https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=7650
Hello Radiant Roadrunners,
Eighteen items of note for this week:
• Staffing and Schedule/Calendar Updates – Last week I emailed the staffing plan that I submitted to HR for next school year, so our next steps are to begin planning next year’s master schedule and calendar. However, we are still waiting for direction from downtown and EEA on those two fronts. On Tuesday, principals will get preliminary information about school start and end times, but we’ll still have to wait to hear how the increased specialist times will work for next year before we can start working on next year’s master schedule.
Regarding the development process for the master schedule, I’m thinking Title 1 and SPED will first come up with a template for workshop groups. From there I’d like to put together a committee of interested staff to work on fleshing out the schedule. We’ll also need to prioritize scheduling for grade levels with larger classes and with higher needs. A couple notes regarding next year’s schedule. One, due to Title 1 cuts, we’ll likely have to eliminate Math Booster and will instead have to provide non-SPED math support through BEST. Two, I’m wanting our lunch schedule to go back to our traditional lunch first, then recess model. More to come on all this as we get more information.
• New CLC Staff Member – Please welcome Navneeta Medart to the Howard CLC team! We’re getting a 1st grader from the closed Edison CLC-B and Navneeta has been working with the student as his 1:1. She and the student will start after spring break, so welcome Navneeta to the amazing Howard Team! FUN FACT: ODE’s SPED Department unexpectedly visited 4J last week and when SSD chose which program to show off, they chose Howard.
• Preliminary April 2nd PD Day Plan – Jaimee Massie emailed Math Teacher Leaders the preliminary plan for the April 2nd PD Day. More details will come this week and times may shift one way or the other by 15 minutes, but here’s the current plan:
ALL LICENSED STAFF
Focus – Giving access to language, tools, and discourse then applying learning back in buildings
Grade-level Collaborative Math PD from 8-12 (K-2 at Holt & 3-5 at Chavez)
Building Math Design Time 12:45-2 (back in buildings)ALL CLASSIFIED STAFF
Focus – Unpacking and engaging the OA/NBT standards
Elementary Math Foundations PD from 8-12 at RiverRoadPRINCIPALS
Focus – Preview access sessions, developing instructional leadership around math, and leading learning back in buildings
Grade-level Collaborative Math PD from 8-10 (Holt/Chavez)
Admin Math PD 10-12 (RiverRoad)
Building Math Design Time 12:45-2 (back in buildings)• Artist in Residence Updates – I’ve finalized the plan with Lane Arts for our second Artist in Residence, which will actually be two different artists. Grades K-2 and Life Skills will have Maiya Becker for ReUse Art, meeting for four 45-minute sessions from May 7 – May 18. Grades 3-5 will have Merideth Ferrell for Silk Painting in the STEAM Room for four 60-minute sessions from May 28 – June 8. I’ll work on a schedule over the break, so teachers should let me know by Friday if you have any field trips or other activities not already on the building calendar that I should schedule around.
• PTO Meeting, Tuesday at 6:00 – The March 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 small but hard working parent group.
• PTO Grade Level Donation – Lori already emailed teachers, but the PTO decided instead of doing a special project to give the $5,000 to K-5 classrooms for enrichment activities. This comes to $833 per grade level. The two criteria for accessing the funds are:
• Enrichment – The funds are to be used for an enrichment activity. This can be a field trip or it can be brining a presenter or other guest into the classroom to lead an enrichment activity.
• Grade Level Agreement – The funds are for a grade level activity and are not to be different classroom to classroom. For example, all classes at a grade level don’t all have to go on a field trip the same day, but they would all have to be going not the same field trip.
• Fire Drill MONDAY at 1:35 – This was originally scheduled for Thursday, but the weather is looking questionable later this week, so I’ve moved the drill up to Monday at 1:35 instead.
• Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program – A few quick reminders about the FFVP:
• Fruits or Vegetables should be served daily
• Fruits or Vegetables should not be served during breakfast or lunch period
• Leftovers should be given to the students
• There should not be carry-over of Fruits or vegetables from one day to the next
• Containers should be returned to the cafeteria the same day the produce was delivered• Unclaimed Printouts/Copies – Copier counts are again exceeding projection, so please only print what you need. After just a week, there was about a reams worth of unclaimed printouts sitting in the downstairs workroom basket. Please be judicious in your printing and copying.
• Spring Break Facilities Work – The big news is that second floor classrooms may be getting shades installed over the skylight nearest to the teaching wall, although Facilities is still working with the manufacturer to confirm dates. There is also some landscaping, civil work in the bus area, adding siding to the covered play area downspout, adding an eyewash station in the kitchen, adding two hose bibs on the roof, and adding some electrical outlets near the boiler room.
