https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=3470
Hello Roadrunners,
Although we did have one day of indoor recess, the rain was a refreshing change last week. This week is supposed to be a mix of rain and sun, so keep your fingers crossed for no indoor recesses and that the weather cooperates with our Safety Week schedule.
Seventeen items of note this week:
• Safety Week This Week – This week is Safety Week, where we’ll practice all of the most common safety drills. The schedule for the week is below. There is a chance of rain on Monday, so if it’s raining at 9:30, I’ll look for a break in the weather and try to do it later in the day.
• Monday, Sept. 29– Fire Drill, 9:30
• Tuesday, Sept. 30– Room Clear, time decided by teachers
• Wednesday, Oct. 1 – Lock Down (Code Blue and Code Red), 9:00
• Thursday, Oct. 2– Earthquake/Fire Drill, 8:15All of these drills are listed in the “Emergency Procedures Manual” which is the rainbow tabbed notebook that should be hanging in every classroom (let me know if you don’t have one). I won’t be making any announcement before the drills, so it’s okay for staff to prep your students before these drills take place. For the Lock Down drill, please review the Code Blue and Code Red procedures, which include steps that are specific to Howard and are more detailed than the general ones in the Emergency Procedures Manual. Please let me know if you have any questions.
• CLC EA Hire – ESS has hired a someone to fill our 2.5 hour CLC EA position, which so far this year has been filled by a sub and working primarily in kindergarten. Jessi Ondrovics will be starting later this week, once HR finished her paperwork. ESS hasn’t sent me a resume for Jessi yet, so I can’t tell you much about her background, but I did recently tell Amy Tidwell that she’s been batting 1000 on her hires for Howard, scoring us Sandra, Linda and Aden, so I hopefully we’ve got another rock star. Please welcome Jessi to our tribe!
• Student Glass Tiles for New Building – Similar to what’s been done at the last four new schools built in 4J, there is going to be a glass tile installation in our new building, where all K-5 Howard students this year will make a tile to be installed forever in the new building. Larry Meyers, the Awbrey Park lead custodian, made the tiles with students for Holt, Chavez, Madison and Cal Young and is again willing to lead the project. Although this has been done before, I do think it’s a pretty cool permanent fixture in the new building which our current students will forever be able to leave their mark. I know I still remember where my tile is over at Cal Young when that school went up.
To accomplish this, Larry will need one 90 minute block with each classroom, though it can be done in a shorter block of time for younger grades with shorter attention spans. We’d like to start work on these in mid-October, starting with the older grades and working our way down. These dates are flexible, but the proposed schedule is:
• Monday, Oct. 13th – 5th Grade
• Wednesday, Oct. 15th – 5th Grade
• Friday, Oct. 17th – 4th Grade
• Monday, Oct. 20th – 4th Grade
• Wednesday, Oct. 22nd – 3rd Grade
• Friday, Oct. 24th – 3rd Grade
• Monday, Nov. 3rd – 2nd Grade
• Wednesday, Nov. 5th – 2nd Grade
• Friday, Nov. 7th – 1st Grade
• Monday, Nov. 10th – 1st Grade
• Wednesday, Nov. 12th – 1st Grade
• Friday, Nov. 14th – 1st Grade
• Monday, Nov. 17th – Life Skills
• Wednesday, Nov. 19th – Kindergarten
• Friday, Nov. 21st – KindergartenTeachers, please let me know if these dates work for your grade level and which date and time you would like to do this with your class. This may upset workshop times some, but this is a awfully unique opportunity for kids and I think it’s worth it.
On a related note, we’ll try to salvage the student tiles currently in our cafeteria, though it my be tricky to get them out in one piece since they are glued to the wall. We’ll still try though.
• October PBIS Focus: Bully Proofing – The October PBIS monthly focus is Bully Proofing. The PBIS team created a PBIS/CFK Cheat Sheet that matches our monthly themes with corresponding Caring for Kids class meeting lessons. Bully Proofing actually has more corresponding CFK lessons than any of the other monthly themes for both primary and intermediate grades, so you’ll have plenty to choose from.
• Mr. Miller’s Kelly Middle School Student Helpers – Jason Miller over at Kelly Middle School would love to have his students come back this year and help on Wednesdays from 10:05-10:45. He hadn’t heard from anyone and I’m guessing it may be because this timeframe overlaps with morning recess for a lot of classes, but he would still love to come over, even if it’s for a shorter time. He also said his students could help at recess if playground supervisors are interested. This year’s group are all 8th grade W.E.B. leaders, so it should be a good group of kids. If you’re interested, please let me know or email Jason directly at miller_j@4j.lane.edu
• Construction Updates – Four short construction updates. First, the excavation ground work going on behind the school should finish up this week. Second, the track is also nearing completion, though they want to reseed the grass around the track, which mean the fence separating the playground from the track will need to stay up through mid-October. Lastly, Delta is coming out to clean up the temporary wall and doorway at the end of the 1st grade hallway. They are also going to be installing a light at the end of the hallways since it’s awfully dark down there right now.
• Sub Folders to Lori – If you haven’t already, be sure to give your completed sub folders to Lori. For licensed staff, EAST, the substitute teachers union, provided a list of what information is most useful for them when they go into a classroom, which teachers may want to take a look at before completing your sub folders.
