https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=12703
Howdy Everyone,
A shoutout to Holt’s ACE Award nominees, Alex, Emily, Kendallyn, Lesli, and Lisa G. Thank you all for your work and for making our school look good!
Fifteen items of note for this week:
• Staffing Updates – Three staffing updates:
• 23-24 Part-Time SPED Teacher, Sheryl Carroll – SSD has placed Sheryl Carroll into Whitney’s position for next year, where she will be 0.5 FTE at Holt and 0.5 FTE at Gilham.
• Darren Out Rest of Year – Darrin will be out on leave for the remainder of the year, but luckily Abby is able to continue to fill this position.
• 2nd Grade 1:1 EA, Julie Zybach – Outside of Abby, Julie has been our most regular classified sub at Holt this year, and she has agreed to fill the 2nd Grade 1:1 EA sub job, supporting a challenging student who was placed at Holt, for the rest of school year. Please welcome Julie to the team!
• REPEAT: Holt Night Out Fundraiser – DoughMo Cookies, TUESDAY – This Tuesday a Holt Night Out Fundraiser at DoughMo Cookies! Owned by a Holt family and located in Downtown Eugene at 980 Oak St. under the Overpark Parking Garage (free parking the first hour). I went there myself and thought they were pretty darn tasty! Get your kids excited.
• REPEAT: Team Meetings, WEDNESDAY– For this week’s Team Meetings, make sure you have a grade level rep selected for Friday’s Master Schedule Committee Meeting. Also make sure your team is in agreement regarding the master schedule questions shared in prior announcements.
As usual, be sure to complete the Team Meeting Minutes Form (make a copy) and email it to holt_staf@4j.lane.edu
The Team Meeting Minutes Form can also be found on the Holt Staff Dashboard.
• Friday PD: Master Schedule Committee Meeting – This Friday’s PD is a Building Based and we are using it for our first Master Schedule Committee Meeting. We’ll meet at 1:30 in the library to share where teams are at on subject area times, recesses, morning meetings, closing meetings, ELD pullout times, PE/Music morning preferences, and library times. Following this meeting, the schedule will be:
April 12-26 – Teams Build Dream Schedule
April 25 – Reps Meet to combine schedule and plan next steps
May 2 – Staff Meeting Discussion• Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 17-21 – Please add your team info to the Volunteer Appreciation Treat Sign-Up for what sweet treat your team will bring on Monday, April 17th that will be good through the week (i.e. Hershey kisses, pretzels, chocolate, caramel cookies, granola bars, lollipops, or your favorite teacher treat). This is our last sign up until the EOY BBQ.
• Earthquake/Fire Drill, April 19 @10:05 – Not this week, but next week on Wednesday, April 19th at 10:05, we’ll hold our second and final Earthquake drill of the year right and will then hold our Fire Drill Evacuation. With 3rd grade on a field trip this day, we can hold these drills during their recess and also not step on anyone’s PE or Music times. 4th grade will be lined up outside when I announce the earthquake drill, so they should follow the Shakeout guidance of: If outside, get clear of buildings, power lines, trees, light poles and other dangers, drop down to your knees and cover your head and neck. Or we could do the drill two minutes later if 4th would rather do it from their classroom.
When it comes time for the drill, I’ll get on the PA to announce the earthquake drill, reviewing Drop, Cover, Hold, and will launch the drill by saying “EARTHQUAKE! DROP, COVER, and HOLD!” We’ll pull the alarm to signal when to evacuate the building. In a real earthquake, you could evacuate once the earthquake is over. There are many resources for teaching Drop, Cover, Hold at The Great Oregon Shakeout. Linked here is a copy of the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line-Up Map.
• REPEAT: Sheldon Drama Club Addams Family Assembly, April 21 @8:30 – Not this week, but next week on Friday, April 21st, the Sheldon Drama club will perform for us. The assemble will be in the cafeteria from 8:30-9:30. the grade level signs and cones so classes know where to sit. Attendance is optional, but it should be a fun assembly. Linked here is the Assembly Map and Directions.
• Friday PD: April 21 – Equity – April 21st is another “Building Based” Friday PD and our Equity Team is putting on a presentation around neurodiversity and de-escalation strategies.
