RHS Spotlight: Week of 2/10/2020
Happy Valentine's Day
Important Dates: Read below for more info
No School Monday, President's Day, MON, 2/17/2020
Coming soon: White Fragility Book Discussion
RHS MLK Oratorical, 2/19/2020 @ 9:00 am
No School Monday, President's Day, MON, 2/17/2020
February 11, 2020
Dear Redwood Heights Caring Community,
After much discussion, the Redwood Heights Staff has decided to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this year by holding our Oratorical Fest at our site, but not competing in the district contest. We want to give students a chance to learn about Dr. King’s principles and messages and to learn about formal, public speech, without the element of competition. Classes will perform at school, only. We will not be attending district performances.
Our event will be held on Wednesday, February 19 from 9:00 - 11:30. Our cafetorium has a limited capacity and safety is our main concern, so we ask that parents join us only for their child’s portion of the assembly:
9:00-10:00 Primary grades K-2
Mrs. Irons
Ms. Kath
Ms. Sanders
Ms. Boston
Ms. Gravelle
Mr. Abrahams
Ms. Chu
Ms. Fisher
TACLE I and II classes
10:30-11:30 Upper grades 3-5
Mrs. Sanders
Mrs. Kendricks
Ms. Ashufta
Ms. Thompson
Mr. Haubrich
Ms. Harris
In Partnership,
Redwood Heights Teachers
Warm Regards,
Principal Bagby
Follow up to the Race and Equity training our teachers attended on Friday, 1/31/2020
Our teachers chose from one of three workshops below:
1) An Introduction to Racial Justice, Equity, & Healing: How does White Supremacy show up in our schools?
2) We all Have Bias: The Brain and Impacts on Student Achievement
3) How to Be an Antiracist Educator in Oakland: Tools, Practices, and Structures
4) How Racism in Schools Traumatizes our Students: Building Relationship-Centered Schools
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a “groundbreaking” (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society—and in ourselves.
Here are a few takeaways our teachers wanted to share:
Important to understand the student perspective, and that students see and experience racism and bias differently than teachers and other adults.
Race is a societal construct. It is essential to understanding the workings and instrumental institutionalization of discrimination for power and control.
--Kindergarten Team
It's not enough to not be racist. We must be Antiracist. Although we might see ourselves as antiracist, we must practice antiracism on a regular basis. It's a constantly evolving process that each person can continually improve. In what ways are adults in our RHS community modeling antiracist behaviors for children? --First Grade Team
Every curriculum has a bias, however benign the curriculum material may seem. It's important to continually and actively question the material we give to students, screen it for bias, and think critically about how we deliver it. It's also important to make sure all students are represented in the curriculum. --2nd Grade Team
Call people in, not out. Call students in, not out. --3rd Grade Team
It's critical to never give up on students, even if they misbehave, are very far behind, or appear not to care. --Ms. Weissman
A long series of racist laws and policies from the beginning of education in our country right up until just a few decades ago have left a legacy of racism and underfunding in our schools. -Ms. Weissman
Students who have experienced trauma need extra support. It's important for teachers and other school staff to build relationships with these students. It's critical for children who have experienced trauma to have that consistency of knowing their teacher will be present and there for them every day. Experiences we might not think of traumatic can be for a child. Furthermore, something that might be traumatic for one child/person might not be for another. If children don't have the emotional and external resources to overcome the event, they get stuck there and begin exhibiting behaviors that can prevent them from being able to learn and function in a classroom. -4th Grade Team
Dominant culture affects what materials are used, how topics are covered, and how that can influence a student’s relationship with their learning. Our next step is to get more diverse reading material into the classroom. Also to look at testing materials more closely--there is often a bias in standardized testing. --5th Grade Team
We enjoyed a beautiful concert assembly from the Oakland Community Orchestra.
Thank you to RHS parent Kieran McCarthy for sharing his talents in designing our RHS parent communication survey. We can't wait to get the results!
Thank you to everyone who as completed the RHS parent communication survey. We have received approximately 80 responses! This is the last week to complete the survey. Please take the time to complete the survey if you haven't had a chance.
The more parents that take this survey, the more we can help make sure everyone can find what they want, easier and faster. And that should free up time for everything else.
Thank You Sammy Table Talks Crew!!!
Mr. Abrahams' 2nd Grade students, Dezi Hoffer, Bridget Nolan, Eva Leng and Callie Ciruli have been incredible helpers. They have taken it upon them selves to be the designated students to set up our Table Talks Lunch hour. Every WED they set up and take down all of the table topic signs. They have even recruited others student to help. We truly appreciated their Taking Care of Our School and Others leadership.
THANK YOU!! MUCH GRATITUDE!!!!!
Yesterday all staff received their very own personalized RHS hoodies. Thank you so much PTA and thanks to Stacey Martz, our PTA president, for spearheading this gift. We are looking forward to taking a group picture with all our hoodies on. These will be our new Casual Friday attire!
THANK YOU SCHOOL TOUR VOLUNTEERS !!!
We just ended our OUSD school tour season for incoming families. Much gratitude to parents who came to help setup and greet our potential incoming families. An extra special shoutout to Jennifer Driscoll for her commitment, for taking initiative to organize and create materials for parent tours, and for coming to the majority of the tours. We also want to thank volunteers Safia Omar and Nancy Fisher for their regular participation in the tours.
SAVE REDWOOD ISLAND TREES!
ANOTHER huge gratitude to The Pfeiffer's for taking care of our trees. Below is a picture of a protective barrier they placed around our Redwood Island to ensure the health of our trees.
We appreciate Joann Pfeiffer, grandmother of June and Rey Berton for taking care of our ailing trees. She has been on a quest to save our sick trees. She's taken action to save the trees at Redwood Island and Oak Island. She worked with our OUSD Gardening Department to fix the irrigation time clock and deliver more top soil. Thank you to our Dad's Club for helping Joann in this endeavor.
TEACHING FOCUS: Mathematical Practice #3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Below is an excerpt from the Standards for Mathematical Practice Parents’ Guide to provide you with information about the importance of these practices.
"...there are “habits of mind” that students need to develop and use when they employ math strategies, talk about the math they are learning, and solve problems. These practices help them learn the content and describe how students should be able to use the mathematics they learn in the world. These skills are important to employers who want to hire people who can solve problems and make sense of things. These are the eight Standards for Mathematical Practice.
Students are expected to be able to make and defend a mathematical point. Why would doing this help us get the answer? They justify their conclusions, are able to communicate to others what they think and why they think that. They also must be good listeners so they are able to follow other students’ reasoning about solving a problem and be able to say whether that reasoning makes sense to them or leaves questions.
The mathematical argument is not like an everyday argument. It is based on mathematical points. Questions parents can ask their child to help their child develop this skill:
● Tell me what your answer means.
● How do you know that your answer is correct?
● If I told you I think the answer should be (offer a wrong answer), how would you explain to me why I’m wrong?"
Below is a link to this guide.