Diario Camino del Río

Week of October 1, 2018

Hi Everyone,

Tuesday is National Custodial Workers Recognition Day, so I’d like to take a moment to recognize the work of Craig, Larry,  and Gary do to keep our building running smoothly and staying so light and bright. You do so much more than just keep our building clean. Your smiles and cheer go a long way for all of us.

Here are some important times for the week:

• LICENSED: District PD Day, Thursday, Oct 11th – This is a district-wide elementary PD day, but the PD will all be building based. The agenda for this day will be 8:00-12:00, which will be three topic areas. Both classroom teachers and licensed interventionist (SPED and Title 1) should attend this meeting, but interventionists are excused from the from the Math PLC and Math Design Time to instead attend a separate “Interventionists PLC” 2:00-4:00 at Chavez. CLASSIFIED STAFF: Please work in the building to prep for the coming week. Follow your regular schedule. If you have some trade time, or comp time, please come see me with your logs so I can approve them.

• 8:00-10:00, Fall Benchmarking (2-hours) – This discussion will replace our first Data Team meeting of the year, and will be focused primarily around looking at reading and math benchmark data in grade level and interventionist teams.

• 10:00-11:00, Math PLC Mission/Vision Work (1-hour) – This will be focused on developing our Mission Statement. We will focus on the Why. (The WHY. Why do we exist?) and then move on into our Vision (the WHAT. What type of school do we want to create?), and then into Collective Commitments (the HOW. What must the adults do to create our ideal school?) Classified are welcome to attend.

• LearnZillion/Math Design Time (1-hour) – Based on feedback from the August math PD, teachers liked having choice and hearing from peers, so grade level teams will get time to meet to collaborate (not individual planning) in an area the team chooses and then report back on your work at the next Staff Meeting. Topics might include:

• Task-based learning that “shifts the lift” to students
• Number Talks
• Planning for Major Work
• Language Routines
• Collaborative Structures
• Use of Games Resources
• Workshop
• Formative Assessment
• Explore New Web Resources

• State In-Service Day, Friday, Oct 12th – October 12th is State In-Service day. This is a regular work day for administrators and classified staff. For classified staff, this would be a good day to use any accumulated trade time (which officially is not supposed to be accumulated without first getting admin approval). For licensed staff, October 12th is a non-contract day, meaning you have the day off. If you’re ever wondering about work year dates, most all of your questions can be answered on the 4J Employee Work Year Calendars.

• Revised Friday PD Calendar – Due to contractual language, EEA and downtown have come to an agreement on revisions to the Friday Early Release PD calendar. To make up for the lost 1-hour of uninterrupted prep on several of the non-school Fridays, an equal number of early release PD days will have the PD cancelled. Linked here is what principals were given, and we were given flexibility on two of the make-up days which meeting to cancel, so I chose the dates that spaced our our meetings, so we’re not holding Friday meetings back-to-back. So for the following missed Fridays, this will be the plan:

Oct. 12 – State In-Service Day (Oct. 26 PD Cancelled)
Nov 9 – Conferences (Nov. 19-21, no after school meetings will be held [every attempt to not schedule IEP’s will be made])
Nov. 23 – Thanksgiving Break – (Dec. 21 PD Cancelled)
Feb. 1 – Grading Day (Feb. 15 PD Cancelled)
Mar. 15 – District PD Day (Apr. 5 Cancelled)
May 3 – Transition Day (May 10 PD Cancelled)

• Friday Early Release Meeting Cancelled – This Friday was originally scheduled to be Part 5 of the Behavior Framework. It will be cancelled.

• Safety Week, Oct. 1 – Oct. 5 – Remember that this week is Safety Week. I provided the information earlier in an email. Check back in your email for resources and also refer to the rainbow emergency manual if you have any questions about procedures.

•REPEAT: Grade Level PLCs Mon. & Tues. –  Principals were asked to not be a part of this first round of the PLC, so teams can come up with a focus that’s meaningful to you and your team. The opinion last spring was to discuss language skills and math, and questing skills. PLCs are all about how you put in the effort with your team. I encourage you to go all in to ensure you and the team get a lot out of it. You will meet in the conference room with Reid Shepard.

Monday, October 1
2nd- 8:15-9:15

3rd – 9:20-10:20
4th/5th– 10:25-11:35

Tuesday, October 2
KG – 11:45-12:45
1st – 1:00-2:00

• REPEAT:Get Your Flu Shots Now! – Nurse Robin asked me to pass along a word of encouragement for staff to get your flu shot early this year. She said just last week she already had a student case of influenza. Another tip from Nurse Robin is to use the back of your forearms to itch noses if needed, instead of hands. District flu shot clinics are scheduled for Thursday, October 11th and Tuesday, October 16th, 3:00-5:30PM. Pharmacies also often have flu shots in stock. My own method for not getting sick, besides also getting a flu shot, is to wash my hands every chance I get and to never touch my face when I’m at school.

• REPEAT: Caminata Info – Next week on Friday, October 5th will be our biggest fundraiser of the year, the annual Caminata. It is going to be a lot of fun.

• Caminata Running Details – The same as last year, kids will run the a course for 30 minutes and parents will help keep track of the laps. Drinks and snacks will be provided for students at the end of the run. Grade levels should line up in the covered play area so we can start the times below:

• Walk + Roll to School Day, Oct 10th – Remind your students that Wednesday next week is Walk + Roll to School Day, where students are encouraged to walk, skateboard, bike, scooter, or use another non-motorized mode of transportation to get to school. There will be small prizes for all students who participate (stickers, tattoos, and a raffle drawing last year)!

• Walk + Roll to School Day “Walking School Bus” – For the Oct 10th Walk + Roll to School Day, the Safe Routes to School Program Manager is organized a “Walking School Bus” where buses will park at The River Road RX Medical Center. Volunteers will be stationed along River Rod to Grove to Howard during the walk. A flyer went home in the October School Newsletter, including a link to a Walking School Bus Volunteer Sign-Up. Staff are welcome to help as well. Buses typically arrive between 7:58 and 8:08.

• International Cultural Service Program (ICSP) Presentations – The UO International Cultural Service Program (ICSP) is now open for the Academic Year 2018-19 and are accepting requests for their students to do presentations at schools. ICSP provides free presentations and classroom visits by specially trained international UO students. This year, we have 29 students from 25 different countries. They give educational and cultural presentations, participate in panel discussions, or introduce a wide array of activities such as music, dancing, storytelling, cooking, religious ceremonies, and martial arts. You can request ICSP presentations at this Registration Link and for more information visit the ICSP Website.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events

October 1 (M)

Safety Week

Office Meeting- 7:30-7:50  am

Safety Week and Bus Safety Lesson

PLC 1/2 day AM Session in grades  2, 3, 4/5

October 2 (Tu)

Erin’s Law Lesson

PLC 1/2 day session in PM in Grades k/1/

Staff Meeting- Present Leadership Plan, PLC Vision, Presentation on Natives Program

October 3 (W)

Fire Drill – Surprise time!

October 4 (Th)

Room Clear Practice and Stranger Danger

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

October 5 (F)

Lockdown Discussion (Not a drill)

Caminata 8:45-1:30

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.

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, Joel at the Elementary Leadership Meeting

October 24 (W)

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

October 25 (Th)

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

October 26 (F)

Early Release- No Meetings or PD

I am so impressed with all you do. Thank you for doing such an amazing job to create this bilingual space for learning.

Joel

Week of September 24, 2018

Hi all,

I hope you had a great week last week. It really feels like a smooth start to me. Perhaps, I am just comparing it to teaching in a construction zone, but it does feel like strong routines have been established and students are on track.  Thank you for making it such an awesome start of the year.

