Weekly Memo WM 5, September 11-15, 2017-18

Congratulations on making it through the first week. I saw many happy children at both the beginning and end of each day. Thank you Phillip for organizing and leading our first Lower School Gathering! On to the first day of playground construction, a full 5 day week and our earliest BTSN that I can remember. Best of luck with your BTSN preparations.

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

Expectations for the WM

Some questions have arisen about the Weekly Memo.  

• We strive to send it out by 2:00pm Sunday.
• You are not expected to read it the moment it arrives in your inbox.
• You are expected to have read it by noon on Monday.

COMMUNITY

Gathering and Chapel

Chapel and Gathering are required for faculty who teach the grades present at Gathering and Chapel.. We need to set the example for our students about the importance of having a strong and supportive community.

Heidi Hackenjos

Heidi let me know on Friday that she has accepted a job as a Children’s Librarian at West Linn Public Library, her neighborhood library. Her last day at OES will be 9/22. Please join me in thanking Heidi for her years of service to our school and in congratulating on her on her new position.

Senior Entrance

Be up on the sidewalk close to 8:00 at the Belltower if you want to watch the Class of 2018 make their entrance.

Lower School Gathering:

THANK YOU CHAPLAIN PHILLIP!! What a wonderful first gathering! Many have asked to have access to the gathering slideshow, it is linked here. David is ordering 2 ukuleles to be hung in common spaces in hopes of building our faculty players!

A Note from Phillip:

With tremendous appreciation for your flexibility on Friday morning with our first LS Gathering.

Immediate takeaways:

1.  We need a little more room.  We have plans for that next week.

2.  We need songs that will be easy to sing, even without a lot of reading.

3.  We need a little more direction at dismissal.  That's easy.

3.  We need to remember that LS students love minions and water skiing kittens.

Our weekly goal will be to start at 8:10 am sharp.  Hoping we can reach that mark quickly, as we become "rooted in a rhythm of gathering..."

If you have special ideas, announcements, ways to celebrate your students, please let me know. A special thanks to David for his good words, and to Chris, for modeling student leadership right away.

Next Friday (September 15th) will include promotions for our amazing guest author visit (thank you Lara), and it's International Dot Day (thank you Margaret)!

PreK, K and Primary teachers - we look forward to seeing you with us on Friday, September 29th!

Lower School Chapel:

Our first LS Chapel (Primary - 5th grade) is next Tuesday, September 12th, at 8:10 am.  Again, we strive to start on time! The format of LS Chapel will remain familiar and traditional to all returning students and employees.  At the same time, you'll see some subtle changes, based on my priorities for our time together.  All good!

For those of you who like to plan ahead, here are links to LS Chapel Resources:

1.  LS Chapel Seating Chart (DRAFT):  We may "real-time" tinker with this on Tuesday.

2.  LS Chapel Plans for Tuesday, September 12th

3.  Lower School Chapel Schedule for 2017-2018 (Always a draft / living document).

Let me know, as always, if you have questions, ideas or concerns.  Your opinions are important to me, and my door is open.

Guest Teachers

We trained an excellent group of Guest Teachers last week and would like to introduce you to several new additions to our community: please see this link for bios and photos!

Fountas and Pinnell Training Day

We are requesting all teachers involved in the training day to request a guest teacher through SmartFinder this weekend or early in the week. Then the admin team can review guest teachers who are available, fill holes. Please know that the guest teacher you get through SubFinder might be moved. Grades K-2 meet on Monday 9/25 and Grades 3-5 on Tuesday 9/26; you'll need a full day guest teacher.

LS Go To List

Here is the correct link, LS Go To List. Web to be updated soon.

Recess Procedures and Materials

Please assign one member of each recess duty team to make sure the equipment is put away at the end of each recess--it’s important to get the bins back into the shed.  Also review the document that Jessica sent out with ACP, LSP and field recess guidelines. For the South Playground you can access notes here.

Playground Update

Playground Design Team did a wonderful job sharing the playground update and it was thrilling to hear the excitement in the air. We are receiving poster size pictures of the playground plans next week. These posters will be placed facing out from the Performance Commons, the Dining Commons and facing into the library, as a lookout station to see construction from a bird’s eye view.  If your class has any additional questions and would like to write the team a letter, just put the letter in Chris’ mailbox, the team will meet to respond or may find a time to come to your classroom to respond. The team will also provide some playground updates during gatherings throughout construction.

