Week of January 26


January 26th, 2015

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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

Inspiring children to learn another language is a great investment

 

 

Week of December 1


November 30th, 2014

Calendar of Events for December

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(No Site Council in December)

December 1 (M)

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

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

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

December 2 (T)

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

December 3 (W)

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

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

December 4 (H)

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

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

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

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

December 5 (F)

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

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

December 8 (M)

10:00, Fire Drill and Lock Down Practice

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

December 9 (T)

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

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

December 10 (W)

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

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

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

December 11 (H)

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

Design Committee- Cancelled

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

December 12 (F)

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

December 15 (M)

8:00-3:00, Data Team Meeting

December 16 (T)

SST Meeting, 8:00-11:00

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

December 17 (W)

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting

December 18 (H)

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

3:00-5:00, Design Committee Meeting

December 19 (F)

Last day of school before Winter Break!

 

A list of some items of note for the week:

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

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

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

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

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

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

SLD WIDA Standards

Oregon ELA CCSS

California Spanish Literacy CCSS Standards

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dear White Teachers….  by Chrysanthius Lathan

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

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

 

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

 

Saludos cordiales,

 

Joel

 

Week of September 8


September 6th, 2014

3a3821e9e76c8ae992cbf8e178e5d5ceWeekly Schedule

September 8 (M)
Fall Benchmark Testing  and KRA Continues

8:30, Reading to Piper’s Class

9:15, Reading to Nikita’s Class

10:30, Reading to all of first grade.

1:30-1:45, Website Design meeting with Peggy (Principal’s Office)

1:45-2:30, Joel to BEST Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

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

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

September 9 (T)
Fall Math Benchmark Testing and KRA

9:00-9:30, Family Night Planning Meeting (FRC Rm. 9)

10:15, Joel reads to Recker’s Class

12:00-1:00, Meeting with Federal Programs Director, Tasha Katsuda (Principal Office)

2:30-3:30, PLT (Conference Room)

4:00- 5:00, Joel meets with Kerry Delph to set up Facebook Page.

6:00-8:00, Parent Group Meeting (Library)

September 10 (W)

8:30-9:00, Family Resource Center Meeting (FRC Rm. 9)

1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaboration  Meeting (Objective and Unit Planning in classrooms together)

4:30, Joel to United Way Meeting (Ed Center)

2:45-4:45, First Design Committee Meeting with Staff (Library)

September 11 (H)

Joel begins walk through observations in classrooms.- Personal notes taken on iPad. No notes will be added to the Teacher Effectiveness and Growth System.

2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting (Library)

September 12 (F)

Joel begins walk through observations in classrooms.- Personal notes taken on iPad. No notes will be added to the Teacher Effectiveness and Growth System.

 

September 16 (T)
8:15-11:30, Joel and IPBS Team to CICO Training (Lane ESD)

September 30 (T) Life Touch Photo Day

Hi Everyone,

We did so well our first week back and the school year seems to be off on a great start thanks to everyone’s hard work!

Some items of note this week:

• Skillful Teacher (Cohort 3) Camino Rep – 4J is starting a third Skillful Teacher cohort and is reserving a spot for each school to send a rep. Speak with Karen and Megan can let you know their experience with it, but the first session for Cohort 3 will be Friday, September 26th. Attached is a calendar of Skillful Teacher Trainings for the year. There is a possibility of multiple teachers from our school being able to attend if other schools do not fill their spots. If you are interested in being part of Cohort 3, let me know by the end of the week.

• Safety Week, Sept. 29 – Oct. 2 – I’d like to again hold a Safety Week this year and schedule it for the end of this month so we can practice all of the most common safety drills (and also take care of the September and October fire drill requirements all in the same week). Craig and I will be reviewing the previous year’s drills and will update manuals in the next week or so. We are also working with Matt Cornwall from downtown in order to ensure that our evacuation routes are clear. This is a good way to bring awareness to staff, students and families about the various safety procedures right at the start of the year. The schedule for Safety Week will be:

• Monday, Sept. 29– Fire Drill, 9:00
• Tuesday, Sept. 30– Room Clear, time decided by teachers
• Wednesday, Oct. 1 – Lock Down (Code Blue and Code Red), 9:00
• Thursday, Oct. 2– Earthquake/Fire Drill, 8:30

It’s not for another three weeks, but I wanted to let staff know now to help with planning. All of these drills are listed in the “Emergency Procedures Manual” which is the rainbow tabbed notebook that should be hanging in every classroom. I won’t be making any announcement before the drills, so it’s okay for staff to prep your students before these drills take place. For the Lock Down drill, please review the Code Blue and Code Red procedures. These steps are more detailed about our lockdown procedure than the more general ones in the Emergency Procedures Manual. Please let me know if you do not have a manual or if you have any questions.

