Diario Camino del Río

Week of December 10, 2018

Good morning El Camino del Río Staff, 

We are two weeks from Winter Break.  I know we can do it!  Amazing learning is happening everyday.  I see it in classrooms!  Fooble the dragon has been super fun to watch.  I  heard there are some bilingual puppets from Fooble so I am going to pop in and see some of the performances this week.  It will be so much be fun to watch.

Also, I wanted to take a moment to recognize how brave all of you are as teachers and educators. It takes:

• Deep commitment
• Long hours
• Flexibility
• Strong people skills
• Knowledge of many contents
• Patience
• Use of small amount of funds
• Strength to overcome adversity
• A servant heart
• Only some can teach. And those of you who do are amazing!

Here are the important announcements and resources of the week:

• Friday Early Release PD – This Friday’s Early Release PD is scheduled for a much needed PD, understanding culturally and linguistically diverse learners. The focus will be Special Education Referrals and CLD Students.  Karen Apgar (Coordinator of School Psych Services) and Michelynah Anderegg (bicultural/bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist) will share information about special education, the new referral process, and considers for referring English Learners.  Bring your questions!

• AESOP REMINDER: Licensed Subs 4-hour or 8-hour Jobs– Teachers, when you put in for subs, remember the EAST contract ensures subs get either a 4-hour or 8-hour work shift. Even if your own absence hours are less, make sure you enter either a 4 or 8-hour time frame for the “Substitute Report Time” in AESOP. Lastly, make sure you enter your own absences in Aesop. MariCarmen is not responsible for entering your absences.

• Brooke Wagner Visits El Camino del Río Wednesday– Brooke Wagner, the Director of Elementary Education, will visit El Camino del Río around 10:00 AM. She and I will be  wandering around entering classrooms and connecting with staff between 10 and 12. Also, she might ask you a few questions about how the school year is going.

• Teacher to parents: About THAT kid (the one who hits, disrupts and influences YOUR kid)– This is and old article, but one that I was recently reminded about and thought I’d share. Written by educator Amy Murray, it’s a powerful open letter directed to parents about THAT kid, the one other kids go home and talk about, the one who is violent, curses and gets angry in class, the one who parents worry will hurt, disrupt and perhaps influence their own children.

• Winter Break Is Hard for So Many of Our Students– While most of us are excited and counting down the days to winter break, this WeAreTeachers article is a good reminder to be aware of how we talk about winter break with students and families, as this time of year can be very hard for many of our families.

•  Most Important announcement of the week – Choice Time!:

Here is the calendar of events for the month: 

December 10 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

8:00-8:30- Joel in online meeting

8:30-9:15, Joel in 3rd Grade for an RJ meeting about substitutes

10:00-10:40- Joel in Formal Observation

Regular Day

December 11 (Tu)

8:30-12:00, Joel at the All Admin Meeting

4:45-5:45, Site Council

6:00-7:15, Parent Group- with conversation/ presentation about disrupted learning

December 12 (W)

10:00-12:15, Brooke Wagner in the building visiting and learning about El Camino del Río.

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 13 (Th)

Regular Day

December 14 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Spanish Language Development Discussion Time- CLD Learners/ SPED with Karen Apgar

3:00-4:00, prep time

4:30-6:00, 4J Science Teacher Leader Meeting ( Howard STEAM Room)

December 17 (M)

Joel and Teachers at Dual Language Observation at North including Lily Chaves, Marcy Hellman, Aline Baissac, Nancy Schaal McHarry

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

December 18 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Elementary Admin Meeting

3:15-4:00, PBIS- Whole Staff Meeting

December 19 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 20 (Th)

Regular Day

December 21 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-4:00, Double Prep Day – not that this is switched in with the 14th.  A nice time to have a double prep. 😉

4:00, Winter break begins!

January 7 (M)

Professional Development Day 8:00-1:30, 5.5 hours of PD Details to be announced. It will be choose your own adventure style. 2.5 hours of planning time.

January 8 (Tu)

School resumes

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting- Noche Cultural Planning (Parent Group Attends for first part.)

January 9 (W)

Regular Day

3:15-3:45,PLT Meeting

January 10 (Th)

Regular Day

January 11 (F)

Regular Day

2:00-3:00, Math PLC

3:00-4:00, Prep time

Earthquake and Evacuation Drill- Time 10:15

January 14 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

10:00- Joel in a formal observation

3:15-4:00, Noche Cultural Planning meeting

January 15 (Tu)

1:30-2:30, School Choice Tour

3:15-4:00, PBIS Meeting

4:45-5:45, Site Council- Oregon Report Card

6:00-7:15,  Report on the Oregon Report Card and more

January 16 (W)

8:30-9:30, School Choice Tour

3:15-3:45- PLT Meeting

January 17 (Th)

3:15-4:00, GOTG Meeting

January 18 (F)

2:00-3:00, Behavior Framework Module 6 Part 2- Understanding the Level System for referrals and flow chart.

3:00-4:00, Prep time

January 21 (M)

No School

March with El Camino del Rio- Starting at Autzen Stadium w/ NAACP 9:00 AM-11:30 at the Shedd.

January 22 (Tu)

PLC Day 1

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting-Office 

January 23 (W)

PLC Day 2

3:15-3:45- PLT Meeting

January 24 (Th)

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting (A200)

5:00-6:00 PM, School Choice Tour

6:00-7:15, STEM Night

January 25 (F)

2:00-3:00, SBAC Training- Jaime Jones & Informing about the testing schedule for ECDR.

3:00-4:00, Prep time

Here is a random video for your enjoyment meant to bring you a sense of musical wonder.  I highly recommend watching it for inspiration. Have a great week everyone! 

https://youtu.be/YiLK8-2Zv6c

Saludos cordiales, Joel

Week of December 3, 2018

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a nice weekend. I had some fun times with my family around the house.  We also volunteered at the Chanukah fair to help younger kids enjoy the holiday. I hope you had a chance to do something meaningful with family or friends this weekend. 

Here are a few opportunities and reminders for the week ahead:

• Balancing the Holidays in Your Classroom– While teachers are guaranteed a certain level of academic freedom in what they teach, we want to balance that with being inclusive of all students and families, so please be mindful in your class activities and displays as we enter the holiday season. Religious pluralism is a value we should strive for. This Teaching Tolerance article serves as a nice reminder, where the author writes that each year at this time, teachers are faced with a dilemma: How to balance the holidays to create the most inclusive environment? As Hanukkah (December 2-10) and Christmas (December 24-25) approach, many teachers will decorate with candy canes and construction-papered dreidels, but there are more holidays being celebrated this month. Muharram begins this month, the liturgical new year of the Islamic calendar. Meanwhile, Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day this month. December also marks Kwanzaa, the Hindu family holiday Pancha Ganapati, and Yule for pagans. Many secular people either have winter solstice parties or observe no holidays at all. “By opening our hearts and minds to all religious traditions, we are serving the greater good and our connections with others grow deeper.” See the above link for more related articles and this link for additional resources. Winter themed activities, such as these WeAreTeachers Winter Craft Ideas, are always an option as well.

