Weekly Memo 25, February 12-16, 2018

Weekly Memo WM 25, February 12-16, 2018

Thanks for your good work on Thursday engaging the applicants for Kindergarten, Primary and 1st Grades. Each year it amazes me that the day works, that you all are able to welcome and engage the children so they will engage with us.

Best of luck finishing up reports and getting them loaded into PCR. Then, the long weekend will be yours.

Lower School Agreements

• 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

We continue our Weekly Memo format with repeat items in blue and new items in black.

COMMUNITY

Gathering and Chapel - Please be seated and ready at 8:10.
Lower School Chapel Schedule for 2017-2018
Chapel 2/14: Ash Wednesday
Gathering 2/16: Playground Opening

Wednesday, 2/14

• Ash Wednesday Chapel
• Valentines Day
• OES Humble Lunch, February 14, 2018

Admissions
Thanks to all who participated in the Thursday Admissions Day. 

Playground Opening
The time has come. We will officially open the new playground during Gathering on Friday, 2/16. Before then, we will be letting classes in one at a time to explore the playground. Sign Up on the New Playground Explore Sign-up. During your visit help your class think through how to use the space in a fun, safe, kind way and help us think through what guidelines will help keep it a fun and safe space. Add your comments at the bottom of the document

Juidi Alongi is working her way back from her broken ankle. She hopes to return to work on 2/26.

Student Updates

The SST Site contains valuable information that is helpful in understanding a student’s history and action plans. You may want to review the entries in the site before writing a child's report. The SST Site is linked in the Weekly Memo and can only be accessed on campus.


PROGRAM

Faculty Meetings
Monday, 2/12 - PGB/ Proof Reading
Thursday, 2/15 - No Meeting/Reports into PCR by noon

Report Timeline

Several of you expressed concern about the tight report turn-around time. Jeffrey and David discussed the report timeline and have modified it:

• Reports written by 2/12 (same)
• PCR will remain open until noon on Thursday, 2/15

Report Timeline
Thanks for your good work on assessments and report writing.
Mon, 2/12 - Reports Due. Proofing begins.

• Proofing rotation:
• Grade Level Classroom Teachers - proof each others
• Primary - Shelley proofs Chris O'T’s
• Art - Chris proofs Margaret’s, Kirstin proofs Laura’s
• Music - Kristen and Amy proof each others
• PE - Proof each others
• Spanish - Kelola proofs Alfredo’s. Kirstin and Chris split Kelola’s
• Science - David proofs Jane’s

Thur, 2/15 - Noon - all posted in PCR (revised)
Fri, 2/16 – All Reports posted to Parent Portal/ ERB’s mailed
2/19 - Holiday
3/1 & 3/2 - Conferences

Humble Lunch Classroom Conversations

The Humble Lunch will be on Wednesday, February 14. Please help your students enter into the experience with open minds by having a reflective conversation with them before lunch if time allows (even the day before), or by reflecting on the experience afterward. Below are suggestions for simple conversations you can engage in, but feel free to change the guiding questions to fit your classroom themes or needs. 

There are two sets of questions below based on age group. The Upper Cafeteria (3rd-5th) have soup and bread. The Lower Cafeteria (PK-2nd) will have tortillas, beans, vegetables, and soup. Pr-2nd will have heard the framing of Humble Lunch in Chapel so you may wish to pose to them the "challenge" (below). PK-K students may not notice the change in the day (except the absence of sandwich options) so your reflection with them is optional.

Thank you all for your help in bringing your students into this thoughtful moment!
Kristen
 
Humble Lunch Conversation:
Did You Know...

