing it, our F/R count directly impacts our classroom and Title staffing, so it’s a good idea for many reasons to encourage families to enroll in the program even if they don’t plan on using it. Monday, October 20th is the “drop off” day if families had service last year.  Parents will need to reapply to get the service again if they had it set up in 2013-2014.

Dual Language Links of the Week:

A New Vietnamese Dual Language School in Portland

Reducing distraction with bilingualism

Have a fabulous week everyone!

Joel

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