•  STEM Opportunity– At Lane ESD we are offering a free 1-day NGSS science workshop specifically designed for K-5 teachers! Here is some additional information:

• Dec. 5th, 8:30-3:30 at Lane ESD
• Sub Reimbursement
• PDU’s 
• Information and access to Lane ESD’s STEM Kits checkout system (well-designed, fun, free STEM kits for checkout!)
• Opportunity to collaborate with other Lane County Elementary Teachers!

Sign up here: www.lesd.k12.or.us/workshops. If you have any questions regarding the workshop, please email Heidi at hrebar@lesd.k12.or.us. 

Master Schedule Changes Ahead: Starting Wednesday, December 5 we will be switching the lunches around to create safer environments for our youngest students.  1st and 2nd will now be having recess first.  Kindergarten will have recess alone. Then, 3rd grade will have a solo recess and 4/5 will have no changes to their recess. During the 1/2 recess Dr. Dene and Mr. Adee will take in a class at a time into the gym to run a recess.  This will support the supervisors outside to have less students to watch on the playground.  The 1/2 recess will have about 90-100 students outside (and 28 -30 in the gym) at once instead of the 175 students currently in the k/1 recess. The idea is to reduce the ratio of adults watching students and to help students play in a safer environment.  This decision was made in PLT last Wednesday and is final.  Though, there will probably be some adjustments made to make it smooth. More detail on exact times will be share in the staff meeting on Tuesday.

Staff Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, December 4

(Classified are encouraged to attend. I will pay you to stay.)

Master Schedule Changes and details.

Understanding Trade Time forms for Classified Staff

Planning Noche Cultural as a Staff, Choice Time Projects

2nd Artist in Residence Preferences- Larry Meyers or Esteban Camacho (APRIL 2019) 

Planning a meeting with families on prevention of disrupted learning.

Keep using that Second Steps curriculum. It matters!

Here are the upcoming events to be aware of:

December 3 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

December 4 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting

December 5 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

December 6 (Th)

10:00- 11:00, Joel at ESSA Conversation

11:00-12:00, Joel at El Camino del Rio Access Conversation

December 7 (F)

Fire Drill Day

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Behavior Framework PD for all staff #6,  A210

3:00-4:00, Teacher Prep Time

6:30-8:30, Family Movie Night

December 10 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

Regular Day

December 11 (Tu)

8:30-12:00, Joel at the All Admin Meeting

4:45-5:45, Site Council

6:00-7:15, Parent Group- with conversation/ presentation about disrupted learning

December 12 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 13 (Th)

Regular Day

December 14 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Spanish Language Development Discussion Time- CLD Learners/ SPED with Karen Apgar

3:00-4:00, prep time

4:30-6:00, 4J Science Teacher Leader Meeting ( Howard STEAM Room)

December 17 (M)

Joel and Teachers at Dual Language Observation at North including Lily Chaves, Marcy Hellman, Aline Baissac, Nancy Schaal McHarry

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

December 18 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Elementary Admin Meeting

3:15-4:00, PBIS- Whole Staff Meeting

December 19 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 21 (Th)

Regular Day

December 22 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-4:00, Double Prep Day – not that this is switched in with the 14th.  A nice time to have a double prep. 😉

4:00, Winter break begins!

January 7 (M)

Professional Development Day 8:00-1:30, 5.5 hours of PD Details to be announced. It will be choose your own adventure style. 2.5 hours of planning time.

January 8 (Tu)

School resumes

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting- Noche Cultural Planning (Parent Group Attends for first part.)

January 9 (W)

Regular Day

3:15-3:45,PLT Meeting

January 10 (Th)

Regular Day

January 11 (F)

Regular Day

2:00-3:00, PLT Meeting

3:00-4:00, Prep time

Fire Drill- Time TBA

Three weeks until winter break. They are going to be awesome!

Joel

Week of November 26, 2018

Hi Estrellas Brillantes,,

Hope you all had a relaxing and rejuvenating extended weekend and are ready for our next four weeks leading up to winter break!

Here are a few items of note for the week:

• Picture Retakes Thursday– This Wednesday, Lifetouch will start photographing students who need retakes at 8:30 in the Room 209. MariCarmen or Yasmin will call students down by grade.

• CenturyLink Grant– CenturyLink is awarding grants of up to $5,000 for teachers to spend on technology. They’re taking applications until January 12 and awards will be made after April 1. Grants are available to full-time teachers. Applicants must provide a summary of the project, a budget, and a detail on the impact you think this project/purchase will have in the classroom. To apply, follow this link to the CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant. Any questions, please email jane.nishita@centurylink.com.

• Indigenous Writers: A Children’s Reading List – Former teacher Jill Torres shared a timely article  which notes that only 1% of the children’s books published in the U.S. in 2016 featured Indigenous characters, and even fewer (1/4 of the 1% = 8 books total) were written by Indigenous authors. However, see this List of 14 Recommended Children’s Books by Indigenous Writers and Illustrators for some great looking titles, which was curated by The Conscious Kid Library and American Indians in Children’s Literature, in partnership with Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

This is the calendar of events coming up:

November 26 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

Joel in several pre conferences and formal observations.

November 27 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Joel at Elementary Principal Meeting

Joel in several pre conferences and formal observations.

November 28 (W)

3:15-4:00- PLT Meeting

Joel in several pre conferences and formal observations.

November 29 (Th)

Health Screening- In Room A101

Picture Retakes- In Room A209

November 30 (F)

8:30-9:15, Junta de la escuela- Dance Party Celebration from Caminata

December 3 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

PLC Meetings in the morning

December 4 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting

PLC Meetings in the morning

December 5 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 6 (Th)

10:00- 11:00, Joel at ESSA Conversation

11:00-12:00, Joel at El Camino del Rio Access Conversation

December 7 (F)

Fire Drill Day

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Behavior Framework PD for all staff #6

3:00-4:00, Teacher Prep Time

6:30-8:30, Family Movie Night

December 10 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

Regular Day

December 11 (Tu)

8:30-12:00, Joel at the All Admin Meeting

4:45-5:45, Site Council

6:00-7:15, Parent Group

December 12 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 13 (Th)

Regular Day

December 14 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Spanish Language Development Discussion Time- CLD Learners/ SPED with Karen Apgar

3:00-4:00, prep time

December 17 (M)

Joel and Teachers at Dual Language Observation at North including Lily Chaves, Marcy Hellman, Aline Baissac, Nancy Schaal McHarry

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

December 18 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Elementary Admin Meeting

3:15-4:00, PBIS- Whole Staff Meeting

December 19 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 21 (Th)

Regular Day

December 22 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-4:00, Double Prep Day – not that this is switched in with the 14th.  A nice time to have a double prep. 😉

4:00, Winter break begins!