CHALLENGE: I have a challenge for ALL of you. Pick 5 students you encounter each day. Discover three things about your students that have nothing to do with academics.  This includes all classified staff too. Learn about our students. We will share some of these ideas in the next staff meeting.

Here are some major reminders/ events of the week:

• Second Step Pacing Guide & Materials Sharing – Speaking of one-more-thing, a quick reminder to classroom teachers, Second Step Unit 1 (Skills for Learning for K-3, and Empathy & Skills for Learning for 4-5) is set to begin next week according to the Second Step Pacing Guide. And if grade levels would like me to scan your story cards and teacher guides, we can do that for you in the office. Second Step Lessons DO begin this week!

• Getting Students Started on DreamBox – I looks like most teachers have started using DreamBox with your classes, but linked here and also under resources on the DreamBox teacher dashboard after you’ve logged onto the site (you can log in through the 4J Clever Portal clicking “Active Directory” with your email username and password) is the DreamBox Learning Welcome Kit for Teachers. This is a nicely concise user-friendly 6-page document with all the DreamBox basics you need to know to get DreamBox started with your students.

• Recommended Usage For Dreambox – It’s recommended you provide 20-30 minutes per session to ensure that students are able to fulfill their recommended usage per week, which is Grades K-2, 30-60 minutes (5-10 lessons) per week, and Grades 3-5, 60-90 minutes (7-8 lessons) per week. Note that some lessons may take up to 25-30 minutes.

• DreamBox Resources – The 4J Math Google Folder contains a DreamBox Resources Folder that includes docs on how to add students to your roster, the DreamBox Family Letter explaining how students can use it at home, how to create a class set of badges, how to create a single badge, and how to share students in Dreambox.

• Grade Level PLCs Mon. & Tues. –  Principals were asked to not be a part of this first round of the PLC, so teams can come up with a focus that’s meaningful to you and your team. The opinion last spring was to discuss language skills and math, and questing skills. PLCs are all about how you put in the effort with your team. I encourage you to go all in to ensure you and the team get a lot out of it. You will meet in the conference room with Reid Shepard.

Monday, October 1
2nd- 8:15-9:15

3rd – 9:20-10:20
4th/5th– 10:25-11:35

Tuesday, October 2
KG – 11:45-12:45
1st – 1:00-2:00

• Get Your Flu Shots Now! – Nurse Robin asked me to pass along a word of encouragement for staff to get your flu shot early this year. She said just last week she already had a student case of influenza. Another tip from Nurse Robin is to use the back of your forearms to itch noses if needed, instead of hands. District flu shot clinics are scheduled for Thursday, October 11th and Tuesday, October 16th, 3:00-5:30PM. Pharmacies also often have flu shots in stock. My own method for not getting sick, besides also getting a flu shot, is to wash my hands every chance I get and to never touch my face when I’m at school.

• Caminata Info – Next week on Friday, October 5th will be our biggest fundraiser of the year, the annual Caminata. It is going to be a lot of fun.

• Caminata Running Details – The same as last year, kids will run the a course for 30 minutes and parents will help keep track of the laps. Drinks and snacks will be provided for students at the end of the run. Grade levels should line up in the covered play area so we can start the times below:

• Informal Observations Often! – I’m going to start informal observations of all licensed teachers this week. First, it will begin with one or two observations without pen and paper, or laptop. The informal visits will mostly be for me to see each classroom in action. I will try to make it into each classroom before Wednesday.  Do expect simple verbal feedback, or via a short email. My main focus of these observations is to get a feel for your classroom structure and routines. I am also looking for teachers starting to teach in the allocated language times agreed upon in the master schedule. Once I have done the visits without pen and paper, you should expect me to be visiting classrooms often with a laptop or iPad through out the year.  I’ll most likely do these in the mornings but I have allocated several blocks throughout my day in case I have a behavioral disruption. Let me know if you have questions on this. 

• Required ALICE Training for Untrained Staff – If you have not been trained in ALICE, let me know by the end of the week. In October, 4J is holding a training for staff, both classified and licensed, who have not previously been trained in this emergency procedure. For those who do not know, ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate, and is a response training in the event there were an active shooter situation or other smilier emergency.

• Keep up on your SMART Goal Writing (Due October 15) – Remember, these goals are to be meaningful to you and can be about any content area you choose.  The student goals must be measurable, but they do not have to be about math or reading. Science and social studies are also good options. Your professional practice goal is an the third goal which is not a quantitative goal.  It is really your instructional focus of the year. Do you want to bring RJ practices into your classroom? Do you want to focus on improving delivery of Maravillas reading materials?  Do you want to study AIM4S3 again so you can improve math instruction? Those are all professional practice goals worthy to write down in our school.  The deadline for goals completion is October 15. 

Schedule of upcoming events at El Camino del Río

September 24 (M)

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

September 25 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Health Update-  (Media Center) (all staff should attend for safety of students)

September 26 (W)

3:15-4:00, Priority Leadership Team (Conference Room)

September 27 (Th)

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting (Zelene’s Classroom)

5:30-7:30, Curriculum Night

All Licensed Staff Expected to attend including PE and Music. See Joel for your assignment.

Dinner served at 5:00-6:00= Provided for all families.

Session 1 at 6:00-6:25 (Students are encouraged to attend.)

Principal Session in the Media Center at 6:30-6:50

Session 2 at 7:00-7:25

September  28 (F)

2:00-3:00, Collaborate to work on SLD on A210.  Please come work together and get instructions. We will not be working in our own rooms during the 2-3 hour. You will be working in grade level teams with 4/5 working together as a team.

October 1 (M)

Safety Week

Office Meeting- 7:30-7:50  am

Safety Week and Bus Safety Lesson

PLC 1/2 day AM Session in grades  2, 3, 4/5

Staff Meeting- Present Leadership Plan, PLC Vision, Presentation on Natives Program

October 2 (Tu)

Erin’s Law Lesson

PLC 1/2 day session in PM in Grades k/1/

October 3 (W)

Fire Drill – Surprise time!

October 4 (Th)

Room Clear Practice and Stranger Danger

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

October 5 (F)

Lockdown Discussion (Not a drill)

Caminata 8:45-1:30

October 8 (M)

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)

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

October 11 (Th)

No School. 

Data team day, led by Jaime Jones, ESC with support from Aline and Joel.

October 12 (F)

Statewide Inservice Day

Regular workday for Classified Staff and Administrators.

(See me if you have been keeping track of comp time.)

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)

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

I know it is going to be a great week.  I can feel it. Ans as the graphic shows above, never forget your impact.

Let’s do this!

Best,

Joel

Week of September 17, 2018

There is more to education than the academics.

Hello Shining Stars,

I hope you had a great weekend.  The office and I are trying to get more efficient at newsletters. We actually got them printed before Friday afternoon.  I intend to continue that pattern so we can get them out to you early Friday or first thing Monday morning.  In addition, the office is trying to work less on the weekend. I am working on this blog entry on the weekend. However,  it is my intention that you read it on Monday during your prep time.  I am going to try my hardest to not work next weekend.  Either way, I am going to begin the practice of NOT sending emails on the weekends.  I ask that you do that as well. Please wait on the weekends from sending emails to each other.  It can wait until Monday.  Be kind to each other. Be kind to your self. Rest and relax with your family.  The kids need you fully charged for Monday! 

Tuesday we will have a staff meeting with much to accomplish.  We need to review the agenda for PBIS, discuss the proposed Leadership Plan, set times for goals meetings, and review the PLC logistics for Fall.

