LS Weekly Memo
Weekly Memo Week 40 May 18-22, 2015
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MHCSD just keeps getting better. Thank you to all, and especially Jenny Cleveland, for making such a day possible for our students. The 5th graders are off to Camp Hancock for the week. David will be joining them Wednesday to Friday. Chris will be in charge.
COMMUNITY
Uniform-Optional Day, Wednesday, 5/27 – In thanks for the tremendous success of Project 2nd Wind
Google Transitions
Let Brad know if you are encountering any challenges with the email and calendar transitions.
Safety Issues on Field Trips
We have had three safety issues occur related to day and overnight trips.
1. One class left the emergency form binder left behind
2. Two classes took the medications for the wrong child on their trip
Follow the trip checklist carefully. Attend to all safety matters.
Chapel
We’ve had discussions with Fifth Graders about not talking with their classmates in Chapel. Let’s tighten up our expectations by first reminding students about respectfully not talking in Chapel. Should they continue talking, have them sit next to you.
Substitutes
Know that we do not have substitutes for counselor, chaplain or academic specialist. We will work on providing as much advanced notice as we can for these absences.
Remember: AP Exams and Lunch
Thanks for your extra efforts last week. One more to go: May 20. Have Lower School students enter and leave the dining hall through the entrance near the dorms and back parking lot. AP Exams in the US Library and Platt classroom. Enter quietly.
Hiring Updates
● Kindergarten – Beth Breiten will be the new Kindergarten teacher
● Spanish- Alfredo Peche will be the new PK – 3 Spanish Teacher
● Chaplain search – We are continuing the search
● Technology – Jeffrey Sprague will be the interim technology coordinator
Class Placement – 2nd round with Specialist input begins this week
LS Building Groundbreaking - Friday May 29, 8:30 -9:00
Planning is underway for the Ground Breaking on May 29. All of LS will attend.
Saying Goodbye to BS Building
We are exploring ways to say goodbye to the building during the last week of school. Send ideas to Margaret Synan-Russell, Laura Foster-Flynn, the BS team or David.
Moving Into Coffees
Based on parent feedback, the majority of the MIC’s will be informational. We will reserve the final 10 minutes for Q and A. Our thanks to all who contributed this last week.
Tuesday, May 26
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Moving into 2nd
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8:00 - 9:30
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LS CH
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Tuesday, June 1
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Moving into 4th
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8:00 – 9:30
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LS CH
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Wednesday, June 2
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Moving into 3rd
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8:00 – 9:30
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LS CH
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Incident Reports - Incident Reports
Discipline
When students need interventions because of their behavior, we have varying levels of intervention:
● Classroom Teacher
● Chris O’Toole
● LS Office
Remember that Melanie’s role as counselor does not include discipline interventions, unless of course she is the teacher on the scene. She can play a valuable role in problem solving and proactive skill building.
Students Who Need Extra Support
● Simon W. and Gabriel H. need swift intervention if they are revving up. No second chances. Provide place to cool down and reset. See Chris or Erin for details.
● Deborah’s K Boys
The boys in Deborah’s class are working on being less physical with each other. Deborah or Chris will provide details.
PROGRAM
Summer Stipends – Due this week.
Department Chairs and Team Leaders will be soliciting summer stipend requests and helping prioritize requests. We have 90 stipend days for the entire Lower School faculty and a lot of ideas for possible stipends:
UBD work
FLG needs
New Teaching Teams - K, 1st, 4th
Inquiry design
Literacy continuums
Team Leader/ Department initiatives
Grade level team initiatives
UBD Reminder
Each grade level should have three units of understanding designed by the start of school 2015.
Summary of an article about the backwards design process.
Global Studies
Here is a link to a fascinating program, Global Competency Certificate, offered by Columbia Teachers College : http://globalcompetencecertificate.org/
LSCTF
We had an interesting exchange of structures, strategies, language and rituals around reading instruction. More on this at our closing faculty meeting in June. Our thanks to those who served on the Task Force this year.
