Old Adobe Educator Weekly Round-Up
May 31, 2021 - June 4, 2021
MESSAGE FROM SUPERINTENDENT LOWERY
Refresh, Renew and Rejuvenate
Greetings OAUSD Educators,
The 2020-21 academic year was quite literally like none other. It has been difficult on our students, our teachers, our staff, and our community. This year has tested all of us to the core. I cannot thank our educators enough for demonstrating resilience, innovation and creativity to connect with students. Your flexibility, hard work, and dedication to our students is second to none.
On top of closing out a very difficult year due to COVID-19, our awareness about the need to end systemic racism and violence has been heightened. I am proud of our community’s strength, and proud of the staff and educators at this district who are willing to have hard conversations and to take action to address injustice. We must continue to stay focused on the vision of equity, access, and social justice for all.
As resilience in the face of the unexpected seems to be the recurring theme of this year, and we experienced the pain of these turbulent times, our hearts are warmed by countless ways we have supported one another. We’ve acknowledged mistakes and the need to take action to address educational inequities. We’ve seen many moments of learning and growth.
As this year comes to a close, our mental health toolkit is full, as we have strengthened our coping skills with the challenges we faced and demonstrated intense resilience. Celebrate all you have accomplished. Continue to connect with support people and people you are close to and make sure you nourish yourselves by drinking water and eating, getting enough sleep, and stepping outside to enjoy some fresh air. Take breaks when you can and enjoy a few moments to breathe deeply when possible.
My thoughts and well wishes are with you all as you seek to refresh, renew and rejuvenate.
Enjoy your time with your loved ones!
Superintendent Lowery
#OldAdobeStrong
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Happy Last Week of School! Director Rebecca Hachmyer would like to extend a special thank you to every member of the Child Development Department who went above and beyond to support students in Distance Learning and Hybrid Learning modes this year. The Kids Care and Bright Futures teams exercised flexibility, patience, and creative problem-solving, and they further honed their child development skill sets. In addition, Rebecca would like to say “thank you” and “I appreciate you” to every member of the OAUSD community who supported the work of the Kids Care and Bright Futures Preschool in big ways and small.
This summer Kids Care will be hosting a small camp from June 9th through July 2nd, primarily for those at-hope students who have been enrolled in our program this year. We look forward to relaunching as a before- and after-school program on more campuses in the fall, and to hosting longer, larger summer camp programs in the future!
Have a happy, safe, and healthy summer!
COVID-19 Update
Student and Community Vaccinations
COVID-19 vaccine clinics for Sonoma County students age 12 and older, as well as their families, will be offered at numerous dates, times, and locations throughout June.
The clinics are designed to make the vaccination process as easy as possible for busy families. Students and their families can come be vaccinated together. Registrations are encouraged and will be prioritized, but walk-ins are also welcome. Individuals with photo ID are encouraged to bring them, but nobody will be turned away for lack of photo identification.
IMPORTANT NOTE - Parental Consent Required for Children Under 18
- Students under age 18 MUST HAVE parental consent.
- Children age 12-15 MUST HAVE a parent /guardian present at the clinic.
- Youth age 16-17 only need a consent form signed by their parent/guardian
- Access the form here: English | Spanish
View a flier about the clinics | ver un folleto sobre las clínicas
To date, 28% of 12-15 year olds have already been vaccinated, after just a few weeks of eligibility. Countywide, 70% of all residents age 12+ have been vaccinated. This is encouraging news, but in order to ensure the smoothest, safest school reopening possible in the fall, it will be beneficial for many more youth to be vaccinated (70% of 12-18 year olds). Throughout the next few months, the county will continue to partner with local organizations and agencies to provide free opportunities for students and community members to be vaccinated.
The latest vaccine messaging is a student testimonial video for getting vaccinated.
5/26 Webinar for Families on Youth Vaccines (Co-hosted by SCOE & County Health)
Clinic Dates and Sign-Ups
The following clinics are taking place at local schools. For a full list of vaccine clinics in Sonoma County, please visit socoemergency.org/vaccines.
Elsie Allen High School Gymnasium
Saturday, May 29, 12:00pm-6:30pm (outside event hosted by Curative)
Sign up for an appointment through Curative.
Sonoma Valley High School Gymnasium
Wednesday, May 26, 3:00-7:00pm
Sign up for an appointment
Lawrence Jones Middle School Gym
Tuesday, June 1, 3:00-7:00pm
Sign up for an appointment
McDowell Elementary
Thursday, May 27, 4:00-7:00pm
Sign up for an appointment
Latest vaccine clinic information: scoe.org/vaccines
CURRICULUM
TK-2 Teachers: The administrative team has decided to purchase a one year license of the STAR Early Literacy assessment as an additional measure for our primary students. Site principals will talk with TK-2 staff about how this assessment can be used to suit your individual site needs. STAR Early Literacy is designed for beginning readers who do not yet read independently or need early literacy skills assessed and assesses students’ foundational reading, language and vocabulary, and numeracy skills in key domains down to the subskill level. This assessment is available in Spanish as well.
