Caring for Kids

October 28, 2019

By Allan  |  2019/10/26 16:28 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Arts, Assessment, Caring for Kids, Equity, P.D.  |  Comments Off on October 28, 2019

 

Hi Everyone,

FUN FACT! This is our last full 5-day week until November 18th and the next full week after that isn’t until December!

Sixteen items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – We conducted interviews this past Thursday for our fourth kindergarten teacher, which will bring kindergarten class sizes down to 20, 20, 20, and 21. We’re happy with our candidate and I’ve submitted a candidate name to HR to make the job offer, so hopefully the person will be able to start as soon as possible. Timeline-wise, we’ll give the new teacher three days to set up their classroom and plan, I will notify families of students changing classrooms, and students will start the following day.

• EA Extravaganza Nov. 7th – For classifieds staff, Conference Days Nov. 7th and 8th are regular work days. See Marlee Litten’s Email and Directions for a list of the workshop opportunities as well as the registration directions. Follow this Registration Link and do a search for “K-8 EA PD.”

• Conferences Updates – Nine items of note for conferences next week:

• Student Profile Sheets – Teachers, be sure to have your families review and update contact information on the Student Profile Sheets Lori put into mailboxes.

• Parent Report Update – Parent reports are being generated and will be ready before conferences to share with families. For new folks, these include information on attendance as well as SBAC and fall benchmark scores. I’ll put these in teacher mailboxes as soon as I get them.

• Licensed Specialists Expectations – 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. 

• Title 1 Compacts – Title 1 compacts were put in teacher mailboxes last Friday. Please remember the following:

1. You sign the Teacher section
2. You have the students read (or you read it to them) the Student section
3. You have parents/guardians sign their section at conferences
4. If a Compact is in Spanish (the student’s name is at the top on that side), please sign the Teacher section and have the student sign their section on the Spanish side. This is helpful for the parents when they get sent home.
5. DO NOT SEND COMPACTS HOME WITH STUDENTS!!!

If a conference is a “no-show”, please give me the Compact back with your signature and the student’s signature. I will get copies made and put a sticky note on it before we send it home. That way if we never get it back, we still have a record of trying.

• Allan Available for Conferences – If teachers have any tricky conferences and would like me to attend, just let me know and I’ll put it on my calendar.

• PTO Provided Dinners – Our awesome PTO is again providing dinner for staff working late during parent teacher conferences. I believe the current plan is for a “Soup Contest” along with salads and breads.

• Compensation for Large Class Sizes – Per section 10.1.9 of the contract, teachers who have greater than twenty-eight students for conference, will be compensated for one half (1/2) day at their per diem rate. Following conferences, I’ll put extended contract in teacher mailboxes for classes of 29 or more students.

• What Teachers Want Parents to Know – Here’s a nice reminder before conferences from an Edutopia article by a teacher who has worked in a variety of schools, reflecting on what teachers want parents to know:

• We care about your child’s well-being.
• We want your child to succeed.
• We know that learning is difficult.
• We know your child has other responsibilities.
• We care deeply about what we teach.

• Parent-Teacher Conference Tips from NEA – There are quite a few resources available on the NEA website to assist teachers in preparing for and conducting conferences. My own favorite advice is to just listen to parents, which is something I learned from my mentor teacher back in my student teacher days. He started every conference by saying “How do things look on your end?” which I copied and always thought was a good way for families to share whatever was on their mind, instead of me launching into my spiel and making them wait to share.

• Friday Early Release PD – This Friday’s Early Release PD is designated as PLC Meeting time. Downtown hasn’t given principals details on this yet, but I except this will be a continuation of what we worked on two weeks ago on 10/18. If that’s the case, we’ll plan to meet in the library for grade level teams to share where they are at and continue working on your Math Essential Standards document and make sure your PLC Meeting Notes are finished, especially your Next Steps section, so that we are ready for our next PLC meeting time with Rebecca.

• Artist in Residence Schedule – Linked here is the a Draft Schedule for the First Artist in Residence (Glass fusing Fun! with Rachell Jarvis) from November 4th – December 13th. The only things I held sacred on the schedules were recesses, lunches, and specialists times, but let me know if you have suggestions how to make the schedules work better or if you noticed any mistakes (I’m sure there are some). The only constraints are the artists need at least 15 minutes between sessions and are limited to no more than five classes per day, but I think the schedules worked out for the most part.

• MyOn (i.e. News-o-Matic) Access – Howard veterans will remember a great app we used to have called News-O-Matic, wgucg was purchased by MyOn. Carla wrote an EEF grant to get us a schoolwide subscription to MyOn, which we just got the funds for an submitted. I’ve uploaded students (USER: 4J email username PW: 4J six digit password) and teachers (USER: 4J email username PW: roadrunner) last week and they will hopefully be loaded soon.

If you’re not familiar with myON, it started as vast a collection of online books, which is still has, and once they purchased News-O-Matic, they deliver authentic reporting on timely topics and current events through a series of five daily news articles, 52 weeks a year. Articles are written by professional journalists and reviewed by a child psychologist for age-appropriateness. Every article is written at 3 Lexile® levels, with audio supports and engaging multimedia to further student understanding.

• Site Council Date Changes – At the Elementary Principals’ Meeting last week, principals learned that it is acceptable for Site Council groups to meet on a quarterly basis. In light of that, Site Council will meet in January, April (for EEF grant approval), and in May (end-of-year warp-up items). Some years Site Council will need to meet more often, such as last year when we worked on our 3-year school improvement plan, and there may also be times when items come up we’ll need to meet, but this makes sense given that most years Site Council has less to do in the School Improvement off-years.

• Winter Fire & Pest Control Reminders – This is your annual reminder that the risk of fire grows as temperatures drop and heating systems start to operate. 4J has had fires in the past caused by combustible materials placed too close to heating sources. With this in mind, please take the time to visually inspect that all combustible materials are at least three feet in all directions from heating sources. Even if you have a heater that doesn’t appear to run during normal operations please maintain the required clearances for materials as it might run if the building cools to a specified point overnight, over a holiday or school break. Additionally as it gets wet and cold outside the mice and rats begin looking for warmer places to hang out. This underlines the importance of pest prevention in order to provide our desired work/learning environment. We need your help to prevent pest problems by learning proper food storage techniques which can be found in the attached Integrated Pest Management (IPM) document. Please report any pest sighting or signs of a problem to your building custodian.

• REPEAT: Costume Parade Update – Linked here is the plan for the 2019 Costume Parade Directions & Map, which also includes an indoor rainy day parade route.

The Halloween Parade will start at 1:40 PM on October 31st. Classroom parties may run prior to or after the parade at the teacher discretion. At 1:40, upstairs classrooms will begin a single file line down their stairs and will pick up their downstairs buddy classrooms who will follow behind out to the field where we will parade around the track and cross the field at the 50 yard line. Here is the approximate schedule:

1:40 – Upstairs classrooms walk single file downstairs
1:45 – Downstairs buddy classrooms follow upstairs buddy classrooms
1:50 – Classes proceed single file onto the track area following the red arrows
2:10-2:20 – Classes return back to their rooms.

• Halloween Staff Photo, 2:40 in Story Cove! – Remember to keep your costumes on after school for our annual staff picture in the Library Story Cove!

 

• Student Care Team Resources – There were a few resources that were shared at last week’s Student Care Team Meeting:

• Section 8 Housing Opening Up, Nov. 12 – On Tuesday, November 12th at 8:00AM until the following Tuesday, November 19th at 4:00PM. Terra will email the flyer to Allan, who will distribute later.

• Energy Assistance – There are several energy assistant programs coming up:

• Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) – Opens Nov. 1st at 9:00 at the Eugene or Springfield office at Catholic Community Services (CCS) or go online to https://lanecounty.org/LIHEAP. In Eugene, call (541) 345-3642. In Springfield, call (541) 747-8349. Applicants need to talk to a staff member, and not leave a message to get on enrolled. To get on the list, they have to talk to a human, apply online, or enroll in person. Last year the list filled in 15 minutes. This year they are opening it up the first business day of every month
• EWEB Customer Care (ECC) – ECC is adding clients to a waiting list the first business day of the month starting at 9:00. People can apply by calling the Eugene CCS office at (541) 345-3642. going online at: https://lanecounty.org/ECC

• OLGA – Oregon Low Income Bill Assistance – NW Natural – Program is funded by Northwest Natural. This program is available to all Northwest Natural (NWN) customers who meet the income qualifications. The OLGA program provides a one-time payment that is applied directly to the applicant’s NWN account. To apply, in Eugene, call (541) 345-3642. In Springfield, call (541) 747-8349. Or visit the OLGA Website.

• Dovetail – Dovetail Project (formerly known as Project 250) was developed for integrating services provided by Department of Health and Human Services Divisions to achieve better outcomes for chronic clients (families, individuals, and veterans). Contact is Laurel O’Rouke, Social Services Liaison for Dovetail Program at Lane County Government, (541) 682-8778 or visit the Dovetail Website.

• Roseburg Therapy – Roseburg Therapy began as a provider in schools throughout Douglas County and is expanding into Eugene and Springfield school, so children can access mental health services in their school without the obstacles of parents needing to leave their jobs and children needing to leave school. More information and the referral form (under “Services”) can be found at their website: https://www.roseburgtherapy.com/

• November PBIS Focus: Appreciations – The November PBIS monthly focus is Appreciations. The PBIS team created a PBIS/CSC Cheat Sheet that matches our monthly PBIS themes with corresponding Caring School Community class meeting lessons, which is a nice way to tie the two activities together.

• 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 County supports many Lane County community programs that assist our students and families. Linked here is the email sent to principals. You can learn more about what all they do by following the above link.

• The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home – We all know this, but this Edutopia article serves as a good reminder that calling students’ parents or guardians with good news encourages more good behavior and creates strong teacher-student bonds.

• Identity-Affirming Schools Need Race-Conscious Educators – Inclusive environments are catalysts to students’ success. In this ASCD Express Article, an equity and inclusion specialist shares four steps necessary to foster belonging and dismantle systems that marginalize students, which are:

1) The Colorblind Approach Is Damaging
2) Disproportionalities Send a Message to Students
3) Singular Stories Are Dangerous
4) Students Want to Be Heard

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events for the next two weeks:

October 28 (M)
2:45-3:30, Site Council CANCELLED

October 29 (T)
8:10, Allan to Formal Observation
9:00-11:00, Jeff Out of Building at Synergy Training
9:10, Allan to Formal Observation
10:00-12:00, Allan to ESSA Planning Sessions (Office)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Matt’s Room, RM23)

October 30 (W)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
2:45-3:30, PBIS Meeting (Ashleys Room, RM25)

October 31 (H)
1:40-2:15ish, Halloween Costume Parade
2:40, Staff Halloween Photo!

November 1 (F)
PBIS Monthly Theme – Appreciations
Popcorn Friday!
1:30, EA Supervisors’ Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30, Early Release PD – PLC (Library)

November 3 (SU)
Daylight Saving Time Ends

November 4 (M)
Roadrunner Tail Feather Challenge Begins
Artist in Residence – Glass-Fusing Fun! – Rachell Jarvis Begins
2:45, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)

November 5 (T)
Regular Day

November 6 (W)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee (Ed Center)
4:00-8:00, Parent/Teacher Conferences
8:00-4:00, K-8 EA Extravaganza & MANDT

November 7 (H)
8:00-8:00, Parent/Teacher Conferences
3:40, Allan to Conference

November 8 (F)
Teacher Comp Day – No School
Classified Staff Regular Work Day
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting

November 11 (M)
No School — Veterans Day

Have a fun week of making fun school memories for kids!

Allan

August 26, 2019

By Allan  |  2019/08/24 22:14 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Caring for Kids, Grants, P.D., SEL, Technology  |  Comments Off on August 26, 2019

Greetings Roadrunners,

I’ve already seen quite a few folks who’ve stopped by school, but it’s almost that time that we get to see all of our work friends again!

Here’s the first of my regular weekly staff announcements.  My intention with these weekly announcements is to send only one email to all staff per week, so as not to clutter up your inboxes. My hope is that staff read the announcements by the end of the day Tuesday each week. These sometimes get long, like this one, but I’ll advise staff to read the bold heading for each bulleted item and you can decide from there if it applies to you or not and read on accordingly.

And one more reminder, don’t forget to make your Breakfast Burrito Order!

Nineteen items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – Three staffing updates! Please welcome to the Howard Team Tami Brittenham (PE), Christine Butler (BEST Coordinator), and Jeff Koldewyn (Project PASS Behavior Support EA). Tami already knows quite a few Howard staff, but she has been a classroom teacher for the past 18 years, most of that time at Awbrey Park, and is making the move to teach PE this school year. Christine is our new BEST Coordinator, who comes with experience as a middle school math teacher as well as a Program Manager at the UO. Jeff will be our Project Pass Behavior Support EA and comes to us with a wide variety of EA experience having worked as a special education EA, a Spanish translator, and an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. Please welcome these excellent folks to the STELLAR Howard Team!

