Week of May 13th
Hi everyone,
I hope you had a joyous Mother’s Day weekend. I had time to relax with my children and enjoy this great spell of weather we are having. We have another very busy week.
Schedule of Events for the Week – Re-testing Week and Last IIPM this Friday, Penny Drive all Week for James
May 13 (M)
1:00-3:30, Joel & Melissa to Title 1 Meeting (Ed Center)
May 14 (T)
8:30-4:00, North Triad iT3 Training
9:00-11:30, ELL Art Trip to UO Art Museum
2:30-3:30, Final PBIS Meeting
May 15 (W)
Synergy Trainings in Room 13 through out the day.
May 16 (H)
9:30-11:50, 4th to Regional Track Meet at Sheldon HS
11:30-1:50, 5th to Regional Track Meet at Sheldon HS
May 17 (F)
8:00-3:00, IIPM Consult All Day
12:50-1:30, Tsunami Skippers from Seaside
Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program –
Although it’s likely a corporate scheme to get people into their stores, here’s a summer reading incentive program that may be worth sharing with students and families. Kids read any eight books and record them on their reading journal. They then bring the completed journal to a B&N store and get to choose a free book from their selection on the Reading Journal list.
Brianna’s End of the Year Reminder about PBIS –
Here is an email from Brianna Stiller that was shared with principals which I thought was worth passing along:
“I saw Karen Hardin today and she reminded me that in the past, I have usually sent some nagging emails out this time of year, reminding us all to breathe deeply and remember what works. It’s like in golf: When you are playing badly, they remind you to start by checking your grip, stance, ball position, and alignment, because 90% of the problems start with errors in one of those fundamentals.
We all know there is no huge mystery about how to manage behavior effectively. Most of us are well aware. What we don’t always do is check fundamentals when student behavior is going south. So, if you or any of your fellow staff are struggling with end of year “Lame Duck” syndrome, check the following fundamentals:
1. When is the last time I retaught my expectations? If it was more than two weeks ago, do it again.
2. How often do I talk to kids, or use physical prompts, right after they do something right, as opposed to how often do I look at or talk to them right after they do something wrong? The ratio should be 4 or 5 to 1. In well managed classrooms, where the rate of AET is over 85%, the ratio is often about 2:1. In poorly managed classrooms, where rate of AET is less than 75%, it is often as low as 1:10. I know this not only because of the research, but I observe in 2-10 classrooms per week and I always take this data. Rarely is the ideal of 4:1 actually reached!
3. Active Engagement; Opportunities to Respond: How much of the total class time is the teacher talking; versus how much of the total class time are the students talking (talking about the content, of course!!!!!). The percentage of time the teacher is talking should be less than 50% across activities. For some types of instruction it should be more, and some less, but kids learn most when there are very high rates of active responding.
Whenever I have taught kids and had less than perfect behavior, I have never had to look beyond these three variables to figure out what was wrong.
End of Speech!!!! Carry on! You can each decide whether to send this to your entire staff — if you think it is a good reminder, do so. If you think they will say “Oh no, not her again” I won’t be offended if you don’t.
Brianna
–
Brianna Stiller, Ph.D.
Positive Behavior Support Coordinator
School District 4J, Eugene, Or. 97402
(541)790-7816
stiller@4j.lane.edu”
A reminder about IEP Meeting Compensation –
Many teachers attend IEP meetings during planning times or outside the workday. The EEA contract entitles classroom teachers to be compensated for up to four hours additional pay. I wanted to remind folks that the form will be accepted between 4/26 and 6/7 and can be found on the HR Forms section of the 4J website.
This Week’s Assembly- Jump Rope Team, The Tsunami Skippers
Former Awbrey Park student, Stacey Dundas will be bringing her Tsunami Skippers to perform for us on May 17th. This will be a whole school assembly and will begin a little before 1:00 PM. Check out her website at tsunamiskippers.com. It tells some history and what we do to get kids involved in the sport of jump rope!!
James’ Penny Drive
Each year our 5th grade student council plans and organizes a penny drive, choosing an organization to give to. This year the money raised will be going to support James Dahl a 5th grader in Mrs. Tait’s class here at Awbrey Park. James used to love swimming, riding his bike and going on field trips. Cheerful, quirky and lovable, he hoped to play “It’s a Wonderful World” on his ukulele like Jack Johnson, one day. But last year, his life was changed by sudden and unexplained seizures. Since then, his life has been full of ambulance rides, hospital stays, many tests, and different medications. Yet, his seizures have continued to be frequent and without warning. It’s been a frightening time for James and his family, but he has been brave through it all.
In the search for answers, James’ family, community and friends raised funds for him to travel to a special medical center at UCLA to get specialized testing.
The doctors at UCLA found out that his seizures are a result of an extremely rare disorder called Rasmussen’s. Only 1 in ten million people worldwide are known to have it. Rasmussen’s causes seizures and brain damage. James is suffering from damage to the right side of his brain. Surgery is the only cure. James will be going back to Los Angeles for brain surgery. We want to support his surgery by raising as much money as we can through our penny drive.
Our penny drive starts next Monday and will go for 2 weeks, ending on May 24th. Yes, you can bring in money other than pennies. We ask for pennies but all money works!
21st Century Learning Link:
Here is a link on “What 21st Century Learning should look like.”
I really liked the graphic and the ideas within it. Those of you who had time to read the NETS Technology Standards will see many connections to this article. Your creativity and inspiring ideas for student collaboration make a huge difference in our AP student’s education. Keep it up! Take a look and click on the word map below.
