LS Weekly Memo Weekly Memo Week 27  February 9-13, 2015

Thanks to those of you who helped out with Admissions on Saturday.  We observed a terrific group of applicants for Pre-K, including many siblings of current students, and heard from many parents how impressed they are with our school.  Good luck with conferences.  It is a great time to check in with parents, to update them mid-year about their child’s progress and lay out goals for the second half of the year.  And then, enjoy the long weekend.

Thank you Angela, for resolving the latest PCR formatting challenges.

COMMUNITY

Hiring

We have begun the searches for Spanish, 4th and K.  Interest is high with many strong applicants thus far. Long term substitutes for PE and 3rd are in final stages.

Illness

Thank you for staying home when you are sick.  You will recover faster and you will not be sharing your illness with others.  Send students to the office if you are concerned they are getting sick.

Conferences

I would like to know how many families have requested conferences at times other than the conference days.  I am concerned that there are an increasing number. Enter your class and the reason given for the reschedule in Conferences on Non-Conference Days.

Woods, Wetlands and Wild Spaces of OES activity

Tom Handle and US Students - Wednesdays 10:15-10:45, Thursdays 10:50-11:45.

handlet@oes.edu

US Helpers - see Robin Schaufflers email for details

Every Wednesday, 10:20-10:50

Every Thursday, 10:50-11:50

Robin Schauffler, schaufflerr@oes.edu

February Birthdays

On Thursday, February 12th  we are honoring anyone in the LS Division who was born on February. Please come to the LS Lounge and enjoy a decadent chocolate cake from the LS Admin Team; treats, snacks and Jimmy Johns sandwiches for lunch, from our Parent Volunteers.

If your name is not on the list, let us know!

FEBRUARY
McCrary, Kelola	2/6
Tharp, Colesie	2/20

Looking Ahead: Community Gatherings

• OBOB Competition - Tuesday, February 10
• Ash Wednesday Chapel- Wed., February 18th at 11:50 for P-5
• LS February Assembly- Friday, February 20th at 8:10 - I Create
• Tina’s Class Play- February 25-27th, look for more details from Tina
• Arts Week - February 23-27

Students Who Needs Extra Support

Kindergarten- ZT in Carole Burton’s Class- Very physical, at recess. No chase games, making other choices: sandbox, swings, etc. Experiencing big feelings, can be very disruptive. If this happens, call Chris’ cell immediately 503-880-2159, and she will come and bring him to a safe place to calm him down, reset and problem solve.

5th gr - Peter G - writing and self reflection are very difficult for Peter, requiring teacher support

4th gr - Sophia M - will be attending mornings until 2/20

3rd gr - JaSier R - can have difficulty playing competitive sports. Be observant and intervene.

2nd gr - Ben K - can get physical during competitive games. Be observant and intervene.

Presidents Day - Monday, February 16 - Np School

PROGRAM

Faculty Meetings -

• 2/9 - Math Curriculum in Lower School - DVR

Required for Homeroom teachers and optional for specialists

• 2/19 - Common Inquiry Experiences - Grand Conversations - LS Library

Parent Winter Coffee

Thanks to Team Leaders and faculty who participated in this last round of Winter Coffees.  Encourage parents in your communications to attend Melanie’s Affinity Coffee around Resilience, Tuesday, February 10th from 8-9.  We are planning on offering a similar presentation to faculty after conferences.

UBD Reminder - By the end of  the year each teacher or grade level team is responsible for completing UBD’s for three units of understanding.  Below is the suggested timeline:

11/19/14 - 1st unit

3/4/15 - 2nd unit

5/20/15 - 3rd unit

All are expected to have UBD’s completed by start of the 2015-16 school year so we can begin vertical and horizontal discussions.  Team and Department meeting time has been designated for this work.

Team Leaders - Topics Discussed

• Cadwell
• Building
• Report cards
• Admissions

 

OPERATIONS

Second and Third Grade Afternoon Recess

Third Graders were playing on Aardvark Community Park when there were no teachers on duty.  Second Graders were waiting for a teacher to come out on duty. Please do the following:

Third Grade Teachers- Please tell students that the first people out need to scan ACP for the teacher on duty. If they don’t see one, all should wait on the walkway until one arrives.

