May 27, 2013

By Allan  

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a restful three-day weekend and are ready for a busy last few weeks of school!

Quite a few items of note for this week, with fifteen total:

• ALL Report Cards to be Mailed Home – Change of plan on report cards. After talking more with Lori and to keep things simple, the office to mail home ALL report cards. Here is what teachers will be responsible for:

• CLASSROOM TEACHERS – Print just one copy of the report card for when you complete CUM folders. Lori will print copies and stuff envelopes to mail home.

• SPECIALISTS – Make two copies of your reports. One copy (back-to-back) to Lori and one to homeroom teachers to include in CUM folders.

We’re sending these out by bulk mail, so envelopes need to weigh a similar amount, meaning we cannot mail home any additional student or paperwork. Those should instead be sent home with students. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Let’s have some fun! – Two quick fun items:

• Friday at 4:00 @McMenamins This Week – We’ll hold one last Friday at 4:00 this Friday at McMenamins North Bank. Come celebrate the almost end-of-the-year with a delicious beverage along the river!

• Staff Summer Book Picks! – If you want to participate, let’s compile a list of recommended summer reading by and for Howard staff. Email me a book or books you’d recommend or some you’re planning to read this summer. Feel free to include a review or description if you’d like. I’ll share the list at the end of the year. This is certainly not a “have-to-do,” but I thought it would be fun. Send me your picks by the end of next week!

• Class Lists Reminder – Please remember that class list are due to the office by the end of the day on grading day. This will give specialists time to review lists and consult with classroom teachers about any potential changes before everyone leaves for the summer.

• Field Day Sign-Up – Field Day is next week, so any staff who are not working with student 10:00-11:15 should sign-up to help run a station for the 3rd-5th grade Field Day. The sign-up sheet is on the board in the mailroom.

• Last Days of School Calendar & Schedule UPDATED – There has already been changes to the schedule for the last days of school, so here is an updated calendar of events for May 27 – June 11.

• Spring Writing Work Samples Scoring Schedule 5/29 – Be sure to give me your writing work samples if you haven’t done so already. Attached is the sub schedule for scoring Wednesday morning. Grading will take place in Room 12, with it’s nice big tables and evan a couch, but let me know if there’s another location you’d prefer to work. I’ll have some snacks and treats on hand to keep your energy going during the scoring. And I’d be happy to help any grade level with scoring if you’d like an extra body. Just let me know!

• Informal Observation – For teachers who are part of the new eval pilot, I’m going to try to do at least one more informal observation before the end of at the year. If any of you are planning a CFK Buddies activity, let me know the date and time and I’ll be able to take care of two observations at the same time. I’ll also be scheduling end-of-year meetings with participating teachers as well.

• Teacher Laptops Update – New teacher laptops are set to be delivered this Thursday. Once they’re inventoried, David or myself can help teachers migrate data from your old laptop to the new one. Typically older teacher computers are re-imaged into student laptops, but I would actually like to upgrade EA laptops, which are nearly all extremely old iBooks. We’ll be sure to distribute the new hardware once it’s all inventoried and ready to go!

• Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program Ends This Week – This Friday will be the last day of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Program.

• Howard Construction Updates – An RFP is now up on the 4J website to select an architectural firm to begin planning our new building. The timeline is for us to stay in the current facility for two more school years and for us to open the new building August 2015. The timeline for the other schools, River Road, ATA and Roosevelt, have them opening August 2016.

If you wade through the RFP, which I don’t expect most people to do, it does have on caveat on the timeline, saying, “The schedule for Howard Elementary School is very aggressive and a fall 2015 open is only achievable without the accumulation of delays at any juncture. If significant delays occur, a fall 2016 opening may be required. Alternatively, if the site design can accommodate temporary provisions for site access and safe areas for student drop-off and pick-up, a mid year opening maybe be considered.”

The timeline for the architect selection is pretty fast, with RTPs due June 14th and a final selection being made by the end of July, pending board approval. And for fun, here’s a nice KEZI news story about the bond measure passing.

• New TSS III and Technology Help Desk – To update everyone on TSS support for next year, James Grubic, currently at Madison and Spring Creek, will be supporting Howard along with Madison, Kelly, and Spring Creek. I’m still campaigning to have our regional TSS housed here at Howard, but I haven’t gotten the final word where they will be located. If you’d like to read the latest email describing the new support system, you can read it here.