January 7 (M)

Professional Development Day 8:00-1:30, 5.5 hours of PD Details to be announced. It will be choose your own adventure style. 2.5 hours of planning time.

January 8 (Tu)

School resumes

Equity Meeting- Noche Cultural Planning

January 9 (W)

Regular Day

3:15-3:45,PLT Meeting

January 10 (Th)

Regular Day

January 11 (F)

Regular Day

2:00-3:00, PLT Meeting

3:00-4:00, Prep time

Fire Drill- Time TBA

Four weeks until winter break. You’ve got this!

Joel

Week of November 19, 2018

Hello Shining Stars,

I hope that last week was a fulfilling for you in the classroom.  Both Alicia and I had rich learning experiences which we are excited to share with you.  In addition,  I really missed seeing all of you working with your students. I can’t wait to get back to the school.

Here are a few items for the week which you should know about:

• NEW Classified Trade and Comp Time Forms – HR is standardizing the process for approval and tracking of Trade Time and Comp Time. From this point forward, the process will be:

1. Get Approval Before Working Over Regular Work Hours – Get approval from me by email or in person before working over your normal work hours. If it’s an unforeseen event that made you to work over (i.e. late bus, late parent pick-up, etc.) notify me by the next day and document it on the new forms below.

2. Complete Trade or Comp Time Form – Complete the linked Classified Trade Time Form (hardcopies also in the office) and a separate Comp Time Form (which should soon be posted on the HR Forms website). In most cases, classified staff will use the Trade Time form (comp time is only used if you’ve been approved to work over 40 hours within the same week, which earns you time and a half). Use the above linked form to track trade time hours within the same workweek.

3. Submit Form to Joel Within One Week – Forms must be submitted to me within one week of using the pre-approved trade time hours. Trade time is equal time that is intended to be exchanged within the same workweek, although OSEA and HR are working on clarifying this that timeline because there is conflicting language in the contract that would allow staff and admin though mutual agreement for classified staff to use trade time at a later date outside of the same workweek.

More information can be found on page two of the form, but let me know if you have any questions.

• Student Care Team Referrals DUE WEDNESDAY – The Student Care Team meets next week so referrals are due this Wednesday. Try to get a signature on the 4J Release Form (English or Spanish) but you can also refer hypothetical situations. Linked here is a Student Care Team Flyer, now in English and Spanish, which you can share with families. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Care Team Holiday Resources – Linked here is the 2018 Winter Holiday Resources Guide, in English and Spanish, which has information regarding holiday food boxes, meal sites, and gift programs. We’ll share this in the December school newsletter, on the school website, and on social media, but staff can feel free to pass this along to individual families as well.

•Parent Group Meeting TUESDAY – This Tuesday is the November Parent Group meeting, so if you’re able to can come, I can compensate you this month, I know parents appreciating seeing staff attend. Edith is going to do a short math lesson for them as part of  way to explain  Hope to see you there!

Here is the calendar of events coming up:

November 19 (M)

Regular Day

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 20 (T)

11:00-12:15, Special Thanks with Families Lunch Session in Cafeteria

5:00-6:00, Site Council- Indistar Indicator Questions

6:00-7:15, Parent Group Meeting- Focus:Understanding Math Lessons at El Camino del Rio.

November 21 (W)

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)   Cancelled due to JCAC agreement to no meetings this week.

November 22 (Th)

No School, Thanksgiving

November 23 (F)

No School, Thanksgiving

November 26 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 27 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Joel at Elementary Principal Meeting

November 28 (W)

3:15-4:00- PLT Meeting

November 29 (Th)

Health Screening

Picture Retakes

November 30 (F)

8:30-9:15, Junta de la escuela- Dance Party Celebration from Caminata

December 3 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

PLC Meetings in the morning

December 4 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting

PLC Meetings in the morning

December 5 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 6 (Th)

10:00- 11:00, Joel at ESSA Conversation

11:00-12:00, Joel at EL Camino del Rio Access Conversation

December 7 (F)

Fire Drill Day

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Behavior Framework PD for all staff #6

3:00-4:00, Teacher Prep Time

6:30-8:30, Family Movie Night

December 10 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

Regular Day

December 11 (Tu)

8:30-12:00, Joel at the All Admin Meeting

4:45-5:45, Site Council

6:00-7:15, Parent Group

December 12 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 13 (Th)

Regular Day

December 14 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Spanish Language Development Discussion Time- CLD Learners/ SPED with Karen Apgar

3:00-4:00, prep time

December 17 (M)

Joel and Teachers at Dual Language Observation at North including Lily Chaves, Marcy Hellman, Aline Baissac, Nancy Schaal McHarry

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

December 18 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Elementary Admin Meeting

3:15-4:00, PBIS- Whole Staff Meeting

December 19 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 21 (Th)

Regular Day

December 22 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-4:00, Double Prep Day – not that this is switched in with the 14th.  A nice time to have a double prep. 😉

4:00, Winter break begins!

January 7 (M)

Professional Development Day 8:00-1:30,5.5 hours of PD Details to be announced. It will be choose your own adventure style. 2.5 hours of planning time.

January 8 (Tu)

School resumes

Equity Meeting- Noche Cultural Planning

January 9 (W)

Regular Day

3:15-3:45,PLT Meeting

January 10 (Th)

Regular Day

January 11 (F)

Regular Day

2:00-3:00, PLT Meeting

3:00-4:00, Prep time

Fire Drill- Time TBA

That is all for the week.

Joel

Week of November 12, 2018

Hi all,

I hope everyone has a great week. Tom Maloney will be in the building to support you through Friday afternoon.

Here are some announcements of the week:

• Teacher Appreciation with the Ducks– The UO is holding two teacher appreciation games on 12/15 (Vs. Boise State) and 2/10 (Vs. Stanford). Tickets are at a discounted rate starting at $11 a seat. To redeem your discount, click hereand enter promo code “2019TEACH”. At these games they’ll also be offering an on-court photo post game to the first 50 education staff that sign up!

United Way Campaign DUE FRIDAY– If you’d like to donate, United Way Campaign forms are due in my mailbox by this Friday. There is still time to donate.  

Parent Group Meeting Tuesday, Nov. 20 6-7:15 PM – Not this week, but next week on Tuesday, November 20th will be the November Parent Group meeting, so if you’re able to volunteer your time to come to the meeting, I know they appreciating having staff attend. We need one teacher to “teach” math to parents.  I can pay a teacher to do this if you are providing .  We might have a guest speak about math as well. Lupe is translating for us at that meeting.  Thank you Lupe!

It is cold season and flu season. – Please spend time discussing hand washing sometime in your schedule this week.  With younger kids, please spend time teaching how to use the sink and hand washing.  It really makes a difference in the school.   Research shows that schools with better hand washing instruction have better attendance rates. Attendance and Hand Washing

Here are the major events in coming weeks:

November 12 (M)

No School, Veteran’s Day

November 13 (Tu)

Joel and Alicia at La Cosecha- Tom Maloney guest principal.

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting A, Zelene leads.