A reminder that construction starts Monday. The area will be fenced off but students will still be able to view the construction from the playground, as well as the library! During drop off and pick up, construction vehicles will move out of loop road so regular bus services and car pick up can occur. The cement walkways will also remain available to exit through gates and access all doors and line up areas. We are hoping transitions and accessibility will not be impacted. Recess teams should reach out to Chris and Kirstin if help is needed with recess troubleshooting, especially during construction.

Summer Reading and Author Lunch

Summer reading forms are due on Monday, September 11th.  We encourage faculty and staff to participate as well (and just wait until you see this year's "prize"!).  If you need us to come by and pick up student forms from your classroom, let us know.

Please join us in the flex classroom for a catered lunch (salads, protein, bread) from 11:10-12:00 on Tuesday, September 19th with Kathryn Otoshi.  Our author visit luncheons are a wonderful opportunity to informally meet with our guest.  No worries if you cannot attend for the full time.  You are welcome to bring your own lunch from the cafeteria, but I do need to know the number of folks who will be getting their meal from the catered lunch! RSVP here.

LS Picture Days

Wednesday 9/13 and Thursday 9/14. Kathy sent you this link Friday to sign up.

Employee Giving to the OES Fund: A Community Endeavor

It is that time of year to consider making a gift to the OES fund. Please know that a gift of any amount is truly valuable as a statement of your support for this school, these students, and this community.  Strong participation in annual giving inspires others to join in, and together we can make a significant investment in the work of OES.

As a new feature this year, you can designate your gift to a specific area, including Financial Aid, Athletics, Arts and Literature, Science and Technology, or Service and Community. If there is a particular focus that is dear to your heart, consider donating a gift to that program area.

The form is entirely online this year. Follow the link below to access it:

https://www.oes.edu/employees/employee-giving-form

Again, your gift of any amount is valued and valuable. Please consider joining in giving to the OES Fund: A Community Endeavor. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. Thank you!

Kristen, your OES Fund LS representative this year

Room Parents

Room parents for 2017-2018 are as follows:

PreK:  Kristin Deshmukh

Breiten/Tharp: Rachel Young

Bridgnell: Lana Lervick

Endicott:  Shuba Venkatesh

Primary: Ashley Bingham

Kucera: Andrea Nicholas

Whitmore: Kathleen Drinkward

Blake: Wendy Wray

Brauer: Verity Loudon

Schilling: Shauneen Field

Johnson-Mounsey/Lee: Anne Borus

Griffin: Jane Gratteri

Moulton: Stephanie Allderdice

Taylor: Jen Gabrielson

Arensberg: Shaan Devaraj

Sathyaraj: Ann Stone

Akehurst: Deb Pajor

Busick: Kelly Hatler

Duden:  Hilary Day

PROGRAM

Faculty Meetings

Monday, 9/11 - BTSN prep. No meeting

Thursday, 9/14 - BTSN recovery. No Meeting. LS Cafe open.

Monday, 9/18 - Professional Growth Block (PGB), look for invitations

Thursday, 9/21 - Teams

LS Faculty Calendar

• Please make sure your grade level calendar rep has loaded your grade level events to the LS Faculty Calendar, as we’ll be completing a calendar overview soon.  
• If you have an all day event, please list it under “all day events” instead of listing a start and end time.

Back to School Night, Wednesday, September 13

We will follow a similar format to last year with parents rotating through three presentations; 25 min. with specialists, 55 min. with classroom teachers and 25 min for a State of Lower School.

• Based on feedback from last year we have doubled the amount of time classroom teachers have with parents.  
• Please remember to introduce your Room Parent during your classroom session.
• All faculty should plan on staying 6:30-8:30 in case parents come back to visit you during one of your open blocks.  
• Specialists, no need to set up tables as there is no open block for parents. You will have about 3 minutes to introduce yourself and your program.
• Assistant teachers should attend the hour and a half most relevant to their grade level/s.

The Rotation:

6:00-6:30	Parent coffee/social in the Dining Commons
Time	Classroom	Classroom	Specialist	State of LS
	Classroom	Classroom	Dining Common	LS Library
6:30-6:55	PK, K, P		1st, 2nd	3rd, 4th, 5th
7:00-7:25	PK, K,P	3rd, 4th, 5th		1st, 2nd
7:30-7:55	1st, 2nd	3rd, 4th, 5th	PK, K, P
8:00-8:25	1st, 2nd		3rd, 4th, 5th	PK, K, P

BTSN Food for Teachers

The LS Admin Team is providing Jimmy John’s sandwiches for the LS BTSN supper. Please choose your selection in the Jimmy John's sandwich survey, DUE on MONDAY, September 11th at 1:00 pm. Chips, cookies and drinks are also provided in the LS Conference Room.