Report Cards: Just a reminder, attendance for report cards will be pulled on Tuesday, June 1. As it takes several steps to move the data from Aeries, to Illuminate, to the report cards, the attendance data will populate the report cards by 1:00 on Wednesday, June 3. Report cards can be printed after this time.
Summer Orton-Gillingham Training Opportunity: A 4-day Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Structured Literacy training is being offered in Santa Rosa this summer on July 6-9. As this training fills up fast, we are looking at how we can get any interested K-3 teachers access to this training. If you are interested in attending, please let your site administrator know asap. Head HERE for more information on the training.
PD and Assessment Calendar: We are finalizing the PD and Assessment Calendar this week. It will be sent to all staff once it has been completed. Additionally, we are working on a draft for our August PD days that we hope to send out by the end of week as well. Stay tuned!
EQUITY CORNER
Sonoma County Pride 2021
In honor of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month the Child Development team suggests the following read-alouds:
When We Love Someone We Sing to Them
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk & the Rainbow Flag
(read aloud by OAUSD parent and PCS teacher Carrie Caudle!)
FACILITIES
One last loud applause to all the hard work and dedication our custodians for us this school year. Without them in person teaching could not have happened! All the prep work that had to be achieved before our school could open for students was overwhelming. Then having to organize their time for cleaning and disinfecting between cohorts was amazing. To all of the custodians, you should feel proud of what each one of you accomplished this year! Thanks to all of YOU.
The last update on our family barn owls. Previously we saw the barn owl mothers taking care of their baby owl eggs. This is how big the babies are now.
FOOD PANTRY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Sign Up Today:-)
We need more volunteers to ensure that we can continue this service and provide this much needed resource.
Please sign up by clicking the button below.
HUMAN RESOURCES
REGISTRATION AND ENROLLMENT
Registration 2021-2022
All of our schools are hosting Virtual School Tours.
Here are the individual school videos.
RESOURCE CORNER
Book Recommendations to Ponder This Summer
Contributed by Krysty Corbett
PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES:
Beyond the Bake Sale by Anne T. Henderson, Karen l. Mapp, Vivian R. Johnson, and Don Davies. The pandemic made it even clearer that collaboration with families is essential! This book provides numerous strategies for creating collaborative partnerships with families. I appreciate the specific examples provided in the book as well as the checklists that succinctly lead you toward strategies to implement. This is a book you can thumb through to meet your current needs or serve as a refresher of a strategy you may have used in the past but had forgotten.
The Big Picture by Dennis Littky.The central focus of this book is to consider individual student needs and how to educate one student at a time. It explores how to hold every student accountable for achieving the standards, while allowing the student to have a role in how mastery is achieved and revealed. It speaks to how we create students that are successful in the real world by providing them with the necessary tools and the fact that those tools may vary.
Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. This is the best resource I have found to thoroughly explain the backwards design process. This book takes you through the process of designing curriculum in a user-friendly way. The checklists and examples provided allow the reader to use this resource immediately. If you are interested in creating project based learning units, this is definitely the book for you.
STUDENT BOOK CLUB BOOKS
Code 7 by Bryan Johnson. This is an excellent book if you are meeting weekly with a book group. Each chapter in the book tells the story of one of the students at Flint Hill Elementary School. The final chapter includes all of the characters and ties the story together. The stories are entertaining and reveal insights about character, integrity and social responsibility. It was a story of inspiration we all craved during the pandemic.
Wish by Barbara O’Connor. My students and I immediately fell in love with the spunk of the main character, Charlie. I was looking for a story that would inspire perseverance. This novel allowed my students to believe in their wishes, discuss the importance of friendship and the need to belong, and made us laugh out loud. It was the perfect novel to share with my students during a challenging year. Please note that this book does touch upon serious topics as well as the main character’s father is in jail and her mother is not in a place to take care of her daughter.
STUDENT SERVICES
Thank you for your participation in our YouthTruth Survey! Our student, family and staff participation rates were significantly higher than the average from other districts participating in the survey! In future years we will continue to utilize creative ideas to engage stakeholders in our surveys to increase participation.
At last week’s board meeting, a brief summary snapshot of some of the results was shared. You can find that presentation HERE. A more detailed presentation will take place once our school and district teams have reviewed, analyzed and made meaning of the results.
Look for more survey results and information from your site principal soon! We will continue to collaborate, make meaning of survey results and plan through next school year.
Educator Wellness
As educators we have been hearing more and more about social emotional health, self care and teacher wellness. After a year like no other, self care and emotional health and wellness are more important than ever. Please continue to look for an Educator Wellness section in the weekly roundup. In this section you will find important information about educator wellness, resources and strategies that you can access and implement right away. In the coming weeks please also visit our new Educator Wellness section on our District website under Student Services.
