Highland Updates

Happy Friday Everyone!

Forefront

I am really sorry about the forefront training (or lack of) on Tuesday.  In a perfect world it would have been much simpler (and less anxiety-provoking) to show you the system rather than try to talk to you about it.  

Here is a little more background on the “why”;  One crucial component to any RTI system is systematic way to examine student progress/performance across entire classes and grade levels.  There is nothing that says that the system must be in Forefront, however this is far better than trying to create our own system and it much more organized than paper-pencil methods, especially when you consider all our differences in how and what we record.  The broad perspective on student performance allows us to identify gaps and blind spots in both our own instruction and the materials being used and it is a necessary component of our profession.

Kerry will be back here on Tuesday and Wednesday morning (8:05-8:35) to provide training on Forefront.  We are hopeful everything will be loaded and ready to go.  I will try to provide another reminder on Monday afternoon.

Tech Tips

Christie Boen asked me to share the following links with you and I would encourage you to explore this application.  I sincerely wish this program had been around years ago when I first explored the one-to-one iPad world in elementary schools, but it’s better late than never.  Also, Marina is rapidly becoming an expert on this application and she asked me to let you all know that she is eager and more than willing to help anyone build their experience.

Getting Started with Apple Classroom for Elementary

Using Apple Classroom for Elementary

In addition to this program, I would also like to encourage you to explore Google Classroom and the app Marina demonstrated on Wednesday, Classkick.  If you are feeling adventurous and want to give it a try just reach out to Christie, Marina or me.

Cafeteria Behavior

Terry Cashmen and Garra Schulter came to observe our cafeteria for the day and they gave us high marks for the student behavior and flow of everything.  In spite of the low-ceiling and smaller space our students demonstrated great self-control and manners.  Kudos to everyone contributing to this effort – this is definitely a team effort.

Playground Supervision

With the removal of the fence we will be enjoying some much needed space for our recess time.  The tent is going to provide some challenges to our supervision, but I think we can all agree it’s worth the challenge to gain some space back.  We cannot fence off the back of the tent because this needs to remain open for emergency evacuation of the tent.  We will make it off limits however we are going to allow students to use the four square courts when they are open.  We will need to adjust the “patrolling” to be certain we are checking that area frequently.  One person will need to move around to monitor the area from the four-square courts to the swing set.  The other person will need to move around to monitor from the field to the swing set.

Thriving Citizen Meeting Recap (aka PBIS)

Here is a quick recap of our meeting earlier this week.  For more details feel free to see your grade level rep at the meeting, Lorin or me.

• Please remind olders (2/3 & 4/5 ) that they are role models in our school (please walk in hall, don’t laugh at inappropriate kinder behavior).
• Agreements around hallway behavior
  • When coming to and from recess our expectations is no talking. Teachers will try to meet their kids when they are able and at least meet them at their doors.
  • When working in the hallway the expectation is kids are talking in level 1-2 –
  • When walking to and from specialists our expectation is level 0 (silent). Please stay on the right side – many kids need to be taught/re-taught about how to walk on the right side.
  • More Voice Level Posters are on the way so we are all speaking the same language!
• PSI kids will be out on the playground during the 10:30 recess starting on Tuesday. I, Lorin, will meet with them on Monday to talk about this year’s plan.
• We will send out a seating plan and traffic flow plan for our first assembly on Friday, October 6th.
• First student store was a success today thanks to a student/staff team effort.  Future student store dates are on the google calendar.
• I shared a slideshow with photos of the different items to help the kinders and 1st graders come to the “shop” a little better prepared to make those tough choices – I hope that helped.

Leadership Meeting RecapWe had a discussion on Active Shooter Response & Training.  There really are no changes to be communicated however a recent article prompted me to ask some questions and gather a little more information for future plans.

Our second topic was Messaging and Challenges around School Design.  I want to continue to revisit this topic in an effort to make this process fit our needs and push us (without overwhelming us).

One goal (also related to messaging) I will work on for future Weekly Updates is to make things more concise to make it easier to scan.

Once again, please see your grade level rep for more details.

Parent Newsletter

If you have not already seen it, the parent newsletter is going out in a slightly different manner.  You should be receiving a brief email message with a link.  The link takes you directly to the website where all the newsletters are archived and easy to access.  If you have not received these email prompts each Friday, please let me know.  Thank you to Shawna and Deb for making the new process work.

