https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2019/12/08/december-9-2019/
It’s a busy end to the year. I am grateful for all of your hard work, dedication, and good humor. Madison is a really special place! In talking with a sub who has now worked at every middle school in 4J, he told me Madison is his favorite. He said our environment is calm and in control and there’s just a good feeling in our school community. I know we often focus on what needs to improve, but his comments are a good reminder that we are doing a really great job!
- ‘Tis the Season of Interesting Behavior – Keep in mind that with the excitement of the holiday season comes a lot of stress for students, families, and even staff. Keep this in mind when “interesting” behaviors pop up or ramp up, which will likely be more frequent in the next two weeks. This is a good time to slow down, take time for relationships and team building, pre-teach and reteach expectations for students, and give folks grade when odd or out of character behaviors pop up.
- Honor Roll Assembly Monday at 9am – As usual, please take attendance and wait for Mary to call your class down for the assembly. The seating chart is linked here. Please note your spot may change a bit once we add Karen’s new homeroom to the seating chart.
- Earthquake Drill Wednesday at 1:50pm – Our first earthquake/fire drill will be this Wednesday. Linked here is the schedule for drills for the year. For this week’s drill, I’ve linked resources and videos for earthquake protocol. The current recommendation is Drop, Cover, and Hold On. The first video does a good job of showing kids what to do if they’re in a classroom. Please make time during Focus on Wednesday to prepare students for what to do in an earthquake. Our expectations are that students take this seriously, practice correctly, and exit the building quietly.
There’s currently a 50% chance of rain that day. If it’s pouring, we’ll reschedule for another day.
- Evacuation Drills – Newish System for Reporting Students Missing – By Wednesday morning, you will all have a red folder in your mailboxes with copies of your student lists for each class period. It will also have a green piece of paper with your name on it. When we do evacuation drills or in a real emergency, please take this folder with you. When we meet up on the field have the first student in line hold up the red folder with your name showing if you are missing students or the green paper with your name showing if all your students are present. This will help us more quickly identify needs and keep us from handling all the papers that come running at me 🙂 You won’t need to send a runner anymore. If you’ve forgotten your folder or green paper, a thumbs up or thumbs down will work too.
- U of O Basketball Field Trip, Monday, December 16 9:30am-2:00pm
- Permission slips – Paper permission slips will go home Monday. Here is the list, sorted by grade level, of students who already have a digital permission slip. Their families will not need a paper copy. Please take a look at the list and hand out paper permission slips to anyone in your focus class who hasn’t yet turned in a form.
- Expectations – Linked here are the slides of our expectations for the trip. Please share these with your focus class on Thursday and again on Monday, Dec 16 before we load the buses. I will add a slide about cell phones. The policy will be the same as it was on River Walk. They’re allowed on the trip to document the day, but we are asking them to stay off social media. When we return to school, school rules apply and phones must be off and away.
- Lunches – Students must bring a lunch that day. They need to let Nicki know if they would like to order a school lunch. They can take lunches into the arena. Any other bags must follow the U of O’s clear bag policy which is linked in the slides above.
- Focus Classes in the afternoon – When we return to school, students will head to their focus classes. This time will be similar to the afternoon after the river walk. Grade levels can decide if they will each keep their focus classes for the rest of the day or offer kids choices about what they’d like to do. Regardless of what teams do, the expectation is kids are in one room and stay there for the entire time. Kids should not be wandering the halls or moving around the building without adult supervision.
- Hunting Down iPads – We are cutting back on the number of iPads we are going to be hunting down. If the student is generally responsible, and this seems to be a one-off, I’m happy to do the search. If the student often doesn’t know where their iPad is, leaves it places, etc, then it’s going to become their problem to find it. I’m hoping having some ownership will help those kiddos learn to track their iPads better. At Kennedy, staff hand kids a note during Focus that tells them their iPad wasn’t put away the day before and reminds them it’s their responsibility. I’m happy to make, copy, and provide those to you if you think it might help cut down on the volume of children not putting their iPads away properly.
- Hour of Code this week – This week is computer science education week / Hour of Code. For ideas, resources, and activities, visit Computer Science Education Week, Hour of Code, Khan Academy, Edutopia, and BrainPop. Note: This might also be a great activity when kids return from the basketball game!
- Cyber Crimes Assembly, Friday, Dec. 20 @ 1:30 – The district has teamed up with EPD and Bethel school district to provide informational sessions for parents and students on cyber crimes. We will hold an assembly on Friday, Dec 20 at 1:30. Our presenter, Nate Henyan, is a school resource officer for Yakima School District #7 and the president of School Risk Solutions. Details on logistics are coming soon. Below is the parent training informational flyer. I’ll be attending on the training on the evening of the 16th to learn more and keep my preteen safe. Here’s a video of Rick Wistocki, who is presenting to parents and high schools if you’re interested in learning a little more.
- Repeat: Students of the Month – Thanks to 6th grade for entering your November and December students of the month! We still need 7th and 8th grades’ students, please!
- Repeat: Bus Videos in Focus ~ 7 Teachers Left!– We have 7 more teachers who need to complete this requirement. If you haven’t shown your students this video, you must do so before we leave for Winter Break. As required by OAR 581-53-002, all students must receive instructions on bus safety before the end of December. The intent of the rule is to teach the occasional riders who find themselves on a bus because of a field trip, activity trip, etc. Linked here is an updated Bus Training Info Sheet (English and Spanish) sent to principals, but all Focus teachers need to do is show one of the two 12-minute bus safety videos (the Newer Bus Evacuation Training Video or the quaint 1990s relic The Safest Way Out) and then document the date and your initials in this Google sheet.
- Struggling learners can shine in coding – One of my favorite teaching memories is doing my first Hour of Code with my 2nd grade class. Everyone was struggling to figure out how to get their characters to move the right way, except for one student. He breezed through the “hour” of code in about 15 minutes. This student, who struggled with reading, writing, and math, suddenly became the expert in the room and had everyone coming to him for help. It was an opportunity for me to see strengths I never would have known about and a chance for him to finally experience some success. He shined that day and often asked to code when he finished his assignments. In this EdSurge commentary, learn more from a librarian who works to ensure all kids get a chance to code and find a gift they may not have known they possessed.
- Talk Less So Students Can Learn More – This Edutopia Article is a good reminder that productive struggle is important for students to retain what they learn. Tips include:
- Start with struggle
- Reduce teacher talk time
- Use questions instead of explanations
- Slow down and observe
- Provide non-teacher scaffolds
- Schedule of Upcoming Events:
December 9 (M)
9:00, Honor Roll Assembly
3:45, Peter to MS Principal’s meeting (downtown)
December 10 (T)
7:45, TLC Meeting (conference room)
9:00, Peter and Erin to All Admin Meeting (downtown)
December 11 (W)
1:50, Earthquake and Fire Drill
3:45, Climate Team Meeting
December 12 (H)
7:30, Justice League (Anne’s office)
December 13 (F)
National Cocoa Day
2:45, Building-based PD – PLCs
3:30, Grade Level Team meetings
December 16 (M)
9:30-2:00, U of O Basketball Field Trip
December 17 (T)
Regular Day
December 18 (W)
8:00, Staff Meeting
December 19 (H)
Regular Day
December 20 (F)
1:30, Assembly: Cyber Crimes
2:45, Staff Party and Potluck
