https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=6215
Hello Roadrunners,
Hope you all enjoyed your well earned 3-day weekend!
Fifteen items of note for this week:
• 2nd Grade Staffing Update – Sarah Dement is now officially the long-term sub for Mellissa while she’s out getting ready for her twins. Sarah student taught fall term in Ashley’s class, so she’s already a familiar face around the second grade wing. Please welcome Sarah to the Howard team!
• School Choice Visitation Week #2 – A reminder that this week is the second School Choice Visitation Week. We have a number of families signed up for tours (mostly at the younger grades), so don’t be surprised if you see me walking visitors around the building and into classrooms this week.
• PRIDE Awards Assemblies Friday – This Friday is our second PRIDE Award assembly; Grades K-2 at 8:40-9:05 and Grades 3-5 at 9:10-9:35 . See the linked assembly map and directions for details and look for an email from the PBIS team as to the plan for the assembly. Classroom teachers should pick 2-3 students who demonstrate the characteristic of Respect (“Honor yourself and others”). Parent invitations and PRIDE Awards are located in the filing cabinet by Bianca’s desk and be sure to get your completed PRIDE Awards to me by Thursday so I can add my signature.
• Read Across America, Thursday, March 2nd – Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America (and Literacy Night) are coming up on Thursday, March 2nd. Linked here are some resources for how to celebrate this day from Seussville, Reading Rockets, the National Education Association (NEA), Edutopia, and Scholastic’s Top 10 Read Across America Ideas for Upper Elementary.
• Literacy Night Dinner – We’ll once again be providing a meal for staff working at Literacy Night next week on March 2nd, but we’re simplifying things this year and will be ordering a variety of pizza and salads from Mezza Luna if you’d like to recommend any choices of pizza or salad.
• Grading Window Closes Tuesday – On Tuesday Lori will be saving report cards to the students documents in Synergy. That means that the grading window will be closed. If for any reason teachers are not finished, you’ll need to let Lori know. It’s also important that teachers remember to move all of their report cards over to the completed section in TeacherVUE.
• Fire Drill Tuesday at 1:10 – There’s less of a chance of rain on Tuesday than other days this week, so we’ll hold our February fire drill on Tuesday at 1:10 as long as the weather cooperates.
• Return Beep Beep Prize Cards & Tardy Passes – Please return Tardy Passes and Friday Beep, Beep Prize Cards to the office as soon as you’re done with them. Our Friday Beep, Beep Prize Board is looking pretty bare and we’re also running low on Tardy Passes.
• Classified Last Work Day – If you’ve taken a look at the Revised 2016/2017 Classified Calendar you’ll have noticed 196-day and 192-day classified staff, which is most everyone minus Crystal, Auburn, and Lori, you have an odd last day of work this year, Monday, June 26th. However, I wanted to point out the calendar does note that “With prior arrangement with your administrator, employees can develop a plan to make up the final work day of June 26 at an earlier time. (Example: You may work extended hours or a day you were not originally scheduled to work to make up the time.),” so keep track of comp hours if you’d like your last day to be Friday, June 23rd.
• Telephone Audio Quality – There have been some issues with audio quality on the NEC phones at both Howard and Roosevelt. Last Thursday the vendor made some changes that we think should have corrected the issue. Volume levels should be better as well as less echo. Please let me know if you’ve noticed an improvement or change in how these perform.
• Revised BEST Calendar – Linked here is a Revised BEST Calendar, but the short version is they are adding June 5-9 to their calendar, with June 9th as the last student day.
• BJ’s Awesome Achievement Program – Similar to the Papa’s Pizza Achievement Awards, BJ’s offers the BJ’s Awesome Achievement Program that helps reward and celebrate students and the great things they do. They offer teachers access to an online portal where you can set up an account and receive the individual student reward certificates. When your students go in they will get a complimentary entrée and a special Awesome Achievement pin from the manager.
• New App Available: Read&Write for Google Chrome – There is a new Google Chrome extension that works with Google Docs that 4J has purchased for all students. It’s a reading and writing tool that assists struggling students, but can really help all students. If you would like to get a sense of the program, you can watch the video below for a demonstration of how the extension works. If you’re interested in learning more, there’s a free webinar on Thursday, March 9th at 3:45 if you register here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-SSeP7DhTU
• How access to nature during the school year can help students thrive – Even if it’s cold and wet, take your teaching outside! In terms of physical health, kids will obviously get more activity when they play outside, but there are some other surprising benefits. Outdoor time prevents nearsightedness that stems from deprivation of bright sunlight. Intangible social benefits can also translate to better classroom behavior. When kids are doing outdoor activities, they tend to do more group work in a collaborative sort of way. Read this Mind/Shift article for more details.
• 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:
February 20 (M)
President’s Day – No SchoolFebruary 21 (T)
School Choice Visitation Week #2
8:00-1:30, LCC Dental Clinic
8:15-11:15, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
11:00-12:00, Allan to All-Admin 17-18 Staffing Meeting (Ed Center)
1:10, Fire Drill
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)
4:00-5:30, 4J Math Teacher Leader Meeting (Community Room)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Community Room)February 22 (W)
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Conference Room)February 23 (H)
National Digital Learning Day
Book Fair Arrives/Set-Up
9:00, School Choice Tour
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)
4:00-5:30, 4J Math Teacher Leader Meeting (Community Room)February 24 (F)
Book Fair Student/Teacher Preview
8:40-9:05, K-2 Pride Assembly (Gym)
9:10-9:35, 3-5 PRIDE Assembly (Gym)
10:30-12:30, Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Community Room)February 27 (M)
Book Fair Begins
2:30-3:30, Site Council (Community Room)
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)February 28 (T)
In-District School Choice Closes
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa’s Room)March 1 (W)
Open Enrollment (Out-of-District) Begins
1:30-2:00, Optional Staff Meeting to Discuss 17-18 Staffing Scenarios (Volunteer’s Classroom)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)March 2 (H)
9:00-11:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)
5:30-7:30, Literacy NightMarch 3 (F)
No School – Howard PD Day
8:00-12:00, Howard PD Time (Volunteer’s Classroom)
And thank you to everyone who was able to come out for the PTO McTeacher’s Night Fundraiser last Thursday! It was fun seeing so many staff and families at the event, even if I did smell like deep fried food when I got home.
Allan
