Team -
HUGE SHOUT OUT to Skylar Bradely for his incredible and tireless work to facilitate Harwood’s 1st Homecoming!
We are working hard to highlight the amazing moments and work happening at Harwood in our Newsletters, on our website and on our Instagram site. Additionally, we’re partnering with our local newspapers to get the word out to our larger community. Here is one share written by Ella Dice sent recently to the papers. We are always eager for other shout outs so please send them our way!
The Harwood Union Middle High School Mentor Program was started last year by Skylar Bradley (known affectionately to the student body as Mr. B). Since then the program has nearly tripled in size. High schoolers in grades 11&12 apply for the program and when accepted are paired with a Harwood middle school student. Mentor and Mentee pairs spend time together each week doing activities that are mutually beneficial and foster such skills as effective communication, reflection and perspective taking. This year, the program also brought Harwood its first ever Homecoming Dance! Spirits were high and excitement was great as students from grades 9-12 enjoyed the firepit, yummy snacks and dancing.
From the perspective of one mentor:
My name is Ella Dice and I am the publicity coordinator for the program. There are so many things I wish I knew in middle school and so many pieces of advice I would give my younger self. The mentor program allows just that - the opportunity for mentors to guide mentees through their middle school experience and help them have a positive transition into High School. When I first signed up for the mentor program I thought I would just be helping middle schoolers but in reality, they ended up helping me much more than I could have ever imagined. It is so incredible to be able to apply the skills I have learned throughout High School and use them to give advice and perspective. Whether it's Middle School drama or deeper societal issues, I am able to use emotional intelligence, empathy, communication, positivity, and encouragement to guide my mentee through good and challenging times. Mentoring gave me an outlet from all the stress of high school and allowed me to make an extraordinary connection. Whether my mentee and I were doing an art project or just talking, mentoring is always fulfilling. This program has taught me what it feels like to be a part of something bigger than myself. It truly is a one-of-a-kind experience. I'm so fortunate to be a part of it.
With loads of Harwood Spirit,
Duane, Meg and Laurie
Celebrating our very own Harwood Super Senior who has worked at Harwood for 45 years - Ellen Bruneau!
Ellen was interviewed yesterday for an upcoming clip airing on: 
|
Calendar:
10/28 - End of Quarter 1
11/04 - Stepping Stone Leadership Retreat
11/9 & 11/15 - 3:30 - 7p.m. Family Conferences
11/11 - NO school for students (staff in service day)
11/20 - National Honor Society Induction ceremony
11/21 - Blood Drive
11/23 - 11/25 - NO School Thanksgiving Break
12/6 - Socrates Cafe 6 p.m. (led by Harkness leaders)
Appreciations:
Staff Member | Appreciations |
Jenn Shaub, Jen Dreimiller, Erin Dezell, Becca Simon, Magge Stone, Maggie Weintraub and Randy Sweeney | For your proactive communication to Student Support and Yvette to help us know where students are. |
Jen Dreimiller, Erin, VSAC Ellen, Jess and Magge | For your thoughtful additions to the Family Newsletter last week that highlighted your great presentations at Open House. |
Rachael, Jen D, Duane, Melody, Laura Ladieu, Heidi, Kristi, Brian Wagner, Yvette | For chaperoning and supporting the 1st ever Harwood Homecoming |
Kate, Erin, Adam, Tedin, Andrew, Sarah | For your leadership of NHS
For the many hours put into reviewing applications and deciding on applicants. |
Brian Anderson | For updating the marque regularly and ensuring the Senator and Ambassador were welcomed accordingly |
Susannah Cowden and Rachael Potts
And Tara Kelley and Rachael Potts | Their work planning and coordinating the Integrated Science II career labs last week. The goal was to build the relevance of our curriculum for our students and make connections with community members from different careers.
