Weekly Bulletin
~ Sept. 16-20 ~ Week 4~
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -Aristotle
KUDOS: Staff & Faculty Recognition
Three weeks down, 35 to go!
Thank you for such focused teaching & grade-level collaboration. As I conduct my daily walk-throughs I see that students are held accountable by their teachers on behavior, academics, and on attendance; thank you for your commitment to our students!
I have observed you during classroom community circles, conducting frequent checks for understanding, explicitly teaching the learning targets, and engaging students to the fullest. SEED has an enormous talent; therefore I invite our most seasoned teachers to mentor & reach out to our newest staff.
Thank you Mr. Zucker, Ms. Tapia, Ms. Perrone, Ms. Ana, Mr. Pastrana, & Ms. Goodie for your willingness to mentor others & for sharing your practice. Because of your dedication the SEED community is stronger!
DISTRIBUTIVE LEADERSHIP!
- Know of any shout outs? Please let me know, I would like to showcase it in our bulletin.
ASSESSMENTS
September
9/3-9/27
Grades 2-5: SRI 1
Grades K-1: DEBELS NEXT 1, scan by 9/27
CELDT Annual Testing
Have you ever been trained through the CELDT Moodle? This is a new way to get trained on-line. A link will be provided to all of our CELDT experienced teachers. Any teacher that is not familiar with CELDT will have a face-time training. Date: TBD.
9/3-9/20 - UPDATED
1-5: EDL 1
Ms. Tunney has surveyed the staff & it is a consensus that we will be using last May's assessment results. She is working on creating a spreadsheet to track our students' growth.
1-3: DRA 1
A sub will be available from Sept. 9-13 to support teachers while they test their students. Ms. Tunney is coordinating this task. Please see her for support.
POSITIVE & WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT - NEW
Playground Referral
In order to bring consistency in reporting issues with students during recess, a playground referral was created. Mr. Marcel & Coach K will begin using it effective Monday, September 16th. It was created as a method to consistently establish consequences for the students during recess. Consequently, It provides teachers & office staff with feedback about particular students’ behavior at recess. If a referral is written for one of your students, it will be placed in your box the same day it is written.
I welcome any feedback to improving this process. I invite you to discuss this new policy with your grade-level. Please bring any questions you might have about the use of the referral to our next staff meeting or you can place any pressing questions in your grade-level collaboration notes.
FREE DRESS PASS
Effective Friday, September 20th students with perfect attendance will have the privilege to have a FREE DRESS FRIDAY PASS. Thank you for some of our colleagues, I will edit the pass & place, "Good for 1 Friday Only." I ask that you place a date to the pass to avoid students using the pass on multiple occasions.
Students can also earn a FREE DRESS PASS if they are awarded a " ¡Te observé hablando español!"
"Caught you being good!" tickets are very popular with our young students, but not as enticing with our 3rd through 5th, therefore, these students can also trade in their "Caught you being good!" tickets for a Free Dress Pass.
I need your input if one "Caught you being good!" is equivalent to one free dress pass. What are your thoughts?
Staff Meeting - Location: Mr. Reynoso's Classroom
I. Community Circle (5 min.)
II. Wellness Champions (10 min.)
III. SSTs & COST (20 min.)
IV. Family Engagement & Equity (20 min.)
V. Appreciations & Needs (5 min.)
Monday, Sep 16, 2013, 03:00 PM
2409 East 27th Street, Oakland, CA
September 18th: FACULTY PD - Culture & Character
LOCATION: Mr. Reynoso's Classroom
Agenda
2:00-3:00 PM
I. Coffee Shop! (15 min.)
II. Purpose (5 min.)
III. The importance of service (10 min.)
IV. 4-5 Service Plan (10 min.)
V. Service Starters (5 min.)
VI. Grade-Level Service Planning Time (15 min.)
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Grade Level Collaboration
*Please submit your grade-level collaboration notes via Google Drive.
ATTENTION TK/K: You are dismissed to prep for BTSN at 3 PM.
2013-2014 Community Agreement Norms
I. Show up (or choose to be present)
II. Pay Attention (to heart & meaning)
III. Tell the truth (without blame or judgment)
IV. Be open to outcome (not attached to outcome)
V. Assume good intentions
VI. Start & end on time
VII. Confidentiality
CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION
Guided Reading Resource:
Log in: SEEDstaff
Password: seedstaff
Students Discuss the Power of Learning Targets
What drives our work towards CCSS?
1. Reading text complexity
2. Writing with Evidence
3. Academic Discourse
District Score Cards
1. Reducing Chronic Absences (reduce from 11% to 10%)
2. Reducing Suspension Rates (reduce African American suspensions from 1.8%)
3. Increase Participation in Common Core
4. SRI Participation & Performance (3rd assessment from 93.5% to 98%)
5. Participation & Performance on Math Benchmarks (2nd assessment from 94.28% to 98%)
6. Participation & Performance on SWT (1st assessment 98% to 100%)
~OPERATIONS~
Grade-Level Bulletin
Sending your grade-level bulletin home?
The front office is also posting the weekly parent bulletin & will remain doing so.