November 14 (W)

No PLT Meeting

Joel at La Cosecha

November 15 (Th)

Joel at La Cosecha

3:15-4:00, Guardians of the Galaxy Meeting

November 16 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de la escuela- Virtudes presented.

Joel at La Cosecha

PLC Session- is back on.  Please meet in Room A210 with Tom Maloney and maybe Reid Shepard.

November 19 (M)

Regular Day

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 20 (T)

11:00-12:00, Special Thanks Lunch Session in Cafeteria

5:00-6:00, Site Council- Indistar Indicator Questions

6:00-7:15, Parent Group Meeting- Focus:Understanding Math Lessons at El Camino del Rio.

November 21 (W)

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

November 22 (Th)

No School, Thanksgiving

November 23 (F)

No School, Thanksgiving

November 26 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 27 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Joel at Elementary Principal Meeting

November 28 (W)

3:15-4:00- PLT Meeting

November 29 (Th)

Health Screening

Picture Retakes

November 30 (F)

8:30-9:15, Junta de la escuela- Dance Party Celebration from Caminata

December 3 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

2:00 PM, Fire Drill Tentative

December 4 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting

December 5 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 6 (Th)

Joel out all day to do Dual Language Observation at Kelly and North

December 7 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Behavior Framework PD for all staff #6

3:00-4:00, Teacher Prep Time

6:30-8:30, Family Movie Night

December 10 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

Regular Day

December 11 (Tu)

8:30-12:00, Joel at the All Admin Meeting

4:45-5:45, Site Council

6:00-7:15, Parent Group

December 12 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 13 (Th)

Regular Day

December 14 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Spanish Language Development Discussion Time- CLD Learners/ SPED with Karen Apgar

December 17 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

December 18 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Elementary Admin Meeting

3:15-4:00, PBIS- Whole Staff Meeting

December 19 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 21 (Th)

Regular Day

December 22 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-4:00, Double Prep Day – not that this is switched in with the 14th.  A nice time to have a double prep. 😉

4:00, Winter break begins!

January 7 (M)

Professional Development Day 8:00-1:30,5.5 hours of PD Details to be announced. It will be choose your own adventure style. 2.5 hours of planning time.

January 8 (Tu)

School resumes

Equity Meeting- Noche Cultural Planning

January 9 (W)

Regular Day

3:15-3:45,PLT Meeting

January 10 (Th)

Regular Day

January 11 (F)

Regular Day

2:00-3:00, PLT Meeting

3:00-4:00, Prep time

Fire Drill- Time TBA

That is all for the week.

Joel

Week of November 5, 2018

Hi shining stars,

It is hard to believe that we are already gearing up for conferences.  But here we are.  Thanks to those of you who said you would do your formal observations this week.  I know it is a lot of extra pressure to do this during this week.  On Tuesday, I hope we can finalize the leadership plan in the staff meeting.  I would like to get the proposal submitted to JCAC by Friday. Last Thursday night was a beautiful moment for our community.  

I have been to 5 Dia de Los Muertos celebrations at our school. But this year, having parents lead most of the event was very special.  Our community has much to be proud of and the hard work put in by all involved showed. A special thanks goes to Alicia who orchestrated so much behind the scenes for these parents.  

Here are some news items for the week:

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

• Conference Items – 

a. Reminder: Check in with Aline about your Title 1 compacts. They should be in your boxes with instructions.

b. Reminder: Parent conferences are a little different in our building. Remember that we are focused on collecting information from the parent about the child not just telling the parent where we think the child is at. You should be using the form provided to learn more about the student. It is an equalized conversation. Try not to enter the conversation as expert but more as partner in the child’s success.

• Dreambox at Home Flyer – There’s a canned letter on the Dreambox website teachers could share with families (English and Spanish) for how to access Dreambox from home. You can find it and other resources by logging onto Dreambox > Resources > Parents & Family. If you’d like me to run a class set for you, just let me know.

• Robotics Opportunity – If any parents, students, or school staff are interested in robotics, check out the Mckenzie River Gathering of the Robots (MRGR) at the UO Ford Alumni Center Saturday, Nov. 10th, 10:00-5:00. It’s casual, free, includes light refreshments, and with lots of demos to get people excited about robotics!

• Brings Clay Artist into your Classroom for FREE – The Clay in Education program brings potters into classrooms for free demonstrations, workshops, and art projects. See the linked flyer for details or email them at education@clayfest.org

Here are the major events in the coming weeks:

November 5 (M) 

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

4:00-5:30, Joel at k-12 immersion principals meeting.

November 6 (Tu)

ELECTION DAY

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting, Must vote on leadership plan

4:15-6:00, Jennifer and Joel to the District Equity PD session

7:00-8:30, EL Camino del Rio Know Your Rights sessions being held at ECDR.

November 7 (W)

NO PLT Meeting

Family / Teacher Conferences, 4:00-8:00 PM

Dinner provided at 5:30.

November 8 (Th)

Family / Teacher Conferences, 8:00 AM-8:00 PM

Dinner provided at 5:30, Lunch on provided by Horace Mann!

November 9 (F)

Regular Work Day for Classified Staff

No School, Teacher Compensation Day for  Family Teacher Conferences

November 12 (M)

No School, Veteran’s Day

November 13 (Tu)

Joel at La Cosecha- Tom Maloney guest principal.

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting A, Zelene leads.

November 14 (W)

No PLT Meeting

Joel at La Cosecha

November 15 (Th)

Joel at La Cosecha

3:15-4:00, Guardians of the Galaxy Meeting

November 16 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de la escuela- Virtudes presented.

Joel at La Cosecha

PLC Session- cancelled

November 19 (M)

Regular Day

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 20 (T)

11:00-12:00, Special Thanks Lunch Session in Cafeteria

5:00-6:00, Site Council- Indistar Indicator Questions

6:00-7:15, Parent Group Meeting- Focus:Understanding Math Lessons at El Camino del Rio.

November 21 (W)

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

November 22 (Th)

No School, Thanksgiving

November 23 (F)

No School, Thanksgiving

November 26 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 27 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Joel at Elementary Principal Meeting

November 28 (W)

3:15-4:00- PLT Meeting

November 29 (Th)

Health Screening

Picture Retakes

November 30 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de la escuela

December 3 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

2:00 PM, Fire Drill Tentative

December 4 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting

December 5 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 6 (Th)

Joel out all day to do Dual Language Observation at Kelly and North

December 7 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Behavior Framework PD for all staff #6

3:00-4:00, Teacher Prep Time

6:30-8:30, Family Movie Night

December 10 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

Regular Day

December 11 (Tu)

8:30-12:00, Joel at the All Admin Meeting

4:45-5:45, Site Council

6:00-7:15, Parent Group

December 12 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 13 (Th)

Regular Day

December 14 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-4:00, Double Prep Day

December 17 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

December 18 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Elementary Admin Meeting

3:15-4:00, PBIS- Whole Staff Meeting

December 19 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 21 (Th)

Regular Day

December 22 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Spanish Language Development Discussion Time- Cld Learners/ SPED with Karen Apgar

4:00, Winter break begins!