• Friday Early Release Meeting @2:00 – This Friday’s Early Release meeting will be Part 4 of the PBIS Behavior Framework. This meeting is for all licensed staff.  I also encourage the classified staff to attend because this module is on Active Supervisor and has some good reminders about the 3 Keys to Active Supervision: Moving, Scanning, and Interacting. We will meet in A210.

• Optional SMART Goals– Related to the above, linked here are Optional 4J SMART Goalsaround math and our PLC work, which classroom teachers can enter into TalentEd. The percentiles, the assessment used to measure growth, the timeline, and the target group are left blank, but I’d advise choosing something related to your grade level’s focus, so it’s something you’re already doing and you’re not making extra work for yourself. My other advice would be to have one of your two smart goals be for your entire class (the state requires at least one be for all of your students) and the second goal be exactly the same as the first except that you change target population to a subgroup. Teachers are, of course, welcome to create your own goals, but I know folks have appreciated this in the past. Here is a sample version of the above 2018-19-PLC-SMART-generic goal. Non-classroom licensed staff are welcome to adapt the language of the above SMART Goals for any of your own related work, but please let me know if I can be of any assistance in crafting goal for anyone.

• Updated LearnZillion Curriculum Pacing Guides– Linked here are the updated LearnZillion Pacing Guides. These can help teacher know where you should be in the math curriculum so that you’re able to get through all of the units by the end of the year. There will understandably be units that take longer and others that are shorter (along with other interruptions throughout the year), which will take people off schedule, but do pay attention to the curriculum pacing guide to make sure you’re on track to get all of the material covered. These guides can also be found on the 4J Google LearnZillion Drive.

• Resources on 4J LearnZillion Google Folder– As a reminder to teachers, there are quite a few resources on the 4J LearnZillion website, but there are even more on the 4J LearnZillion Google Folderrun by a number of the SDS staff. It includes the updated curriculum/pacing guides, assessment materials, Dreambox resources, exit tickets, parent communications, grade level specific resources, PDFs of the student workbook, and much much more.

• 2018-2019 Mandatory Elementary School Bus Safety Training– As required by OAR 581-53-002, all students must receive instructions on bus safety before the end of December 2018. The intent of the rule is to reach the occasional riders who find themselves on a bus because of a field trip, activity trip, etc. Linked here is Bus Training Info Sheetsent to principals, but all classroom teachers need to do is show one of two bus safety videos and then tell me the date you showed it. There is a new video option for elementary schools this year, so you can choose between the Newer Bus Safety Video or the quaint 1990s Bus Safety Video. I have set the day to do this during safety week.  You can complete it before that date if you like.

• BEST EA Job Opportunity– I just saw that the 4J Jobs webpage is a posting for After School BEST EA positionsif any classified staff are interested. They typically like to hire current building staff for these positions, so if you’re interested, you’ll most likely get the job! The posting closes Tuesday.

• District Admin Updates– Dr. Rob Hess is the new Staff Growth and Effectiveness Administrator, taking the place of Tryna Luton, who recently took a state level position. Rob has worked as a teacher, principal, superintendent and education consultant for more than three decades at all levels. Justin Huntley will serve as Interim Curriculum Administrator for Instructional Technology this year, as Kim Finch is retiring. (She is actually working until December) Justin brings over a decade of school administration experience, most recently serving seven years as a high school principal in Sutherlin, as well at teaching high school social studies for several years before becoming a school administrator. He has strong experience with instructional technology and online learning programs.

• SELCO Spark! Learning Educator Grants– SELCO Credit Union has rebranded their mini grants to Spark! Learning Educator Grantsand have also upped the amount educators can apply for to $1,000. See the above link on how to apply, as well as the scoring criteria. The deadline to apply is September 30th.

Schedule of upcoming events at El Camino del Río

September 17 (M)

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

Center for Teaching and Learning Meeting with Ruby, Britt, Ghisleli, Arturo, Aline, and Joel

September 18 (Tu)

3:10-4:00, Staff Meeting (Room A210)

• PBIS tasks
• Leadership Plan presentation
• Standards Overview for all teachers
• Sign up for Goals meetings
• PLC Logistics Upcoming dates in October.

September 20 (H)
3:15-4:00, GOTG Team

September 21 (F)

8:45, 1st Fire Drill,  TAKE ATTENDANCE QUICKLY AND ACCURATELY

2:00-3:00, Early Release PD – Behavior Framework Module 4 (A210)

September 24 (M)

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

September 25 (Tu)

3:15-4:00, Staff Health Update-  (Media Center) (all staff should attend for safety of students)

September 26 (W)

3:15-4:00, Priority Leadership Team (Conference Room)

September 27 (Th)

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting (Zelene’s Classroom)

5:30-7:30,Curriculum Night

Dinner served at 5:00-6:00= Provided for all families.

Session 1 at 6:00-6:25 (Students are encouraged to attend.)

Principal Session in the Media Center at 6:30-6:50

Session 2 at 7:00-7:25

September  28 (F)

2:00-3:00, Collaborate to work on SLD on A210.  Please come work together and get instructions.

October 1 (M)

Safety Week

Safety Week and Bus Safety Lesson

PLC 1/2 day AM Session in grades 3,4,5

Staff Meeting- Vote on Leadership Plan, PLC Vision, Presentation on Natives Program

October 2 (Tu)

Erin’s Law Lesson

PLC 1/2 day session in PM in Grades k/1/2

October 3 (W)

Fire Drill 

October 4 (Th)

Room Clear Practice and Stranger Danger

3:00-4:00, GOTG

October 5 (F)

Lockdown Discussion (Not a drill)

Caminata 8:45-1:30

Suggested times: (Please provide input at the staff meeting.)

8:45-9:15 Kinder

9:20-9:50- 1st Grade

9:55-10:25- 2nd Grade

12:15-1:00-3/4/5

It is going to be a great week. I can feel it. Let’s do this!

Best,

Joel

Week of September 10, 2018

Greetings Estrellitas Brilantes,

We had an excellent start to school year last week, thanks to our amazing staff! 

Here are several items of note for the week:

• District Mandatory Policy Review for all Staff – Linked here is this year’s District Back-to-School Memo (PDF), which covers a variety of district rules, policies and guidelines. Section 1 is the portion that staff are required to review. all staff must review the memo and sign & return the Check List Acknowledgment Form to signify that you have read and understand the memo. Forms should be returned to me no later than Friday, September 28th. I’ll place hard copies of the acknowledgement form in staff mailboxes this week. Looking over this year’s memo, downtown significantly shortened the Financial & Purchasing Proceduresinformation (the old one had a lot of information that did not apply to school staff), the 4J Nondiscrimination Noticewas updated, the FAQ for Supporting Undocumented Studentswas updated last April, the Student Discipline Procedures Summaryhad some updates (particularly new rules around suspensions), and the section on Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying, Cyberbullying, Hazing, Teen Dating Violence and Domestic Violencewas updated to include information on  Domestic Violence as well as the new Student Reporting Form. Let me know if you have questions on any of this. I will review some of these topics briefly with staff in a meeting soon.

• TalentEd Goals, Self Assessment, & Standards Overview Conference– Probationary and Contract Year-1 Licensed staff need to complete the self assessment in TalentEd before the end of September. ALL licensed staff need to meet with me for a Standards Overview Conference, which I can do by meeting with an entire grade level at once, so let me know if there’s a good time for me to meet with your grade level (5-10 minutes max). I’ll connect with non-classroom licensed staff to meet at a separate time.

