Weekly Memo
Week 28, February 27-March 3, 2017
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Many thanks to Jeffrey and Debra for all of the support and guidance getting reports to families on Friday, and to our LS ICC team for the Love Assembly! Patricia Polacco’s visit was another highlight of the week, so we extend our gratitude to Lara and Heidi for their leadership in bringing this author to our community.
Best of luck with conferences. Stop by the LS Office if you want to talk through or debrief any of you conferences.
As a collaborative professional community Lower Faculty Employees will strive to:
- Do what is best for the students
- Assume we are all doing our best at the moment and our intentions are positive
- Be present, participate, contribute, include many voices
- Create a safe space that encourages sharing different opinions, ideas, perspectives
- Seek understanding, be curious about what others think
- Express gratitude, joy and encouragement
- Communicate with compassion, clarity and effectiveness
- Demonstrate respect
COMMUNITY
Conferences
Many thanks to Shelley Weiller for setting up the conference care schedule. Supervision by our wonderful Assistant Teachers will be available in the Performance Commons from 7:15-5:00 on Thursday and 7:15-3:30 on Friday. Extension will meet next door in the LS Dining Commons.
Natalie's Announcement
Natalie's Announcement will not be public until after conferences. Please keep it in confidence.
Changes in Faculty Responsibilities - 2017-18
This year several teachers took on new responsibilities in 1st - 5th grades. Next year PreK and K are going to mix it up. We will formally announce these changes at the moving up coffees in the spring. I am excited about the professional growth for each teacher and the benefits for student learning.
- K- Colesie Tharp and Beth Breiten Job Share
- K - Lauren Endicott
- K - Deborah Bridgnell - mentoring Lauren
- PK - Carol Burton and partner
Dress Code
As we move into spring, students are starting to get creative with the dress code. Wearing of hats and non-uniform sweatshirts indoors, non-uniform footwear and exciting headbands seems to be growing. Please review the dress code with your students as needed. A reminder in your weekly parent newsletter/blog posts about appropriate uniform clothing with a link to the dress code may be helpful: http://www.oes.edu/page.cfm?p=752
Duty Consistency
We need people to do their duties and do it on time. Too many teachers are left outside alone with large groups of students. If this happens to you, please send a text or student into Lyn and Kathy. They will send someone out and find the duty people who are needed.
Fariss Hall Construction Begins
For the rest of the year the two parking lot side entrances to Fariss Hall will be used for construction access. Soon, the only access for students will be the entrance facing the Chapel.
LS Religion Teacher, 2nd Semester. The Plan
Heather Wenrick - 5th grade
Jenny Cleveland - 2nd - 4th religion. She will also help with other important events.
Kathleen Hicks - PK through 1st grades yoga, mindfulness. She will also provide Yoga Calm for 2nd-5th, schedule dependent.
OBOB
Congratulations to the 4th Grade for positive OBOB competition this week. "Platinum Aardvarks Reading Cookies" (Margot, Carson, Sana, and Ben S.) from Mrs. Sathyaraj's class will travel to regionals. Check out Lara’s library blog for more information.
LS Chapel
3-1-17 Please note that this 3/1 chapel is on Wednesday to observe Ash Wednesday. There is no Tuesday chapel this week. Also, remind your students that participating in the ashes ritual is an individual choice.
New Employees
Long Term PE sub (Jessica) - Jake Evans, former OES student
Long Term 3rd Grade sub (Tonya) - Jefna Cohen
Long Term 5th Grade sub (Alysa) - Caley Peterson
3rd Grade Job Share Partner for 2017-18 - Suzanne Lee
2017-18 Hires
LS Chaplain - reviewing resumes
Admissions Decisions
Thank you to all who have helped with Admissions visitors this year. We are in the midst of rating and selecting candidates. Families will be notified about decisions in March.
Student Support Team
Check the SST tab or schedule a a time to meet with the team.
Students of Concern
5th - Arthur Hagen Fonbonne
See Chris or David if you have questions. Any further incidents related to major rules should be reported directly to the LS Office so either Chris or David can follow-up. Arthur has lost the privilege of attending Extension until Spring Break.
5th - Gabe Heydon
See Chris or David if you have questions. Any further incidents related to major school rules should be reported directly to the LS Office so either Chris or David can follow-up.
