LS Weekly Memo
Week 1: August 11 - 15, 2014
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We are back. Jenny, Lyn, Chris and I opened the office for the new year last week. Preparations for the new school year are coming along. This first Weekly Memo is rather extensive. Take your time.
COMMUNITY
New Faculty and Staff
Please join me in welcoming Rachel Taylor, tour new 4th Grade Teacher, Melanie Clark, our new Lower School Counselor and Peter Buonincontro, our new part-time Drama Specialist. See the Wednesday Express on August 20th for pictures and biographies. We are fortunate to have such talented educators joining our faculty.
Faculty News
Lauren Erickson got married this summer and is now known as Lauren Endicott.
Class Lists
Lyn will send the class lists out later today. Remember, this is confidential until August 22nd when class lists go out to families.
LS Office Open
8:00 - 4:00 Monday through Friday for the month of August.
Admissions
LS enrollment is at 348, the largest ever. Thank you to Susie, Sarah and all in Admissions for their great work.
Meetings First Week Back (see Mo’s letter for details)
Monday, August 25 - All School Faculty & Staff Family BBQ
5:00 pm at Aardvark Community Park
Tuesday, August 26th.
AS Meetings
Wednesday, Aug. 27th
Affinity Groups- 8-8:30 Yoga and mindfulness meditation, wetland walk, OES Woods Provocation
Breakfast Treats- 8:30-9 Eat a nutritious breakfast and swap summer adventure stories with colleagues
Opening LS Meeting- 9-12 Agenda to follow
Classroom Preparation- Afternoon
Thursday, Aug. 28th
LS Faculty Meeting 8-12 Agenda to follow
Classroom Preparation- Afternoon
Friday, Aug. 29th
Classroom Preparation
Somewhere during this week we will schedule a meeting to review design updates with THA. We are still working on the details.
PROGRAM
Accomplishments and Plans
Lyn has put your accomplishments and plans into Google Docs. Search for ACCOMPLISHMENTS/ INSPIRATIONS.
Inquiry Reflections and Plans from the Cadwell Workshop
Chris put your Inquiry Reflections and Plans into Google Docs - Cadwell Workshop Documentation 6.18.14
Inquiry Ideas - Common Experiences for 2014-15
We are drafting a plan to support Inquiry in LS for 2014-15 based on your feedback from the Cadwell Workshop and discussion with the Team Leaders and Louise. We are focusing on two primary experiences:
•Common experiences for all related to:
Classroom design for inquiry
Curriculum design for inquiry
Questioning and listening strategies
Inquiry talks in the classroom
Documentation
•Coaching sessions with Louise Cadwell via Skype, likely with grade level teams
Exploration of Classroom Environment
Our first Common Experience, which we will all explore in an opening faculty meeting, will be around classroom environments that support inquiry. Please 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 . While the title of article may lead you to believe this is just for early childhood educators, it really pertains to classroom environments for students of all ages. Read it before you begin setting up your room. We think it will open up some new ways of thinking.
Building Design
Over the summer THA has met with groups of faculty to discuss design details. We are looking to schedule a design update for all during opening meetings.
The academic initiatives plan has been shared with you.
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
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.
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.
Here is the listing of camp usage during the summer. Know the plan is subject to change.
Update on Classrooms
Camp is winding down. BS- Rooms 1-4 should be cleaned and available at the end of this week, August 15th. BS Room 5 through the Lower School- should be available toward the end of the following week around August 21st. The Common Hall will be used through August 22nd for EC.
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 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 don’t 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 W-F
- Primary will have a designated bin for their recess equipment
Specialist classes
- 2nd – 5th Specialists plan on starting classes on Wednesday afternoon
- All Specialists classes will meet beginning 9/8
Classroom Website Updates
Be sure to update your classroom website by opening day, even if it as simple as posting your welcome letter.
Specialists cover lunch recess duties during the 1st week
Classroom teachers will eat lunch with their students the first eight days and will need a mid-day break. Specialist’s we’d like you support covering lunch recess duties the first eight days of school. Please click the link below to sign up for a duty or two.
Communications Department - notes from Marty jones
*note - every link I highlight below is available from this communications webpage
-see who's who on the marketing team
-download and print the style guide, and you will get a quick primer on our branding work
-there a two PowerPoint templates here that you should download and use for presentations to key constituents, and any outside events
(the plain version is for people using lots of charts and tables)
-great resource to learn about our most recent initiatives via the feature stories in each issue. We have archives all of the magazines online as flipbooks
-watch and enjoy our featured videos here
-see our archives of The Aardvark, our weekly newsletter, scan these short newsletters and you will get a incredible and fun overview of the life of the school year. I highly recommend you do this exercise :-)
-you can also see our photo galleries and get a good sense of what our events look like
Follow/subscribe/like our social media.
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