Regarding SMART Goals, all licensed staff need to have goals entered into TalentEd and signed-off by me by October 15th. The downtown Staff Development Specialist, TOSAS  (SDSs) are developing a set of goals around this year’s PLC work, so classroom teachers can wait to input your goals if you’re interested in adopting those goals as your own. Other licensed staff will need to develop your own goals, but please connect with me if you’d like any help or guidance. Please let me if you have any questions about the process.

• Early Release Friday Meeting SLD– This week’s Early Release Friday Meeting is designated as a “Building Goals” meeting. We will be kicking off our Spanish Language Development work as a staff that week. Please report to Room A210 at 2:00 PM on Friday.  Lynette Williams will be there and so will Reid Shepard. Our SLD team will tell us about the work done last year and we will discuss older proposals from the earlier in the decade.

• Attendance – AM and PM Reminder– Quite a few teachers are not getting both their AM and PM attendance entered. Please be sure to mark students absent in both columns. I’ll let teachers know this week if these are not get entered properly, so people aren’t left wondering if it’s you we’re referring to, but it’s almost everyone right now. Using the TeacherVUE Synergy app on your phone or tablet (iOSor Android) can be an easier for taking attendance than on your computer. In setting it up, use the URL https://sis.4j.lane.edu/

• Tardies Definition – Just to make sure everyone is on the same page for when to mark a student as tardy, the agreement staff made a few years ago is that any student not inside the double doors before the 8:30 bell rings is considered tardy. If the student is not in your room in their seat at 8:30, they are tardy too. Yasmin starts giving out tardy passes and recording tardies in Synergy as soon as the doors lock. For any students in the building before then who are not yet in class, teachers need to record that as tardy in Synergy. You will have to determine if they are in your room seated or not.

• Grupo de Padres Meeting This Week –  Tuesday, September 11th from 6:00-7:15 will be the first Group de Padres Meeting of the year. It’s typically the best attended meeting of the year by families, so it would be great if any staff can volunteer their evening to come show support for parents who are making time to be involved in their child’s school. Mark your calendars and hope to see you there!

•Caminata Fundraiser is coming quickly!– I’ll have more info next week, but the Group de Padres is holding our annual Caminata this fall on Oct. 5th. This year, they also decided to send funds through EEF which will provide us more financial support and will addd an online version. Things we need to do:

1.Set times for our runners.

2. Ensure that no preps are disrupted. (We will do it on Friday.)

3. Order T-Shirts and see if we can find a donation to cover the cost.

4. We need ideas for incentives from staff that are appropriate and not humiliating to staff.

• Fire Drill Info – Our September Fire Drill will be later this month on Wednesday, September 21 at 8:45. The evacuation routes are the same as last year. Go to the covered play and line up by class, youngest to oldest. Evacuation procedures can be found in the Camino Staff Handbook . Let me know if you have any questions.

• 2018-2019 Leadership Plans – HR emailed principals this year’s Elementary Leadership Plan Process, which are due to HR November 9th. The process is  similar to how it’s worked in the past. The current contract gives us 20 teacher release days not to exceed 7 teachers. There is more time/money because we have 386 students. Send me your thoughts on how to create the plan. We can go back to  a similar plan as last year.  That included a Cultural Events Leader, Student Leadership, Two PBIS Leaders, an IPBS Leader, and a Parent Engagement Coordinator. If you have thoughts on this year’s plan, please email me by the end of the week. I’d like to share Leadership Plan proposals at the next Staff Meeting and then vote on a plan at the October Staff Meeting or via online ballot.

• Substitute Folders/information (EA and Guest Teachers)– Principals received and emailfrom HR to give our yearly reminder regarding preparations for guest teachers and classified substitutes. Early  planning for substitutes helps everyone when someone is absent. This is important prep work to do BEFORE staff are absent. Linked here is a List of Suggested Sub Information/Itemsthat staff should consider when preparing lesson plans and substitute folders. With the goal being seamless transition and a successful day when regular staff are out, it is essential that our Guest Teachers and EA Substitutes receive the best information possible. To highlight one need, be sure to provide info for substitutes how to have access to a laptop for instruction, research, and management. This laptop SHOULD NOT be the teacher’s profile on the teacher laptop as there may be a great deal of confidential information on that machine. Instead, set up a guest account.  Sub folders are located in the office.

The Calendar:

September 10 (M)
easyCBM Benchmark Testing Through Friday

Joel out.

September 11 (T)

7:30-7:55, office meeting

Joel in the building before meeting.
9:00-12:00, Joel to All-Admin/Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting in David Barnes Room

5:00-6:00, Site Council in the Library.

6:00-7:15,  Grupo de Padres in the library

September 12 (W)

3:00-4:00, 1st iPad Training in the Library

September 13 (H)

12:00-1:00, Joel and Alicia in Spanish Speaking Leadership Group

September 14 (F)
easyCBM Benchmark Testing Ends
2:00-3:00, Early Release PD (A210) – SLD PD/ Framework 

September 17 (M)

Regular Day

September 18 (T)
3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting (A210) PBIS and more. Incuding Standards overview 

September 19 (W)

Regular Day

September 20 (H)
3:15-4:00, GOTG Team

September 21 (F)

2:00-3:00, Early Release PD – Behavior Framework Module 4 (A210)

This week is going to be amazing.  Jump in and get to know your students well. 

Joel

Unless we start to fight and defeat the enemies in our own country, poverty and racism, and make our talk of equality and opportunity ring true, we are exposed in the eyes of the world as hypocrites when we talk about making people free. –Shirley Chisholm

First Diario of the year- September 3, 2018

Hi Camino Staff,

This is my weekly blog.  I put major information here and the weekly calendar with most school events. If you are new staff, this is the place to go to find out what is going on.  I have kept this blog up for 4 years and so if you are ever wondering about what we do or how things have changed, click on the old blog entries. There is a ton of information on here. 

Second,  I am so grateful for our first week of school.  It was great to see so many of you having fun, working together, learning together and planning together.  In a word, you are amazing  !  I am so grateful to be a part of this staff again. You make me very proud.  I know you are all here for the right reasons- you love kids and get great joy from seeing them learn and grow.  

Here are some items of note for the week:

• PE & Music Start Date –  Dene and David are ready to start seeing classes the first day of school, but they also understand if teachers want to wait a few days before starting. Please let them know if you WILL NOT be going to specialist times this week.

• Need More Second Step Posters? – Classroom teachers, let me know by the end of the week if you’d like me to order you any additional Second Step posters in Spanish or Engl. One poster was sent with each kit and downtown sent principals an email that they are doing a one-time purchase of these posters, so let me know if you want one.

• easyCBM Benchmarking & Title 1 Updates – Four updates for teachers.

1.) Testing starts Monday, September 10th and goes through Friday, September 14th. Please get as much done as possible that week so Title staff can get the diagnostic testing completed the following week to form groups. Aline will work with EA’s this week to oversee the schedule for testing. The KRA is th priority this week in order to complete kinder placements.
2.) Jaime is overseeing and organizing testing with Aline this year though she will be here mostly in the afternoon. Expect an email from her outlining the details. 
3.) Our hope is to begin Title 1 service by September 24th but managing assessment well is the first priority. If it takes longer, we won’t fret about it. 

4. EasyCBM Sub Days are reserved for Kinder and 1st grades only. This is directed by the district. 2nd grade teachers, if you need more time for assessment, I can provide sub days from Title 1 dollars.

• School Bus PBIS & Positive Slips – Bus drivers have their own version of a PBIS positive slip, which teachers should honor just the same as our PBIS positive Rayos de Luz for weekly class drawing, which will start the first full week of class. Transportation fully supports PBIS in our school.

