.Assistant Director and Lead Teacher at Raskob Day School
8th grade homeroom advisor
Contact Information
Welcome back to Raskob! It is my great delight to be teaching 8th grade homeroom this school year.
11-7-08
I hope that by now you have all received Ms. Price’s letter that gave some detail of my departure from Raskob on November 21st. My husband was offered a job we could not refuse at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN. The Minneapolis area is a fantastic place for us to achieve our goals of being closer to family, owning a home, and of course building snowmen and swatting mosquitoes among other things. The last eight years we have spent in the Bay Area have blessed us with experiences, friendships and memories that we will never forget. My work at Raskob has been transformative in my personal development as a teacher, a mother, a student, an administrator, and an advocate for kids with diverse learning needs.
My number one focus in the next two weeks (and beyond) is to provide a thoughtful and comprehensive transition for the 8th grade homeroom. I talked with your dear students on Thursday afternoon about my leaving. I used a visual map of the year to help them understand that not only will they get all of their projects done, but that skip day would not be impacted by my leaving! =)
I reassured them that they will be safe and loved by a Raskob team that will take great care of them the rest of the year – families included.
Please feel free to email me or call me if you have any specific concerns regarding homeroom. Please contact Ms. Price if you have specific questions about transition support and/or programming.
More to come!
Mrs. H.
10-25-08
Greetings!
We have been working on specific communication skills and also reading from the All Kinds of Minds book by Mel Levine. Some of the students have read or listened to this book before and that is great! We are picking apart the characters in the story and relating them to the stereotype discussions we have been having and analyzing the learning differences the characters display via context clues.
We also had an impromptu session yesterday where Ms. Gutterres took the girls and I took the boys and we talked specifically about sexual harassment. The students were shocked with the statistic that 80% of students in middle school have or will experience some form of sexual harassment. They were also appalled that almost 40% of girls in grades 8-11 experience sexual harassment on a daily basis! We want to send a clear message to all of our kids that what is widely considered typical teasing or flirting is technically harassment.
We also talked specifically that people’s reactions to teasing, touching and/or flirting may not indicate their true feelings about the experience – i.e. laughing does not always mean the person thinks it is funny. That person may be very uncomfortable and is laughing to cover their true feelings. This is a “shades of grey” concept. For a student who has mastered the concept that laughter is a natural reaction to a joke, (and laughter = funny), changing or modifying the expectation as stated above can be very difficult unless directly taught – usually in teachable moments. What I love about Raskob is that yesterday we had an opportunity to capture one of those teachable moments. =)
The discussions were very good with each group and the kids asked for more time on Monday to discuss these teen issues as well as strategies and people to go to for help.
Take a look at this helpful website for more information about what we talked about yesterday and have a discussion with your child about their advisory class on Friday.
http://projectpave.org/
Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. H.
10/9/08
I have received applications for Bayhill High School. Please let me know if you are interested and I will send one home with your child. Please remember that being a student at Raskob gives priority in the admissions process, however, it does not guarantee a spot at Bayhill High School. ALL Raskob students, including district funded students, MUST fill out an application for the 2009-2010 school year. Please call me at 436-1634 or email hallanger@hnu.edu if you would like an application.
10/08/08
Well – I am updating for the third time today because it seems as though my last two entries were erased by school notes. The Halloween cyber - goblins have arrived…
A summary of my entries today
1. Your awesome 8th grade students unloaded almost 6 tons of pumpkins yesterday. They displayed all the qualities of an excellent team. We talked a lot about the experience today in homeroom and they were all very proud to have shown such team-work, problem-solving and enthusiasm. They worked hard yesterday and had a lot of fun. We are celebrating (being so awesome) with a Friday lunch trip to Sparky’s. Each student should bring $2 and the 8th grade fun fund will take care of the rest.
2. There are three, separate, high school open house events coming up on Tuesday, October 21st! I will have to give any family who makes all three a special prize!
Bayhill High School will be holding an open house at 7pm
www.bayhillhs.org
The Sterne School will be holding an open house from 6 – 7:30 www.sterneschool.org
The East Bay Independent Schools Assoc. (EBISA) will be holding a high school fair at the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland. Some of the schools that will be represented at the fair include: Athenian, Bentley, Bishop O’Dowd, College Prep, East Bay Waldorf, Head-Royce, Holy Names High School, Maybeck, Moreau Catholic, Orinda Academy, Quarry Lane School, Redwood Day, St. Joseph Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and more.
www.ebisaca.org
(If you are planning on going to the Bayhill open house I suggest you go to that first and then drive around Lake Merritt to catch the second part of the EBISA event. If you are really quick, you can catch a portion of the Sterne event at 6 pm. (GOOD LUCK!)
October 1, 2008
Happy October! I hope you all had a nice day yesterday. I have attached the 8th grade test prep letter as a reminder to all of you who are interested in participating in this great opportunity for your students. Please reply soon. =)
9/18/08
We are talking and drawing and listing STEREOTYPES this week. Your students have very different ideas and experiences with this concept. Discussion of stereotypes is a concrete way to introduce our "Shades of Grey" thinking. Ask your children about stereotypes in your lives and ask them to discuss what we are talking about in class. I hope that as the year goes on you will see their thinking deepen and their questions become more complex around this issue.