We have three position still to be filled. One, we’ve conduced interviews for a 3-Hour Learning Center EA and I’m waiting on HR to make the job offer to our selected candidate. Two, SSD is adding another 6.5 hour Life Skills EA to our program, so I am awaiting details from SSD on that. And three, we’ll be conducing interviews this Monday from 11:30-3:30 for primary grade classroom teacher if anyone would like to join the interview committee. Our K/1/2 class sizes are all very large and at this point downtown has approved one additional teacher which they said might be a straight K, 1 or 2 classroom or it may be a K/1 or 1/2 blend.

• Enrollment Updates – Right now we have some very large class sizes and are one of the few 4J schools over projection. We were projected for 435 as of Friday are at 487 students. Current class sizes are:

KG – 35, 35
1st – 33, 33
2nd – 29, 29, 29
3rd – 22, 22, 22, 21
4th – 27, 26, 26
5th – 29, 28, 28

I’m grateful for the additional 1.0 FTE we’ve been given and that we can hire now, but I’m continuing to push hard for additional staffing in addition to that. Current numbers should equate to a total of 2.5 FTE being added, though I’m also reminding downtown that last year we added over 50 students by the end of the school year (over 30 the year before), along with serving a high needs population of students and families.

No changes have been made to 2019-2020 Classroom Assignments, but if we add a straight KG class it would go into Room 2, a straight 1st grade class would go into Room 14, and a straight 2nd grade class would go into Room 21. If we have to do blend, a K/1 blend would go into Room 2 and would follow the Kindergarten C scheduled and a 1/2 blend would go into Room 21 and would follow the 2nd grade D schedule.

• Updated 2019-2020 Master Schedule – Linked here and on the Howard Google Shared Drive is a slightly updated 2019-2020 Master Schedule (PDF and XLS). Anyone affected by any changes already knows.

• REPEAT: Breakfast Burrito Orders Due 8/26 – If you haven’t already and would like a FREE breakfast burrito Wednesday morning, please complete linked Breakfast Burrito Order Google Form by 9:00 on Monday. You’ll need to log onto your 4J Google Account to complete the form.

• UPDATED: In-Service Week Schedule – Most of this is the same, but we now have a few more details from downtown for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday’s PD, which are included below.

August 27 (T) – Planning Day – Teachers report back and this is a protected planning day. I’ll have some breakfast goodies, coffee, and drinks in the Staff Room at 8:30 to welcome folks back and to meet new staff members.

UPDATED: August 28 (W) – Building PD Day – Classified staff report back this day and we’ll start the day with everyone in the cafeteria. Breakfast burritos will be available 7:30-8:00 for folks who placed orders and the Back-to-School Staff Meeting with everyone will begin at 8:00. This meeting will be focused on building items and some district PBIS info, which may help with our afternoon PBIS Team Meeting. The agenda is attached to my email and in the Staff Meetings folder on the Howard Google Shared Drive. There will be a PBIS Team meeting the afternoon at 1:00 in the Conference Room to finalize PBIS Rules Round-Up plans.

UPDATED: August 29 (H) – Optional 4J BTS Event/Specialist PD – The 4J Back-to-School Event at South Eugene High School is this morning 8:30-10:30. Attendance is encouraged, but optional. Following that, there will be multiple required trainings for some licensed and classified staff (primarily specialists, such as SPED, PE, Music, Library, Counselors, etc.), so look for emails from the folks running those sessions for details. SSD licensed staff will have a meeting immediately following the Back-to-School Event. SSD classified staff are to return to buildings and use the remaining time to watch the SafeSchools Trainings.

UPDATED: August 30 (F) – Half-Day PD/Half-Day Planning – All staff, classified and licensed, will meet in the cafeteria and will have a 2-hour training on supporting student behavior. Following that there will be a 90-minute training for licensed staff focused on introducing the Instructional Framework and a PLC reboot. The agenda is attached to my email and in the Staff Meetings folder on the Howard Google Shared Drive.

September 2 (M) – Labor Day, No School

September 3 (T) – I have a placeholder Staff Meeting from 8:00-10:00 scheduled this day if anything comes up that can’t wait until our first regular staff meeting. At 10:00, I’ve scheduled a Q&A Session for new staff members to meet with me in the office to answer any questions you might have. I can get busy durning in-service week and am not always easy to find, so I’ve set this time aside. Also, “Meet Your Teacher” will be from 1:00-2:00, when families can come see their classrooms, drop off supplies, and meet staff.

September 4 (W) – The big show begins! We are not doing the big gathering in the gym this year and will have student follow our normal morning routine. See the third bullet down, First & Second Day of School Plan 9/4 & 9/5, for details.

• PBIS Rules Review Meeting 8/28 at 1:00 – Mentioned above, the PBIS Team will be meeting this Wednesday at 1:00 in the Conference Room, to which anyone and everyone is invited, to decide how we want to do our our rules review with students. The last few years we’ve used slide shows to teach Playground Rules and Common School Areas, but at the end of the last year we discussed going back to our Rules Round-Up style of teaching school rules, where classes rotate around the school and school grounds to learn how to be SAFE, KIND, and RESPONSIBLE in various targeted areas. If you have thoughts on how you would like this year’s Rule Round-Up to go, please come to the meeting Wednesday or email me your thoughts before then. Also for your reference, linked here is the Howard PBIS Matrix.

• Meet Your Teacher 9/3 – During Meet Your Teacher on Tuesday, September 3rd ,1:00-2:00, I’d like to repeat what we did last year, having all non-classroom staff available to direct families, passing out school maps with highlighters to help guide families, and also passing out a First Day/Parking Lot Flyer about the first day of school and parking lot pick-up and drop-off procedures. 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 & Second Day of School Plan 9/4 & 9/5 – We are not doing the big gathering in the gym this year and will mostly follow our regular morning routine, as we used to do in the old building on the first day of school, but we will continue having all-hand-on-deck to help at 7:25 on Wednesday, September 4th and on Thursday, September 5th to help direct students and families before and after the first bell. Here is the plan:

• Students will enter in at 7:25 to eat breakfasts.

• Non-classroom staff, starting at 7:25, will be in front of the building, the front hallway, the cafeteria, and the playground to help supervise and 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. See the map below for where people are stationed.

• Kindergarten and 1st grade students will have a designated area in the cafeteria to eat breakfast. 2nd through 5th grade students will eat breakfast and go out to the playground.

• 2nd – 5th grade students at 7:50 rings will line up (T-square classrooms signs will be posted to help students know where to line up) and will be dismissed one class at a time 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, the hallway corners of the library, and one person in each wing (upstairs and downstairs). See map below.

• Kinder and 1st grade students at 7:50 will wait in the cafeteria to be met by classroom teachers and walked to class.

• We will follow this routine the first two days of school and on Friday will begin our usual routine of 1st through 5th grade students on the playground and will not have as many staff members posted around the school, although extra hands are always appreciated.

Staff helping direct students and families should hold onto their class lists and maps from Meet Your Teacher for the first and second day of school. Linked here is the First & Second Day Directions and a First & Second Day Map of where staff will be stationed. Anyone who can’t flex their hours to come in earlier these two days, please let me know so I can adjust where people are stationed.

• Kinderzone & Title & SPED EA Help – Downtown has given schools more direction on how Kinderzone is suppose to work, the main difference from what we did last year is that all Title 1 and Learning Center classified staff not working with students are too spend the first three days of school in the kindergarten classrooms. Other than that, it will be the same as last year, where for the first three days of school kindergarten students see all teachers and on Friday the kinder team will create class lists, which will then be posted outside the office on Friday, Sept. 6. Linked here is the letter that was sent to kindergarten families (English and Spanish)

• Classified & Licensed Goals and Self Assessment – All staff, both classified and licensed, need to complete a self assessment before the end of September in TalentEd. For Licensed staff, one change to the self-assessments is that they are now viewable by the building administrator (me) after it has been completed, with the notion that this will assist with goal setting and coaching. One other change for licensed staff is the standards for SPED teachers have been revised to more closely match what SPED teachers are actually required to do. For classified staff, completing the self assessment in TalentEd is new. HR is loading all classified staff members into TalentEd by September 1st. I have not seen the new online form, but I believe it is essentially an electric version of paper form. Stay tuned for more information regarding classified self assessments.

• Monthly PBIS Focus: Safety – The September PBIS monthly focus is Safety, which all classroom teachers should take time review with students. Remember that you can use the PBIS/CSC Cheat Sheet, which matches our PBIS monthly themes with Caring School Community class meeting lessons. This is a nice way to tie the PBIS and CSC together

• Facilities Notes – A few facilities related items of note:

• No Blue Tack – Under no circumstances use blue sticky tack on the walls. After some classroom moves this summer, we’ve realized it’s near impossible to get the stuff off the walls due to the cheap paint the contractors used on our interior walls.

• Summer School – The three summer school programs were not quite as invasive as we’d feared (although they did slow down summer cleaning). If you notice anything damaged or missing, let me know and they will rectify the situation. They’ve already done one reimbursement for damage in one classroom.

• Follow Up Long Term Radon Testing – On September 3rd, Facilities will place RSSI Alpha Track Radon test kits in the Community Room, which was the one room in our building that had elevated levels. The levels found were within EPA limits for usage, but did warrant further testing, which will be done over the next nine months. There will be 2 test kits in the room, either hanging on a wall or strategically placed on or under a counter surface.

If anyone is concerned about the elevated levels of radon, to give perspective, 3.99 picocuries per liter of air (pCi/L) is considered safe. The Community Room measured at was 4.3 pCi/L and 5.3 pCi/L. For closing down a building or room, the EPA recommends people “consider” relocation if levels are over 100 pCi/L.

• Items of Note for New Staff and Reminders for Veterans – I’m still waiting for the district back-to-school policy memo before I send out the updated Howard Staff Handbook, but below are eight items of note for new staff, which also may also be good reminders for returning staff:

• Tech Subscriptions – As a reminder to staff, Howard has paid subscriptions to the following online resources. Students can link to these by going to the Howard Website and clicking their grade-level’s “Links for Learners.” If there are any links your grade level would like added or removed, just let me know and I’ll get it updated.

• Seesaw App – Howard has more teachers using Seesaw than any other school in 4J and we own a site license, so it is available to ALL teachers. If you’re not currently using it, I’d encourage you to give it a try. Teachers sign-up for free on the Seesaw website. Parents download the free app and get access to your class from a secure code you share. From there, students can upload videos, audio, photos (approved first by the teacher), and and families then get a personalized window into their child’s school day! Teachers also have a fast easy communication tool to your families, where you can quickly push out a message to all families, where it shows up on their phone like a text instead of an email, getting their attention right away.

• BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr., and BrainPOP Espanol – BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr., and BrainPOP Espanol are animated Educational Sites for Kids, covering Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts & Music, Health, and Technology.USER: howardschool PASS: roadrunners

• Dreambox – 4J purchased a K-5 subscription to the adaptive math program Dreambox, which I strongly recommend teachers use. Log-in with your 4J email and username to set up your classroom.

• SpellingCity – We have paid subscription for grades 3-5 for SpellingCity. Let me or your TLT reps know if you need assistance setting this up.

• RAZ-Kids – RAZ-Kids is an online guided reading program with interactive ebooks, downloadable books, and reading quizzes.

• TumbleBooks – The TumbleBooks link on our Links for Learners will take you to our subscription website.

• FastMath & FractionNation – FastMath and Fraction Nation are adaptive math software program for students in Grades 4-8.

• Staff Parking Areas (not the front row) – Starting next week, in September, I’d like staff to begin using the designated staff parking areas, which is anywhere in the parking lot except for the front row of parking spaces, which is the three handicap parking spots and 12 regular parking spots, which I’d like to reserve for families. With over 80 adults working in our building this year and only 94 parking spots it’s a pretty tight fit.

• 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 allergies who can have serious potentially life-threatening allergic reactions.

• Classroom Newsletters – I’d love to have copies (email is best) of classroom newsletters when teachers send them home to families. This helps me get school events on the building calendar, keeps me up to date on what’s happening or going to happen in classes when families ask, and it also lets me know details of any class activities that I might be able to get the local media to come out and cover. I love promoting our school!

• 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.

• Friday Folders/School-Home Communication – We have a building-wide an agreement that all classrooms will send home information the same day (Fridays) in the cleverly named Friday Folders. This makes communication easier for families and for people needing to send home school wide information.

• Homework Policy – We have the following guiding beliefs for our building-wide homework policy:

• All classes will send a weekly reading and/or math log of some sort.
• Teachers may send games or other activities home for students to optionally do with their families.
• Classes may send worksheets home with students, but may not have an expectation that students return the work.

The main thing we DO NOT want is for students in one class to be getting something significantly different from another class or grade level. I will include our Homework Policy Letter (English and Spanish) with the September School Newsletter so families know this is a building-wide practice.

• How to Hang Things on Walls – If you want to hang anything on the walls or other surfaces, be sure to use either tape (but not duct tape, which leaves sticky residue), non-blue sticky tack, command hooks, or most anything that doesn’t poke a hole in the wall or will leave behind imperfections when they’re removed. If you have something heavy you want to hang, like a picture frame, let our lead custodian, Crystal, know and she’ll install a district approved wall-hanger.

