Joel's Journal- A Weekly Bulletin Paulo Freire — Education transforms people. People transform the world.

Week of May 6th

Hi Everyone,

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week and I’d like to take the opportunity to thank ALL staff for your hard work and dedication to Awbrey Park Elementary School. It’s truly your work, attitudes, and efforts with all of our students and families that make our school the great place it is. Thank you all very much!

Harlem Wizards vs. Principal Joel

The Harlem Wizards game is quickly approaching! It’s THIS COMING TUESDAY! Don’t hesitate in buying your tickets! You can buy your tickets in the North Eugene front office & finance office! Advanced tickets are $10, tickets at the door are $12. I’ve attached fliers with info about the game. VIP tickets are $20 in advance, and $25 at the door. VIP tickets include: Premium seating near the Harlem Wizard bench, meet & greet for 10 minutes with 2 players prior to the game, photo opportunities & free autographed team picture! Only 20VIP tickets sold! Makes a great gift!  You can also buy tickets online at http://www.harlemwizards.com/schedules/.
We have lots of great staff & students from North Region involved…including your very own Principal, Joel Lavin!
Lets show our support and come watch them get dunked on…I mean, watch their sweet basketball skills!

TAG Summer Enrichment:

The UO Youth Enrichment and TAG Program is excited to share information about our fast-approaching Super Summer Program. Please shre this information with your parents, especially if they have a child identified as TAG.

Please find attached the Super Summer Brochure, student application and poster.  Contact Rita Svanks at supers@uoregon.edu or 541-346-1404 if you would like printed copies mailed to you.

We are very appreciative of all the positive work you do for talented and gifted students and their families. Thank you!

Below are the flyers:

SuperSum13-app-fillable v2 superSum13-brochure-v3-BW SuperSum13-poster-4C-v3

Restructuring of CLCB Classroom postponed for 1 year and Special Education Staffing Changes:

Attached is an email  sent by Cheryl Linder explaining that we will not disband our CLCB program next fall. Also,  we received new information about our staff yesterday:

Jason Robbins will remain at Awbrey Park in our CLCB- 1.0 FTE

Andrew Gaughan will move to Edison at 1.0 FTE, 05. in LC and 0.5 in CLCB

Karrie Davis will be placed in our building at 0.5 FTE to do LC.

Jeremy Boyce will be working 6 hours in our building.

Jill Capenter will be working 4 hours in our building.

Debbie McGowan will be working 6 hours in our building.

I am extremely saddened that both Andrew and Brenda will be leaving us next Fall. Their work is so important in our building and they will be greatly missed.

Field Day Update, Tuesday, June 3rd in the AM/ Reading Train Assembly June 4th PM

– Lisa Chinn will run the Field Day for this year. She said the times work best for K-2 from 8:45-9:30 and grades 3-5 from 9:45-11:30. Lisa will email you regarding volunteers to run the stations.

Also, I switched our Reading Train Music Assembly to Tuesday, June 4th from 12:50-1:40. We will be running the assembly with some mini performances to keep the assembly shorter than 45 minutes.

Awbrey Park School Study Pilot

Suzy Price, the Title 1 and Achievement Gap Focus Administrator will be piloting a school study in our building this Thursday, May 9th.

Purpose of the Study

• Collect data in search of trends and/or patterns that may be connected to student achievement
• Explore factors that may influence student performance
• Look for patterns of instruction, district wide, in relationship to Jon Saphier’s BIG ROCKS of high expertise teaching
• Guide professional development plans
• Seek ways to best invest our resources and focus on those areas that will have the greatest impact.
• Deepen our professional development offerings to enhance instructional strategies, strengthen the “three critical messages” and increase student achievement.

This visit will be our very first of the study. As practitioners, we are learners in the process. We hope to gain insights into the best way to conduct the visits, utilize the tool, gather the data, report the data, etc. all in an effort to move the district forward in increasing student achievement. Part of our process will include reflecting and modifying the process.The format of data collection will likely include a summative report of the visit, a summary of the principal interview and the data collected from the district. We anticipate data being shared with Instruction Cabinet and perhaps the Equity Committee (still not sure….). I would imagine we could share the data with the principal, who could then determine if/when to share with the staff.

