https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=8312
Hi Everyone,
Tuesday is National Custodial Workers Recognition Day, so I’d like to take a moment to recognize the work of Crystal and our regular substituted night custodians for keeping our building running smoothly. You do so mich more than just keep our building clean and your work is truly appreciated. You rock!
Nineteen items of note for this week:
• LICENSED: District PD Day, Thursday, Oct 11th – This is a district-wide elementary PD day, but the PD will all be building based. The agenda for this day will be 8:00-12:00, which will be three topic areas. Both classroom teachers and licensed interventionist (SPED and Title 1) should attend this meeting, but interventionists are excused from the from the Math PLC and Math Design Time to instead attend a separate “Interventionists PLC” 2:00-4:00 at Chavez.
• 8:00-10:00, Fall Benchmarking (2-hours) – This discussion will replace our first Data Team meeting of the year, and will be focused primarily around looking at reading and math benchmark data in grade level and interventionist teams.
• 10:00-11:00, Math PLC Mission/Vision Work (1-hour) – This will be a follow-up to the tweaking of our school mission statement. Allison and I did some wordsmithing and our next step is to move on from the mission (the WHY. Why do we exist?) into our Vision (the WHAT. What type of school do we want to create?), and then into Collective Commitments (the HOW. What must the adults do to create our ideal school?)
• 11:00-12:00, LearnZillion/Math Design Time (1-hour) – Based on feedback from the August math PD, teachers liked having choice and hearing from peers, so grade level teams will get time to meet to collaborate (not individual planning) in an area the team chooses and then report back on your work at the next Staff Meeting. Topics might include:
• Task-based learning that “shifts the lift” to students
• Number Talks
• Planing for Major Work
• Language Routines
• Collaborative Structures
• Use of Games Resources
• Workshop
• Formative Assessment
• Explore New Web Resources• CLASSIFIED: District PD Day, Thursday, Oct 11th – All classified staff will meet in the library from 12:00-1:00 for Module 4 of the PBIS Behavior Framework, which focus on active supervision (moving, scanning, and interacting), and educator interaction with students (i.e. positives-to-negatives, clearly and positively stating expectations, responding to negative behaviors, etc.).
• State In-Service Day, Friday, Oct 12th – October 12th is State In-Service day. This is a regular work day for administrators and classified staff. For classified staff, this would be a good day to use any accumulated trade time (which officially is not supposed to be accumulated without first getting admin approval). If you’d like to get some easy trade time, we do need help serving pizza during Open House on Wednesday, October 10th (see below), so please let me know if any of you are able to help this evening . For licensed staff, October 12th is a non-contract day, meaning you have the day off. If you’re ever wondering about work year dates, most all of your questions can be answered on the 4J Employee Work Year Calendars.
• Revised Friday PD Calendar – Due to contractual language, EEA and downtown have come to an agreement on revisions to the Friday Early Release PD calendar. To make up for the lost 1-hour of uninterrupted prep on several of the non-school Fridays, an equal number of early release PD days will have the PD cancelled. Linked here is what principals were given, and we were given flexibility on two of the make-up days which meeting to cancel, so I chose the dates that spaced out our meetings, so we’re not holding Friday meetings back-to-back. So for the following missed Fridays, this will be the plan:
Oct. 12 – State In-Service Day (Oct. 26 PD Cancelled)
Nov 9 – Conferences (Nov. 19-21, no after school meetings will be held [every attempt to not schedule IEP’s will be made])
Nov. 23 – Thanksgiving Break – (Dec. 21 PD Cancelled)
Feb. 1 – Grading Day (Feb. 15 PD Cancelled)
Mar. 15 – District PD Day (Mar. 22 Cancelled)
May 3 – Transition Day (May 10 PD Cancelled)• Friday Early Release Meeting Cancelled – This Friday was originally scheduled to be Part 5 of the Behavior Framework, but in the above rearranging of dates was changed into a Building Goals meeting. I think teachers are already plenty busy with all the new initiatives and rollouts (PLCs, Second Step, LearnZillion year-two, the Behavior Framework, the new iPad rollout, the new common schedule, the new SPED referral process, the new Data Team format, etc.), so we’ll cancel this meeting and give teachers some additional prep time.