• Over 16% of families in Oregon don't have enough money to afford to fully feed their families good, healthy food each day. That's almost 1 in 5 families! 
• Today our whole school will have what is called a Humble Lunch. It is one way we can reflect on the ways food can bring us all together, the beautiful food choices we have available to us each day, and the fact that not everyone in our community has full access to food or to healthy food.
• We often use food as a way to gather and celebrate. For example, today (Valentine's Day) we might use food or treats to celebrate with our community. Close your eyes. What does it feel like to have more food than you need? What would it feel like to not have enough?
• 3rd-5th Grade Questions...
• How does our knowing about this issue (food insecurity) help those experiencing it? 
• How does the Humble Lunch connect to the story of Stone Soup that Chaplain Phillip shared in Chapel last week?
• Pr-2nd Grade Challenge...
• Today when you come to the cafeteria think about the food you eat. Can you challenge take only one serving and not go back for seconds? Can you challenge yourself to eat everything on your tray and not waste any food?
• How does the Humble Lunch help?
• First, the Humble Lunch helps us start a conversation about what food means to us and our community. It opens our eyes and our hearts to ways in our own community where not everyone has access to all the food they need.
• Second, the difference between the cost of preparing this meal and the cost of preparing a fully serviced OES lunch will be donated to Neighborhood House Food Box, an organization serving SW Portland, to support their efforts to feed those experiencing food insecurity in our community. With every $1 donation, the Food Box can buy 4 lbs of food from the Oregon Food Bank to give to their clients. 

Yes Brain

Our next meeting is February 20th from 7:30-9:00 in the LS Library-we hope you can join us! 

Home Base Book Club- Intermediate Years

IY Home Base is starting up a book club on Monday, 2/5. Please email Miriam at agronm@oes.edu if you have a student that should be encouraged to participate in Home Base Book Club.

Google Drive Security in Sharing
A reminder about sharing links for documents.

1. Only engage "link sharing" when you are intending wider circulation of the document. Link Sharing at it's LOWEST setting will be potentially seen by ALL STUDENTS AND FACULTY AT OES.
2. If you wish to remind a group or someone in particular of how to get to a shared document, simply copy the URL from the address bar. Do not click "get shared link" as this will turn on "link sharing" to the base community.

Report Card Reading Continuum Reminders
These two documents might be helpful as we work on report cards. The Fountas and Pinnell Instructional Reading Level Expectations is a document which highlights the instructional reading level expectations for every grade level. This is helpful just as you are tracking your students and making sure they are meeting expectations.
The Correlation of Continuum Stages and Text Levels document highlights reading levels and matches them with the continuum stages. This can help you start in one stage and review the skills to see which stage the student fits into as well as skills and strategies for the narrative comments.

Research Support from the Library

As you and your students continue and begin your research work, please feel free to use this as a guideline for citations.  There are three really useful links included as well.  There are lots of possibilities to generate citations without writing them out by hand, but this template which I have shared before breaks it down and provides space for them to create their own using the MLA format. 

Also, don't forget our databases when guiding students.  Gale Biography in Context, Gale Science in Context and Access Science are really easy to use and have quality articles.  And, of course, World Book and Encyclopedia Britannica-which offer text to speech/audio for many of the articles.

PGD Opportunities

PGD Coverage--Tina Bryson Webinar, NAREA, Learning and the Brain...

If you have been approved for any upcoming PGD work, please be sure to submit your absence into SmartFinder and request a sub as needed. Earlier is better in terms of reserving guest teachers--please do not wait until the last minute.  See Lyn's 'Guest Teachers' update below for details on booking. 

Tina Bryson Webinar on Brain-Based Strategies for Children and Adolescents:

8am-4pm March 7th, Platt Global Classroom: Carole, Lauren, Chris O'Toole, Jessica, Melanie, Kirstin, Chris T, Katherine, Alysa, Tonya, Tasha

NAREA Seattle: Kimie, Kirstin and Claire, March 22-24 (guest teachers needed March 22-23)

Mindful Communication Course
The Middle School is opening up registration to the onlineMindful Schools Mindful Communication course to everyone who has completed the Fundamentals course. With our group rate, it's super affordable at $75 per participant. The course looks really robust (see the syllabus) and incredibly practical. Would any of you like to join Claire in the course? 

Mathematics Conference

On March 7th-10th, Teachers Development Group Leadership Seminar on Mathematics Mary is going. Even better if some LS colleagues join her. Many of the authors of mathematics education books and curriculum materials as well as leaders in the math education research field come to speak. They often share their most current research on children's mathematical thinking.  