• Approved 2013-2014 Calendar – The school board last week approved the following calendar for the 2013-2014 school year. The calendar does not reflect any budget reduction/furlough days, so you can decide wether or not you want to enter any of these dates into your own calendar at this point or not.

• Why — and how — schools should use Twitter (Plus Howard social media info) – In this commentary, Dorie Clark, CEO of Clark Strategic Communications, and Joel Gagne, owner of Allerton Hill Consulting, write about the need for schools to embrace Twitter, in part, because it is cost-effective, keeps parents informed and is accessible via mobile devices. Howard already has a Twitter, which I recently got the password for and will be updating more regularly, but for these same reason I’m going to create an official Howard Elementary School Facebook fan page to communicate with parents and to also help promote & advertise our school to the community. Let me know if any of you would like to have access to post updates to either of these accounts and I can share admin access with you.

• Summer Reading Sweepstakes – Show your school spirit over summer vacation by entering this Amazon contest for a chance to win the Howard Library 50 Kindle e-readers. Just click the link and fill in a few boxes to enter our school!

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

May 27 (M)
Memorial Day – No School

May 28 (T)
8:00-11:30, Grade 3 Understanding Rigorous Mathematical Content PD (Ed Center)
8:00-5:00, BEST field trip for 1st, 2nd, 3rd

May 29 (W)
7:40-11:30, Spring Writing Benchmark Scoring (Room 12)

7:40-8:25 (1st scoring KG)
8:30-9:20 (KG scoring 1st)
9:25-10:25 (3rd scoring 2nd)
10:30-11:30 (2nd scoring 3rd)

8:00-11:30, Grade 4 Understanding Rigorous Mathematical Content PD (Ed Center)
9:00-10:00, 4/5 Play Dress Rehearsal (Cafeteria)

May 30 (H)
All Library Books Due
8:00-11:30, Grade 5 Understanding Rigorous Mathematical Content PD (Ed Center)
8:00-5:00, BEST field trip for 4th and 5th
3:00-5:00, 4J Retirement Celebration (Ed Center)

May 31 (F)
Spirit Friday – Twin Day
Final Day of BEST and Kinder +
Final Day of Groups – Rooms 8/9
Final Day of Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program
9:00-10:00, 4/5 Play Dress Rehearsal (Cafeteria)
9:00-10:00, May Book Giveaway (Office)
11:00-12:30, Birthday Lunch with Mr. Chinn – May, June, July (Room 2)
12:35-1:35, Kelly MS Ganas Club Presentation to 4/5s (Room 11)
4:00-????, Friday at 4:00 at McMenamins North Bank

June 3 (M)
PBIS Focus: Celebrating Your Success
8:00-4:30, Kindergarten to Wildlife Safari
9:30-1:00, Grades 3/4/5 to Splash!
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals Meeting

June 4 (T)
Team Meetings to discuss class lists
8:30-9:45, K-2 Field Day
10:00-11:15, 3-5 Field Day
1:00-2:00, 4/5 Play – It’s Electrifying! (Cafeteria)
2:30-3:30, Site Council Meeting (Staff Room)
6:00-7:00, 4/5 Play – It’s Electrifying! (Cafeteria)

June 5 (W)
Teacher Choice for Referral Free Party
8:30-12:30, 1st grade to Mount Pisgah
9:45-10:45, Kindergarten End-of-Year Celebration & Slide Show (Gym)
12:30-1:00, Referral Free Water Balloon Launching (baseball field behind gym)
1:15-2:15, Volunteer Appreciation
6:00-7:00, Howard iPad Pilot Presentation before School Board Meeting (Ed Center)

June 6 (H)
Teacher Choice for Referral Free Party
Last Day for Kindergarten and 5th Grade
9:00-11:30, Allan to Superintendent’s Cabinet (Ed Center)
1:00-2:00, 5th Grade Graduation (Gym)
2:00-2:15, Clap Out for 5th Grade
5:30-8:00, Howard School Carnival!

June 7 (F)
Grading Day – No Students

June 10 (M)
Last day of school
Last day for classified staff
“Grab & Go” Sack Lunch (see times below)

9:15 – 5th grade
9:30 – 2nd grade
10:00 – 1st grade
10:20 – 3rd grade
10:30 – 4th grade

11:05, Dismissal
11:30-12:30, Staff End-of-Year Root Beer Float Celebration (Cafeteria)
12:30-4:00, Staff Checkouts with Allan

June 11 (T)
Grading and Conference Day – No Students
7:30-4:00, Staff Checkouts with Allan

Nine more student days!

Allan