LS Weekly Memo
Week 10, October 10-14, 2016
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We have changed a lot this year; spaces, schedule, programs, positions and play spaces. It will take us longer to find our ways to familiar routines and practices. Be patient. Mourn the loss of what was. Seek after the benefits of what is. Help each other out. Friday PGD day will be a welcome recharge at the end to the week.
Building Updates
Building Tour - Association for Learning Environments
Tuesday, 4:00 - 6:00pm we will be touring folks from ALE, 30-40 architects wandering about.
Punch List
We are still chasing items. Be sure to submit maintrequest for any new issues that have arisen.
Scott House Teardown
Begins this week with disconnecting electricity and water. Demolition to come. Then, on to the Fariss Hall remodel.
COMMUNITY
Faculty Updates - Join us in welcoming back our colleagues.
Rachel - returns on Monday. She is well on the road to recovery.
Melanie - returns on Monday. Her son is doing well.
Kiah - returns on Tuesday. Her son is also doing better as well.
We were so pleased to see the great turnout for the first Community Conversation on 10/6 on the theme of “Belonging” facilitated by Lori Eberly. Attendees received a list of guiding questions we used for the conversations about belonging as well as a list of resources on the subject that you can access here for your reference. Thank you, Dori, for bringing this opportunity to our school! See Community Partnership page for more details of upcoming conversations
Gatherings
It was wonderful to see all the types of gatherings that happened on Friday and to see this dream of more community time in our new space some to life.
Next gathering: Buddy Gatherings on 10/21! (no gathering on 10/14).
Gatherings have been added to the Faculty Calendar, designating the type of gathering each week. To see a calendar of all gatherings (tab 1), listings of gatherings by type (tab 2) and a list of dates we’ve scheduled planning time for Affinity Commons gatherings during Mon. or Thurs. faculty meetings (tab 3), visit this Gatherings document. Please contact Kirstin with any questions or changes.
SST Agenda
The SST (Student Support Team) has been working to clarify its goals and procedures. We wanted to make you are aware of one recent change in practice. In the past we’ve added some students of concern to the Weekly Memo, but instead have decided to make the ongoing SST Agenda transparent to all of you. Here are the features of this document:
- One document with all students who are discussed at SST so you know if/when your students have come up in conversation. We’ve chosen a spreadsheet format so you can sort by date, homeroom, or student.
- Notes to let you know basic information (what action is in progress or has been taken, a point person to talk to with further questions/info).
- A tab for student conversations that impact recess, lunch or other duties so you can be informed about students you see in these contexts.
- A box to let you know if the SST site has been updated. Most confidential information is placed into the SST document and not the agenda, though we do ask you treat the agenda confidentially, as well.
We hope this document demystifies some of the SST practice, as well as holds the welfare of all children in equal measure. It is not our desire to alarm anyone by placing their student on a list, but rather to help us all utilize the multiple viewpoints/resources available for children needing support at any given point in time. If you have any questions about this document or have students you would like entered into SST dialogue, please let your Assistant Head, Ari or Melanie know.
SST meets on Monday mornings with the following support staff: Elaine, Heather, Melanie, Ari, Kirstin, Chris, David. SST meetings are also available on Thursdays from 3:15-4:00 for anyone who would like a whole team approach to supporting a student or students. Please contact your Assistant Head to request a Thursday afternoon SST. Also let us know who you’d like to request to attend.
Buddies
Thanks for submitting your buddy survey! We hope these partnerships are fruitful and expand your students’ sense of community. Topics are listed to help you identify other buddy sets with similar interests, but experiences are planned by buddy partners and are not necessarily limited to your focus area. Visit tab 2 of the gatherings document for a list of buddy gathering dates, but of course feel free to meet together outside of these designated times.
Outdoor Focus
Beth and Tracy - K,4
Alysa and Jackie - 5,2
Doug and Rachel - 1,4
Service Focus
Claire and Tina - 1,5
Deborah and Natalie - K,2
Music and Integration Focus
Asha and Colesie/Lauren - PK,4
Decide together on focus (or mixed):
Katherine and Erin - 1,3
Carole and Tonya - K,3
Chris O and Kiah - P,3
Janet and Tasha - 2,5
Fariss Hall
At its September meeting, the OES Board of Trustees unanimously voted to name the remaining Lower School building Fariss Hall. Gertrude Houck Fariss came to St. Helen's Hall in 1932 and served as its Headmistress from 1954 until her retirement in 1968. In 1964 she led the move of St. Helen's Hall from its downtown Portland location to our current campus on Nicol Road.
Fariss Hall is currently being renovated to include a student fitness center and Athletics offices, music classrooms and practice spaces, and an all-school student design and production lab.
Food Service Update
LS Dining Commons
Kelly is now planning on serving 15-20 adults in the Lower School Dining Common each day. Check the LS Dining Commons menu to see what is offered. Menu is greatly simplified compared to what is served in the Dining Hall.
Main Dining Hall
Kelly will have self service foods; soup, sandwich bar, salad bar, available in the US Dining Hall starting at 10:50. The Dining Hall opens for full service at 11:00, so please do not ask Bon Appetite for help until after 11:00. Kelly is fine with you rapping on the door to get in before 11:00.