If you ever have any special messages of gratitude or appreciation you would like to include in the newsletter, please send it to us (Shawna, Deb, and me) and we would love to add it in.

Click below for a quick look at the calendar;

Calendar Link

There is much more to share, but this message is long enough, so I am pulling the plug for now.  I’ll end by reiterating my appreciation for working with each and everyone of you.  I am so fired up to come to work each day and I love watching this community learn and grow.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Brian

Hi Team, I am sharing this update earlier this week because I will be out of town this Friday so Lorin will have things covered for the day.

Assembly Change of Plan

I am sorry for this change, but we are going to postpone our assembly by a week.  This will allow us to use the tent for the first assembly rather than travel to Westside.  It will be a tighter fit but I think we will be able to create a theater-in-the-round experience that will be really fun.  While we are on the subject of the tent; The tent is due to be occupiable on October 2nd.  The heaters and the floors will not be done at this time, but I am working on the timeline to get these done hopefully before the Fall Festival.  Almost there!!

SLGGs Update

We were given a quick update on SLGGs for the year, so I will do my best to share the changes with you now, but there will be more information later.  The most significant change is the scoring matrix that is usually in the evaluation system is no longer being used.  There will be something in the rubric that addresses the SLGGS but it will no longer involve the scoring piece.  The basic process will be goal setting, ensure goals are rigorous and appropriate, mid year review, and year-end review.  There are still some questions about the process that are still unanswered, for example, “What does the form look like?” but that is all still a work in progress.  If this information seems a little late then we are in agreement!  ODE did not share the specifics with the district until August 30th and there is small team attempting to make the process fit our own needs as much as humanly possible rather than be an additional burden.  Some key take-aways; “We still are doing SLGGs and the rumors of them going away are unfounded.”  Second, “We are doing what we can to make the process more meaningful and congruent to our own processes already in place.”  Stay tuned for more info later.

Staff Room

Friendly reminder; Please look at the staff refrigerator for the staff room duty schedule.

Erin’s Law Update

A few things were shared with us this week that I want to pass along regarding Erin’s law.  The Kid’s Center is working with the district to help schools accomplish more in the area of child abuse prevention.  The first step of child education K through 12 is already in place with our Safe TOUCH lessons.  The second step is annual training for staff; we have ours scheduled in January.  The third involves more education for parents and this is the part we are working on.  We will be sending home an education packet for parents and we will be working with the Kids’ Center to provide more opportunities for the Darkness to Light trainings for parents.

School Design

Destination = Successful Student B

Calendar Link

Have a great weekend!!

Brian

Congratulations on your first full week; it was a great one!  Sorry this is not as concise as I would like but I am hoping the messages still make sense.

Emergency Drills

Just a reminder that I have posted the first four drills on the staff calendar to provide some prior notice to prepare and train our younger students.  The time indicated on the calendar is a target time and I will do my best to stick to that time, but please be aware there may be circumstances that cause us to delay from that posted time.  Also, remember these drills are practice opportunities so if something does not go as planned simply use it as a  learning opportunity.

The drill today was incredibly smooth so I really appreciate all the work you did with the students ahead of time to respond so well.

Daily Schedule

Things are already running much more smoothly in terms of recess and cafeteria flow, so thank you for your patience, flexibility and willingness to adjust as needed.  I posted recess Supervision Schedule (framed in orange) in the staff room and by the back two doors for added reminders of who needs to be where and when. I also added a cafeteria-only schedule to help identify when different classes are in the cafeteria.  I hope that helps.  From outside the bells we have in place are extremely helpful, so I think we struck a good balance.  The visual cards for a few of the transitions are making it much easier to move the right groups in the right direction.

SIW Recap and Looking Forward

I want to thank Misha and Becky for their thoughtful preparation for this past SIW.  I really appreciate them sharing their own experiences as growth opportunity for us all.  I was eavesdropping a little on a few of the conversations I really enjoyed listening to the math talk that clearly intends to benefit our students. I also want to acknowledge our own practice of growth mindset thinking.  It’s one thing to say the messages, but it is another thing altogether to put it into practice and model.  Most of us, if not all of us, were probably raised and educated with more of fixed-mindset setting as this was the dominant thinking behind most schooling for decades.  While the ideas you are and will continue to explore with growth mindset work probably make sense easily in theory, they become more challenging as you put them into practice.  Challenge yourself to examine your practices with students to identify the messages they are receiving.  Are they hearing a focus on growth from you?  Are their mistakes truly celebrated and used for learning?  Do they know that you know they can do it?  You will find yourself struggling often with your own thinking as your brain moves back and forth between the fixed and growth mindset.  It is important to acknowledge it and be ready to combat it when it happens.