• Building Google Calendar – At the bottom of my weekly announcements is a two week calendar and also a link to the Howard Building Google Calendar for the entire school year. If you use Google Calendars yourself, you can add the Howard Building Calendar to your own list of Google Calendars by clicking the calendar link in my blog and then clicking the +Google Calendar icon located at the bottom right of the calendar webpage (it’s a little different to add if you’re doing it from your phone). This will add the building calendar to your list of Google Calendars if you’re logged onto your Google account, regardless of whether that’s your personal Google account or your 4J Google account. You can also add this calendar to most any calendar app you might use. Let me or our TSS, Jyllian, know if you would like any help with this.

• Student Username/Passwords and Other TeacherVUE Reports – If teachers need a reminder how to find your students’ usernames and passwords, linked here is a quicksheet on Printing Reports in TeacherVUE. There are several reports teachers can generate from TeacherVUE. For example: To see which students have permission restrictions. A list of student user names and passwords for testing. To print a class list, student/parent directory, health conditions, emergency contacts etc. To print labels to send mail home.

• Can it be Recycled? – As people are setting up their spaces and clearing things out, keep in mind changes to what can be recycled.

The following items continue to be accepted in commingled recycling bins:

• Newspaper, ads and inserts, direct mail, magazines, and catalogues
• Flattened cardboard boxes
• Cereal, cracker, and shoe boxes (not refrigerated or frozen boxes!)
• Office paper
• Paperboard/cardboard egg-cartons
• Steel and aluminum cans (no lids)
• Certain plastic bottles and jugs will still be accepted: soda bottles, water bottles, milk jugs, and juice bottles (no lids)

Items that are no longer be accepted:

• Plastic tubs
• Any plastic item that isn’t a bottle or jug
• Aseptic containers (such as for milk cartons, or shelf stable soy milk)
• Shredded paper
• Plastic bags, take-out food containers, plant pots, and lids of any kind should never be placed in commingled recycling bins

Any items that are not clearly recyclable should be put in the trash—when in doubt, throw it out! See the Sanipac Waste Wizard to know exactly what is accepted and what it not.

• Putting in Tickets for Technology Help – If you ever need assistance with anything technology related, you should send an email to 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu or call (541) 790-7777, but do not email Jyllian directly. The reasons staff are asked to put in tickets to 4jdesktop are numerous, including but are not limited to:

• To get an accurate accounting of the workload for our schools
• To obtain statistics on the overall workload for all TSS
• To justify the existence of site-based TSS
• To get statistics on the type of requests coming in, so they can target training and other resources.
• To see historical data for devices and problems
• Because TSS assignments can change at any time
• To better allocate TSS staffing.

This is important because a low number of tickets would indicate that a school doesn’t need as much tech support time as it is currently getting, so please do not email or talk directly to Jyllian for assistance and instead of put in a ticket.

• Class Name Plate Template – Teachers, feel free to use the linked generic Classroom Name Plate Template if you want something to go outside your classroom door with minimal effort, but also feel free to design your own Pinterest-like sign.

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

• Classroom A/V Set-Up – If you’ve forgotten over the summer how to set up your laptop, doc cam, projector, audio, and white board interactivity, see the linked quicksheet on HDMI Projection Set-Up.

• Possible Hazardous Weather Makeup Days – As you make your plans for NEXT summer, be aware that the last day of school is Friday, June 12th, but possible hazardous make-up days run through Friday, June 19th, so please do not make any definite or expensive travel plans that would be difficult to change before that date.

• District Admin Updates – Willagillespie’s new principal is Sheila (“SHY-luh”) Minney, replacing David Jacobson who was selected to be the new Federal Programs Administrator. Sheila, who is coming to 4J from Maple Elementary School in Springfield. Kevin Gordon, the Adams principal, is moving to Camus Ridge, replacing Wes Flinn, who is moving to Sheldon HS as an assistant principal. Teresa Martindale was appointed as the new Adams principal. Teresa has been the Madison assistant principal the past five years and was a K-8 principal before that. And of special interest to Howard staff, taking Teresa’s place at Madison is Howard alumnus Erin Gaston! Sun Saeteurn (“Say-Turn”) will be the new principal of Monroe, replacing Mike Johnson, who is the new Creswell superintendent. Sun was previously an assistant principal at Thurston High School.

• Book It! Reading Incentive Program – The FREE reading incentive Book It! program has been around for years, but teachers can enroll their class and choose between a paper program or a new digital program, where students are rewarded for meeting reading goals with Reading Award Certificates, which they can redeem for a free one-topping Personal Pan Pizza at Pizza Hut.

• SELCO’s SPARK! Creative Learning Grants – As a credit union founded by teachers, SELCO wants to support projects that inspire curiosity, bring students together, and spark something new. That’s why SELCO offers educator grants of up to $1,000 to help bring creative classroom ideas to life. Applications are open August 15–September 30. Visit selco.org/SPARK for details and to apply.

• Back to School Tips – Are you ready for the new school year? Is your classroom all set up? Do you have a plan for remembering all the new faces, establishing an inclusive culture, and staying in touch with parents and caregivers? See this Edutopia Link for some of their best back-to-school articles and videos form master teachers across the country.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events for the next two weeks:

August 26 (M)
9:00, Breakfast Burrito Orders Due!

August 27 (T)
Licensed Staff Report Back
8:30, Welcome Back Breakfast Gathering (Staff Room)

August 28 (W)
7:30-8:00, Welcome Back Breakfast Burrito Gathering (Cafeteria)
8:00-12:00, Back-to-School Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)
1:00, PBIS Team Meeting (Conference Room)

August 29 (H)
7:30-8:30, District Back-to-School Breakfast & Social (SEHS Lawn)
8:30-10:30, District Back-to-School Event (SEHS Auditorium)
10:30, Specialist Staff In-Services (Various Locations)
12:30-1:30, Recess Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)

August 30 (F)
8:00-12:00, Behavior Support & PLC PD (Cafeteria)
12:00, 1st-5th Class Lists Posted

September 2 (M)
Labor Day – No School

September 3 (T)
8:00-10:00, Potential Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)
10:00, Q&A Session for New Staff – Optional (Allan’s Office)
1:00-2:00, Meet Your Teacher

September 4 (W)
Classes Begin
PBIS Monthly Theme – Safety
PBIS Rules Round-Up

September 5 (H)
Regular Day

September 4 (F)
1:35, EA Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30, Early Release PD (Volunteer’s Classroom)
4:00, KG Class Lists Posted

 

See you all soon!

Allan

 

This reminded me of a few individuals… 

June 3, 2019

By Allan  |  2019/06/01 23:57 Posted in Announcements, Caring for Kids  |  Comments Off on June 3, 2019

Hi Roadrunners,

There was a great turnout for our annual school carnival this weekend and a big thank you to the staff members who came out for the event!

Seventeen items of note for this week:

• End-of-Cycle Goals Reflection – I’m hoping to finish everyone’s observations this week, but one final step ALL licensed staff, even teachers not on the observation cycle this year, need to complete in TalentEd is the End-of-Cycle Goals Reflection. You do not need to write a novel. A few sentences reflecting on how you did towards your goals is fine, but please complete these as soon as possible. Please let me know if you have any questions.

• Subbing for Allan this Week – Related to the above, retired principal and secondary director BJ Blake will be covering for me on Monday while I finish out a number of formal and informal observations. I actually worked with BJ my first year as an administrator when she was principal at Meadowlark and Buena Vista. On Tuesday I’ll be out of the building because I was also asked to help with interviews downtown for the new Federal & Instructional Programs Administrator (i.e. district Title 1 Coordinator), but retired principal Stephanie Cannon will be covering for me that afternoon.

• Friday Early Release PD – District School Improvement and Planning Surveys – This Friday’s Early Release PD is designated for “Planning for 2019-2020” which we largely took care of at the previous Building Goals meeting, so instead this will be time for classified and licensed staff to complete the District School Improvement and Planning Surveys. Linked here is the Classified District SIP Survey and the Licensed District SIP Survey. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Revote 2019-2020 Master Schedule Survey Results – The revote survey closed Saturday morning and the results did not change from the previous survey, with a majority of staff wanting the 15/35/10 schedule. Broken out by licensed and classified, a majority among each group was also in favor of shorter recess and lunch times, although it was much closer for licensed staff with 15 in favor of shorter supervised times (15/35/10 or 15/30/15) and 14 in favor of a 20/40 schedule. Here are the results:

40 Total Responses
72.5% Licensed Staff Responses (29 votes)
27.5 Classified Staff Responses (11 votes)

Responses from all staff:
15/35/10 minutes 55% (22 votes)
15/30/15 minutes 10% (4 votes)
20/40 minutes 35% (14 votes)

Responses from Licensed staff:
15/35/10 minutes 44.8% (13 votes)
15/30/15 minutes 6.9% (2 votes)
20/40 minutes 48.3% (14 votes)

Responses from classified staff:
15/35/10 minutes 81.8% (9 votes)
15/30/15 minutes 18.2% (2 votes)
20/40 minutes 0% (0 votes)

From here we’ll resume work on the master schedule. One compromise between those voting for the shorter or longer recess/lunch times will be to build in a 5 minute transition following recess times. Regarding a timeline to share a draft schedule, hopefully we’ll have something to share before the end of the school year for feedback.

The schedule will never be perfect and will never be all things to all people, but I do want to thank everyone for your thoughtful consideration and professionalism as we move forward. Topics impacting instruction and work environment can and rightfully do bring forth strong opinions, but I am glad this discussion happened because I would much rather concerns be brought out into the open rather than happen behind closed doors or in the parking lot.

• NEHS Senior Stroll Wednesday at 12:00-12:20 – North Eugene High School staff are continuing their new fun tradition of letting their graduating seniors visit their old elementary and middle schools, but they are changing their format so they are talking all students to all feeder school, so they’ll be at Howard for a shorter amount of time than in the past. Grads will walk down the halls, but if you want to make sure you see former Howard students be sure to be in the front lobby between noon and 12:20.

• Class Lists Reminder – Next week we will finalize class lists in Synergy for next school year, so everyone should review the linked 2019-2020 Class Lists by the end of the week to see if there aren’t any students who should be together or any changes you think should be made. After Friday I will make the lists it view only.

• Report Card Updates (print x2 but not stuff) – At last week’s Elementary Principals’ Meeting and also in an email to licensed staff were revised guidelines on how report card printing and stuffing will happen. See the above linked email for details, but the short version is teachers print two copies of the report card and deliver those to the office (also return your envelopes if you’d like us to stuff them). From there, office staff will take it (i.e. me watching “Orphan Black” in the Conference Room). This also applies to SPED reports under four pages and ELL reports. Principals were also told that Title 1, Music, PE and any other reports are to go home in Friday Envelopes on June 14th. Please let me know if you have any questions.

• 2019-2020 Class Assignments – I believe I’ve spoken with everyone potentially effected by this, but I do think there is a possibility we’ll see some added staffing before the end of the year and potentially in the fall once we see how many students register in August and September, particularly at KG and 1st. Linked here is the current 2019-2020 Class Assignments with Potential Moves. This map still include SSD’s Early Childhood Team in the building, which I’m still going back and forth with downtown about relocating to a building with a smaller enrollment. If we end up adding another 2nd grade class, which is VERY likely, Mellissa will relocate to the Title 1 Room (RM30) so I went ahead and made that change on the map. If KG enrollment exceeds our projection (there are 47 kinders enrolled or with packets out for next year, which is more than twice as many as we had last spring), a third KG classroom will move into Katrina’s Room (RM2), which is currently set for the return of Alicia Longoria and having a Family Resource Center (FRC) at Howard again. I really want to have the Family Resource back in our building again, so I’d move the FRC to Room 15, but if we end up adding a third 1st grade classroom in the fall (we’re currently at 61 kindergartners so it’s likely), we’ll move the our new 0.5 LC teacher and new ELL teacher out of Charissa’s Room (RM14). The LC teacher and EA would move into Bryan’s Room (RM13) and the ELL teacher would share the Title 1 Room (RM30). I’m trying not to touch the STEAM Room and we’ll also get some flexibility if downtown will relocate the Early Childhood Team, but if we end up adding both a KG and 1st grade class and the ECT doesn’t move, we’ll likely lose the FRC again. Let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas on any of this.

• Fire Drill Monday, Jun 10th @9:50 – While a couple grade levels are away on field trips, we’ll hold our June Fire drill at 9:50, which shouldn’t step on anyone’s morning recess or PE/Music times.

• PBIS Focus: Celebrating Your Success– The June PBIS monthly focus is Celebrating Your Success, so remember the PBIS/CFK Cheat Sheet, which matches our monthly themes with Caring School Community class meeting lessons. It’s an easy way to tie the two activities together.

• 5th Grade Clap Out, 6/14 – Not this week but next week on Friday, June 14th will be the annual 5h Grade Clap Out, following the 5th grade promotion ceremony. It will run the same as last year. 5th graders will start their walk in the cafeteria, walk around the courtyard gate to the 1st grade wing, past the library, and out the front entrance. Linked here is the Clap Out Map and Directions (the map isn’t that pretty, so let me know if you have questions where your class should stand). Here are the details:

• Friday, June 14th, classes begin lining up in their spots at 12:50
• At 12:55, 5th graders will begin their final walk through the 1st grade hallway.
• Students should clap and cheer appropriately as the 5th graders walk past.
• Staff members not assigned to students are invited to join and give a final farewell.
• Once the 5th graders have made their way to the end of the clap out line, remaining students can be dismissed.