• Safety Week, Oct. 15 – Oct. 19 – In two weeks will be our annual Safety Week, which is a good way to bring awareness to staff, students, and families about the various safety procedures right at the start of the year. Usually I like to do this when two months overlap within the same week, so we can take care of two monthly required fire drills all in one week, bu the calendar didn’t work out for that this year, so the dates Site Council came up with last year are as follows:
• Monday – Room Clear – Time decided by teachers
• Tuesday – ALICE Classroom Lesson – Time decided by teachers
• Wednesday – ALICE Lockdown: Evacuation Drill – 8:20
• Thursday – Directed Evacuation (i.e. Fire Drill) – 8:10
• Friday – Earthquake/Fire Drill – 8:45All of these drills are listed in the “Emergency Procedures Manual” the rainbow tabbed spiral notebook that should be hanging in every classroom. The manual has not been updated to explicitly mention ALICE, but ALICE tenants are present in the Lockdown and Evacuation procedures. I won’t be making any announcement before the drills outside or morning announcements, but it’s okay for staff to prep your students before they take place.
MONDAY – Room Clear: Room Clear Drills will happen at a time determined by classroom teachers and in cooperation with another classroom where students would go in the event of real room clear. Students should know the designated classroom they would room clear to in the event of an actual emergency since in many cases the teacher would need to remain in the classroom while the rest of the students leave on their own.
TUESDAY – Classroom lesson on ALICE: Linked here is the Student ALICE PowerPoint presentation (and a PDF version with notes) that classroom teachers will use to teach the safety drills this day. After going through the PowerPoint, teacher will read the book I’m Not Scared, I’m Prepared (let me know if you do not have a copy of the book) with the Sticky Note Guiding Questions that go with the book. The above links can also all be found on the Team Drive > MISC > Safety Drills Info.
WEDNESDAY – ALICE Lockdown Evacuation Drill: For this drill I will press the office lockdown button (dropping curtains, locking exterior doors, and closing [not locking] hallway doors to each wing) and will announce the following:
Attention students, staff and visitors: This is a LOCKDOWN: EVACUATE DRILL, this is a LOCKDOWN: EVACUATE DRILL. Repeat, this is a NOT A REAL EMERGENCY. THIS IS A DRILL. We are pretending there is a dangerous person (or intruder) in the building on the other side of the building from your classroom. We are pretending there is a dangerous person (or intruder) in the building on the other side of the building from your classroom. WE ARE IN A LOCKDOWN: EVACUATE DRILL.
Teachers will then direct students to evacuate the building to the nearest location along the perimeter of the school grounds. In a real emergency classes would run, but for the drill classes should walk. Classes will stop at the edge of the property and wait for my all-clear announcement. In a real emergency, students and staff would evacuate well past the edge of the property, and keep going until you can’t see the school.
THURSDAY – Directed Evacuation (Fire Drill): Same as last month, which went smoothly.
FRIDAY – Fire/Earthquake Drill: For the Earthquake Drill, teach students to “Drop, Cover, Hold” meaning drop to the ground (so you don’t fall over), cover yourself by going under a desk (to protect yourself from falling objects), and hold onto the desk legs (so you stay under cover and don’t get bounced out). There are many resource on The Great Oregon Shake Out website, for you to teach students about Drop, Cover, Hold and earthquake preparedness. See the linked Evacuation Map & Lines for where classes should line up for the Fire Drill following the Earthquake Drill.
Please let me know if you do not have a manual or if you have any questions.
• Staff ALICE Refresher Tuesday, Oct. 9 – I’ll hold an optional refresher training for staff on Tuesday, October 9th at 2:30 in the Conference Room for anyone who wants to review how to teach the ALICE Student Lesson and to also answer any questions staff may have regarding the drill or safety procedures.
• Open House (formerly Curriculum Night) Wednesday, Oct. 10th – Linked here is a flyer for the 2018 Howard Open House, formerly known as Curriculum Night. Office staff will put class sets, back-to-back in English and Spanish, in teacher mailboxes to go home in Friday Folders this week. Classroom and specialist areas will open 5:45-6:45, where families will collect their Pizza Tickets to redeem in the cafeteria for pizza, which will be open 6:00-7:00. There will be a Title 1 Presentation in the library 6:00-6:20. Let me know if you have any questions.
• Walk + Roll to School Day, Oct 10th – Remind your students that Wednesday next week is Walk + Roll to School Day, where students are encouraged to walk, skateboard, bike, scooter, or use another non-motorized mode of transportation to get to school. There will be small prizes for all students who participate (stickers, tattoos, and a raffle drawing last year)!