SIW next week – Kindergarten teachers will be attending a meeting at Pine Ridge Library to discuss Oregon Early Learning Guidelines and the training plan for the year.  For the rest of us we will be here at the school and we would like you to pick up where you left off this past Wednesday.  Based on the feedback you provided it would be a good use of time expand a little on the multiple entry points and then we break right into grade levels and get to work.  More information on the district required SIWs will be coming out next week, so stay tuned for that plan.

For a little mathematical inspiration on connections watch this video from Jo Boaler.  I really like this because the concept of connections has several implications not only for math, but learning in general.

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/7FE_8wGgw_M” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

Things to Celebrate

I popped in and out of classe over the past few days and witnessed some great learning.  

• I enjoyed seeing the many opportunities for brain breaks provided for students.  You are reading your students incredibly well and not only providing the break they need, but priming those brains to learn more effectively.  Your awareness and responsiveness will improve their own self-awareness and their own ability to know how they can learn best.  It is a huge investment in time, but it will pay off.  
• I also noticed a very dominant strategy of focussing and calling out the positive behaviors rather than singling out the problematic behaviors.  That is so challenging to do when all you want to do is say, “please stop talking…” however I witnessed some really powerful moments as students responded to the positive behavior of others and immediately did their best to mimic what was praised.
• The last thing I want to celebrate are the sibling interactions I am lucky enough to witness at lunch and recess time.  I love the way our older brothers and sisters look out for their younger siblings and I think it is such a special thing.  I wish I had taken some photos to share, but you take a moment to imagine our little friend Henry walking his sister, Emma around the playground hand in hand as he showed her the lay of the land; it was quite the sight to see.

Thank You

Kudos to both Kerin and Victoria for adjusting to the the new cafeteria flow so quickly.  I’ve also been fortunate enough to watch them connect with our kids in really positive ways that even resulted in some Kindness Counts Coupons.  It’s not a new thing, but it’s still fun to witness.

They may not be included on this weekly update, but I feel compelled to acknowledge both Julie Walker and Lindsley Gerig for their time troubleshooting the Connect Ed issues.  I certainly appreciate their support and I am fairly certain you do too.  There’s a card in the staff room for them if you would like to write a quick note.

Easy CBM

Please remember to set aside some time to complete the easy CBM assessment with your students.  The window closes on Friday, October 6th.  Please let me know if I can help with the testing program in any way and thank you for taking the time to complete it.

OMSI Opportunities

I met with a representative from OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) and she shared a variety of different programs.  If you are interested in seeing if one of these programs would fit in with a Storyline or if you are just interested in them, please let me know and I will share what I have.

Click below for quick look at the staff calendar;

Calendar

Thank you for everything you do!  Have a great weekend.

Brian

Congratulations on a successful first few days of school.  The smoke was challenging, the changes to our lunch-recess flow were challenging, indoor recess was challenging, lunch buckets were challenging and there were plenty of other tough moments like a brief torrential downpour with lightning at pick up. The good news is we got way more right than wrong when you step back and look at the big picture and see all our happy kids, so thank you everyone for everything you do.  Sorry this is a long update.

Lunch-Recess Flow

Thank you as well for your patience as we continue to work out the kinks with the lunch-recess flow.  We recognize that everyone is learning this new routine and is doing his/her best to be on time.  I really messed it up today and sent a large group of the 4/5 students early at the wrong bell, so I apologize for that mistake.  The students are really making their best effort to make the process work, so we very much notice and appreciate their contribution. We will make a point to give kindness coupons to those who are demonstrating positive behavior.  

Bells and Whistles

We experimented with some different bells and it seems like it would be in our best interest to reduce the number of bells.  We will turn off several of the transition bells used for outside recess (most importantly the alarm-sounding ones) and we can go back to using whistles with possibly some visual cards to help as cues for students for their different transitions.  I may seek to eliminate a few other bells to simplify, but I will email those groups most impacted for some input before doing so.