For offering a similar slate of finance-related career labs this week as well... |
Ellen, Justin, Chris and April | For help preparing in such short notice for Senator Sanders visit! |
Safe - seen, heard, respected & understood:
Topics | Information/Links |
Safety Team Update
| IMPORTANT REMINDER: Close your classroom and office windows
Oct Drills: October 21, 2022 at 10:30  Fire Drill AND Bus Evacuation/safety Drill October 21 10:30am (should take approx 20 minutes) Fire Alarm will be set off at 10:30 TAs will go to their assigned locations Drill Specifics:
|
| Belonging Calendar Process: The Student Support Leadership discussed ideas for a process for staff to add events/ideas. On November 11th, we will be creating the November, December, and January calendar drafts. At that time we will also finalize the process for submitting requests to add, as well as share out deadlines for submitting suggestions each month. Thank you for your patience. In case you missed it, here is the October Belonging Calendar
Highlighting a Member: Skylar Bradley - our new restorative coordinator. Check out his Restorative Practices Website; and hold the excitement for October 25th to learn more about his services, who they are for, and how they can be accessed!
WELLNESS CENTER: ****The Wellness Center is welcoming tea donations!! Please bring in any sealed, pre-bagged tea and drop at the Wellness Center. Tea is wonderful for students during the cold winter months. Thanks in advance!
Detention Process Update: What happens if students cut detention? When students skip a detention, they are expected to make that up and have an additional detention. Continued cuts will include follow up by student support with the student and caregiver, and if necessary, a meeting with administration to discuss the situation and partner with families in holding students accountable leading to options that may include; community service, attendance at subsequent detentions or an out of school suspension.
This week for tardies: 38 detentions will be issued in high school (note MS will be held next week): 9th graders: 7 10th graders: 7 11th graders: 13 12th graders: 11 |
TA update 
| Appreciations:
Update on conference planning: The high school will be using Canyon Creek to schedule the conferences and the middle school will be using a google doc. This letter is being sent to parents to provide the purpose and sign up information in advance of the meetings.
TA SLIDESHOWS
|
|
|
Rigorous & Robust Academic Program:
Topics | Information/Links |
Staff Meeting
 | Objectives: The Student Support Leadership team will be presenting our work and others’ - related to our goal of having 1) ALL students being able to identify at least one adult in the building that they feel connected to, and 2) students being able to say they experience a sense of belonging. Did you know that as you are universally designing your learning experiences and environments through a UDL lens, you are supporting your learners with social and emotional (SEL) practices that support the whole child?
Join us next Tuesday as we introduce the various people and programs that are collectively working to establish an environment and community where students feel connected, and feel like they are safe, seen, heard, understood, and respected (i.e. belonging). Learn who they are, what services they provide, and how students & staff can access them.
Staff Meeting Calendar Where: Library When: 3:30 - 4:30 Materials: Please bring a device as you will need it to access the informational slideshow for our interactive activity |
ELO Reminders 
| Quick reminder of a few things as we work to reinforce to students the importance of ELO and being where they are supposed to be! To ensure that all students are booked somewhere, the student portal will be closed mid-day each ELO day. At this time, unbooked students will be booked places. If a student wants to change their booking after this time, they will need to ask a staff member. Please do not change student bookings after the ELO block has started. Please continue to ensure that ALL TA students are booked on Monday and Thursday mornings, even if they are absent from TA! This includes seniors, who can book to UpTime if they are not pre-booked and do not need/want to go see a teacher. Continue to alert student support when students are missing from ELO, or if students are there who are not booked to you. This helps them know where everyone is, rather than going around classroom-by-classroom looking for missing students. Student support will be proactively supporting larger ELOs to help get students where they need to be - they will be visible in the hallways at the start of ELO, and may be checking in to ensure students are where they are booked to be!
|
Positive school climate and culture:
Topics | Information/Links |
Scheduling for 23-24’ | It’s hard to believe, but at this time of year we already start thinking about preparing for next year.
With that in mind we have exciting news - Lisa Therrien will be continuing to support our scheduling process at Harwood as a consultant!
Stay tuned for a survey and times to drop by and share in person feedback with Lisa on how this year’s schedule is going. |
Self Care Opportunities |  
|
| Looking for local wellness discounts and opportunities? Check out this document which has a variety of local providers and discounts available to ALL HUUSD employees! If you are aware of any additional discounts, please let Tara Cariano know, and she will update this document.
Reminder: You have less than TWO weeks to earn an additional 10 PATH points (for a total of 60 points towards your 200 needed for a $100 LL Bean gift card!) for filling out the Healthy Life Survey! After October 31st, participants will earn 50pts, through the end of March, 2023. Please reach out to Tara Cariano, Nick Gordon, or Meghan McCarthy if you need help setting up your account or logging in. |
No comments:
Post a Comment