Math

May 13, 2019

Hello Rockin’ Roadrunners,

Seventeen items of note for this week:

• EA Supervisors Meeting Notes – A couple notes from last Friday’s EA Supervisors Meeting:

• Stop, Walk, Talk Classroom Review – Classroom teachers, please review the linked 2 minute 31 second Stop, Walk, Talk Video with students this week. I’m asking EAs to hold students more accountable for first trying Stop, Walk, Talk before going to an adult (unless it’s safety related), by first asking students “Did you tell them to stop?” and “Did you try walking away?” before an adult intervenes. It’s also important for student when they are telling someone to STOP what it is they want them to stop doing (i.e. “Stop following me” or Stop saying that to my friend”). Another reminder teachers can reinforce with students is to report situations (“tell”) right away and not at the end of recess when recess supervisors need to leave for groups.

• Classes Early to Recess? – If teachers send classes to recess early, you must wait with your class in the courtyard until your scheduled recess time. Students cannot be left unsupervised in the courtyard. We don’t want to potentially be liable for accidents or injuries due to a lack of supervision.

• REPEAT: 2019-2020 Consumables Order: DUE FRIDAY! – Teachers were sent and email regarding consumable order for next year for Being a Writer, Journeys, LearnZillion, and FOSS Science. All order must be completed by the end of next week. Here is a link to the Google Sheet.

• Ukulele Club Assembly, 5/24 – Not this week, but next week will be an optional assembly for classrooms to come see Howard’s Ukulele Club perform at 8:40 in the Gym. See the linked Assembly Map & Directions for details!

• PLC Meetings 5/21 & 5/22 – Not this week, but Tuesday and Wednesday next week are Grade Level PLC Meetings with roving subs. Dates and times for grade level teams are:

Tuesday, May 21

1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00
KG – 11:10-12:10

Wednesday, May 22
3rd – 12:15-1:15
4th – 1:25-2:25
5th – Moved to Friday, May 17th

• IEP Meeting Compensation – Non-SSD teachers can use the linked Non-SSD Licensed IEP Time Log (2018-2019) found on the HR Forms webpage (there is a separate form for SSD staff) to request payment for up to six hours of additional compensation based on you per diem rate. Submissions will be accepted through June 14, 2019 by 5:00 PM. Payment will be included on the June 29th pay installment. See the above link for details.

• REPEAT: Wacky Wednesday – Tie Dye Day – This Wednesday is a Wacky Wednesday and it’s Tie Dye Day, so get your students to wear their tie dye clothes and/or multicolored clothes this day!

• Library News – News from our excellent librarian:

Library News – Things are winding down in our school library. The week of May 13th (this week) is our last week for check out for the students. All student library books are due back the beginning of the following week Monday, May 20th – Wednesday, 22nd. If you know of a student who is moving, please remind them to return all their library books and they should not check out any additional books. :)

During the next week and half I will be reading shelves (putting books in correct order for inventory). Please remind students to be gentle in the shelves, thank you I will be starting inventory immediately after the book fair.

I will be out of the building Monday May 20th. Sarah and I will be visiting her University.

BOOK FAIR Update – Our BOGO book fair is almost here! We will be setting up in the library Thursday May 23rd, staff are welcome to come peek after school. :) I have placed a sign up sheet in the office below the mail boxes for a preview Friday May 23rd, please be sure to sign up the kids love to come! Teachers please be sure to put a few books in your wish baskets for parents, everyone who does will receive a $5.00 book fair coupon! Book Fair will be open Tuesday May 28th – Thursday May 30th. NOTE: The book fair will not be open during the movie night Friday the 24th.

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

• Friday Early Release PD – This Friday’s Early Release Math PD is a Math PLC session for grade level teams to work together, so plan to bring your “math stuff” to the library and designate your recorder for the Progress Form in your team’s folder on the Howard PLC Team Drive. And remember, if you haven’t already, you can log your PLC hours for collecting PDUs by registered for Howard Staff Meetings and Friday Early Release PDs by going to 4jpd.net

• Happy Numbers Free Math Program – Angela was trying out a math website, Happy Numbers, and their rep called me to say they will give free access to all teachers at Howard for the rest of the year if you are interested. It’s a PreK-5 math program. Angela said she’d share it with staff at a future meeting, but in the meantime, if you’d like a free account, just let me know and I’ll have them give you access.

• Child Protection Unit Info – Erin’s Law lessons are now expected to be taught in by classroom teachers using a 6-lesson Second Step curriculum that’s been purchased for schools. However, Matt has stepped up and offered to finish meeting this year’s required lessons, so teachers are off the hook until next fall.

In the meantime, if teachers want to look over the curriculum, it’s all online and I can give you the access codes for your grade level, as well as your grade level’s notebook and posters if you’d like them now. The plan for next year will be that in the fall teachers will go over the first five Second Step Safety Lessons (probably during Safety Week) and will teach the sixth lesson as a review/refresher before winter break and before spring break. State law expects all students kindergarten through 12th grade to be instructed in the child protection. Let me know if you have questions or if you’d like the access codes, grade level notebook notebook, and posters for your grade level.

• REPEAT: Don’t Touch the OAKS Testing Snacks – Remember that the 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.

Video courtesy of Rae

• District Admin Update – Jeff Johnson, the current Federal Programs Administrator, will join Brooke next year as one if the two Directors of PreK-8 Education. This is a new job title, but as I mentioned in an early announcement, the Instructional Services Department is making changes in their organizational structure, within existing FTE (Susan Penrod’s position is not being replaced). The new Alternative Education / Eugene Education Options Administrator (ECCO) taking the place of Molly Gillett, who is moving out of state, will be Paula Nolan, who has worked in eastern Oregon as principal and assistant principal of Redmond High School. And the new principal of Sheldon High School will be Mike Ingman, who is currently principal of Cottage Grove High School, and has previously served as principal of Al Kennedy Alternative High School in Cottage Grove, principal of Albany Options School, assistant principal at South Albany High School, and dean of students at Cottage Grove High School.

• ​​Oregon Math Leaders (OML) Conference – Jaimee Massie forwarded an email to principals inviting us to share with teachers the annual ​​Oregon Math Leaders (OML) Conference, which is a great opportunity for folks looking for math networking or professional development over the summer.

• Tips to keep students’ attention until summer break – As the school year comes to a close, Matthew Joseph, a director of digital learning, informational technology, and innovation in Massachusetts, says teachers can help students finish on a strong note. In this commentary, he shares 11 tips to keep students interested during the waning days, including creating a talk show, working on projects in the community and writing letters. My favorite is #7, Take Advantage of the Nice Weather.

• That Awkward Moment When You Have 5 Minutes Left of Class and No Idea What to Do… – Instead of succumbing to physical and emotional panic, simply choose from one of WeAreTeachers Mildly-Academic-Things-You-Can-Do-With-10-Minutes-Left-of-Class Arsenal.

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

May 13 (M)
Last Week for Library Checkout
Artist in Residence Continues
OSAS (formerly OAKS) Testing Continues
Spring Benchmark Testing – easyCBM Continues
Walk & Roll to School Challenge Week Continues

May 14 (T)
8:30-12:00, Allan to All Admin & Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
8:30-12:30, LCC Dental Clinic
9:00-12:30, Fluoride Varnish (Community Room)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)
3:00-4:00, BEST Spring Showcase (Cafeteria)
4:00-8:00, First Aid Class (Library)

May 15 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Tie Dye Day
Last Day to Order Using Purchase Orders
11:00-1:00, United Way Visiting Preschool
2:45-4:45, ESSA Meeting (Conference Room)

May 16 (H)
915, Allan proctoring 6th Grade Math Tests (Conference Room)
2:45, Allan to IEP Meeting
7:00-8:00, BEST String Concert (tentative)

May 17 (F)
Last Day for OAKS Testing
Licensed Interventionists (Title & SPED) PLC – Virtual Meeting
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Math PLC (Library)

May 20 (M)
Artist in Residence Continues
OSAS (formerly OAKS) Testing Continues
Spring Benchmark Testing – easyCBM Continues
Library Book Return Week
Julie Out of the Building

May 21 (T)
8:30-12:15, Howard PLC – Half-Day (1/2/KG)

1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00
KG – 11:10-12:10

2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Cafeteria)

May 22 (W)
June Newsletter Deadline
9:15, 5th Grade Group Photo (Front of School)
12:15-2:25, Howard PLC – Half-Day (3/4/5)

3rd – 12:15-1:15
4th – 1:25-2:25
5th – Rescheduled to Friday, May 17th

2:40-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Conference Room)

May 23 (H)
Book Fair Set-Up (during school) – Library Closed
9:00-12:00, Experience Oregon Architecture and Engineering Tour of Building (Time is TBA)
2:45-3:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room, RM24)

May 24 (F)
Book Fair Student and Staff Preview
8:40-9:10, Ukulele Club Assembly (Gym)
10:30-12:40, May Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Community Room)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Building Goals (Library)
6:00-8:00, PTO Movie Night “How to Train Your Dragon 3” (Cafeteria)

May 25 (SA)
Towel Day

May 27 (M)
No School — Memorial Day

And if you missed it, some Howard folks made national news (CNN Headline News and The New York Times) last Wednesday. Nice work, team!

Allan

September 24, 2018

 

Hey Roadrunners,

Twenty items of note for this week:

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

• DATE/TIME CORRECTION – Robinson Family Baby Shower Oct 11th! Wednesday Oct. 10th at 2:45 Thursday, October 11th at 2:30 in the library will be the staff baby shower for Matt and Becky. Linked here is the their Baby Registry and their Target Registry.

• PTO Meeting Updates – There was a nice turnout for the first PTO meeting of the year. Thank you Ashley and Katrina for attending as staff representatives. Linked here is the September PTO Meeting Presentation. Here are a few highlights:

• PTO Teacher Funds – The PTO slightly upped the 2018 PTO Teacher Funds this year ($20.96 per student from $20.50), but earmarked part of that money for enrichment activities as they did last year when they exceeded fundraising expectations and gave additional funds to classrooms. Specialists will again get $125 each and classroom teachers will get $10 per student and grade levels will get $10.96 per student for enrichment activities. As was last year, the two criteria for accessing the enrichment funds are:

• Enrichment – The funds are to be used for an enrichment activity. This can be a field trip or it can be brining a presenter or other guest into the classroom to lead an enrichment activity.

• Grade Level Agreement – The funds are for a grade level activity and are not to be different classroom to classroom. For example, all classes at a grade level don’t all have to go on a field trip the same day, but they do all have to be going on the same field trip.

• New PTO Board Members – We have a fully staffed PTO Board. Here are the our fabulous parent volunteers:

• President – Bethany Freimuth
• Vice President – Amelia Starr
• Secretary – Paige Walker
• Treasurer – Tichelle Carlson
• Communications Mgr Manager – Julea McKinney
• Volunteer Coordinator – Beth Moir / Holli Breshears
• Fundraiser Coordinator – Brande Trumbull/ Abbie Stillie
• Parliamentarian – Christy Garland
• Staff Liaison – Christina Wagner

• Committee Work – The PTO currently has committees working on the Tech Trot, Popcorn Fridays (starting Oct. 5), the Holiday & Spring Bazaar (12/1 & 5/4), Community Nights (11/14, 1/25, 5/10), Penny Wars (2/4-2/8), Read-A-Thon (March), McTeacher Night (Feb.), Carnival (6/8/09 Sat.), and Staff Appreciation Week (May 5-10)

• Informal Observations Next Week – Not this week, but next week I’m going to start informal observations of Probationary and Contract Year-1 licensed staff. I’m planning to use the Classroom Practices Observation Tool, which is essentially the self evaluation form teachers completed at the start of the year during the Behavior Framework Introduction. Please know this is not meant as a “gotcha” and I realize teachers employ a variety of effective student management systems, so I do not expect all classrooms to look the same. The main pieces I’ll look for are an orderly physical arrangement, how classroom rules/routines are posted and stated, as well as use of active supervision (moving, scanning, and interacting), and teacher interaction with students (i.e. positives-to-negatives, clearly and positively stating expectations, responding to negative behaviors, etc.). I’ll most likely do these in the mornings, but teachers can let me know if you have a specific time you’d prefer I come by. Let me know if you have questions on this.

• Fire Drill Thursday @8:25 – The September Fire Drill is this Thursday at 8:25. Linked here is the Building Evacuation Map (a higher resolution version is on the Team Drive). Evacuation procedures can be found in the Howard Staff Handbook, the rainbow tabbed Emergency Procedures Manual that should be hanging in every classroom (let me know if you classroom doesn’t have one and I’ll get you one), or just ask a wily Howard veteran. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Friday Early Release Meeting @2:30 – As mentioned in an email earlier, this Friday’s Early Release meeting will be Part 4 of the PBIS Behavior Framework. This meeting is for all licensed staff. Next week’s meeting will be Part 5 of the Behavior Framework.

• Tech Trot Info – Next week on Wednesday, October 3rd will be our biggest fundraiser of the year, the annual PTO Tech Trot, which besides a snacks, drinks, a balloon arch, and music will also include a giant bubble machine! Three items of note:

• Tech Trot Running Details – The same as in the past, kids will run the track for 30 minutes and will collect colorful bands around their wrist as they run/jog/walk around the track to keep count of their laps. Drinks and snacks will be provided for students at the end of the run. Grade levels should line up on the track behind the balloon arch so we can start the times below:

• 8:15-9:00, Grades K/1
• 9:15-10:00, Grades 2/3
• 10:15-11:00, Grades 4/5

• T-Shirt Distribution – Howard t-shirts will be delivered to classrooms the day before the Tech Trot, but DO NOT give shirts to students until the day of the event.

• All-School Photo @2:00 in Gym – I want to continue our tradition of an all-school photo in our new purple Howard t-shirts. We didn’t fit very well in the courtyard last year, so we’ll move the all-school photo back into the gym. See the linked K-5 All-School Photo Map for where classes should go. All staff and students should be in their spots by 2:00 PM. Students and staff should wear their NEW purple Howard t-shirts. And please keep an eye out for any funny faces, tongues sticking out, dabbing, or stray middle fingers (offenders will be PHOTOSHOPPED!).

• Grade Level PLCs Mon. & Tues. – See last week’s announcements for details, but I wanted to say that although PLCs are admittedly “one more thing” they do have the potential to be a valuable time for teachers to learn and share with one another. Principals were asked to not be a part of this first round of the PLC, so teams can come up with a focus that’s meaningful to you and your team without us meddling. PLCs are one of those things you’ll get out as much as you put in.