Calendars and Schedules

In an effort to provide multiple displays of our complex schedule for each grade level, and even the individual level, in that master schedule document I believe there is still quite a bit of confusion around schedules and places to be, so I am sorry.  I will see what I can do to mitigate this and make things simpler and easier for everyone involved.

Alright, let’s talk math and school design!

Last year our school-wide focus was on writing and fluency.  Becky and Michele hosted informative and interactive SIW times to support your classroom instruction. This year our ICCL and Academic Excellence Team decided to focus our energy on math. We brainstormed a variety of goals for math learning that I feel confident everyone will appreciate and enjoy.

The upcoming district-provided math SIWs are very much congruent with these math goals. These district SIWs are not focused on Bridges, but on math best practices such as small group work, habits of interaction, number sense, and number talks. I will reach out as soon as the schedule of these workshops is established, but we will be able to bring our Everyday Math materials and put them to use with the workshop content.  It will be really important to be strategic in signing up for these workshops in a way that each grade level team can benefit, so reps from each team splitting up for the different themes would be best.

Additionally, I have some great news for our math assessment data.  The rest of our district started using a program called Forefront for math assessment data.  The program was already designed for the Bridges math program so it took some work over the summer to get it up and running with Everyday Math, but it appears we have arrived.  I am going to ask everyone NOT to enter their math scores for any assessments until we have you trained on Forefront.  Please do not enter anything into Synergy or any other tool.  You are, of course, welcome to do a paper-and-pencil record, however to avoid doubling your work I would encourage you to wait for the Forefront training.  We will plan on providing that training on Tuesday 9/26 during one of our PLCs.  The training takes about 10 to 15 minutes and then the rest of the time can be used for data entry.  I know this is a new item, however the feedback so far promises a very user-friendly system so I really think this will be welcomed change.

At our first staff meeting this coming Tuesday we will devote a significant amount of time to presenting a planning process for math.  The next day for our SIW you will be working with your teams to plan your upcoming math lessons with this planning tool.  My hope is that we will use this lesson planning tool to attack your math lessons with the design process in mind.  

MAC Survey

The annual MAC survey is happening a little earlier this year, so we are pressed for time to do the training.  I scheduled a time with Eilean Karpstein to complete this training on Wednesday 9/27 from 2:30-3:00 as this will still give us an hour of our SIW for math.

SafeTOUCH

The district intends to provide training for all staff this year, so we will be using a staff meeting time in the future for this purpose; I will let you know as soon as that meeting time is scheduled.  Some schools have already completed the training and the teachers are providing the lessons to students rather than an single designated person at each site.  I will be calendaring these lessons very soon with a parent night planned for end of September or early October, but before I get too far down that road, I wanted to see if anyone is interested in providing their own SafeTOUCH lessons for their own classes.  I am happy to continue doing the lessons but I need to make the offer.  If you are interested in teaching the lessons after your training, then please email me.  Even if you have been trained before I do believe the mandate will require everyone to do it again.

Tech Stuff:

Good news!  The Stop, Breath and Think App is available on Self Serve, however it is a little difficult to find.  If you need some help finding it, please let me know and I will try to help.

The content below is from Skip Offenhauser.

Kudos

A big thanks to the tech department and our Tier 1 staff for getting almost 15,000 iPads ready for students.  We are the largest deployment of iPads in the Northwest and we do it better than anyone else. The work involved to make this happen is huge and year in and year out our tech staff rises to the challenge.  So, next time you see your site tech make sure you thank them for all their hard work.

Digital Citizenship Starts Now!

As we begin a new school year now is the perfect time to establish good digital citizenship practices at your school.  For our students, being a good digital citizen means two things.  First, it means proper use and care of the device that has been issued to them.  We realize that iPads break.  No matter what we do accidents will happen.  However, we can take steps that will minimize the breakage rate.  Now is the time to put in place agreed upon expectations and routines for every teacher and student to follow.  Simple things like making sure iPads are carried or stored safely before leaving class can help tremendously.  Second, but most importantly, being a good digital citizen means using a device in a thoughtful and responsible manner.  We have reached a point where most of our students don’t know what it’s like to live in an unconnected world.  It is our responsibility to teach them how to be responsible and safe online just like we teach them to be responsible and safe on the playground.  But the teaching of these skills shouldn’t just occur during a dedicated digital citizenship week.  Rather, it should be ongoing instruction that capitalizes on teachable moments when they present themselves.

