LS Weekly Memo Week 1: August 27 - 31

Welcome back.  While I have seen many of you on campus over the last few weeks, I look forward to us all being here and getting ready together this week.  

There is a lot here.  In an effort to reduce the amount of time we discuss logistics during faculty meetings, I am including the information in the Weekly Memo.

COMMUNITY

All School BBQ 5:00 -7:00 PM TONIGHT
I hope you can all make it for the All School Family BBQ this evening, 5:00 - 7:00 pm.  It will be a great time to get together, socialize, enjoy good food and listen to live music.

Specialist Buddy Classes
In LSLT we discussed the idea of continuing the partnership forged on the first day of school with each Specialist Teacher adopting a buddy class based on the Opening Day assignment.  We thought this would help connect Specialist Teachers in a new way, giving them a home during some of the big events in Lower School; Opening Day, Giving Chapel, St Nick’s Chapel, Mount Hood Climb Service Day and LS Promotion.

Buddy Classes
During faculty meetings we will take a fresh look at Buddy Classes by asking faculty to offer class interests and buddy ideas, in hopes of creating more intentional buddy partnerships

Team Leaders
The Team Leaders are now in place.  I am excited about working with them to better support our students’ experiences in Lower School.
Alysa Williams - 4th, 5th
Janet Schilling - 1st - 3rd*
Chris O’Toole - Beginning School

Sharing About Students
Each year we have last year’s teacher share with this year’s teacher a brief description of each child’s affinities, strengths and challenges. We will do this as part of our Wednesday faculty meeting  Specialists will be meeting with Ari Sternberg and Patti Beyer.

Baby Shower
We will be showering Heidi Hackenjos on Thursday  from 12:00 - 1:00 in the DVR. All are welcome.

PROGRAM

Professional Development Shout Outs
At the All School Faculty and Staff meeting on Tuesday there will be an opportunity for faculty to share a professional development highlight from the summer.  Think if you have one.

Open Classroom Activity
The parents really appreciate when you prepare an activity for students to do when they stop in during Open Classroom. This provides some structure for a longer family interaction in the room.  Talk with your colleagues about some of the ideas they use such as classroom scavenger hunt, organization and personalization tasks in the room.

CORE
In an effort to reduce the number of after school meetings, CORE, the student support group,  members will be available to meet with teachers every Thursday from 10:50 - 11:50 am.  Teachers will be scheduled for discussions of individual students or a general class review. If classroom teachers have a lunch or recess duty on Thursday, we will work around your schedule.

OPERATIONS

Information Posting
Chris has updated the documents below to help with your start of school preparations.  They are now available to you in Google Docs in the LS Important Docs collection.

LS Go to List
LS Faculty Go -to
Who’s Who
Opening Day assignments
First Days of School

Parent Volunteer List
At the end of the year Kim Jensen sent out a spreadsheet with the parent volunteer opportunities you created last year.  Please review the list and adjust it for this year.  You Room Parent will be in contact with you to find a time to review the list and understand your parent volunteer needs. I have a Room Parent Training on Friday, September 7 and would like each Room Parent to have your volunteer list by then.  This will give the Room Parents over a week to get the lists into Volunteer Spot before volunteer sign-ups begin on
September 17.

Classroom Website
Your classroom website needs to be updated before the start of school.  Remember, this website is your primary communication vehicle to parents about your classroom.  You may be able to adapt your student welcome letter as a welcome to your families. Angela has been working on updating the LS Events Calendar.  

Classroom Clean Out
Jon von Behren, the Maintenance and Custodial crews will do a final removal of unwanted materials starting at 9:00 am on Friday morning.  Things put out in the hall after 9:00 am on Friday may not be removed before Open Classroom. To help Jon’s crew clearly label what needs to be taken away - Throw Out or Recycle .  Due to limited storage, little will be saved.

Classroom Cleaning
Bill Peoples and the custodial crew will complete classroom cleaning Friday afternoon and evening. They will not be in to clean classrooms again until Tuesday afternoon, after Open Classroom. Plan your mess making accordingly.

Transitions - 1st - 5th Grades
Last year we made the following agreements about transitions:
For 1st - 5th grades there is a 5 minute transition between activities to ensure each class starts on time.
Students need to be supervised between transitions.
Specialist will cover transitions during Grade Level Common Planning.
Grade Level Teachers will cover transitions for specialists with back to back classes.
Specialists and grade level teachers will compromise on the other transitions.