Monday. Sept. 24:
1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00
5th – 11:15-12:15

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

Below are the dates for all future PLC release days. Grades 1/2/5 will always be on Day #1 and grades KG/3/4 will always be on Day #2.

Sept. 24 & 25 (M/T)
Oct. 22 & 23 (M/T)
Nov. 26 & 27 (M/T)
Jan. 14 & 15 (M/T)
Feb. 19 & 20 (T/W)
Apr. 2 & 3 (T/W)
Apr. 29 & 30 (M/T)

• Second Step Pacing Guide & Materials Sharing – Speaking of one-more-thing, a quick reminder to classroom teachers, Second Step Unit 1 (Skills for Learning for K-3, and Empathy & Skills for Learning for 4-5) is set to begin next week according to the Second Step Pacing Guide. And if grade levels would like me to scan your story cards and teacher guides, just let me know and I’ll drop them into the Howard Team Drive.

• Revised Optional SMART Goals – Classroom teachers, if you choose, can base your SMART goals off of your math PLC focus areas and can use the linked Optional 4J SMART Goals I shared last week. Based on some feedback, I revised the wording on these Sample Filled-In SMART Goals, which you can copy and paste wholesale from. Please let me know if I can be of assistant in helping anyone write your SMART Goals. All goals must be entered into TalentEd by Monday, Oct. 15th.

• REPEAT: Mission Statement Meeting, THURSDAY – If you are a wordsmithing type of person and are willing to help perfect the phrasing of the Howard Mission Statement, we’ll be meeting in at 2:40 in the Conference Room (I’ll bring snacks!).

• REPEAT: District & Howard Check-Lists DUE FRIDAY – The checklist acknowledgment forms (District and Howard) to indicate that you have read and understood the District Back-to-School Memo (PDF) and the Howard Staff Handbook are due to me this Friday. This is a requirement of all classified and licensed staff.

• DreamBox Tips & Reminders – A few dream box reminders and tips:

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

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

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

• NWCU Undergraduate Teacher Ed Student – Northwest Christian University is looking for a placement for an undergraduate education major this fall. The Assistant Dean of Teacher Education actually sought out Howard specifically because she knew there are so many strong teachers here. If you’d like to host this student, let me know and I’ll forward you name to NWCU.

• CLC 1:1 EA Interviews, Oct. 1 – Linda and I will be conducting interviews for a CLC 1:1 EA on Monday, October 1st from 2:30-5:00 in the Conference Room. Any and all staff members are invited to join us if you’d like to have some say in who will be newest member of Team Howard!

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

• UO Science Open House – We’ll send this out with the October School Newsletter, but feel free to let your students know that students/families are invited to the 8th Annual Science Open House at the University of Oregon. The purpose of the event is to help connect families and educators to science outreach programs on campus and in the community. All activities are completely free and open to the public. See the linked SPICE Flyer (in English and Spanish) for details.

• SWCD 2019 Poster Contest – The Upper Willamette Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) sent principals an email about their 2019 National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) poster contest. This year’s theme is “Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper”. Poster boards will be provided by the Upper Willamette SWCD, but are first come, first serve. See the email and their website for details.

• How You Can Really Understand White Privilege – White privilege is—perhaps most notably in this era of uncivil discourse—a concept that has fallen victim to its own connotations. Recognizing white privilege begins with truly understanding the term itself. This article explains the origin of the term, the difference between racism and white privilege, and what to do once someone recognizes their own white privilege.

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

September 24 (M)
Title 1 Groups Begin
Half-Day PLC
⁃ 5th – 8:40-9:40
⁃ 2nd – 10:00-11:00
⁃ 1st – 11:30-12:30
2:40-3:30, Site Council (Conference Room)

September 25 (T)
8:15-12:00, Allan to All-Admin/Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
Half-Day PLC
⁃ KG – 11:10-12:10
⁃ 3rd – 12:15-1:15
⁃ 4th – 1:25-2:25
2:40-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)

September 26 (W)
BEST After School Program Starts
9:00-2:00, Kreider & Niccum Hatchery Field Trip
2:40-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Conference Room)

September 27 (H)
8:25, Fire Drill
2:40-3:30, Mission Statement Wordsmithing (Conference Room)
4:30-6:00, 4J Math Teacher Leaders Using Library

September 28 (F)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
10:30-12:40, August/September Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Community Room)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Behavior Framework (Erin’s Room, RM22)

October 1 (M)
PBIS Monthly Theme – Bully-Proofing
2:30-5:00, CLC 1:1 EA Interviews (Conference Room)

October 2 (T)
National Custodial Workers Recognition Day
2:45-3:15, Optional Leadership Plan Development Meeting (Conference Room)

October 3 (W)
8:15-9:00, Grades K/1 Tech Trot (Kelly Track)
9:15-10:00, Grades 2/3 Tech Trot (Kelly Track)
10:15-11:00, Grades 4/5 Tech Trot (Kelly Track)
2:00-2:15, All-School Selfie (Gym)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

October 4 (H)
Regular Day

October 5 (F)
PTO Popcorn Friday’s Start
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
1:25-2:30, Recess Supervisor’s Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Behavior Framework (Erin’s Room, RM22)

Have a groovy week, everyone!

Allan

 

September 17, 2018

Howdy All,

If you’re wondering how our school homework policy was received by families when I sent it out last week, I’ve received nothing but positive emails and feedback, so families are definitely onboard with our new optional/family focused policy. Nice work, team!

Twenty-seven items of note for this week:

• Mission Statement Meeting, 9/27 – Mentioned in the BTS Staff Meeting Minutes, teachers generally liked the first sentence of our current mission statement a few tweaks, but wanted to add and/or change several pieces in the second sentence, particularly the part about exceeding state standards, and also adding some language around connecting to the larger community, while still maintaining high expectations for ALL students. If you are a wordsmithing type of person and are willing to help perfect the phrasing of the Howard Mission Statement, I’ll be holding an optional meeting on Thursday, September 27th at 2:40 in the Conference Room (I’ll bring snacks!).

• Grade Level PLC Information and Times – For classroom teachers, the first PLC day with roving subs is coming on Monday, September 24th (1st, 2nd, 5th) and Tuesday, September 25th (KG, 3rd, 4th). We’ll arrange for our regular team of roving subs this day, who will cover for 1-hour at each grade level during the times below. Some grades will need to shift their specialist day to a day later this week or the following week, and not all grade level meeting times were able to fall neatly during math instruction times. Let me know if you have questions on the schedule or see a better way to make it work. We’ll have four subs on Monday and three subs on Tuesday, so for Monday, let me know if any teachers could use an extra hand in your classroom between 11:00-12:30, when we’ll have one extra sub.

Monday. Sept. 24: (UPDATED, 1st & 5th swapped)
1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00
5th – 11:15-12:15

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

How this first meeting will work is that grade level teams will meet with Rebecca Boyd, Howard’s SDS, in the Conference Room to first develop group norms, discuss the four essential questions of a PLC (below), and determine the focus for your grade level.

To help teachers not schedule any conflicts with future PLC dates, below are the dates for all future PLC release days. Grades 5/2/1 will always be on Day #1 and grades KG/3/4 will always be on Day #2.

Sept. 24 & 25 (M/T)
Oct. 22 & 23 (M/T)
Nov. 26 & 27 (M/T)
Jan. 14 & 15 (M/T)
Feb. 19 & 20 (T/W)
Apr. 2 & 3 (T/W)
Apr. 29 & 30 (M/T)

I know making sub plans is extra work for teachers, so I wanted teachers to know it’s fine to break from your normally schedule activities and plan something easier for subs these days. Let me know if you have any questions regarding the upcoming PLC work.

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

• Friday Early Release Meeting @2:30 – This Friday’s Early Release meeting will be Part 4 of the PBIS Behavior Framework. This meeting is for all licensed staff, although I may share this at a future Recess Supervisors’ Meeting because this module is on Active Supervisor and has some good reminders about the 3 Keys to Active Supervision: Moving, Scanning, and Interacting. Teachers, let me know if any of you would like to volunteer your classroom for the meeting. The next Early Release Meeting on 9/28 is a “Building Goals” meeting, so unless we’re unable to get through our packed Staff Meeting agenda this Tuesday, we won’t plan to meet and this will instead be time for staff to complete your TalentEd Self-Assessments, SafeSchools Online Trainings, and to review the District Back-to-School Policy Memo.

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

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

• Tech Trot Info – The PTO will send home Tech Trot Information to families this week in Friday Folders, so teachers should look for these in your mailboxes. The PTO is also planning to stop by classrooms at some point this week to give a quick plug for the Tech Trot and to get kids pumped. And as a reminder, the Tech Trot will happen on the Kelly Track on Wednesday, Oct. 3rd at the following times:

• 8:15-9:00, Grades K/1
• 9:15-10:00, Grades 2/3
• 10:15-11:00, Grades 4/5

• Color Printing and Laptop Print Settings – Quite a few unnecessary color copies come across the office color copier (i.e. emails with just a red 4J apple or a blue link). It’s fine to print in color for class projects, but please change your print settings to default to print in black and white for general printing. To do this, you’ll need to install the linked Canon Printer Driver (also located on the Team Drive) and after installing select the C2225 print driver. If you need help setting this up, let me know and I can help or you can email Peggy at 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu or call the Technology Help Line at x7777.

• Do Not Reply to 4jdesktop – Speaking of emailing Peggy, if you ever need to follow-up on a tech support ticket, do not reply to 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu. Instead email Peggy directly. Replying to 4jdesktop creates a new ticket each time you reply, which mucks up the system (I’m guilty of this one and am curbing my own behavior).

• Title 1 Groups Starting Monday – The plan is for students to come to Title 1 groups starting this week, although Title 1 staff are administering diagnostic tests all week to help form groups, which will start in earnest next week. Retired Title 1 Coordinator Cindy Hinton is subbing Corianne to help with testing and this Friday after testing is finished, I’ll put on my old Title 1 Coordinator hat and work with Title 1 staff to put students into groups.

• 2018-2019 Mandatory Elementary School Bus Safety Training – As required by OAR 581-53-002, all students must receive instructions on bus safety before the end of December 2018. The intent of the rule is to reach the occasional riders who find themselves on a bus because of a field trip, activity trip, etc. Linked here is Bus Training Info Sheet sent to principals, but all classroom teachers need to do is show one of two bus safety videos and then tell Lori the date you showed it. There is a new video option for elementary schools this year, so you can choose between the Newer Bus Safety Video or the quaint 1990s Bus Safety Video and pretend you’re watching an episode of Family Matters.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xPFw8PyaAo

• Staffing Updates – Nigel, one of our two night custodians, is moving into a night custodian position at ATA starting this Monday. His Howard position should post soon and in the meantime we will have a substitute. The posting for our 12-month night custodian position closed a few weeks ago and Facilities staff is planning conduct interviews to permanently fill that position soon.

• More Power Outages – The building power outages originally scheduled for this weekend were cancelled due to the east coast storms delaying delivery of parts EWEB was waiting for. Instead, they are tentatively planning an outage this Wednesday from 10:00pm – 5:00am (we are waiting for confirmation from EWEB) and for sure on Friday from 5:00pm – 10:00pm.

• DHS Reporting Form – Sadly, we’ve already had to make a few child welfare calls to DHS this year, but I wanted to remind staff that when you make calls to be sure to notify me and to also complete an Abuse Reporting Form (Word and PDF) so I can track dates, concerns, and how many calls we’ve made for individual student. I’ve updated the form to require less information since most of what the old form asked for is already in Synergy. Forms are also available on the Team Drive and hardcopies are located in the office in the filing cabinet by Elizabeth’s desk. All school employees are mandatory reporters, so if you need to call, the phone number is (541) 349-4444. Feel free to talk with me if you’re ever unsure about how to handle a particular situation.

• Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program – The Fresh Fruits and Vegetable program will continue this year and is set to start this Monday. Nutrition Serivces is telling me they want to add an educational component to the program, which is “encouraged” by the grant. They are currently figuring out how they want to add this educational component, which is also the reason for the delayed start, but I told them that we really need it to start now, they allowed us to go ahead and start ordering fruit and vegetables. I’m also suggesting to the new Nutrition Services folks that for the educational component that they should just give us a script to read over morning announcements or articles to send home, since I’m loath to add more teachers’ already VERY full curricular plates.

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

• REPEAT: 4/5 Strings Recruitment Assembly, 9/21 @8:45 – This Friday at 8:45 in the gym will be the annual strings recruitment assembly for the BEST/Eugene Springfield Youth Orchestra Program for 4th and 5th grade classrooms. See the linked Assembly Map & Directions for details.

• REPEAT: PTO Meeting Tuesday @6:00pm – This Tuesday from 6:00-7:00 will be the first PTO Meeting of the year. It’s typically the best attended meeting of the year by families, so it would be great if any staff can volunteer their evening to come show support. Hope to see you there!

• REPEAT: Care Team Referrals Due Friday – The September Student Care Team is next week, so any new referrals are due to me this Friday. Linked here is the 4J Release Form (English and Spanish) to get signed, but you can also refer “hypothetical” student or family situations. Let me know if you have any questions.

• REPEAT: District & Howard Staff Orientation Check-Lists Next Week – The checklist acknowledgment forms (District and Howard) to indicate that you have read and understood the District Back-to-School Memo (PDF) and the Howard Staff Handbook are due to me Friday next week. I’ll plan to start bugging individual staff members next week who haven’t turned in their acknowledgement forms. This is a requirement of all classified and licensed staff.

• Enrollment Updates – Howard’s enrollment is back up to our original projection at 473 students (well, one student shy of our 474 projection), although still short of the 500 students we had at the end of last year and which I convinced downtown to give us an extra teacher for. Grade level totals currently are KG (53), 1st (72), 2nd (89), 3rd (73), 4th (88), and 5th (90). It’s worth noting this total is only 8 students below our Oct. 1st enrollment last year before our peak of 508 students towards the end of last school year. Although we’ll likely continue our trend of growing 20-25 students from the start of the year to the end, it’s pretty nice right now to have class sizes of 22-23 students at most grade levels, which I think is making for a much smoother and seamless start to the school year with teachers better able to focus on individuals and less on crowd control.

