https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=11382
Hello Friends,
We survived a week of Halloween excitement, so now we just need to survive this week’s sugar crash.
Eleven items of note for this week:
• Staffing Updates – Three staffing updates:
• Molly Beick (CLC EA) – Molly has been subbing in the CLC most all of this year, but she has now officially been hired to fill Ganell’s 6.5 CLC EA vacancy, so please welcome Molly as our newest Holt Bolt!
• School Counselor Update – We interviewed three candidates for our Temp School Counselor opening this past Friday and will hopefully have a job offer out from HR by the end of the week.
• CLD EA Vacancy – The person HR offered Jason Martinez’s 5-hour CLC EA position never responded, so SSD had HR make the job offer to another candidate. Darrin has taken over Jason’s morning crossing guard duties, but hopefully we’ll get someone for the rest of the position soon. In related news, Jason is now working online with K-5 Connect.
• Conferences Updates – Five parent/teacher conferences updates:
• EA Extravaganza, Wednesday, Nov. 10th – Educational Assistants should attended the EA Extravaganza on November 10th between 8:00-12:00 via Zoom. See the above link for sessions, times, descriptions, and Zoom links, and see Marlee Litten’s Email for additional details.
• Title 1 Compacts & Conferences – Title 1 Compacts (English and Spanish) should be reviewed with all families at conferences. For the signatures, the teacher and student should sign the form and for parents review the permission section at conferences and then just date the form in the parent signature line that the parents agreed to do their part. This should be less work than sending the forms home for parent signatures and then having to collect and track them again. Title 1 staff will put class sets in teacher mailboxes this week.
• Wednesday PAHS Lunch – PAHS is planning to provide a big lunch for staff on Wednesday, with enough to be left over for dinner if staff are still working in the building then, so I’ll need to get a head count at Tuesday’s Staff Meeting of how many people will be in the building this day.
• Allan Available to Attend Conferences – Teachers can let me know if you have any tricky conferences you’d like me to attend. Send me a date, time, and Zoom link and I’ll be there!
• REMINDER: Conference Dates – Dates for conferences are:
Nov. 9 (T), 3:25-7:25, Evening Conferences
Nov. 10 (W), 8:00-8:00, All-Day Conferences
Nov. 11 (H), Veterans Day – No School
Nov. 12 (F), No School, Teacher Comp Day
• PAHS Volunteer Request Form – PAHS is looking to help and volunteer however they can. Library is the only place volunteers are allowed inside the building, but if you have other uses for volunteers (prepping materials, grading, sorting, etc.), please filled out the linked PAHS Volunteer Request Form. Last week they set out pumpkins in the school garden for the Kinder Pumpkin Patch “Field Trip.”
• REMINDER: Mandatory Elementary School Bus Safety Training – If you haven’t already, be sure to show your students the required Bus Safety Training Video and then let me know the date you showed it.
• Walk+Roll to School Day, WEDNESDAY – The first Wednesday of each month is Walk & Roll Day, so please encourage your students to walk, bike, carpool or ride the bus to school. If students live a long way from school, they can try parking a ten minute walk from school and walking the rest of the way. The goal is to reduce traffic and pollution around our school and to promote physical activity for our students.
• Campus Safety and Security Team Offer – Kari Skinner, Director of Student Wellness and School Safety, emailed principals that our new Campus Safety and Security Team (kind of the new SROs) are offering to be a sort of mentor and/or “seeing” a student to make a connection. If you know of a student who could use this kind of big buddy, let me know the student name and a brief description of what you’re hoping for.
• Seesaw Usage – The following was sent to principals on Friday regarding how teachers should use Seesaw, but I don’t think the first bullet (sending class newsletters over Seesaw) is right (there’s no formatting option and if you link or attach a newsletter, that’s one more click you might lose someone). I’m going to ask about this at my elementary principals’ meeting on Wednesday, so feel free to ignore that bullet for now. I think the other three bullets are nothing new:
Now that the year is well underway, we want to give some reminders on what should be happening in each teacher’s Seesaw account. Make sure that you start engaging in Seesaw walk throughs in the coming weeks. If you need Seesaw assistance, please reach out to Justin Huntley.
• Home communications from the classroom. Classroom newsletters should be disseminated through Seesaw. These are automatically translated into the home language.
• Each classroom teacher should have an asynchronous lesson, learning links, and/or choice board posted for students on quarantine.
• When students are on quarantine, daily assignments for students.
• Zoom links for grade level TOSA supports.
• 4J Care Teams – 4J has started Regional Care Teams to assist schools needing assistance when they feel they have exhausted their resources to assist a family. For additional info, here is the Sheldon Region Care Team Flyer and a Slide Show that was shared with counselors. For initial request for assistance for families, please connect with Darla. Referrals could be for assistance regarding, though not limited to:
• Death of a parent
• Incarcerated parent - concerns about recent incarceration or pending release
• Homeless or impending homelessness
• Unknown if open child welfare case but has concerns that were called in
• Domestic Violence
• Extreme behavior issues – additional supports needed outside of school
• Specific resource needed but unknown where to refer
• Medical concerns about the child or other family• HANDBOOK HIGHLIGHT: Hoods off indoors, Hats OK indoors – This week’s highlight from the Holt Staff Handbook, is on Hats and Hoods:
Hats may be worn on the playground, halls, and cafeteria at Holt. Teachers may ask a student to remove the hat if it becomes a distraction. Teachers may decide if hats may be worn in their own classrooms and guidelines for students must be clear and consistent. If hats become a distraction, the teacher may ask a student(s) to remove the hat. Continued disruption with hats may require teachers to communicate with parents about their classroom policy.
Hoods may be worn outdoors for warmth, but must come off once inside the building for visibility and safety; this includes halls, cafeteria, and classrooms.
• Team Building Activities for Kids – We all know that a sense of community and belonging helps kids feel safe, take risks, and (hopefully) make better, kinder choices. This list from WeAreTeachers offers a list of some ideas for helping students connect and cooperate with one another.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:
November 1 (M)
KG Staff Room Duty
Ewok Appreciation Day
1:45-2:00, 4th Grade PBIS Bonus Recess (Playground)November 2 (T)
1:45-2:00, 3rd Grade PBIS Bonus Recess (Playground)
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)November 3 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)November 4 (H)
8:30-9:30, Allan to Safety Committee Webinar (Zoom)
2:00-2:15, 2nd Grade PBIS Bonus Recess (Playground)
4:00-5:00, Allan to ELA Adoption Meeting (Zoom)November 5 (F)
1:30-2:30, Classified Staff Meeting (Library)November 8 (M)
1st Grade Staff Room Duty
2:30-3:30, Allan to Care Team Meeting (Zoom)November 9 (T)
2:45-3:25, PBIS Meeting (Library)
3:25-7:35, Parent/Teacher Conferences (Zoom)
4:00-8:00, Holt Night Out Fundraiser – Chipotle Mexican GrillNovember 10 (W)
No School – Conferences
8:00-12:00, EA Extravaganza (Zoom)8:00-8:00, Parent/Teacher Conferences (Zoom)
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)November 11 (H)
No School — Veterans DayNovember 12 (F)
No School — Parent/Teacher Conferences Comp Day
If you missed it in Saturday’s Register Guard, Holt made the local news gain. Check it out and feel free to share with students!
Allan