• SCIP (School Continuous Improvement Plan) Update – Site Council reviewed and revised the Draft SCIP (School Continuous Improvement Plan) I emailed earlier. The plan is mostly the same as our School Improvement Plan as last year, except that we pulling out one action item from our Equity & Inclusion goal regarding parent involvement and made that a goal all it’s own. The other change is that the SCIP plan required us to target specific historically underserved groups, so our new goals read as:
1. Revitalize and re-engage post-pandemic parent involvement of families of students of color.
2. Emerging bi/multilingual students and students of color will maintain regular school attendance.
3. With a focus on increasing inclusive and equitable school-based practices and systems, students on IEPs and students of color will experience meaningful academic, social, and emotional growth.Downtown may require us to slap a number onto these goals, in which case I might add 85% or 90% of students will…, but really our goal should be for 100% of students to be successful. Downtown Friday Evening provided an updated timeline that states the plans due at the end of the month are merely drafts and the final plan isn’t due until September, though I feel we already have a pretty solid plan.
We’ll discuss this at our next Staff Meeting where folks can suggest any additions or changes.
• Library Books to Book Nook (help stamping?) – We got an official okay for the library books being discarded to go to Book Nook. The original plan for the discarded books was to pay a company to take them away and recycle/pulp them, so Financial Services said it was okay to give them to kids, though the district librarian said we needed to stamp them discard/discontinued and black out any 4J markings, so let me know if any of your classes would like to take a box for this task or I can have a naughty kid owing time in the office take it on.
• Earth Day (4/22) Resources – If you missed it in the latest Eco Experience, Earth Day is Saturday, April 22nd and there is a 4J Earth Day Webpage with loads of elementary resources and activities you could use the next two weeks leading up to that day.
• April SSD Newsletter – If you’re interested, linked here is the April SSD Newsletter that was shared with SPED teachers and principals. This edition includes info about specially designed instruction, required FBAs, and rules for conducting observations of students.
• Love Food Not Waste Resources – If you’re interested, here is the Elementary Love Food Not Waste Resource document that includes information, resources, and more. And, here is the 3-Year Love Food Not Waste Plan for background information.
• Field Trip Ideas – COVID got us out of practice on Field Trips, but WeAreTeachers has some tips and suggestions for you, including the best field trip ideas for every grade, the best virtual field trips, and an article titled Why I Hate Field Trips (And How I Learned to Deal). Plus, don’t miss these free field trip permission forms.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:
April 10 (M)
Library Week #2 Classes
1st Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
3:45-5:30, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)April 11 (T)
Holt Night Out Fundraiser – DoughMo Cookies
8:45-5:15, 5th Grade Outdoor School (Camp Wilani)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)April 12 (W)
8:45-5:15, 5th Grade Outdoor School (Camp Wilani)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45-3:30, Grade Level Team MeetingsApril 13 (H)
8:45-5:15, 5th Grade Outdoor School (Camp Wilani)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-3:30, Allan to Evaluation Planning Meeting (Zoom)
4:00-7:00, Allan to Elem Job Expo Round #1 (Zoom)April 14 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Master Schedule Rep Meeting (Library)
2:30-3:00, Attendance Team Meeting (Library)April 17 (M)
Volunteer Appreciation Day and Treat Table (Sunshine/Staff)
Library Week #1 Classes
2nd Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
2:40-4:30, Talent Show Auditions (Reich’s Room)
4:00-5:30, All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)April 18 (T)
Holt Night Out Fundraiser – Papa’s Pizza
1:20-1:50, Kinder Music Performance (Gym)
2:30-4:00, Talent Show Auditions (Music Room)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)
4:00-5:00, 4J Library Advisory Meeting (Library)April 19 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
9:00-12:15, 3rd Grade Science Center and Planetarium Field Trip
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:40-4:30, Talent Show Auditions (Reich’s Room)
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)April 20 (H)
Oingo Boingo Day
2:45-3:45, PBIS/Equity/SEL Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)April 21 (F)
Eid al-Fitr, End of Ramadan (Major Religious Holiday)
8:30-9:00, Sheldon Drama Club Assembly (Cafeteria)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Friday PD – Building Based (Equity)April 22 (SA)
Earth Day
Back to the 5-day week grind!
Allan