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

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

• RG, Need newspapers for your classroom? – The Register-Guard’s News in Education (NIE) program helps teachers and students use our print and digital publications as a learning tool. Print newspapers are available on Thursdays. Teachers who sign up for the program also have access to The Register-Guard e-Edition every day of the week.

• How to Teach Your Students Self-awareness at School – In an attempt to help her students become more self-aware, to recognize their feelings and to figure out ways to address them, this educator developed a practice that works in the classroom. See this Teaching Tolerance article for details.

• Strategies to Help Your Students Feel Heard – One way to cultivate a classroom culture in which students feel valued and respected is to focus on listening to them. See this Edutopia article for idea how to elicit students thoughts and how to listen as a way to create a positive class culture.

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

September 17 (M)
Title 1 Individual Diagnostic Testing Through Friday
9:00, Allan and Lori Meeting w/PTO (Office)
4:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting

September 18 (T)
Mrs. Henry’s Birthday!
School Newsletter Articles Due
2:40-3:30, Staff Meeting (Angela’s Classroom, RM24)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Cafeteria)

September 19 (W)
Talk Like a Pirate Day
Operation School Bell Requests Due
10:00am-5:00am, EWEB Power Outage

September 20 (H)
Regular Day

September 21 (F)
Vision Screening (tentative)
8:45-9:15, 4/5 Strings Assembly (Gym)
12:40, Allan Meeting w/Title Staff to Make Groups
1:20-2:30, PBIS Meeting (Rae’s Room)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Behavior Framework (Volunteer’s Classroom)
5:00-10:00, EWEB Power Outage

September 24 (M)
Title 1 Groups Begin
Half-Day PLC

⁃ 5th – 8:40-9:40
⁃ 2nd – 10:00-11:00
⁃ 1st – 11:30-12:30

2:40-3:30, Site Council (Conference Room)

September 25 (T)
9:00-12:00, Allan to All-Admin/Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
Half-Day PLC

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

2:40-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)

September 26 (W)
BEST After School Program Starts
2:40-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Conference Room)

September 27 (H)
8:25, Fire Drill
2:40-3:30, Mission Statement Wordsmithing (Conference Room)
4:30-6:00, 4J Math Teacher Leaders Using Library

September 28 (F)
Vision Screening (back-up date)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
10:30-12:40, August/September Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Community Room)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD (TalentEd, SafeSchools, 4J Policy time)

Have a fab week, everyone!

Allan

September 3, 2018

 

Hi Everyone,

This weekend I put up our #whyiteach speech bubbles, and not to get too sappy, I felt so proud of our staff as I read each reason why each of us are here working with kids. Howard has an incredibly caring, thoughtful, and inspiring staff and I couldn’t be more happy to have everyone here on our team. I actually stopped in the middle of putting them up to type this. You all are AMAZING human beings!

Thirty-three items of note for this week:

• Updated 2017-2018 Master Schedule – A few more tweaks to the schedule and anyone effected already knows, but linked here (XLS and PDF) and also on the Howard Google Team Drive is the updated master schedule.

• Recess Schedule, 5-minutes shorter Fridays – Speaking of schedules, remember that with the new district Common School Schedule, we elected to do a 5-minute shorter recess on Fridays, so teachers need to remember to pick-up your class five minutes earlier at the end of both morning and lunch recess on Fridays.

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

• Missed Specialist Time Note – The Joint Contract Administration Committee (JCAC) will be addressing this in late September, but in the short term we will make-up PE/Music classes interrupted by events like assemblies/drills that are planned, using some of our open spots built into the schedule.

• Friday Early Release PD Meeting – Principals were recently told that on the early release Fridays (1:10 dismissal) schools have flexibility to decide if we want to do the protected one-hour of uninterrupted prep first (1:30-2:30) followed by the early release PD (2:30-3:30) or we can flip-flop the two. I’ve made a quick two-question Early Release Google Survey for teachers to state their preference. Our first meeting is this Friday and principals have not been give direction on what to present at this meeting, so at this point it will be a quick one-item agenda to decide if we want to meet each Friday at 1:30 or 2:30.

• Second Step Items – To editorialize for a moment, I’m hoping the adoption of Second Step, along with this year’s focus on the Behavior Framework and the prior rollout of the Caring School Community curriculum, signals a pendulum swing back towards valuing taking the time to build positive students relationships. Know that it’s always okay take time out of the “regular” curriculum to address the social emotional needs of students. But two items of note:

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

• Scans of Story Cards and Lessons – The Second Step website has the story card photos, videos, and songs that go with each lesson, but do not have the lessons themselves. The 5th grade team added scans of each lesson to the Google Team Drive to better facilitate sharing of the curriculum. If your grade level would like the same, give me your story cards and notebook and I’ll add them as well. To see 5th grades lesson, go to Howard Drive > Curriculum/Instruction > Social Emotional Learning (SEL) > Second Step > 5th Grade Scans

• Howard Staff Handbook Review – Linked here is the updated Howard Staff Handbook. All staff must review the handbook and sign & return the acknowledgement form to the office by Friday, September 28th. Both of these can also be found on the Howard Team Drive > MISC > Handbooks I’ll place hard copies of the acknowledgement form in mailbox on Tuesday. For Howard veterans, I made a few PBIS updates to match our current practices and a few other minor tweaks, but it’s mostly the same as in the past. Let me know if you have any questions.

On a related note, the District Back-to-School Policy Memo is still being finalized, so watch for that coming soon.

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

1.) Testing starts Monday, September 10th and goes through Friday, September 14th. Please get as much done as possible that week so Title staff can get the diagnostic testing completed the following week to form groups. I’ll be working with EAs on Friday, Sept. 21st to create the initial groups.
2.) Your easyCBM papers with labels will be in your mailbox early this week.
3. Try to finish math testing first so we can target BEST invitations to go our Friday, Sept. 14th.
3.) For KG and 1st only, keep track of whether or not kinders and 1st graders know their initial sounds, which we do using the phoneme segmenting assessment.
4.) If everything goes as planned, Title groups will start September 24.

• PBIS Rules Review – The PBIS team met and came up with a start of the year teaching plan, so PBIS Team Members can let me know if I’m not capturing any of this correctly.

Before the first recess on Wednesday, teachers should use the Playground Rules 18-19 Google Slide Show to review rules. In the days following, teachers should use the attached Quick Minute – Recess Rules Round-Up, where you’ll talk more in-depth about one piece of playground equipment each day, September 6th through 18th. The slideshow can be found at Howard Drive > Meetings/Teams > PBIS > 2018-2019 > Playground Rules 18-19

AdditionallyTeachers should also review our PBIS Rules for common school areas (i.e. restrooms, cafeteria, hallways, arrival/dismissal, etc.) sometime this first week, working off of the Howard PBIS Matrix, the PBIS Start of Year Lessons (taken from the staff handbook), or the Google Slides PBIS Back to School Refresher.

And a Google reminder, you’ll need to log into Google using your full 4J email username (i.e. chinn@4j.lane.edu) and 4J email password to connect to the Howard Team Drive.

• No More Clip-Up/Clip-Down Charts – Speaking of PBIS, downtown has officially forbade Clip-Up/Clip-Down Charts. I don’t remember seeing many of these in our school anymore, but let me know if you have any questions on this.

• Principal Visits to Classrooms – I’d like to again visit every classroom sometime during the first few weeks of school to greet students. I’ll read a favorite story to your class and chat with the kids a bit. Teachers, please let me know a good 10 minutes block of time I can come and visit. Thank you!

• School Bus PBIS & Positive Slips – Bus drivers have their own version of a PBIS positive slip, which teachers should honor just the same as our PBIS positive Beep, Beeps for weekly class drawing, which will start the first full week of class. FYI, linked here is an email describing the procedures of the Transportation PBIS Program.

• 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.

BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr., and BrainPOP Espanol – Animated Educational Site for Kids; 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 has a unique link on the Links for Learners. Log-in with your 4J email and username to set up your classroom.

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

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

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

World Book Online – World Book Online Reference Center includes World Book Encyclopedia in English and Spanish and is available to 4J staff and students and their families. A district-supplied username and password are required for home access. Building TSS’ should be able to provide these for you. UPDATE: 4J cancelled their subscription

FastMath & FractionNation – Adaptive math software program for students in Grades 4-8.

• Class Buddies – Teachers, if you haven’t already, let me know who you Buddy Classroom will be for this school year.

• Staff Parking Areas (not the front row) – Starting this week, I’d like staff to go back to using designated staff parking areas, which is anywhere in the parking lot except for the front row of parking spaces, which I’d like to reserve for families. With 93 adults working in our building this year and 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 allegories 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/email 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.

• Voicemail Set-Up – Teachers, 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 Peggy at 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu or call (541) 790-7777.

• Custodial Storage – Crystal has made some space in the custodial storage area is people have supplied needing storing, but two notes before you drop anything off. One, store things only on an open shelf, not on the workbench or other areas. And two, do not leave boxes or anything on the floor, so we can maintain clear walkways.

• Morning Announcements Start Monday, 9/10 – I won’t do morning announcements the first three days of school, but we will start regular morning announcements the first full week of school on Monday, September 10th with a couple 5th graders who were trained up at the end of last school year.

• Enrollment Updates – If you’re curious what our enrollment looks like, we’re below our projection by about 30something students, but district-wide elementary schools are about 580 students below projection and no elementary schools are above projection, so it’s a rather anomalous year for low enrollment. Our K-5 projection was originally for 474 students, but I convinced downtown to up our projection closer to our end-of-year enrollment of 500 students and to add another teacher. As of Friday we have 465 students fully enrolled (along with a few packets still out). Grade level totals currently are KG (53), 1st (70), 2nd (89), 3rd (73), 4th (86), and 5th (89).

• REPEAT: Meet Your Teacher – During Meet Your Teacher on Tuesday, September 4th at 1:00, 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 flyer about the first day of school and parking lot 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.

• REPEAT: First Days of School – Our first and second day of school routine has worked well the past two years, so we’ll once again want all-hand-on-deck to help at 7:25 on Wednesday, September 5th and Thursday, September 6th. Here’s the plan for the first and second morning with students:

First Day

• Students will come in at 7:25 and get grab-and-go breakfasts. The wall separating the cafeteria and gym will be open.
• Classroom teachers, also at 7:25 when the doors open, will be in the cafeteria, gym, and courtyard to meet students. Each teacher will have tall t-square signs with teacher name and room number (except for kindergarten, who’s doing something different this year). 1st – 4th grade will meet in the Gym. KG and 5th will meet in the cafeteria &courtyard.
• Non-classroom staff, also starting at 7:25, will be at the front entrance, the gym, and the cafeteria to help guide students and families. All staff will be given class lists to help guide students as well as a handful of building maps to pass out.
• After the first bell at 7:50 rings, Allan will make a brief announcement from the stage and then dismiss classes to go to their classrooms. Non-classroom staff will have assigned areas to help with student flow and for students arriving late. Staff will be stationed at the front entrance, cafeteria & gym, the hallway corners of the library, and one person in each wing (upstairs and downstairs).

Second Day
• Starting this day, students will follow our normal routine, but non-classroom staff should still to be available one more day 7:25-7:50 to help students with that routine of breakfast, 1st – 5th to the playground, and lining up right before the 7:50 bell (I’ll put out the T-square classrooms signs to help students know where to line up). After the 7:50 bell rings, non-classroom staff should again take their same places as the day before to help guide any lost students or families.

Staff helping should hold onto their class lists and maps from Meet Your Teacher and the first day to help guide families on the second day. Linked here is the First & Second Day Map & Directions for where people 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.

• REPEAT: Technology CTL Reps K/1 and 4/5 – To support teachers with the transition to all iPads, the Technology Department has developed a 2-year PD plan. The first step in the plan is enlisting CTL reps similar to reading, math, and science. Schools will select three Technology Teacher Leaders (K/1, 2/3, and 4/5) who will attend district meetings/trainings to bring information and PD back to their schools. I had one volunteer for the 2/3 position, but let me know if you’re interested in being the K/1 or 4/5 rep. See the linked

• REPEAT: K-3 Smarty Ants Pilot Opportunity – Here’s a very cool opportunity! Susan Penrod asked if any Howard K-2 (and possibly 3rd grade) teachers are interested in piloting an online foundational reading program to accelerate students towards mastery (similar to DreamBox) called Smarty Ants. Although intended for K-2, they said it may also be useful for below grade level 3rd graders. Susan would provide a training on how to use the program later in September or October, but this sounds like a great independent reading activity for students during Reading Tier II or Tier III times. Let me know by the end of the week if you’re interested/willing to be part of the pilot.

• REPEAT: Artist in Residence Survey – Howard is again getting two artists in residence this year, thanks to The Eugene Rotary, EEF, and ArtSpark. This year they are requiring one artist to be first semester and one second semester. Classroom teachers, please complete the linked Artist in Residence Google Form and that way I can bring a proposal ahead of time to the September Staff Meeting for a decision. Please look at the Lane Arts Artist in Residence webpages for details on each artist and let me know if you have any questions. Survey responses due the Friday, Sept. 14th.

• Support Howard with eScrip, SmileAmazon, Fred Meyer Rewards! – An easy way you all can support Howard is by signing up for eScrip, Smile Amazon, and Fred Meyer Rewards. With eScrip, you link you debit and/or credit cards and when you make purchases around town at places like Market of Choice, Sizzle Pie, El Tapatio, or Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, it supports Howard. eScrip also supports purchases through a number on online retailers including Best Busy, Target, and Amazon if you first go through escrip.com. And speaking of Amazon, if you link your Amazon account to the “Howard Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization” through Smile Amazon, a small percentage of you Amazon purchases support Howard. Fred Meyer also has their own rewards program that Howard is a part of. Sign up for the Fred Meyer Community Rewards program by linking your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to Howard Elementary School. You can search for us by our name or by our non-profit number #88934.

• Insurance Stuff – Two insurance relating items:

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

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

• Lane 4-H Offers New Educational Resource (chicken egg incubators!) – Lane County 4-H are opening the Embryology program that brings a chicken egg incubator and fertile chicken eggs into the classroom to be hatched! It provides a hands on learning opportunity, and has been adapted for all age ranges (K – 12). See the flyer for details and if you’re interested. I will cover the $45 fee. Just let me know if you want to sign up.

• Free Clay & Ceramics Courses at Georgie’s – Georgie’s Ceramics and Clay is offering free classes Sept. 22, Oct. 27, and Nov. 17 from 10am-4pm, with a free lunch provided. We have our own kiln here at Howard that staff can use if you’re trained, so if you’re interested in getting trained, see the linked flyer. They offer both basic and advanced classes.

