https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=2731
Heigh-Ho Howard Saff,
I’d like to thank Shelly and Amber for helping at the UO/EWEB parking lot fundraiser this past Saturday morning. We didn’t fill the lot, which may have been because of the weather and Utah not being a major UCS-like powerhouse team, but we were able to earn nearly $1,500!
Alright, it’s now time to gird ourselves for a five day week, but we’ll have a nice break to look forward to at the end of it.
Ten items of note for this week:
• School Design Committee Update – The Howard and River Road Design Teams met last week to work on the overall layout of the new buildings and the layout of the classroom pods/neighborhoods. The Howard team was pretty vocal and also outnumbered the River Road team. Consequently, we kind of got our way on how these common elements between the two buildings would look. It’s hard to describe the building layout we came up with without a visual, but one major difference compared to Holt and Chavez is that the the center of the school would be a courtyard instead of a library. The cafeteria would connect to the courtyard on one side, which would allow us to open up doors to for student to eat lunch in the courtyard area. The classroom pods and the library we be on the other sides of the courtyard. Regarding the layout of the classroom pods, we’re still looking at a couple configurations of either 5 or 6 full sized classrooms in each pod. Planning for a school of 600 students, 5 classrooms per pod gives us six total pods (3 downstairs and 3 upstairs) and 6 classrooms per pod gives us five total pods (3 downstairs and 2 upstairs). The reasoning for six pods is that each grade level, K-5, would have their own pod plus one specialist. The reasoning for five pods is that you would be able to have more ground level classrooms and shorter transitions. Both configurations have their pros and cons, but the architects are going to look at how these different pod configurations would fit onto our sites to help us decide.
I emailed staff earlier that the Howard Community School Design Workshop date would be changing, and the new date and time will be Wednesday, Dec. 4th from 5:30-7:30. Childcare will be provided in the gym. I’ll email a flyer to families on Monday along with hardcopies later in the week. One note on this workshop for staff is that although you will have future opportunities to work with the architects, this is really your only chance to have input on the elements described above.
And don’t forget about the Pinterest page if you want to suggest furniture, technology or other design ideas!
• PTO Meeting, Tuesday at 6:00 – This Tuesday is the November PTO meeting. It will start at 6:00 PM in the library. It’s always nice to have a staff rep or two there besides myself. We’ve actually had a full library the past two meetings.
• PRIDE Awards Reminder – Remember there will be a PRIDE Awards ceremony at lunch in the cafeteria this Thursday. Teachers should select students who have demonstrated one of our PRIDE characteristics related to our PBIS themes up to this point to receive a certificate. We’re going to take their pictures and put them up on the PRIDE bulletin board. You are welcome to invite parents as well (the invites are in the FORMS drawer in the office). Our themes have been: Safety, Bully-Proofing, and Appreciations.
• Directions on how to get to the 4J Curriculum Site – I’ve shared with staff about the 4J Curriculum Site before, but I wanted to highlight it again. Besides having CCSS sample tests, standards and resources, it also contains all of the information that was previous housed on the various district wikis (ELA, Math, Science, TAG, etc.). You can access this site if you are connected to a 4J network or through VPN if you’re not at school. To install VPN on your computer, go to the Network Services VPN page. To get to the 4J Curriculum Site, you can simply bookmark the link in this post, but you can also get to it from the 4J homepage by going to the “Staff” tab and then down to “Curriculum Site.”
• December 6th, PD/Planning Day – It’s three weeks away, but it’s also closer than you think since we have next week off. I’m still confirming a couple things, but the tentative plan for the Dec. 6th PD/Planning day is to first have a short presentation by the School Garden Project and then, in an effort to support our building math SMART Goal, Reid Shepherd will lead a Number Talks inservice. We may also have a writing component to the day, to address our writing SMART goal, but I have not confirmed a presenter for that portion of the day yet. I’ll email a final agenda for the day by the end of this week.
• SPLASH! Grant Deadline Dec. 21st – The deadline for applying for SPLASH! Grant funds is Friday, Dec. 20th. They were also able to increase the amount of the grant per school to $1,250 (not $1,000). See the attached flyer for how to apply.
• Understanding Informational Texts – In this article, the authors suggest a number of strategies to help students master informational texts (materials that teach about the physical, biological, or social world). What makes informational texts difficult for so many students? Unfamiliar vocabulary, different grammatical structure, and densely packed content. “Teachers need to help students find access points that enable them to gain entry to complex informational text and then trek their way through to a successful conclusion,”
• Game seeks to enhance lessons on ethics, empathy – MIT’s Education Arcade and the Learning Games Network has a released a free online game that aims to teach empathy (article). “Quandary” targets students in grades 3-8 and has them solve problems on a fictional planet. Students earn points by interviewing characters and accurately predicting their responses, and, eventually, by how well they resolve and defend their solutions. I tried it out and I could see it being pretty engaging for kids.
• Lecture: The Challenge of Humanitarian Aid – Wednesday, Nov. 20th at 7pm at the UO Knight Library, there’s a free lecture at that staff may be interested in attending. Internationally recognized scholar and educator Hugo Slim is visiting the University of Oregon November 16-23. While at the UO, Slim will conduct a workshop on prevention-oriented curriculum with UO faculty and 4J teachers, attend classes, engage with students interested in international aid work and deliver the UO’s second annual address on the State of Human Rights.
• Schedule of Events for the Week – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for this week:
November 18 (M)
8:00-4:00, Allan to All Admin Saphier Training (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals Meeting (Ed Center)November 19 (T)
8:00-2:00, 3rd Grade to Leaburg Dam
8:00-2:00, 4th Grade to Hope in Action Conference
2:30-3:00, IPBS Meeting (Room 4)
2:30-3:00, Allan to IEP Meeting (Room 10)
5:15-5:45, Parent Laptop/iPad Training (Room 6)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Library)November 20 (W)
8:00-10:00, Allan Meeting with Sara Cramer (Howard)November 21 (H)
11:00-12:25, PRIDE Awards at Lunchtime
1:00-2:00, Allan Meeting with Feed Hope
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Room 10)November 22 (F)
Picture Retake Day
11:00-12:25, Birthday Lunches with the Principal
Have a fabulous week and an even better week off!
Allan