• End of Year Checklists (without Summer Tech Checkout Link) – Linked here is the End-of-Year Checklist for staff who are in charge of a classroom or other area. This form needs to be 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 is in the Staff Room and copies of the checklist will will go into staff mailboxes early this week. If you need any boxes, just let Crystal know. For checking out technology over the summer, we have not yet gotten a link from the Technology Department for equipment checkout, so stay tuned.

• Summer School Classroom Use Update – All summer school programs will take place on the bottom floor, but there has been a couple changes to the summer use plan I shared earlier. EEP is no longer going to be in at Howard this summer and we will instead host three additional Life Skills classrooms that will take their spot. This works out well for us because it’s a shorter amount of time classrooms will be occupied. The extended Life Skills Summer School begins June 24 – July 8, running five days a week from 8:30-1:30, but starting July 9th will run the same day as ESY, which is three days a week Tuesday-Thursday July 9 – August 1. Life Skills will still run 8:30-1:30 and ESY will run 8:30-11:30.

Staff should lock everything up you don’t want touched, but if anything does get broken or disappears, these programs will replace or reimburse. When ESY staff packing up, it’s hard to tell what’s theirs and what’s ours, so cover all your materials with butcher paper and lock your stuff up so nothing accidentally gets packed up by ESY. Two other summer school notes:

• Technology Needs – Classrooms hosting ESY will need to leave out your HDMI cables and adapters. Document cameras and ENZO keyboards should be locked up. Classroom hosting EEP can lock all tech up.

• 
Furniture Labels – Last summer ESY moved around a fair amount of furniture during summer school, so downstairs classrooms should put a room number on any furniture you want to make sure makes it back to your classroom.

• REPEAT: 2019-2020 Staffing Updates – Mentioned last week, we will hopefully have a Project Pass Coordinator next year pending budget approval. Also, our 3-hour Learning Center EA Job Posting closed last week. Bryan and I will be conducting interviews next week on Tuesday, June 11th after school if anyone is interested/willing to join us in selecting a candidate for this position. Also, our 6.5-hour Life Skill EA Job Posting closes on Tuesday, so please encourage any excellent people you know to apply!

• REPEAT: 2019-2020 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; Garden, IPBS, PBIS, Site Council (two open position), Social Committee, Taking it Up, and TLT. If you would like to sign up for a leadership or rep position, follow this link to the 2019-2020 Leadership/Building Rep. Positions Google Sheet. 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. I also added rows at the bottom if anyone wants to lead a new position.

• REPEAT: Summer Reading Staff Picks! – Send me your Summer Reading Staff Picks! Email me or let me know in person any books you’d recommend or books your’e planning to read this summer and I’ll post everyone’s picks in two weeks!

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

June 3 (M)
Artist in Residence Continues
Spring Benchmark Testing – easyCBM Continues
Library close out book fair and inventory prep
All staff library books due
BJ Blake subbing for Allan
2:30-4:30, Allan to BEST Coordinator Interviews (Conference Room)

June 4 (T)
Stephanie Canon subbing for Allan
8:30-11:45, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)
11:45-5:00, Allan to Federal & Instructional Programs Admin. Interviews (Ed Center)
4:00-6:00, BEST – Parent Presentation (Cafeteria)

June 5 (W)
Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day
Library Inventory Begins
10:15, Howard Head Start Kindergarten Transition Tour
12:00-12:20, NEHS Senior Stroll
2:30-4:30, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee (Ed Center)
4:30-5:30, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting

June 6 (H)
Last Day of BEST
8:30-12:15, Data Team Meetings (Conference Room)

1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00

2:45-6:45, Allan to BEST Coordinator Interviews (Conference Room)

June 7 (F)
8:00-11:20, Data Team Meetings (Conference Room)

8:00-9:00 – 4th
9:10-10:10 – KG
10:30-11:20 – 3rd

10:30-12:40, June/July Birthday Lunches With the Principal (Community Room)
1:25-2:00, EA Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – 4J PD Survey

June 10 (M)
Spring Benchmark Testing – easyCBM LAST DAY
9:15-1:00, 4/5 SPLASH Field Trip
9:50, Fire Drill
11:00, Allan Meeting w/Rob Hess (Office)

June 11 (T)
9:20-10:50, 5th Grade Visit to Kelly

June 12 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Tropical Day
10:15, Howard Head Start Kindergarten Transition Tour
2:45, Allan to 504 Plan Meeting (Conference Room)

June 13 (H)
Last Day for Title 1 and SPED
2:15, Allan to BEST Meeting (Office)

June 14 (F)
Last day to turn in receipts for reimbursement from student body account
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
9:00-9:30, 5th Grade Graduation Rehearsal (Gym)
11:15-11:50, 5th Grade Lunch & Recess with 2nd Grade
12:00-12:55, 5th Grade Graduation (Gym)
12:55-1:10, Clap Out for 5th Grade (Hallways & Courtyard)

June 17 (M)
Artist in Residence Continues
Spring Benchmark Testing – easyCBM Continues
Library close out book fair and inventory prep
All staff library books due
2:30-4:30, Allan to BEST Coordinator Interviews (Conference Room)

June 18 (T)
Last Day for Students, Early Release
Last Day for 192 & 196 Day Classified Employees
10:00, Grab-n-Go Sack Lunches (Cafeteria)

“Grab & Go” Sack Lunch Schedule
10:00 Kindergarten
10:10 1st grade
10:20 2nd grade
10:30 3rd grade
10:40 4th grade
10:50 5th grade

11:10, K-5 Dismissal
11:30, Staff Last Day of School Root Beer Float & Ice Cream Sundae Party and Staff Farewell Celebration (Cafeteria)

June 19 (W)
Last Day for Licensed Staff

Have a good week, everyone!

Allan

And remember, don’t be this teacher…

April 29, 2019

By Allan  |  2019/04/27 18:16 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Arts, Caring for Kids, Equity, P.D., SEL  |  Comments Off on April 29, 2019

 

Howdy Roadrunners,

Remember to mark your calendar for this Thursday at 5:30-7:00 for the Annual ACE Awards at North Eugene High School to cheer on Howard’s three nominees; Julie, Zach, Linda, and Katrina!

Sixteen items of note for this week:

• 19/20 Staffing Updates – Nicole and Charissa will swap their originally planned positions for next year, with Nicole now staying at 1st grade and Charissa moving up to 3rd grade next year. Also, our ELL teacher for next year will be Cynthia Wenks, who is currently at Buena Vista and who in the past worked with Corianne at ATA. Please welcome Cynthia to the Awesome Howard Team!

• REPEAT: May 3rd Transition Day – For this Friday’s Elementary Transition Day, the day is not intended for organized PD or meetings led by principals, but is for teaching staff to get together to plan or do transition work for next school year. Possible activities may include but are not limited to:

• Class list preparation for 2019-2020
• Pre-K transition meetings
• 5th to 6th grade transition for fall of 2019
• Kinderzone prep Sept. 2019
• Grade Level planning
• Planning for last six weeks of school
• Parent Communication
• Begin filling in report cards
• Assessing student work

The Instruction Department can provide resources if requested by individual teachers, grade levels or buildings.

• Classified Staff May 3rd Offerings – See the linked Transition Day Email classified staff were sent regarding details for workshop offerings happening this day. If staff are interested in attending, see the linked Workshop Registration Directions for how to sign up for workshops at 4jpd.net

• Class Lists – If teachers would like to begin working on 2019-2020 Class Lists, I’ve set class lists up on Google Sheets the same as last year. The above link gives view access to everyone and I’ll send classroom teachers an email before Monday giving you edit access. To help create balanced classes, check off the appropriate columns for IEP, ELD, Title, TAG, 504, Behavior, Teacher Level of Support, Current Teacher, Other Notes, and the Boy/Girl Count at the bottom. If receiving teachers have student placement requests for siblings or other incoming students, please connect with sending grade levels. Also, for grade levels who might potentially see a classroom added, I added a second tab if any sending grade levels want to be overachievers and fill out class lists should staffing scenarios change. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• Friday Early Release PD: CANCELLED next two weeks – This Friday is the elementary Transition Day, so there is no Friday Early Release PD this week. There will be no PD Friday next week either because it will be a make-up day for the missed hour of prep on May 3rd.

• End-of-Year Office Dates – With only 34 student days left, here are some key dates regarding finances and supply lists:

• School supply lists due to Lori – May 31st.
• Last day to use school credit cards – May 31st.
• Last day to order using purchase orders – May 15th.
• Last day to turn in receipts for reimbursement from student body account – June 14

• ESSA Updates – Howard’s ESSA Team and Site Council meet for an expended meeting last week to begin developing our Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP), which is the new version of a School Improvement Plan and replaces what we did last time using Indistar. On the Google Team Drive in the Site Council Minutes folder are materials and information discussed at the meeting, which includes a CIP template that we will be completing over the course of two additional meetings, a sample completed CIP, as well as other items.

In terms of goals and strategies discuss, my goal were to focus on areas within our control as well as to align our plan to district plans and focus areas. Our last improvement plan had some great strategies, but we needed up not being able to do some of them due to demands from district priorities and initiatives. The three main goal areas we discussed were one, a reading and math goal (with potential strategy areas being equity/ELL, math learning targets, formative assessment [district focus], grade level common agreements, data teams/SPED referral process [district focus], instructional framework [district focus]), goal two, a study skills/growth mindset goal (with the main strategy being to become an AVID school), and goal three, a school climate/PBIS goal (with potential strategy areas being student attendance strategies, equity/ELL, SEL/PBIS [district focus], tiered behavior response [district focus]). We’ll continue to refine goals and strategies at our next meeting and will discuss these at a future staff meeting before we finalize the CIP at the May Site Council Meeting, bu please feel free to share ideas, thoughts, or questions on any potential goals and/or strategies with myself or your Site Council reps.

• UPDATE: May Artist in Residence Schedule – I moved one 5th and 2nd grade class on the schedule (both teachers already know) but linked here is the Updated Puppet Artist in Residence Schedule for Noah McLain, the Puppetry & Storytelling artist starting next week. Let me know if you see anything else that need fixed or updated before the end of the week.

• May PBIS Focus: Positive Attitude – The May PBIS monthly focus is Positive Attitude. The PBIS team created a PBIS/CSC Cheat Sheet that matches our PBIS monthly themes with corresponding Caring School Community class meeting lessons, which is an easy way to tie the two activities together.

• Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day – We’ve tried the monthly Walk & Roll to School Days this year, but this month is one of the big months where we’ll have prizes and incentives for students, which Michelle will give out to students who walk, carpool, or roll to school.

• REPEAT: Don’t Touch the OAKS Testing Snacks – Remember that for the next few weeks, there are snacks on top of and inside the Staff Room refrigerator for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders during state testing. They are NOT up for grabs.

• Care Team Resources – A couple items of note from last week’s Student Care Team Meeting:

• Direction Services – Direction Services provides assistance through three major programs: Youth & Family Services (wraparound facilitation, assistance to healthcare and insurance services, support for families involved with DHS Child Welfare, stabilization for children in foster care, coordination of services for families experiencing domestic violence and homelessness), a Counseling Center (specializes in mood and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and childhood impulse and behavioral disorders), and the Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education – CADRE (mediation assistance for resolving disagreements between parents and schools about SPED services).

• Oregon Family Support Network – OFSN offerd a variety of supports for parents, ranging from support for families of children with behavioral, emotional, or metal health challenges for success at home, school, and in life. Respite care, System navigation, Family fun activities, Support groups, Wraparound family partners, Mental health first aid training, Collaborative Parenting Series.

• Oregon Child Abuse Hotline – Wait times have been a concern when making reports to the new centralized Oregon Child Abuse Hotline, but they are in the process of hiring additional screeners, so this will be a short term problem. for now, calling earlier in the day is better and feedback on the new system is welcome at OregonChildAbuseHotline@dhsoha.state.or.us And if you don’t have it already, the new phone number is 1-855-503-SAFE (7233) and can be found on the above linked hotline card.

And remember, when you make child welfare calls, be sure to let me know and also complete an Abuse Reporting Form (Word or PDF) so I can track dates, concerns, and how many calls we’ve made for individual student.

• Separate & Still Unequal: Race in America’s Schools – There is a “deep history of harm between children of color and the institution of schooling,” says sociologist Robin DiAngelo. Despite the passage of Brown v. Board of Education 65 years ago, schools remain deeply segregated and have “reproduced profound racial inequality” for children of color. Educational Leadership’s April Issue takes a deep dive into the persistence of racial inequities and racism in education, with experts Pedro A. Noguera, Beverly Daniel Tatum, H. Richard Milner, and others unpacking the ways in which educators can start to change a broken system’s entrenched harmful practices and begin a new vision of teaching and learning.

• Why students need real-world relevancy – Students need to understand that the things they’re learning in class can be applied to the real world, writes Erin Sweeney, executive director of Schools That Can Newark. Young people who learn the career and cultural relevancy of math, science and other subjects can become the empowered decision-makers of tomorrow, she writes in this Chalkbeat Article.