Second and Third Grade Afternoon Duty People- Please try to be out on duty at  1:30 sharp. I know there are times when that is hard.  Try to prep for recess a bit earlier so this isn’t so much of a time crunch.

Disinfectant

Some of you received a spray bottle of disinfectant from Bill Peoples, Head Custodian. He was responding to a request from the Safety Committee because of the high rate of student and faculty  illness in LS Classrooms.

• Use as needed. Read use directions and warnings
• Spray surface or paper towel, rinse off with warm water and wipe down area
• Avoid spraying a fine mist  or getting on skin
• Custodial department will refill bottles and supply roll paper towels at request
• Additional information - contact Bill or Rod

Buddies

If a student will need to stay in the office they must come with two buddies.  This will enable the buddy(ies) to return to class promptly.

NEED A SUBSTITUTE OR A DAY OFF?

Calling in sick? Contact Miriam--520-250-1497

• In the evening: If you know the night before, please text or call Miriam (never email) before 8:00pm so she can call around for a sub until 9:00pm (IDEAL!!) Please do not text or call her after 10:00pm.
• In the morning: Please text or call , do not email. Please text or call her between 5:45-6:15am, whenever possible.
• If you do not connect with Miriam by 6:30am, please call David at home – 503.384.0578 (not ideal.)
• Specialists and Assistant Teachers: Please indicate in your message the start and end time. Typically ½ hour before your first class starts and then however long after your last class (duty?).

Substitutes

• Do not contact prefered substitute directly
• Complete blue Substitute Request form
• Miriam will contact the substitutes

New Substitute Update

I have interviewed a new potential pool of substitute teachers (classroom teachers and specialists)  and assistant teachers.  I hope to complete the hiring process in the next two weeks. Lyn and I scheduled a substitute training session at the end of the month.  Stay tuned!

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.

LS Weekly Memo Weekly Memo Week 26  February 2-6, 2015

Thanks to all who helped out with Admissions Day. We seemed to have a great number of terrific applicants visiting K, P and 1st.  The parent groups were notably calm and asked interesting questions.  Onto a full five day week we go (well six if you are helping with PK admissions on Saturday).

COMMUNITY

State of the School

Monday afternoon at 3:15 is the annual State of the School address from Mo and the Administrative Team.  While not required, I encourage you all to attend to get an understanding of where we are going as a school.

Hiring

We have begun the searches for Spanish, 4th and K.  Interest is high with many strong applicants thus far. Long term substitutes for PE and 3rd are in final stages.

Students Who Needs Extra Support

5th gr - Peter G - writing and self reflection are very difficult for Peter, requiring teacher support

4th gr - Sophia M - will be attending mornings until 2/9

3rd gr - JaSier R -not to play competitive sports/games (soccer, touch football, four square tetherball until Monday, 2/2. After 2/2 he will gradually add one or two competitive sports/games per week.  

2nd gr - Ben K - can get physical during competitive games and need help cooling down

Woods, Wetlands and Wild Spaces of OES activity

Tom Handle and US Students - Wednesdays 10:15-10:45, Thursdays 10:50-11:45.

time to have your class go on a short hike, go canoeing, learn set up tarp shelters in the woods, learn how to use a compass, track wildlife, go birding, play a game, etc… Then let Tom know and he will coordinate when he can lead your class on an outdoor activity of your choice

US Helpers - see Robin Schaufflers email for details

Every Wednesday, 10:20-10:50, beginning Wednesday, January 14 (note that this is only half an hour & adjust your expectations accordingly!)

Every Thursday, 10:50-11:50, beginning Thursday, January 8

Robin Schauffler, schaufflerr@oes.edu

PROGRAM

Faculty Meetings

• 2/2 - State of the School
• 2/5 - Departments and Teams
• 2/9 - Math Curriculum in Lower School

Use of LS Art Room for Faculty Meetings

Margaret lets us use the LS Art Room for meetings.  We can show our appreciation by

• cleaning up after ourselves - cups, napkins
• putting chairs back, pushing in stools

Report Card Timeline

• Proofreading done by colleague
• Revisions, corrections made Jan. 28th-Feb. 3rd
• Uploaded to PCR by 8am, Wednesday, Feb. 4th
• Specialists- Use the same peer editors as in the past
• Classroom Teachers - edit each other’s reports.