LSLT
Conversation about the final month of school, ways to say good-bye to the Beginning School, and creative conversations about natural materials and the playground for next year.
Faculty Meetings - Thurs., 5/21 - Packing and Moving
Moving Logistics - 7:40 LS Art Room
Jon von Behren and Rod Maynard will be joining us.
We will start in the Art Room to discuss details, then move to your transitional spaces to finalize thinking about your new space, including minimal maintenance requests, mailto:maintrequest@oes.edu, needed to get your room ready for September.
Packing, Moving and Unpacking
The moving company has been hired. The challenge - we all need to be ready to move on Friday, 6/19:
4th and 5th @ 8:00 am
1st and 2nd @ 10:00 am
PK, K and P @ 1:00 pm
LS Office @ 3:00 pm
The good news – none of the rooms BS, 1-2nd or 4-5th are using will be used this summer so you have great flexibility for when you do room set-up.
More good news- Bill and his crew will clean rooms that are needed for camp first, then clean all other rooms. He knows that you want to unpack over the summer in clean rooms!
Team Leader Agenda
● Plans for 2015-16
● IDT planning
● Summer Stipends
Safety - Students not alone in the classroom
Positive Discipline Workshop - Mind Map
Safe Schools - Previous WM
Giving to the Building - Previous WM
Math Feedback - Previous WM
UBD Reminder - Previous WM
Lower School Building – Previous WM
PGD – Previous WM
2015-16 Budget – Previous WM
Community Talks - Here is a link
OPERATIONS
Overnight Trips
Fifth Grade Camp Hancock- Mon., May 18th-Fri., May 22nd
Please sign up to cover chaperone’s recess and lunch duties the week they are away.
Things From Home
Pokeman or magic cards need to stay at home and should not be brought to school – per LS Admin Team. Toys from home should stay there. See Student Handbook.
Special requests – see Chris or David.
Lego Show – Next Weekend
Lego Show goes on the road the 5/30 and 5/31 at the Oregon Zoo. Stop by, or offer to help out. Our students do amazing work!
LS Library Inventory
We will be doing a full and thorough inventory and weeding project in preparation for next year and the future move June 1-5. In order to do this, we are requesting that all materials be returned to the library as soon as possible. Student materials are due Friday, May 22nd and we would love if classroom materials which you are not using could be returned by this date as well. The last full day of regularly scheduled library classes will be Friday, May 29th. Thank you for your flexibility on with this! Please let your families know that we will be open June 8-10th for summer check-out. We encourage people to borrow materials over the summer after we have inventoried them.
Recycling Information from Kelly
As your start to pack up classrooms for summer or the move to new spaces, please be mindful of recycling. Co-mingling of recyclable products and garbage are on an upswing right now. Not only does recycling the right way, minimize our garage expenses on campus, it ensures that our recycling is actually recycled and stays out of the landfill. See an easy to follow recycling poster to help with the process….
CHANGES to Room 10:
● to maintain the current organization in Room 10, the lock will be changed this week. The new key to gain access in Room 10 will be in the office
● approval is needed from the office if you wish to store materials in Room 10
● Unaccounted items are discarded every Friday
Unsafe Use of Mini Aardvark- Please Be Vigilant
Jane pointed out to me that children of all ages and stages are sitting on the railings on the second story of Mini Aardvark. This is really unsafe. Teachers, could you bring this to your student’s attention? Folks on duty, please redirect children if they continue to sit on railings.
Substitutes - Please do not contact our Substitutes directly
OES LS Uniform Policy - Friendly Reminder
Catering Orders - must be ordered 5 - 10 Business days BEFORE the event
See - Ordering Catering
Monkey Bars and Green Rainbow
All School Calendar Summit to Be Rescheduled
Packing Boxes
Culling for our move to temporary spaces? Here’s Some Donation Ideas
Friendly Reminder About Toys Brought to School
Attendance input at 8:00
The Yellow Line and Safety
When to Use LS Division Only and All School
Recess Reminders
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.