• Walk + Roll to School Day “Walking School Bus” – For the Oct 10th Walk + Roll to School Day, the Safe Routes to School Program Manager is organized a “Walking School Bus” where regular ed buses will park at Trinity United Methodist Church. Volunteers will be stationed along Maxwell to Grove to Howard during the walk. A flyer went home in the October School Newsletter, including a link to a Walking School Bus Volunteer Sign-Up. Staff are welcome to help as well. Buses typically arrive between 7:20 and 7:40.
• REPEAT: Tech Trot Info – This Wednesday is the annual PTO Tech Trot. Three items of note:
• Tech Trot Running Details – Kids will run the track for 30 minutes and will collect colorful bands around their wrist as they run/jog/walk/roll around the track to keep count of their laps. Drinks and snacks will be provided for students at the end of the run. Grade levels should line up on the track behind the balloon arch so we can start at the times below:
• 8:15-9:00, Grades K/1
• 9:15-10:00, Grades 2/3
• 10:15-11:00, Grades 4/5• T-Shirt Distribution – Howard t-shirts will be delivered to classrooms the day before the Tech Trot, but DO NOT give shirts to students until the day of the event.
• All-School Photo @2:00 in Gym – See the linked K-5 All-School Photo Map for where classes should go for our annual all-school photo. All staff and students should be in their spots by 2:00 PM. Students and staff should wear their NEW purple Howard t-shirts. Naughty students will be PHOTOSHOPPED!
• Library Happenings – Several items of note from Julie on library activities:
• OBOB has officially started! – OBOB permission slips due 10-5-2018 (we may add students after the 5th, I just need the bulk of students so I am able to plan Wednesday OBOB lunch activities) and put folders together. Students may come and check out and exchange book at anytime there is not a class in the library :) OBOB calendar coming soon!
• Library Classes – Thank your for bringing library books baskets down in the morning, it so helpful. Students may put books return slot which now has a sign! This way their library basket may be returned to class if you prefer not to leave it in the library. I have created new larger renew slips – hopefully they will be more visible :) I will leave them in your mail boxes.
If your student has finished their library book please encourage them to come to the library and return it and check out a new book to read. Or, if they were absent on library day/in a pull out situation. They need not wait for their next library day, if it’s ok with you. The more reading the better. They are welcome during any of my open library times. (please see Newest Library Schedule, we added one more class)
If you happen to have a student with a lost book fine and are unable to pay the fine please have them talk to me. We can try to work something out as long as the fine is not to large. Student may work off the fine by doing community service in the library :) Please note if the fine is generated from another school that library will need to make the final decision.
• Supply request – Baby wipes, would anyone have any they could share with the library? I have Clorox wipes, but sadly I am allergic to them.
• Wanting to stay connected – Please, please add me to your classroom weekly/monthly newsletter email list. My wish is to be more connected with what is happening in our classrooms. It would be wonderful for the library to support and encourage extended learning for our students. In the smaller building I could walk down to classrooms, visit and see what everyone was doing. I’m not really able to leave the library now which is a great thing! My library friend suggested being added to the emailed classroom weekly/monthly newsletters. She said it made a huge difference in building a tie between the school library and the classrooms. The benefits were to numerous to count. This got me super excited!
Thank you so much for all your support.
I mentioned this quote to a student today :)• October PBIS Focus: Positive Bully-Proofing – The October PBIS monthly focus is Bully-Proofing. The PBIS team created the PBIS/CSC Cheat Sheet that matches our PBIS monthly themes with Caring School Community class meeting lessons, which is an easy way to tie the two activities together.
• Wacky Wednesday, Oct 10 – School Pride Day – Not this week, but next week will be the first school spirit day of the year, know around Howard as a Wacky Wednesday. This time it’s School Spirit Day, so remind kids to wear their Howard gear or Howard’s school colors, blue and white. The Wacky Wednesday calendar, which is also on the parent and staff Google Calendars, for the year is:
• Oct. 10 – School Pride Day
• Nov. 14 – Sports Day
• Dec. 12 – Pajama Day
• Jan. 16 – Silly Socks
• Feb. 13 – Superhero Day
• Mar. 13 – Rainbow Day
• Apr. 10 – Silly Hat/Hair Day
• May 8 – Tie Dye Day
• June 12 – Tropical Day• Artist in Residence Updates – First off, nothing is final just yet, but LaneArts is confirming date availability with the Ceramics artist for November (possibly overlapping a bit into December) and for the Puppet artist (not popsicle sticks) for April/May. ArtSpark unfortunately does not cover our #2 choice of artist, the fiddle artist-in-residence, but at least we should get our first and third choice of artists. I’ll let folks know once dates and artists are confirmed.