Visitation Team: Suzy Price,Raquel Gwynn, Marlee Litten, Kathy Luiten, Juan Cuadros

Date of Visit: May 9

The School Study Schedule

8:00-8:30                     Prep

8:30-8:50                     2^nd grade (Reynolds)

8:55-9:15                     3^rd grade (Weston)

9:20-9:40                     4^th grade (Wagg)

9:40-10:00                   4^th grade (Geitter)

10:05-10:25                 2^nd grade (Solberg)

10:30-10:50                 3^rd grade (Britt)

10:55-11:20                 1^st grade (Krec)

11:20-12:00                 LUNCH

12:00-12:20                 1^st grade (Justice)

12:25-12:45                 5^th grade (Stock)

12:50-1:15                   Kinder (Grace)

1:20-1:50                     5^th grade (Tait)

1:50-3:15                        Debrief

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Week of April 29th

Hi Everyone,

Here is the schedule of some events for the week :

April 29 (M)

PRIDE Focus:  Discipline

7:30-8:30, Joel to All Administrators Meeting (Ed Center)
3:00-3:30, Stand-Up Staff Meeting (Room 13)

Claire Out

April 30 (T)

9:00-12:00, Cathy Waggener’s Class to Dorris Ranch

2:15-2:30, Bulldog Recess

7:30-3:00, Joel hosting Learning About Learning Network Meeting (Awbrey Park)

May 1 (W)

9:00-12:00, Gietter’s Class to Dorris Ranch
3:00-4:00, Data Mtg. – 3,4,5 (Room 13)
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principal’s Meeting (NEHS)                                                                                        5:30-6:30, Joel to Executive Session with Board (Ed Center)

May 2 (H)

9:00-12:00, Powell’s Class to Dorris Ranch
7:45-11:15, Grade 1 Creating Common Formative Assessments in Math PD (Ed Center)                         3:00-3:30, SEED Pre-testing Meeting Grades 3,4,5 (Gietter’s Room)

May 3 (F)
7:45-11:15, Kindergarten Creating Common Formative Assessments in Math PD (Ed Center)

Some items of note for this week:

LEL Network at Awbrey Park on Tuesday

Tuesday we will be hosting the Learning About Learning Network for Elementary (LEL) in our building. Here is a short article in the Harvard Education Magazine that explores the basic concept behind Instructional Rounds.  This particular group is called LEL B. There are more  than 7 networks in 4J. LEL B is composed of 5 teacher leaders, 5 principals, and 3 instruction dept. leaders. We are the last group to be visited this year in this network. The schools in our network include: Buena Vista Dual Immersion, Holt,  River Road Dual Immersion, Charlemagne Fox Hollow, and Awbrey Park.

The LEL B group will be broken into 5 groups. The groups of 3 or 4 will observe classrooms for 15 minute periods between 9:25 and 11:30. The group will be observing classrooms to explore the relationship of students to learning within the instructional core.  Observers will be focused on students in the classroom. LEL data is collected and composed into patterns that emerge amongst the group. Engaging discussions occur after observation and we end the day around 3:00.

I will be making last minute changes to the observation schedule on Monday and checking in with teachers who are on the schedule. Most specifically, I might ask you about your content that we could see during the visit.  I will send a finalized schedule via email on Monday evening.

Using Video in the Classroom  – This is a plug from me about a great application for helping students learn how to create simple videos for class presentations.  My daughter has a project at Edgewood this Spring in 3rd Grade on visiting Eugene landmarks. The teacher has shown students how to use a simple video creation tool called Animoto.  I tried it this weekend and have been helping her collect photos for her project.  Lila made her own video in 10 minutes! This article shows how to use Animoto and other web based video composition tools. It is fun and student centered learning! Check it out.