Late Start Thursdays
Please remind your students to come prepared for the choices. See the Google doc Late Start Thursdays ‘12-’13 for details.

Beginning School Students	1st and 2nd Grade Students	3rd – 5th Grade Students
7:30 – Choice Time in BS Hallway	7:30 – Academic Choice Time in 1st/2nd Grade Wing or Quiet Reading in LS Library	7:30 - Study Hall in 4/5 Wing or Quiet Reading in LS Library
8:10 – Outdoor Recess	8:15 – Outdoor Recess	8:15 – Outdoor Recess
8:30 –  Singing in Common Hall
8:45 School Begins	8:45 School Begins	8:45 School Begins

Faculty Meeting Calendar
The LS Faculty Meeting Schedule is available to you as a Google Doc.

Dress Code
Chris gave everyone a copy of the Uniform Policy to hang in classrooms. If you no longer have that document posted, print one out and post it.  We hope everyone will refer to this document at the beginning of the year, and remind students of the importance of following the “code.”  

We agreed on a 3 step process to address frequent dress code infractions:
1st incident - Remind student
2nd incident - Teacher sends communication home
3rd incident - Student sent to LS Office for used uniform and letter sent home from LS Office.

We will continue to have “no uniform days” once per month on the day of our assembly.

Attendance
On the first day of school Jenny will provide an attendance sheet with after school plans.  You can fill that out on the first day of school, and skip PCR.  Please send it to the office as soon as possible, before the Bell Tower ceremony if you can. If not then, right after the ceremony.  
Going forward, log your attendance in PCR at 8am.  If you do it sooner than 8,  students who arrive late may not be recorded as present.  Jenny wants to avoid making unnecessary calls to parents.

Entering 1st - 5th Grade Building, 7:30 - 7:50 AM
Students may enter the building with a parent.
Students are not allowed to enter the 4th/ 5th Wing until 7:50 bell.
Students are allowed to enter 1st/2nd Wing only to go to the library.
All other students should go to Aardvark Community Park.

Recess
Stephanie Rankin and the PE teachers have some great new guidelines to transform our playground into a Peaceful Playground.  We will work with this material during faculty meetings.
Recess Rodeo: Classroom Teachers should attend with their class.  Specialists may join their buddy class or participate in separate training.
Rules for games will be posted on playground.
Bathrooms

Gym only when gym is open

Library – only when library is open

LS Office - ALWAYS

Lunch - 1st - 5th Grade

Grade	Time Up to Lunch	Seating	Dismissal Time
1st	10:45	Dark side	11:15
2nd	10:50	Dark side	11:15
3rd	10:50	Light side	11:15
4th	11:20 - Enter in Back	Dark side	11:50
5th	11:20 - Enter in Back	Light side	11:50

Dining Room Agreements
Assign tables for all students at the start of year for 1st two weeks
1st – 3rd will assign tables all year
4th and 5th TBD

Dismissal from Dining Hall
Return tray respectfully
Return to table, clean the table and wait to be dismissed
Dismiss from table

Done.

LS Weekly Memo Welcome Back

August 16, 2012

Dear Lower School Faculty,

Over the past several days I have had several inspiring conversations about the year ahead, helping me look forward all the more to the start of a new school year; an animated conversation with Deborah Bridgnell about her summer courses, discussions with John Holloran about the “Inquiry into Inquiry” the school will be taking on this year, talking with Chris about her summer reading, hearing from Alysa about her Team Leader ideas, and of course the many cheery “Hi Mr. Lowell” from the scattering of students who are around campus sharing stories of their summer. I hope you are finding your owns ways to get ready.

As promised here are many more details about the year:

New Faculty
Please join me in welcoming the new faculty to the Lower School.   See the attached autobiographies for additional information about each teacher.  Please seek them out and introduce yourself when you are back on campus.

Carole Burton Kindergarten
Claire Kucera 1st Grade
Erin Baker 3rd Grade
Tina Akehurst 5th Grade

Faculty with New Responsibilities
We also have several faculty members who are taking on new responsibilities this year.

