LS Weekly Memo
Week 18: December 8-12, 2014
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This week begins with Giving Chapel, ends with the All School OES Holiday Party on Saturday and has Alysa’s class play with performances Wednesday to Friday and the 2nd Grades Portland Research Celebration on Friday sandwiched in the middle. Enjoy it all.
COMMUNITY
Giving Chapel - See link below and Jenny Cleveland emails for details.
We would like to let the choir into the building starting at 7:40 so they can drop off their things and head up to Chapel. Any volunteers?
Enjoy the heartwarming highly organized chaos.
OES Holiday Party
The Board of Trustees hosts a gathering and feast for the school community on Saturday from 6:00 - ???. The Dorm Community is offering free child care. I hope you will join us.
Upcoming Chapels
Wed., Dec. 17th - Beginning School Season of Light Chapel
Friday, Dec. 19 - St Nick’s Chapel: 1:30 - 2:30
Chapel Evacuation Plan
We learned some important lessons from the unplanned CHapel evacuation last week. In the future we will follow these guidelines in hopes of facilitating a quick and safe evacuation of Chapel:
- Evacuate from the back pews to the front
- First adults out should secure chapel doors open
- Take class directly down to the field. Stopping earlier can prevent other groups from quickly exiting the Chapel.
- Any adults who are not directly responsible for students can serve as sweepers and gatherers to help all safely leave the building and get to field.
Send questions or ideas to Chris and David
First and Second Grade Lunch Recess Concern
On Friday a group of 17+ children engaged in a very rough pretend game that left one child with a bloody nose and another with an arm injury. This pretend chase game, played on the track and field and Aardvark Community Park for more than two months, was safe and fun for all, until it went ary on Friday. Children were tackling each other, capturing/restraining one another, kicking, shoving each other to the ground, it was really physically aggressive play that could have resulted in a more serious injury. Only one adult intervened at the end of recess out on the field to help an injured child.
I spent more than two hours investigating what occurred with the help of Tonya, Ari and Melanie. We are still gathering details from children and parents, but as you can imagine, parents are asking, “Why didn’t an adult see this?” We are also left wondering why a child didn’t alert an adult on duty.
Please follow up on Monday and let me know if you learn anything further at class meetings.
On Monday
•Discuss this event at a class meeting
•Tell your students we will take a break from chase games for the next two weeks
•Renew general conversations about playground agreements, safe, fun, fair, kind
Going forward
•Recess duty folks, please circulate and be vigilant
Safety Reminder
Heidi is the LS Representative for the Safety Committee. Send her a quick note when you have any safety concerns or near-accidents. The Safety Committee wants to know about potential safety hazards so they can work to prevent injuries. If you have any kind of injury at school please fill out an incident form (located in the form organizer by David’s office).
Lunch Planning - 1st - 3rd Grades
1st and 2nd grade would like to follow these common practices at lunch dismissal to increase safety:
- Students dismissed by table by grade level - 1st grade goes down 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd
- Students line up in dining hall
- Dismissing teacher guides students to stairs and stays at top of stairs to monitor
- Students walk down steps in single file holding the railing
- Students wait at bench outside for everyone to get down the stairs
- Dismissing teacher walks group down to recess and has children go down recess stairs single file.
3rd grade - let Chris and David know when you would like 3rd grade to follow a similar procedure and we will let duty teachers know.
5th graders
How can the 5th graders help set the example in community and transition times: between classes, recess and lunch? Younger students are looking to them to help show the way.
Student Who Needs Extra Support
BK in Jackie Blake’s Class- B., a super smart and sweet new member of our community, is highly competitive, and sometimes a very rigid thinker. When he gets upset, he has a hard time talking to adults. If he does get overwhelmed by a situation at recess, class, or a specialist class and needs a break, he will give a “thumb down” signal. If that occurs, get him to one of the safe places. If you can’t get him to the safe place, call the office and Lyn get help.
Safe places for a break:
•Jackie’s library
•Chris’ office
•Melanie’s office
•Ari’s office
•Lower School office
If you see him get emotional and he hasn’t chosen to take a break, you may tell him, in a calm manner, that he needs to take a break in one of his chosen locations. He has bolted away in the past. If that occurs, notify the office immediately.