Wednesday night for the keynote. Thursday and Friday all day. Thursday night a banquet is offered, but it is optional. Saturday morning is one 2 hour session and a lunch which many people do not attend. 

Library of Congress Teacher Institute
Applications for the 2018 Library of Congress Teacher Institutes have just opened

gcLi Leadership Lab
Week long conference in Colorado focused on teaching teachers about teaching leadership. Let David know if you re interested.

Mindfulness Resources
Claire has compiled a collection of mindfulness resources she’d like to share with you: you can access them here, including the video Why Mindfulness is a Superpower and other wry animated animal wisdom.

Videos
Jeffrey has prepared a folder for us for LS Professional Development videos. Currently you can access videos of the Purpose to Practice Fishbowl from our Faculty meeting as well as Patricia Polacco’s BY Library visit from last year.

OPERATIONS

Prompt arrival

A few minutes late into your lunch or recess duty assignment is a safety risk for our students and a tremendous responsibility to the only adult on duty. Prompt arrival to your lunch/recess duty is appreciated.

Conference sign-up changes

Conference sign-up links are closed on Wednesday, February 14^th. Parents who wish to make changes to their conference schedule should contact Kathy directly. Teachers may not make changes to the conference schedule without consulting Kathy.

Classroom Budget

• Check your classroom budget shared by Lyn online. Review the budget entry and if you have questions, let Lyn know.
• Do not wait until late April to order classroom materials. Fill out the order form online in the LS Common Forms & other Relevant Information. Let Kathy know if you need assistance with the order form.

Emergency Posters
Lyn and Kathy are putting laminated emergency posters in each of your mailboxes.  Please post in a clearly visible location in your classroom (next to your evacuation map and emergency clipboard by the door is a suggested location). Thank you!

Guest Teachers

• To avoid double booking or scheduling conflict, do not contact the guest teachers directly. All guest teacher requests must be done through Smartfind.  You can always request a guest teacher from your priority list in Smartfind.  In a situation when you have an immediate need of a guest teacher during the day, let Kathy or Lyn know.
• Keep an open mind and give our newly hired guest teachers a chance to teach in your class. This is a good opportunity for them to learn and to get familiarize with the Lower School culture. Relying on a few veteran guest teachers limits our pool especially when a situation calls for multiple guest teaching assignments. 
• Share your experience, comments or observations about our guest teachers with the Division Assistant Heads, Lyn or Kathy.
• If you need assistance with Smartfind about creating an absence or other logistical information contact Lyn or Jeffrey.

Safety: Emergency Procedures Meeting Notes - The Short Form

• Have your phone, keycard and keys at all times. 
• Maintrequest for issues with blinds or locks
• See Rebecca if you don’t have the keys you need. 
• Jon and Rod are finishing PA testing/repair. We will do a test of our remote PA system once all is ready
• Kati and the Extension team are looking at ways to enhance security after hours

Accident/Incident Form
We have a NEW Incident/Accident Report Form created by Brad K. 


Three SubFinder Reminders

• Be sure your regular sub hours are set for 7:30 - 3:15
• Specialists, be sure your regular hours match your schedule with 20 minutes of prep time before the day begins and 20 minutes after the day is done for clean-up and communication
• Request planned sick days at least 3 days in advance.

Information Organization
LS Common Forms & other Relevant Information in LS Important Documents
Calendar Manager - LS Calendar information.
Lice Policy - There have been some changes
Field Trips- use the Field Trip Checklist and forms
Ordering materials and supplies - use this Order Form and Order Tracking List
Amazon orders - OES Amazon Business Account
Curriculum, Furniture and Students Services Supplies - Contact your divison Assistant Head Trips around and off campus - be sure Ls Office knows where you areDisease Prevention - health department predicting an early and heavy influenza outbreak
SmartFind Express Reminders - Use SmartFind Express to report all absences
Field Trip Budgets - approximately $1500 per grade.
Food From Home - must have approval from the nurse
TIME SHEET -Fill out your timesheet digitally in ADP and approve it twice a month

Your Announcements

Send any announcements you have for faculty to Kirstin, Chris or David by Thursday each week August-June 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.