The Grass Valley WAG
Week at a Glance: 9/7 - 9/11
Our Collective HOPES for our Eagles
A note from Casey...
Welcome to Week 5 Grass Valley Staff,
This week we will shift our focus to CONTENT, specifically, assuring grade level content is in front of our scholars to assure that we are progressing forward, and not allowing additional learning loss to occur. Our Gen Ed classrooms will begin lifting EL Education this week, and students will pick up workbooks on Tuesday, September 8 to support with this.
Teachers, this week you should focus on:
- Content - You should be fully lifting content during Class Meeting and small group instruction. This should be in full swing!. Consider - What areas do you need to spend more time planning this week to be fully prepared? What areas do you need to collect more data in so you are fully aware of students' needs?
- Communication - You should have a consistent system for communicating your Weekly Family Newsletter to your class (ie. Class Dojo or email). You should have completed regular two-way communication with all families though Class Dojo. Consider - What kinds of questions are you getting regularly from families? How can you begin to predict those questions and have information ready for families, before they need it?
- Collaboration - You should have established a regular Grade Level Planning meeting day/time (ie. K/1, 2/3, 4/5) and should have shared a calendar invite/Zoom link with Casey. Consider - What norms and structures are in place to support your work together? How do you need to focus as a team to best support one another in planning?
- Calm - You should be conveying a sense of calm to your families; reminding them about the need for flexibility and demonstrating compassion, while asking for it for yourself, as well. Consider - How are you reassuring families and students about our focus on learning during this difficult time?
Please continue to strive for balance between your personal/work lives as we continue into this new and unknown time. I know things are anxiety producing because of the unknown, but remember our rocks and the supportive community we have around us - lean on one another!
As your principal, I promise...
- honesty & transparency in sharing all information with you as quickly as I can
- flexibility in being understanding about where each of you are during this crisis and how this impacts your work
- support in finding the balance that best supports you AND our students
- a continued focus on equity as a school so we can serve ALL of our students to the best of our abilities
- a continued focus on team as we all lean in in new and different ways to support our greater community this year
Thank you for all you do for our students and please reach out with any questions or needs!
Respectfully,
Casey
Inspiration for Week 4!
Week at a Glance
Monday
- No School
Tuesday
- 8:30a Class Meetings
- 10a Attendance Team Meeting
- 2:30p Whole School Community Meeting
Wednesday
- 8:30a Class Meetings
- 2:30p Whole School Community Meeting
Thursday
- 8:30a Class Meetings
- 2:30p Whole School Community Meeting
Friday
- 8:30a Class Meetings
- 10a Coffee with the Principal
- 1:30p OPTIONAL Office Hours w/ Casey (Teachers)
- 2:30p Superhero Circle
Where are we in our Distance Learning Rollout?
Important Reminders (Teachers)
- Materials Pick-Up: Our next pick up with be Sept 8. Gen Ed students will get EL Ed books; try to begin to shift away from packets, unless absolutely necessary - our goal is for everything to be online (other than physical materials); Nothing from the Office this time around, so please communicate with your class if they do not need to come for pick up.
- Family Newsletter: These should be shared via Class Dojo/Email each week BEFORE Monday at 8:30a (it would best support families if they were available Friday evening)
- SIPPS: Tracker linked here; Karla will support 1st/2nd starting ASAP; Armoni will support Kinder when she is onboarded as our second Early Literacy Tutor.
- Hotspots: If students are still in need of a hotspot, email Coach/Casey. If you are a teacher in need of a hotspot, email Casey.
- COST: We have addressed attendance in COST during the first 3 weeks, and will now shift our focus to academics. I will share the COST referral form with you soon.
- Faculty Meeting/Office Hours: Monday's 1p meeting will become a highly encouraged (like really try to make it) Faculty meting, with the hope that as we move into October we will be able to shift to monthly meetings. The reasoning here is the need for clear information flow which is not currently happening. Friday's 1p meeting will remain OPTIONAL and should be a space for questions specific to you/your class. The reasoning here is that we don't want this to become another space where important whole staff information if being discussed, without actually having everyone present.