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

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

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

September 3 (M)
Labor Day – No School
Possible EWEB Work – Limited Power to Building

September 4 (T)
9:00-10:00, Homework Committee Meeting (Conference Room)
10:00, Q&A Session for New Staff – Optional (Conference Room)
1:00-2:00, Meet Your Teacher & PTO Welcome Back Event

September 5 (W)
Classes Begin
PBIS Monthly Theme – Safety
7:30-8:00, Cup of Joe with the PTO (Front of School)

September 6 (H)
Regular Day

September 7 (F)
Bianca’s Last Day
10:15, Allan Reading to Lupe’s Class
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD (Volunteer’s Classroom)
4:00, KG Class Lists Posted

September 10 (M)
easyCBM Benchmark Testing Beings
Operation School Bell Forms Available

September 11 (T)
8:30-12:00, Allan to All-Admin and Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:40-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)

September 12 (W)
2:40-3:30, PBIS Meeting (Rae Room, RM1)

September 13 (H)
4:00-5:00, Parenting Now Presentation (Library)

September 14 (F)
easyCBM Benchmark Testing Ends
2:00-3:00, Medication Training by Nurse Robin
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD (Volunteer’s Classroom)

Have a great first week back and enjoy the Photo Safari pictures from last week below!

Allan

Photo Safari!

Team Charissa

 

Team Davina

Team Imelda

Team Jenefer

Team Racheal

Team Tyler

August 27, 2018

Greetings Roadrunners,

My giant candy dish will be full on Monday and I’m excited to see everyone this week!

Here’s the first regular edition of my weekly staff announcements, which I generally send out Sunday mornings and hope staff read by Tuesday night each week. I know my announcements can get long, but my intention is to only send one all-staff email each week, instead of firing off lots of emails throughout the week. They also get long because I try to cover of a lot of business items in an attempt to avoid the classic meeting-that-should-have-been-an-email scenario. And to help staff get though all of this efficiently, I try to make the heading for each item fairly descriptive so you can decide if that item is relevant to you or not. Here we go!

A record breaking 32 items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – For our Title 1 EA vacancy, we’ve hired Martha Murdock, who has previously worked as a BEST EA at Spring Creek and was with the KITS program here at Howard this summer. We also now have a new School Psychologist, Cassidy Toth who is new to 4J, but who we are very glad to have on-board. Please welcome Martha and Cassidy to the STELLAR Howard Team! For your reference, linked here is an updated 2018-2019 Staff List and linked here is an updated 2018-2019 Howard Map with names and room numbers.

• Updated 2017-2018 Master Schedule – Linked here and on the Howard Google Team Drive is a slightly updated 2018-2019 Master Schedule (PDF and XLS). Folk affected already know, but just so everyone else is in the loop.

• Classroom Schedules & Classroom Buddy Info to Lori – Speaking of schedules, as teachers solidify your daily schedules, remember to give Lori a copy. Also be sure to let her know who your Buddy classroom is. The master schedule has most of this information, but it doesn’t always reflect Classroom Buddy times, Library times, or other regularly scheduled activities outside of the classroom, which helps the office know where classes are when we need to locate students or staff.

• Howard Library News! – Below are library updates from our fabulous librarian, Julie Hopkins:

Hope everyone had a fun and relaxing summer, I was busy being a Mom and wife with a couple of small vacay’s and reading OBOB books :)

I will have my schedule available for library sign up at the circulation desk in the library starting on Monday August 27th. Please stop by or feel free to send me an email. I will finalized the library class schedule times, once all of our amazing teachers have submitted their requests. It would be wonderful if I could hear from everyone by Friday, August 31st at the latest.

Library classes will begin the first full week of school

• Sept 10th – 14th – 1st week of library. library/story cove expectations as well as surrounding areas.
• 17th – 21st – check out procedures and shelf expectations grades 3-5 will check out starting this week
• 24th – 28th – expectations, additional check out information 1 -2 grade will check out starting this week

I would like to please ask, that students continue to walk around the library and not use it a short cut, unless they are with an adult or have special permission. This includes mornings and after school, also. This helps in so many ways, thank you.

Looking forward to a great school year!

Julie Hopkins

• K-3 Smarty Ants Pilot Opportunity – Here’s a very cool opportunity! Susan Penrod asked if any Howard K-2 (and possibly 3rd grade) teachers are interested in piloting Smarty Ants, an online foundational reading program to accelerate students towards mastery (similar to DreamBox). Although intended for K-2, they said it may also be useful for below grade level 3rd graders. Susan would provide a training on how to use the program later in September or October, but this sounds like a great independent reading activity for students during Reading Tier II or Tier III times. Let me know by the end of the week if you’re interested and/or willing to be part of this pilot.

• Meet Your Teacher – During Meet Your Teacher on Tuesday, September 4th at 1:00, 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 flyer about the first day of school and parking lot 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 Days of School Plan – Our first and second day of school routine has worked well the past two years, so we’ll once again want all-hand-on-deck to help at 7:25 on Wednesday, September 5th and Thursday, September 6th. Here’s the plan for the first and second morning with students:

First Day
• Students will come in at 7:25 and get grab-and-go breakfasts. The wall separating the cafeteria and gym will be open.
• Classroom teachers, also at 7:25 when the doors open, will be in the cafeteria, gym, and courtyard to meet students. Each teacher will have tall t-square signs with teacher name and room number (except for kindergarten, who’s doing something different this year). 1st – 4th grade will meet in the Gym. KG and 5th will meet in the cafeteria &courtyard.
• Non-classroom staff, also starting at 7:25, will be at the front entrance, the gym, and the cafeteria to help guide students and families. All staff will be given class lists to help guide students as well as a handful of building maps to pass out.
• After the first bell at 7:50 rings, Allan will make a brief announcement from the stage and then dismiss classes to go to their classrooms. Non-classroom staff will have assigned areas to help with student flow and for students arriving late. Staff will be stationed at the front entrance, cafeteria & gym, the hallway corners of the library, and one person in each wing (upstairs and downstairs).

Second Day
• Starting this day, students will follow our normal routine, but non-classroom staff should still to be available one more day 7:25-7:50 to help students with that routine of breakfast, 1st – 5th to the playground, and lining up right before the 7:50 bell (I’ll put out the T-square classrooms signs to help students know where to line up). After the 7:50 bell rings, non-classroom staff should again take their same places as the day before to help guide any lost students or families.

Staff helping should hold onto their class lists and maps from Meet Your Teacher and the first day to help guide families on the second day. Linked here is the First & Second Day Map & Directions for where people 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! – 4J is aligning kindergarten start-of-the-year procedures across the district. For the first three days of school, all schools will have kindergarten students see all teachers and on Friday kinder teams will create class lists after having had time to get to know all students, which will then be posted outside the office on Friday, Sept. 7. Linked here is the letter that will be sent out to kindergarten families (English and Spanish)

• Power Outage Labor Day Weekend – EWEB needs to de-energize the main electrical service to the Howard building to complete their connections for their micro-grid install. This has been scheduled for Saturday, September 1st through Monday, September 3rd. Their plan is to complete work at their earliest opportunity this weekend, potentially complete by Sunday evening. However, they want Monday as a floater day just in case something comes up. The building back-up generator will be running during this time so there will be minimal lighting and only the red emergency outlets (mostly located in the office) will work. If you’re working over the weekend you should be able to make copies, but know that the internet will be down, so you won’t be able to print files from your laptop (unless you’re use a UBS drive with the copier). Also be aware if you have a mini-fridge in your classroom not to leave food in there that will spoil. And believe it or not, they were originally going to cut the power Friday morning, but I convinced them that was a bad idea (“Teachers wouldn’t mind a day off, right?” I believe is what was originally proposed to me.)

• Classified & Licensed Goals and Self Assessment – All staff, both classified and licensed, need to complete a self assessment before the end of September. Licensed staff need to complete their self assessment in TalentEd. Classified staff need to complete the Classified Employee Self Assessment form (PDF or DOC), but if you completed an end-of-year self assessment last school year, you do not need to do another one this fall, so really only new classified staff members need to complete the form and return it to me (or let me know if you completed the form at a prior school and I will contact that administrator).

• 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!

• Artist in Residence Survey – Howard is again getting two artists in residence this year, thanks to The Eugene Rotary, EEF, and ArtSpark. This year they are requiring one artist to be first semester and one second semester. Classroom teachers, please complete the linked Artist in Residence Google Form and that way I can bring a proposal ahead of time to the September Staff Meeting for a decision. Please look at the Lane Arts Artist in Residence webpages for details on each artist and let me know if you have any questions. Survey responses due the Friday, Sept. 14th.

• PBIS Rules Review – The PBIS Team will be meeting later this week to decide how we want to do our rules review with students. The past two years all classrooms used the Recess Rules Slide Show (PDF and Google Slides) before the first recess. For your reference, inked here are last year’s PBIS Teacher Checklist, the PBIS Back-to-School Rules, and the PBIS Rules Matrix. Stay tuned for this year’s plan.

• Optional Tech Trainings Head-Count (AMX @2:00, iPads @3:00) – Let me know if you think you will be attending either of these trainings, so Peggy and Misty can get an idea of how many people will be coming. At 2:00 in the STEAM Room, Peggy Vega, our Technology Support Specialist, will review how to use the classroom AMX System (cord set-up, connecting laptops for video/sound, whiteboard interactivity, voice amplification, ENZO, etc.). At 3:00 in the STEAM Room, Misty Jackson from the Tech Department will review how to use the new full-size iPads with keyboard cases we are getting for 3rd-5th grade, although much of this information will also apply to the iPad Minis at grade K-2.

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

August 28 (T) – 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 meet new staff members.

August 29 (W) – 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 all-staff Back-to-School Staff Meeting will begin at 8:00. We’ll go over some standard business items and will then move into our three main topics of the day. The first is an overview of the 4J Behavior Framework, which will apply to all staff and will be a year-long topic for licensed staff on Fridays. The next two topics are more teacher focused and will be around the Professional Learning Community (PLC) and the newly adopted social emotional curriculum, Second Step, which classified staff are welcome to, but not required to, stay for.

Later in the day at 2:00, Peggy (our Tech Support Specialist) will offer an optional training on how to use the classroom AMX System (cord set-up, connecting laptops for video/sound, whiteboard interactivity, voice amplification, ENZO, etc.). Any staff unfamiliar with these systems should attend and anyone else who’d like a refresher are welcome to join.

Following that tech training at 3:00, will be an optional iPad training on how to use the new full-size iPads with keyboard cases we are getting for 3rd-5th grade (see item below for more detail on that), which will be led by Misty Jackson.

August 30 (H) – The district 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 PE, Music, Library, Counselors, Kindergarten, etc.), so look for emails from the folks running those sessions for details. I’ll share more information once I receive it.

UPDATED: August 31 (F) – All licensed classroom, Title 1, and SPED staff will attend a district Math/LearnZillion training from 8:00-11:45. See the linked August 31 Math PD Flyer for details, but here’s the short version. Doors open at 7:30 for sign-in and socializing, with a hard-start at 8:00 (so come early and carpooling is encouraged). Lunch and travel time will be 11:30-12:45. The second half of the day, 12:45-4:00, will be back here at Howard, in the cafeteria, for BOTH classified and licensed staff and is a continuation of the Behavior Framework, focusing on PBIS Tier 1 universal practices to support and improve student behavior. The first three modules are “Classroom Management 1 – Arrange Orderly Physical Environment,” “Classroom Management 2 – Define, Teach, Acknowledge Rules and Expectations,” and “Classroom Management 3 – Define, Teach Classroom Routines.” Part-time classified staff should adjust their hours this day in order to attend the PBIS training in the afternoon.

Some Math PD FAQs…

• What do I need to bring with me? Lots of resources will be shared digitally so please bring your computer fully charged!
• What time do we need to be there? Where do I go? We’ll start promptly at 8:00 so make sure you leave time to park and walk in. Breakfast snacks and coffee are available so grab that before you settle in. But remember we start at 8:00! The schedule is right here… (refer to schedule)
• I can’t log into LearnZillion still. Email 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu or write your name, school, and grade on a sticky then put it on the parking lot at the training. Jaimee will check on it!
• I have a ton to do in my room. Why are we here? The sessions were designed based on teacher feedback from last year. Some options that have a more planning focus are “From Unit 0 to Unit 1” and Workshop 101. We get very few opportunities to share ideas and resources with peers.
• Any other questions… Wow – that’s a great question. Please make sure you get it down on a parking lot or into the follow-up feedback survey. Jaimee & the MTLs are great at responding!

September 3 (M) – Labor Day, No School

September 4 (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 may not always be easy to find, so I’ve set this time aside to be available for new folks. 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 5 (W) – The big show begins! See the above items regarding first day procedures.

• REPEAT: Breakfast Burrito Orders Due 8/27 – Wednesday, August 29th, from 7:30-8:00 will be our All-Staff Breakfast Burrito Gathering in the cafeteria before the Staff Meeting at 8:00. If you’d like a burrito, please complete linked Breakfast Burrito Order Google Form by Monday, August 27th at 9:00. You’ll need to log onto your 4J Google Account to complete the form. At the meeting I’ll also bring some donuts and bagels and other breakfast goodies if burritos aren’t your thing.

• New Staff Items of Note – 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:

• 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.

• 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.

• 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), 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. This will add the building calendar to your list of Google Calendars if you’re logged onto your Google account (whether that’s your personal 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, Peggy, 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, remember keep in mind changes to what can be recycled.

The following items will 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 will 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 – As a reminder to staff, if you ever need assistance with anything technology related, you should send an email to 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu or call x7777, but do not email Peggy directly. The reasons staff staff are asked to put in tickets are numerous, including but are not limited to:

• To get an accurate accounting of the workload for your 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 could indicate that a school doesn’t need as much tech support time as it is currently getting. In looking at current data, they believe this is because the staff at some schools may be emailing or talking directly to the TSS instead of putting 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.

• BEST Updates – ODE approved 4Js BEST Grant application, so BEST will once again return to Howard (Spring Creek’s program was moved to McCornack) and is funded for the next three years. We’re still hiring for a coordinator, but Bryan will return as the Academic Coordinator, which should give us some program continuity since he coordinatored the program for a majority of last year. BEST is scheduled to start on Wednesday, September 26th and if you’re interested, linked here the the BEST Calendar for the school year.

