Next week:
- Thursday 2/25 Morning Fire Drill (Unfortunately we will need to double up on Fire Drills to ensure both cohorts are addressed each month – sorry but this requirement is out of our control)
- Thursday 2/25 2:45-3:30 Staff Meeting
SIWs – I will continue to do my best to leave these open as much as possible. If you or your team is feeling the need to dedicate one of these afternoons to a particular purpose, please talk to me and we’ll schedule it, but otherwise, I do know you need time more than anything else and protecting these afternoons is the best we can do for that purpose.
Heads Up – The Newport Corridor Project (AKA – Giant mess with a extra-large side of messiness) is calendared to begin April 5th. In our newsletter, we will share a digital postcard that will help raise awareness of the project. If this project remains on time, then all of Nashville and half of Newport will be close to all traffic and parking. The good news is that I’ve been working with the team to maintain access to our parking lot throughout the project – we should not have any problems getting in and out for our workdays, although there will be some days when the Federal exit will be closed off. The bad news is mostly for our parents as they will need to learn to park further away and walk. Like many construction projects, there is always a good chance this will get delayed, but it’s probably a good idea to mentally prepare.
Picture Days:
- Thursday, April 29th – K, 1 & 4/5 (cohort A)
- Friday, April 30th – 2/3, 4/5 (cohort B)
TAG
IT is working on making the Naglieri testing app available via clever hopefully within the next couple weeks. I am hoping to get our 2nd graders all screened with this before spring break. Once the app is active, I’ll set some dates.
If you have parents asking about TAG identification without SBAC, we have a couple options if they request testing;
- Administer the Naglieri again for their grade level.
- SAT-10 – we can administer the SAT-10 which is more similar to SBAC. Unfortunately, these usually have to be administered on a laptop, so our ability to administer is limited by laptops available.
If a student scores in the 97th %ile or above on either of these, then we will need a second piece of evidence ideally in the form of a Teacher Referral (2 different forms are linked below).
Safety Team; Next meet is Friday 3/5 at 2:45; Safety Team Notes – Please input any safety concerns or questions on this document for the team to consider.
SEL Menus We have 10 SEL menus for you to choose from!
What to do about calm corners? Have no fear, I have a great resource for creating individual “Calm Boxes”. Please reach out to me if you have a student who could benefit from something like this. I also have it in digital form if that something you would be interested in.
Also, if you are ever looking for an example of how to incorporate SEL into your classroom, I am happy to help. I am even able to teach a sample “mini” lesson.
Highland Piper Newscast will begin next week! We will record our first one on Tuesday morning and then I will push it out by the afternoon. It will be a work in progress but should be fun!
A message from ODE – We would like to share a new opportunity that ODE is offering called the Promising Practices Idea Exchange. We want to personally reach out to make sure you and your staff are aware of this opportunity for teachers to share stories and strategies for Comprehensive Distance Learning, hybrid and face-to-face teaching and learning success. Educators from around the state have been asking us to figure out a way to share promising practices and strategies that are engaging our students in learning. Whether schools are teaching face-to-face, via hybrid or fully online in Comprehensive Distance Learning, the exchange of ideas is a way for teachers to collaborate with their peers, learn about and share new strategies, and inspire as well as be inspired.
Would you please share this flyer with your staff or contact lists that you think might benefit? The Promising Practices Idea Exchange begins on Wednesday, February 17 with a focus on Active Engagement During Synchronous or Asynchronous Learning, with additional bi-weekly sessions through March. You will find a description of the other topics that will be covered, dates and a registration link on the flyer. And, this is free and open to all Oregon educators. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to send questions to Ken Greenbaum at [email protected] or Carla Wade at [email protected].
People First Language – this a great short read on the power of words and labels. This is a must-do for an inclusive community and I am constantly working on this myself.