Copying Report Cards into PCR

• Please, please, please remember to copy your comments and then use a RIGHT CLICK (Control + Click OR a 2 fingered “bunny” click) and select
• Paste and Match Style!  If you don’t do this, the comments will not format correctly.
• If you used my template, your comments will already be formatted in Times New Roman, size 12 pt and be perfect and ready to PASTE AND MATCH STYLE into PCR.

Inquiry Design Team - Meeting, Wednesday, 3:15 - 4:15, Janet’s Classroom

• Review Beautiful Question summary
• Finalize plan for Common Inquiry Experience on 2/19
• Discuss Cadwell plan for March

Parent Winter Coffee

• Third through Fifth Grade Tues., Feb., 3rd
• Affinity Coffee - FYI

Building Resiliency in Children, 2/10, 8:00 -9:00 in LSCH

Pre-K Admissions Day,  Saturday 2/7, 7:30-4:30

•Due to tremendous increase in interest in PreK we will need to have at least 4 groups of PreK applicants occur in two, possibly three, sessions

•Colesie, Lauren, Kristen, Melanie, Chris and assigned volunteers (TBD), will observe our candidates

David Loitz

David will be available as a super substitute on Fridays starting in January.  Subbing will take priority over projects. If requesting release time please plan on using Fridays.  When not needed as a substitute David will be available for special projects.

• Sign up to request Project Support from David.

Team Leaders - Topics Discussed

• UBD’s
• LS Building
• Recess
• Food
• Drills

 

Professional Development Opportunities 2014-15

I have received two significant requests for PGD funds for national workshops.  If any of you are thinking of national conferences, let me know by Friday.  I need to work on budgeting for these requests.

OPERATIONS

Disinfectant

Some of you received a spray bottle of disinfectant form Bill Peoples, Head Custodian. He was responding to a request from Safety Committee because of the high rate of student and faculty  illness in LS Classrooms.

• Use as needed. Read use directions and warnings
• Spray surface or paper towel and wipe area
• Avoid spraying a fine mist  or getting on skin
• Custodial department will refill bottles and supply roll paper towels at request

Buddies

If a student will need to stay in the office they must come with two buddies.  This will enable the buddy(ies) to return to class promptly.

Medications and Field Trips

A friendly reminder when your class is going on a field trip (this procedure can also be found on the checklist that is attached to the Bus Request form):

ON THE MORNING OF THE TRIP – take these items with you in a gray backpack:

·      Field trip binder

·      First aid kit

·      Students’ prescribed medication – every class should have a list of students who require prescribed medication

AFTER THE TRIP

·      Return the students’ prescribed medication back in the file cabinet – please do not send a student to return the gray backpack filled with medications and first aid. If you are pressed with time after the trip, file the students’ prescribed medication after school but never leave them inside the gray backpack overnight

Students Bringing in Food from Home

Please email Elaine Elliott, school nurse, if you have a student who is bringing in food from home.  We are asking parents to request permission from the nurse and Head of Lower School for their child to bring in food.  

NEED A SUBSTITUTE OR A DAY OFF?

Calling in sick? Contact Miriam--520-250-1497

• In the evening: If you know the night before, please text or call Miriam (never email) before 8:00pm so she can call around for a sub until 9:00pm (IDEAL!!) Please do not text or call her after 10:00pm.
• In the morning: Please text or call , do not email. Please text or call her between 5:45-6:15am, whenever possible.
• If you do not connect with Miriam by 6:30am, please call David at home – 503.384.0578 (not ideal.)
• Specialists and Assistant Teachers: Please indicate in your message the start and end time. Typically ½ hour before your first class starts and then however long after your last class (duty?).

Fire Drills and Earthquake Duck and Cover/Evacuation Drills

Remind students that in the new year emergency drills will be unannounced and take place a different times of the day.  Please let us know if you have a student who is feeling stressed about unanticipated fire drills.

Extra hours for Teaching Assistants

David need to pre-approve extra hours for teaching assistants to ensure we stay within budget.

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).

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.