https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=7560
Hello Howard Staff,
I hope you all had a good 3-day weekend!
Seventeen items of note for this week:
• Artist in Residence Updates & Schedule – It’s been a very slow process working the Lane Arts this year, but I’ve tentatively scheduled two artists, Silk Painting with Meredith Ferrell starting Monday, Feb. 26th and Water Colors with Amy Albrecht later in April/May. I know these weren’t our top choices, but our top picks were either booked or no longer working with Lane Arts. I haven’t gotten final confirmation from Lane Arts on the artists and dates yet, but the plan will be for the artists to see each classroom for three 45-minute sessions. I will let teachers know as soon as I get confirmation.
Linked here is a Draft Artist in Residence Schedule for the first artist. Please let me know as soon as possible if there is anything on the schedule that needs changed. I’m sure there’s something on there I missed.
For the silk painting, Meredith needs a dedicated space, so I’m thinking we’ll have her set up in the STEAM Room. I realize this inconveniences classrooms who use the STEAM Room for science lessons, but let me know if folks have a better idea for where to locate her.
• PTO Meeting, Tuesday at 6:00 – The February PTO Meeting is this Tuesday at 6:00 in the Community Room if any staff are able to come out to show support our for our hard working parent group.
• Read Across America, Friday, March 2nd – Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America (the night before Literacy Night) are coming up on Friday, 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, Thursday, March 1 – I’ve seen lots of classes making their way through our school-wide book, The One and Only Ivan. Since it’s a fairly long book that not all classes may get to the end of in time for Literacy Night to make gorilla or other related class projects, teachers can also have some good old fashioned literacy activities and projects (it is Dr. Seuss’s birthday after all) to share with families when they visit classroom this evening to celebrate literacy.
We’ll have sign-in sheets for each classroom and each family that signs in will get a book delivered to their classroom the following week.
We’ve already advertised Literacy Night in the February newsletter, but we’ll also send home Literacy Night flyers in Friday Folders this week. You’ll note that flyer just says “dinner” because we’re considering serving hot dogs and chips instead of pizza. We ordered almost 700 slices of pizza at Curriculum Night and ran out, so hot dogs may be a more cost effective way to go, but we haven’t made a final decision yet.
For the schedule, it was suggested that since our building is so big that 30 minutes may not be enough time for families to visit multiple classrooms, so unless people object, I’ve added 15 minutes to the classroom visit time:
5:30-6:00: Free Dinner (cafeteria)
6:00-6:45: Visit Classrooms
6:30-7:30: Scholastic Book FairTalk Literacy Night up to your students and I’ll keep you posted regarding the dinner selection!
• Literacy Night Staff Dinner – We’ll once again provide a meal for staff working at Literacy Night. I’m planning to order a variety of pizzas and salads from Mezza Luna (though I was told to not order so many “weird” pizzas). If you’d like to recommend a choices of pizza or salad, just let me know!
• Classified Staff Help at Literacy Night – We could use about 6-8 classified staff members to help set-up, serve, and clean-up in the cafeteria for Literacy Night. If you’re able to help, we can offer trade time or extended contract. Just let me or Corianne know if you’re able to help.
• Howard PD Day, Friday, March 2 – Following Literacy Night will be a non-student day for the second Howard PD Day/Academy Day of the school year. The day will be a mix of business items, short required PD topics (Health Topics w/Nurse Robin, Restrain/Seclusion & Escalation Cycle w/Kim Reinhardt), and our annual OAKS test security training. Nurse Robin is also hoping to do an EPI Pen training for a small group of staff following the meeting so there is at least one person in each wing who is EPI Pen certified, so watch for information from Robin regarding this and let me know if you are interested in being your wing’s EPI Pen expert.
• Library Announcements – Three items of note from the library:
• Student Book Fair Preview – The Book Fair preview for students is Friday, Feb. 23rd. The classroom sign-up sheet is by staff mailboxes. Teacher preview is Monday, Feb. 26th any time. Don’t forget to complete your wish list! Julie will put student flyers in your mailboxes to send home in Friday folders.
• Cutting Through the Library Clarification – To clear up a little confusion about walking through the library, staff are more that welcome to walk through the library during the day. Stop by and say “Hi.” Students with staff are welcome to walk through the library as well. The problem is with kids running through the library going from place to place, interrupting classes, and before & after school.
• Behavior Book List– As promised, new behavior books available to staff in the library.
The Very Frustrated Monster
The Monster Who Wanted It All
The Monster In The Bubble
Wilma Jean the Worry Machine
Baditude! What to Do When Your Life Stinks!
But It’s My Fault
A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue
Personal Space Camp
I Can’t Believe You Said That!
Sorry, I forgot to Ask!
I Just Want to Do It My Way!
Cliques Just Don’t Make Cents
Tease Monster
The Worst Day of My Life Ever!