5th - Swearing
Incidents of inappropriate language use should be reported directly to the classroom teacher.
4th - Mia Schoenkerman
Mia is having frequent bloody noses. When she has one she needs to go to the office.
Major Lower School Rules
The following infractions are considered serious and could result in a range of consequences including dismissal from the school. Unless otherwise stated, these rules apply to conduct at all school-related events both on and off campus.
Verbal abuse, physical abuse, bullying, or inappropriate physical touch.
Lying, deceit, or other dishonest conduct
Destruction of property belonging to the School, its personnel, or another student
Stealing
Inappropriate language
Possession or use of weapons or any object that is used in a threatening manner
Verbal abuse, physical abuse, bullying, or inappropriate physical touch.
Lying, deceit, or other dishonest conduct
Destruction of property belonging to the School, its personnel, or another student
Stealing
Inappropriate language
Possession or use of weapons or any object that is used in a threatening manner
Yoga & Mindfulness offerings!
Kathleen Hicks is doing Yoga Calm classes to grades pre-k to 1st. David has also approved for her to teach up to 4 hours of additional classes per week in the lower school, including teaching your 2nd to 5th graders! The classes that she teaches offer a supportive and restorative space for the children to gain skills using mindfulness in motion (aka Yoga!) as well as social-emotional games and activities. She weaves the Yoga Calm principles of listening (to ourselves and to one another), grounding (present moment awareness), stillness, strength (physical, mental and emotional), and community (such as supporting one another, using your power for good, etc…) as well as developing and practicing compassion, kindness and gratitude, into each of the classes. Kathleen has taught Kiah’s 3rd graders and Tasha’s 5th graders (in addition to the BY students) so you can check in with them if you are curious.
See google calendar called “Yoga/Mindfulness” or let Kathleen know if you would like her to add you. On the calendar, She blocked times when she is “Available” to teach. You can either email her or add your class in during “Available” times. 30 minutes to 1 hour is best. If 30 minutes, it is preferable if classes are back to back (minimum of an hour at a time) since she is only coming into OES to teach, but check in with her regardless if you just want a ½ hour and can’t find another class to attach it to.
Kathleen is open to any ideas that you have as well. Please feel free to reach out to her: kathleenjhicks@gmail.com
PROGRAM
Assistant Teacher Meeting 2/27
The Assistant Teacher Meeting will begin in the Performance Commons on Monday, February 27th from 12:30-1:15. Our agenda changed to accommodate Xerox training: you can access AT agendas here.
New Language Materials have been added to the Lodge for emergent literacy to support alphabet skills and early writing. More information and a sign-up sheet for Kindergarten and Primary student small group work can be found here. If you have questions about the new materials or have students who need additional support with these foundational skills, please contact Kirstin.
Harvard Project Zero Course Launching
Carole, Colesie, Deborah, Katherine, Kirstin and Chris T will participate in the Harvard Project Zero Course Making Learning Visible. They launch their online coursework this week and will participate through May--over the months ahead, ask them about their learning around the role of documentation in extending and supporting the work of learning communities! We look forward to sharing our learning with you.
Conversations around Race, Bullying and Trauma
Harvard’s Usable Knowledge Project has created a resource called ‘One and All’ to help teachers navigate difficult conversations with their communities. Through this link you can find articles, videos and reflections around the question How can we welcome diverse perspectives and hard conversations?
Support at Conferences
If you would like Ari, Melanie or your Assistant Head to attend any of your conferences, please let them know as soon as possible so they can reserve the time on their calendars. Be sure to inform parents who will be attending and why.
Conference Reschedules
If parents are unable to attend a conference on either 3/2 or 3/3, and they cannot make a virtual conference work either by phone or remote video connection, they need to request permission from David for a conference on a different day. It is important to be consistent about this.
Conference Schedules
PreK
Primary
Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade
3rd Grade
4th Grade
5th Grade
Specialist Teachers
Woven Tales Connections
Bravo to Tina's class for an amazing and inspiring play! If you are finding that your class is intrigued by the play and would like some excellent stories about the immigrant experience, please let Lara or Heidi know if you would like any of the books pictured below and we can deliver them to you-or feel free to come by and browse them and other titles.
