https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=3492
Hi All,
I hope you all were able to enjoy the sunny weather this weekend, which was right in the Goldilocks zone for me; not too hot, not to cold, but just right.
Thirteen items of note this week:
• Glass Tiles for New Building Updates – Three updates on the glass tiles from last week:
• Parent Volunteers Needed – Larry Meyers said he’d love to a team of three parent volunteers who could follow him through all of the classes on the scheduled days with classes. If you know of a parent who you think might be interested, let me know and I can make contact with them. I’ll also be reaching out to the PTO Volunteer Coordinator.
• Bigger Tiles – Our tiles are actually going to be a bit larger than the ones at Chavez, Holt, Cal Young and Madison to better match the tile patter in the new building’s restrooms.
• Sample of Fused Glass – Lastly, if you’re not familiar with fused glass, here’s a link to an HGTV page on how to make it. Although it’s a how-to for making night lights, the process for making our tiles is very similar.And a repeat from last week, Larry will need one 90 minute block with each classroom, though it can be done in a shorter block of time for younger grades. These dates are flexible, but the schedule is planned to be:
• Monday, Oct. 13th – Rock (5th Grade), 10:40-12:10
• Wednesday, Oct. 15th – Callihan (5th Grade), 9:40-11:10
• Friday, Oct. 17th – Frank (4th Grade), 8:30-10:00
• Monday, Oct. 20th – Groshong (4th Grade), 8:30-10:00
• Wednesday, Oct. 22nd – Zimmerman (3rd Grade), 8:40-10:10
• Friday, Oct. 24th – Kreider (3rd Grade), 10:25-11:40.
• Monday, Nov. 3rd – 2nd Grade
• Wednesday, Nov. 5th – 2nd Grade
• Friday, Nov. 7th – Corliss (1st Grade), 8:20-9:50
• Monday, Nov. 10th – 1st Grade
• Wednesday, Nov. 12th – Swift (1st Grade), 8:15-9:15
• Friday, Nov. 14th – Kindergarten
• Monday, Nov. 17th – Heselbach (Life Skills), 12:00-12:40
• Wednesday, Nov. 19th – Kindergarten
• Friday, Nov. 21st – Make-Up Day• Custodial/Maintenance Requests via Email – If staff have custodial or maintenance requests, from now on please use email to make those requests with Randy so we can better track request and make sure they are completed in a timely manner. In the cases of emergencies or immediate needs (i.e. bodily fluid spills or other safety issues) still connect with Randy in person or call the office to radio him right away, but for non-emergency/immediate requests, please document requests by sending them to Randy over email.
• TalentEd Update – TalentEd has now been updated for the 2014-2015 school year. This page provides a link to the TalenEd for login and Quick Start Guide. This link can be found on our 4J web site under Human Resources Teacher Effectiveness and Growth Systems. I’ll set October 31st as the due date for the self-assessment.
• Educator Goals Meetings – I’m going to give teachers a couple options for completing the fall goals conference meeting with me. One, below are dates and times I’m available to meet with licensed staff. First come, first serve on these times. I can also meet with staff during the day if you have an open time during the school day. Also, teachers do not have to have all of your TalentEd pre-word done before we meet as long as you have an idea of what you will be doing for your goals. If that option does not work for teachers, on Tuesday, October 21st, I will have a roving sub cover for teachers so I can meet with staff during the school day. Let me know by Thursday your preference of date/time to meet of if you’d rather have a sub cover for you instead on the 21st. Staff I don’t hear from I’ll assume want to be assigned a time slot on Oct. 21st.