• Class Buddies – Teachers, if you haven’t already, let me know who you Buddy Classroom will be for this school year. Class Buddies should be across grade levels and met at least 4 times per school year for bonding and relationship building activities.

• No Scents, Fragrances, Perfumes – Please do not wear any scents, body sprays, perfumes, or such at school. We have a number of students and staff with allegories who can have serious potentially life-threatening allergic reactions.

• Classroom Newsletters and home communication  – Classroom newsletters, classroom dojo invites, seesaw invites, or however you communicate with families is of great interest to me. Keep me and your families in the loop!  It is expected that parents should have some form of communication from you (the teacher) once per week.  In addition, it should be bilingual communication. Synergy also has an online communication system for your use.  Please reach out to families often and tell them about cool things going on in your classroom.  If you want to share pictures, that is encouraged!  Check with me in case  parents have said no photos of their kids. These days, that is pretty rare. 

• Google Permission Forms – If you have students who do not have permission to use Google apps such as Google Classroom, linked here is the 4J Google Permission Form (English and Spanish). The forms can also be found online at the 4J Instructional Technology Resources & Links webpage. 4th and 5th grades should get started on using this tool early this year. Misty Jackson will be a great resource to teach you this skillset.  Alexis and other upper grade teachers used it last year quite a bit.

• Voicemail Set-Up – Teachers, if you changed rooms this year or are new to Camino, please take time to set-up your voicemail by using the linked Quick Start Voice Mail User Guide. If you have questions, please contact Peggy at 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu or call (541) 790-7777.

• Enrollment Updates – Enrollment is down a lot of student in the district.  4J is about 580 students short in k-5.  Our enrollment and all 19 other schools are under enrolled.  However,  we are pretty close to enrollment projections, 581 students versus the projected 588. We were 5 over projection in Kinder. 2nd grade is bigger than it was in June. All other grades have had a lot of coming and going, but they are steady in size. We have grown since June! We were 351 before the 5th grade was promoted to Kelly. We now have 30 more students. 

Don’t worry Nikita. They are not all yours!

 Meet Your Teacher – Meet Your Teacher is Tuesday, September 4th at 12:30-2:00. All non- classroom staff should be available to direct families, passing out school maps with highlighters to help guide families, and also passing out a flyer about the first day of school and parking lot procedures. MariCarmen will be in the gym with Yasmin to collect contributions. Teachers, please be available in your classrooms and in the classroom hallways to support families to find your room.

• There will also be a transportation table for communication about bus stops.  We will need two EA’s to work at this desk
• We will also need two EA’s to be guides for families. You will hand out maps and provide guidance to families. (This will be in the gym.)
• All other EA’s and specialists will need to help MariCarmen and Yasmin collect fees. This year,  MariCarmen and Yasmin will be handling the money only.  You will support them by organizing families and providing “customer service” to help them with forms.  You will also provide the staff handbook.

 It might also be a good idea to create an informal roster and contact sheet to collect basic information.  If you plan on using a communication tool like classroom Dojo or Seesaw share how to get on during the meet your teacher time.  We’ll also give staff a complete set of class lists to be used this day and also on the first day of school.

First Days of School –  We will also need all-hands-on-deck to help at 7:55 on Wednesday, September 5th and Thursday, September 6th. Here’s the plan for the first and second morning with students:

First Day
• Students will come in at 7:55 and breakfasts. Simple breakfasts. The wall separating the cafeteria and gym will be open.
• Classroom teachers, also at 7:55 when the doors open, will be in the cafeteria, gym, and courtyard to meet students. Each teacher will have tall t-square signs with teacher name and room number (except for kindergarten, who’s doing something different this year). 1st – 5th grade will meet in the Gym. KG will start their day in the classroom and find out the temporary classroom near the library on the social stair.
• Non-classroom staff, also starting at 7:55, will be at the front entrance, the gym, and the cafeteria to help guide students and families. All staff will be given class lists to help guide students as well as a handful of building maps to pass out.
• After the first bell at 8:25 rings, Joel will make a brief announcement from the stage and then dismiss classes to go to their classrooms. Non-classroom staff will have assigned areas to help with student flow and for students arriving late. Staff will be stationed at the front entrance, cafeteria & gym, the hallway corners of the library, and one person in each wing (upstairs and downstairs).

Second Day
• Starting this day, students will follow our normal routine, but non-classroom staff should still to be available one more day 7:55-8:25 to help students with that routine of breakfast, 1st – 5th to the playground, and lining up right before the 8:25 bell. Begin practicing lining up under the covered play in fire drill fashion. Kinder students will eat after breakfast at 8:35.  Kinders will start their day in the temporary classroom. After the 8:25 bell rings, non-classroom staff should again take their same places as the day before to help guide any lost students or families.

Staff helping should hold onto their class lists and maps from Meet Your Teacher and the first day to help guide families on the second day. If you can’t flex your hours to come in earlier these two days, please let me know so I can adjust where people are stationed.

• Technology CTL Reps K/1 and 4/5 – To support teachers with the transition to all iPads, the Technology Department has developed a 2-year PD plan. The first step in the plan is enlisting CTL reps similar to reading, math, and science. Schools will select three Technology Teacher Leaders (K/1, 2/3, and 4/5) who will attend district meetings/trainings to bring information and PD back to their schools. I had two volunteers for the 2/3 and 4/5 rep. We still need one more rep for k/1. 

• Support El Camino del Rio with eScrip, SmileAmazon, Fred Meyer Rewards! – An easy way you all can support Camino is by signing up for eScrip, Smile Amazon, and Fred Meyer Rewards. With eScrip, you link you debit and/or credit cards and when you make purchases around town at places like Market of Choice, Sizzle Pie, El Tapatio, or Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, it supports El Camino. eScrip also supports purchases through a number on online retailers including Best Busy, Target, and Amazon if you first go through escrip.com. Fred Meyer also has their own rewards program that Camino is a part of. Sign up for the Fred Meyer Community Rewards program by linking your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to Camino Elementary School. 

• Insurance Stuff – Two insurance relating items:

• OEBB Mandatory Open Enrollment – You’ve likely gotten multiple cards and emails, but OEBB will end all current medical, vision, and dental plans effective September 30, 2018 unless you enroll before the deadline on September 15th. See the 4J Employee Benefits webpage to enroll. With the Sept. 15th deadline, it might be wise to do it now before you get caught up in the start of the school year craziness.

• Almost Free Sunglasses! – Here’s something fun I just learned about. Most of the vision insurance plans provide a glasses frame allowance each year, covering up to $70 once every 12 months that can be applied towards non-prescription sunglasses if you go through VSP. I wasn’t quite clear if there was a $20 deductible.

• Northwest Community Credit Union Mini Grants – The goal of Project Community is to help educators create learning experiences for kids that might not otherwise be funded by school budgets. Educators submit their funding needs/wishes (up to $1,500) to NWCU through a competitive, submission process. Submissions are being accepted now through October 8, 2018 with winners awarded in December. Grants can be for supplies (e.g.,calculators, dissection specimens, art materials, basic school supplies, etc.), books & materials ((e.g., books for classroom libraries or to support curriculum, funding for field trips, etc.), technology (e.g., iPads, Chromebooks, Boogie Board e-writers, headphones for listening centers, etc.), and more. Follow this link to submit your grant to the NWCU Mini Grant Program.

• Math Workshop Resource – At last Friday’s PD, I attended a session on Math Workstations that shared a video from Dr. Nicki Newton, an education consultant who works with schools and districts around the country on elementary math curriculum, where she had some great advice on how to set-up math stations at the start of the school year.