- Monday, 2/27 - Open
- Thursday, 3/2 - No Meeting, LS Conferences
- Monday, 3/16 - Food Handlers Licensing/ Open Work
Food Handlers License
We are going to require all faculty and teaching assistants to get their Food Handlers License. The Monday, 3/16 faculty meeting is set aside for your training.
New Science Equipment
New science play equipment has been added to the Kindergarten playground, funded by a Beginning Years application to the Lamb Endowment. The Lodge teachers will be introducing these materials to their students this week. If you supervise PreK, Kindergarten or Primary students on that playground, here are the agreements for the new materials:
- Materials will be stored undercover in the east area of the playground
- We’ll begin with the ramps, towers and balls and add water later
- To begin, we’ll use the materials for science explorations/inquiry and keep them together in the east section of the playground (not on the slide, for use in building forts, as props, etc.)
- When we do add water, the pump is for water only (no dirt or bark chips).
- It’s important children do not throw the wooden balls. “You may roll the balls” or “Rolling is the safe way to use these” may be helpful phrases.
- The materials should be sorted and stored at the end of every recess, which may mean designating a few extra minutes to cleaning up before ringing the bell
Thanks for your help in establishing positive use and caretaking routines with these new materials!
SST meetings are 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.
OPERATIONS
Field Trips on or off Campus
Be sure you have informed the LS Office when you take your class on a trip out of the building. We need to know where your class is at all times during the school day. Also be sure you are taking with you what you need; cellphone, 1st aid, emergency forms and more as needed.
Calendar Updates
Be sure your grade level events are on the faculty calendar and the Finalsite Calendar. The spring is a very busy time. We want to be sure all know what is happening when with sufficient time to work through conflicts and plan on attending
OES LS Employee Attendance
For any unplanned absences or tardiness, such as illnesses or emergency situations, whether you need a substitute or not, you must notify lssub@oes.edu. We need to track of all Employees who are off campus on a given day. Lyn sends a monthly report to HR about our Division’s attendance.
Playground Update
The design looks to be in line with budget with a few modifications. Jon von Behren is now putting together a request for proposals from contractors. Then we will begin regular meetings to ensure the construction of the design stays within budget. A huge thanks to Chris Thompson and the Student Design Team for getting us this far.
Early Morning Supervision
Just a reminder to please wait until 7:30 am before allowing students into the building each morning. Children arriving before 7:30 should wait outside the building with their caregivers until the building opens.
Rotating Calendar Confusion
February and March are a bit confusing. Since the rotation days are the same between all divisions and we all have different report writing days off, the days get out of order. I have pulled from the Year Long Intensive Schedule and added some notes to clarify.
A friendly reminder that your Google Calendar has your schedule and should be your go-to for knowing days and classroom schedules. This is our first year and it is bound to be messy. If you want Chris to review your schedule with you, she is happy to meet.
There have been a lot of parent conversations, professional development efforts and instruction around the area of growth mindset lately. We’d love to invite you to use your best growth mindset around the schedule. Yes, adjusting to a new schedule is frustrating! Yes, trying something new sometimes means learning from the things that don’t work out! Your feedback and ideas will help us improve things for next year, so we’ve created this document for ongoing schedule feedback. And in the meantime, here are some phrases we use with kids that may be helpful for our students and for us:
Flex Classroom
When a group uses the Flex Classroom for a meeting that they need to put the room back in order and ready for teaching. I have drawn a map on the whiteboard for reference.
Early Dismissal Plan/ Emergency Dismissal Plan
All LS employees are expected to remain for at least 30 minutes after the scheduled dismissal time to help with student management. We will plan for the dismissal of faculty after assessing how many students we have remaining.
Employee Resources
A helpful tool is created in the OES website for employees to save time searching different sites when you need to access the basic forms like check request, catering, maintenance requests and other resources. Check out this link:
ADP Tutorial
For help on any ADP related matters: login or registration, password retrieval, or time card approval process, please view this beautiful presentation that Ed Cecere put together. This is a helpful guide and should answer your ADP related questions. If you still have problems after using Ed’s helpful guide, please let Veena: iyengarve@oes.edu know. There is a plan to put the ADP resource link in the LS Employee Resource page for future reference. Stay tune.
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.
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