PROGRAM
Surveys
Be sure to make the time to complete both the IDI and Employee Satisfaction Survey. Data collected through these surveys will help guide our work over the next 5 years.
1. The Intercultural Development Inventory - see 12/1 email from Sara Taylor from deepSEE for link and sign-in.
Lower School Diversity discussion - 3:15 - 4:15 - LS Library
Faculty Meetings
- LSD (Lower School Diversity) Optional Meeting - Monday, 12/8 @ 3:15
- LS Faculty Mtg - Thursday, 12/11 @ 7:40 in LS Art Room
7:40AM
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Mindfullness Opening and Appreciations
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7:50AM
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Chris Schuck update
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8:00AM
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Transition Plan
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8:20AM
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Cadwell check-in (specialists optional)
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The first sessions on Friday went well, with near flawless virtual connection. Tuesday we will take on the second half of the sessions. It is very helpful for Louise to get an understanding of what questions your team is wrestling with so she can work with you.
Team Leaders - Topics Discussed 12/1
- Cadwell check-in
- THA/ building design discussion
- Chapel Fire Evacuation
Inquiry Design Team Meeting
Wednesday, December 10th at 3:15-4:15-Janet Schilling’s Room
- Reflect on the first round of coaching with Louise
- Reflect on Last Common Experience Around “Beautiful Questions”
- Plan next Common Experience
Building Update - Design Meetings
We will be having the the following design meetings with THA for the details of spaces. See Team Leaders or David if you have questions or ideas.
December 15 - Classrooms
December 16 - SST, Science, Tech, Affinity Commons, Dining Hall
Positive Discipline Workshop, Held Here on Campus!
Friday March 6th and Saturday, March 7th
Steven Foster and Julia Tomes, certified Positive Discipline trainers, will lead a two-day workshop on Positive Discipline here on campus. Positive Discipline, by Jane Nelsen, offers great insights and tools for parents and educators.
- Interested? Sign up here!
Tutoring Reminder
If you wish to recommend a student for tutoring because they are not making benchmarks and their academic growth is not progressing as a result of the differentiated instruction you are providing:
- Check-in with Ari
- We generally avoid recommending Tutors to parents before a comprehensive review of testing and instructional support
- Ari will provide the contact information directly to the parents or to the parents through the teacher
- If an existing Tutor comes to you and would like to make schedule changes, he/she must contact Ari before any changes are made (please direct them to Ari)
We have a shared folder where you can place your completed UBD’s for others to peruse. I hope those of you who are further along in the process will be able to help the rest with your examples.
I have launched the PGD opportunities for 2014-15. Express your interest. Indicate your preference. Add additional possibilities.
Summer Program - See Joan Low’s email for details
The dates we are offering classes this summer are from June 22-August 28.
Classes are typically taught in 3-hour blocks on a M-F basis (usually one-week in duration) although sometimes are two weeks. Starting salary is generally around $600 per class and some instructors do teach two per day (9-noon and 1-4:00). IImportant Dates:
January 5: Final Date to accept proposals (sooner is better)
February 2: Registration begins
( Lower School rooms will not be used during the weeks of June 22 and August 24 for transition planning)
OPERATIONS
Recess Incidents
With extra excitement in the air as the holiday approaches, we all need to be extra vigilant at lunch and recess. There have been recent incidents where games have gotten out of hand and children were upset or hurt.
- Walk around
- Scan the playground
- Intervene early
HO-HO-HO Hats
Please remind your students that Santa hats may be worn on the day of St. Nick’s Chapel ONLY.
I know it sounds Scrooge-ish, but wearing Santa hats draws undue attention and cause distractions.
Bathroom Use - Bodily Fluids
- I have received reports of two issues in the Gym bathrooms
- Blood has been found on the sink or floor. Check to be sure LS students have cleaned up after a bloody tooth or nose. If concerns, contact LS Office
- Boys have been urinating on the seat of the toilets. Remind them to lift the seat.
Your 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.
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