“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa
Great Start!
You are an amazing team. Thank you for keeping things positive. Thank you for being flexible. Thank you for giving yourself and the kids permission to enjoy each and every moment.
Kids Inc,
Here’s what I know about how things are working with Kids, Inc. this year.
- Kids Inc will be using the following spaces each day; gym, room 14, cafeteria and playground.
- Their enrollment is currently at 105. (First day they had 40, the second day they had 70.)
- All kids should first head to the gym to be signed in and drop their backpacks.
- The sign-in/sign-out will be located in gym door.
- Once signed in, most all kids will be outside while the weather is nice.
- The cafeteria will be used for arts & crafts and snack space (no more food in the gym – yeah!).
- Room 14 will be used more in the future (especially when we need to use the gym for events) as an enrichment space and/or homework space.
- Kids. Inc staff is increased by two more people.
Culmination Planning
Please get your Fall Culmination info in ASAP. The sooner we have this information the sooner we can be prepared. I am working with Walter to have everything really well-planned out for our culmination season(s) and the good news is we feel it will be much easier with our current plan. Ideally, we should look to use a common start time of 5:30, with a setup time of 4:30. This will ensure we don’t disrupt their program and we should have adequate time to use our different spaces. https://forms.gle/foYjjT9dQ5Uig79S6
Here is who we have so far;
- Misha
- Marieka
- Becky E
- JJ
- Michele
PTO Update
- As of this week, we are already past 45% of the giving campaign goal!
- The first general meeting is on Tuesday 9/10 at 8:00am. Meetings are going to be in the Library.
- Linked below is the proposed budget I spoke to you about at our staff meeting.
- Proposed 2019-2020 Budget
- I also have some good news regarding your Classroom/Storyline Funds. We received a very generous direct donation from a parent in June. Normally I would direct these types of donations right to the PTO, but after some conversation and research, I decided to put this directly into our Student Body Funds. The one stipulation I have with this kind of donation is that money must go directly to students. The best way I can think to do this is to distribute the bulk of this funding toward your accounts. This is a one-time boost to these funds. Shawna and I will make your balances available to you next week.
Radios
We have new radios (walkie-talkies)! I will share more details later, but these are much lighter and sleeker than the old ones. They also have the capability to be used district-wide.
Potential Schedule Disruptions
Just a heads up (and asking for patience and forgiveness upfront…);
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Parent Lunch – Friday, 9/13
- Picture Day & Dibels Day – Wednesday, 9/25
- Vision Screening – Friday,10/4
- Bus Evacuations – Friday, 10/11
Dreambox
The message below is from Skip regarding a new program available to grades 2 through 5 on the iPad;
You may have noticed a new application when you log into Clever. Dreambox is a new program that you will be able to use with your students this year. You will receive training on this program on or after September 17th, but some of you may be eager to start using it earlier. If you are one of those people here are some resources for you:
- Welcome to Dreambox video
- A Dreambox Learning Welcome video
- Dreambox Welcome Kit for Teachers document
- Tips for Getting Started document
*** Initial Placement Level-Must be done BEFORE students access their account for the 1st time. Using effective data, determine if any students are still working more than 1.5 grade levels below their age assigned grade level. If so, adjust their content level starting point to meet them where they are performing. Here is avideo explaining that.
Happy Exploring!
Kerry, Skip, John, and Amy
Insurance- The following was shared from HR:
Open enrollment is upon us, and as of today we have 1,130 employees who have not yet elected their benefits for the 2019-2020 school year. Open enrollment ends September 15th, which will fall on a Sunday this year. OEBB and Bend-La Pine will not be staffed over the final weekend to assist or answer questions. Please encourage your staff to complete enrollment at their earliest convenience so that any technical difficulties or questions can be addressed ahead of the enrollment deadline.
Safe Schools Training – Just a friendly reminder to complete your online Safe Schools Training.