March 9, 2015

By Allan  

Daylight-Savings-Princess-Bride

Hello Howard Roadrunners,

Even though we lost a precious hour of sleep this weekend due to Daylight Savings, we did get some nice spring weather. Hopefully you all were able to get our an enjoy some of it!

Twelve items of note this week:

• HM Journeys Training, March 13th, Reminder – I mentioned a few weeks back that there will be a Journeys PD session this Friday at the Lane ESD, led by Houghton Mifflin trainers. The training for grades K-2 will be from 8:00-11:00 and the training for grades 3-5 will be from 12:00-3:00. The rest of the day will be planning time. They will be going over all the hard copy materials as well as getting everyone online access to the digital materials in ThinkCentral. They are asking that teachers bring your Journeys Teacher Edition Vol. 1, the Student Edition (text) and your laptop. I believe all of our materials have been delivered, minus 2nd and 3rd grade which are still being tracked down, so teachers can feel free to gather materials which are being stored at the end of the 1st grade hallway. And if teachers would rather I grab your teacher guide and student text, just let me know and I’ll put then in your mailbox.

What: Journeys Training for HM buildings (Edison, Edgewood, Corridor, Yujin Gakuen, and Howard)
Where: Lane ESD
When: March 13th
K-2nd 8-11:00 am
3-5th 12-3:00 pm
Bring: Your Teacher Edition volume 1, the student edition (text) to go with it, and your computer

• Optional Staffing Plan Meeting Thursday at 2:30 – 2015-2016 staffing allocation will be given out this Monday. Once I get our staffing allocations, I’ll share the numbers with everyone that same day. I’ll hold an optional Staff Meeting on Thursday, March 12th at 2:30 in a volunteer’s classroom (the Book Fair is in the Library) for staff to discuss and give input on different staffing scenarios, which I’ll email out ahead of time. After staff have had a chance to reflect on the different plans, we’ll hold a regular Staff Meeting on Tuesday, March 17th at 2:30 in the library to vote on the final staffing plan.

And if you haven’t already, please fill out a short staffing survey, either here on a Survey Monkey or on a DOC file. This will help me know staff members individual plans and preferences for the future as well as your thoughts on next year’s building-wide staffing plan and master schedule. All answers will be kept confidential and please let me know if you have any questions.

• Literacy Night Dinner Orders – Dinner orders for Thursday’s Literacy Night are due to Lori by this Monday. We’re ordering individual Cornucopia boxed lunches for dinner. Choose your sandwich (which comes with fruit, chips and a cookie) and then decide if you’d like to add a pasta, fruit, potato or green salad.

• March Student Care Team Referrals – The next Student Care Team meeting will be the Tuesday after Spring Break and as of right now, we don’t have anyone on the agenda. Let me know if you have a family or situation you’d like to refer to the team. Be sure to complete the Student Care Team Referral Form (PDF or DOC) and also be sure to fill out and get a parent signature on the Authorization for Use & Disclosure of Information (PDF or DOC) which will give DHS time to do preliminary work before the meeting. Referrals can be for, but are not limited to:

• Death of a parent
• Incarcerated parent -­ concerns about recent incarceration or pending release
• Homeless or impending homelessness
• Unknown if open CW case but has concerns that were called in
• Domestic Violence
• Extreme behavior issues – ­additional supports needed outside of school
• Specific resource needed but unknown where to refer
• Medical concerns about the child or other family

• ELA CCSS 6 Shifts Workshops: Instructional Strategies for the Common Core REMINDER – Gretta Sagolla sent an email reminder last week, but teachers should remember to sign up for Session 3 of the ELA CCSS Workshops on the 4J Workshop Page. The K-2 sessions will be offered March 10th, 12:00pm-3:00pm, March 11th, 8:00am-11:00am or March 12th, 8:00am-11:00am. The 3-5 session are offered March 9th, 12:00pm-3:00pm, March 10th, 8:00am-11:00am or March 12th, 12:00pm-3:00pm. And remember to bring a piece of text you plan on teaching in your next unit (or perhaps your next unit teachers manual) and your laptop.

• Construction Updates – Attached are the minutes from the last Construction Progress Meeting and are the highlights:

• Polished Concrete Color Options – If you take a look out at the mock up in the east parking lot, there are some color tests that have been done on the polished concrete. The original thinking was to have color on the floor of each wing that matches the way-finding color for that wing (the three wings will be accented by blue, green or yellow). The yellow and green color on the polished concrete are way too light (looking like someone dropped some food and actually left a stain behind) but the blues look okay. The original plan was for one of the blues to be in the blue wing and the darker “Patriot Blue” to be in the entry area. The question we’re looking at now is whether we should use the Patriot Blue throughout the building or go with a more neutral dark grey on top of the lighter grey polish. The blue or grey will be different sized circles, like the ones on the mock up, which will compliment the circular lighting in the ceiling. I’m leaning towards the more neutral dark grey on the lighter grey polished concrete, which I think would be less garish and will probably not seem as dated 20 years from now, but feel free to check out the mock up and let me know what you think. The test grey polish isn’t out there yet, but it’ll probably be out there later this week.