School-Wide Agreements
I. Healthy Snacks/Healthy Lunch - strictly enforced
II. Toys STAY AT HOME
III. 3 Put-Ups for 1 Put-Down
IV. Roller shoes STAY AT HOME
V. All teachers need to select a "Buddy Teacher" for student time-outs
VI. Hats & caps STAY AT HOME
VII. Hoodies Off at all times
We need all SEED staff to support us with these school-wide agreements. Please help us enforce these rules.
Limit number of students outside class...
Grades 2nd through 5th DO NOT need to go with a student buddy to any location in the school. There has been a number of students exiting the classrooms with partners for various reasons. Students do not need to go in pairs to the restroom, to the office, etc.
There are special circumstance that may require a student buddy, but they must be limited.
Thank you in advance for your support!
ATTENDANCE
Enrollment Count Dates: GOAL IS 385!
- Day 15: Monday, September 16th
- Day 20: Monday, September 23rd
Deadlines for submissions:
- All schools will receive an Enrollment Counts Survey by 8:00 AM on each Enrollment Count day.
- ALL school submissions will be due by 12:00 PM on each Enrollment Count day
- beginning at noon, Executive Officers will receive hourly updates of schools that have not yet submitted their counts.
- At 3 PM, the Office of Instruction and Operational Alignment will send a list to the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendents of which schools have not submitted their counts.
Please let's all do our part & take attendance by no later than 10 AM.
CAFETERIA
On-Going:
Teachers, please make sure that you have your partner teacher's classroom roster for lunch. It is a requirement that Food Service know which students are eating lunch. This will alleviate the check-out time during lunch. Food service asks that you inform your students their number that they fall under on their rosters. Food Service will ask them for their number.
Tight Schedule during Prep Time!
Dear Colleagues,
Due to this school year's tight schedule we ask that you drop off & pick up your students from the Prep Teacher's classroom. This week, we found that a significant group of classes were short of minutes due to the prep teacher needing to drop off the students to their classroom.
In prior years, this was possible as classes were NOT scheduled back-to-back, but this school year we must make adjustments and require that you do the following:
I. Drop students to designated Prep Teacher class
II. Pick up your classroom on time
III. Prep teacher WILL NOT be able to drop off students to lunch
We welcome feedback & recommendations to make this a smooth process, but most importantly do assure that ALL classrooms are NOT short-changed on instructional minutes.
Effective January, we will have more flexibility in the schedule & possibly then, we can make adjustments & accommodations.
Parent Communication
Effective Wednesday, September 25th, ALL students/families will receive a RED folder with SEED's Wednesday Parent Bulletin. The folders will be placed in your box by Tuesday afternoon.
We ask that you are consistent in distributing these folders to your students. Encourage your students to return the folder every Thursday. The office WILL NOT collect them, but rather they will have any flyers delivered to your classroom in a timely manner. Emptying/filling the folders is an excellent service job!
Sam & I welcome your feedback & input!
Friday's Assembly
Week 4 - 9/20 from 8:30-9:00 AM
Grades:
1st, 2nd, Ms. Cato's 3rd grade class, Ms. Bien's 4th grade class, & Mr. Zucker's 5th grade class.
Zara - School Psychologist's Schedule
Zarah de Vera, school psychologist, is assigned to Manzanita SEED/Manzanita Community for 1.5 days. She will be on-site Tuesdays and Fridays mornings. SST's will be held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays after school at 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM. If parents are not available, separate arrangements can be made on a case-by-case basis. She may also have IEP's scheduled for Tuesdays after school. Available dates/times for SST's will be shared soon through Google calendar, and teachers can sign up directly if an appointment slot is open. Please email me atZarah.Devera@ousd.k12.ca.us if you have any questions.
SSC Meeting
First SSC Meeting
Date: Monday, Sept. 23rd
Time: 5:00-7:00 PM
Location: Jason's Old Room
AGENDA
I. Establish SSC governing board
a. SSC Nominations
II. Discuss process for all Title I families to vote for SSC governing board officers
III. Share SSC meeting calendar
IV. Approval of Safety Plan
We are in need of one additional SSC teacher representative.
Staff Lounge
Please be courteous and clean after yourself. The staff lounge is used by all & we all deserve a clean & orderly area to eat & decompress.
BRIEF BIO
Beatrice Martinez is the principal at Cavazos Elementary. She successfully led Anthon Elementary school in Uvalde CISD. Prior, she was an Elementary ELD Coordinator and principal mentor; she joined the WCCUSD Multilingual & Multicultural Services Department from the Oakland Unified School District where she worked as a Dual Language Elementary Principal and mentor for new principals. Beatrice has worked at elementary and secondary schools in California and Texas, including in two-way bilingual immersion, newcomer programs, and Transitional Bilingual Education programs, secondary Sheltered Instruction teacher and as an English Learner Coordinator. She received her teacher credential and B.A. in bilingual education and interdisciplinary studies from Sul Ross State University and received her M.A. in school administration and urban school leadership from the University of California, Berkeley.
Beatrice Martinez is passionate about creating and sustaining effective high quality programs for all students through strong teacher partnerships. In her free time she enjoys hiking, taking long walks, and cuddling up with a great book. Her hopes and dreams for Cavazos & ECISD young scholars are that all students, particularly English learners & children in poverty have the necessary opportunities to succeed academically, and to grow into healthy, productive global citizens and community leaders.
“Our job is to teach the students we have.
Not the ones we would like to have.
Not the ones we used to have.
Those we have right now.
All of them.
-Dr. Kevin Maxwell