https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=7470
Hi Everyone,
Seventeen items of note for this week:
• Report Card Grading Day, Classified & Licensed – For classified staff, 4J is planning to put on an Elementary EA Extravaganza on the elementary report card grading day next week on Friday, February 2nd. I haven’t seen any details yet, but it’s been on a district calendar sent to principals, so hold this date and watch for more info.
For licensed staff, report card grading day is a regular work day. HR allows teachers to work from home if you notify your administrator (me) in advance, but be sure to plan ahead if you need to collaborate with any colleagues on grading. Also, be sure to use this time for grading and not use it to run errands around town. Teachers are highly visible members of the community, so keep in mind public perception. HR has said that if working off-site on grading days is abused, we will not be allowed to continue the practice.
• Report Card Notes – A few items of note regarding report cards:
• Send-Home Date, Feb. 16 – All report cards will go home in Friday Folders on Friday, February 16th.
• New Parent Reports – With Quickbase Parent Reports a thing of the past, teachers should instead print and send home the easyCBM Parent Reports, which you can find on the easyCBM website by going to REPORTS > INDIVIDUALS > DOWNLOAD in the Parent Report column for each of the students on your class list.
• No Copies for CUM File – Teachers DO NOT need to make any copies of report cards for cumulative files for this grading period, but we will need to put in copies at the end of the school year.
• Synergy Report Card Help – Tammy Christensen is the Elementary Synergy TOSA, but if you have Synergy/report card related questions, send an email to sis@4j.lane.edu. There are also many Synergy related support materials on the 4J Elementary Synergy TeacherVUE Documentation webpage, including a Synergy Report Cards Manual.
• Fire Drill, Monday at 8:30 – Our January Fire Drill will be Monday, January 22nd at 8:30. I’ve been wanting to do this all month, but rain has consistently been in the forecast, so we’re getting down to the wire and it’s now or never (and never is not an option). If it’s raining at the above time, I’ll wait to see if there’s a break in the weather later in the day.
• School Choice Visitation Week #2 – The second and final School Choice Visitation Week is this week, so be prepared for families to drop by classrooms at different times. I’m also conducting an evening School Choice Event on Tuesday at 6:00 in the library. And FYI, the deadline for families to apply for in-district transfers is Jan. 31st and out-of-district applications will be accepted March 1 – April 1.
• Window Tinting Updates – Staff in classrooms with south facing windows may have noticed that a window film was installed last weekend. However, a number of staff let me know that the film is completely inadequate and natural light continues to blow out images projected onto the whiteboard and still shines brightly in students’ faces. I’ve let Facilities know this is still an issue, but have not yet gotten a response (maybe a can of black paint is the solution!). In the meantime, let Crystal or I know if you’d like butcher paper put back up to make the whiteboard a teachable space again.
Facilities is still working on the skylight shading nearest to the teaching wall, as well as replacing the small window shade fabric on the far East/West facing windows. Installation of these may not take place until spring break due to the difficulty of the install.
• New Tardy Autodialer – Starting Monday parents of students who are late without an acceptable excuse will start receiving calls in the evening alerting them to the fact that their student did not arrive on time. This may temporarily (we hope) increase calls from parents to find out why their student was marked late. Other schools report that about half of these calls end up being made to the classroom teacher, but that the tardies do seem to decrease after implementing this system. If parents contact you, use the opportunity to remind them that students must be in class by 7:55 in order to be considered on time, not just dropped off at the entrance by that time.
• PTO Meeting Updates – Linked here are the January PTO Meeting Minutes, but some particular items of note are:
• Special Project – The $5,000 for a permanent improvement was discussed at the meeting, but a vote was postponed and it was decided to send home a paper ballot instead. The choices being considered are tables for the courtyards, books for the library, a mural for the library, or skateboard/scooter racks. Lockers for the hallway was taken off the list.
• McTeacher Night, Feb. 15 – This year’s McTeacher Night was originally going to be in February, but McDonalds is not doing any fundraisers starting until April, so the McTeacher Night date is TBA.
• Penny War, March 12-16 – The Penny War fundraiser will be March 12-16. It is to-be-determined what the proceeds from this fundraiser will go towards. If you’re new the the Penny War, classroom each have their own jar and students before school put coins or dollars into jars, which either increase or decrease that classroom’s points. Pennies count as one point each, but silver coins and paper money count AGAINST other classroom’s points. These winning classrooms will be rewarded with a class party!
• PTO Spring Bazaar – April 7th from 9:00-3:00 will be a PTO Spring Bazaar in the gym. There will be 55 spaces and each of the spaces cost $25 and $40 for two spaces.