Cheese
We have clarified our cheese order so students will have cheese at least two times a week. Shirley will deliver these approximate amounts of cheese each week:
PK - P - 200 pieces
1st and 2nd - 250 pieces
5th - 150 pieces
3rd,4th - 250 pieces
Be sure to refrigerate the cheese each day so it does not go to waste.
Playground Design
Friday, October 21 - All LS playground design provocations
Saturday, October 22 - All LS Families playground design provocations
Faculty Design Team met with playground designer Michelle Mathis last Wednesday to begin the process and clarify the role of Student Design Team. Two students from each 4th and 5th grade class will form a Student Design Committee that will meet Thursday mornings to discuss, and create a plan for the playground. Students will learn design and drawing techniques as well as lead experiences with the rest of the student population and the community. These events have been added to the Faculty Calendar for 10/21 and 10/22.
Faculty Design Team - David, Kirstin, Chris T, Asha, Tina, Laura F-F
Student Design Team - TBD : 2 members from each 4th and 5th grade class
Library Resource
The New York Times just published an article titled: Children’s Books That Tackle Race and Ethnicity. The library has copies of most of these titles. See Lara for more information.
PROGRAM
Conference Sign-ups
Conferences are on November 3,4, 2016
7:30 - 5:00 Thursday
7:30 - 2:00 Friday
Open to OES employees as of last Thursday
MONDAY, October 10th – conference sign-up opened to siblings
WEDNESDAY, October 12th – conference sign-up open to all
Conference sign-up closes on Monday, October 24th.
BTSN Feedback
We sent out a survey to parents and received almost 80 response. The feedback was very positive
90+% of respondents:
Appreciated the change of format
Came away with a better understanding of LS program
Came away with a better understanding of LS student life
Appreciated time with teachers
Appreciated time with specialists
Appreciated State of Lower School address
Suggestions
Improve parking
Longer blocks that allow for Q and A - perhaps 45 minutes per block
Offer childcare
Room Parents/ PAL organize social beforehand
PGD Requests - 2016-17 PGD Request List
PGD Site - John Holloran has launched the OES PGD website, which will come to include recommended PGD opportunities and writeups of PGD experiences.
October 14 PGD Day -
If you have not let us know your PGD plans (David emailed you if you have not) please follow this link October 14th - PGD Day Commitments to record your plans.
Monday, 10/10 - Primary Discussion, continued conversation with Summer Stipend group
Thursday, 10/13 - Planning meeting, no formal gathering
OPERATIONS
Attendance
This is a reminder the accurate method of taking students’ attendance. The only attendance you can report in PCR are:
- PRESENT
- ABSENT UNEXCUSED – even if you know that your students are late or absent excused
Transitions and Duties
- Know your duties
- Be on time
- Know transition responsibilities
- Review Transitions Document
Chris Thompson made a great screencast of the process of creating a "My Duties" calendar. If you need help doing this let Chris or Jeffrey know and you can walk through it together.
Recess Reminders
During all recesses, duty teachers can help students maintain their equipment by following these steps:
- Keep grade level equipment bins out for specific grade level recesses and put them away when recess is over.
- Encourage and remind students to put materials away
- Duty teacher step in and help when there is conflict that students cannot navigate independently.
Recess Equipment Reminder
What color of equipment should my students be using on recess?
5th- Red
4th- Purple
3rd- Orange
2nd- Blue
1st- Green
Primary- Neon Green
Yellow- before school recess- all grades share (also available for K if teachers decide they want to manage equipment on their recesses)
- Each grade has 8 pieces of equipment - 2 bouncey balls, 2 soccer, 2 football, 2 basketball
- No students should be going into the shed unaccompanied.
- Afternoon recess please communicate with your duty team to figure out who can put the ball bins away in shed. If left out, things seem to walk away or be used by others and not accounted for.
Lincoln Logs
Great reduced injury rate. Thank you for careful supervision and training of students. Kudos to the Lincoln Log Fairies who organized the logs by size. The order inspired the 4th and 5th graders to experiment with new structure designs
Epi pens are no longer kept in the first aid kits for walks to the wetlands or for field trips.
- important to always gather any student prescribed epi pens for your outing
- two stock epis are in the small project kitchen-soon to be moved to the kitchen when a cabinet is installed.
Substitute Procedures 2016-2017
- Email requests to lssub@oes.edu
- Kathy will check this email box at 6:00pm and 6:00am. You may send the email as soon as you know you need a sub.
- Kathy will email teachers and subs as soon as the assignment is made.
- Only for morning of emergency on the way to work needs-after 6:30am. Send a text to Kathy Finn-Brennan at 503-989- 3737
Automated Substitute Finder System
We are pursuing an automated substitute finder system. Details still emerging. We are targeting 2nd semester fro a roll out.
Food from Home
We are fortunate to have a food service that is so committed to tending to the dietary needs of our students. Rarely, we find ourselves in a situation where a student needs to bring food from home rather than use the school’s food service. We will consider this option only we have done the following:
- Worked in partnership with the parents and Bon Appetite to test in-school options
- Had a parent meeting including a Bon Appetite representative and the OES Nurse
- Received doctor’s statement about the medical issue and proposed interventions
Maintenance Requests
Rod would like us all to return to the usual maintrequest@oes.edu protocol for maintenance requests. The Maintenance Log will become a view only document.
Your Announcements
Send any announcements you have for faculty to Kirstin, Chris or David 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 maximize our time to collaborate during meetings.
Archive
Utilize the archive for previous Weekly Memo.
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