Gender Neutral Words- How to use them and make everyone feel included.  I am including this article for those who want to learn more about how to be gender inclusive for our student and staff community.  Language matters.

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-to-use-gender-neutral-words

 Schedule of Upcoming Events

I will be in classrooms starting with the first day of school. See you there!

September 3 (M)
Labor Day – No School

September 4 (T)

12:30-2:00, Meet Your Teacher Event

3:00-4:00, Staff Meeting-  PLC, DLI Non-Negotiable, SLD, Choice Time

September 5 (W)
Classes Begin, Hooray!

3:15-4:00, Equity Team Meeting in David Barnes Room- Camino Declaration Details

5:00-7:00, Parent Group Planning Event

Kinder Zone Day 1

September 6 (H)
Regular Day

Tacos y Sandia- 6:00-8:00 (Staff attendance is optional.)

Kinder Zone Day 2

September 7 (F)
2:15-3:00, Early Release PD- Behavior Framework Module 3 (Nancy’s Classroom, A210)

3:00-4:00, Teacher Golden Hour Prep

Kinder Zone Day 3

4:00, KG Class Lists Posted

September 10 (M)
easyCBM Benchmark Testing begins

Rosh Hashanah Jewish Holiday- Be sure to check for religious absences.  Consider delaying EASY CBM if you have absences due to a religious holiday.

September 11 (T)
9:00-12:00, Joel to All-Admin and Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
3:15-4:00, Equity Meeting- Planning PD for staff?  Direction for the year.

September 12 (W)
3:15-4:00, iPad Training in the Library.

September 13 (H)

First attendance screening done by Yasmin and Joel

September 14 (F)
easyCBM Benchmark Testing Ends
2:00-3:00, SLD Collaborative Planning (Nancy’s Room, A210)

3:00-4:00, Teacher Prep Time- Alone or together.

Joel

Don’t be afraid to reach out and connect with a colleague this week. We are a school full of amazing educators. You should never feel alone.

Week of June 11, 2018

Hi Everyone,

We’ve made it! The final week of the school year! Thank you, everyone, for making our school so  great for our students and families.  Here’s the final announcements of the school year.

• End of Year Ice Cream Celebration – After kids leave on the last day of school at 12:15, we’ll have an end-of-the-year ice cream celebration in the cafeteria. There will be root beer floats, ice cream sundaes with all the fixings, and it will also be a chance for us to wish well those staff members leaving us this summer.  See all you there!

• PE and Music Updates – Downtown has finally decided how PE and Music will work for next year, which is that students will get two PE classes and two Music classes each week, all year long. For us, that means we get to have a full-time PE and full-time Music teacher all year long. Ronny is moving to ATA to become a health teacher. David is staying with us. The district will help us hire a new PE teacher who will stay with us all week long. 

• Master Schedule Updates – Last Thursday we worked hard on revising the master schedule. There will be some changes next year as we try to maximize the PE time across the school. In addition, we are setting a common English Tier 2 time to allow for greater flexibility in grouping across grades. Lastly, one other big change is to formalize SLD during language time across all the grades. 

•4th Grade Interview on Monday and Tuesday  –  We will be having 4th grade interviews on Monday and Tuesday. I will let staff know as soon as a hire is confirmed in June.

• Fire Drill Tuesday at 9:00 – While a few classes are away on field trips, we’ll hold our June Fire drill at 9:00.

• Field Day – Field day is Monday in the AM. It will include several stations which are detailed in Ronny’s email.  Ronny did a great job organizing the whole thing. Also, Jaime helped to finalize the volunteer schedule. Thank you Ronny and Jaime for coordinating this.  

Teachers — please go back and read those emails and attachments closely for organization on Monday. PE will be cancelled tomorrow. 

• 2018-2019 PLC Info & Free Book! –  I recently shared with teachers about the Professional Learning Community (PLC) model teachers will be participating in next school year. Principals have been reading the book Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, and if there are any teachers interested in also reading the book to learn more about the process, I thought I’d offer to purchase the book for you for your summer reading list. Let me know by the end of the week if you’d like a copy of the book and I’ll get it ordered for you. On a related note, to support the PLC rollout across the district, downtown added another Staff Development Specialist (SDS), which has made for some SDS re-shuffling, so for next year Reid Sheppard has still been assigned to our school (Yes!).

• Summer Lego Robotics PD at Lane ESD – Teachers, there is a summer professional development around Lego Robotics and Coding happening at Lane ESD, August 1-3. If our building sends at least one teacher all three days and fills out the paperwork on your plan for how to use it with students, our school will get a complete LEGO EV3 Core Set (a $400 value)! I would be able to cover the refundable $50 registration fee to reserve your spot. If any teachers are interested, let me know by the end of the week. See this workshop link for additional information.

• 4J book giveaway June 11-13 – Library Services is moving out of their space at the Ed Center and has hundreds of gently used ex-library books to give away. There are books for all age levels, from preschool through high school, fiction and nonfiction. This is a great opportunity for teachers to add to their classroom libraries. When: Mon-Wed June 11-13, 1:00-5:00 Where: Library Services, Ed Center (straight from the main door, jog left, follow the signs) What: books, bookends, posters

• Care Team Summer Resource – Linked here is a List of Summer Family Activities sent to me by the contact at DHS. The document is in both English and Spanish.

• Changes to District TAG Identification for 18-­19 – Sarah Prater Eichner, the District TAG Coordinator, let Building TAG Coordinators and principal know about some changes coming next school year. Her email has all of the details, but the short version is that next year there will be a fall TAG testing window for students to be referred for testing. There will also be a spring testing window for students scoring in the 97% on OAKS. Sarah is also planning to visit schools to share information about the process for identification of underrepresented populations. I will give you a revised district TAG plan in the Fall. 

• District School Improvement and Professional Development Surveys – Downtown is surveying licensed, classified, and administrators regarding district professional development and school improvement plans. Linked here is the Classified Staff Survey and Licensed Staff Survey.

• Survey on the future of assessment in 4J – Oscar Loureiro sent an email to teachers and Title 1 EAs earlier, but if you haven’t already, please complete the linked Criteria to Choose a Universal Screening Assessment for 4J. One of the district goals on the 4J Vision 20/20 Strategic Plan is to have a balanced system of assessments that supports effective teaching and learning, informs continuous improvement, and promotes equity in student access and outcomes. See the above linked email for additional details.

• District Admin Update – Peter Tromba is returning to 4J to be principal of Spencer Butte Middle School, as Tasha Katsuda departs for a role as a district curriculum director in Bethel. Peter has been principal at North, Monroe, and at Spencer Butte nearly 20 years ago. He’s also been the 4J Technology Director before he was recruited to work at ODE. Peter is an old friend of mine who I am happy to see back in a leadership role in 4J.

Here is our end of the year calendar:

June 11 (M)

Field Day from 9:00-11:00

June 12 (T)
All staff library books due back to the library

June 13 (W)

5th Grade to the Coast All Day

June 14 (H)

June 15 (F)
Last Day for Students, Early Release
Last Day for 192 & 196 Day Classified Employees
 9:00-10:30-  5th Grade Breakfast (Cafeteria)
11:15- 5th Grade Clap out
10:35, Grab-n-Go Sack Lunches (Cafeteria)
11:40, K-5 Dismissal
12:00, Staff Last Day of School Root Beer Float & Ice Cream Party and Staff Farewell Celebration (Cafeteria)

June 18 (M)
Last Day for Licensed Staff
4:00-5:30, Joel to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

June 28 (H)
Joel’s Last Day

July 26 (H)
Joel Reports Back to Work

August 28 (T)
Licensed Staff Report Back

August 29 (W)
Classified Staff Report Back
El Camino del Rio Staff Back-to-School Staff Meeting

Have a fabulous summer everyone and I’ll look forward to seeing you all in the fall!