• Mon. 10/13, 2:20-2:40 TAKEN
• Mon, 10/13, 2:45-3:05 _______________
• Mon, 10/13, 3:10-3:30 _______________
• Tues. 10/14, 2:20-2:40 TAKEN
• Tues, 10/14, 2:45-3:05 _______________
• Tues, 10/14, 3:10-3:30 TAKEN
• Wed. 10/15, 2:20-2:40 _______________
• Wed, 10/15, 2:45-3:05 TAKEN
• Wed, 10/15, 3:10-3:30 _______________• Wed. 10/22, 2:20-2:40 _______________
• Wed, 10/22, 2:45-3:05 TAKEN
• Wed, 10/22, 3:10-3:30 _______________• Wed. 10/22, 2:20-2:40 _______________
• Wed, 10/22, 2:45-3:05 _______________
• Wed, 10/22, 3:10-3:30 _______________• Building SMART Goals – The last item related to Teacher Effectiveness and Growth Systems is if licensed staff are interested in using the Building SMART Goals I shared at last month’s staff meeting (writing & math for academic goals and technology integration for the professional goal), you can cut and paste these into TalentEd. Staff are welcome to develop their own goals, though our building and some district PD will be geared towards to these topics, so using these goals may make folks’ lives a little bit easier.
• Being A Writer Materials – If you are short any Being A Writer materials, let me know by Wednesday. Downtown is providing additional materials for classrooms or SPED teachers who are short or missing any items. SPED teachers should have materials for grades 2, 3 and 4 only. Let me know if you have any questions on this.• Construction Updates – There was a prebid meeting this past week, where I got some updated information and timelines. If you really want to know the complete ins and out of the new building, you can see the complete plans on this website that was given to the construction companies who are bidding on the project. The architectural drawings file is the one probably of most interest to staff.
A few other updates I recently got were:
• Restrooms – All toilets will be manual and not automatic flush toilets, so we thankfully won’t have nearly as many kids scared to use the restrooms.
• Decorative Courtyard Gates – It’s a bit hard to describe, but the fences in the courtyards will be a bit more interesting than your standard wrought iron, and will be a sheet of perforated metal with silhouettes of children playing cut into them (though cut to not make it easy to climb over or reach in to open the gates). Here’s a image from page 23 of the architectural drawings file, though it makes the fence look like solid metal instead of perforated metal.
• The Old Howard Sign – The district is planning to restore and move the current Howard sign and reinstall it between the new softball/soccer field and new playground, which is where people will pass by as they go from the parking lot to the track and field.
• Signage and Names for Each Wing – Signage for the building is being developed, which the current plan being for each wing to be A, B and C with first and second floor classrooms being A101, A102, etc. for the first floor and A202, A203 etc. for the second floor. There will be the standard room number plate with brail below, but we’ll also get a slot below each room number for us to place a standard sign that will be able to easily change in and out as staff move around. One last related item that we don’t really need to make a decision on at this moment, but something staff may want to think about, is if we want to give each wing a name besides A, B and C. Could be tree names, like Alder Fir or Cedar, or maybe native Oregon animals, or any other theme we want. If we did this, I think we’d use vinyl letter, which look nice, but can easily be taken down if staff 20 years from now decided that our choice of names were ridiculous. :)
• Slide from the 2nd floor into the Library Reading Nook – It’s not in the plans, but there is also a possibility we could get a slide installed that would go from the second floor down into the reading nook at the south end of the library.
• Project Alternates – There are several alternates in the project that went out to bid to contractors. At one point, two classrooms were considered as alternates, but the school board went to bat for us on that was taken off as a potential alternate. The current alternates are:• Skylights and Fall Arrest System
• Chiller
• Community Path
• Covered Play Structure
• Second Floor Exterior BalconiesRegarding timeline, here’s the official timeline for bidding, construction and potential move in dates:
Bid Schedule:
• Sept. 3, Advertisement for Big
• Sept. 30, Prebid Meeting
• Oct. 11, Cut off for substitution requests
• Oct. 21, Bid Opening MeetingWork Schedule
I. Nov. 10, School Board Approval and Notice to Proceed
II. Work to be substantially compete⁃ Building: Feb. 1, 2016
⁃ Site: August 14, 2016III. Exsisiting School Available for demolition (estimated):
⁃ East wing: June 28, 2016
⁃ South and partial west wing: July 7, 2016
⁃ West wing: July 14, 2016IV. Owner Option
⁃ Owner may elect to move-in March 2016
⁃ Owner may allow demolition starting May 2016So the big new with the schedule is that, we may get move in over Spring Break next year, which has been the preference I’ve heard from pretty much all staff if we were given a choice of moving in early or waiting another full school year.