• Front Lobby Signage – If you’ve been wondering about the glitching monitor in the front lobby, it’s luckily still under warranty through Friday, so LG is finding a local repair technician and if they can’t find a technician, they will just give us a new TV.
• MyON / News-o-Matic – If you haven’t tried it yet, remember we have a 3-month free trial for MyON/News-o-Matic through the end of next month. MyON bought out News-o-Matic and offers a similar daily news service for kids that features interactive articles with maps, videos, and links to related books (MyON also includes a large library of digital books). The first time students log on, they will take a baseline Lexile assessment and the site will adjust the text difficulty based on grade level and reading level. It will do an interest assessment for the digital library portion of the website. Not here, but in a separate email is info about staff and student username and passwords. Students are already attached to classroom teachers and links are on the Howard website. Feel free to test drive the website to see if it’s worth the subscription fee and let me know if you need any help.
• REPEAT: PRIDE Awards Due Tuesday – This Wednesday during lunchtime in the cafeteria will be our PRIDE Awards for Discipline. Teachers should remind students about PRIDE and the meaning of Discipline (“Work Hard at Everything”), and then pick 2-3 students who have demonstrated Discipline. Be sure to get the Discipline PRIDE Certificates to me before Wednesdays and remember to send home the PRIDE Award Invitations to parents before the event. Also, I’ve been asked by a few people if a student can receive more than one PRIDE Award, and the answer is YES, although it is good to spread the awards around if you do have other deserving students.
• REPEAT: Eugene Emeralds Reading Program Assembly, Wednesday – This Wednesday is the kickoff for the Eugene Emeralds’ Reading Incentive Program. The program will run the same as in the past, which is classroom teachers set a reading goal for students and if students meet that goal they get two free tickets to attend an Ems baseball game this summer. The K-2 assembly will be 8:45-9:10 and the 3-5 assembly will be 9:20-9:45. See the linked assembly map and directions for details.
• How do brain breaks benefit learning? – This Edutopia article cites how recent research supports the use of breaks during the school day to help students prepare for learning. Benefits of regular, short breaks, researchers say, include improvements in focus, mood, motivation, increase in productivity, and reducing stress. GoNoodle is a great website with videos to lead classrooms in movement breaks, and although they now have a paywall for most of their videos, you can still find a lot of their content on YouTube or other video websites.
• 5 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Unmotivated Students – If we know what works to motivate students, why are so many still unmotivated? These five questions from a Cult of Pedagogy article will help you determine if your practice is really in line with research.
• Howard Staff Social: Alvvays Concert April 8th! – You can still get your tickets for the excellent indie pop band Alvvays at the Hi-Fi Music Hall here in downtown Eugene on Sunday, April 8th at 9 PM . The show is general admission. Advance tickets: $15, Day of Show: $18. Come join in the fun and then you can be in the ritual staff concert group photo!
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:
March 19 (M)
Artist in Residence Continues
9:00, Allan meeting with parent (Office)
1:35, Fire Drill
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)March 20 (T)
8:15-11:30, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
11:30-12:00, Allan to BEST Meeting (Ed Center)
9:00-12:30, Kreider/Peterson to Museum of Natural History
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)
3:45-5:30, 4J Staff of Color Affinity Group (Community Room)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Community Room)March 21 (W)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
8:45-9:10, K-2 Eugene Emeralds Reading Program Assembly (Gym)
9:20-9:45, 3-5 Eugene Emeralds Reading Program Assembly (Gym)
11:00-12:45, PRIDE Awards at Lunch – Discipline
2:30-3:30, Student CARE Team (Conference Room)March 22 (H)
9:00-12:30, Niccum to Museum of Natural History
12:00-3:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:30, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)March 23 (F)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
9:00-12:30, Robinson to Museum of Natural History
11:00-12:50, March Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Community Room)
2:30, BEST Dance Party (Gym)March 26 – 30
No School – Spring BreakApril 2 (M)
PBIS Monthly Theme – Encouragement
No School – Professional Development/Planning Day
8:00-12:00, Classified Staff PD: Elementary Math Foundations PD (River Road)
8:00-12:00, Licensed Staff PD: Grade-level Collaborative Math PD (K-2 at Holt & 3-5 at Chavez)
12:45-2:00, Licensed Staff: Building Math Design Time (Howard)April 3 (T)
Classes Resume
4:00-5:15, Allan to Report Card Committee Meeting (Ed Center)April 4 (W)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)April 5 (H)
Regular DayApril 6 (F)
Regular DayApril 7 (SA)
10:00-2:00, PTO Spring Bazaar (Gym/Cafeteria)April 8 (SU)
9:00PM, Howard Staff Social – Alvvays Concert (Hi-Fi Music Hall)
Have an excellent last five days before your well deserved break!
Allan