September Author Visit

Author and Illustrator Kathryn Otoshi will visit us in the Lower School Library on Tuesday, September 19th. We will gather around her book "Beautiful Hands" during our Friday, September 15th gathering.  Here is a short article/interview about the book. Once you return to class please have each child trace their hands onto white construction paper (or watercolor paper-NO printer paper).  Each hand should be painted in your grade level color. (Fourth grade, check with Lara). Your parent volunteer should cut them out over the weekend and return them by Monday morning (9/18) to the Library mailbox in the office.

1) THICKNESS OF PAPER: the weight/thickness of white construction paper or watercolor paper or cardstock can work!

Just not thin ordinary printer paper, or it won’t hold the paint well

2) ONE HANDPRINT PER CHILD - yes!

And please cut out the hand print.

If you’d like, the kids can put their name on the front of the handprint. They will put their commitment to do something kind for someone every day on the back.

8-8:50 1st presentation to grades 3-5

9-9:50 2nd presentation to grades 1-2

10-10:30 PreK-Primary

10:30-11:10 Break and Book signing

11:10-12:00 Lunch with Faculty

12-3:30 Spirit Bird Work (with 2 or more volunteers)

A reminder that Library classes will be cancelled on September 19th due to  our author visit. Contact Lara to discuss open library times, if you need them on other days that week.

We will provide you with pre-order forms this week to send home with your students.  As always, this is optional.  They need to be returned to Heidi or Lara by September 11th. Questions, see Lara.

Student Information

See Ari’s email about accessing student information on the SST site and individual student files.

Schedules / Calendars

The 6 Day Calendar is a year at a glance of the rotating days.

Homeroom /Specialist Classroom Schedules have been updated.

Intensive Specialist Rotation: 2-5 Intensive rotation blocks.

Duty Schedule 2017-2018: Our new duty schedule! One consistent duty for most people to help simplify things and to allow for duty groups to help with consistency. David, Kirstin, Chris T. and the Assistant Teachers have two duties each rotation. There are a few teachers we have asked to do one additional duty to fulfill all our obligations; a big thank you to everyone who was able to help out with extra duties. Overall, it is a big reduction of duties and we are hopeful it will be beautifully successful!

Rotating Events on the Calendar: This updated document will help you add rotating events on your personal Google calendar. The first sheet has steps and a short video; the following sheets have templates. A new tab has been added titled “LS Rotate.” Many teachers wanted the rotating days listed on their classroom schedule page or professional calendar or elsewhere for their planbook, their class website, etc. So I created a spreadsheet for the rotating days. All you need to do is download this sheet to csv and upload into the calendar you choose.

Chapel and Gathering

Phillip will be coordinating our gathering as a Lower School community. Please note:

• Lower School Chapel will be on Tuesdays, 8:10 -8:40 with the exception of the weeks of Giving Chapel on Friday 12/8 and Ash Wednesday on 2/14 (please note this is also Valentine’s Day).
• Lower School Gathering will be on Fridays, 8:10 - 8:30 ( PK, K, P will join once a month for an all LS gathering followed by buddy time).
• Lodge Strategy Workshop Gatherings will take place on B day mornings with the affinity commons portion of the gathering from 8:50-9:05.

Summer Stipends

There are two documents you will need to submit to Lyn when you return in August in order to be paid for your time:

• Summer stipend completion form
• Summer report

Forms can be  found in LS Important Docs, in the “Summer Stipend” folder.

OPERATIONS

Attendance and Plan Changes

We have a new system in reporting attendance and changes to the after school plan – Kathy emailed you this protocol on Tuesday. We would like every parent to fill out this new form so we get an accurate report. If parents email you directly to report a change or an absence directly, please direct them to the form directly.

Here is the generic response:

Dear Parent –

Kindly fill out this form Student Absence and Plan Change to report an absence or a change to an after school plan.

Food From Home

Just a reminder that all food for students is provided by OES in order to support our efforts to be an allergy-aware campus.  Any families hoping to send food for snacks or lunches from home with their child must have approval from the nurse or your Assistant Head.  Please make sure you have obtained such approval before encouraging anyone to bring food from home.