• Principal Visits to Classrooms – If you haven’t already set up a time for me to come read to your class, let me know a good 15-20 minute block for me to come in this week or next. I’ll read a favorite story to your class and chat with the kids a bit. Thank you!

• Being a Writer Training for Teachers – On September 29th, representatives from the Developmental Studies Center will be conducting a Being A Writer Training for principals from 8:00-11:30 here at the Ed Center in the Auditorium.

• News Crew Starts This Week – Megan will be training some 4th graders in News Crew this week, which means we’ll be starting morning announcements this week! We will make the bilingual announcements short and they will begin at 8:30 so we do not disrupt morning meeting.

Copier Codes  – The copy code for teachers is the last 4 digits of the teacher employee number in case you need that.

Please take attendance early. –It is very important that you input attendance IN SYNERGY before 9:00 AM.  This is a safety issue and parent communication issue.  All classroom teachers should have Synergy up and ready to input attendance before class begins. Please make this part of your regular routine.

Confidentiality of Free and Reduced Lunch Information.– The district expects that the Food Service Coordinator will not share any private information with staff.  The only person who is authorized by the Superintendent’s office to use this information would be the administrator. Please do not request this information of Rene as it puts her in a difficult situation.

• District Mandatory Policy Review for all StaffAttached and linked here is the District Back-to-School Memo, which ALL staff must review and sign & return the acknowledgement form to Edna no later than Friday, September 26th.

• Title 1 Newsletter – If you’d like to know what’s happening in Title 1 from the district perspective, here is the September Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is mostly a lot of coordinator business, but here it is if you’re curious.

• Supporting ELL Students Under New Standards (Free Online Course) – This eight-week online course is designed to help teachers support English Language Learners in meeting new, rigorous standards. Specifically, the course will focus on a key practice within both the Common Core State Standards and new English Language Proficiency Standards: constructing claims supported by evidence. Endorsed by the Oregon Department of Education for Oregon K-12 teachers, the content is also open to teachers outside of Oregon. I signed up. Won’t you join me?

• Oct 10 Statewide In service & Professional Learning Opportunities – This is a non-paid day, so staff are under no obligation to work or attend any of these trainings, but if you are interested in knowing what is being offered this day, attached is the 2014 Oregon Inservice Bulletin and also a flyer from Educational Explorations, which had paid classes offering credit through PSU.

Visitors and Volunteers  –  We have many families who have been wandering the halls  during pick up. We need to be very careful about this.
Please follow this procedure:
a.If a parent or adult is helping volunteer in the classroom, they should go through the volunteer criminal background check process before helping in class.
b. If you have a visitor in your class, they need to sign in daily.  If they are visiting, they need to state their purpose, to observe, to share a skill, or to communicate with a teacher. Please ask your visitor if they have signed in each day and make sure they have a visitor sticker.
c. If you have a regular volunteer in your class please communicate with staff what their regular schedule is. Sometimes, there are custody conflicts which you may or may not be aware of.  We can help you work through these if both parents want to volunteer in the same classroom.

Some resources for Morning Meeting – Below are some great resources on Morning Meeting if you are looking for ideas on how to integrate language skills in the meetings.  I was really impressed with Ms. Noonan’s class.  Using sentence frames and a word wall can be great strategies to support our students in morning meeting.

Developmental Studies Center You Tube Channel for your Caring For Kids Ideas

 

 

 

Article on Engagement – This article explores the several factors to help teachers know they are actually increasing engagement amongst students in the their classroom.  I really liked it because it does not sugar coat engagement.  Many times, having fun or seeing students working are described as engagement. This article dispels much of that perspective.

engagement

Effective Engagement in the Classroom- “the 7X Effect”