That is all for the week.

Joel

Week of October 29, 2018

Hi all,

Here are some of the major happenings of the week:

• Charis McGaughy, 4J Assistant Superintendent, Visiting El Camino del Río Wednesday – Charis, 4J’s Assistant Superintendent, is visiting us on Wednesday from 11:45-2:45 (yes, on Halloween). She’s planning to meet with me for a bit and will then wander the school and visit classrooms. Remember that Wednesday is a regular day.  We do encourage learning about Fall celebrations, especially celebrations from Latinx and Hispanic countries, but it is not a time for a Halloween Party.

Halloween repeat Reminder: 

• HALLOWEEN COSTUME and EDUCATIONAL POLICY: Students may not wear Halloween costumes to school. There will also not be parties on Halloween at the school. The staff made a collaborative decision to change this for the following reasons:

1. It is a major distraction from learning in our limited time with students.
2. It excludes religious groups that do not celebrate Halloween.
3. Teachers cannot be expected to devote time to plan activities for Halloween on top of academics.
4. We want to avoid students making the mistake of dressing up as another person’s culture.
5. Students feel left out when their family cannot afford a costume while others have costumes.
6. Teachers may educate students about all holidays that occur in October and September. This should fit in your social studies time or literacy time.  You could also include it in science time if you are discussing fall changes to the biology of plants and animals in our community. Please make sure that you are mindful to be INCLUSIVE of holidays that you educate about to the students. El Día de Los Muertos is one such holiday to educate about. There are other holidays to include.  However, we are a dual language school with a priority of learning about Latinx and Hispanic traditions. Please prioritize those traditions in your cultural learning activities.

We will have a dress up day as a favorite book character in April for our literacy week to celebrate reading. Teachers will be mindful of attire so all students can participate in this dress up day in April.

• Formal observations on the horizon:  I will be contacting teachers about formal observations this week. We will need to set up our pre, obs, and post sessions all at once. This year I have 13 teachers to run formals on. That is 39 meetings and observation sessions to set up. Let’s get yours on the calendar soon. My goal is to complete all formals by late January.

• Second Step: Nov. is Bully Prevention Month – I’m a believer in explicitly teaching kids about social emotional topics in order to make them kinder humans. Make time for SEL lesson please. If you’ve been able to keep up with the Second Step Pacing Guide, classes should be moving into the Bully Prevention Units this month. If you haven’t gotten though all the prior units, I’d encourage teachers to skip ahead and teach these important lessons.

Family /Teacher Conferences Updates:

• Specialists & Classified Staff – The district expectation for licensed specialists (Title, SPED, ELD, Music, PE, etc.) during conferences is they need to be working during conferences in some capacity and are to be available to families if they would like to meet. For classifieds staff, Nov. 8th and 9th are regular work days unless you have trade time saved up. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• Joel Available for Conferences – If teachers have any conferences they want me to be present at, just let me know and I’ll put it on my calendar.

• Title 1 Compacts – Teachers will get class sets of Title 1 compacts before conferences. Please remember the following:

• PLEASE DO NOT SEND COMPACTS HOME TO GET THEM SIGNED
• If we can only get you and the student to sign, then make a photocopy for Title 1, and THEN the original will be sent home to be signed. If it comes back, great! If it doesn’t, no biggie. We’ll have the copy showing we tried.
• PLEASE have families sign these at conferences.
• Once you have signed compacts, please return them to Aline

• Family Report Update – Instruction Department data folks let us know we will have parent reports in time for conferences on Monday, November 5th. They said the reports may be missing SBAC scores, but should include the other information from last year. I’ll put these in teacher mailboxes as soon as I get them.

• Parent Group To Provide Dinners – Our awesome Parent Group is again providing dinner for staff working late during parent teacher conferences. There will be some kind of pot luck one night and a burrito bar the second night.  I will be supporting them with some office funds as well.

• State Report Cards Released– ODE unexpectedly released the new state report cards (now rebranded “at-a-glance school profiles”) last Wednesday. They were originally delayed until November until ODE had plans in place for selecting comprehensive and targeted schools for improvement and how they wanted districts to address improvement. Generally speaking, our scores are about the same as similar 4J schools. See the district Oregon Publishes 2017–18 School Reportswebpage to view report cards for all 4J schools.

Build relationships and great things will happen!

Schedule of Upcoming Events

October 29 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

8:00-12:00, Apple Training Kick off event for Technology Leaders, 3 leaders attend PD. Kalil Kantara, Ana Diaz Hansen, Arturo Hernandez are leaders.  

PLC Session 1

October 30 (Tu)

PLC Session 2

October 31 (W)

No costumes for staff or students

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

November 1 (Th)

3:15-4:00 PM, GOTG Session #1 of the month

6:00-8:00 PM, El Día de Los Muertos Event- Come and learn with us about this important holiday to the Latinx community.

November 2 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de la escuela- Plan on presenting Virtudes.

2:00-3:00 PM, Behavior Framework Session #5

Fire Drill mystery time but not the same as the last time we had it.

(Sunday, Nov. 4 -Daylight Saving Time Ends “Fall Back”)

November 5 (M) 

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

4:00-5:30, Joel at k-12 immersion principals meeting.

November 6 (Tu)

ELECTION DAY

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting, Must vote on leadership plan

4:15-6:00, Jennifer and Joel to the District Equity PD session

7:00-8:30, EL Camino del Rio Know Your Rights sessions being held at ECDR.

November 7 (W)

NO PLT Meeting

Family / Teacher Conferences, 4:00-8:00 PM

Dinner provided at 5:30.

November 8 (Th)

Family / Teacher Conferences, 8:00 AM-8:00 PM

Dinner provided at 5:30, Lunch on provided by Horace Mann!

November 9 (F)

Regular Work Day for Classified Staff

No School, Teacher Compensation Day for  Family Teacher Conferences

November 12 (M)

No School, Veteran’s Day

November 13 (Tu)

Joel at La Cosecha- Tom Maloney guest principal.

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting A, Zelene leads.

November 14 (W)

No PLT Meeting

Joel at La Cosecha

November 15 (Th)

Joel at La Cosecha

3:15-4:00, Guardians of the Galaxy Meeting

November 16 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de la escuela- Virtudes presented.

Joel at La Cosecha

PLC Session- cancelled

November 19 (M)

Regular Day

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 20 (T)

11:00-12:00, Special Thanks Lunch Session in Cafeteria

5:00-6:00, Site Council- Indistar Indicator Questions

6:00-7:15, Parent Group Meeting- Focus:Understanding Math Lessons at El Camino del Rio.