• Managing Stress at Work – Rachel Farkas shared this article with me. Although it’s written more for an office type of environment, many of the stressors are the same as well as what to do to mitigate them, such as knowing the difference between good stress and bad stress, telling someone you are struggling with stress, trying to find humor in the situation (something Howard staff are quite good at), and many others.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

April 29 (M)
OSAS (formerly OAKS) Continues – See Google Calendar for Times
11:45, Allan to Formal Observation
2:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)
4:00-4:30, Allan to Admin Stand-Up Meeting (Ed Center)

April 30 (T)
Regular Day

May 1 (W)
Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day
PBIS Monthly Theme – Positive Attitude
Better Hearing & Speech Month
9:00-12:00, Kerins to Nearby Nature Field Trip
2:30-4:30, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

May 2 (H)
10:30-12:40, April Bday Lunches w/the Principal (Conference Room)
1:00-1:25, KG/3/PK PBIS Candyland Kindness Event (East Courtyard)
1:30-1:55, 1/4 PBIS Candyland Kindness Event (East Courtyard)
2:00-2:25, 2/5 PBIS Candyland Kindness Event (East Courtyard)
5:30-7:00, ACE Awards (NEHS)

May 3 (F)
No School – Transition Day
8:00-4:30, Allan to MANDT Training (Ed Center)
4:00, Howard Staff Social – Friday @4:00, (Lane 25 – Adult Bowling)

May 4 (SA)
May the Fourth Be With You

May 6 (M)
Staff/Teacher Appreciation Week
Artist in Residence, Noah McLain, Puppetry and Storytelling Begins
Children’s Book Week
OSAS (formerly OAKS) Continues – See Google Calendar for Times
7:45-2:15, 5th Grade to Outdoor School (waiting to confirm times)
12:00-2:00, Allan to Title 1 Coordinators’ Work Session (Ed Center)

May 7 (T)
7:45-2:15, 5th Grade to Outdoor School (waiting to confirm times)
9:00-12:00, Corliss to Nearby Nature Field Trip
10:15, Allan leading Head Start KG Transition Tour
4:30-5:30, 4J PERS Presentation (Ed Center)

May 8 (W)
Day of Action – No Students
Non-Workday for Licensed Staff
Regular Workday for Classified and Admin Staff

May 9 (H)
7:20-5:15, 2nd Grade to Oregon Zoo
12:00-12:30, Allan Covering Classroom

May 10 (F)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
1:25-2:00, EA Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – CANCELLED

May 11 (SA)
10:30-1:00, MEDIA EVENT: EWEB Live Test of the Emergency Well

May 12 (SU)
Mother’s Day

Enjoy the short week!

Allan

April 1, 2019

By Allan  |  2019/03/30 09:20 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Caring for Kids, P.D., SEL  |  Comments Off on April 1, 2019

 

Howdy Friends,

Hope you all had an enjoyable spring break. I had a fabulous break visiting Seattle, getting time to read, and other fun stuff. Now I’m feeling pretty good about the next two and a half months!

Eighteen items of note for this week:

• 18/19 Staffing Updates – Two changes to this year’s staffing (not next year). One, Anita Bieker has been temporarily moved to Edison. Anita’s 5th grade 1:1 student has been out for medical reasons and will be for the foreseeable future, so she’s been temporarily transferred to Edison until he returns. Two, Adrian Wolf has been hired as Howards 10-month night custodian (the upstairs night custodian) and will likely start in the building next week. Adrian comes with many years of experience working in Seattle Public Schools as a custodian and a Facilities staff member, as well as being something of a world traveller. Adrian also lives here in the Howard neighborhood. Please wish Anita well as she leaves us and please welcome Adrian to the Howard team! And on a related note, Mati Murdock is returning from her medical leave for light duty (she will still have a sub for her regular duties) this Monday and can help with any production needs staff may have. She’ll be working out of the Staff Room and Downstairs Work Room 4-hours a day Monday through Thursday and 2-hours on Friday.

• 19/20 Room Configuration Suggestions – Linked here is a map of my first stab at 2019-2020 Classroom Assignments. I tried to keep most everyone where they are at to limit workload, but I’m certainly open to suggestions. Please let me know if you have any thoughts on my current plan.

• April PBIS Focus: Encouragement – The April PBIS monthly focus is Encouragement. The PBIS team created a PBIS/CFK Cheat Sheet that matches our PBIS monthly themes with corresponding Caring for Kids (CFK) class meeting lessons. Besides being an easy way to tie the two activities together, this month’s theme also nicely dovetails onto our school-wide kindness campaign.

• PLC Meetings this Week – Tuesday and Wednesday this week are Grade Level PLC Meetings with roving subs. Dates and times for teams are:

Tuesday, April 2
1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00
5th – 11:15-12:15

Wednesday, April 3

KG – 11:10-12:10
3rd – 12:15-1:15
4th – 1:25-2:25

• Friday Early Release PD – If you ever want to see what the topic of upcoming Friday Early Release PDs are, they are all posted on the Howard Staff Calendar. This week’s PD will be a presentation by Seth Pfaefflin on Self Care. This was an offering on the last districtwide PD Day and I’d heard from multiple staff member who attended that this was a terrific session, so I thought this would be something good for folks to hear going into the last part of the school year. We’ll plan to meet in the library at 2:30.

• Library News – Here’s some library updates from Julie:

• Dates – April is school library month, first celebrated in 1985.

April 12th is Drop Everything and Read Day D.E.A.R.
7th-13th National Library Week
9th Library workers Day – Say thank you to your favorite library person. Our downtown public library has so many hard working people.
30th Children’s Book Day

• Monthly Book Review – I Am Not A Chair! by Ross Burach – A funny and cheerful story about a Giraffe who must find the courage to stand up for himself. Playful illustrations help show the emotions of the characters in a cute and comical way. Does Giraffe have the courage to tell his friends he is not a chair in a kind way? Why, yes he does! We read this story during library classes for the younger grades and they loved it!

• New Display for New Books – I moved some things around and freed up an entire bookshelf for the new books. It should be easier for the kids and staff to see. I’ve been in my library for some time now and am still struggling with were to put things :). I have also created a display for historical fiction and will be working on a fictional Genre display also.

Thank you for all your continued support, I hope you had a peaceful and regenerating vacation…. – Julie

• Care Team Resources – Below are three items from the last Student Care Team Meeting, which can also be found on the Howard Google Team Drive at Howard > Meetings/Teams > Care Team > Resources

• SWIFT (Students with Involved Families and Teachers) – For students transitioning out of intensive treatment (mental health, behavioral, etc.). They coach parents with the transition. They will advocate with the parents at meetings. They can help with accessing social services, as well as offer fun activities available in the community. Linked here is a more detailed SWIFT Info Sheet.

• OHP Sign-Up – Monday, April 1 4:00-7:00 and Wednesday April 10, 9:00-11:00 – This program offers children up to the age of 18 medical, dental and vision coverage. The program also offer their parents emergency coverage. Everyone who attends is eligible. No need for state ID or immigration documents. Is intended for all North Region students and families. Another Churchill region event will happen later for families in their region. 

• Updated Child Wraparound Process Policy & Procedure – Linked below is information about a few changes to the Trillium Child Wraparound Process Policy & Procedure, as well as an updated referral form. Wraparound is a process that assists families in meeting the needs of their child by gathering a team which includes members from the family’s whole life. This allows everyone the family would like at table at the same time- focusing on the family strengths, coordinating services and reducing the amount of meetings the family needs to attend. Wraparound supports include identifying strengths and needs, creating and implementing a plan of care and creating a transition plan identifying potential resources if help is needed in the future.

• PTO Updates – The complete minutes and slide show from last week’s PTO meeting can be found on PTO Webpage, but here are the highlights:

• Readathon Ends – The Readathon ended on the 31st, so students should turn in their logs this Monday if teachers can enter minutes one day this week. Kids had read 29,000 minutes so far. 200,000 minutes from the whole school will win a lip sync battle between Mr. Chinn and Mr. Matt. No prizes have been purchased, all donated.

• Penny War, 4/15– 4/19 – Paige volunteered to chair the committee and this year’s theme is pirates. Get students excited for this! It’s a fun, easy, and quite successful fundraiser.

• McTeacher Night, 4/18, 5:00pm-7:00pm – Mark your calendars and save your appetite for the annual McTeacher Night Fundraiser!

• New STEM After School Program – Starting this Friday is a new STEM focused after school program for students, Play-Well (flyer), which runs much like Young Rembrandts. Kids who signed up will meet at 1:15 in the Community Room on Fridays. We’ll send a list to teachers of who all signed up later this week.

• Walk + Roll to School Day, April 3 – This Wednesday is the Monthly Walk + Roll to School Day, so remind your students that they might try to walk, skateboard, bike, or use another mode of transportation to get to school this outside of riding in a car.

• 4jguest Wireless – Downtown is phasing out 4jwireless and replacing it with 4jguest. All staff should continue to use 4jsecure, which will give you wider network access and will filter fewer sites, but all non-4J staff should begin using 4jguest instead of 4jwireless.

• Earth Day, April 22 – Not for a couple more weeks, but Monday, April 22nd is Earth Day. Linked here are some Earth Day resources from EarthDay.org, NEA, and Scholastic. There’s also some good stuff on BrainPop.

• 7 Surprising Classroom Triggers for Students Who Have Experienced Trauma (and How to Avoid Them) – There are students in every classroom, every day, who have experienced trauma. Many times typical classroom routines and occurrences can trigger stress reactions in these students, making it difficult—or even impossible—for them to learn. See this WeAreTeacher Article for the triggers that might be hiding in your classroom and how to minimize them.

• Keeping Girls in STEM: 3 Barriers, 3 Solutions – Stereotypes and cultural norms dampen girls’ interest in STEM, but educators can counter the disparities with small changes to their practice. See this Eduoptia Article for details.

• How to use video clips to deepen learning – Video clips can provide students with a deeper understanding of content, but the clips need to be used in a purposeful way, writes Rebecca Alber, instructor at the University of California at Los Angeles’ Graduate School of Education in this Edutopia Article. Alber shares some curricular reasons and tips on using video clips in class.

• Here’s What Happens When You Give Students a Pile of Cardboard – Windmills. Puppet theaters. Cars that go. Students across the country were challenged to do STEM explorations with cardboard, and the results were amazing. Take a look at this WeAreTeachers Article to see some of the wildly innovative projects these kids did with their teachers, and know that you have my full permission to do “fun” stuff like this.

• 7 April Fools’ Pranks for Teachers That Will Melt the Minds of Students – Forget the old tricks like filling Oreos with toothpaste or hiding rubber bugs in students’ desks. This WeAreTeachers Article has seven pranks that will require a spatula, because afterward you’ll need them to scrape your students’ minds off the floor.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

April 1 (M)
Classes Resume
PBIS Kindness Challenge Beings
PBIS Monthly Theme – Encouragement

April 2 (T)
Allan w/HR to Oregon Educator Fair – Portland (Travis Schafer subbing)
8:30-12:15, Howard PLC – Half-Day (1/2/5)
1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00
5th – 11:15-12:15

April 3 (W)
Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day
11:10-2:25, Howard PLC – Half-Day (K/3/4)
KG – 11:10-12:10
3rd – 12:15-1:15
4th – 1:25-2:25
2:30-4:30, Allan to Pay Grade Eval Committing Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

April 4 (H)
9:45-11:45, KG to Firs Bowl and Abby’s Pizza
2:45, Allan meeting w/UO Practicum Students & Supervisors

April 5 (F)
1:25-2:00, EA Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Self Care Presentation – Seth Pfaefflin (Library)

April 6 (SA)
7:00-10:00, Staff Social: Weezer/Pixies Concert (Moda Center)

April 8 (M)
PBIS Kindness Challenge Continues

April 9 (T)
8:30-12:00, Allan All Admin & Elem. Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)

April 10 (W)
Wacky Wednesday -Silly Hat/Hair Day
8:30-10:30, Symphonic Safari, 3rd-5th (SEHS Auditorium)
9:55, Fire Drill

April 11 (H)
Regular Day

April 12 (F)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
8:45-9:10, K-2 Ems Home Run Reading Challenge Assembly (Gym)
9:20-9:45, 3-5 Ems Home Run Reading Challenge Heart Assembly (Gym)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Trauma Informed Care Module (Library)
5:15-8:00, Kelly MS Benito Juárez Celebration

Make our first week back a great one! Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Allan

 

March 11, 2019

By Allan  |  2019/03/09 20:26 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Caring for Kids, Video  |  Comments Off on March 11, 2019


Click image for a printable copy
 

Hello Roadrunners,

Wow! Great turnout for Literacy Night and great job, everyone, pulling off our rescheduled event without a hitch. Nice work, Team Howard!

Fifteen items of note for this week:

• Friday Early Release PD Updates – I emailed teachers last week the general Early Release PD plan for the next three weeks, but teachers should watch for a separate email with more details for the next two Fridays Reading Progress Monitoring sessions.

• Wacky Wednesday – Rainbow Day – This Wednesday is a Howard Wacky Wednesday and this time it’s Rainbow Day! Get kids excited to wear their most colorful rainbow themed clothing to show off their school spirit this day!