Maximizing a Student Teacher’s Learning – For those of you with student teachers or will in the future, here is a quick two page list on how to maximize their learning in your classroom.

LaneKids Poster Contest – LaneKids is having a poster contest for kids up to age 12 with prizes around the poster theme “I know my parents love me because…”. Although I question how inclusive that theme is for all students, I did want to share at least about LaneKids, which is a parenting education hub grant-funded through the Oregon Community Foundation. The Lane ESD is a partner and they have a really good web site that’s worth sharing.

Less than 31 days left of school!

Joel

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Week of April 22nd

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to take a moment to recognize the efforts of Jason Robbins and all of the CLCB staff this year. As you all know, the district has disbanded all CLCB classrooms in favor of mainstreaming these students into classrooms in their neighborhood schools. Jason, Jeremy, Brenda, Jill, and the students have all worked hard to make their new space, room 32 a successful new environment. Their conviction and flexibility to try new strategies and build a positive space to learn has been a gutsy effort by all. It was exciting to see students take ownership of their space and make progress towards improvement in their mainstream classrooms. Thank you Jason, Jeremy, Jill, and Brenda for all of your hard work this year. It does not go unnoticed.

Some Calendar Items for This Week:

April 22 (M)
OAKS Math Testing this week.
Earth Day
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals Meeting (Ed Center)

April 23 (T)

7:30-8:30, Joel  and Kristen in a student support meeting in conference room.

9:00-9:30, Joel in Meeting with Lori Wheel from ASC.

9:00-10:00, Kinder Open House

12:00-3:00, It3 Session in Room 13 for Spring Creek, Awbrey, and Madison Staff. They will also be using Room 26 and the conference room for some small group discussion and planning.

3:00-4:00, Regular Staff Meeting, Final Input on Staffing Plan and Kristen Shares some components of the Caring For Kids Curriculum in 4J.

5:00-7:00, ACE Awards Ceremony (Hult Center, Reception: 5–6 PM, Ceremony: 6-7 PM)

April 24 (W)

3:00-4:00, K-2 Data meeting.

April 25 (H)

9:00-10:00, Kinder Open House

3:00-4:00, PBIS Meeting

April 26 (F)
10:00 AM, Staffing Plans Due to HR via email.

4:00-5:00, Informal Drop In Meeting with Board Members (Countryside Pizza)

Some items of note for this week:

Informal Drop-in Meeting with Board Members, 4/26 – Join 4J School Board members for informal conversation this Friday, April 26th, 4-5 p.m. Board members will hold the first of a weekly time for conversation with teachers, staff, and families at Countryside Pizza, 645 River Road. Board members will be available in the back meeting room of the restaurant.

Earth Day, April 22nd – Schools across the country will be celebrating Earth Day on Monday, April 22. Teach your students how to care about their world — and how they can make it better! — throughout the year with these resources and downloads. I know that Awbrey Park has been working hard on this and we should be proud to have become an Oregon Green School this year. Take some time to celebrate our efforts to make Awbrey an eco-friendly learning environment. Thank you Andrew, Debbie, Kristen, Pat, Margie, other cafeteria staff, Larry, and our kids for making so many green “ideas” a reality.

The Common Core and Technology Integration:  Many AP classrooms have been infusing technology into the writing activities since February. Our students are learning many new ways to submit work via Edmodo and are getting very skilled at creating slide presentations and composing documents. The following link describes how the ELA CCSS are actually expecting technology integration at some levels.  It is an interesting article and I believe it lines up well with the skills our classrooms are working on k-5. In May, we will be having a broader discussion of technology in our building at a staff meeting.

Hard to believe there are only seven weeks left in the year!

Joel

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Week of April 15th

Hi everyone,

I know the next couple of weeks will not be easy for staff as we form our staffing plan for 2013-2014. As we face very difficult cuts to our program, remember to be good to each other.  Our decisions will not be easy. Still, I know I can count on the knowledge, professionalism, and experience of our staff to put forward a plan that best serves Awbrey Park students. Your suggestions and input are very important to this process. Please share your ideas. Clearly, we are in hard times for education and in a tough moment for Awbrey Park,  but I cannot think of a team who I would rather work with as we get though this.