November 21 (W)

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

November 22 (Th)

No School, Thanksgiving

November 23 (F)

No School, Thanksgiving

November 26 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 27 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Joel at Elementary Principal Meeting

November 28 (W)

3:15-4:00- PLT Meeting

November 29 (Th)

Health Screening

Picture Retakes

November 30 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de la escuela

December 3 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

2:00 PM, Fire Drill Tentative

December 4 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting

December 5 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 6 (Th)

Joel out all day to do Dual Language Observation at Kelly and North

December 7 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Behavior Framework PD for all staff #6

3:00-4:00, Teacher Prep Time

6:30-8:30, Family Movie Night

December 10 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

Regular Day

December 11 (Tu)

8:30-12:00, Joel at the All Admin Meeting

4:45-5:45, Site Council

6:00-7:15, Parent Group

December 12 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 13 (Th)

Regular Day

December 14 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-4:00, Double Prep Day

December 17 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

December 18 (Tu)

8:00-12:00, Elementary Admin Meeting

3:15-4:00, PBIS- Whole Staff Meeting

December 19 (W)

3:15-4:00, PLT

December 21 (Th)

Regular Day

December 22 (F)

8:30-9:00, Junta de Escuela

2:00-3:00, Spanish Language Development Discussion Time

4:00, Winter break begins!

That is all for the week.

Joel

Week of October 22, 2018

Buenos dias Estrellas Brillantes.

I hope each and every one of you had a restful weekend. I had a great weekend too. I watched my son break personal records in the swim meet he was in.  Also, I enjoyed time with my wife Anna. It is so important for all of us to rest and recharge.  I heard from a principal in my PLN that we have to make white space for the weekend. “white space” is parts of your calendar that are dedicated to nothing.  Not having anything planned. I hope you can do this each weekend, or at least find time to spend enjoying being with your loved ones.

Here are some important items of the week you should read about and understand more:

• New SPED Referral Process– I shared in earlier announcements the new SSD process for referring students to be evaluated for Special Education, but last week principals received our first presentation on this new process as well as slightly updated forms. Linked here is the new SPED Referral Process(which includes the process for both staff and parent referrals) and also the new SPED Referral Packet.

The short version of the new process is that if a student is being consider for a SPED evaluation, building staff need to complete the above SPED Referral Packet, send it downtown to an SSD team of school psychologists and other specialists who meet every other week to review packets, and then send their recommendations back to buildings to decide whether or not to proceed with an Evaluation Planning Meeting. It’s a long eleven page packet, but it’s all the same information you’d look at prior to an Evaluation Planning Meeting.

Also, most of it can be printed off from Synergy or easyCBM and we’re allowed to simply write “See Attached.” The reasoning behind this new process is to bring equity to the referral process, because for a variety of reasons, students with similar experiences and challenges might get evaluated at one school but not at another. SSD is still taking input on the packet format, but the process is pretty well set in place. If you’re interested, linked here is the SPED Referral Process Presentation principals were shown last week. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

•Photos and Video of AIM4S3- I would like to take some video and photos of teachers using our AIMS4S3 framework for my presentations.  I will be in classrooms to do this during some of my informal observations next week. 

•Family/Teacher Conference Info- Sign up Genius up this week: Start collecting appointments next week. Conferences are in 3 weeks! Jaime will send the sign up Genius link to you this week so you can begin to get appointments ready. Also,  I am going to try and make it easy for teachers to send this out with QR codes so parents can sign up on their phones.   Peggy Vega and Jaime will be working on this together.

•Family Report Printouts for Conferences– I know some teachers like to have the parent reports with attendance and assessment data for conferences.  Last year we only got them at grading periods, so if we do not get them, remember there are parent reports available in easyCBM, although they are limited to only this year’s data. Let me know by Friday, November 2nd if you’d like a class set of these.

• NCU Teacher Ed Program Student Opportunities– Downtown sent an email to principals asking if any teachers want to host NCU teacher education students. The above link lists the students and placements being sought. It’s first come, first served, so let me know by Friday if you’re interested and I’ll forward your name to HR.

• SMART Notebook Update– If any teachers need to update SMART Notebook on your laptops, downtown has received the updated license. To run the update, first quit Notebook if it’s open. Then go to your application folder where you should see Managed Software Center. Open that, click on the Software tab and then find SMART Notebook Activation. If you click Install that should update the license key and you should have Notebook fully functioning again. If you need assistance, call the Technology Help Desk at x7777 or email Peggy at 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu

• United Way Annual Campaign– United Way Campaign Forms were put in staff mailboxes this past Friday. If you’d like to donate, return forms to my mailbox by Friday, November 16th. United Way of Lane Countysupports many Lane County community programs that assist our students and families. Linked here is the emailsent to principals. You can learn more about what all they do by following the above link.

• Latino and Native American Cultural Resources

Latino and Native American culturalresources are available for teachers and parents, including video clips, pictures, links to google classroom, and more. Also, do you want more resources to inspire females? Go to The RAD Women Series. One book, RAD American Women, A-Z, has short, powerful biographies of a diverse group of women. You can request school visits by the authors. 

• October 29 and 30th PLC Sessions are coming up:

MaricCarmen will prearrange for the subs in this case. We will have three subs on Monday the 29th and three subs on October 30th. The following schedule seemed to work better on October 10th. Reid will meet with you in the conference room.

Week of October 15, 2018

Buenos dias Estrellas Brillantes,

I hope you are reading this on Monday morning. I had a great weekend with my family resting and recharging. This fall weather is so nice.  I have a good news update on the driveway.  The asphalt company was allowed to turn on the gas so paving did happen on the weekend.  However, we will need to hold off using the driveway on Monday due to a couple of other small items that need to be complete. I am guessing we will be in full operation by Wednesday this week on the new driveway.

Here are some of the big announcements of the week:

• SMART Goals DUE TODAY! OCTOBER 15th by 5:00 PM – Licensed staff need to have SMART Goals entered into TalentEd by today at 5:00 PM. For classroom teachers, linked here are Optional SMART Goals template from SDS staff, and linked here is a Completed Sample SMART Goal with the blanks filled in for the above sample goals. Teachers are, of course, welcome to create their own goals. Non-classroom licensed staff can adapt the language of the above goals for any of your own related work, but let me know if I can be of any assistance. Please set aside time to complete this on time.  

•Staff Meeting Agenda for October 16, 3:15-4:00- PBIS Meeting agenda and Leadership Plan proposals.  By the way, I want to reiterate that all staff meetings are mandatory for licensed staff to attend. If you are working in the building Tuesday, you should be at the staff meeting. Last staff meeting, there were several not in attendance and I received no note or message why they were not there. Please inform me 24 hours ahead of time if you cannot make it. 1/2 time employees should come in the PM if their work schedule is in the afternoon. AM employees should come when they can pre arrange for it. Valid reasons to be gone include coaching, family illness, personal illness, or major life event. Doctor’s appointments are NOT a valid excuse. The staff meetings have been posted on the Zimbra calendar since August. This reflects on your professionalism found in Domain 3 of the evaluation rubric.