Tracy Arensberg - 50% Lower School Math Specialist, 50% Math Teacher
Laura Foster Flynn - Beginning School Studio Art Specialist
Alysa Williams - Team Leader for 4th and 5th grades, as well as continuing on as a 5th grade teacher.
Chris O’Toole - Team Leader for Beginning School, as well as continuing on as Assistant Head of Lower School

Additional Faculty and Staff News
Congratulations to Ari Sternberg, Academic Specialist, on the birth of his daughter Celia Lou.
Welcome back to Lauren Erickson, Pre-Kindergarten Teacher, after the birth of her daughter Rosalie.
Our condolences to Shirley Feuz, Kitchen Staff, on the loss of her husband David Feuz.
Best wishes to Heidi Hackenjos, Library Assistant, as she prepares for the arrival of her first child due September 20.

Marty Eastman Brown, 1st Grade Teacher, will miss the first 8 weeks of school as she recovers from surgery scheduled for August 31.  She would like you to know that this second surgery not because her situation is more serious, rather it is so the surgeon can be more thorough. We are in the process of hiring a long-term substitute to teach the class. We will announce this to parents once we have hired the substitute. In the mean time please keep this confidential.

Schedules, Lists and Calendars
Look for an emial from Lyn Zensiek that will include Class Schedule and Duty Schedule.  The Lower School Faculty Calendar is accessible through the Weekly Memo Blog or as a Google Calendar.

Classroom Schedules
Minor changes were made to the classroom schedules, all based on the feedback received from Lower School Leadership Team and the Schedule Feedback document. As we agreed in Leadership Team last spring, we have moved Friday Chapel and Assembly from the afternoon to the morning, a better time for children to attend and learn from the experiences.

Before making any changes to the classroom schedules talk with David and then report the changes to Lyn. Only Lyn will make changes to the schedule to ensure we can accurately account for everyone during the school day.

Duty Schedule
Chris revised the duty schedule based on the input received from the duty schedule survey.  She attempted to honor people’s preferences, coordinate duties with teaching schedules and provide collaborative team time during lunch, while at the same time ensuring equitable distribution of duties.  

Before making any changes to the classroom schedules talk with Chris and then report the changes to Lyn. Only Lyn will make changes to the schedule to ensure we can accurately account for everyone during the school day.

Lower School Duty Schedule- How It Was Designed
 
David and I looked at the duty schedule and decided to eliminate a few duties. Second and Third and Fourth and Fifth Grade pm recesses now have 2 people instead of 3. This will mean teachers on duty will need to rove and be vigilant, to ensure adequate supervision.  We will give this a try and see how it works. If it turns out to be inadequate, we will rethink the duty schedule.

As I assigned duties I kept a number of priorities in mind:
-Sacred weekly common planning time
-A duty-free lunch and recess time each week for your team
-A new exciting duty-free team planning time (not new to the Beginning School and First and Second Grades) with Team Leaders
Beginning School Team Meeting with Chris- Wednesday 10:50-11:50
First through Third Grade Team Meeting with David- Friday 10:50-11:50
Fourth and Fifth Grade Team Meeting with Alysa- Wednesday 10:50-11
-CORE meetings on Thursdays at lunch/recess to meet with teachers, not after school
-Days when you have few specials you have little or no duties

Our thanks to Angela, once again, for coming up with a technological tool that makes our lives easier and smarter.

Calendars
In an effort to improve the accuracy and accessibility of our calendars we will be maintaining 3 calendars in Lower School.  Chris O’Toole and the LSLT members will be responsible for the accuracy of the Lower School Faculty Calendar, visible on the Weekly Memo Blog, and the Lower School Events Calendar (for parents), visible on the faculty websites.  Lyn Zenisek, Chris O’Toole and Angela Hancock will be responsible for maintaining the OES Calendar on the OES website.

Angela is working on getting the LS Faculty and LS Events calendar to talk with the OES Calendar on the web.
        
Class Lists and Letters
Thank you for all your work to create well balanced learning communities in each classroom.  Due to recent enrollment changes the class lists will be sent to faculty and staff on Monday, August 20.  The lists will be emailed to families on Friday, August 24.  Keep the class lists confidential until after August 24.

Student Letters
Please mail your student letters after 8/24 and before 8/31 so students receive your letter before Open Classroom on September 4.  Coordinate a mailing date as a grade level team so all students at a particular grade receive a letter at approximately the same date. Student addresses can be found in online directory within the Teacher Portal.

Room Access
A tremendous thanks to Jon von Behren and his crew.  Classrooms are available to be set up.  Contact Bill People, Head Custodian, if you need help rearranging your furniture.

