Sunday, February 19, 2017

Weekly Memo
Week 27, February 20-25, 2017

Congratulations to Tina’s class on the amazing performances of Woven Tales. You can only imagine how hard they worked on the play that was personal in subject, powerful in content and technically complex. It would not have been possible without a herculean effort by many, most especially Tina, Peter B, and Emily Stone, thank you.
Good luck posting your comments into PCR, if you have not done so already. And remember Monday is F Day then Tuesday is B Day.
As a collaborative professional community Lower Faculty Employees will strive to:
  • 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


COMMUNITY
Duty Consistency
We need people to do their duties and do it on time. Too many teachers are left outside alone with large groups of students. If this happens to you, please send a text or student into Lyn and Kathy. They will send someone out and find the duty people who are needed.
F Day Again
The class schedule you had Friday--duties, rotating specialist, regularly schedule specialists, etc are the same on Monday --another F day.
Fariss Hall Construction Begins
Fariss Hall remodel is scheduled to begin on Monday. The two front entrances to Fariss Hall will be used by construction. Students coming and going to music classes will need to go around to the old 3rd Grade entrance facing the Chapel.
LS Religion Teacher, 2nd Semester. The Plan
Heather Wenrick - 5th grade
Jenny Cleveland - 2nd - 4th religion. She will also help with other important events.
Kathleen Hicks - PK through 1st grades yoga, mindfulness. She will also provide YogaCalm for 2-5 as requested.
OBOB
Congratulations to the 4th Grade for positive OBOB competition this week. "Platinum Aardvarks Reading Cookies" (Margot, Carson, Sana, and Ben S.) from Mrs. Sathyaraj's class will travel to regionals. Check out Lara’s library blog for more information.
LS Chapel
3-1-17 Please note that this 3/1 chapel is on Wednesday to observe Ash Wednesday. There is no Tuesday chapel that week.

New Employees
Long Term PE sub (Jessica) - Jake Evans, former OES student
Long Term 3rd Grade sub (Tonya) -  Jefna Cohen
Long Term 5th Grade sub (Alysa) -  Caley Peterson
3rd Grade Job Share Partner for 2017-18 - Suzanne Lee
2017-18 Hires
LS Chaplain - reviewing resumes
Admissions Decisions
Thank you to all who have helped with Admissions visitors this year. We are in the midst of rating and selecting candidates. Families will be notified about decisions in March.
Student Support Team
Check the SST tab or schedule a a time to meet with the team.
Students of Concern
5th - Arthur Hagen Fonbonne
Suspended for use of inappropriate language, physical touch and dishonest conduct. He returns to school on Monday. See Chris or David if you have questions. Any further incidents related to these three should be reported directly to the LS Office so either Chris or David can follow-up. Arthur has lost the privilege of attending Extension until Spring Break.
5th - Gabe Heydon
Suspended for use of inappropriate language and physical touch. He returns to school on Monday. See Chris or David if you have questions. Any further incidents related to this should be reported directly to the LS Office so either Chris or David can follow-up.
5th - grade language
We have received several reports of 5th graders using inappropriate language at school.  All three classes have been informed that use of such language needs to stop. Incidents should be reported directly to the classroom teacher.
4th - Mia Schoenkerman
Mia is having frequent bloody noses. When she has one she needs to go to the office.
Major Lower School Rules
The following infractions are considered serious and could result in a range of consequences including dismissal from the school. Unless otherwise stated, these rules apply to conduct at all school-related events both on and off campus.
Verbal abuse, physical abuse, bullying, or inappropriate physical touch.
Lying, deceit, or other dishonest conduct
Destruction of property belonging to the School, its personnel, or another student
Stealing
Inappropriate language
Possession or use of weapons or any object that is used in a threatening manner
Yoga & Mindfulness offerings!
Kathleen Hicks is doing Yoga Calm classes to grades pre-k to 1st. David has also approved for her to teach up to 4 hours of additional classes per week in the lower school, including teaching your 2nd to 5th graders! The classes that she teaches offer a supportive and restorative space for the children to gain skills using mindfulness in motion (aka Yoga!) as well as social-emotional games and activities. She weave the Yoga Calm principles of listening (to ourselves and to one another), grounding (present moment awareness), stillness, strength (physical, mental and emotional), and community (such as supporting one another, using your power for good, etc…) as well as  developing and practicing compassion, kindness and gratitude, into each of the classes.  Kathleen has taught Kiah’s 3rd graders and Tasha’s 5th graders (in addition to the BY students) so you can check in with them if you are curious.
There is a google calendar called “Yoga/Mindfulness” which some of you have access to due to your expressed interest. Please let Kathleen know if you would like her to add you. On the calendar, She blocked times when she is “Available” to teach. You can either email her or add your class in during “Available” times.  30 minutes to 1 hour is best. If 30 minutes, it is preferable if classes are back to back (minimum of an hour at a time) since she is only coming into OES to teach, but check in with her regardless if you just want a ½ hour and can’t find another class to attach it to.
Other ideas to keep in mind:
-       I could teach ½ of your students at a time (30 minutes each, back to back)
-       I teach a mixed class of kindergarteners and primarians once a week (3-4 kids from each class once a week). The teachers decide who they will send each week. I could offer something like this for your students.
-       I could also work with smaller groups of children who would either really enjoy this practice and/or could really benefit from these skills.
-    Another idea (similar to what they offer in middle school) would be to offer a weekly drop-in time during recess for when kids might feel like they could benefit from some quiet or rest.
Of course,Kathleen is open to any ideas that you have as well. Please feel free to reach out to her: kathleenjhicks@gmail.com