• Día de los Muertos planning and organizing – It is time to begin planning and working on the Día de los Muertos educational event.   Please contact Alicia Longoria if you would like to volunteer to plan and volunteer this event that will be held on November 1 from 6:00-8:00 PM. It should be a family, teacher, volunteer organized event. It is not a Title 1 event this year.   Many of our parents are leading this work.  I encourage you to get involved and build meaningful relationships with them during this October.

•Repeat- Synergy Grade Book Training & Building Reps – More information to coming regarding a Synergy Grade Book Training connected to the new report card. Downtown is going to offer two teachers from each building to be trained – paid two hour extended contract – to attend one of three trainings. The meeting date and times are Oct. 16 (Howard), Oct. 18 (Willagillespie), Oct. 22 (Tower Room), all from 4:00-6:00. I hope someone can take this on and help train staff. It will make for a faster and more efficient grading experience in February.

•Reading the calendar and blog weekly.-  It is your professional responsibility to read the blog and the Zimbra Staff calendar by Monday afternoon at the end of the workday.  Please make sure you are informed for the week. I have had staff tell me that they know of those who do not read the Diario. Please set aside time to read the Diario each week.

PLC and Prep Times:  I noticed that I was not able to plan our Plc times together well while still missing the teacher prep time.  Here is a draft of the next 1/2 day PLC sessions that we are going to try.  Reid helped create these and I think this will still provide each group with prep time.

• HALLOWEEN COSTUME and EDUCATIONAL POLICY: Students may not wear Halloween costumes to school. There will also not be parties on Halloween at the school. The staff made a collaborative decision to change this for the following reasons:

1. It is a major distraction from learning in our limited time with students.
2. It excludes religious groups that do not celebrate Halloween.
3. Teachers cannot be expected to devote time to plan activities for Halloween on top of academics.
4. We want to avoid students making the mistake of dressing up as another person’s culture.
5. Students feel left out when their family cannot afford a costume while others have costumes.
6. Teachers may educate students about all holidays that occur in October and September. This should fit in your social studies time or literacy time.  You could also include it in science time if you are discussing fall changes to the biology of plants and animals in our community. Please make sure that you are mindful to be INCLUSIVE of holidays that you educate about to the students. El Día de Los Muertos is one such holiday to educate about. There are other holidays to include.  However, we are a dual language school with a priority of learning about Latinx and Hispanic traditions. Please prioritize those traditions in your cultural learning activities.

We will have a dress up day as a favorite book character in April for our literacy week to celebrate reading. Teachers will be mindful of attire so all students can participate in this dress up day in April.

 • Student Care Team Referrals Due FRIDAY – The Student Care Team will meet next week, which means student/family referrals to the team are due this Friday. DHS has been great about helping quite a few of our families, pointing them towards resources for a variety of different situations (homelessness, assistance with bills, incarcerated parents, counseling resources, and many others), so please consider referring a student or family in need. Try to get a signature on the 4J Release Form (Englishor Spanish) so DHS can research the family situation to see what services they would qualify for. If there’s a situation where you can’t get a signature for whatever reason, you can refer “hypothetical” student or family situations. Let me know if you have any questions about potential referrals, but if it’s a situation that’s on your mind, it’s probably a worth referring to the team.

• Program helps teachers pronounce students’ names– Mispronouncing a student’s name can be interpreted as disrespectful and even discriminatory, says Tiffany Young of the Washoe County School District in Nevada in this District Administrator Article. The My Name, My Identitycampaign, developed in partnership with the National Association for Bilingual Education, offers best practices to help teachers pronounce students’ names correctly, including greeting students at the door on the first few days of school and asking them to say their names. Teachers should then repeat each name, and ask if they are saying it correctly. Also, a teacher who struggles repeatedly with a name should not do so during roll call, but should practice the name with the student one-on-one.“It sends a very important message—that your name and your identity matter, and we want to get it right. It says, ‘We want to get to know you, and we respect you.’

• OMSI Guest Presenters & Field Trips– Most teachers know about the many OMSI Field Trip Offerings, but you may not know about their outreach program where they will go out to schools for assemblies, classes/labs, and even a giant inflatable planetarium, which may be something fun for grade levels to spend their PTO enrichment funds on. OMSI offers discounts for low income schools. See the linked OMSI Outreach Flyeror the OMSI Outreach websitefor details.

A summary of upcoming events at El Camino del Río through November

October 15 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

SMART GOALS DUE BY 5:00 PM

October 16 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting -PBIS meeting / Leadership Plan

Joel conducting informal observations

October 17 (W)

8:00-8:20,  Peggy Vega conducting a training on Clever use to dispel confusion of it’s use.

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

Joel conducting informal observations

October 18 (Th)

PICTURE DAY- in Room A209.

8:30-10:15, Joel in classrooms with immersion principals. Non- evaluative.

10:18, Great American Shakeout- 10:18 on 10/18- Earthquake Drill and Disaster Preparedness

(No Evacuation)

3:15-4:00, GOTG (Conference Room)

October 19 (F)

2:00-3:00, Math PLC Meetings, Specialists and Classified excused from the meeting.

Joel conducting informal observations

October 22 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

Joel conducting informal observations

October 23 (Tu)

8:30-11:45 AM, Joel at the Elementary Leadership Meeting

6:00-9:00 PM, EEF GALA being held at El Camino del Río

October 24 (W)

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

Joel conducting informal observations

October 25 (Th)

3:15-3:45, Equity Meeting (A200)

6:00-7:00, Talking with books program  for kinder students. Title 1 event.

Joel conducting informal observations

October 26 (F)

Early Release- No Meetings or PD (2 hours of prep 2-4)

Joel conducting informal observations

October 29 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

8:00-12:00, Apple Training Kick off event for Technology Leaders, 3 leaders attend PD.

PLC Session 1

October 30 (Tu)

PLC Session 2

October 31 (W)

No costumes for staff or students

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

November 1 (Th)

3:15-4:00 PM, GOTG Session #1 of the month

6:00-8:00 PM, El Día de Los Muertos Event

November 2 (F)

2:00-3:00 PM, Behavior Framework Session #5

Fire Drill TBA time

November 5 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 6 (Tu)

November 7 (W)

NO PLT Meeting

Family / Teacher Conferences, 4:00-8:00 PM

Dinner provided at 5:30.

November 8 (Th)

Family / Teacher Conferences, 8:00 AM-8:00 PM

Dinner provided at 5:30, Lunch on your own.

November 9 (F)

No School, Teacher Compensation Day for  Family Teacher Conferences

November 12 (M)

No School, Veteran’s Day

November 13 (Tu)

Joel at La Cosecha- Tom Maloney guest principal.

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting A, Zelene leads.

November 14 (W)

No PLT Meeting

Joel at La Cosecha

November 15 (Th)

Joel at La Cosecha

3:15-4:00, Guardians of the Galaxy Meeting

November 16 (F)

Joel at La Cosecha

PLC Session

November 19 (M)

Regular Day

November 20 (T)

11:00-12:00, Special Thanks Lunch Session in Cafeteria

5:00-6:00, Site Council- Indistar Indicator Questions

6:00-7:15, Parent Group Meeting- Focus:Understanding Math Lessons at El Camino del Rio.