The seismic retrofitting is complete.  Several classrooms lost one or two windows in the retrofit.  If your room seems too dark due to landscape shading of the remaining windows, contact Jon to discuss trimming possibilities.

The Items You Ordered are Arriving!
Remember all of the items you ordered before you left last June? Well, they are arriving and can be found in the Lower School Faculty Room. Please come by and collect your new treasures.  Classroom supplies are coming, beginning next week, and can be collected from Room 10.

Garden Bed Request from Mark Henningsen, Grounds Keeper
Mark and Scott Corris put in about 8 man-hours of labor weeding Beginning and Lower School garden beds.  Mark has two requests:
1. If you want to grow a summer crop, which students will harvest in the fall, keep beds weeded over the summer. He thought that a bit of weeding every two weeks or so would make a difference and keep weeds down.
2.  If you are not around to keep beds weeded, clean your beds before you leave in June. Start new crops when you return in the fall. Things really got unsightly.  People visiting campus notice the lack of care.
Mark and the groundskeepers are trying to keep weeds down so they can avoid using chemicals and extra labor to control unwanted weeds.
                               
Opening Week, August 27 - 31 Schedule

Monday, August 27
TBA Committee Meetings
5:00 p.m.                        Opening All School Family Barbeque

Tuesday, August 28         
7:30 a.m.                        Eucharist (Chapel, optional)
8:00                                 Continental Breakfast (Dining Hall)
9:00                                 All School Opening Chapel (Chapel)
10:15                              All School Meeting (Dining Hall)    
12:00                              All School Lunch (Dining Hall)
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.             Teacher Work Session

Wednesday, August 29
8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.        LS Divisional Meetings
1:00 - 4:00 p.m. LS Teacher Work Session

Thursday, August 30
8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.       LS Divisional Faculty Meetings
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.                Department Meetings
1:00 - 4:00 p.m. LS Teacher Work Session

Friday, August 31
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.         Teacher Work Session

We hope you are enjoying the remaining days of summer.  This weekly memo offers some details to help you plan for the start of the school year. We (Jenny, Lyn, Chris and David) are back at school and getting ready.  

LS Weekly Memo Blog
Just to remind you, the Weekly Memo is regularly updated on the LS Weekly Memo Blog. The blog contains the Weekly Memo, the LS Faculty Calendar and several other useful resources.

Room Access Next Week
With tremendous appreciation to Jon von Behren, the construction crew and the custodial crew for all their work in the rooms, and great thanks to Joan Low for ending the Explorers program a week earlier than usual, you will have access to your classroom next week.  All 1st to 5th grade classrooms will be available to teachers on Monday, August 13. All Beginning School classrooms will be available to teachers on Wednesday, August 15. Specialist teachers should check the summer programs schedule to see when your room is available.

Calendars
We are making a renewed effort to ensure that the calendars you rely on are accurate and update.  Angela is working on a simple integrated options. Until then  Lyn will be responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the OES School Calendar, the all school calendar located on the OES Website. Chris O’Toole will be overseeing the LS Faculty Calendar, the Google calendar that is on classroom teacher’s website and the Weekly Memo Blog.  LS Leadership Team members will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of their grade level and specialist events on the LS Faculty Calendar.

New Faculty Orientation Week - August 20 - 24
See communications from Karen Seder for details.

Faculty Meeting Week, August 27 - 31

Monday, August 27 - 

Committee meetings - Details to come

All School BBQ 5:00 -7:00 PM

Tuesday, August 28
All School Chapel and Meeting 8:00 - 12:00 - Details to follow
Classroom Work in afternoon

Wednesday, August 29
LS Faculty Meeting 8:30 - 12:00 - Details to come
Classroom work in afternoon

Thursday, August 30

LS Faculty Meeting 8:30 - 12:00 - Details to come

Classroom work in afternoon

Friday, August 31
Classroom Work

Schedules
Chris is in the middle of revising the duty schedule, attempting to honor the input of those who responded to the Angela’s duty schedule survey.
David is finishing revisions to the LS schedules based on the feedback received from LSLT members.

Upcoming Communications

8/16 - Faculty Communication to include:
Classroom Schedules
Duty Schedules
Class Lists
Weekly Memo Posting

8/17 Family Communication to include:
Parent Welcome Letter
Student Welcome Letter
1st Wednesday Express

8/24 Class List Posting

Parent Volunteers
Remember to send Kim Jensen the spreadsheet listing all your parent volunteer positions from this year by the end of August .