- OEA Evaluations: Teachers on my caseload (everyone from last year +1) will continue being evaluated last year (as per spring MOU); OETF Soft Copy linked here; We will meet for goals conferences (those on my caseload) by 9/15; 5-year plan option - if you were on this last year, we did not complete it, but we can this year (or I can simply defer you until next year)...let me know what you’d like to do!
Important Reminders (ALL STAFF)
- Crew: All staff members will lead a Crew (small group advisory) this year. This is an opportunity for students/staff to build deeper relationships. The structure of crew allows for relationship building, academic progress monitoring, and character development. Teachers have all been assigned additional Crew Leaders for their class (see cell H1 on your class tab here). We will begin Crew on October 5. By 9/30, teachers should work to name the Crew leader (of those adults available to your class) for each student in Column H. Support staff will be trained in Crew on Thursdays beginning Sept 3 at 1p (see calendar invite for Zoom link). This will be recorded and made available for teachers who'd like to take the time to view it. The first 12 weeks of Crew will focus on Toolbox through slide decks found HERE (curated by Julie Slater - K/1 here, Alexa McDougal - 2/3 here, and Rasheedah Jones - 4/5 here)
- Technology Support: If you or students need support with technology - call Grass Valley (9a-2p) for real time/immediate support OR call/text Paula Mitchell (Distance Learning Lead) at 510-214-3230 (include name, teacher, and issue in message).
- Distance Learning: A reminder that all OUSD students/families may choose to enroll their scholars in Distance learning for the entire 20/21 school year, even if we return to in person learning at any time.
- Safety on Campus: Wear a mask outside of your classroom/office space; Sanitize as you enter/leave (sanitizer at the front door); Sign in/out (front office - we MUST have a record of who is on site); Restrooms - ONLY use the staff bathrooms INSIDE; When using the restroom, flip the sign over to “needs to be cleaned” when you exit; Copier - add your name on the list on the whiteboard (office), if you’d like to walk through the door to the copy room - let us know and we will open it!
- ZOOM bombing - this is when someone unknown to you enters your ZOOMroom. Screenshot as much of the information about the person as possible and email the information (screenshot, time, date, etc.) to Casey for follow-up.
Upcoming Dates
9/7: No School
- 9/8: Perfect Attendance Party (Beckner)
- 9/8: Materials Pick up
- 9/10: SPED Parent Meet & Greet (6:30p)
- 9/11: Coffee with the Principal
- 9/16: SLT
- 9/16: SSC & PTA Meeting
- 9/22: Perfect Attendance Party (Coach)
- 9/24: Parent Corner with Coach
- 9/24: Student of the Month
- 9/25: PD Day
Staff Communication Expectations
This year will be one that is dramatically different in a number of ways, especially in regards to communication. In order to best support our students and our greater community, ALL staff are expected to:
- Email - check OUSD email at the beginning and ending of each day; all emails should be responded to within 24 hours
- WAG - review the "Grass Valley WAG', which is sent out weekly by Casey by Monday morning; complete any required action within stated time frame
- Class Dojo - use Class Dojo for tracking positive student behavior and communicating with families; register for your account at classdojo.com
- Zoom - use Zoom to participate in staff and student functions
- Whole School Community Meeting - participate daily in whole school community meeting with our students from 2:30-2:45p
- Crew - lead a small group (4-12) of students daily in learning about Toolbox and the Grass Valley Way from 2-2:30p
- Class Meeting (Teachers & Classroom Support Staff) - participate in a daily class meeting with your students at the beginning of each day
It will be critical that we communicate clearly across all staff, students and families this year, and these pieces will be an important part of that. Please reach out with any questions!
Appreciations!
Welcome to 2020-2021!
I appreciate Olivia for sharing all of her amazing parent letters and resources!
Shout out to Tammy for help with Google Classroom and always being willing to answer my questions!
Mr. Castro’s kindness and just being himself trying to make me laugh.
Ms. Casey for pizza when it was so hot and we didn’t know what to eat and Coach and Tahira for our chair dance we needed that.
Julie for putting together the super hero slides! They are awesome! Thank you Julie!
The K-1 team for continually sharing ideas with us and helping me figure it all out!
I appreciate all of the staff for their enthusiasm and welcoming of families, students, and fellow teachers.
Want to include an appreciation for a colleague in the next WAG? Add it HERE!
Useful Links
Grass Valley Info
EL Education
General