November 21 (W)

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

November 22 (Th)

No School, Thanksgiving

November 23 (F)

No School, Thanksgiving

That is all for the week.

Joel

Empathy: Are we teaching content or students? Edutopia Link

Dr. Brené Brown offers a divisive take on the difference: “Empathy fuels connections, sympathy drives disconnection.”

Week of October 8, 2018

Buenos dias mis estrellas brillantes,

It’s a short, but busy week with several items of note:

• SMART Goals DUE OCT. 15 – Licensed staff need to have SMART Goals entered into TalentEd by Monday, October 15th next week. For classroom teachers, linked here are Optional SMART Goals template from SDS staff, and linked here is a Completed Sample SMART Goal with the blanks filled in for the above sample goals. Teachers are, of course, welcome to create their own goals. Non-classroom licensed staff can adapt the language of the above goals for any of your own related work, but let me know if I can be of any assistance. Most of us have met and discussed goals and I am impressed with the high quality of each of your ideas.  Please set aside time to complete these goals forms in a timely manner so you have them in place as you begin to measure your students progress.

• Día de los Muertos planning and organizing – It is time to begin planning and working on the Dia de los metros event.   Please contact Alicia Longoria if you would like to volunteer to plan and volunteer this event that will be held on November 1 from 6:00-8:00 PM. It should be a family, teacher, volunteer organized event. It is not a title 1 event this year.  We will also discuss shared responsibilities for this event at the equity meeting on November 1.

• 18-19 Leadership Plan Proposals–  Please expect an email with the full leadership proposed plan on Monday.  It will have the details we have done based on last year.  I would also like to hear other proposals for different ideas to support teacher leadership in the building. If you have a great idea, please plan on sharing it during our PLC session on Thursday morning after we work on mission/vision.

• Synergy Grade Book Training & Building Reps – More information to coming regarding a Synergy Grade Book Training connected to the new report card. Downtown is going to offer two teachers from each building to be trained – paid two hour extended contract – to attend one of three trainings. The meeting date and times are Oct. 16 (Howard), Oct. 18 (Willagillespie), Oct. 22 (Tower Room), all from 4:00-6:00. I hope someone can take this on and help train staff. It will make for a faster and more efficient grading experience in February.

• REPEAT – Wednesday: Walk + Roll to School Day – Remind your students that Wednesday is Walk + Roll to School Day, where they are encouraged to walk, skateboard, bike, scooter, or use another non-motorized mode of transportation to get to school. There will also be a “Walking School Bus” where regular ed buses will park at RX Medical Center on River Road. Come and help out. Contact Sarah Mazze if you want to help go from the RX center with students.

Thursday: LICENSED &  PD Day– Licensed staff will meet 8:00-12:00 in the library for Fall Benchmarking, PLC Mission/Vision Work, and Grade Level Math Planning Time. Title & SPED staff are excused from the PLC and Math activities to attend an “Interventionists PLC” 2:00-4:00 at Chavez. 

• REPEAT – Friday: State In-Service Day – Friday is a regular work day for administrators and classified staff. For classified staff, this is a good day to use any accumulated Trade Time, such as from working at Dia de Los Muertos or staying late to keep students safe at dismissal. Remember to submit your comp form to my clip.

• Aesop & Absences Responsibility – For both classified and licensed staff, it is your responsibility to enter your absences and verify their information in Aesop is correct. MariCarmen’s responsibility is vacancies. It is the employee responsibility to enter absences. Let me know if any of you need a quick refresher on how to use the system.

• BEST and Dreambox – We will be using Dreambox at BEST.  I am having a planning meeting with Alexis, Pilar and Molly about this on Monday and will share more details next week.

• World Book Replacements – Irecently found out that 4J is cancelling the the district subscription to World Book Online. However, Justin Huntley sent principals a list of World Book Online Replacements for educational videos and research that are either free or that 4J continues to maintain a subscription. Let me know if you want any of these links added to your grade level’s Links for Learners page on the El Camino del Rio website (which Peggy recently updated and revamped for us).

• How Creative Teachers Are Using Microphones to Rock Their Instruction – For most kids, using a microphone in class is about as fun as it gets. But there are plenty of other benefits, too. Microphones can help promote language articulation, develop public speaking skills, and provide an incentive for active participation. Here are 15 fun ways teachers are using microphones in the classroom.

October 8 (M)

Indigenous People’s Day

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

Regular Day

October 9 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting (in Room A200)

5:00-6:00, Site Council (Library)

6:00-7:15, Parent Group (Library)

October 10 (W)

3:15-3:45 PLT- (conference room)

October 11 (Th)

No School — Professional Development/Planning Day
8:00-12:00, Data Team/PLC/Math (A210)
2:00-4:00, Licensed Interventionists (ELD, Title & SPED) PLC (Chavez)

October 12 (F)

No School — State In-Service Day
Regular Workday for Classified Staff
Non-Contract Day for Licensed Staff

October 15 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

SMART GOALS DUE

October 16 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting -PBIS meeting 

October 17 (W)

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

October 18 (Th)

PICTURE DAY- in Room A209.

8:30-10:15, Joel in classrooms with immersion principals. Non- evaluative.

10:18, Great American Shakeout- 10:18 on 10/18- Earthquake Drill and Disaster Preparedness

(No Evacuation)

3:15-4:00, GOTG (Conference Room)

October 19 (F)

2:00-3:00, Math PLC Meetings, Specialists and Classified excused from the meeting.

October 22 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

October 23 (Tu)

8:30-11:45 AM, Joel at the Elementary Leadership Meeting

6:00-9:00 PM, EEF GALA being held at El Camino del Río

October 24 (W)

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

October 25 (Th)

3:15-3:45, Equity Meeting (A200)

6:00-7:00, Talking with books program  for kinder students. Title 1 event.

October 26 (F)

Early Release- No Meetings or PD (2 hours of prep 2-4)

October 29 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

8:00-12:00, Apple Training Kick off event for Technology Leaders, 3 leaders attend PD.

October 30 (Tu)

Regular day

October 31 (W)

No costumes for staff or students

3:15-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

November 1 (Th)

3:15-4:00 PM, GOTG Session #1 of the month

6:00-8:00 PM, El Día de Los Muertos Event

November 2 (F)

2:00-3:00 PM, Behavior Framework Session #5

Fire Drill TBA time

November 5 (M)

7:30-7:50, Weekly Office Meeting- Office 

November 6 (Tu)

November 7 (W)

Family / Teacher Conferences, 4:00-8:00 PM

Dinner provided at 5:30.

November 8 (Th)

Family / Teacher Conferences, 8:00 AM-8:00 PM

Dinner provided at 5:30, Lunch on your own.

November 9 (F)

No School, Teacher Compensation Day for  Family Teacher Conferences

That is all for the week.

Joel