• No Library Slide – I mentioned last week that the cost for the slide was significantly higher than expected, but the slide is now officially out of the project. Downtown felt they could justify including a “fun” element in the building for around $30,000 but the costs for the slide were now looking closer to twice that at $60,000, which was just too much to justify spending. It would certainly have been fun to have a slide, but it may also have been a student management issue, so maybe losing the slide was for the best. :(

• PRIDE Awards Wednesday, March. 18th – Not this week, but next week will be the March PRIDE Awards. Teachers should pick a letter (Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Discipline, Excellence) to honor students and fill out the PRIDE certificates located in the office. Invitations to families are also in the office. If you think families are interested, there’s a coupon for a free adult meal on the March Menu. Students will receive their certificate and wrist band during their lunchtime. There is no minimum or maximum number of PRIDE recipients per class, but the general rule of thumb is 2-3. And remember, as you turn in your PRIDE nominations, be sure that you let Lori know who and why each student is being recognized so she can put their name up on the board.

• Scholastic BOGO Book Sale Update – I didn’t hear any No’s for the Buy-One-Get-One-Free Scholastic Book Sale at the end of the year, so I’ll give Julie to go ahead and arrange it for May 14, 15 and 18th. Classes who would miss their regular library times on those days will be rescheduled.

• Spring Break Lunch/Activity Flyer – I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Nutrition Services is holding a free lunch and activity program at Howard for area students 1-18 years old living in our area. Attached is a flyer for the event. We received hard copies of the flyer last week, which should go home with student if you didn’t send them home already. And let me know if any of you are interested in volunteering 12:00-1:00 one day over the break to lead an activity (coloring books, showing a video, singing songs, open gym, free choice on the playground, etc.) one of the days.

• Dragon Puppet Assembly Assembly, Potentially on Thursday, March 19th – We’ve been emailing back and forth with the Dragon Puppet Assembly folks and they are available next Thursday, March 19th to perform. It makes for a bit of a crazy day with our Tail Feather assembly that same afternoon, so we’re seeing if they’re available after Spring Break. If we can’t reschedule, we’ll work the times around morning recess and do 9:30-10:00 for grades 2-5 and 10:10-10:40 for K-1. I’ll send out an assembly map once we have the date finalized.

• Can learning through play benefit all students? – Educators in early grades — and more recently middle grades — are incorporating play in learning, writes Hilary Conklin, an associate professor at DePaul University and fellow with the OpEd Project. She notes in this article that recent research supports learning through play for all students, even high-schoolers.

• 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:

March 9 (M)
Book Fair Begins
Reading and Math Progress Monitoring 10
10:00-11:30, Allan to 15/16 Staffing Allocation Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

March 10 (T)
9:00-10:00, February Book Winners (Office)

March 11 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Construction Progress Meeting (Construction Trailer)

March 12 (H)
2:30-3:30, Optional 15/16 Staffing Plan Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)
4:45-5:30, Cornucopia Dinners with Drink & Deserts are Served (Staff Room)
5:30-7:30, Literacy Night

March 13 (F)
PD/Planning Day – No Students
8:00-12:00, K-2 HM Journeys Training (Lane ESD)
12:00-4:00, 3-5 HM Journeys Training (Lane ESD)

March 16 (M)
1:20, Fire Drill
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

March 17 (T)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 7) CANCELLED
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Library)

March 18 (W)
7:30-11:30, IIPM Data Team Meetings (Staff Room)
9:30-11:00, Allan to Construction Progress Meeting (Construction Trailer)
11:00-12:30, PRIDE Awards (Cafeteria)

March 19 (H)
9:30-10:00 2-5 Dragon Puppet Assembly (Gym) – Tentative
10:10-10:40 K-1 Dragon Puppet Assembly (Gym) – Tentative
10:55-12:30, March Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Library)
1:00, Tail Feather Reward Assembly (Gym)
2:30-3:30, Design Team Meeting (Library)

March 20 (F)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting

March 23-27
Spring Break – No School
12:00-1:00, Spring Break Fun Time – Lunch & Activity (Cafeteria

2 week (9 student days) until Spring Break!

Allan