• easyCBM Release Days (K-1 Only) – Downtown is limiting which grade levels can access sub days to conduct easyCBM benchmark testing to only kindergarten and 1st grade. The logic of this is that these are the grade levels that have multiple tests that require 1:1 testing.

• Homework Policy Update – At the end of last school year the homework committee meet and we came up with the following guiding beliefs for our building-wide homework policy for this school year:

• All classes will send a weekly reading and/or math log of some sort. Teacher are welcome to come up with their own method of collecting this information, but we’ll make available some half-sheet templates teachers can use.
• Teachers may send games or other activities home for students to optionally do with their families.
• Classes may send worksheets home with all 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 have a letter regarding homework that I will send home with the September School Newsletter so families know this is a building-wide practice. I’ll send the letter first to the committee members to make sure it accurately captures what we decided.

• Howard Google Team Drive View-Only – I’ve changed staff access on the Howard Google Team Drive to “View Only,” which still allows you to view and to also download files to your desktop or Google Drive. I’ve learned this past year from being on a number of district admin Google Team Drives that it’s pretty easy for people to accidentally delete or change files without realizing it, so learning from those mistake, I’ve modified everyone’s access to view only. If you need edit/upload access, let me know and I’ll give it to you, or if you just want to add a file, send it to me and I can add it. Also, let me know if you are having trouble accessing the Team Drive.

• Second Step Pacing Guide – I’ll have additional information about Second Step, the new social emotional learning (SEL) and bully-proofing curriculum to supplement the Caring School Community program (formerly Caring for Kids), but linked here and also on the Howard Google Team Drive is the Second Step Year-Long Pacing Guide.

• NCU Practicum Student Placements – HR sent principals information on practicum students needs needing fall placements. There are students from NCU and Western. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll forward your name to HR.

• New SPED Referral Process – SSD is going to be implementing a new referral system for both School Psychologist and SLP’s this fall. Due to the shortage of psychologist and consultants and a need to tighten up process for us all, they are implementing a new process that can be run by data teams to ensure efficient and proper referral of students for evaluation. They would like to encourage the use of equitable practices and data based decision making when we are moving towards evaluation, and this new process will help SSD staff in being able to deliver just that. It is imperative that all schools are following these new procedures and using the new form so the psychs and the SLP’s are able to lead and direct our team when it is time to move forward with an evaluation. Linked here is the new 4J Special Education Referral Process. SSD will be going over this at a principals’ meeting next month, so I will have more information regarding the new process then.

• GoFundMe Not Allowed for Class Fundraising – Secretaries were told that staff are not allowed to use GoFundMe to fundraise for school activities since the money goes directly to the staff member and there is not the accountability piece compared with DonorsChoose.org where items are sent directly to the school. However, EEF has started a new Fundraising Partnership Program for parent groups and schools, one part of which is hosting online fundraisers on Network for Good (NFG). If you’re interested, see the above link.

• New Math Website TumbleMath – Misty Jackson shared with principals a new resource that is available for free until November 30th. The company that produces TumbleBooks now has TumbleMath. It includes lesson plans and quizzes that are aligned to common core standards. The linked email provides details for accessing the free trial.

• Teacher Appreciation with the Ducks! – The UO is holding two teacher appreciation football games on 9/8 and 9/15. Tickets will be discounted to $36 per seat for all school staff (both classified and licensed) as well as anyone you want to bring. Just visit the UO Ticket Order website and type in the promo code “2018TEACH’ to redeem your discount. See the flyer for details.

▪ Dry Marker Recycling – A former Howard teacher, Carol Pitetti, let me know about a free program I hadn’t heard of, ColorCycle by Crayola, who will recycle all brands of markers (including dry erase markers & highlighter) that have dried out, so I’ve signed-up our school and will put a box in the downstairs workroom for people to fill with any dead markers. Once it’s full I’ll slap on a label and send it off to Crayola at no cost to us!

• District Admin Updates – Joyce Smith-Johnson will be leaving Holt to join the SSD team as an administrator at the Fox Hollow campus. Dan Sterling (who I went to principal school with) will be the new principal at Holt, returning to our 4J staff after working as an administrator at Portland Public Schools, Lake Oswego School District, and most recently at Centennial Elementary in Springfield. Denisa Taylor is the new principal at Twin Oaks, coming from Chávez, where she has been principal for the past eleven years. Deirdre Pearson is the new Chávez principal, having worked as an administrator in Ashland and most recently in Bandon, where she served as both middle school principal and special education director.

• Setting the Tone for September – The latest issue of ASCD Express has some nice article on starting the year right. Students should love being in school. Students should feel safe and valued. Students should know we expect the best from them. These may be some of your hopes for students’ first impressions of you and your classroom. How do you establish these individual or schoolwide values in the first weeks of school? What helps you set the tone—from relationships to routines to policies—and sustain these values all year long?Articles include “What to Do in Week One,” “Four Core Organization Tips for Any Elementary Educator,” and “Stories Are All We Are.”

• Relationships Matter More Than Rules – I shared this last year, but I really liked the thesis of this Edutopia article on the importance of building positive relationships and creating positive community within the classroom at the start of the school year. Meaningful relationships matter for learning. The rules and policies you enforce are important for keeping a well-managed class, but rather than emphasizing control over your students, developing community and connection is a surefire ingredient for a good school year for all. Try the strategies in the above linked article to begin forging strong relationships.

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

August 28 (M)
8:00, Allan to New Employee Welcome to 4J Breakfast (Ed Center)
9:00, Breakfast Burrito Orders Due!
3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Ed Center)

August 28 (T)
Licensed Staff Report Back
8:30, Welcome Back Breakfast Gathering (Staff Room)

August 29 (W)
Classified Staff Report Back
7:30-8:00, Welcome Back Breakfast Burrito Gathering (Cafeteria)
8:00-12:30, Back-to-School Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)
1:00, PBIS Team Meeting (Rae’s Room, RM1)
2:00, Optional Classroom Tech/AMX Review w/Peggy (STEAM Room, RM16)
3:00, Optional iPad Training w/Misty (STEAM Room, RM16)

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

August 31 (F)
8:00-11:30, K-2 Math/LearnZillion PD (Holt)
8:00-11:30, 3-5, Title, SPED Math/LearnZillion PD (Chavez)
12:00, 1st-5th Class Lists Posted
12:45-4:00, Classified & Licensed PBIS Behavior Modules Training (Cafeteria)
2:00-3:30, Preschool Promise Parent Orientation (Preschool, RM12)

September 1 (SA)
EWEB Work – Limited Power to Building

September 2 (SU)
EWEB Work – Limited Power to Building

September 3 (M)
Labor Day – No School
Possible EWEB Work – Limited Power to Building

September 4 (T)
8:00-10:00, Potential Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)
10:00, Q&A Session for New Staff – Optional (Conference Room)
1:00-2:00, Meet Your Teacher & PTO Welcome Back Event

September 5 (W)
Classes Begin
PBIS Monthly Theme – Safety
7:30-8:00, Cup of Joe with the PTO (Front of School)

September 6 (H)
Regular Day

September 7 (F)
Bianca’s Last Day
1:25, Recess Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD (Volunteer’s Classroom)
4:00, KG Class Lists Posted

See you soon!

Allan

June 14, 2018

Hi Everyone,

Here are a few mid-week items of note I wanted to send out before the end of the year:

• Staffing Updates – I’m pleased to announce that joining Imelda, Lupe, and Suzy on the 5th grade team next year will be Zach Stone, who’s currently teaching 4th grade here at Howard. And with Becky sadly leaving us (though not really since Matt will still be here), that leaves a vacancy at 4th grade, but to fill that position I’m going to transfer Justine to join Carla and Jenny on the 4th grade team. This leaves a vacancy at 1st grade, which I have just submitted a posting for and will hopefully go up next Wednesday or the following Wednesday, so if you know of any excellent candidates, please encourage them to apply. I’m tentatively planning to conduct interviews the morning of Thursday, July 12th if anyone wants to join Jessy, Nicole, and myself on the interview committee. Just let me know.

• Classroom Assignment Updates – Linked here is an updated 2018-2019 Class Assignment Map. Regarding space for next year, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Howard is now officially off the table as a potential future home for Corridor. The bad news is that downtown is unable to relocate SSD’s Early Childhood Team next year and I’ve instead had to ask for the Family Resource Center (Room 5) to move and become our fourth 5th grade classroom. I’m sad to lose the FRC, but I’m hopeful they will be able to come back after next year when ECT relocates to Kennedy MS.

• Classroom Room Numbers – Related to the above, Facilities informed me this week that we have to display our original confusing classroom numbering system (i.e. A101, A202, B101, B202, etc.) because maps with these numbers were provided to emergency services. However, we will stick with our current numbering system for ourselves, students, and families. What we’ll do is remove the small nameplates covering the old room numbers and will display OUR numbers in the paper sign holder portion of each nameplates outside each classroom. I can either provide folks with a bright strip to put in your class sign holder or you can incorporate a room number into your own custom nameplate display.

• Summer School Updates – I’ve gotten an update on Summer School building use, and only downstairs classrooms are going to be used. ESY will use downstairs blue and yellow wing classrooms. KITS and EEP will use downstairs green wing classrooms, along with the Community Room. There’s always a possibility this may change, so all teachers should still secure your areas, but I’ll let individual upstairs teachers know if I find out your classrooms will be used.

• NO COPIES FOR NEXT YEAR (yet) – Yes, I am shouting this. We are WAY over on our copy count for this year, so DO NOT run any copies for next school year until August. 

• Math Updates – Three math updates:

• Website: http://eugene4j.learnzillion.com will be updated throughout the summer and accessibility will vary. It is likely our first section of units in each grade will be under construction as of June 15th until early July.

• Materials: Our first set of student workbooks will arrive in buildings late August. As of this time, we will not be reprinting teacher guides or Investigation game binders. (There may be a few exceptions for 4th grade teachers who is receiving a new pacing that shifts some unit order for Year 2.)

• NEW/MOVING grade-levels in buildings: Please remember that school should keep and store all manipulative kit plastic tubs. If you had a grade-level reduction or increase, we will be attempting to move manipulative kits where needed around August too. Please make sure teachers moving grades or buildings have inventoried their kits and repackaged them into the plastic bin they arrived in.

• EEF Grant Update – EEF has awarded us our $5,000 Dreambox grant for next year, which is huge! We unfortunately did not get any of our other grants funded at this time. 

• Master Schedule Coming – We’re close to having something to share and I’ll share it and solicit feedback as soon as we have a few wrinkles ironed out. Stay tuned!

• 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 15 (F)

Last Day for Students, Early Release
Last Day for 192 & 196 Day Classified Employees
Sugar field to Emerald Park
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

11:05, K-5 Dismissal
11:30, Staff Last Day of School Root Beer Float & Ice Cream Sundae Party and Staff Farewell Celebration (Cafeteria)

June 18 (M)
Last Day for Licensed Staff
2:00-4:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Library)
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

June (H)
Allan’s Last Day

July 12 (H)
8:30-12:30, 1st Grade Interviews (tentative)

July 26 (H)
Allan Reports Back to Work

August 28 (T)
Licensed Staff Report Back

August 29 (W)
Classified Staff Report Back
Howard Staff Back-to-School Staff Meeting

Enjoy the pictures below of some of this week’s fun so far!

Allan

 

May 14, 2018

Hi All,

I’d like to congratulate Howard’s ACE Award Nominees, Ashley, Becky, Katie, and Rae! Each of your are very deserving of your nominations, so thank you for all your work! We have many folks in our building worthy of ACE Awards, and it always makes us look good when multiple people working at our school receive nominations. ACE nominees will be celebrated at the awards ceremony at Churchill High School on Wednesday, May 23, 5:30–7:00PM. The event is free and open to the public. Nice work, you four!

Twenty-one items of note for this week:

• May 25th Howard PD Day – I’m still finalizing the times on the agenda for Howard’s final Academy Day (we won’t have any after this year with the new Standard School Schedule), but we’ll meet in a volunteer’s classroom from 8:00-12:00. Topics for the meeting will include Tech Sharing, Business Items (CTL Reports & Field Day Info), New Science Equipment Sharing, ECET2 Team Sharing, Homework Policy Review, and an introduction to the district-wide PLC model rolling out to all elementary schools next year. This is all pretty teacher-focused, so classified staff are welcome to attend, but not required.

• Tech Trot & All-School Selfie Wednesday – The Tech Trot is in this Wednesday and the schedule will be:

• 8:15-9:00 – 2nd & 3rd Grade
• 9:15-10:00 – 4th & 5th Grade
• 10:15-11:00 – Kinder & 1st Grade

Kids will run the track for 30 minutes and will collect bands for each lap they run/jog/walk around the track. Drinks and snacks will also be provided for students at the end.

Student t-shirts will arrive Tuesday, but DO NOT hand them out until Wednesday (additional shirts ordered by families may go home earlier). Please put all fundraiser envelopes you receive in Lori’s Office.

For the all-school photo, make sure your students are in their matching shirts. We’ll meet in the courtyard at 12:50. See the linked All-School Photo Map and Directions for where classes will stand to have their picture taken from the green wing balcony. We may need to adjust positions once we get out there, but I think we’ll all fit in frame. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Staffing Updates – Good news! Howard received additional staffing to add a fourth 5th grade classroom next year. It did come with the caveat that this will be a “district pool hire” meaning that that if in the fall we do not have the enrollment to justify an additional teacher, the district will move the teacher to another building, which is something I feel is completely fair and reasonable. Since this is a pool hire, I will not be the hiring administrator, but I will be on the interview committee, which should happen sometime this spring.

Where this classroom will be located is still to-be-determined, but the SSD Early Childhood Team (ECT) is having to move out of Howard to make room for our added classroom, and the confirmed moves are; Becky moving into Erin’s Room, Erin moving into the ECT Room, Katie moving into Jill’s Room, and Imelda moving into Katie’s Room.

• 18/19 Student Textbook Needs – Since we’re adding a fourth 5th grade classroom, I know we’ll need an additional set of teacher guides for reading, writing, math, and Caring School Community. If your grade level needs any additional students texts or teacher guides, let me know by Friday, so I have enough time to track them down between now and the end of the school year. To help teacher know what you’ll need for next year, our current student count per grade level for next year is: KG (75 projected), 1st (76), 2nd (87), 3rd (80), 4th (86), 5th (88).

