Madison Middle School

By barsotti_p 　https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2021/01/09/january-8th/

Hi Madison Family,

This was a long and challenging week. Many of us are dealing with significant emotional struggles, whether it be related to national news, local tragedy, or personal trauma. Please know that you are all so close to our hearts and so very much appreciated.

As our district continues to consider plans to begin slowly bringing students back into our buildings, we’re encouraged by the news that, beginning next week, some key 4J employees will be offered the new co-vid vaccine. Please continue to take good care of yourselves, as we cruise into 2021, and let us know if there’s ever anything that we can do to support the wonderful work that you’re doing with kids!

This Week’s Schedule:

Quick Link: Please make sure you’re signed into your 4J Google Account to access many of these links.

• SPED/Gen Ed Collaboration Log – Complete the log if you’re starting a new unit or would like to communicate concerns for specific students this week.    

Madison Information:          

• Focus Slide Deck: Week 3
  • Monday’s slides introduce a fun flipgrid activity that Peter put together. Spend a couple of minutes checking it out before previewing it with kids.
  • Tuesday – Introduce the ‘pre-lesson’ and assign kids to preview the text before engagement in the conversation in class during the week of the 18th.
  • Thursday – today’s slides have a diversity focus and contain two videos: a 7 minute video designed for younger, less experienced audiences and a 4 minute video introducing more mature topics. Please preview both videos and use the one (or both) that you feel most appropriate for your students. Peter, Gina and Anne are also always happy to help guide discussions if that’d be helpful.
  • Friday – Lead kids in a 10 minute reflection on the week. A doc to guide the discussion is linked in the slides.
• Wednesday’s PD Time: Student Engagement continued
• School Choice Info: School Choice season begins this month. Madison will hold two Zoom sessions parents can participate in.  Peter be working on our slideshow this week if you have any pictures you want to include, please send them to me. Our dates and times are January 14 at 6:00pm and January 15 at 9:30am.The deadline for school choice applications is January 31st. I don’t yet have any information on how many slots we’ll have available for kids not in our catchment area. Here is the district School Choice page for more information.      
• Weekly Check In: Linked here is the staff weekly check-in. I’d like to know how you’re doing and be able to offer support for those who need it.    

4J Information:

• Winter EasyCBM – This year, the district is honoring teachers’ desire to do less assessing and focus more on teaching; especially given the many limitations of CDL. So, for winter benchmarking, we are only going to be asked to assess 20-30% of, rather than the entire student body. District data gurus are currently working on outlining the final plan, so watch for more details coming out next week. No action required at this time.

What’s Coming Next Week:

Click here to link to an inspirational story, from several years before co-vid, of a family who wanted to spread hope and love throughout their community by putting up signs for their neighbors and loved ones. 

Thinking of you. Grateful for all that you do. Have a wonderful week with kids!

Gina and Peter