Some Events for the Week –

April 15 (M)

OAKS Testing Begins

7:45 AM, Stand Up Staff Meeting
2:00-3:30, Melissa and Joel to Title 1 Meeting (Ed Center)

April 16 (T)
9:00-3:00, Joel to Jon Saphier All Admin Training (Ed Center)

4:00-6:00, 4J Equity Meeting (Ed Center)

April 17 (W)

Spirit Day- School Pride- Wear your Red and Black

3:00-4:15, Site Council Meeting- Staffing Plans presented for suggestions.

April 18 (H)

8:30-4:00, Pilot Teachers to PD with Dr. Jon Saphier (Ed Center)
3:00-3:45,  Optional Staff Meeting (Room 13)

3:45-4:45, North Eugene Community Based Intervention Team(CBIT) hosted by Awbrey Park in Kristen’s Office

6:30-8:30- The Awbrey Park Elementary Art Show
5:00-8:00, North Region McTeacher’s Nite at River Ave. McDonalds

April 19 (F)
2:15-2:30, Extra Recess for Spring Break Readers

Have a good week!

Joel

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Week of April 8th

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Week of March 25th

Hi everyone,

I hope you have a well deserved break.  This has been an action packed winter and you all have done a tremendous job. You deserve some time off. Please make sure you take some time for yourself and your family.

I will include a schedule of events for the first week in April on April 1st.

For now, here are two items of note to plan for:

CFEE-Taking It Up Meeting on April 2nd at 7:30 AM–

Please come and be involved if you can. We will discuss several options related to parent outreach and connecting with Spanish Speaking families. Surveys will also be discussed of children and parents.

April 1st PD Schedule and Collaborative Practice Information:

I have created an FAQ for you to read about the collaborative practice. This is based on questions from the compass points activity.

Here is our schedule for April 1st:

8:00-8:15- Coffee and bagels. (something gluten free too)

8:15-8:30- Joel welcomes staff with connections warm up based on Caring For Kids Teamwork curriculum for adults. (Kristen helps me plan this but will be at counselors meeting. CFK information session will occur April 17th at staff meeting after staffing presentation. )

8:30-9:00- Celia Feres-Johnson addresses the staff about 2013-2014 Teacher Evaluation Information

9:00-10:30- Joel reviews guidelines and responds to specific questions from the Compass Points activity of March Staff meeting. 15 minutes
Christina and the Title Lesson Study Team share their experience with lesson study. 10 minutes.
Christina and Joel Lead Collaborative Practice Brainstorm session and learning.

Here is an article to read at the meeting or ahead of time if you like. It is entirely optional to read this before the meeting.

10:30-10:40 Break

10:40-11:30- Spring Collaborative Work.
Teachers spend 30 minutes discussing options and formulating ideas to explore in their teams. (Small group)
Teachers share out their lesson study focus, or other collaborative focus using poster paper. Signs posted in Collaboration Station throughout the 9 week term. (Whole group)

Closing by Joel

11:30-12:00 Lunch

12:00 – 2:00 PM Uninterrupted Planning Time for licensed employees.

2:00-4:00 Licensed Employee Furlough Time- No teachers should be in the building to work.

Thank you so much for your hard work.  Rest up and see you in a week!

Joel

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Week of March 19th

Hi Staff,

Can you believe there are only 5 more days to Spring Break? I am so excited. We are almost there!

Schedule of Events for the Week –

March 18 (M)

PRIDE Focus:Integrity

OAKS Science Make Ups

7:45-8:10-Teacher Meeting Check in

Principal’s Meeting 2:30-5:00

March. 19 (T)

9:30-11:00- Joel to Bus Barn for PBIS Bus Training

3:00-4:00-TLT Meeting

March 13 (W)

8:00-4:00- District Math Diagnostic PD in Room 13 all day.