• Library News – Two items of note from Julie:

• Book Fair – Our book fair was a big success. Lots of new books for the teachers and our library. If you have not received your books please stop by the library. With the rounding up feature I was able to purchase almost $80.00 in student requested books for the library. With the new terminals it was an option they added. Most people were happy to donate and even added to it. Using the teacher wish baskets made it easy for parents to purchase books for teachers. More details on the book fair next week! I will be packing up Monday morning, with the help of Brande and a few students.

• Library News – Library classes will resume Tuesday. :) Library carts maybe brought in Monday afternoon :). With our extra snow week off it may take a while for our kids to locate and their books. I would like to offer an incentive for classrooms who have return all their library books. Maybe a short video in the library? Other ideas?

Have a great week! Spring Break is almost here! -Julie

• PTO Meeting Tuesday, March 19 – Not this week, but next week is the March PTO Meeting. Please save the date if you are able to come to the meeting Wednesday next week at 6:00 in the cafeteria.

• Document Room Clears on Level IIIs – I believe I’ve said this before, but if there is EVER a room clear as a result of student behavior, alway check the Room Clear checkbox under the consequences section on Level III referral forms. Downtown is wanting to track this data across the district. Older forms did not have this checkbox, so if you happen to have an older form, just write in Room Clear.

• Child Protection Unit (CPU) Update and Posters – More information should be coming, but as a heads-up to teachers, principals were told that Child Protection Unit teaching materials and posters are being shipped out to schools which I’m assuming are going to be expected to be taught sometime this year. There is one book per grade level per school. The books have an online access code on the first page, which can be shared between teachers. Posters will be provided for each classroom. That’s all I know at this point, so stay tuned for more details.

• Answers Classroom Phones – Teachers, please be sure to answer your classroom phone when the office calls. There’s been quite a few instances lately where calls are not being picked up. On a related note, if you’re out of your classroom at an unscheduled time, please let the office know. Also, it is okay to make this a class job for a responsible student.

• 2019 ACE Awards – Nominate Today! – It’s ACE Awards season! Howard has exceptional staff and volunteers who make a difference for students every day and are worthy of recognition. Now is the time to recognize them! Nominations can be made in five categories: teachers and licensed specialists, administrators and supervisors, classified staff, volunteers, and a special lifetime achievement award. Nominations are due by March 31st. Going by past experience, winners are usually selected when a staff gets together to nominate an individual, so let me know if staff want to coordinate anything.

• ESSA Updates – ESSA Reps met last week with Debbi Renard from ODE and Jeff Johnson from 4J to review the results of our self evaluation using the ORIS Tool to see which areas surfaced and will be the focus of our school improvement plan. The team focused on areas that were within our control and ignored areas that scored low that are out of our control (i.e. district required curriculums, mandated data team formats, etc.). The three areas we chose to focus our plan around were Indicator 4.2 Materials & Practices to Inform Instruction, Indicator 4.3 Cultivate Academic Success, and Indicator 4.5 Provide Multi-Tiered System of Support. These are all pretty broad, so our next steps are for the team are to create a more narrow action plan, which will be closer to the old School Improvement Plan format than the Continuous Achievement Plan we had to do last time. I’ll plan to share more updates at a future staff meeting, but linked here are the ESSA Meeting Handouts, which include our self evaluation, a sample school improvement plan, and other documents related to the process, and linked here is 4Js Instructional Framework, which we’re planning use to guide some of our planning.

• REPEAT: Classified Self Evaluations DUE FRIDAY– The linked Classified Self Evaluation From is due to me by this Friday. Hardcopies were put in everyone’s mailboxes a couple weeks ago and extra hardcopies are under staff mailboxes. Emailing me an electronic copy is preferred, but hardcopies work too.

• STEaM Eugene newsletter invitation – Sue Wilson already emailed staff about STEaM Eugene – a free community event celebrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics happening on Wednesday, March 20th from 4:30-8:00 pm at Churchill High School, but if you have awesome student work and/or an interactive activity you have created, they would love to showcase your work. Students can be present to share their work, but are not required. If you have questions, please contact Sue Wilson and if you have a project to showcase, respond to this short Google Form.

• District Admin Updates – First, Sheldon’s longtime principal, Bob Bolden, is moving next year to a role at the district office, supporting key districtwide efforts to improve graduation rates, including re-establishing credit recovery opportunities in high schools and increasing the number of historically underserved students participating in college-level and career technical education courses. Dr. Bob will also aid in supporting efforts to broaden workforce diversity, and contribute to equity and community partnership initiatives. Second, Susan Penrod, 4J’s curriculum administrator for humanities, pending approval by the Seaside school board later this month, will be the assistant superintendent next year, and will take over as superintendent when its current superintendent retires in 2020.

• 20 Morning Message Ideas to Get Your Day Started on the Right Foot – Posting a morning message is a perfect way to engage your students the minute they walk in the door. Here are some of WeAreTeachers favorite morning message ideas shared are using to connect with their students.

• Howard Staff Social: Weezer/Pixies Concert April 6th! – 90s Music Fans, ASSEMBLE! Weezer and The Pixies are playing the Mode Center in Portland Saturday, April 6th. If you think this sounds like an excellent way to spend a Saturday night with your co-workers and friends, meet up this Thursday after school in Matt’s office if you want to get tickets together. Rock on, Howard Staff!

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

March 11 (M)
PBIS Tail Feather Reward Spring Break Incentive Continues (Disco Party)
12:00-1:00, Allan to Title 1 Coordinators’ Meeting (Ed Center)

March 12 (T)
8:30-12:00, Allan to All Admin & Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)
4:30-8:00, 4J First Aid Class (Library)

March 13 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Rainbow Day
8:15, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Office)
2:40, Allan to Outdoor School Meeting (Suzy’s Room, RM9)

March 14 (H)
Staffing Plans Due to HR
9:00, Monthly Book Winners (Conference Room)
2:45, Staff Social Prep: Weezer/Pixies Ticket Purchase (Matt’s Office)

March 15 (F)
Regular School Day – Snow Make-Up Day
Classified Self Evaluations Due
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Reading P.M. Part 1 (Library)

March 18 (M)
PBIS Tail Feather Reward Spring Break Incentive Continues (Disco Party)
5th Grade Health – Human Growth & Development
1:30-2:00, 3rd Grade Water Safety Presentation (Story Cove)

March 19 (T)
5th Grade Health – Human Growth & Development
8:15-12:00, Allan Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
8:30-11:45, Kreider to Museum of Natural History
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Cafeteria)

March 20 (W)
5th Grade Health – Human Growth & Development
8:30-11:45, Lawson/Peterson to Museum of Natural History

March 21 (H)
8:10-8:40, 3rd Grade Delgani String Quartet Assembly (Gym)
8:30-11:45, Niccum to Museum of Natural History
2:40-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Conference Room)
4:30, Allan to Oregon Job Fair Planning Meeting (Ed Center)

March 22 (F)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
PBIS Tail Feather Reward – Disco Party! – During Lunch Recesses
8:40, Fire Drill
9:00-9:30, 4/5 Music Performance (Gym)
10:30-12:40, March Birthday Lunches With the Principal (Community Room)
1:30-2:30, PBIS Meeting (Rae’s Room, RM1)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Reading P.M. Part 2 (Library)

March 23 – 31 (F)
Spring Break – No School

April 1 (M)
Classes Resume
PBIS Kindness Challenge Kick-Off
PBIS Monthly Theme – Encouragement

April 6 (SA)
7:00, Weezer/Pixies Concert! (Moda Center)

And congratulations to The Spikes, our 5th grade team OBOB team who did a fine job representing Howard at the Lane County Regional competition, and a big thank you to Julie for encouraging reading by organizing this annual event for Howard kids!

Have a good week, everyone, and just 10 days until Spring Break!

Allan

February 25, 2019

By Allan  |  2019/02/23 18:15 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Caring for Kids, SEL  |  Comments Off on February 25, 2019

 

Hi Everyone,

Ten items of note for this week:

• Friday Early Release PD – This Friday’s Early Release PD is a Reading Progress Monitoring meeting. Principals have not been given the plan for this meeting yet, but I expect we’ll get some direction at Tuesday’s elementary principals’ meeting, so stay tuned. I’l also plan to go over some potential staffing scenarios at this meeting and give people time to discuss as a group.

• ESSA Updates – ESSA Reps met last week with Debbi Renard from ODE and Jeff Johnson from 4J to begin going through the ORIS Tool, doing a self evaluation of our school, looking at the five areas of School Leadership, Talent Development, Stakeholder Engagement, Well-Rounded Learning, and Inclusive Policy & Practice. We had many things in place (Distributed Leadership, Stakeholder Engagement) and some only partially in place (useful staff growth & professional learning, materials and practices that are culturally responsive and make interdisciplinary connections). Our strengths and weaknesses were a result of both building decisions and district initiatives. What I think is good about this process, besides the self reflection, is that we have district and state representatives hearing from building staff which mandates we feel are working, which are not, and what we are needing. Our next meeting will be an even more interesting one where we begin talking about what help we want from the district and state as we begin crafting our school improvement plan.

• Student Teacher Celebration – 4J is doing something new this year. HR is hosting a Student Teacher Celebration March 4th at the Ed Center Auditorium, 4:00-5:00. Please, share the above linked flyer with your student teachers. If you know you will have a student teacher this spring, they are also invited and you are welcome to join the event as well. Thank you in advance for helping spread the word.

• Book Fair News from Julie – If you haven’t had a chance to stop by and check out the book fair, please do. So many new books! Teachers, if you have not had a chance to add some books to your wish box, please do. Parents love to add books to classroom libraries. Link to our Online Book Fair :) Book fair will be open to students Monday morning 9:45, I have 2 more previews to finish up and a recess duty :). Please be sure to send students with their hall pass. This helps everyone know they are allowed to come. If you have bus riders, they should come earlier in the day. It’s hard to get them out in time for the bus. We tend to get busy quickly and it takes time to stand in line and pay. Thank you so much for bringing your classes for the preview! The kids are so excited! Have a great week and thank you for all your support – Julie

• March PBIS Focus: Safe Bodies – The March PBIS monthly focus is Safe Bodies. The PBIS team created a PBIS/CSC Cheat Sheet that matches our PBIS monthly themes with corresponding Caring School Community (CSC) class meeting lessons. This is an easy way to tie the two activities together.

• Walk + Roll to School Day, March 6 – Not this week, but next week is the Monthly Walk + Roll to School Day, so remind your students that they might try to walk, skateboard, bike, or use another mode of transportation to get to school this outside of riding in a car.

• REPEAT: 15th Annual Literacy Night, Thursday – Literacy Night is this Thursday. We’ll have sign-in sheets for each classroom and each family that signs in will get a book delivered to their classroom the following week. We’ll continue our traditional free pizza and cookies for families. The schedule of the event will be:

5:30-6:00: Free Dinner (cafeteria)
6:00-6:45: Visit Classrooms
6:30-8:00: Scholastic Book Fair

Talk Literacy Night up to your students and get them pumped to attend!

• REPEAT: Literacy Night Staff Dinner – We’ll once again provide a meal for staff working Literacy Night, with a variety of pizzas and salads from Mezza Luna (including some of my “weird” pizzas).