Here are some tips and resources for schools teach and support digital citizenship:

• Dedicate time to explicitly discuss and teach digital citizenship. The Bend-La Pine Instructional Technology coaches have put together a collection of digital citizenship lessons (http://bit.ly/2wPNR6U) for schools to use. These can be used during digital citizenship week in October or throughout the year.
• Access the extra courses available in Safe Schools.  There you’ll find courses on cyberbullying, privacy, and online safety.
• Common Sense Media is a great place for families to visit and for principals to find information to include in parent newsletters.
• Make digital citizenship a regular topic at staff meetings, in staff communications, and during classroom discussions.
• Regularly remind students of proper care and use of their iPad by displaying posters in the school and in classrooms.  Here is a great collection for schools to use – http://bit.ly/2gPgkC4

Is there an App for that?

As most people know, we have systems in place that hide the App Store from students.  This ensures that the apps we provide students are educational and meet privacy laws and standards.  Self-Serve is where are our apps live but sometimes finding an app there can be time consuming.  Thanks to John Craft finding available apps just became a whole lot easier.  John created the Mobile App Catalog that allows teachers to find and sort apps based on grade level or topic.  Go to https://sites.google.com/gapps.bend.k12.or.us/blsappcatalog.  

Not seeing what you want? If you would like to request an app be added to this catalog, please submit aHelp Desk ticket. You will need to select request type iPad > iPad App(s) > iPad App(s) Request > New App then fill out all of the required fields and select “Save”.  If you have questions about an app or this catalog, contact an Instructional Technology Coach.

Tech Tuesdays

Tech Tuesdays will be starting on September 12th.  During the month of September our focus we are going to focus our energies to support teachers with those foundational apps and systems they need to get their year off on the right foot – Apple apps, google classroom, curriculum access… bring your questions to Room 200 after school on Tuesdays.  Starting in October Tech Tuesdays will focus on a specific topic.  We will advertise those out ahead of time so teachers can plan accordingly.  If you have any suggested topics send them to a coach and we will try to fit them in.

Something to Read…

Digital Citizens Grow Up by Emily Rogan.  This is a timely article with some great information and suggestions on we can help students be safe and responsible online.

Reminder…

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It is my intention to get in the routine of sharing these updates on Friday afternoons, but these start-up dates just don’t follow a pattern that is conducive to that goal just yet.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.  As crazy and quick as this week may have seemed, I was really excited to have everyone back in this building.  It was a little disappointing to be out of the building all day yesterday, however I am really appreciative of the opportunity our team (Heidi, Linda, Lorin, Jay, Jim, and I) to work on our EBISS process.  Some key take-aways I’d like to share with you were the following;

• We do incredibly good work around supporting all our students.
• We have some incredible supports and expertise available to us with just a quick message or call.
• Streamlining is important.  This work is not separate from School Design.
• Modern, progressive EBISS should reflect a growth mindset for everyone involved.  What we say about student’s performance is incredibly important.
• We must focus on what we can control and change.

Connect Ed

I am so sorry for the Connect Ed issues.  I do not know exactly what the root of the problem may be, but please know we have people working on it.  First, there appears to be an issue with Synergy.  Once Synergy is “happy” again, then Lindsley (and the rest of their team) can try to reassign the Connect Ed material.  It will be in our best interest to have a plan B for instruction until we are comfortable Connect Ed is performing as expected.  Lastly, everyone at the district asked me to express their gratitude for patience as they know these wrinkles can be draining.  Try not to let it drag you too much.

Camp Highland and Outdoor Recess

Lorin shared the schedule via email already but just in case you still need it, click here for the Camp Highland Schedule.  We will keep a close eye on the air quality and pay attention to the district’s direction; if it looks like we are unable to be outside then we will cancel Camp Highland and figure out a Plan B to communicate our expectations for recess.  If we are directed to stay indoors, then please be ready for a quick staff meeting at 8:30am on Wednesday morning to brainstorm some strategies to deal with indoor recess, lunch, and PE.  If we can be outside then we should not need to meet as a team until the following week.