Also – all year I will be reading the 8th grade class poetry from a fabulous book called Oakland’s Citywide Poetry Anthology - Voices from the Middle. This book is a collection of poems from middle school students in the Oakland Unified School District. Many of these poems are inspirational and eye-opening for our Raskob kids. These poems offer an opportunity for discussion about stereotypes, language, culture and the everyday lives of diverse adolescents in our wider school community. We learn a lot when we listen to our kids. =)
9/15/08
Happy Monday! A reminder to make your high school counseling appointment with me if you have not already done so.
9/10/08
I look forward to seeing you all at Back to School Night tonight.
9/4/08
Pizza form attached below!
9/2/08
Welcome back! I have to say that the 8th grade homeroom students are amazing! I am so excited for a year full of growth and fun! We have our Mystery Spot reservations made for the 9th of June and we will be starting our pizza sales next Wednesday.
I am looking for parents to volunteer to deliver water and pizza supplies. Because we are operating a CASH only business this year, reimbursement for supplies will be immediate! Please let me know if you are interested in being a supply person for 8th grade homeroom (plus you can count pizza help towards your volunteer hours)
This week –
We are learning about how to start a business and customer service. There is a lot of learning involved in pizza sales – budgeting, price points, counting money, organizing orders, social skills, organization, etc. Actual, pizza slices are some of the best manipulatives for teaching fractions and percentages!
We are also reviewing survival words and signs. I often pull health standards into advisory time to help ensure that our students are aware of and understand the meaning of words such as: may cause drowsiness, high voltage, for external use only and restricted area. (We also learn test taking strategies while we do these activities.)
TIP! When you are out and about, make sure you take time to point out highway signs, airport signs, signs at malls, BART stations, etc. Your child is developing more independence and may be driving in the next few years. Any previewing and clarifying, “in the moment”, will help your child get a head start and feel more confident as they navigate adolescence and practice independence.
Please see main schoolnotes page for announcement about the minimum day, Friday, August 29th! All students must be picked up tomorrow by 12 pm. Thank you
Monday, August 25
We had a great first day today in homeroom. We spent time getting to know each other and developing community rules inspired by the 3 C’s
1. CARE for self
2. CARE for others
3. CARE for the community
The middle school students had an excellent discussion as a community at the end of the school day where each homeroom shared their rules to create a Raskob community rules to help every one be happy and successful.
These community guidelines compliment the official school rules located in the handbook.
Please make sure your students have their supplies at school by tomorrow.
Please turn in forms.
Tuesday, August 26
Students will review handbook rules, attend an assembly to review conflict resolution and problem solving procedures and they will prepare their binders for the week. Students will run through their schedule at the end of the day Tuesday to practice going from class to class. Students will gather at the end of the day in their advisory periods to preview Wednesday morning expectations.
Wednesday, August 27
- School begins promptly at 8:30 am! Students who are dropped off late to school must stop in the main office for a tardy slip.
- School ends at 2:15 pm and students must be picked up by 2:30.
Thursday, August 28
Regular schedule and a disaster drill during the school day
Friday, August 29
Regular schedule
10/8/08
I was just informed that there is another open house for the Sterne School scheduled for October 21, 2008. http://www.sterneschool.org
Message clip from their website:
Please join us for our Fall Open House for professionals and interested families from 6 pm - 7:30 pm on October 21, 2008.
The program for the open house will be:
- Meet & Greet with Head of School, Ed McManis
- Informational session on Sterne and how it will help your child who learns differently
- Question & Answer
We welcome any and all professionals and interested families to stop by and learn more about the program that can help your child succeed! Please RSVP to Heather Chester @ 415.922.6081 or hchester@sterneschool.org.
I may have to give prizes to any families who can make it to all three open houses!
October 8, 2008
The 8th graders rock! We unloaded between 4-5 tons of pumpkins yesterday at lunch. The pumpkins are located throughout the building and are for sale! See that main school notes page for more details. To celebrate our excellent effort, cooperation, enthusiasm, problem solving, and generally being an awesome 8th grade class, we will be walking to Sparky's for lunch on Friday. Students should bring $2. The rest of the meal will be provided by the 8th grade fun fund!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 from 7-9 pm there is an East Bay High School Fair. It will be held at the Scottish Rite Center,
1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. This is an opportunity to visit with representatives from Athenian, Bentley, Bishop O’Dowd, College Prep, East Bay Waldorf, Head-Royce, Holy Names High School, Maybeck, Moreau, Orinda Academy, Quarry Lane, Redwood Day, St. Joseph Notre Dame, St. Mary’s and more. For more information on EBISA visit their website - http://www.ebisaca.org/On Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 7 pm, Bayhill High School will also be holding an open house on their campus at 521 Boden Way, Oakland, CA, 94610 - 510-268-1500.
Note - the Bayhill Campus and the Scottish Rite Center are almost directly across Lake Merritt from each other. Think about starting with the Bayhill openhouse at 7 pm and moving on to the Scottish Rite location later that evening.