Listening to My Body
I Can Handle It!
Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun (have the courage to Be Who You Are)
Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns About Sportsmanship: Winning Isn’t Everything
Howard B. Wigglebottom and the Monkey on His Back
Howard B. Wigglebottom Listens to His Heart
Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns It’s OK to Back Away
Howard B. Wigglebottom and Manners Matters• District Report Card Revision Group – Downtown and EEA are putting together a group to work on revising elementary report cards, with the goal of condensing the report card, while keeping it meaningful. For the committee they want 6 reps per grade level from across the district, so let me know by the end of the week if any of you are interested in me forwarding your name to Brooke.
• EEF Grants Coming – It’s time to start preparing for EEF’s grant applications for next school year. This year, the application process will open on April 1st, and applications will be due on May 15th. The application form, details about the timeline, process, and many other helpful hints will be posted soon on the EEF Grants webpage.
• Free Hult Center Field Trip: The Orchestra Swings – The Eugene Symphony will be featuring Howard students participating in the BEST After School program, onstage, at an upcoming youth concert:,The Orchestra Swings on Tuesday, March 13 at the Hult Center, with two performances, 10:30 AM & 12:30 PM. Buses are free and ticket prices for students were waived for Howard (they are asking for $5 per adult, but the building can cover that). If classes are interested in attending, linked here is the email sent to me with all the details and here is the link Online Field Trip Register Form.
• TextNow App – Ever want to text a parent, but not give them your “real” phone number? I’ve mentioned this to a few people, but I use the free app TextNow, which will give you a phone number you can send and receive texts from on your Android or iOS device through the app. You do have to look at quite a few ads when using the free version, but it’s not that much of a nuisance.
• REPEAT: Earthquake/Fire Drill Thursday at 1:30 – Thursday at 1:30 will be our February Fire Drill and also our second and final required earthquake drill of the school year. Given the recent school shooting in Florida, I’m going to announce the drills ahead of time for students during morning announcements and also right before the drill.
• REPEAT: 2018-2019 Staff Survey, Due Tuesday – With staffing allocations coming out Tuesday, please complete the linked Google Form Staff Survey or on the linked Word file by Tuesday. Knowing if staff are wanting more or less hours or are wanting different positions helps me in planning different staffing scenarios. All answers will be kept confidential and please let me know if you have any questions.
• District Admin Updates – Harlan Coats, Director of Facilities and Transportation, has decided to retire at the end of the school year. If you don’t know Harlan, he’s a great guy and is 4Js very own Horatio Alger story. He was a 4J student (who went to elementary school with Crystal), starting out in 1981 as a waste collector back when 4J ran their own garbage service, and worked his way up through the ranks to the Director of Facilities. 4J will be posting the position to find Harlan’s replacement.
• Improve your memory (and student retention) with these tips – Your brain and students’ brains will remember things that are exciting, out-of-the-ordinary, and funny, says Nelson Dellis, four-time USA Memory Championship winner, in this article . Create mental images of things and link them to other thoughts to help you remember them.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:
February 19 (M)
Presidents Day – No SchoolFebruary 20 (T)
7:30, Allan to Manifest Determination Meeting (Conference Room)
10:30, Allan to 18-19 Staffing Allocation Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Community Room)February 21 (W)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
EEA Visits to Howard
Tailfeather Reward – PJ Day
8:10, Allan to Formal Observation
11:30, Allan to Formal Observation
1:05, Allan to Parent MeetingFebruary 22 (H)
Book Fair Set Up
12:15, Allan to Formal Observation
1:15, Allan to Formal Observation
1:30, Earthquake/Fire Drill
2:30-3:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room)
5:00-6:00, Human Growth & Development – Parent Preview (Community Room)February 23 (F)
Book Fair Student and Staff Preview
11:00-12:30, February Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Community Room)
2:30, Allan to Parent MeetingFebruary 26 (M)
Artist in Residence #1 (tentative)
Book Fair Opens
2:30-3:30, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room)
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)February 27 (T)
11:30, Allan to Formal Observation
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa/Mariah’s Room, RM23)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Community Room)February 28 (W)
1:00, Optional Staff Meeting to Discuss 17-18 Staffing Scenarios (STEAM Room, RM16)
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Conference Room)March 1 (H)
PBIS Monthly Theme – Safe Bodies
2:30, Allan to SPED Eval Pre-Referral Meeting (Conference Room)
5:00-5:30, Staff Literacy Night Dinner (Staff Room)
5:30-7:30, Literacy Night5:30-6:00: Free Dinner (Cafeteria)
6:00-6:45: Visit Classrooms
6:30-7:30: Scholastic Book FairMarch 2 (F)
No School – Howard Academy/PD Day
8:00-12:00, Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)
12:00-4:00, Planning Time
Have a good 4-day week, everyone!
Allan