10:00-11:00- Parent Meeting in Joel’s Office

March 14 (H)

10:15-10:50- (Chinn) Joel Teaches Math to Kindergarten

2:50-3:50-  Joel at IEP in Conference Room

March 15 (F)

9:00-9:45- Joel and Melinda Weekly Check In

10:00-11:00- Joel at Meeting at Madison about DYS and Transition Services with Zak Scotton

4:00- Spring Break begins!!!

Some items of note:

Read To Feed Update— We are doing great! Click here to read Melissa’s email on the Read to Feed Program. We continue to get more sponsors and have more than 1300 dollars in donations so far.

PRIDE Awards– Oh My!-  Thank you so much for pumping up our students last week.  The Pride Award Assembly was especially powerful in many ways. It made me feel very proud of our students and I will admit that I got a little teary eyed too.

Finances for the year- How are we doing?  This year I have tried to be very conservative with supplies and focused on using back stock. I know that can be frustrating at times when you are working on important projects such as the Art Show, but it makes a difference.   With less of a supply budget, we need to be more cautious on what to purchase and sometimes we need to be less customized in paper colors or other variations.

This year our printing budget is less and we are slightly over budget for this stage in the year.  We are doing well in our savings otherwise but please be cautious about how much you are printing. If you are using technology more, then I encourage you to think about how to use less paper in your classroom. All of this effects our bottom line and means more money for technology and savings for field trip scholarships and more important things we value in our building.

Below is a report from Melinda about where we are at in key financial areas:

Supplies are:  All size envelopes, cardboard, postage charge slips, print order forms, laminating film, 20# and 90# paper, railroad board, Delp awards, staff shirts and workroom supplies.

In 2010-11 our supply costs were:  $24,834 (full year)
In 2011-12 our supply costs were:  $19,728 (full year)
In 2012-13 we have spent to date:  $9533  (Through March 15th)

If we keep up with the same spending, we are predicting a $5400 savings from last year supply costs.

Insta Print:  All school print orders (classroom and office needs)

In 2010-11 our Insta Print costs were:  $11, 010 (Full year)
In 2011-12 our Insta Print costs were:  $8,964  (Full year)
In 2012-13 we have spent to date:  $6,133  (Through March 15th)

If we keep up with the same spending, we are predicting going over by $235 ($9199) from last years costs.

Websites for students to share their reading lives – In this article from The Reading Teacher, the authors recommend websites that allow students to share and archive their reading lives, create online reading histories, and place books on digital bookshelves for future reading. I was personally familiar with Good Reads, but they all look like good programs. These could be a fun way to get kids excited about reading and writing about what they’re reading, perhaps in place of reading logs.

• Good Reads
• Shelfari
• Library Thing
• BiblioNasium

Restorative Justice Approach to Behavior – This document is pretty concise but is also quite helpful . Imagine you have a student who habitually tilts his chair back and drums annoyingly on his desk with a pencil. This morning, he was doing it – again – while you were trying to teach. What do you do? Read this short article on the punitive vs. responsive teacher reactions to this and similar situations. Teacher and principal behaviors have a huge impact on the trajectory some students of color and students in poverty face. This article has great tips on changing those trajectories.

A New Cultural Activity for Awbrey Park:

Last Wednesday, I attended an Asian Council Meeting and did a little outreach. I am considering adding an evening event that promotes parent involvement and literacy in May.  There is a Chinese tradition in May called the Dragon Boat Festival which we may promote in our building. If you have interest in these programs, please let me know if you would like to get involved. We may even plan an event for Fall called the Harvest Moon Festival or other activities.

Taking It Up Meeting Postponed: I have reset the Taking it UP Meeting for 7:30 AM on April 2nd. I will provide breakfast. The focus of that meeting will be outreach to incoming families.  I would like input on ways to encourage kinder registration and family outreach in the neighborhood community centers of Santa Clara. We will also discuss a parent survey(non-title 1) and how to reach ALL parents. Please come and share ideas.  Our flowers should be up next week! They are pretty cute!

Have a fabulous week, everyone!

Joel

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