Week of February 24th, 2014
Calendar of Events for the Week
February 24 (M)
PBIS Focus: Be responsible.
School Choice Visitation Week
8:30-4:00 Joel out of building at Interest Based Bargaining with OSEA
1:30-2:30, Recycling Presentation, 4th Grade in Room 12
2:30-3:30, Joel to Title 1 Coordinator and Principal’s Meeting
4:00-6:00, Joel to North Region Principal’s Meeting
February 25 (T)
9:00-10:00, School Choice Tour
3:00-4:00, Site Council Meeting (Room 13)
February 26 (W)
6:00-8:00, Joel to Joint Equity Committee Meeting with the School Board
February 27 (H)
12:00-1:00, School Choice Tour
3:15-4:15, AP Study Group in room 13
3:00-3:10, Another printer training by David Nelson for teachers who missed it last week.
3:30-5:30, Joel at the Diverse Workforce – Retention and Recruitment Meeting with Dr. Berman
February 28 (F)
2:15-2:30, Bulldog Recess
8:30-2:30, Esther Stutzman- Storyteller Visits
School Choice Visitation Week – This week is School Choice Visitation Week #2. We have a few families already signed up for tours (mostly from the younger grades again), so don’t be surprised if you see me and Alicia Helton walking visitors around the building this week.
Effective Use of Open-Ended Questions in Elementary Classrooms – In this helpful article in The Reading Teacher, Barbara Wasik and Annemarie Hindman (Temple University) say teachers sometimes ask questions that students can answer with a single word – for example, “Did you like the book?” elicits a simple “Yes.” Better for teachers to ask open-ended questions that invite elaborated responses.
Dr. Seuss Week Reminders from Sara Justice
The Power of AVID Video
I have told many of you before about the power of a strong college readiness program in middle and elementary. AVID- Advancement Via Individual Determination is a program that started in San Diego in 1982. This video is a great example of the power of AVID at all grade levels. I believe a college readiness climate could effect ALL the students in a school and their parents. I believe elementary college readiness is vital to overall success of sending students to college in a k-12 system. At higher grades, AVID is more selective and targeted. In elementary, each and every student benefits in a school with AVID.
Try watching this 6 minute video and tell me what you think.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy at Awbrey Park
Cultural responsiveness is the ability to learn from and relate respectfully with people of your own culture and well as those from other cultures. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is a skill set that principals, classified staff, and teachers are continuing to develop. As many of you may have known from my previous posts, I highly value this approach to multicultural education and expect that all staff work hard to gain these skills. This week, Andrew is at the CFEE week long session to develop a deep understanding of race relations and it’s impact on school systems. He will bring this knowledge back to our school and apply it to many areas of his work. We wish him luck and thank him for his courage and dedication as he continues on this worthwhile journey.
Here is another short 4 minute video on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.
New lock system is complete.
Many of you may still have questions about our new lock system. We can customize and change the lock system to meet our needs. Overall, it will make our building a safer place and keep out unsafe individuals in an efficient manner. Currently, we have set up a system to keep the doors locked until 8:15 AM. The doors lock at 8:30. The gym doors at the west entrance near the building are always open during the school day. We can fine tune the system further to be open for short periods of time if necessary. Larry and I make these changes using a district issued laptop.
One note:We now have the power to lock down the entire school with the touch of a button. Please do not use door stoppers in the doors leading to the outside at all. Use of door stoppers basically takes away our power to lock down the whole school at any given time. This will become a bigger deal as the warm weather comes this spring. In addition, the air conditioning system in our building is marginalized by doors propped open. Please refrain from using stoppers to keep our safety and comfort in mind. I will be planning a lock down practice in April once I am more familiar with the system.
Music Teacher Introduction: Ken Silverman
Ken Silverman has been teaching music in Eugene for a long time. Ken brings music to our students and will help them get ready for performances this coming Spring. Ken and I will schedule some times for this soon. (Stay tuned.) Ken will be teaching students how to play ukeleles and try several other instruments. Ken is also doing work to clean up our music room. All materials will stay within the district’s music equipment collection at Parker Elementary. He is working hard to make space so students have more room to dance and practice for some performances. Ken also will be organizing our existing AV system so it is more functional during assemblies like the Dr. Seuss Assembly on March 3rd.
Fire Drill Recap:
We are doing great in our exit of the building to the fields. We continue to account for students in less than 3:15. I have listened to many teachers feedback on using the front of the building for exiting to reduce traffic in the gated areas. My concern with this is that it separates our students into different areas and makes it harder to ensure accounting for students in a real life situation. There is also concern that fire trucks would be parked in the front of the school right where we might want to have students line up. I will be getting some advice from Santa Clara Fire Dept. about how to help students exit safely in a real fire and where the BEST location is for them in a real life situation. We will also work closely with Ryan Massey to evaluate this. My plan is to make changes next fall if it is deemed necessary.
OIIP (Oregon International Internship Program)
Introduction of Yingzi Wang (Cherry) A message directly from Cherry.