• Conference Schedules – With Howard’s continued increasing enrollment (373 students at the moment, compared to 293 three years ago) scheduling conferences for siblings, translators and staff requests are increasingly difficult. At most schools, teachers have to do their own conference scheduling, so Howard is lucky that Lori is willing to take this on, but please be aware that in the future, if teachers are unavailable during part of the scheduled conference times , they will be asked to schedule their own conference times for families. On a related note, remember the Language Link phone translation service mentioned in last week’s announcements, which offers interpretation for a dozen languages. See the attachment for complete details, but for conferences or any other time when interpretation services might be needed, here are the directions for Spanish phone interpretation services, which can be done over a speaker phone or cell phone speaker:
Step 1: Call 1-877-764-7999
Step 2: Enter Account Number 16206, followed by # sign
Step 3: Select 1 to be connected directly to your Spanish interpreter• Howard/Kelly Track Sharing at Lunch Recess Schedule – I’ve worked with Kelly to come up with a schedule share the track once it’s open. Howard will use the track morning recess five days a week and at lunch recess Tuesdays and Thursdays. Kelly will use the track during their lunch periods Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. Kelly’s lunch periods typically run from 10:54-12:30 with about 30 minutes with no use in the middle, which gives the 1/2 lunch recess access to the field five days a week.
• Project-based learning raises hopes for equality in STEM – Project-based learning may serve to shrink the achievement gap for low-income students and others underrepresented in science and technology, new research indicates. A study of 3,000 middle-schoolers found no ethnic or gender disparities after a year with the approach that emphasizes inquiry over rote memorization.
• Hispanic Heritage Month – Check out and feel free to share the flyer for the UO Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration happening this weekend on Sunday, October 12th.
• New Library Resource for Teachers from Eugene Public Library Youth Services – The Eugene Public Library website has a new Teacher Resources K-6 website, which includes:
• Library’s online resources, targeted by subject
• Links to books in the collection on teaching those subjects
• Links and search tips for finding books and media in the collection to check out for the classroom
• Lists of curated websites by subject
• How to contact the library for assignment support and tour requestsIf staff have any questions, they should feel free to contact Michele Green, the Eugene Public Library Youth Librarian, by email (michele.e.green@ci.eugene.or.us) or by phone at 541-682-8480 (Sun – Thurs).
• 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:October 6 (M)
12:45, Kelly and Allan conducting BEST EA Interviews (Office)
4:15-5:30, EEA Contract Ratification Meeting (CHS)October 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 for Classified or Licensed Staff
8:00-11:00, Allan to Equity, Social Justice and Culturally Responsive Practices Meeting (Ed Center)October 13 (M)
Reading Progress Monitoring Week 2
BEST StartsOctober 14 (T)
8:00-11:30, Kindergarten Hearing Screening (Room 22)
9:00, 2nd Grade to Alton Baker Park/Nearby Nature
12:00-6:00, Cookie Dough Order Pick Up (Room 11)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Library)October 15 (W)
Allan to TAG Coordinator TrainingOctober 16 (H)
2:30-3:30, TLT Meeting (Room 6)
4:00-5:00, Allan to 4J Staff of Color Meeting
5:45-6:15, BEST Parent MeetingOctober 17 (F)
School Picture Day
7:30-9:30, Allan to 4J MAPS Meeting
8:00-4:00, Allan to Oregon Intervention System (OIS) Training
Have a great week everyone and feel free to use and share the unsung hero video below that I shared at Friday’s meeting
Allan