Recess Duty

Based on the conversations we had in our master scheduling committee it was determined that each grade level could establish the rotation (day by day or week by week) they felt best fit their team’s habits and patterns.  When you have one established please provide a copy for Lorin and me to keep for our future reference.  To avoid over-crowding, I think it may be best to keep these as a separate document and off the google calendar for now.

The playground/field areas for supervision will be a bit easier in the beginning with the construction fence, however when the construction is finished and the access is more open we will  need to work on a plan to deal with our blind spots behind the tent.  We should also have some (ever-so-fashionable) fanny-packs, to go along with your glow-vests, for every teacher with band-aids, gloves, etc. so you can each have your own ready to use each day.

Evacuation Drills

We will need to shift our evacuation line up area for evacuation drills to the southeast corner of the blacktop due to the tent taking up the current space.  Although the exits are not currently blocked the path to the open blacktop space is constricted by the construction fence.  In the event of an evacuation please be prepared to use alternate routes if your normal route typically takes you through the back doors.  As you exit your classroom, if the back exits appear congested by other classes exiting, then take your alternate route out the front of the building.  Also, please take a moment to ensure you have your evacuation map (pink, laminated paper) clearly posted on either side of the door.  These show your main evacuation route, but please remember you always have the authority and flexibility to change your route based on what you see in the hall.

One last note; I will ask for leadership to calendar these mandatory drills for the year as I try my best to avoid the really inconvenient times to conduct these drills but it is a challenge so would love more input.  Hopefully with some more people viewing the calendar with me we can try to pick some optimal times.  Please know that although these are usually calendared in beginning of the year, I usually reschedule about a third of them based on events happening in school.

iPad AUPs

The iPad AUPs will be stored centrally with Debbie in the Library.  As you collect them for your class please plan on turning them over to Debbie when we do the iPad roll outs.

Calendar

The calendar is still very much a work in progress right now.  I’ve added quite a few of our meetings to the the google calendar and I will also update the list in the master schedule document as well.  It is really important to me to establish good timing for our meetings so I am still “massaging” the sequence of these for the course of the entire year.  Please let me know if and when you see a conflict or discrepancy.

Calendar Link

Thank you everyone for a really enjoyable Ice Cream Social and I especially want to give a a shout out to Rob.  For those of you who didn’t know, Rob hung out in the cafeteria distributing ice cream bars with scissors ready to cut the wrappers off for the kids.  This was totally unnecessary but incredibly thoughtful and I am deeply appreciative.

Enjoy the Labor Day weekend!  I hope you are able to find some escape from this smoke and heat.

Thank you very much for your participation and enthusiasm this morning.  I loved hearing your energy working with Amy and I am a little envious that I could not generate the same energy with the school design process, but I will keep trying.  In order to access her handout, Learning Through Our Senses, click here.  I look forward to seeing our students benefit from this work, and to be completely honest, I look forward to benefitting form this work as well!

I am sorry to bug you with this now, but I really want to get your feedback to help improve the quality of our school design process as well as inform our work with Amy Nary.  Please take a few minutes to complete this survey.

Feedback Survey Link

Assessments

Just in case you wanted to know a little more information about the districts shift from ACT to CBM please read the following points.

1. Research: We now have compelling data from multiple sources showing that easyCBM CCSS Math is an outstanding predictor of Smarter Balanced Math.

2. Cost: ACT Aspire has doubled in price since our first year with it. Aspire is a bundled suite of reading, math, and science assessments and we would be paying for assessments that were not utilized at the elementary level. easyCBM CCSS Math assessments fill the same needs as ACT Aspire benchmark assessments for about half the cost.

3. RTI: easyCBM assessments have clear advantages for supporting RTI systems.  For example, all benchmark and progress monitoring assessments are the same level of difficulty, which makes calculating rates of improvement simple.

Camp Highland

The tentative plan is to follow a very similar format to the previous years.  We should have a schedule for the Camp Highland ready to share on Wednesday 8/30 after the Thriving Citizen team meets.

Bell Schedule

We “played” with some different bells this afternoon as you may have heard.  We were trying to come up with a few alternative sounds to signal some of the transitions from lunch to recess and vice versa.  We will likely need to use whistles again, but my hope is we have another bell that will help with the signal while we are outside.  The following link is the tentative bell schedule, but I would suggest you wait to print a copy as there might be some tweaking needed.   Although this looks good on paper, we need to run through the process with kids for a few days before we can consider it final.

