LS Weekly Memo
Week 3: August 25 - 29, 2014
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Last week we launched the first Wednesday Express of the year, sent class lists out to parents and met with the Lower School Team Leaders and PAL Grade Representatives to plan for the year. This week is all about working with faculty to prepare for the new school year. I hope you have been able to enjoy some of the remaining beautiful days of summer. See you at the All School BBQ on Monday.
COMMUNITY
Appreciations to Custodial and Maintenance
Be sure to extend your appreciations to the Custodial and Maintenance crews for all their good work tending to the Lower School over the summer. I am particularly appreciative of their efforts to provide you access to your rooms before opening week.
Welcome
Some familiar faces will be fulfilling new responsibilities this year.
Jeanna Bennett Schultz - will be a job sharing a teaching assistant position in Kindergarten in addition to her Extended Care responsibilities.
Madeleine Jennings - who served as a long term substitute teaching assistant last year, is returning this year to job sharing the Kindergarten TA position with Jeanna.
Miriam Agron - will be teaching in Extended Care this year, keeping her days free to substitute
Laura Dunn - who joined EC mid-year last year is returning to Extended Care
Citizenship and Discipline
During Thursday’s faculty meeting we will be reflecting on our citizenship and discipline practices, have Melanie Clark share out about her counseling role. Please review the Citizenship and Discipline section of the student Handbook before Thursday.
Announcements
Send any announcements you have for faculty to Chris or me by Thursday each week and we will include them in the Weekly memo. This should help reduce the number of emails we are receiving, and to maximize our time to collaborate during meetings.
Back to School Meeting Schedule
Monday, August 25
All School Faculty & Staff Family BBQ - 5:00pm
Tuesday, August 26th.
7:30 am Voluntary Eucharist
8:00 am Continental Breakfast/OES Dining Room
9:00 am All Faculty and Staff Chapel Service
9:30 am Mo’s Opening of Year Address
9:45 am Ten Minute Break
10:00 am Program and Operations Presentations (still in Chapel)
11:30 am Break until lunch
12:00 pm All Faculty and Staff Lunch/OES Dining Room
12:30 pm Dessert in the Great Hall
Tables in the Dining Room are re-set for ICC Refresher
1:00 pm ICC Refresher (by family groups)
3:00 pm Mo’s Final Comments and Adjournment
Wednesday, Aug. 27th
Lower School Faculty Meeting
8:00 Wellness Practices
8:30 Food and Socializing
8:50 Welcome and Overview
9:00 THA Building Update
10:30 Break
10:45 Building Reflections
11:15 Planning for Inquiry - Classroom
12:15 Lunch
1:00 Student Conversations/ Classroom Preparation
1:00 - 3:00 Specialists - Department Meetings
Thursday, Aug. 28th
Lower School Faculty Meeting Agenda
8:00 Food and Conversation
8:30 I am excited about…
9:00 Introductions
9:30 My Goals – 2014-15
10:00 Recess Rodeo
11:00 Citizenship and Discipline
12:00 Announcements/ Lunch
1:00 Classroom Preparation
Friday, Aug. 29th
Classroom Preparation
PROGRAM
There were over 100 stipend days completed this summer by Lower School faculty. Follow the link to see what faculty worked on.
Program Initiatives
This year we will be working on several LS initiatives:
Curriculum Design - with Team Leaders
Inquiry Common Experiences - with Inquiry Design Team and Louise Cadwell
Citizenship and Discipline - with LSLT
I will introduce these topics at the LS faculty meeting and follow up with each group with specifics.
Exploration of Classroom Environment
Our first Common Inquiry Experience, which we will all explore in an opening faculty meeting, will be around classroom environments that support inquiry. Take time to read this recent New York Times article Louise recommended entitled Rethinking the Colorful Kindergarten Classroom and the link to the article mentioned entitled Consider the Walls . Another Classroom Design Resource from Edutopia: 8 Tips and Tricks to Redesign Your Classroom with great YouTube videos embedded to inspire your thinking. Be sure to review the “keep and chuck” session.
Building Update - Ground Breaking May 29, 2015
THA will be joining us on Wednesday to provide an update about the LS Building. After the presentation we will take some time to reflect on the opportunities this the new building provides for the education of our students.
I have created a common folder, LS Curriculum Designs, where you can put your drafted Curriculum Designs. Please place your designs here so we can learn from each other.
How do you get paid for SS work:
- Your team submits a SS completion report* of the work you have accomplished/done – designate one team member to fill out your SS report and submit the completed form to me – one report per team
- Fill out the SS payment completion form* individually and attach a summary of the SS approved requests that I sent to you individually on June 20th – there should be ONLY ONE completion form for all completed stipend work – see attached sample of a completed SS completion form.
- Place completed forms in Lyn’s mailbox
*Forms with instructions are in the Summer Stipend Folder in the LS Important Docs
OPERATIONS
Calendars Update
Be sure to update the OES Web Calendar and the LS Events Calendar with your grade level events by Tuesday, September 2.
The link above will take you to the faculty meeting schedule for 2014-15.
Lyn would like you all to review the Budget Guidelines she posted in LS Important Docs. If you follow her guidelines, it will make her job managing the Lower School budget a lot more efficient.
Volunteers in Lower School - Right size volunteer offerings to 200 spots per grade level.
Lucy Shanno is setting up VS for the 2014-15 school year which requires clearing out the data from 2013-14. She has sent me spreadsheets of your volunteer activity from 2013-14. Let me know if you wish to receive a copy and I will forward it when ready.
Class Lists
Class lists are out. Send your letters to students by Thursday so they will receive them before Open Classroom.
Class schedules have been uploaded in the LS Important Docs. If changes need to be made to the class schedules you need to notify Lyn. She will be the one to make changes in the excel spreadsheet – this is with an understanding that you have already approved of the changes beforehand.
Chris made minor changes to the Beginning and Lower School duty schedules this summer. (Click on the link above.) Let Chris know if you have questions or concerns. Please do not negotiate changes on your own.
Recess Rodeo
- All faculty and staff will participate in a recess rodeo training during opening meetings
- Recess Rodeo for students will take place during PE classes during the first week of classes Wednesday to Friday
- Primary will have a designated bin for their recess equipment at Lunch Recess.
Recess Agreements
Last year the 2nd grade team led an effort to develop new recess agreements. This year we would like to use the themes across the grades with classes considering the specifics.
The guiding Recess Principles - Safe, Fun, Kind, Fair
Last year PE introduced the simple conflict resolution approach that we will use again this year:
The guiding Problem Solving Practice at recess- Walk, Talk or Rock
Specialist classes
- 2nd – 5th Specialists plan on starting classes on Wednesday afternoon
- All Specialists classes will meet beginning 9/8
- Specialists not teaching classes during the 1st week should check in with their classroom teachers during their regular teaching schedule to see if they can be of assistance
Classroom Website Updates
Be sure to update your classroom website by Wednesday, September 3, even if it as simple as posting your welcome letter.
Classroom teachers will eat lunch with their students the first eight days and will need a midday break. Specialists, we’d like your support covering lunch recess duties the first eight days of school. Please click the link below to sign up for a duty or two.