Joel

Week of June 4, 2018

Hi all,

We have two weeks to go.  I know you can do this! I know many of you have seen the quote above.  When I think of you, I see the words committee citizens replaced with the El Camino del Rio team. 

Here are some items of note:

• LEL Thank you- The LEL teachers and admin wanted to thank you all for being such gracious hosts.  It was truly a spectacular day for the immersion team to learn more about our impressive teaching staff.  I was so proud of what our students demonstrated to the team.  Thank you for being such great teachers and leading the way in the district towards inclusive bilingual education.

• RFZ statement – Drafts are in staff boxes.  Please read and sign off. Make comments/edits if desired.  Turn in to Joel before June 6th, to his office or at the staff meeting. Next year’s t-shirts will have our RFZ statement printed on the back.  The statement will be translated to Spanish and final edits will be made by the Equity Team.

• Master Schedule – Schedule team met on Tuesday.  Proposed changes: ELD time will be designated for all classes in pull-out model, SLD time in the classroom will happen at the same time as ELD, Common English Literacy Tier 2 for 1st and 2nd grades, Designated Core time for Spanish, Scheduling to create collaboration time for teachers, PE and Music schedules are still in process, Increasing Science/S.S. time at the end of the day, District is mandating 60 minutes of mandated daily recess/lunch times,  

We are still exploring adding Choice Time on Fridays from 1:00-1:45. This would have a cultural component to help us keep to our vision of a cross cultural  understanding. 

Next Master Scheduling Team meeting on Thursday, June 7 at 3:00.

• Upcoming events explanations: Here is a brief explanation of some upcoming events we discussed:

End of year events – Field Day is Monday, June 11, 9:00-11:00.  Teachers will be taking their classes through the stations.  BBQ on the same day. Look for the modified schedule. Joel will ask Craig to put in an order for mowing.  

June 6th Assembly moving from 8:15 to 9:00 start time.  Strings performance and award presentation at the assembly.  

June 13th Assembly will honor Craig, regular awards, honor students exiting ELD.  

June 15th clap-out for 5th graders.  5th grade breakfast will have speeches, awards, certificate for bilingual program, slideshow, cake.  Starting at 10:40 classes will be called down to pick up brown bag lunches.

Kindergarten promotion on June 12th 12-2:00, Bucklew.  June 14th 1:30-2:45, Skoubo. June 15th 8:30-9:00, Brougher.

Check out with Joel starting appointments on June 14th.  Joel’s goal is to have everyone out of the building on Friday.

• Spring Conferences Feedback – Teachers liked it.  Saves time on report cards.  Families enjoy seeing the student progress over the year.  District is only supporting Fall conferences for next year, but we are working to have them.  We also have some ideas for Spring conferences during the school day but this will cost money by using substitutes.

• Dreambox Student Summer Access – Before you send your students off for summer break, be sure to remind them (and their parents) that they can access DreamBox anywhere, anytime—all summer long. And, playing for just 30 minutes three times a week will help them keep their math skills sharp. Feel free to send this Dreambox Parent Tip Sheet home with your students or email it directly to parents. It’s an easy way to get everybody on the same page when it comes to summer learning.

• “Grab & Go” Sack Lunch Schedule, 6/15 – For lunches on the last day of school, Thursday next week, students will enter the cafeteria as usual. They will put together their own sack lunch, assembly line style. As students pass through the line, they should form a new line at the an exit door of the teacher’s choosing. Once all the students have gotten their lunches, teachers can walk students back to class. This process should takes about 5-8 minutes.

10:30 KG grade and 5th grade
10:40 1st grade
10:50 2nd grade
11:00 3rd grade
11:10 4th grade 

If staff not supervising students are available to help during this time, that would be terrific!

• DO NOT move your phones! – Peggy Vega emailed this out earlier, but I want to reiterate that staff SHOULD NOT unplug and move your classroom phones. Moving a phone without going through the proper channels can mess things up pretty bad on the technical side. If you would like a phone moved, email 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu and we can get it done through the proper channels.

• Field Day Instructions- Please read your email closely from Ronny send on Thursday. She has created a great structure for the field day but we must fully understand it and follow it. If you have specific questions, ask them on Wednesday at the staff meeting.

• District Admin Updates – One, Ryan Spain will be 4J’s new Facilities Director, taking the place of Harlan Coats, who is retiring this year. Ryan was Howard’s project manager before taking on the #2 position at Facilities. Ryan also helped start the River Road El Camino del Río Project and put Dexter on the path as Project Manager. 

And two, Courtney Leonard will be the new principal at Charlemagne, taking the place of Eric Anderson, who is taking the place of Chris Mitchell at Roosevelt MS, who is taking on the principalship at Cal Young MS. Courtney was previously an assistant principal at Hillsboro and North Eugene, and was a French immersion teacher at South IHS. Courtney and I were in school together to become foreign language teachers in 1998.

• Teachers Eat Free at Red Robin on June 5! – On June 5th, all teachers and school administrators who visit participating Red Robin restaurants and present their school ID will be rewarded with a FREE Tavern Double Burger and Bottomless Steak Fries on dine-in and to-go orders.

• REPEAT: Class Lists Due Friday – Classroom Teachers should have next year’s lists finished by this Friday, Grading Day, so specialists and support staff have time to review final lists before the end of the school year. Before then, non-classroom staff are welcome to connect with classroom teachers about any specific student placements.

• REPEAT: Report Card Grading Day, Classified & Licensed – This Friday is a regular work day for both classified and licensed staff. For licensed staff, HR allows teachers to work from home if you notify your administrator (me) in advance, but be sure to plan ahead if you need to collaborate with any colleagues on grading.

• REPEAT:2018-2019 Leadership/Building Rep. Positions– Each year all leadership positions are considered vacant and anyone can sign up for one, with the exception of CTL positions, which downtown generally likes to keep consistent. The current list of leadership/rep positions are;IPBS, PBIS, Site Council, Social Committee, Equity, and there are also the district level rep positions such as MTL, STL, LTL . If you would like to sign up for a leadership or rep position, follow this link to the 2018 2019 Leadership Form. You’ll need to be logged onto your 4J Google account to view or add your name. If we have multiple candidates, we’ll do an email vote for those positions. You can also add rows at the bottom if anyone wants to lead a new position.

End of Year Checklists– Linked here is the End-of-Year Checklistfor staff who are in charge of a classroom or other area. Please bring it to the right people for signatures. 

That is all for the week.  WE got this!

Joel

Week of May 28, 2018

Hello Shining Stars,

I hope you all had a great weekend.  I stayed in Eugene and spent time with family. The weather was fantastic and the yard work  was calling. I hope you enjoyed time with your family and loved ones.  There is something very energizing about having a break before the last sprint.  

• Staffing Update– Our First Grade position has been filled!  Ana Hansen  is coming to us from Utah.  She has been teaching in a Dual Language program for 4 years.  Ana Diaz Hansen is a native Spanish speaker from Spain.  Ana  is excited to work in our school and is also very experiences in teaching Spanish from 1st grade to university level. Ana has a son who lives in Eugene and she has a grandson she is excited to spend more time with as well. Please welcome Ana!