• REPEAT: Journeys & Being a Writer Materials Order DUE FRIDAY – Related to the above item, orders are due this Friday by following this link for Journeys and Being a Writer Materials for next school year. See the linked Piktochart for details.

• EA Supervisor Meeting Updates – Recess supervisors met last week and clarified a few playground rules. The team will plan to review all of our playground rules before the end of the year to aww if there are any other changes we want to make before next fall.

• Twirling on Bars, NO – Students are not allowed to twirl (i.e. spinning around) on the playground bars because there are no actual twirl bars and all of our bars have attached rings.

• Flipping on Rings, YES – It is okay for students to hang by their hands and flip (as a kid, we called it “skin the cat”) as long as they are not hanging upside down for an extended amount of time. For the larger structure, only 4th and 5th grade students may flip due to the hight of the structure.

• Sitting on Spinners, YES – It’s okay for students to sit on the spinners if they are using it by themselves, though not if someone is trying to push them since the pusher would likely get kicked.

• Pencils, Papers, and Books on Playground, YES – It’s okay for students to bring pencils and papers onto the playground as long as they are not running with pencils and using them appropriately. It’s also okay for students to bring books out to the playground as long as they are not library books.

• Circular Crows Nest Sitting, YES for now – This was our controversial item, but the rule for now is that older students who can safely climb onto the “Crows Nets” may sit on the bottom ring as long as they are doing so safely. If they are not using it safely, or sitting on the top ring, they will not be allowed to use the crows nest.

• Class Lists/Student Info Formats? – It’s time to start thinking about next year’s class lists! Last year we used a Google Sheet for class lists instead of old timey placement cards. See the linked Sample Class List Sheet. If the headings look good (IEP, ELD, Behavior, Title, TAG, General Functioning/Ability) I’ll share a Google Sheet for teachers to start adding students. Let me know by Friday if there is anything you think should be changed, added, or deleted. One change I am making this year is to limit who has access to edit, because last year some changes were made that weren’t processed with everyone involved. All staff will have view access and grade level teachers will have editing access to the next grade level up.

• Updated Artist in Residence Schedule – Linked here is what is hopefully the final 3/4/5/ Artist in Residence Schedule for Merideth Ferrell (Silk Painting). There’s been a lot of negotiation on this one. Jenny and Carla/Zach are the ones who had changes from the last schedule. Hopefully none of you see a need for any further changes at this point. The schedule for the K/1/2 artist, Maiya Becker (ReUse Art) is the same.

• Master Schedule Recess/Lunch Survey Results – A majority of the response to the recess/lunch survey for next year were for a 20 minute morning recess and a 40 minute lunch/recess (with 5-minutes shaved off of each recess on early release days). There were 14 total responses, with 57.1% wanting the above option, 28.6% wanting the 15/30/15 minute option, and 14.3% wanting the 15/35/10 minute option. Broken out by licensed and classified staff responses, the 20/40 minute lunch option was the top choice for both groups, so this is the plan we will move forward with. Once the district standard schedule is finalized and once we know how PE and Music will work for next year, we’ll start the process for developing next year’s master schedule. I’ve shared earlier that that the master schedule development process will be that first, workshop staff will develop a draft schedule, and then a committee of interested staff will work on fleshing out the schedule. We’ll prioritize scheduling for grade levels with larger classes and higher needs.

• Pride Awards: Excellence, May 23rd – Not this week, but next week on Wednesday, May 23rd during lunchtime in the cafeteria will be our PRIDE Awards for Excellence. Teachers should remind students about PRIDE and the meaning of Excellence (“Do Your Personal Best”), and then pick 2-3 students who have demonstrated Excellence. Be sure to get the Excellence PRIDE Certificates to me before the 23rd so I can sign them and get them organized. And remember to send home the PRIDE Award Invitations to parents before the event.

• Fire Drill, May 24th at 1:35 – Also not this week, but next week is the May fire drill. We’ll make it easy on ourselves and hold the drill while two grade levels are on a field trips, so it will be Thursday, May 24th at 1:35.

• Howard PTO Carnival Info – The PTO emailed information about the annual Howard PTO Carnival to teachers, but didn’t include all staff, so see the above link if you’d like to read more about their Beep, Beep, Best Day Ever!

• Student Laptop Printing Disabled – I’ve had to ask Peggy to disable student printing from laptops to copiers due to unnecessary printouts continuing to get sent to copiers. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it’s unfortunately necessary. There was about five reams of “Hi” sent to a copier that was only stopped when the job got cancelled at the copier. If students do need to print something, have them share the file with their teacher.

• Preschool Promise Recruiting – If you know of any low-income families (they must be 200% below poverty level) who have preschool age children ages 3-5, please let them know about Howard’s Preschool Promise program. Information and application forms (English and Spanish) are available on the Howard website and in the office. If they have questions, encourage them to contact Gretchen by phone (541-790-4957) or email (baxter_g@4j.lane.edu)

• Students Saving Hot Lunch Items – It was asked if students can take leftover food from the cafeteria back to class to take home. The answer is that it is okay to take unopened or uneaten items, such apples or string cheese that don’t make messes, if students are going straight back to class from the cafeteria or if they place the item in their classroom lunch basket before going out to recess, but students may not take food onto the playground.

• Window Tint Trial – Facilities is testing a more solid of window tint in Erin’s Room (RM27) if you want to check it out. You’ll also notice a cardboard triangle on the interior reflecting shelf, which is a trial to see about eliminating the direct light above that space. If it works, then it would be a section of metal or Plexiglas in the final configuration. PiVOT Architecture is coming by at some point to take light readings across the white board on one sunny afternoon.

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

• REPEAT: PTO Meeting Tuesday at 6:00 – Tuesday at 6:00 in the Community Room is the May PTO meeting where we’ll vote in next year’s PTO Board. It would be great if any staff are able to volunteer their time to come show support for our new board of parent volunteers!

• REPEAT: 2/3 Ukulele Club Assembly Friday, May 18th – This Friday is the 3rd Grade Ukulele Club Performance for 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. See the linked Assembly Map & Directions for details.

• Guiding Students to a Healthy Math Identity – Young mathematicians need to see that the keys to success are passion and dedication, not speed and always being right. Helping children shift from the fixed mindset—one that says some people were born to be great mathematicians while others are doomed to struggle—is critical to supporting the next generation of math students. See this Edutopia article for details!

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

May 14 (M)
Library – Last Week of Checkout (1 book per student)
Artist in Residence #2 (Maiya Becker, ReUse Art, K-2 & LS) Continues
3/4/5 Math Performance Task
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

May 15 (T)
3/4/5 Math Performance Task
11:00-12:30, Allan Leading PBIS Tour for New Zealand Principal
2:00-3:00, Allan Helping at KITS Interviews (Ed Center)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Community Room)

May 16 (W)
8:15-9:00, 2/3 Tech Trot Event (Track)
9:15-10:00, 4/5 Tech Trot Event (Track)
10:15-11:00, K/1 Tech Trot Event (Track)

May 17 (H)
3/4/5 Math Performance Task Make-Ups

May 18 (F)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
9:25-11:45, KG to Shedd Field Trip
11:00-12:50, All School BBQ (Cafeteria)
11:30, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Office)
1:30-1:55, Ukulele Club Assembly (Gym)
4:00-Sunday, Allan and Howard ECET2 Team to Portland
7:00-8:00, String Academy Concert (Kelly MS)

May 21 (M)
Library – Book Return Week
10:00-11:00, UO SPICE Visit to Jill & Lupe
3:30, 5th Grade Teachers Meet w/Kelly for MS Transitions

May 22 (T)
8:15-11:15, Allan to Elem. Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
9:15-9:45, Kelly Students Visit Howard 5th graders
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa/Mariah’s Room, RM23)
5:00-7:00, BEST/YMCA Family Pizza & Movie Night (Cafeteria)

May 23 (W)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
9:15-10:15, Howard Students Visit Kelly (KMS)
11:00-12:45, PRIDE Awards at Lunch (Excellence)

May 24 (H)
June Newsletter Article Due
8:00-5:00, 5th Grade OMSI Field Trip
8:00-5:00, 2nd Grade Zoo Field Trip
1:35, Fire Drill

May 25 (F)
Howard PD Day, No School
BOGO Book Fair Set-Up
8:00-12:00, Staff Meeting/PD (Cafeteria)

May 28 (M)
Memorial Day, No School

FUN FACT! This week is our last full 5-day week of the school year! There’s a PD day next week, Memorial Day the following week, Grading Day the next week, and the final week of the school year has an 11:05 dismissal on the last day, so it’s practically summer!

Allan

April 23, 2018

 

Hello Superstar Howard Staff,

This Wednesday is Administrative Professionals’ Day where we recognize the dedicated work of office staff, and Howard is incredibly lucky to have the AMAZING Lori and Bianca on the front lines for our school. From blood, barf, tears, anger, and occasional life coaching, on top of all the typical office duties you’d expect in a normal office environment, we have a pair of rock stars in the Howard office looking out and taking care of us each an every day. Thank you, Lori and Bianca!

Sixteen items of note for this week:

• Job Expo Update – Imelda Cortez was offered and accepted our 5th grade position. Imelda is currently teaching 4th grade at Adams, where she’s worked the past five years (Ms. Cortez is who my 3rd grader at Adams wanted next year), and has previously taught primary grades at River Road for eight years and kindergarten at Howard for one year. Imelda is also a former Howard student, which now makes five of us in the exclusive Former-Howard-Student-Now-Employee Club. Please welcome Imelda to the Awesome Howard Team!

• Summer Programs at Howard – Howard will be hosting three programs in our building this summer; SSD’s Extended School Year (ESY) program, Kids in Transition to School (KITS), and the Early Education Summer Program (EEP). ESY will use thirteen classrooms and will run 8:30-11:30, TWH from July 10 through August 2. KITS will use the Preschool, Family Resource Center (RM1), and the Community Room for 16-20 student & families and will run 9:00-11:00, TWH from July 2 through August 23. EEP will use three classrooms and will run 8:30-4:30, MTWHF from July 9 through August 17. The general plan is to primarily use first floor classrooms, but we may need to use an upstairs wings as well. I’ll do a walkthrough with the facilities before the end of the school year to help determine where all of the programs will be located and will notify staff who are effected (so you can lock up and cover your stuff!). I don’t have much more information than this, but l’ll let people know more once I get details.

• Don’t Touch the OAKS Testing Snacks – If you notice the snacks on top of and inside the Staff Room refrigerators, these are for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders during state testing, so know that they are NOT up for grabs. 3/4/5 teachers, there are four different snacks (with some extras for make-up day on Friday), so help yourself to a class set of each when you are ready for them.

• May 4th Math PD Day – Not this Friday, but next Friday is a 4J Math Professional Development Day. Jaimee Massie sent the linked May 4th PD Day Flyer with details. For licensed staff, teachers grades 3-5 and Title/SPED teachers will meet 8:00-11:15 at Holt, and teachers grades K-2 will meet 12:00-3:15 at Holt. For classified staff, there will be an EA Extravaganza this same morning. Details on that event are coming soon.

• PTO Meeting Updates – The PTO had a good turnout for this meeting, which was great because we were seeking nominations for new board members and most every position had someone sign up! Other items worth noting are that the PTO is working on Staff Appreciation Week, May 7-11, the Tech Trot jog-a-thon fundraiser, and the “Beep! Beep! Best Day Ever!”

• Dreambox Staff Meeting Follow-Up – Here are some links from the webinar that may be useful during your implementation of DreamBox Learning:

• Client Success – Linked here is the Dreambox Support Site, which is full of helpful articles on all the tools and features DreamBox offers, including troubleshooting steps if you have any difficulty. Their support team can be contacted by phone at 877-451-7845, ext. 3 or by email at support@dreambox.com

• Other Resources – In the Resources section of your Dashboard are videos, certificates for students, calendars, and the Teacher Tools to use with classes.

• Webinar Recording – Here’s a link to a recording of the Dreambox Webinar from our staff meeting.

 

• Return Cafeteria Trays & Snack Tubs by 12:50 – Please remember to return all cafeteria trays and snack tubs to the cafeteria by 12:50 each day. If you have students eating in your classroom, send their trays back before this time. The same goes for the FFVP snack tubs. They need to be returned by 12:50 daily because this is when the last load gets cleaned by our dishwasher before she has to leave for another job.

• Library Items of Note – Two announcements from Julie:

• Library Available During Testing – I would like to offer an option for students who are done testing for the day. Please feel free to send students that may need a place outside class to work on projects or classwork to the library. I am happy to help, please let me know if there is anything else the library can do. I am out of the library 9:25 -9:45 and 11:40-12:20 for duties. :) Linked here is the Library Schedule.

• Staff Use of Library Browsers – If staff use the computers in the library for checking email or other tasks, remember to close out your search or email when finished along with your secure login. Staff are likely best off opening a “Private” or “Incognito” window, which will automatically delete your logins and passwords once you close the window.

• UDPATE: Strings Academy Next Year – I spoke with the director of the Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras (ESYO) and we may be able to continue our String Academy program next year for students free of charge. She said the main expense is paying the teacher, which is about $5,000 a year and they already have half of that covered from a donor who wants to support the program specifically here at Howard. She is going to speak to the ESYO board to see if they will provide funds to cover the difference. They really want to support the Howard program since we’ve always had the highest participating rate and that we’ve always been so supportive of the program. I’m also thinking I may write an EEF grant for the program, although since it’s a lot of money for a smaller group of kids, Site Council will likely rank it lower on our list of grant priorities.

• REPEAT: Journeys & Being a Writer Materials Order (DUE May 18) – Grade level teams should meet to decide what Journeys and Being a Writer materials you want to order for next school year. See the linked Piktochart from the staff meeting for details. Complete this Survey Link before Friday, May 18th and let me know if you have any questions.

• REPEAT: PBIS Kindness Challenge & Assembly – See Rae and Jill’s emails for details, but linked here is the Assembly Map & Directions for the PBIS Kindness Extravaganza on Wednesday. K-2 is 8:45-9:10 and 3-5 is 9:20-9:45.

• REPEAT: EEF Grant Applications Due MONDAY – Grant proposals are due to me by Monday before Site Council. All I need before the meeting is a title and brief description. See the linked EEF website or linked email for details.