• PTO Board Membership – We will be accepting applications for President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Parliamentarian, Fundraising Coordinator, Volunteer coordinator, Communication Manager in April. Please encourage parents/guardians to consider signing up for one of these positions. We need at least a President, Treasurer and Secretary for the PTO to maintain their 501c organization status. Current PTO folks are all willing to be worker bees and help help new board members, but are hoping to get a break and not be the ones in charge.
• Laminator Safety (don’t leave it on) – Then laminator was found left on overnight one day last week, so if you are running anything on the laminator, make absolutely sure that it is off when you are finished. This is a significant fire and safety hazard.
• Informal Observations – I don’t have too many meetings this week, so I’m going to try to complete some informal observations for teachers who are Contract Year-1 or Probationary/Temporary. Informal observations typically aren’t scheduled, but if you’d rather do your formal observation, just let me know a date and time that works well for you.
• Christine Nesbit Visit, 1/29 – Christine Nesbit, 4J’s in-house counsel, is wanting to get a better picture of what happens in schools day-to-day, so she’s shadowing a few principals and is going to visit Howard on Monday, January 29th from 10:30 to 12:30.
• Shortened State ELA Assessment – ODE sent superintendents and principals an update on state assessments that said in an effort to be responsive to feedback from stakeholders, ODE’s Assessment Team worked with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium to implement customized, shortened test blueprints for all Smarter Balanced assessments this year. The new assessments are estimated to reduce testing time by 1-hour for English language arts (ELA) at all grade levels, and will go into effect when the 2017-18 test window opens.
• Free Clay & Ceramics Courses at Georgie’s – Georgie’s Ceramics and Clay is offering free classes April 7, May 19, and June 2 from 10am-4pm, with a free lunch provided. We have our own kiln here at Howard that staff can use if you’re trained, so if you’re interested in getting trained, see the linked flyer. They offer both basic and advanced classes.
• Free Kids Building Workshops at Home Depot – The free classes at Georgie’s reminded me about the free monthly workshops offered to kids at Home Depot, if you ever want to let your students know about it. I’m sure these are both marketing schemes to get people to buy stuff, but they are both free and fun.
• Seesaw PD in Your PJs – Follow this link for a free Seesaw online training session and learn how to use Seesaw from the comfort of your couch. Hosted by star Seesaw teachers, you’ll leave with teacher-tested tips and ideas to use the next day! Whether you’re a beginner or a total pro, you’ll find a session to pique your interest, across all grade levels and subject areas. And linked here is the Seesaw Resources webpage.
• Tips for giving students more time to respond – The Edutopia article Extending the Silence reminds us that giving students several seconds to think after asking a question—and up to two minutes for some questions—improves their learning.
• Do’s and Don’ts of Teaching Black History – February is Black History Month and linked here is a good article from Teaching Tolerance on the Do’s and Don’ts of Teaching Black History. Do’s include incorporating black history year-round, reinforcing to students that “black” history is American history, and connecting issues in the past to current issues. Don’ts include don’t stop your “regular” curriculum, don’t talk about black history in solely “feel-good” language, and don’t decontextualize heroes or holidays. Linked here are some additional resources from NEA, Scholastic, and Edutopia.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:
January 22 (M)
School Choice Week #2
8:30, Fire Drill
9:30, Allan leading school choice tour
2:30-3:30, Site Council (Conference Room)January 23 (T)
8:15-11:15, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa/Mariah’s Room)
6:00-7:00, School Choice Evening Presentation (Library)January 24 (W)
7:30-11:30, 2nd – Number Talks Peer Observations
1:30-2:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Conference Room)January 25 (H)
February Newsletter Articles Due
7:30-11:30, KG – Number Talks Peer Observations
2:30, Allan to Parent Meeting
6:30-7:30, KG (Sugar) Read In Your JammiesJanuary 26 (F)
Howard Winter easyCBM Benchmarking Ends
7:30-11:30, 1st – Number Talks Peer Observations
10:30-12:45, January Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Community Room)January 27 (SA)
8:00PM, Staff Social – Queens of the Stone Age/Eagles of Death Metal Concert (Hult Center)January 29 (M)
10:30-12:30, Christine Nesbit Visting Howard
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)January 30 (T)
Regular DayJanuary 31 (W)
In District School Choice Applications Due
1:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)February 1 (H)
PBIS Monthly Theme – CooperationFebruary 2 (F)
Grading Day – No School
EA Extravaganza (details coming)
Have a fab week everyone (and ignore the snowflakes I keep seeing on my weather widget for Thursday)!
Allan
