Week 1

 

Great Things From the Week

Thank you to our incredible teachers for getting their homes and classrooms ready to teach! You are amazing and we are lucky to have you.

Thank you Amy, Lori, Roe, Teresa, Carlos, Sanci and Shelley for getting the students ready for Monday. I appreciate you all! 

Thank you to the nutrition services for getting students food all summer and continuing the work this year. Reminder we serve food to all students who have a student ID from any site. Tuesday and Thursday from 11:15-12:45

Share and review RUSD Opening Guide bit.ly/2DGFvpD 

                                       AVID

Advancement Via Individual Determination

Our AVID commitment is to hold all students to high expectations, Students need to be explicitly taught how to use organizational tools. They need to be monitored and held accountable. Take the time to teach your expectations and check in to make sure they are adhering to those expectations. 

We all committed to AVID Binders - TK-2- We are in the process of making those binders, our goal, is to get those out with textbooks starting the 17th. We will also pass out the two pocket folder to all. Please make sure you have your printable items to be, I have TK and 1st grade, still waiting on K and 2nd. We need those by Wednesday so we can make the binders. 

3-6 - We will order some supplies and if you have a family that states they need some items please let us know and we will try to also get those out with textbooks. 

*We are under new protocols for placing orders, so we are having a little bit of a struggle getting items ordered. 

WICOR

W- Writing to Learn (we spent a lot of time on writing last year, with a heavy focus on teaching students how to read a text, pull out important information, take notes and use evidence to answer Essential Questions) Students can not write with out experience (in person, virtual or otherwise). They can not write about something they have not had a number of experiences with. We can not skip this step, they need visuals, multi-media, sensory, compare and contrast and other opportunities before they can write to a topic or subject. 

I- Level of questioning -Click here for more information

C- Collaboration - We explicitly taught students how to collaborate, we used the 4 L's (or a variation). we provided sentence frames, assigned roles for each collaboration partner and followed up with feedback and checking for understanding. 

O- Organization - It is so important to keep students organized, with hand held items, digital items, etc. We will all use the AVID binder and require students to be AVID ready (set a 30 second timer and they should be able to find what you are asking them to find- if not they are not AVID ready and they need support to become AVID ready. Peer support, teacher support, parent support, etc. ) 

R- Reading to Learn - Once students acquire the skills to decode, they shift to reading for a purpose, to learn. It is important that we are not just assigning reading to read, but rather to make connections, and expand a students learning process. Close Reading Skills are a great skill w need to teach all students. Use your protocols to walk them through how to identify important information and answer the Essential Questions. 

EQUITY 

Our equity goal for the year - Provide access to a quality education for all

With that - a couple of thoughts and a plan that will go into effect.

Please remember that checking emails, social media, and websites are all culture norms for some, not all. We have a culture (among educators) that we check our email and watch for notifications about things that are important or interest us, but not all of our community shares those norms. Many of our families do not check their email, have it attached to their phone or even own a computer. Which means two things.

1. It is our job to communicate to our community - not theirs. We must show kindness and grace and we  CAN NOT expect them to live by our norms. We MUST figure out how to reach them. 

2. We must create a plan to communicate and help break down barriers for our families during this unique time.

THE PLAN-

We will provide layers of communication to support the students, their families and the teachers. 

1. Teachers will share out what students they need help reaching to get started HERE

2. Teachers will begin to note attendance/barrier issues that prevent a student from participating HERE

3. Roe and Amy will keep records of attendance and identify those in need to provide support. 

4. Teachers will utilize office hours to meet students and families as needed. 

5.Communication Teams- If a student is not participating or you need support getting communication to a family, every teacher will be provided a support staff they can get help from. (More information coming).

6. Admin will make home visits- as needed

Ongoing communication plan for all -

1.Monthly coffee with the principal via zoom 

2. Monthly newsletter mailer (email, social media link and physical monthly mailer) - Lori will take the lead on this more information to come. 

3. Monthly check in during phase 1 - every family will have an check in call from the office team once a month to provide support or help with what ever they need. (this may increase for some families based of need)

4.Parent survey (at least once bi-monthly)

NUTS and BOLTS

Don't forget to check the bit.ly/HarrisonHub for all your Harrison needs

I will be working on a schedule for Back to School Night, Staff and Leadership Team meetings this week. 

Please remember that your time on campus is just to go to your room and teach. If you need to go to the office, please mind your safety and the safety of others. 

Sanci and Tiffany Shulte are working on a plan to provide support for many of you. The priority for now is TK-1 with the combo being the most important, followed by TK, K and 1. They will be reaching out and providing support where possible. 

Please welcome Anna. Anna will be the Campus Supervisor at Harrison during Phase 1 of Distance Learning. Anna will be onsite from 8-3 and she is on loan from Arlington. Welcome Anna. 

Since many of you are working off site, please check your email daily, as we can not call your room and most of our communication will have to go out that way. 

This week-

Brown will be working from home

Roe will be onsite

8/10- First Day of School

8/10-Live Zoom with Brown for all community needs 8-11 and 2-3

Zoom Link

8/10-Quick Leadership Team meeting Monday 3:00-3:15 - to discuss Back to School options

8/11- All Instructional Aides and noon supervisors will have a meeting Wednesday at 11 am (Please let me know if this interferes with anything). Google calendar invite to virtual meeting to come.

                                         

                                                  

Happy Birthday

8/10- Teresa Gamez

8/14- Alice Gonsalvez

8/15-Brandi Martinez