 Bell Schedule Link

Cafeteria News

I want you to be aware of some changes to cafeteria lunches and money collection.  The basic rule is this; Students cannot be a part of the communication between the school and the parents regarding negative balances.  No student will be turned away from the lunch-line regardless of what their balance.  Nutrition services will be working with schools in attempt to be more vigilant with parents about collecting outstanding fees, but we will no longer be using hand-stamps or any similar method of communication involving the student.  If you are interested in seeing the actual policy, please let me know and I can share it.

Schedules

I provided a variety of schedules in the 2017-2018 Master Schedule Google Doc.  I noticed that many of you like to display the information in different ways so I tried to provide a lot of options for you depending upon your preference.  If you would like some help printing your schedules to be more specific to your own classes please let me know.  There are a few tricks that can make the printed version of a schedule be more clear and show only what you need.

One final thought; this smoke and heat is really dragging me down and I am sure it is impacting all of you too.  Please, please, please do not push yourself beyond your limits this week.  Take breaks, drink water and pace yourself.  I asked if we had any fans or AC units at the district warehouse available and there are not any.  If you have parents offer to let you borrow or even donate a fan or AC unit, feel free to accept it but please let me know if and when you do.  We are currently forecasted to be in the high 90’s for the first few days and although I know this heat will soon be in the past, I really don’t want our first days with students to be characterized by severer weather and smoke.

I also want to add that if anyone has family and/or friends in the Houston area, please know that we (Amy and I) are keeping those communities close to our hearts and in our thoughts as they endure the storm.  We have some family (Amy’s uncle and cousin) there and they have been fortunate so far, but that entire area is in for a long recovery effort.  I went through two hurricanes as a kid and the force and flooding they show in the media is nothing compared to the real thing so they really need all our positive thoughts and energy.

Welcome!

I am extremely pleased to introduce and welcome Jay Carlton to our team as our new Elementary Resource Teacher.  Jay has extensive experience working with students with disabilities from elementary and secondary settings.  He relocated to Bend with his wife and two children a couple years ago.  I look forward to introducing him to everyone next week.

Off Site Events Planning

If you are planning a culmination off site (i.e. Summit Auditorium) please let Shawna know asap.  We want to reserve spaces as soon as possible to ensure we have the needed spaces.  Please also be sure to ask for it to be added to the staff calendar.

Correction

Please note a mistake on the Friday bullet point in the Welcome Letter.  The day is a flex day however it is day 189 and the dates for Friday, Tuesday are from last year.  It is correct now, but sorry for any confusion.

School Design

I would really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to read the attached reading selection.  The reading selection provides addition context to our school design learning process.  I found it extremely helpful for my understanding and my hope is you will too.  Please click on the link below;

Blueprint vs. process 

Assessments

We have some changes to our assessments this year.  We will no longer be administering the ACT to our 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students.  CBM is evidently just as predictive when it comes to Smarter Balance testing and it cost less so the district will no longer be using the test.  We will get more details of the Assessment Calendar soon, but I wanted to share that bit of information now.  Since we still have some work to do in order to get our math assessments established and ready to use for EBISS purposes we will continue to use CBM for all our students.  It is a relatively easy test to administer and it adds a data point for reference, so until we have our own assessment system established it will serve as our data for comparison.

Here is a link to the district assessment calendar.  I will also add the pertinent dates to our google calendar a little later this week.

2017-2018 Observations/Evaluation Requirements

For those of you who will be completing the evaluation this year, the process remains the same as before.  For those of you who are not completing the evaluation this year, you will only have three minis for the year.  Everyone is still required to complete Student Learning Growth Goals.  For more info please see the following document here.

Minis will be focussed on the school design work with one or more of our three goals.  In addition to looking for evidence to support our design work I will often be observing lessons with some of the following questions in mind;

• What moves do we make to establish and maintain equal social status for all students?
• What are students learning?  Who is doing the thinking and the work?  How do we know they are learning?  What is next?

Congratulations!!

Brad Waler and his wife became new parents a several weeks ago when Maverick Lee Waler entered the world!  

Please use the link below to take a quick look at upcoming events on the calendar.

Calendar

Looking forward to a great start-up to the year!

Brian