Budgets

See Lyn’s note. Some grades have spent more on supplies. Overages have been charged to grade level budgets. See David with questions or concerns.

Cleaning Materials

After the outbreak of norovirus in some of the classrooms last year, we began to reevaluate the chemicals that we use to clean the lower school classrooms. As a result, we have switched to a green friendly line of products from GenEon that is not only safer to use around children, but one that also has the EPA's stamp of approval to kill norovirus. I'm having Jacobo deliver a bottle of sanitizer/cleaner to each of the classrooms today. The product will remain effective as a cleaner until the bottle is empty. However, it will need to be emptied/replenished within 90 days before it begins to lose its effectiveness as a disinfectant. We're happy to refill bottles as needed, but I'll most likely mark the calendar and put in a request for bottles be left out for an exchange before Thanksgiving break. As with any chemical, bottles should be stored in a place that is not accessible to children. It would be appreciated if you could, please, relay this information to the teaching staff.

Also, if anyone has any questions regarding the product, they're welcome to either look up information from the manufacturer's website at geneontechnologies.com, or contact me directly.

TIME SHEET

• Time sheet is required for nonexempt employee. Fill out your timesheet digitally in ADP and approve it twice a month: 15th and the 30th
• Enter your absences in your digital time sheet – this also means these absences were reported in the Smartfinder.
• If a teacher asks that you work beyond your approved work hours, you need to notify Kirstin (PK – 1 AT) or Chris (2nd – 5thAT) about the request. Kirstin or Chris will submit the Lead teacher request to David for approval. Your division Assistant Head will email you and copy Lyn once the lead teacher request has been approved. The Assistant Heads’ email is Lyn's record on file as a proof for the overtime hours she is going to submit for payment to HR.
• If you were a Lead Sub Teacher – you will need to check in and check out in the Sub time sheet binder in the office.

LUNCH and BREAKS:

• All nonexempt employees working 6 continuous hours or more in a day are required to take a 30-minute unpaid meal, preferably in the middle of a shift – page 17 in the Employee Handbook
• All nonexempt employees receive a 10-minute paid rest break for each 4 hours of work time… Break periods may not be used or skipped to extend a lunch period. Work overtime, arrive late
• 1.0 FTE AT  – may take two 10-minute break: one in mid-morning and one in mid-afternoon
• .75 FTE AT may take one 10-minute break either in the morning or afternoon.

Custodians: Ivan Raymond and Guillermina (Gigi) Sanden will be cleaning our building at the start of this year. Please clean-up after your students so they can focus on basic cleaning and sanitizing.

Family Emergency Plan

The Department of Homeland Security has an online guide to making a family emergency plan. Please make sure you have one in place for your peace of mind in the event of an extreme emergency.

Emergency Alerts

Honeywell Instant Alert is the system we use to notify parents and employees during an

emergency or school closure.

All new employees please use the link in this tutorial from Rebecca to set up your account so you can start getting messages.

For the rest of us the beginning of the year is a good time to check your settings and make any

changes needed to continue receiving alerts.  This is particularly important if you have changed

cell phone providers.

LS Storage Room - Prevent Tragedy of the Commons

Please take sometime to straighten up you part of the LS Storage Area. It is beginning to suffer the tragedy of the commons.

Budget information

These are your options when you are ready to purchase your classroom supplies:

• Through Kathy’s Lower School New Order Request 2017-2018
• LS Visa – to be used in the LS Office only so bring your laptop and have your order ready. Always email me or print a copy of the confirmation receipts stating the purchase amount.  

Maintenance

As you go about rearranging furniture please keep the following in mind:

• shelves and other free-standing vertical elements need to be less than 48” tall.  If an item is 48” or tall it needs to be secured to a wall to reduce earthquake hazard.
• We need to maintain clear pathway(s) of 42” or more in the commons.  
• Be aware of the carpet trip hazards, so any carpeting with curling potential needs to be clearly out of paths of travel.   

Cooling the Building

In an effort to realize the energy efficiency of our building, here are the basics of keeping your room cool. Remember that part of the building design is to provide a wider temperature range,  as low as 66 during heating season and as high as 76 degrees in cooling season.

1. Nighttime air flush to cool building down. Automatic, no teacher action required.

2. Open windows in am to cool room further

3. Press green light button, after opening windows, to increase airflow, cooling

4. After green light goes off, close windows and let building manage cooling

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.