• 2018-2019 Leadership/Building Rep. Positions – Each year all leadership positions are considered vacant and anyone can sign up for one, with the exception of CTL positions, which downtown generally likes to keep consistent. The current list of leadership/rep positions are;IPBS, PBIS, Site Council, Social Committee, Equity, and there are also the district level rep positions such as MTL, STL, LTL . If you would like to sign up for a leadership or rep position, follow this link to the 2018 2019 Leadership Form. You’ll need to be logged onto your 4J Google account to view or add your name. If we have multiple candidates, we’ll do an email vote for those positions. You can also add rows at the bottom if anyone wants to lead a new position.

• Master Schedule Committee Meeting, Tuesday at 3:00 – Specialist staff have helped me  to draft a preliminary master schedule template for next school year. This Tuesday at 3:00 in the Conference Room will be an optional meeting for any interested staff members who’d like to have input and/or work on next year’s schedule. Right now it’s pretty up in the air, but we will build the rest of the schedule out from here. I do want to prioritize a few things for next year including SLD time school wide and more time for science and writing.  We still haven’t heard how the four PE and Music classes per will will work officially.  However,  I have some ideas how can think ahead on this topic. We should discuss ideas and realign our priorities for next school year and make sure they are reflected in the schedule.

• End of Year Checklists – Linked here is the End-of-Year Checklist for staff who are in charge of a classroom or other area. This form needs to completed and signed off by me before you start your summer. Outside of some date changes, this is the same form as last year. A sign-up sheet for checkout dates and times will be in the Staff Room and copies of the checklist will be under the staff mailboxes. If you need any boxes, just let Craig know. For checking out technology over the summer, the link is not up yet, but I’ll share that once the Tech Department sends it out. Please do make sure you take down any glass covering before you leave in late June.

• Report Card Grading Day, Classified & Licensed – Friday, June 8th is a regular work day for both classified and licensed staff. For licensed staff, HR allows teachers to work from home if you notify your administrator (me) in advance, but be sure to plan ahead if you need to collaborate with any colleagues on grading. Also, be sure to use this time for grading and not use it to run errands around town. Teachers are highly visible members of the community, so keep in mind public perception. HR has said that if working off-site on grading days is abused, we will not be allowed to continue the practice.

• Class Lists Due Friday, June 8th – In our last data meeting we worked hard on the Class Lists for a good hour.  Karen is holding these lists now. If you want to revise them, work with her to change them up a bit. Classroom Teachers should have lists finished by Grading Day, Friday, June 8th, so specialists and support staff have time to review final lists before the end of the school year. Before then, non-classroom staff are welcome to connect with classroom teachers about specific student placements.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – 

May 28 (M)
Memorial Day, No School

May 29 (T)
5th Grade Middle School Math Placement Tests begin if tests arrive.

May 30 (W)
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team (Conference Room at Howard, Jennifer goes)

3:00-4:00, PLC 18-19 Planning Meeting for Licensed Staff including a discussion with Reid Shepard
4:00-5:30, Joel to Report Card Revision Team Meeting (Ed Center)

May 31 (H)

8:00-2:40, Joel and LEL Team hosting the LEL at EL Camino del Río

June 1 (F)

Data Team #5- Final Data Team Meeting of the year. 

Title 1 and ELD are cancelled.

Final Fruits and Vegetables Session provided by  Food For Lane County

June 4 (M)
Library Closed for Inventory & Close Out

June 5 (T)
All student library books due back to the library.
8:15-11:15, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

3:00- New Teacher Check In

3:30-5:00- BEST Field Trip

June 6 (W)

9:15, Fire Drill
11:00, NEHS Senior Stroll (tentative)

3:00-Final Staff Meeting (tentative)
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

June 7 (H)
Last Day for BEST

3:00-3:45, Guardians of the Galaxy Meeting Final

June 8 (F)
Grading Day – No School
Class Lists Due (for review by support staff)

June 11 (M)

Field Day from 9:00-11:00

June 12 (T)
All staff library books due back to the library

June 13 (W)

5th Grade to the Coast All Day

June 14 (H)

3:00-3:45, Final Equity Meeting

June 15 (F)
Last Day for Students, Early Release
Last Day for 192 & 196 Day Classified Employees
 9:00-10:30-  5th Grade Breakfast (Cafeteria)
11:15- 5th Grade Clap out
10:35, Grab-n-Go Sack Lunches (Cafeteria)
11:40, K-5 Dismissal
12:00, Staff Last Day of School Root Beer Float & Ice Cream Party and Staff Farewell Celebration (Cafeteria)

June 18 (M)
Last Day for Licensed Staff

Joel

Meet your ACE Champion, Craig Young!

Week of May 21, 2018

Week of May 14th, 2018

Hi All,

I’d like to congratulate El Camino del Río’s ACE Award Nominees:

Licensed: Justin Potts, School Psychologist, Student Services Department

Classified and Lifetime Achievement Award: Craig Young, Custodial Maintenance Coordinator I

Volunteer: Heidi Dixon, River Road/El Camino del Río Elementary School and Spencer Butte Middle School

Volunteer: Amy Green

Each of you are very deserving of your nominations, so thank you for all your work! We have many folks in our building worthy of ACE Awards. ACE nominees will be celebrated at the awards ceremony at Churchill High School on Wednesday, May 23, 5:30–7:00PM. The event is free and open to the public. Nice work, you four!

Here are this week’s announcements: 

• Staffing Updates – We held interviews last Thursday for our new 1st grade teacher.  We should have a recommendation sent to HR this week.

•ELL Update – I heard some awesome news from Nancy on Friday.  We tested 103 students in the ELPA 21. That is more than any other MS.  21 students were exited from ELD this Spring using the ELPA 21 assessment. This is more student exited than we have ever accomplished. By comparison, last year we assessed 100 and exited 11 students. Your hard work is paying off across the school! THIS is why we have a Dual Language program!

Journeys & Being a Writer Materials Order DUE FRIDAY – Orders are due this Friday by following this link for Journeys and Being a Writer Materials for next school year. See the linked Piktochart for details. Also, check that you have the right amount of  Maravillas materials for your classroom next year.  Ask MariCarmen about the projected classroom sizes and get your numbers to verify.

• EA & Teacher Title 1 Summer School Jobs – EA’s, if you are interested in returning and previously worked at summer school you do not need to apply. If you are interested and have not previously worked as a Summer School EA, watch the 4J Jobs website because it will be post soon. Teachers, the posting for Title 1 Summer School Teachers is already on the 4j website and closes Tuesday.

•Classified Evaluation appointment – Do not forget to make a classified evaluation appointment so you can complete the process.

Schedule of Upcoming Events –

May 14 (M)

3:00-4:00, IEP Meeting

4:00-5:30, Joel to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

May 15 (T)

8:30-9:00, Attendance Support Meeting

2:00-3:45, Duncan Tonatiuh Visit with Edward M. Olivos in Flores and BEST.

Joel Leading PBIS Tour for New Zealand Principal

My daughter’s 14th birthday.

6:00-8:00, OABE Meeting

May 16 (W)

2:00-3:00,Staff Meeting- Agenda PLCs in 2018-19, Appreciations, Field Day Planning

5th Grade OMSI TRIP

May 17 (H)

5th Grade OMSI TRIP

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

May 18 (F)

3:00-3:30, PLT

3:00-5:30, Produce Plus Program- Frutas y Verduras

May 21 (M)

8:30-9:00, Joel at attendance support meeting.

May 22 (T)
8:15-11:15, Joel to Elem. Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

May 23 (W)

12:00-12:30, Attendance Support Meeting

2:00-3:00, Grade Level PLC

Conferences begin at 4:00

Library – Last Week of Checkout

May 24 (H)

Conferences run from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
May 25 (F)
No School- Teacher Compensation Day. 

May 28 (M)

No School- Memorial Day

That’s all!  Have a great week.

Best,  

Joel