• Bringing the Science of Learning Into Classrooms (it’s about relationships) – Years of research prompted a group of scientists to ask whether we should rethink the way we do school. “The science says to us that, in fact, the way the brain functions and grows, it needs safety, it needs warmth, it actually even needs hugs,” explains Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond. “We actually learn in a state of positive emotion much more effectively than we can learn in a state of negative emotion. That has huge implications for what we do in schools.” According to Darling-Hammond, there are a few ways school can shift to better align with these insights. See this Edutopia Article for details on the importance of building strong, long-lasting relationships with students, understanding where each student is developmentally to scaffold instruction, and integrate practices that explicitly address belonging and safety.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

February 25 (M)
8:30-11:30, Matt at Counselor’s Meeting (Ed Center)
8:30-10:30, Allan to Night Custodian Interviews (Conference Room)
2:30-6:00, Book Fair Open (Library)
2:45-3:30, Site Council (Conference Room)

February 26 (T)
8:00-11:00, Apple Trainer Meeting w/Tech Reps (STEAM Room)
8:15-11:30, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting – John Wayland subbing (Ed Center)
2:30-6:00, Book Fair Open (Library)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)

February 27 (W)
12:00, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Office)
2:30-6:00, Book Fair Open (Library)
2:45-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Conference Room)

February 28 (H)
12:30-1:00, BORA Architects Touring Building
2:45-3:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room, RM24)
5:00-5:30, Staff Literacy Night Dinner (Staff Room)
5:00-8:00, Literacy Night
5:30-6:00: Free Dinner (cafeteria)
6:00-6:45: Visit Classrooms
6:30-8:00: Scholastic Book Fair

March 1 (F)
PTO Read-a-Thon Begins
PBIS Monthly Theme – Safe Bodies
Book Fair Take Clean-Up & breakdown (during school) – Library Closed
8:00-9:45, ODE EdTech Visit (Larsen, Pond, Groshong, Kreider)
1:30, EA Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM25)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD, Reading Progress Monitoring (Library)

March 4 (M)
Classified Employees Appreciation Week
PBIS Tail Feather Reward Spring Break Incentive (Disco Party)
2:40-3:05, Allan Meeting w/KG Team – Staffing Input (RM2)
3:05-3:30, Allan Meeting w/1st Grade Team – Staffing Input (RM11)
4:00-5:30, Student Teacher Celebration (Ed Center)

March 5 (T)
2:45-4:45, ESSA Meeting #3 (Conference Room)
6:00-7:00, Kindergarten Round-Up (Library)

March 6 (W)
Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day
8:00, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Office)
2:40-3:05, Allan Meeting w/2nd Grade Team – Staffing Input (RM22)
3:05-3:30, Allan Meeting w/3rd Grade Team – Staffing Input (RM18)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee – SKIPPING
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)
5:00-6:00, 5th Grade Parent Info – Human Growth & Development (Community Room)

March 7 (H)
Licensed Interventionists (Title & SPED) PLC
2:40-3:10, Allan Meeting w/4th Grade Team – Staffing Input (RM26)
3:10-3:30, Allan Meeting w/5th Grade Team – Staffing Input (RM12)
4:00-6:00, Allan to TalentEd Rubric Committee (Ed Center)
5:00-6:00, 5th Grade Parent Info – Human Growth & Development (Conference Room)

March 8 (F)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
9:30-10:00, 2/3 Music Performance (Gym)
1:30-1:55, Allan Meeting w/Specialists (SPED, ELD, Title, PE, Music, etc.) – Staffing Input (RM10)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Reading PM/Math PLC (Library)
4:00-5:00, Allan to Title 1 Budget Meeting (Ed Center)

March 9 (SA)
9:45, OBOB Lane County Regional Tournament (Thurston High School)

March 10 (SU)
Daylight Saving Time – Spring Forward

And if you’re wondering when the next short week is, it’s in two weeks with the Friday, March 15th PD Day. :)

Allan

 

February 4, 2019

By Allan  |  2019/02/02 15:17 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Caring for Kids, Equity, P.D., SEL  |  Comments Off on February 4, 2019

 

Hi-diddly-ho, Roadrunner-eenos,

This week is National School Counseling Week, so please take a moment to show Mr. Matt your appreciation for all he does for Howard students, staff, and families. We’re all very lucky to have such a talented and personable counselor at our school. You rock, Mr. Matt!

Seventeen items of note for this week:

• Skillful Teaching Module PD Offering – Teachers, I put this PD opportunity at the top of my announcements because it’s one that I’ll personally vouch for. As one of the eight schools 4J is working with on ESSA improvement, Howard’s been given sub days for interested teachers to attend the linked Skillful Teaching Modules (AKA RBT and Jon Saphier) at the LaneESD. Some sessions start as soon as next week and other don’t start until May. Please take a look at the offerings and let me know if you’re interested in any of modules or if you have any questions.

• Annual Safety Inspection, Tuesday at 10:00 – This Tuesday will be Howard’s annual safety inspection. The inspection will be on Tuesday around 10:00. Please check your areas for the most common safety violations (there are some new ones):

• Unlabeled spray bottles.
• 3-foot pathway to your exit doors.
• Cord covers for all power cords in walk ways.
• Power strips plugged into another power strip.
• Use of any extension cords (long power strips are okay)
• Items hanging from lights or the ceiling.
• Cloth displays that have not been fire proofed.
• Artwork hung too close to fire sprinklers.
• Lava Lamps or Salt Lamps or Essential Oils
• Student access to hand sanitizer (it has to be disseminated by teachers)

Makes sure these things are gone on Tuesday and let me or Crystal know if you have any questions.

• Hazardous Weather Conditions Reminder & Change – Downtown already sent everyone the updated 2018–19 Hazardous Weather Conditions Information, but I wanted to make sure everyone noted this information since SNOW! is in the forecast. Also note a change from last year, that if there is a 2-hour delay it will not alter dismissal times, even if it happens on an early release Friday.

• Friday Early Release PD – For classroom teachers, this Friday is designated for Math PLC. I’ll do a quick review of the process and the Google Doc for teams to record their work, but a majority of the time will be dedicated for teams to work together. For licensed interventionists (Title and SPED), this is a virtual PLC meeting date, so watch for details that should come from Marlee Litten.

• Second Step Check-In – Downtown asked principals to check in with teachers if you have any needs regarding Second Step posters or materials. Also remember that videos, picture cards (the images, not the lessons) are availing on the Second Step Teacher Dashboard. Let me know if you need any additional materials or if you’d like me to scan your grade level materials (see the Team Drive > Curriculum/Instruction > Social Emotional Learning (SEL) > Second Step if you want to see some sample scans for 3rd and 5th grade).

• Report Card Reminders – Hopefully teachers are liking the New Shorter Report Card. Three report card notes:

• No Report Cards Needed for CUM files – If teachers were wondering, you DO NOT need to print a copy of winter report cards to go into CUM files. Lori will do this for any students who move, but a copy will need to go into CUM files at the end of the school year.

• Report Cards Send Home Friday – All of 4J is sending report cards home this Friday (or Monday for school with Monday folders), so make sure they are ready to go home in Friday Folders this week.

• Comment Translations Due Monday – If you have comments that need translated into Spanish, all comments are due to Elizabeth by Monday.

• Library News and Dates to Remember – FROM JULIE: February is going to be a crazy month in the library. Please, please could you help me to remind students to keep track of their library books. ;) Thank you. I will be out of the building February 8th. Taking a personal day for family. If you would like to reschedule your library class please stop by and see me.

Book fair is coming this month. Yay!! Theme will be Dinosaurs! They are also including a new kindness and friendship table. I ordered an extra picture book case and deleted a higher middle school case. I scored a set of teacher donation baskets, so cute. Your wish list books may be placed in the baskets for parents to choose from. I am hoping this will really increase classroom donations. We will continue using book fair hall passes during the school day. This way I know the kiddos are suppose to be here. If students miss the preview they may come individually with a hall pass the following week. The preview sheet will be by the mail boxes next week, so be sure to sign up for a time. Our Friday’s are shorter. If you are unable to able to sign up for a time please come see me. We can work out something for Monday.. more book fair news to come.

Library Dates:
Feb. 4 (M) – OBOB games 12:20 – 2:00 / Story Cove – Thank you Mrs. Ing & Mrs. Connor for volunteering your time.

12:25 Literal Diamon Readers vs. Nook Nook Girls/boy
12:45 Totally Tropical Turtles vs. The Spikes
1:10 Reading Pandacorns vs. Rocket Readers
1:40 Gucci Seldons/Wise Wolves vs. TBA (lowest scoring team will play again)

Feb. 8 (F) – Julie out of the building
Feb. 11 (M) – OBOB games 12:20 – 2:00 / Story Cove game schedule will be announced after our first round :)
Feb. 12 (T) – semi finals probably at 1:30 – Story Cove
Feb. 14 (H) – OBOB final assembly 8:10 – cafeteria
Feb. 18 (M) – No School Presidents’ Day
Feb 21 (H) – Book Fair set up
Feb. 22 (F) – Student preview
Feb. 25 (M) – Teacher preview and book pull
Feb. 25 (M) – 28th Book Fair March 1st – tear down/close out
March 9 (SA) – OBOB regional competition Thurston High School
March 1 – 31 – PTO Read-a-Thon

• Lost Elevator Badge – Room 19, Rhonda and Stephanie’s Room, has lost their elevator badge if anyone has spotted this anywhere. This badge is not as critical to deactivate immediately as would a staff badge, which unlocks door, but let me know if you’ve seen this stray badge.

• February PBIS Focus: Cooperation – The February PBIS monthly focus is “Cooperation.” The PBIS team created a PBIS/CSC Cheat Sheet that matches our monthly PBIS themes with corresponding Caring School Community class meeting lessons, which is a nice way to tie the two activities together.

• REPEAT: 2019-2020 Staff Survey, Due Feb. 15 – To help me in planning staffing scenarios for next year, I’d like staff to complete the linked 2019-2020 Staff Survey or on the linked Survey Word File. I’d like to know staff members’ individual plans and preferences for the future as well as your thoughts on next year’s staffing plan and master schedule. Please complete the survey by Friday, February 15th. All answers will be kept confidential and please let me know if you have any questions.

• Radon Testing Week of Feb. 11 – If you didn’t already know, 4J is conducting Radon Testing in all Eugene schools and our turn will be next week. See the linked email or the 4J Radon Testing in Schools website for details, but the short version is testing will consist of placing a cardboard packet (see image below) for a few days in rooms that are in contact with the ground. It is very important to not tamper with or move these test kits, and to keep exterior windows and doors closed (except for normal entry/exit) during the testing period. Let me know if you have any questions.

• NAEP Testing – 4th grade teachers already know about this, but as an FYI for others, Howard was randomly selected to take part in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) this year, the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of U.S. students. Select 4th graders will take the test in Rooms 16 and 17 on Tuesday, February 12th, with one group 8:00-10:00 and a second group 10:45-12:45, which means that second group may be end up joining 5th grade lunch and/or Kindergarten on their afternoon recess this day. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Eugene Youth Math Festival 2019 – The University of Oregon is inviting all students K-5, who like math and share a passion for games, problem solving, and hands-on math activities, to come to the second Eugene Youth Math Festival 10 am – 1 pm on Saturday, February 23rd. Admission is free. See the linked Event Flyer for details and feel free to share with students.

• OSAS Science Resources – Heidi Rebar, our district science TOSA, shared this OSAS Science Google Drive that has some OSAS Science Scavenger Hunt resources for teachers. Anyone with the link should be able to view.

• February is Black History Month – We know that black history didn’t begin or end with slavery. Yet the arrival of the first Africans in the colonies is the first most students learn of black history. Teach the full range of black humanity and experiences year-round. Look for opportunities across all areas of curricula, including math, science, social studies and English language arts. Follow these links to Teaching Tolerance, Readworks, WeAreTeachers, and NEA to learn more about how you can take a comprehensive approach to history.

• Tips for boosting curiosity, engagement – There are several ways teachers can boost student curiosity and engagement, writes Cheryl Abla, an education consultant, in this Edutopia Article. Abla suggests using mysteries and puzzles, asking deeper-level questions, and introducing debate topics, among other methods.v

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

February 4 (M)
National School Counseling Week
Artist in Residence – Nicole Hummel – Functional Pottery Continues
Report Card Comment Translations Due to Elizabeth
Second Semester Begins

February 5 (T)
Matt at MANDT Training
8:00-11:30, Allan to TalentEd Committee Meeting, Travis Sheaffer subbing (Cal Young)

February 6 (W)
Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day
2:30-4:30, Allan to Pay Grade Eval Committee Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Administrator Meeting (NEHS)

February 7 (H)
8:10-8:40, 3rd Grade Delgani String Quartet Assembly (Gym)
10:00-11:30, School Garden Project Work Party (Howard Garden)
5:30-7:00, Early Childhood Open House (Cafeteria & SPED Rooms)

February 8 (F)
Report Cards Sent Home
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
8:00, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Office)
1:25, EA Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
1:30, Glucagon Certification Training (Library or Community Room)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Math PLC (Library)
2:30-3:30, Licensed Interventionists PLC – Virtual Meeting

February 11 (M)
Regular Day

February 12 (T)
8:00-10:00, 4th Grade NAEP Testing (STEAM Room & ELL Room)
10:45-12:45, 4th Grade NAEP Testing (STEAM Room & ELL Room)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)
4:30-8:30, 4J First Aid Class (Library)

February 13 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Superhero Day
2:45-4:45, ESSA Meeting #1 (potential)

February 14 (H)
Valentine’s Day
8:10-8:40, OBOB Final Battle & Awards Assembly (Gym)
2:45-4:45, ESSA Meeting #1 (Conference Room)

February 15 (F)
8:45-9:10, K-2 Roadrunner Award/Jump Rope for Heart Assembly (Gym)
9:20-9:45, 3-5 Roadrunner Award/Jump Rope for Heart Assembly (Gym)
1:30, PBIS Meeting (Rae’s Room, RM1)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – CANCELLED, Make-Up for Feb. 1st Missed Hour of Prep

February 16 (SA)
5:00, Howard Ukulele Ensemble Performance at Asian Celebration

Have a good week, everyone, and think snow!

Allan

Map: ‘How Much Snow It Typically Takes to Cancel School in the U.S.’

January 7, 2019

By Allan  |  2019/01/03 21:04 Posted in Announcements, Arts, Caring for Kids, P.D., Technology, Video  |  Comments Off on January 7, 2019

 

Happy New Year!

It’s 2019 and according to Blade Runner we’re now supposed to have flying cars, robot servants, and dress in futuristic trench coats (Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man and the anime classic Akira are also set in 2019, but we’re not as apocalyptic as those films).

Hope you all had time to unplug, reenergize, and have some fun over the break. I know I enjoyed my two weeks off. Lots of family actives (gatherings, meals, and one trip to the coast), reading (best new book was The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists), music (new favorite song was Love, You Can Never Give Up by Beangrowers, although The Essex Green’s Sloane Ranger was a close second), movies (best movie watched was Brian De Palma’s Scarface), and TV shows (best new show was Bodyguard on Netflix, but The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was a solid runner-up). So it was a good break where I did manage to lose track of what day of the week it was at one point.