• REPEAT: Tech Trot Prizes/Incentives Volunteers? – We have a few staff volunteers for the Tech Trot Incentives, but it would be fun to have more. Let me know ASAP if any of you are willing to do the following:

• Be a special guest at a fun lunch with 2 kids from each class
• Get a whip cream pie in the face at an assembly
• Get duck taped to a wall or post
• Do a lip synch battle at an assembly

• Seesaw Tips – Remember there are a ton of Seesaw Resources to help teachers, including specific ideas you can use tomorrow. You can also check their schedule of online professional development webinars (PD in your PJs) for teachers every month.

• Every student is a mathematics language learner – While the need for language supports – both content and context specific — for English language learners in math classes is increasingly evident to educators, it is also important for educators to realize how much these semantic supports benefit many of their other students as well. See this ASCD article for more.

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

April 22 (SU)
Earth Day

April 23 (M)
EEF Grants Due to Allan
May School Newsletter Articles Due
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
8:30-2:30, Allan to Report Card Revision Team Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room)

April 24 (T)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
8:15-11:15, Allan to Elem. Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
8:30-12:30, LCC Dental Clinic
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa/Mariah’s Room, RM23)

April 25 (W)
Administrative Professionals’ Day
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
8:45-9:10, K-2 PBIS Kindness Extravaganza (Gym)
9:20-9:45, 3-5 PBIS Kindness Extravaganza (Gym)
2:30-3:30, Student Care Meeting (Conference Room)

April 26 (H)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day
11:00-1:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
2:15, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)

April 27 (F)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
9:00-12:00, 1st Grade Near By Nature Field Trip – Chunn/Kerins
11:00-12:50, April Birthday Lunches With the Principal (Community Room)

April 30 (M)
Children’s Book Week
Children’s Book Day
3/4/5 OAKS ELA CAT

May 1 (T)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA CAT
PBIS Monthly Theme – Positive Attitude
Better Hearing & Speech Month 2018
9:00-12:00, 1st Grade Near By Nature Field Trip – Corliss

May 2 (W)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA CAT
9:20, 5th Grade Group Photo (front of building)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

May 3 (H)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA CAT
12:00-3:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)

May 4 (F)
No School — Professional Development/Planning Day (Math)
8:00-12:00, EA Extravaganza! (Time is Tentative)
8:00-11:15, SPED/Title/Grades 3-5 Teachers Math PD (Holt)
12:00-3:15, Grades K-2 Teachers Math PD (Holt)

Have a good week, everyone!

Now enjoy some snarky Administrative Professionals’ Day memes.

Allan

 

 

 

 

April 9, 2018

 

Hi Everyone,

This week is National Library Week and Tuesday is National Library Workers Day, when we recognize the hard work, dedication, and expertise of all library workers. Howard is very lucky to have such a great librarian in Julie, where she makes our library a warm and welcoming place for student and families to be excited about reading! Thank you for all your work, Julie!

Fourteen items of note for this week:

• 4J School Schedule Updates & Community Forum – At a principals meeting last Friday, principals were asked to let staff know that the draft 2018-2019 schedule shared earlier is very much only a draft and is NOT going to be the schedule we end up using. District staff, in collaboration with EEA, are working on revisions that include looking at revising the dismissal times and also changing for some schools which ones are starting earlier and which ones are starting later (i.e. maybe River Road and Howard swapping start times). Gustavo said everything is on the table at this point. The district is also providing an additional opportunity for community input at a 4J School Schedule Community Forum on Wednesday, April 18 at 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM at the Ed Center. And to keep in perspective why these change are needed, which I whole heartedly agree with, are to ensure equal instructional minutes across the district and to ensure schools are meeting state standards for instructional hours.

• Math PD Survey Closes Monday – This was emailed to staff by downtown last week, but as a reminder, classified and licensed staff who attended last Monday’s Math PD should fill out the linked Math PD Google Survey. This is your chance to provide feedback on the PD and to give input on the May Math PD. The survey will close Monday afternoon.

• EEF Grant Applications Due to Allan APRIL 23rd – I made a mistake on my EEF note last week. Howard Site Council will rank order grant proposals at our April 23rd meeting, so grant ideas are due to me before that meeting. Grant proposals do not need to be completely written out before the 23rd, but at least tell me the title and general idea. May 15th is the deadline to submit the final grant applications to EEF. Take note that EEF prioritizes requests that support educational enrichment, equity and/or access programs, and that impact the largest number of students possible. EEF prioritizes grants that relate to the Arts, Literacy, and STEM. Grant requests may be requested in any amount up to $5000. Schools may submit up to 5 grant requests total. See the linked EEF website or linked email for details.

• ECET2 Oregon Conference Opportunity – Thanks to Erin being one of the organizers, Howard has the opportunity to send a team of 3-4 teachers (possibly more and myself) to the ECET2 Conference in Portland the weekend of May 18-20. This event was held in Eugene last year and I heard great things about it. ECET2 stands for Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers. It was born out of a desire to provide a forum for exceptional teachers to learn from one another and to celebrate the teaching profession. The convening experience is designed to inform and inspire colleagues, develop attendees’ leadership potential, and collaboratively hone their craft. Participation in this event is strictly voluntary and without any monetary compensation, but hotel and some meals are provided. If you attend this event, you’ll be expected to take on a leadership role back at the building to help spearhead some of the work that comes out of the conference. Let me know by Wednesday if you’re interested and let me know if you have any questions.

• Facilities Items – Five unrelated, but important facilities items:

• Furniture Away from Windows – We’ve had a number of interior classroom blinds starting to fray and no longer retracting properly because classroom furniture is left pushed up against the windows, not allowing them to drop down and retract evenly. DO NOT leave any shelves, chairs, desks, beanbags, or other furniture under the curtains. Curtains would be very expensive to replace, so please do this easy fix to prevent unnecessary expenses.

• Fire Marshal & Twinkle Lights – The Fire Marshall clarified a couple points about twinkle lights on her inspection follow-up last week. If you want to use twinkle lights in your classroom, they must be:

• LED
• no more than two stands connected
• not mounted on the ceiling
• not hung up more than 90 days

If you have questions on this, please let me know.

• Wanted or Unwanted Mushroom Stools? – Family School asked to try out some of our mushroom stools. Is there anyone who has stools they DO NOT want? Also, is there anyone who DOES WANT stools, but doesn’t currently have them, since I don’t want to loan something out staff here are needing. Let me know by the end of the week if you want stools or want to get rid of any.

• Recycling Changes (When in doubt, throw it out!) – Effective Monday, the waste haulers that serve customers within the City of Eugene will begin only accepting a redefined list of items for recycling. The following items will 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 will 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 linked email and flyer for details.

• EWEB Micro-Grid Project this Summer – 4J and EWEB are working on an agreement that will allow EWEB to install equipment for our school to be a site for public to obtain supplies in the event of an major emergency. The first phase of this project is taking place this summer and they are going to need access to the electrical room, storage area and clouded region outside the building on the linked map.

• 2018-2018 Classroom Moves – Everyone effected by these already knows, but just so everyone knows the current plans… Stephanie and Rhonda will teach their 3rd grade job-share in Rhonda’s Room (Room 17, upstair yellow-wing). The SSD Early Childhood Team (Room 21, upstairs blue-wing) is moving to Becky’s Room (Room 19, upstairs yellow-wing). Becky, who’ll be teaching 4th grade next year, is moving into Erin’s Room (Room 22, upstairs green-wing). Erin, who’ll be teaching 2nd grade next year, is moving into the Early Childhood Team’s Room (Room 21, upstairs blue-wing). Katie (Room 7, downstairs blue-wing) will move next door into Jill’s Room (Room 6, blue-wing) so that her classroom will have closer proximity to Linda’s CLC classroom. If we do get staffing for a fourth 5th grade classroom, the plan would be for it to move into the Family Resource Center (Room 1, downstairs yellow-wing) and would be just across the courtyard from the rest of the 5th grade team, but would displace the Resource Center to another building.

• KITS Summer Job Openings – The preschool to kindergarten summer transition program KITS (Kids in Transition to School) has job postings now up on the 4J Jobs website. If you’re interested in an 8-week summer job, there are openings for Educational Assistants, a Lead Teacher, a Site Supervisor, and Child Care. They prefer to hire 4J employees for these positions, so please apply if you’re interested.

• Confidential Materials – An important reminder to staff not to leave confidential materials (SPED paperpwork, FBAs, contracts, behavior referrals, etc.) out in the open where kids, parents, or other school employees can see them, including leaving items on the copier. The same also goes for staff who come across confidential materials, not to be snoopy.

• REPEAT: Wacky Wednesday – Favorite Animal Day, 4/11 – This Wednesday is Favorite Animal Day, so get kids pumped up for to wear an animal themed shirt, hat, costume, or other animal themed regalia. Be sure to remind students that our Halloween no-mask rule also applies to this day.

• REPEAT: Fire Drill Wednesday, at 8:30 – This Wednesday at 8:30 will be our April Fire Drill. If we get rained out, I’ll reschedule for next week.

• REPEAT: Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 16-20 – Volunteer Appreciation will is NEXT week, so please take time to recognize any volunteers you work with next week.

• Soil and Water Conservation Poster Contest – The Upper Willamette Soil and Water Conservation District is sponsoring a soil and water conservation poster contest, which includes cash prizes for grades K/1, 2/3, and 3-6. The theme for 2018 is “Watersheds – Our Water, Our Home.” The UWSWCD will also award a monetary prize to the top 3 teachers who have the most participants. If interested, email Clarissa at clarissa@uwswcd.org with the number of poster boards desired. You will then receive a follow up email with more details, along with reference materials to help your students with their posters. You will also receive a poster contest entry form that must be signed and attached to each poster. Please email by Friday, April 13, 2018. All posters must be returned to the UWSWCD office by noon on Friday, June 1st. Winners will be notified via email by Friday, June 8th.

• Supporting Students With Chronic Trauma – This Edutopia article is nice compliment to the trauma information I re-shared in last week’s announcements. De-escalation strategies can help prevent students’ emotional outbursts, and aid them and their peers in finding calm after one. Research shows that students with trauma don’t respond to punitive discipline, so it’s important to know strategies that do work. Many educators tend to ignore students’ increasing signs of agitation, hoping they’ll eventually calm down. But when disregarded, these minor behaviors can quickly escalate. Read on for how best to respond and to support students.

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

April 9 (M)
National Library Week
2:30, Allan to FBA Meeting

April 10 (T)
Library Worker’s Day
8:15-11:30, Allan to Elem. Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa/Mariah’s Room, RM23)

April 11 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Favorite Animal Day
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
8:30, Fire Drill
1:15-2:00, Classified EA Supervisors Meeting (Room 26)
2:30-3:30, PBIS Team Meeting (Rae’s Room, RM1)

April 12 (H)
7:30-11:30, Data Team Meetings (Conference Room)
12:00-3:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room, RM24)
4:00-7:00, Allan to Elem. Jobs Expo (Ed Center)

April 13 (F)
8:00-12:30, Fluoride Varnish (Community Room)

April 16 (M)
Volunteer Appreciation Week
8:00, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

April 17 (T)
8:00, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Office)
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Community Room)

April 18 (W)
5:30-6:30, 4J School Schedule Community Forum (Ed Center)

April 19 (H)
5:00-7:00, PTO McTeacher Night Fundraiser (River Ave. McDonalds)

April 20 (F)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting

Have a great week, everyone!

Allan

April 2, 2018

 

Howdy Howard Staff,

I hope you all took time to relax and get ready for the final two and a half months of school. I relaxed with a short family trip to the coast and by binge watching the Hannibal TV series (which is an AMAZING horror series everyone should watch) and finishing Lovecraft Country (which is being made into an HBO series from the creator of the Oscar winning horror film Get Out). I can’t wait to hear about everyone’s spring break adventures!

Twenty-one items of note for this week:

• April 2nd PD Day Plan Update – Jaimee Massie already emailed the linked April 2nd PD Communication to licensed staff and I forwarded it to classified staff, but please see the attached document for details regarding the April 3rd professional development day. The short version is:

8:00-12:00, Classified Staff: Math Foundations PD (River Road)
8:00-12:00, Licensed Staff: Grade-Level Math (K-2 Holt/3-5 Chavez)
12:00-12:40, Lunch/Travel Time
12:40-2:00, Licensed Staff: Building Math Design Time (Howard Library)

For the licensed staff Math Design Time Collaboration time back at our building 12:40-2:00 we will start in the library. I went through a few different iterations of how to structure this time, but landed on having this time be more directed by grade level team needs/interests. We’ll start in the library, but most of the time will be for grade level and workshop teams to collaborate and share around math instructions (creating anchor charts for upcoming lessons, sentence frames around academic language, talk moves for the upcoming unit, analyzing unit assessments, sharing what’s worked, what’s been a challenge, etc.), and then returning to the library for a share-out of what you accomplished. Let me know if you have any questions.

• 2018-2019 Schedule/Calendar Updates – I CC’d staff on a district email that went out families regarding the draft schedule for next school year, which had some additional information about the proposed schedule. Below are a few FAQs I’ve gotten about the schedule:

What are other schools’ start/end times?
Linked here is the Draft Schedule of School Start/End Times for all 4J schools. The times by level are:

ELEM: MTWH, 7:55-2:35 or 8:30-3:10, FRIDAY, 7:55-12:10 or 8:30-12:45
MIDDLE: MTWH, 9:05-3:55, FRIDAY – 9:05-2:45
HIGH: MTWH, 9:05-4:10, FRIDAY – 9:05-2:55

What will be work hours be for an 8-hour employee?
Currently most full-time employees work 7:30-3:30 with our 7:55 start time. With an 8:30 start time, equivalent work hours would be 8:05-4:05.

Can we schedule a third recess?
To keep within mandated state requirements for student seat hours, buildings can schedule up to 60 minutes of lunches and recesses MTWH and 45 minutes on Fridays. These times can be divided any way schools choose, either 2 longer recesses or 3 shorter recesses.

What time will be the protected hour of prep?
The hour right after Friday early release will be the protected hour of prep. I haven’t seen it in writing, but was told at a principals’ meeting that it will start right at dismissal and that teachers on Fridays would not have any supervision duties, making Howard’s protected hour of prep 12:45-1:45.

Why Friday early release instead of Wednesday?
Friday was chosen to work better for more families, align with key early learning programs that operate Monday through Thursday, and minimize impacts on student learning—Wednesday is our highest-attendance day, so having the shorter day on Wednesdays means more students lose that learning time.

