December 12, 2016

By Allan  

Howdy Awesome Staff,

Teaching Tolerance created the the above image and shared how it’s a great time to remind students that they belong—in your classroom, in our school, and in this country. Their latest One World poster, featuring a quote from Langston Hughes’ classic poem “I, Too,” is here to help: Download it, print it, hang it up and read the full poem with your students.

Fourteen items of note for this week:

• Fire Drill, Wednesday at 8:20 – Our December Fire Drill will be this Wednesday at 8:20. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, which looks like a strong possibility, I’ll look for a break in the weather and try it later in the day.

• Tail Feather Reward Friday – Watch for details soon from the PBIS team, but the tentative plan is to show a short movie (we’re thinking a “Secret Life of Pets” short) in the gym that morning for K-2 8:40-9:10 and grades 3-5 10:15-10:45. This steps on a few specialists times, but we hope teachers can reschedule those time to another open slot this week.

• January Science PD Updates – The FOSS Next Generation Science professional development will be the first day after the break, Tuesday, January 3rd, 8:00-2:30 at Holt (grades K-2) and Howard (grades 3-5). All K-5 classroom teachers are required to attend, even if you don’t teach science this year. The day will include Introduction and Overview, Agenda and Goals, Culture of Productive Talk, NGSS Progression K-5 of Physical or Earth and Space Sciences, First Model Investigation, FOSS Next Generation instructional model, Teacher Investigation Guide and Assessment Tab Walk Through, Scavenger Hunt through Teacher’s guide, Preplanning and Teacher Collaboration Time and Share out, Second Model Investigation, Lunch on your own (1 hour), Standards across content areas, and District Evaluations of Professional Development.

On a related note, it was shared at last week’s principal meeting that some of the presenters at the last science training who weren’t so great were not invited back for the January training. Also, there will be less of an ELA-type of focus on the science journals since feedback was that most teachers felt they already had a good handle on that.

• Shhhh. Quiet in the Library Area – With the library in the middle of the building, it’s a very high traffic area, which means many classes have to walk by to get to and from the playground, PE & Music, and to go to lunch, which also means there can be an awful lot of noise if students are being chatty while in line. Please be strict with your students about walking silently when going past the library area, so not to disrupt classes during their library time.

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• Wacky Wednesday – Tropical Vacation Day – Don’t forget that this Wednesday is the December Wacky Wednesday and that it’s Tropical Vacation Day. Get out your flip flops, aloha shirts, and sunglasses with complete disregard for the weather outside (which is actually predicting a chance of snow!).

• Elementary Math Adoption Update – Pending review by IAC, ILT, Superintendent, and final School Board approval, the Math Adoption Team is recommending LearnZillion as our core math program with assurance that LearnZillion will translate the curriculum into Spanish, with Eugene 4j teacher review, and supplementation made by the adoption team during implementation. See the linked email from Maddy Ahearn for details and next steps.

• Studying Skillful Teaching PD Opportunity – I hadn’t heard from anyone saying they wanted to attend this, so one last chance here. If I don’t hear from any teachers by Friday, I’m going to donate Howard’s days to some other schools who have waiting lists of teachers who want to attend.

4J is continuing it’s work with Research for Better Teaching on Studying Skillful Teaching. If any teachers are interested, Howard has been allocated nine sub days to send folks to any of the four modules (Module 1: The Knowledge Base of Teaching, Module 2: Essential Elements of Unit/Lesson Design, Module 3: Making Student Thinking Visible, Module 4: High Expectations Teaching). This year all new teachers to the district have attended Module 1. If you have not previously attended an RBT training, you have to start with Module 1, but after than can attend any of Modules 2-4. See the LaneESD Studying Skillful Teaching webpage for module training dates and course descriptions. Don’t sign up for any modules there without letting me know first, so we don’t go over our allocated sub days. Most modules are either 1, 2 or 3 days, which means we can potentially send 3-5 interested teachers. Let me know if you’re interested or have any questions. You can also check in with Allison, Erin, Lupe, or Mellissa who have all previously attended RBT trainings as well.

• UO Basketball Fundraiser – I connected Howard with a UO fundraiser they are putting on where we get $3 of every ticket sold at three different basketball games this season (UCLA 12/28, Cal 1/19, and Utah 2/16). If people use a special Howard promo code and order their tickets at http://www.goducks.com/promo, Howard gets $3 of each ticket. Game tickets start at $13, so they’re not as expensive as football. Since this fundraiser doesn’t cost us anything outside of advertising the event, I though I’d give it a try. And if you were thinking of ordering tickets yourself, the promo code website was having technical difficulties that the UO told me they were working on. I’m waiting to advertise this until those glitches get fixed.

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• Lori Out Friday – Lori will be out on Friday and Cheri will be filling in for her, but if anyone needs something from Lori before then, let her know by Wednesday.

• Annual Safety Inspection Update – The safety inspection that was supposed to have happened last week got rescheduled to Tuesday, January 10th at 9:00.

• New Major and Minor Referral Forms Next Semester – I mentioned earlier that 4J has a team working on uniform major referral forms (Level IIIs) and minor referral forms (Level IIs). The plan is to rollout the new forms this year at the start of second semester. On a related note, our supply of Level IIIs is dwindling, so if we run out before second semester we’ll plan to just run off single sheets instead of ordering more on RCR paper.

• Water Quality Testing Update Update – I shared earlier the preliminary lead water testing results for the new building, which unsurprisingly showed no elevated levels of lead, but if you’re interested, detailed reports for most schools, including the new Howard, are now posted for staff, parents and the public to review on the district Water Quality Information webpage.

• 3 Practices of With-It Teachers – Classrooms are unpredictable by nature, but research cited in this article suggests three key ways to manage your classroom and achieve your desired outcomes. Engagement that specifically addresses a student to elicit a response, frequent scanning of the classroom to spot issues before they escalate, and behavior-specific praise are the hallmarks of this “with-it” approach to teaching.

• 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:

December 12 (M)
Harp Guest Artist at Music
2:15-3:30, Allan to HR Stakeholder Meeting (Ed Center)

December 13 (T)
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Carla’s Room, A203)

December 14 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Tropical Vacation Day
8:20, Fire Drill

December 15 (H)
Bus Safety Training Due to Lori
9:00-11:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30, Carrying it Forward/Taking It Up Meeting (Conference Room)

December 16 (F)
Lori Out
8:40-9:10, K-2 Tail Feather Reward Movie (Gym)
10:15-10:45, 3-5 Tail Feather Reward Movie (Gym)
10:30-12:30, December Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Conference Room)

December 19 (M) – January 2 (M)
No School – Winter Break

December 28 (W)
6:00, Howard Elementary Nights with the Ducks (UO vs UCLA)

January 3 (T)
No School – Professional Development/Planning Day
School Choice Opens
8:00-2:30, Science PD (K-2 @Holt, 3-5 @Howard)

January 4 (W)
Classes Resume
No Wednesday Popcorn
4:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

January 5 (H)
2:30, Allan to Eligibility Meeting (Conference Room)

January 6 (F)
Regular Day

And if you missed it last Friday, KEZI came out to do a story on Computer Science Education Week and the Hour of Code here at Howard, filming 2nd grades’ very fun Coding Campout! Video below!

Allan