LS Weekly Memo Week 36: April 21-25

The gift of a three day weekend gives us all a chance to catch our breath and prepare for the final 6 weeks.  Enjoy.  Many thanks to Stephanie Knight, mother of Odessa and Lanie, for Teacher Appreciation Day. Kudos to the PE Team for a great Beginning School Movement Program. Good luck 2nd grade team with Hero Speech preparations and the same to the 3rd grade team as they prepare for their Portland Musical performances.

COMMUNITY

Search Begins - 4th Grade Teacher

We have begun the 4th grade teacher search.  Let Chris or me know if you are interested in changing grades or if you have someone to recommend for the position.

Kudos to Kristen and Amy on their Music Informances

Kristen, Amy and their students put on stellar Informances in the past weeks, with more to come in the weeks ahead. It is such a treat for the OES community see our music teachers at work with their students. They are joyful and enthusiastic.

Trips

• Chaperones need to attend a pre-trip meeting to understand role.  See trip leader for details.
• For safety reasons we need to have 2 adults plus the bus driver on each bus.  Chaperones are asked to ride the bus, unless exceptions are granted by the trip leader.

Character Education

8 of us attended a Character Education conference put on by CSEE - Marty Eastman-Brown, Claire Kucera, Tonya Griffin and Jackie Blake, Dori King, Scott Corris, Kathy Finn-Brennan and me.  See us if you are curious about what we learned.

Culminating Events and Learning Celebrations

Now that we move into the last six weeks of the school year, be sure to have special events noted on the Google faculty events and Anne’s All School calendars.  David and Chris would like to attend as many as possible!

PROGRAM

NWAIS All Schools Conference Proposals - see email from Mike Gwaltney.  Follow link for proposal process.

Faculty Meeting

Thursday, April 24- Department/ Team Meetings

Moving Into Coffees

• Click on the link above.
• Please review to determine when you are needed. First, Third and Fifth Grade teams,  please let us know who is representing your team at each coffee.  We want to start scheduling planning meetings after break, before Spring Trips and Class Placement.
• As in the past, students will share their valued perspectives. Chris will schedule time to meet with students.  Ideally we like 2 representatives, a girl and a boy,  from each class.

Awards

As Mo announced there are three awards given annually.  You may nominate colleagues and/ or yourself.  See Anne Weston’s email for additional details.

• Mary G. Stephenson Award
• to the OES faculty member or members who has or have excelled in challenging and inspiring students to question, to think, to speak out, and to care. Faculty may apply on their own behalf or may nominate a colleague.

• OES Faculty and Staff Graduate Award
• A faculty or staff member who wishes to pursue a job-related graduate degree program leading to an advanced degree may receive 50% of tuition costs, up to a program cap of $10,000.

• Staff Excellence Award
• The Staff Excellence Award is awarded annually to a non-faculty employee who has exemplified the highest standards of mission-minded performance in her/his position.  

BOARD MEETING on 4/22 - will include discussion of LS Building.  Stay tuned.

MHCSD SIGN-UP - see Jenny Cleveland email for details

Inquiry Design Team

We met for the 1st time to prepare for our work with Louise Cadwell.  We considered three questions:

• How can we inform Louise of where we are in our inquiry work?
• What might we do with Louise on June 18?
• What might we do with Louise in 2014-15?

OPERATIONS

LS Calendar 2014-15

We are exploring with the Team Leaders ways to create a better LS Events calendar.  Details next week.

Lacrosse - Only at Lunch Recess.  For safety reasons students are not allowed to use lacrosse sticks at other recesses.  We need to be consistent about this.  See earlier WM for details.

Benefits Meeting - See email from Andrea Bride

Optional meeting about the Benefits Survey in the MS Library at 3:15 on Monday, May 12.  

Ice cream will be provided! Please click here to RSVP. Attendance will be limited to those who have RSVP’d.

We will reschedule the LSCTF meeting scheduled on 5/12.

For Those Who Supervise Second Graders- Imaginative Games Gone Awry

The Second Graders continue to be challenged with imaginative games that go awry. Games start out innocently, but they often take a physical turn where someone gets hurt. The Second Grade Team is working hard , discussing issues at class meetings, reminding students about their recess agreements- have fun, be fair, kind and safe. Please be vigilant. Fill out an incident report if you have any issues while on duty.

Send Two Buddies to the Office When a Child is to Go Home Early or  When a Child is Sick

We’ve noticed that students often come to the office with just one student when they are ill, and need to stay in the office. Please send two children to escort that  sick child. We don’t want children walking from building to building alone.