LS Weekly Memo October 8 - 12 Week 7

Welcome to Week 7. There must be something about an east wind in Oregon, as our students’ energy seemed to increase with the wind speed.  We saw more bumps, scrapes and bruises, tears, anger and distress coming into the office last week.  I hope you and your colleagues have a productive and inspiring Professional Development Day on Friday.  I will be heading up to the PNAIS Conference in search of inquiry and LS building inspirations.

Community

Marty Eastman-Brown Returns
Marty is well on the road to a full recovery and is easing back into the classroom.  She was on campus last Thursday to meet her class and be in the class picture.  She returns to campus this Friday to work with the 1st Grade team and will begin coming in for partial days starting on 10/15. She is planning to return full time after conferences.

Kudos to PE Team’s Success with New Recess Equipment System
Thanks to the PE Team’s efforts to make our playground more peaceful and student more accountable. The new recess equipment plan is working well for most grades.  Little equipment is being lost, and students are returning equipment to the bins at the end of each recess.

Friendly Reminder- Chris Needs Duty Support Monday through Wednesday Next Week
Thanks to Doug and Ari for covering two of the four duties.  There is a Four/Five lunch recess left on Tuesday, and a Primary and First Grade dismissal duty on Wednesday.  Can two friends step up and fill these duties?

Buddy Classes
Hope all of the new and returning buddy classes are connecting.  Let us know if you have any questions about our rearrangement.

Program

No Faculty Meeting on Monday

LS Faculty Meeting
Thursday, 10/11/2012    
We will be meeting in teams during the faculty meeting on Thursday.
·  1st - 5th will be working together on the reading continuum to come up with common agreements for usage.
·  BS will be preparing for their work with Judy Graves on 10/12
·  Specialists will be meeting to return to specialist agenda and discussing student of interest

Faculty Meeting, 10/4
I hope you all made good progress on reviewing and editing the commendations and recommendations for the self study.  I will ask one person in each committee to do a final edit o f the sections:
Chris – BS
Janet – Social Studies
Alysa – English
Tracy – Math

The specialist meeting last week was a tremendously helpful exploration of the how we might better communicate about our students of interest.

PGD Day, Friday, October 12
Enjoy the day.  We will have time to share experiences at a future faculty meeting.  Take a look at the different projects and workshops teachers are attending in case you want them to keep eyes and ears open about a topic of interest to you.

Reading Continuum
We have been introducing the reading continuum at the parent coffees, explaining why we are using it and how. 1st and 2nd are well on the way toward determining how they will use it both as a communication device and as a reporting tool.  As we agreed, 3rd – 5th will only be using the continuum as a communication tool during conferences, recording student progress, but not sending the continuum home.

Faculty Meeting Clarification
Questions about faculty meetings? Be sure to check the AS Faculty Meeting Schedule google document.


Operations

Student of Interests
When discussing students with colleagues or with parents, remember to include interests, strengths along with the challenges. Ask fro help if you are having particular difficulty with a student.

Duties - Be on Time
Please renew your efforts to be on time for your duties.  We face a safety challenge if students are piled up on the covered landing waiting for a duty teacher to appear.

Duty Schedule Task Force
Debra Thomas and Shelley Weiller stepped up to help with this initiative. We will meet from 12-12:30 Wednesday, October 17th. We’ll meet in David’s office.

TGIH
I would welcome more representation on the TGIH (Thank Goodness It is Happening) group.  I would like to have a representative from each teaching team. So far someone from BS and 4/5 have stepped up. 1st – 3rd and a Specialist?

Calendar
In an ongoing effort to simplify our calendar situation Angela will embedding the OES School Calendar in your websites. When you input an event on the LS Faculty Calendar you will need to decide if it is an event that is relevant for parents.  If so you will also need to enter it into the OES School Calendar.
Lyn and Chris will continue to meet regularly to review of calendars.