PROGRAM
Reporting Timeline
Monday, Feb. 20, 8:00am: PCR Locks. Reports posted reports to PCR.
Friday, Feb. 24: Reports go out to parents, ERBs sent via US mail.
Thursday-Friday, Mar. 2-3: LS Conferences
Report Proofing Plan--PCR locks on Monday 2/20, so please make sure your reports have been submitted and double checked to make sure each child has the correct information.
  • Grade Level Classroom Teachers - proof each others
  • Primary - Shelley proofs Chris O's
  • Art - Chris proofs Margaret’s grades 3-5, Kirstin proofs Laura’s and Margaret grades 1-2
  • Music - Kristen and Amy proof each others
  • PE - Proof each others
  • Spanish - Kelola proofs Alfredo’s. Chris proofs Kelola's.
  • Science - David proofs Jane’s
Science Fair
On Thursday, February 23rd, from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, the exhibit hall in SPARC Gymnasium is open to the public. This is an excellent time for members of the entire OES community to spend time perusing the wide array of 200+ incredible projects and reading exhibit boards. Student exhibitors will not be with their projects for interviews.
Book Basket for Auction
A big thanks to the folks who have already signed up to bring a book for our Lower School Auction Basket of Favorite LS Books.  We are looking for at least 10 more books, so please consider sharing one of your favorites.  Gently used books are just fine as well.  I will need your contribution by Thursday, the 23rd.  Thanks for considering!
Woven Tales Connections
Bravo to Tina's class for an amazing and inspiring play!  If you are finding that your class is intrigued by the play and would like some excellent stories about the immigrant experience, please let Lara or Heidi know if you would like any of the books pictured below and we can deliver them to you-or feel free to come by and browse them and other titles.


Support at Conferences
If you would like Ari, Melanie or your Assistant Head to attend any of your conferences, please let them know as soon as possible so they can reserve the time on their calendars. Be sure to inform parents who will be attending and why.
Conference Reschedules
If parents are unable to attend a conference on either 3/2 or 3/3, and they cannot make a virtual conference work either by phone or remote video connection, they need to request permission from David for a conference on a different day. It is important to be consistent about this.
Conference Schedules can be found here:
PreK
Primary
Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade
3rd Grade
4th Grade
5th Grade
Specialist Teachers
Ms. Patricia Polacco’s visit is finally here!
Here is the schedule for Thursday 2/23 and here you can find the resource page from our earlier conversations.
8:20 Arrives on campus
9:00-10:00 1st and 2nd grades
10:15-11:15 Pre-K through Primary
11:15-12:15 Lunch with Ms. Polacco-please join us if, and when, you can in the Flex classroom.
Please RSVP if you would like to attend the catered lunch so we can have enough food on hand.  You are always welcome to bring lunch from the cafeteria. This link will close Monday afternoon so catering can be completed.
12:30-1:30 3rd-5th grades
If you have any student created work connected to her books, please let me know. We have space at the entrance of the library to publicly display the work. This would be especially lovely for Mrs. Polacco to see on her visit.
Additionally, please remind your students about behavior while listening to a presenter and storyteller.  I know she has high expectations around students listening as she presents.  She will take questions, but at the end of the presentation.  Knowing this ahead of time might help students remember to hold their comments and questions until she requests them.  
Remote Learning
Thanks for all your efforts getting out your virtual learning plans in January! There were some great photos and audio circulating of kids engaged in their home learning experiences. Please take some time at your next team meeting to reflect on what went well, what you’d continue, and what adjustments you might make next time. Keeping an updated plan ready to go will help you easily meet the 9 am deadline for any inclement weather closures.
For your reference, here’s the screencast Chris made of how to save your Google Doc so people outside OES can view it. Please let Chris, Kirstin or the tech team know if you need any support with the technology end of your plan and distribution.

