LS Weekly Memo Nov. 19th- Nov. 30th

Welcome to Week 13 and looking ahead to Week 14. Thanksgiving Break is almost here.

COMMUNITY

Assembly
Thank you Kristen Haferbecker for the inspiration, organization and execution of a fabulous new assembly format.  Kudos to Margaret and Laura for creating such interest in art for all our students.  As always, our thanks to Dave Hall for sharing his musical talents at our assemblies. We will work on the timing and are looking forward to the next assembly.

Grandparents and Special Friends Day - 11/20
We are anticipating a significant gathering of grandparents and special friends as you may have seen in the latest email from Development.  Take a look at the number of grandparents planning on visiting your class so you can plan accordingly.

Note that :
Guest will start arriving in classrooms at 8:45
1st and 2nd recess is from 9:45 - 10:05
9:45 - All guest are invited to have a break, enjoy coffee in the LS Library or OES Chapel
Chapel is from 10:15 - 10:45
Look for a note from Jenny Cleveland about a seating plan.

Thank You to Parents Who Purchased Wish Lists
A number of  parents generously donated books to Beginning and Lower School classrooms. Travis and Donna Knight were especially generous donating books to multiple classrooms.  
It would be nice to take a minute in the next week or so to send a thank you note to the families that donated book(s) to your classroom.

Secret Santa
Jenny and Lyn, our party mavens, are putting together plans for our holiday party, Monday, December 17th.  Save the date! Dream about the special treats you wish your secret Santa will bring. Make a list. Check it twice. Watch for more details from Jenny about Secret Santa and Lyn regarding the holiday party pot luck in an upcoming WM.

PROGRAM

On-line Reading Subscriptions- Gentle Reminder
Thanks to those of you who responded to Chris’ query about RAZ.  We really need to know about ALL of the online subscriptions you plan to use this year and next (David is drawing up next year’s budget in the next two weeks). I sent out a link in an email today Please fill in your portion by next Tuesday.

Open Block- Tech Team Kudos
Our kudos to the Tech Team for putting together these informative cross-divisional tech workshops.  What a great way to move us along in the ever-changing world of technology.  They even provide snacks to keep brains functioning at the end of a long day.

January Report Writing
Our winter report writing season will approach quickly after winter break. We return to school on January 7 and our report writing day is January 18th, the Friday before MLK Day.

Of course this means that you will have one week less to assess your students.  You may want to think about doing a few assessments before going on break to get a jump on this all-important assessment work.

Budget for 2013-14
David is inthe midst of budget planning for next year.  Let him know if you or a teaching team have ideas that might impact the budget for next year.

LS Building
We have finalized plans for our first foray into the LS Building planning process.

12/5/12, 3:15 - 4:45; Team Leaders will meet with Suzy Cessor to prep for design planning 12/6, 3:15 - 4:45; All LS Faculty will meet to begin design process
12/11, 7:30 - 3:30; Teams will meet with Ashley Cadwell for 1.5 hour sessions to advance design thinking
12/12, 7:30 - 3:30; Teams will meet with Ashley Cadwell for 1.5 hour sessions to advance design thinking
12/12, 3:45 - 5:00; Teams will present design ideas to members of Building Committee

We will start off with a focus on program on 12/6 and then consider how it drives spatial needs.

Questions to consider for discussion on 12/6:
What aspects of the current LS program work really well?
What do you wish to be true of the Lower School program in 3-5 years?
What can you image could be true of the LS program in 20 years?

Faculty Meeting 11/29
Agenda
Self Study Summary -  read and discuss
Financial Aid
Google Drive


OPERATIONS

Special BS Team Meeting, Monday 11/26, 3:15-4:30 to Discuss Assistant’s Schedule
We will gather to discuss possible changes that will meet the needs of our programs and be more assistant teacher-friendly. Assistants, you will be paid for your time. Would someone be willing to host this meeting?

Final Site Calendar- All School Calendar Cancellations
If you remove a date from the Faculty Events Google Calendar, please alert Lyn or Chris.  We want to be sure to get the date removed from Final Site, the All School Calendar Anne Weston maintains.
Every week Lyn and Chris review the calendar. It gets confusing if a date is removed from the Faculty Events Google Calendar, but is left on the Final Site.  Let us know so we can get the calendars in sync.

School Start and Attendance
Just in case there is a lack of clarity:

Bell rings @ 7:50
School Starts @ 7:55
Attendance completed @ 8:00

Buzzers
You may have noticed that our buzzers have not been working this week. Jon von Behren tried to fix the problem but ran into trouble. He hopes to get the buzzers back on schedule next week.

Snack
Shirley is concerned that some people are not picking up their snack, and food is being wasted.  Please be sure to serve students snack in the morning and afternoon. If for some reason you can’t eat your regular snack, be sure to refrigerate it and serve as an extra special snack the following day.  

Snack Reduction
We are currently on track to spend $33,000 on snacks this year, with a budget of only $21,000.  We will be looking at ways to reduce the cost and amount of snack.

Giving Tree is Coming
Jenny Strode is coordinating Giving  Tree with Myra Clark. Giving Tree benefits AASK students and their families.  Look for tags in the faculty room some time in the next few weeks.