• Student Care Team Resources – A few resources of note came out of last week’s Student Care Team Meeting:
• New Online SNAP Application – Families can now apply for SNAP (food stamps) online at http://apps.state.or.us/connect Feel free to share the attached SNAP Business Card.
• Looking Glass Homeless & Runaway Youth Services – Looking Glass has created a Looking Glass Business Card schools can keep on hand to share with youth who are homeless or who have runaway, providing meals, showers, clothers, internet, mailing address, job search & housing assistance, credit recovery, GED prep, mental health, drug & alcohol counseling and support groups, crisis shelter, and family relocation. The 24-hour crisis line is 1-888-689-3111
• Love INC Info Card – Love INC has a Love IMC Info Card. Their primary focus is to offer practical, hands-on assistance in a variety of areas. The type of help they can offer is ever changing as new volunteers step forward, desiring to help others with the talents, hobbies or skills they possess. They’re regularly updating their data base of volunteer teams of people willing to help in these general areas: prayer, meals, rides to appointments, yard work, packing, painting, firewood, and stocking pantry shelves as folks transition from being without homes. They can be contacted through their website or at Living Hope Church 2801 West 18th Avenue, Eugene, OR 97402, 541.653.8537 or email loveincclc@gmail.com to register. http://loveinclanecounty.com/index.html
• International Cultural Service Program (ICSP) Presentations – The UO International Cultural Service Program (ICSP) is now open for the Academic Year 2018-19 and are accepting requests for their students to do presentations at schools. ICSP provides free presentations and classroom visits by specially trained international UO students. This year, we have 29 students from 25 different countries. They give educational and cultural presentations, participate in panel discussions, or introduce a wide array of activities such as music, dancing, storytelling, cooking, religious ceremonies, and martial arts. You can request ICSP presentations at this Registration Link and for more information visit the ICSP Website.
• BRING School Visits and Field Trips – BRING is scheduling classroom visits and field trip tours for the 2018-2019 school year. See the linked BRING Flyer, and learn more at their BRING In the Classroom website. Low-income schools may qualify for transportation reimbursement.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:
October 1 (M)
PBIS Monthly Theme – Bully-Proofing
2:30-5:00, CLC 1:1 EA Interview Screeing (Conference Room)
3:00-4:00, Allan to Tech Cohort Meeting (Ed Center)October 2 (T)
National Custodial Workers Recognition Day
2:45-3:15, Optional Leadership Plan Development Meeting (Conference Room)October 3 (W)
8:15-9:00, Grades K/1 Tech Trot (Kelly Track)
9:15-10:00, Grades 2/3 Tech Trot (Kelly Track)
10:15-11:00, Grades 4/5 Tech Trot (Kelly Track)
2:00-2:15, All-School Selfie (Gym)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)October 4 (H)
Regular DayOctober 5 (F)
PTO Popcorn Fridays Start
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
1:25-2:30, Recess Supervisor’s Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – CANCELLEDOctober 8 (M)
Indigenous Peoples’ Day/Columbus Day
9:25-10:25, Natives Presentation, Stone/Cortez (STEAM Room)
10:55-11:55, Natives Presentation, Rock/Callihan (STEAM Room)October 9 (T)
4:30-8:30, 4J First Aid Class (Library)October 10 (W)
Walk+Roll to School Day
Wacky Wednesday – School Pride Day
7:15-7:45, Walking School Bus (Trinity United Methodist Church)
5:45-7:00, Open House5:45 Classrooms Open
6:00 Title 1 Presentation (Library)
6:00 Pizza Served in Cafeteria
6:45 Classrooms Close
7:00 Pizza Dinner in Cafeteria ClosesOctober 11 (H)
No School — Professional Development/Planning Day
8:00-12:00, Data Team/PLC/Math (Library)
2:30-3:30, Robinson Family Baby Shower (Library) CORRECTION
2:00-4:00, Licensed Interventionists (Title & SPED) PLC (Chavez)October 12 (F)
No School — State In-Service Day Regular Workday for Classified Staff Non-Contract Day for Licensed Staff
I can’t believe we’re already one month into the school year!
Allan