  • Monday 2/20 - No Meeting - Reports into PCR
  • Thursday, 2/23 - BY/IY/ Department - Auction Announcement in Library
  • Monday, 2/27 - Open
  • Thursday, 3/2 - No Meeting, LS Conferences
New science play equipment has been added to the Kindergarten playground, funded by a Beginning Years application to the Lamb Endowment. The Lodge teachers will be introducing these materials to their students this week.  If you supervise PreK, Kindergarten or Primary students on that playground, here are the agreements for the new materials:
  • Materials will be stored undercover in the east area of the playground
  • We’ll begin with the ramps, towers and balls and add water later
  • To begin, we’ll use the materials for science explorations/inquiry and keep them together in the east section of the playground (not on the slide, for use in building forts, as props, etc.)
  • When we do add water, the pump is for water only (no dirt or bark chips).
  • It’s important children do not throw the wooden balls. “You may roll the balls” or “Rolling is the safe way to use these” may be helpful phrases.
  • The materials should be sorted and stored at the end of every recess, which may mean designating a few extra minutes to cleaning up before ringing the bell
Thanks for your help in establishing positive use and caretaking routines with these new materials!
Gatherings
Friday 2/24 - All LS Love Assembly. Details to come.
SST meetings are available on Thursdays from 3:15-4:00 for anyone who would like a whole team approach to supporting a student or students. Please contact your Assistant Head to request a Thursday afternoon SST. Also let us know who you’d like to request to attend.

2/6 Assistant Teacher Meeting Rescheduled to 2/27
The Feb. 6th Assistant Teacher Meeting has been rescheduled to Monday, February 27th to accommodate a hiring visit. This is still a D day--the change has been made to the calendar.


OPERATIONS
OES LS Employee Attendance
For any unplanned absences or tardiness, such as illnesses or emergency situations, whether you need a substitute or not, you must notify lssub@oes.edu. We need to track of all Employees who are off campus on a given day. Lyn sends a monthly report to HR about our Division’s attendance.
Playground Update
The design looks to be in line with budget with a few modifications. Jon von Behren is now putting together a request for proposals from contractors. Then we will begin regular meetings to ensure the construction of the design stays within budget. A huge thanks to Chris Thompson and the Student Design Team for getting us this far.
Early Morning Supervision
Just a reminder to please wait until 7:30 am before allowing students into the building each morning.  Children arriving before 7:30 should wait outside the building with their caregivers until the building opens.

Rotating Calendar Confusion
February and March are a bit confusing. Since the rotation days are the same between all divisions and we all have different report writing days off, the days get out of order. I have pulled from the Year Long Intensive Schedule and added some notes to clarify.

A friendly reminder that your Google Calendar has your schedule and should be your go-to for knowing days and classroom schedules. This is our first year and it is bound to be messy. If you want Chris to review your schedule with you, she is happy to meet.
There have been a lot of parent conversations, professional development efforts and instruction around the area of growth mindset lately. We’d love to invite you to use your best growth mindset around the schedule.  Yes, adjusting to a new schedule is frustrating! Yes, trying something new sometimes means learning from the things that don’t work out! Your feedback and ideas will help us improve things for next year, so we’ve created this document for ongoing schedule feedback. And in the meantime, here are some phrases we use with kids that may be helpful for our students and for us:



Flex Classroom
When a group uses the Flex Classroom for a meeting that they need to put the room back in order and ready for teaching. I have drawn a map on the whiteboard for reference.


Early Dismissal Plan/ Emergency Dismissal Plan
All LS employees are expected to remain for at least 30 minutes after the scheduled dismissal time to help with student management.  We will plan for the dismissal of faculty after assessing how many students we have remaining.
Employee Resources
A helpful tool is created in the OES website for employees to save time searching different sites when you need to access the basic forms like check request, catering, maintenance requests and other resources. Check out this link:
ADP Tutorial
For help on any ADP related matters: login or registration, password retrieval, or time card approval process, please view this beautiful presentation that Ed Cecere put together.  This is a helpful guide and should answer your ADP related questions.   If you still have problems after using Ed’s helpful guide, please let Veena: iyengarve@oes.edu know.  There is a plan to put the ADP resource link in the LS Employee Resource page for future reference. Stay tune.
Your Announcements
Send any announcements you have for faculty to Kirstin, Chris or David 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 maximize our time to collaborate during meetings.


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