Teachers across the country are being asked to adopt innovative practices and thoughtful solutions to the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. In the face of this collective trauma, teachers are standing up to the disruptions and challenges and navigating this new terrain, as they work to take care of themselves and their families, and maintain connections with students and colleagues. This Self Care Planning Tool handout includes a self-care self-assessment with key strategies for fostering resilience and a self-care planning tool to assist educators in identifying areas of strength and growth related to self-care and developing self-care plans.
Have you heard of Resilliant Educator? ReEd is a website that brings you content that helps keep educational superheros teaching their students while taking care of themself. ReEd says, “If you fly with any regularity, you’re likely very familiar with the flight attendant’s instructions to place the oxygen mask on yourself before assisting children. The reason, of course, is that you can’t do a very good job if you don’t take care of yourself first. Particularly in challenging situations, this is absolutely vital. Teaching is very much like this!”
Practicing mindfulness, By Lilla Dale McManis, PhD
Mindfulness is about being engaged fully in the present moment, and in a way that is open and non-judgmental. Mindfulness has been quickly gaining favor as a very promising approach for educators. This is based on repeated findings that it can help reduce stress and thereby improve health and well-being. For instance, a recent comprehensive review of the literature found practicing mindfulness reduces stress, increases self-efficacy, and is particularly effective in helping teachers regulate their emotions.
Here’s how to begin:
1. Know your emotional triggers. Track what pushes your buttons.
2. Pay attention to your body. Become aware of bodily sensations when you start feeling stressed.
3. Write these down and then come up with techniques to implement when they happen.
Some recommended technique ideas are:
Count to 10 before responding
Let go of trying to over-control
Recognize the pain that drives someone to show difficult behavior and to not take it personally
Use kind humor
Do some stretching
One technique I used with much success when I felt things were spiraling in my special needs classroom was for everyone to stop, close our eyes, and be completely quiet until a feeling of peace returned. It wasn’t about waiting for everyone to be quiet in the sense of just not talking, it was about waiting for everyone’s minds and emotions to quiet—including mine!
Just remember, this is a work in progress as you determine what works best for you. Once you feel comfortable you can start teaching your students to practice mindfulness as well.
Here’s a great article for you to delve deeper into practicing mindfulness: Here is an article sharing Seven Ways Mindfulness Can Help Teachers. resilienteducator.com
TECHONOLOGY SERVICES
We are nearing the end of the school year and the close-out of instructional time with students. Teaching staff at this time will be immersed in the preparation of report cards and the like, after which there remains the option to keep the district-assigned Macbooks and iPads in their possession during the course of the summer. For those seeking to maintain their devices during the summer, they are asked to indicate the desire to do so by signing the OAUSD Acceptable Use Policy here. A year-round employee is not required to sign the AUP, as the initial policy at first issuance remains binding. Please be sure to answer yes to the summer checkout question and include the asset tags of both the Macbook and the iPad in the respective fields so the policy is applicable to all devices in your possession.
If summer usage is not applicable or you are a retiree, after using the device for the duration of time deemed necessary to complete your assigned work, you are asked to turn in the devices assigned to you to the Tech Room at the District Office, where the devices will be received, inspected to ensure they are in good working order and subsequently deployable, and held in abeyance prior to the start of the next school year if you are remaining onboard. The Tech Room will also be the pickup point to retrieve your devices upon the commencement of next school year, unless there is an alternate arrangement that works better for you and the IT Dept. will strive to reasonably accommodate you.
It is important to also bring along all chargers that go with the devices you are turning in so there is a complete set of technology ready to be returned to you. If you have any questions, comments or observations regarding this end-of-year policy, please reach out as needed to itsupport@oldadobe.org.
OAUSD EVENTS SCHEDULED THIS WEEK
May 31, 2021 - June 4, 2021
MONDAY, 5/31
Memorial Day Holiday - No School
WEDNESDAY, 6/2
Miwok Promotion @ 9:45AM
Old Adobe Promotion @ 10:30AM
La Tercera Promotion @ 11:00AM
Sonoma Mountain Promotion @ 2:30PM
THURSDAY, 6/3
Loma Vista Promotion @ 6:00PM
FRIDAY, 6/4
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!
6/2 Celso Puch Vilacis MV
6/4 Chris Carter Teacher LT
6/6 Carrie Brady Counselor
6/6 Anna Briggs
6/7 Andrea Messersmith
Weekly Video(s)
WHAT A YEAR!
Old Adobe Union School District
Website: https://www.oldadobe.org/
Location: 845 Crinella Dr, Petaluma, CA 94954, USA
Phone: 707-765-4321
Twitter: @OAUSD_Super