Seventeen items of note for this week:

• UPDATE: January 7th PD/Planning Day (Classified & Licnesed) – Since my last staff announcements there’s been several new emails about the January 7th PD Day. Linked here is the Classified Staff Email and Licensed Staff Email on how to set up a TalentEd account to register for a workshop on Monday. Linked here is the TalentEd Registration Directions. Full-time staff attend two trainings. Part-Time staff attend one. Note that on the Jan. 7 Professional Learning Opportunities Document that some classified and licensed staff members (i.e. 5th grade teachers, kindergarten staff, counselors, staff who’ve not received ALICE training, etc.). have some required trainings, which are marked in green.

Also note that the TalentEd Registration System is something new, so there is very likely going to be bugs this first time out, so do your best to register, but if it doesn’t work for you for any reason, go ahead and crash the sessions you’re hoping to attend. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• Staffing Update, 4th Grade Job-Share – Some folks already know, but so everyone is in the loop, Justine is taking a part-time leave, teaching in the mornings and working with a job-share partner between now and spring break. You’ll likely recognize her job-share partner, Jasmine Ward, who this past term was student teaching in Carla’s 4th grade class, so please welcome Jasmine as the newest member of the AMAZING Team Howard!

• Julie Helping Cover for Matt – Julie has offered to do morning check-ins for Matt while he’s out on parental leave this week. Julie also offered herself and the libary as a place for kids needing a break or someone to talk to. Thank you, Julie!

• Artist in Residence Request – Nicole Hummel will be starting this Tuesday and asked if teachers can provide a student or adult volunteer to help her transition between classes. And a repeat, linked here is the January Artist Schedule and the May Artist Schedule.

• PLC Meetings Next Week – Not this week, but Monday and Tuesday next week are Grade Level PLC Meetings with roving subs. Dates and Times for grade level teams are:

Monday, Jan. 14

1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00
5th – 11:15-12:15

Tuesday, Jan 15
KG – 11:10-12:10
3rd – 12:15-1:15
4th – 1:25-2:25

• School Choice Visitation Week & Info – School Choice season has begun and the School Showcase will be held this Saturday at the Ed Center, 10:00-12:00 if any staff are interested/willing to help me brag about our school. This event is for families to learn about all 4J schools in one place at the same time. Last year they provided breakfast for staff helping at the event. Let me know if any of you are interested/willing to help promote Howard and tell families why they should come to our amazing school!

Three related items: One, the first School Choice Visitation Week is next week, January 14-18, so be prepared for families to drop by classrooms over the course of the week. The second visitation week will be Jan. 28-31. Two, I’m holding two school choice evening presentations/tours. The first will be Thursday, January 17th 6:00-7:00 and the second will be Tuesday, January 29th 6:00-7:00, if any staff are interested/willing in helping me talk about our awesome school. And three, the window for school choice applications is again shorter this year, closing at the end of the month, so if families ask, they have until January 31st to lottery into Howard. Students who live outside of 4J may apply March 1–31, to be included in the lottery. Post-lottery transfer requests will be accepted beginning in May 2019. One change this year for out-of-district transfers is that the state law allowing inter-district transfers sunset at the end of last year, meaning that school districts are reverting back to the prior practice of one-to-one student exchanges (i.e. 4J will maintain a list of students from Bethel wanting to come to 4J and will take one from the first on the list when a 4J student wants to enroll in Bethel). More details on all of this can be found on the 4J School Choice webpages.

• Wacky Wednesday: Silly Sock Day – Not this week, but Wednesday next week is Silly Sock Day, so start getting kids excited to show off their wacky and/or mismatched socks next week (as well as planning for your own silliness).

• Post Winter Break Rules Review – With kids out of school for the past two weeks, this may be a good time to review basic classroom and school expectations. Linked here is the PBIS Back-to-School Refresher if teachers want an easy way to cover a lot of material at once or break it up into smaller chunks. This as well as the PBIS Playground Rules slide show can be found on the Howard Team Drive > Meetings/Teams > 2018-2019.

• January PBIS Focus: Be Your Best – The January PBIS monthly focus is “Be Your Best.” The PBIS team created a PBIS/CSC Cheat Sheet that matches our monthly PBIS themes with corresponding Caring School Community class meeting lessons, which is a nice way to tie the two activities together.

An a related note, here’s a nice short film about playground inclusion Ashley shared with me, which might be a nice video to show and discuss with students. It’s a bit heavy on metaphor, so it’s probably more appropriate for older students. Here’s a link to some related educational resources from their Official Film Website.

• BEST Strings Teacher Update – Our prior ESYO string teacher has moved on and we will have a new teacher, Emily Pfeifer, starting this week. Emily is currently teaching string at Willagilespie and will now take on both Howard and WillaG. Please welcome Emily as our new 4/5 ESYO Strings Teacher!

• Email Reply-All Reminder – Downtown asked principals to remind teachers to refrain from using email reply-all unless it’s necessary and if you do reply-all, make sure you’re aware of who all is on the email thread. Besides some of the reply-alls to the Jan. 7th emails, there was recently a district-wide specialist email that began professionally and included the outside group who there were concerns with, but subsequent reply-all emails became less professional and created a bit of a mess, so be careful out there.

• December McKinney-Vento Student Data – Linked here is the district-wide December McKinney-Vento Student Report. These totals represent students for the entire school year, not necessarily who’s in buildings right now. As in the past, Howard serves more homeless students than any other elementary, middle, or high school in 4J; 49 students total, which is more than 1 of every 10 students at Howard.

• Google Permission Forms – It came up at the last Technology Leadership Team (TLT) meeting that classroom teachers may not know which student do or do not have permission to use Google Classroom and other Google Apps, so attached in my email is a list of student who DO NOT have permission. Most students are cleared because the permission form is was included in enrollment packets the past couple years, but for any students who enrolled before that, they may not have a signed form.

• Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day, Wednesday – The first Wednesday of each month is a Walk + Roll to School Day, so remind your students that if they’re able, they should bike, walk, skate, or scooter to school this day.

• DSH Child Care Assistance for Working Parents – The Employment-Related Day Care program (ERDC) helps eligible low-income families pay for child care while they are working. ERDC is a subsidy program, meaning eligible families still pay part of the child care cost. Feel free to share this resource and follow the above link for information as to who can qualify and how to apply.

• Fun Background Removing Tool – I learned about Remove.bg from my favorite nerd blog, BoingBoing. With one click, it removes the background of any photo using AI. Just upload photo or take a picture of a person, animal, or thing, and it will erase everything in the background, replacing them with transparent pixels you can paste on top of another image (like this or this). If you want to do it with kids, I tried it out on my iPad and it works pretty easy using Safari and Pages.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

January 7 (M)
No School – District PD/Planning Day
Matt out all week on Parental Leave
8:00-10:00, Allan to TalentEd Rubric Committee Meeting (Cal Young)
8:00-10:30, Staff PD Session #1 (full-time staff attend 2 of 3)
11:00-1:00, Staff PD Session #2 (Full-time staff attend 2 of 3)
1:20-4:00, Staff PD Session #3 (Full-time staff attend 2 of 3)

January 8 (T)
Artist in Residence – Nicole Hummel – Functional Pottery Begins
Winter Benchmark Testing – easyCBM
8:30-12:00, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center) CANCELLED

January 9 (W)
Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day
11:15-12:40, OBOB Lunches (Community Room)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

January 10 (H)
Regular Day

January 11 (F)
10:00, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Office)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Math PLC (Library)

January 12 (SA)
10:00-12:00, Allan to School Showcase (Ed Center)

January 14 (M)
School Choice Visitation Week #1
8:30-12:15, Howard PLC – Half-Day (5/2/1)
1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00
5th – 11:15-12:15
2:30-3:30, Allan to Title 1 Cooridinators’ Meeting (Ed Center)

January 15 (T)
11:10-2:25, Howard PLC – Half-Day (K/3/4)
KG – 11:10-12:10
3rd – 12:15-1:15
4th – 1:25-2:25
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Cafeteria)

January 16 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Silly Socks
11:15-12:40, OBOB Lunches (Community Room)

January 17 (H)
2:45-3:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room, RM24)
6:00-7:00, School Choice Presentation & Tour (Library)
6:30-7:30, KG Sugar- Read In Your Jammies (Katrina’s Room, RM2)

January 18 (F)
1:30-2:30, PBIS Meeting (Rae’s Room, RM1)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – SBAC Training (Volunteer’s Classroom)

January 21 (M)
No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Factoid of the day, as of this Tuesday, Howard gets bragging rights that we have over 500 students (including our 19 preschoolers). We’ll see how many more student enroll starting this week.

See you all soon!

Allan

December 3, 2018

By Allan  |  2018/12/01 08:46 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Arts, Caring for Kids, Equity, P.D.  |  Comments Off on December 3, 2018

Howdy Roadrunners,

Twelve items of note for this week:

• Student Reports of Physical Aggression – This is nothing new and Howard staff are very good about this, but as a reminder, it’s very important that staff ALWAYS report and take seriously student reports of any physical aggression. Given all of the recent amount media attention, parents are rightfully on high alert about this and we need to make sure we’re addressing every situation that gets reported to us.

• 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. 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 and Christmas 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.

• Fire Drill Friday at 8:45 – We’ll hold our December Fire Drill this Friday at 8:45, which shouldn’t step on any PE/Music or recess times.

• ESC Interviews Friday: EA Meeting & Friday PD Rescheduled – A Recess Supervisor’s Meeting was schedule for this Friday, which I’m rescheduling for next week. Also, this Friday’s early release PD was set to be a Behavior Framework training, but I’m postponing it until January, where we will combine two modules. Instead, I’m conducting interviews this Friday from 1:30-3:30 for our ESC Position, so if there are any classified or licensed staff who would like to volunteer their time to help with interviews, please let me know.

• Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day, Wednesday – The first Wednesday of each month this year is a Walk + Roll to School Day, so remind your students that if they’re able, they should bike, walk, skate, or scooter to school this day. Again, this is a low-key version of the event with no “Walking School Bus” or prizes and such, but is a periodic reminder to kids and families about encouraging physical activity and alternatives to driving cars. 

• December PBIS Focus: Generosity – The December PBIS monthly focus is Generosity. The PBIS team created a PBIS/Caring School Community Cheat Sheet that matches our monthly PBIS themes with corresponding Caring School Community class meeting lessons, which is a nice way to tie the two activities together.

• Wacky Wednesday – Pajama Day – Not this week, but next week is the December Wacky Wednesday and this time it’s Pajama Day, so remind your students to wear their PJs on Wednesday, Dec. 12th!

• STEAM Room Unavailable Tuesday – Please note that the STEAM Room will not be available this Tuesday due to kindergarten hearing screening.

• Natives Program Assembly Dec. 14 – A Native American Storytelling Assembly will be Friday, Dec. 14th in the gym, with the K-2 assembly 8:45-9:10 and the 3-5 assembly 9:20-9:45. See the linked Assembly Map & Directions for details.

• Artist in Residence Schedule – Several changes were made to the draft schedules. Anyone who’s times changed already know, but for everyone else, linked here is the Updated January Schedule and the Updated May Schedule. For the January schedule, let me know by the end of the week if see anything else that needs changing, so I can finalize the schedule with the artist.

• Howard Pinterest Page – During the design phase of our building, I’d created a Howard Pinterest account for staff to share their ideas for the new building. Later I added add some curricular Pinterest boards (ELA, Math, Science, Arts, Specialists) where staff could share internet finds if you are a Pinterest user. To pin to these boards, just follow the Howard boards and then I will “invite” you to be a “collaborator” on the boards. Let me know if you’d like access and I’ll get you added!

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

December 3 (M)
Computer Science Education Week / Hour of Code

December 4 (T)
8:00-12:00, KG Hearing Screening (STEAM Room)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)
4:00-7:00, Allan to 4J Assessment Adoption Workgroup (Ed Center)

December 5 (W)
Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day
11:15-12:40, OBOB Lunches (Community Room)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

December 6 (H)
8:30-10:00, Allan to ESSA Meeting (Ed Center)
10:00-11:30, Allan to El Camino Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-7:00, Alan to 4J Assessment Adoption Workgroup (Ed Center)

December 7 (F)
8:45, Fire Drill
1:30-3:30, ESC Interviews (Conference Room)

December 10 (M)
9:30, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Office)

December 11 (T)
8:30-12:00, Allan to Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-7:00, Allan to 4J Assessment Adoption Workshop Group (Ed Center)

December 12 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Pajama Day
11:15-12:40, OBOB Lunches (Community Room)

December 13 (H)
National Cocoa Day
4:30-6:00, 4J Science Teacher Leader Meeting (STEAM Room)

December 14 (F)
Bus Safety Due to Lori
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
8:45-9:10, K-2 Natives Program Assembly (Gym)
9:20-9:45, 3-5 Natives Program Assembly (Gym)
1:25, EA Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Math PLC (Library)
Licensed Interventionists (Title & SPED) PLC – Virtual Meeting

Have a good week, y’all!

Allan