If you have any questions or concerns you’d like me to pass along to Brooke, let me know by this Friday. Also, if you missed it in the email to families, the school board is voting on the 2018-2019 School Calendar at the April 4th meeting if you want to take a peek at that.

• Staffing Updates – A few staffing updates for next year school year. One, Jill already announced that she is taking a professional leave next year to pursue a counseling degree, so we’ll have a 5th grade opening at the April 12th Job Expo. Two, over in the preschool, Megan is leaving her Preschool EA position at the end of the school year to pursue a teaching degree. Please wish Megan and Jill the best on their new adventures and also feel free to start recruiting excellent folks who’d make fine additions to the Howard Team! And one repeat from last week, please welcome Navneeta Medart, our newest CLC 1:1 EA staring Tuesday, to the Howard Team!

• Spring Artist in Residence Schedule – Linked here is Spring Artist in Residence Schedules. Grades K-2 and Life Skills will have Maiya Becker for ReUse Art, meeting for four 45-minute sessions from May 7 – May 18. Grades 3-5 will have Merideth Ferrell for Silk Painting in the STEAM Room for four 60-minute sessions from May 28 – June 8. I tried to avoid workshop times, specialists, and field trips as best I could, but let me know if you spot any conflicts with your schedule.

• 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.

• Wacky Wednesday – Favorite Animal Day, 4/11 – Not this Wednesday, but Wednesday next week is Favorite Animal Day, so start getting kids pumped up for this day and starting planning your wacky animal shirt, hat, costume, or other animal themed regalia. Be sure to remind students that our Halloween no-mask rule also applies to this day.

• Fire Drill Wednesday, 4/11 at 8:30 – Not this week, but next week on Wednesday at 8:30 will be our April Fire Drill. If we get rained out, I’ll reschedule for next week. Only two more of these for this school year!

• EEF Grants Due to Allan by April 23 – A quick reminder that EEF Grant Applications are now open and grants need to be given to me by April 23 for Site Council to rank order our grant submissions. I haven’t seen an official email from EEF this year, but last year we could submit up to five grants in any amount up to $5,000. EEF puts a higher priority on grants related to Arts, Literacy, and STEM. One additional request from EEF was that if you’ve submitted the same grant for multiple years in a row, that you add in why that particular program is important and should continue. Linked here is the EEF Grant Application website, which contain all the details and can answer most any question you might have.

• PTO Meeting Updates – I’ve mentioned before that this year’s excellent PTO Board are all ending their terms this year and we are need of new board members. Please feel free to recruit any parents you think might be able to take this on. Classroom teachers can also feel free to include the short article below in any classroom newsletters:

2018-2019 PTO Board Members Needed!

Howard’s PTO Board is in need of a new President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer for next school year. We are encouraging any interested parents to come to the April PTO meeting, Tuesday, April 17th at 6:00 in the Howard Community Room. Nominations will take place at that meeting. At the May 15th PTO meeting, a vote to finalize the new the board will take place. If you’re unable to attend the April meeting, please email howardelementarypto@gmail.com or contact principal Allan Chinn. We would love to keep our amazing PTO up and running to provide support for Howard students, families, and staff. Without these positions filled, the PTO’s charter will sadly dissolve. Please consider applying for one of these positions!

• Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 16-20 – Volunteer Appreciation will is coming up in a couple weeks, so please take time to recognize any volunteers you work with this week. Last year Allison put on a fabulous doughnut themed appreciation, which we might make an annual tradition, but let me know if any of you have another idea we might try this year.

• Informal Observations – I’m close to finishing up all of my formal teacher observations for the school year, so heads-up I’m moving on to the final round of informal observations. I’m hoping to finish most of them up this week or next.

• Library News – Here are some dates of note from Ms. Hopkins, which are also on the Howard Google Calendar:

April
• School Library month (Normal check out for the kids all month)
• 4/6 – Find out if I have jury duty :)
• 4/8 – National school library week
• 4/30 – Children’s book Day!

May
• 5/14-18 – Last week of check out 1 book per student
• 5/21-24 – Book return week last week of classes (kids will receive a fun book mark for returning their books) working on a classroom reward for 1st class with all books returned :) I will reschedule Friday classes for earlier in the week since we have a PD day the 25th.
• 5/25 – Hopefully setting up BOGO fair
• 5/29 – Hopefully student preview (waiting to confirm dates with Scholastic)
• 5/30-6/1 – BOGO fair in the library

June
• 6/4-15 – Inventory and library close out for the year!
• 6/5 – All student library books due back to the library (this should catch up the stragglers from May)
• 6/12 – All staff library books are due back to the library

• Student Care Team Resources – Linked here are a few resources that came out the last Student Care Team, as well as a couple oldies-but-goodies that were shared with a family before the break:

• Little Children Big Challenges: Incarceration DVD packet – We’ve shared before about the Sesame Street Resource Packet for families with an incarcerated family member, but they also offer a DVD packet that is available for free, along with the mobile apps and printable activities for student service providers.
http://www.facebook.com/sesamestreetincommunities
http://www.sesamestreet.org/incarceration
http://www.sesameworkshop.org/press-room/incarceration/

• Love Inc. – Their primary focus is to offer practical, hands-on assistance in a variety of areas. The type of help they can offer is ever changing as new volunteers step forward, desiring to help others with the talents, hobbies or skills they possess. They’re regularly updating their data base of volunteer teams of people willing to help in these general areas: prayer, meals, rides to appointments, yard work, packing, painting, firewood, and stocking pantry shelves as folks transition from being without homes. They can be contacted through their website or at Living Hope Church 2801 West 18th Avenue, Eugene, OR 97402, 541.653.8537 or email loveincclc@gmail.com to register. http://loveinclanecounty.com/index.html

• Bags Of Love – The sole purpose of Bags of Love is to provide necessities and comfort items to children who are in crisis due to neglect, abuse, poverty or homelessness. Through their unique distribution model, they address the immediate needs of these children and help support the community agencies caring for them. Bags include the bag, quilt or blanket, toiletry kit, toys, and clothing. The can be contacted at 710 Commercial Street, Eugene, OR 97402-5348, at (541) 357-4957, at info@bagsofloveinc.org, or http://bagsofloveinc.org/

• Food For Lane County – A county-wide distribution of emergency food that offers food boxes, no-cost meal sites, gardens, nutri- tion education, children’s and senior programs. They are located at 770 Bailey Hill Rd., Eugene and can be reached by email at info@foodforlanecounty.org or on the web at https://foodforlanecounty.org/get-help/

• Produce Plus – The Produce Plus program is in all of the DHS offices on Mondays. The program is for anyone living at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. There is no program enrollment; all who come can be served, as long as they sign the self-declaration statement that they meet the income requirement. https://foodforlanecounty.org/get-help/more-food-programs/supplemental-food-programs/

• Food For Lane County Map of Food Pantry Sites – Here’s a link to a complete list of Lane County Food Pantry sites. https://foodforlanecounty.org/get-help/foodboxes-meals/find-a-food-pantry/

• Walk & Roll to School Day “Walking School Bus” Opportunity? – For the May 9th Walk & Roll to School Day, the Safe Routes to School Program Manager emailed me offering to help organize a “Walking School Bus” where buses will park a short distance away from school and kids walk the rest of the way. To do this, we’d need staff stationed along the walking route, so I was wanting to know if there are staff members interested/willing to volunteer their time to do this? I was thinking buses could drop kids off at Kelly and they could then walk along the sidewalk to Howard. I’m thinking we’d need at least four volunteers. Let me know by the end of the week if you’d be willing to supervise 7:20-7:45 to greet bus riders as they “walk” to school.

• 4J Outdoor School Minutes & Info – Based on recommendations from the Outdoor School District Planning Team, which included one representative from every elementary and middle school, downtown has decided to meet the voter passed outdoor school requirement by having all 5th grade students attend outdoor school instead of all 6th grade students. This will start next year and many details are still being worked out, but if you’re interested, see the linked minutes for current details. The plan is to create a menu of options for schools. The minimum requirements is a 3-day camp (although not necessarily overnight). Next year downtown and EEA will go through a process to establish a memorandum of understanding regarding outdoor school. The plan will also includes designing something to go out to vendors, so teachers will not be required to create the curriculum or run the programs.

• Escalation Cycle Tips & Reminders – This is a long item, but please take a few moments to review the key points below from our training last month with Kim Reinhardt and Shasta Quigley regarding the Escalation Cycle and how we as educators can choose to respond. Below are the Cliff Notes version from the meeting and linked here is a copy of the Escalation Cycle PowerPoint as well as the Meeting Minutes.

Educator Mindset and Philosophy
• In order to change student behavior, we have to first look at our own behavior.

• All behavior has a purpose: get attention, avoid attention, get a desired object or activity, escape an activity, situation, or environment

• “Kids do well if they can.” This is contrast to the alternative of “kids do well if they want to.” It’s our job to figure why kids aren’t doing well and helping them move toward a place where they can do well.

-Find stressors and try to reduce them
-Find unmet needs and try to meet them
-Find skills deficits and try to teach them

• Our relationship with students is the single greatest influence in helping students to change their behavior. Kids who believe their teachers like them, do better across the board.

Escalation Cycle: Baseline, Trigger, Escalation, Crisis, De-escalation, Post Crisis Drain, Stabilization
1.  Most people will stay at Baseline 80% of the time.

• If you start your day with big stressors, you’re not as well able to make decisions, do your job, etc. and are more likely to escalate quickly
• We teach at baseline as kids will accept feedback

2.  When kids get Triggered, try removing or modifying to prevent further escalation. Reinforce what’s been taught (ex: take a break)

3.  As kids get more Agitated (get more off task, fidgety, withdraw), make environmental modifications (break, take a walk), provide reasonable options and choices. Don’t remind of potential negative outcomes. Offer two things that are reasonable (ex: you can do this or miss recess vs would you like to cross off 2 problems or have me help you get started)

4.  Acceleration happens as behavior intensifies. Intervention is focused on safety of students. Use safety plan if one is written.

5.  Peak is when students are at their most of our control. Don’t talk a lot. Use short, practiced phrases.

• Check your own reaction. Try and relax your body position. Remind yourself this isn’t personal to you. Take a deep breath and try to slow your own heart rate. Regulate yourself so you can help regulate the student.
• When a student is escalated, stop talking.
• Give a couple seconds of quiet and then give clear directions or visual prompts.
• When in doubt, give space and call for help.
• If someone asks you to step away or offers to swap with you, please do, especially if the student’s behaviors are directed towards you.
• You can tap out if you are frustrated. Ask someone else to take over. The kids know when you are feeling negatively toward them.

6.  De-escalation happens after the peak and students are confused but their behavior is decreasing.

• Don’t blame or tell what they did wrong
• This isn’t the time to teach.

7.  Recovery – student is willing to return to activities.

• This may not happen until the next day.
• Kids may need to sleep or withdraw until their back to baseline.
• Follow through with natural or logical consequences and focused on re-teaching.
• Positively reinforce any displays of appropriate behavior.
• Focus is to reteach a positive behavior, not to “stick it to them.”

• Future Howard Road Safety Projects – I’d recently contacted Safe Routes to School Program Manager about setting up a radar speed sign to slow down drivers in front of our school and Kelly and learned about a number of safety improvements in the works. First, we will be getting a temporary radar speed sign. The Safe Route Manager is also looking to potentially add speed cushions or some other kind of traffic calming, or perhaps even a sidewalk on the south side of the street where there are now very few large trees left. There is a neighborhood planning process happening over the next year, and that will guide bigger projects like the sidewalks. There’s support for a shorter sidewalk on North Park alongside Kelly. There’s also a sidewalk planned to go along Grove Street, though it’s not quite official.

• District Admin Updates – Two district admin updates. Sebastian Bolden will be the new Spring Creek principal next year. He is coming from Bethel, where he has been assistant principal of Meadow View (K-8) for five years and a middle school teacher before that. Andy Dey has been selected as 4J’s Director of Secondary Education beginning July 1, replacing BJ Blake when she retires. Andy has been principal of South Eugene High School since 2015 and has experience as a middle and high school teacher and administrator, K–12 curriculum director, track coach, and earlier as a non-profit conservation organization director.

• Extinct Versions of Animals – Just for fun, here’s a cool comparison of current animals and their extinct ancestors from the NPR Science Tumblr account, which kids might enjoy seeing. The “largest known rodent” is probably my favorite.

• Howard Staff Social: Alvvays Concert Sunday! – Last chance to get your tickets for the Alvvays concert this Sunday at 9 PM at the Hi-Fi Music Hall here in downtown Eugene. Come hang out with your colleagues while listening to some excellent indie pop! Hope to see you there!

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

April 2 (M)
PBIS Monthly Theme – Encouragement
No School – Professional Development/Planning Day
8:00-12:00, Classified Staff PD: Elementary Math Foundations PD (River Road)
8:00-12:00, Licensed Staff PD: Grade-level Collaborative Math PD (K-2 at Holt & 3-5 at Chavez)
12:00-12:40, Lunch/Travel Time
12:45-2:00, Licensed Staff: Building Math Design Time (Howard Library)

April 3 (T)
Classes Resume
Artist in Residence #1 (last day)
3:00, Allan Meeting with Carl Stubbs (Office)
4:00-5:15, Allan to Report Card Committee Meeting (Ed Center)

April 4 (W)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

April 5 (H)
12:35, Matt & Allan at 5th Grade Safety Patrol Meeting (Community Room)
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)

April 6 (F)
Regular Day

April 7 (SA)
10:00-2:00, PTO Spring Bazaar (Gym/Cafeteria)

April 8 (SU)
9:00PM, Howard Staff Social – Alvvays Concert (Hi-Fi Music Hall)

April 9 (M)
National Library Week
2:30, Allan to FBA Meeting

April 10 (T)
Library Worker’s Day
Wacky Wednesday – Favorite Animal Day
8:15-11:30, Allan to Elem. Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa/Mariah’s Room, RM23)

April 11 (W)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
8:30, Fire Drill
1:15-2:00, Classified EA Supervisors Meeting (Room 26)
2:30-3:30, PBIS Team Meeting (Rae’s Room, RM1)

April 12 (H)
7:30-11:30, Data Team Meetings (Conference Room)
12:00-3:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room, RM24)
4:00-7:00, Allan to Elem. Jobs Expo (Ed Center)

April 13 (F)
Fluoride Varnish – Community Room

Now on with the sunny springtime weather!

Allan