• Language Link Interpretation Services – For individual parent meetings and phone calls requiring translation services (including Parent/Teacher Conferences), the ELD Office is highly recommending that staff use the Language Link phone service (see attached document for details). This is a company the district contracts with who are well versed in education jargon, can translate multiple languages and are quite experienced in translating for schools. The ELD office will still try to schedule an in-district translator for conferences, but just know that this is also an option and in some ways might be better for connecting with families since you’d be able to better avoid having everyone talking to the translator instead of talking to each other.
• Fall Writing Work Samples – Remember that work samples are due to me by this Thursday. Attached are the K-2 and 3-5 writing prompts and be sure to carefully read the teacher script and directions before administering the assessment.
• Eugene/Springfield NAACP Resource Center – The Eugene/Springfield chapter of the NAACP just had their Resource Center Kick-Off Event and I wanted to highlight some resources staff may want to recommend to students and families. There are a couple programs aimed more at secondary students, which are the Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) and the Youth Council, but the program that would most benefit our students and families is the Back to School/Stay in School (BTS) program, which offers free tutoring, computer lab and academic/Parental assistance and counseling every Saturday (beginning Oct. 4) from 10:00-12:00 at the LCC Downtown Campus.
• Papa’s Pizza Student Incentive Award – Papa’s Pizza is offering achievement awards that can be given to students for good behavior or reaching other teacher set goals as an incentive. The students receiving the awards can redeem them at Papa’s Pizza for a free mini pizza. If you you’d like some of these for your class, please let me know by end of the week how many you’d like. Papa’s said they can provide them all school year long.
• City of EugeneTeaching Resources – The City of Eugene offers a wide range of K-12 resources that teachers can use to add interest and local content to lesson plans. This brochure offers some examples of these great opportunities for students, including RiverPlay/Discovery Village Field Trip, Hunting for History, Snow Plow Art, the annual Public Works Day and many others.
• UO International Cultural Presentations for Classrooms – The International Cultural Services Program is once again making their student ambassadors from across the globe available for the 2014-2015 school year. Since the program’s inception almost 30 years ago, ICPS participants have brought cultural diversity to our community through group presentations, panel discussions, and demonstrations of regional dance, music, food and many other forms of cultural expressions. This program is K-12 and is offered free of charge. If you would like to invite an international student to speak to your class, you can submit a request by filling out this online request form. If at any time you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the ICSP Coordinator, Lindsay Pepper, by email icsp@uoregon.edu or phone (541) 346-7429.
• Eugene Symphony Link Up and Youth Concert Deadlines Approaching – The Eugene Symphony is offering two opportunities for elementary students this year and their deadlines are quickly approaching. One is the Peter & the Wolf Elementary Youth Concert, with a registration deadline of Oct. 8th. The second is Link Up and its culminating Youth Concert, The Orchestra Rocks, with a registration deadline of Oct. 3rd. Both of these have a $5 per student fee, but scholarships are available and I would think Howard would qualify, though teachers would have to use their classroom money for buses or arrange for parent drivers.
• Ed Center Artwork Display – The Ed Center has two glass display cases begging for student artwork. It needs to be either 8×11 flat or three dimensional no larger than 8 inches on any side. If you are interested in participating, please let me know. I still remember when my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Mobolo, chose one of my pieces of art to be displayed at the Ed Center.
• VIDEO: “Hey White People: A Kinda Awkward Note to America by Ferguson Kids” – A radio station from Ferguson, MO made a pretty smart and snappy video highlighting common detours to discussing and addressing racism in America, our local community and even in ourselves.
• Schedule of Events for the Week – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:
September 29 (M)
Safety Week
Reading Progress Monitoring Week 1
9:30, Fire Drill
9:40-10:10, 4/5 Strings Recruitment Concert (Cafeteria)
12:30-3:30, Allan to Admin Being A Writer Training (Ed Center)September 30 (T)
Room Clear Drill (time decided by classroom teachers)
12:10-12:40, 5th Grade Safety Patrol Orientation (Library)
2:00-3:00, Allan to Construction Pre-Bid Meeting
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting
6:30-7:30, PTO Fundraising Meeting (Q’s House)October 1 (W)
PBIS Focus: Bully Proofing
Popcorn Wednesdays Start
Cookie Dough Orders Due
9:00-9:15, Lock Down Drill (Code Blue and Code Red)
3:00-4:00, Allan to New School Signage Meeting (PIVOT Offices)October 2 (H)
Fall Writing Work Samples Due
8:15, Earthquake/Fire Drill
1:55, Beep, Beep Drawing (Send your buckets down one last time)
4:00-5:00, Allan to United Way Kick-Off (Ed Center)
5:45-7:05, Curriculum Night• 5:45-6:00 will be Drop Off in the cafeteria
• 6:00-6:30 for Session 1
• 6:35-7:05 for Session 2.
• 7:30, UO Football GameOctober 3 (F)
8:00-12:00, Howard Professional Development (Library)
12:00-4:00, Planning TimeOctober 6 (M)
Regular DayOctober 7 (T)
8:00-1:30, Health Screening (Room 11)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 1)October 8 (W)
8:30-12:30, 2nd Grade to Mount PisgahOctober 9 (H)
Regular DayOctober 10 (F)
State Inservice Day – No School
Have a great week, everyone!
Allan
