Highland Updates

Building Access:  I am happy to report that the roof project is on schedule to be complete by August 20th.  The gym floor and the last hallway (west hallway from office to room 12) in the main building should be finished by next weekend, August 13th.  It would be ideal to wait until after the 20th to come inside, however, if you would like to access the building prior please follow these guidelines;

• Avoid entrances/exits with overhead work actively occurring. (these change frequently so be sure to check)
• Be prepared for some overhead noise while you are in your rooms.
• Stay out of the playground and field areas.
• Use the angled parking spots to the west of the gym only, not behind the gym.
• Check to make sure the floor is dry and cured.
• Let Zach and Tim stick to their routine so they can stay on schedule.
• Be sure to check the alarm when you enter or exit.

There are still a handful of furniture items that need to be returned to rooms, but the vast majority of furniture is in place.  The carpet squares are still not put together, but Zach and Tim will be plugging away at those soon.  If for some reason you do not want the carpet squares in your room at all, please let me know.  Unfortunately, they are not sticking back together easily so they are consuming a lot of time to clean and assemble.

Start and stop times: Our school day will be 7:45 am – 2:15 pm..  7:45 am – 12:45 pm for SIWs.

Master Schedule:  Our leadership team will be taking a look at some drafts on the 15th to provide input on the final master schedule for this year.

Welcome: Our new Learning Specialist/Student Sucess Coordinator will be Hailey Smith.  I look forward to introducing her to everyone our first week back and she is excited to work with all of you.

Staffing: I will be interviewing for the two EA positions (1 regular and 1 temp) on Tuesday the 16th.  

Field Trips: Good news!!  The transportation department will be green-lighting field trips this year!

Start-Up Schedule: Below is a sketch of the start-up days leading to the first day of school.  More details may be coming later.

• Monday 8/29
  • New Teacher Orientation
• Tuesday 8/30
  • District-Wide Literacy Training
• Wednesday 8/31
  • Virtual District Kick Off 8:00-9:00
  • 9:00-12:00 Building Inservice
• Thursday 9/1
  • 10:00-11:00 Nurse Spectic’s Training
  • Grade Level Meetings TBD
  • Ice Cream Social 3:00-5:00
• Friday 9/2
  • Work Day – Classrooms
• Monday 9/5
  • Labor Day 
• Tuesday 9/6
  • Work Day – Classrooms
• Wednesday 9/7
  • First Day of School
  • Full Day – No SIW

SEL Concerns Ticket Please use this if you have concerns with a student’s lagging SEL skills and you would like to do some collaboration with us (Heidi T.  and/or Brian) to problem solve. Thanks!

FYI Ticket Please use this if you have an incident or recurring incidents with a student. This helps us with follow through, communication and data. Thank you!!!!! 

How’s it going?

Info from Heidi and the Highland Culture of Care Team: Our character trait for the month of June is Celebration! This is a great time of year to celebrate how far your students have come this year. It’s the first “full year” we’ve had in two years!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for pitching in and making student appreciation day a wonderful experience for most of our students. We heard so many great comments from kids! 

Another celebration we are planning for is an all school assembly on the last day of school at 10:00 in the gym. I think classes should be able to spread out pretty well. We will be putting together a video using the pictures teacher submitted for the yearbook (send me more if you want to!), celebrate OBOB, Milage Club, sing the school song, birthday song and say good-bye to any staff that wont be returning next year. We could even do one more send off to our 5th graders. We are open to any other ideas too! 

From Lora –   Here is the information about next year’s pre-service week.

Also from Lora – We have a district team that has been working on equitable grading practices K-12.  The assumption is that these practices are already in place across elementary schools, so most of the updates were aimed at the secondary setting, however you will notice we have some practices in our own building that do not align with these recommendations, so it will be worth a look to wrap your heads around.  We will revisit these in August.  BLS equitable grading recommendations 2022

iPad Roll In:  Monday June 13th – Tuesday June 14th.   Please see Debbie’s email from Tuesday 5/24 for more details.  Huge Thank you to Debbie for organizing this process!

OSAS Testing Progress:  If you are interested in seeing our overall progress check here.  Also to help with finishing up here is the link to a document to track the unfinished tests.  We are almost there!

Staffing Update:

• We can now officially welcome back Aimee, Cat, Cameron and Scott!
• Music interviews are scheduled for Friday 7/17.
• I posted an EA position in hopes of maybe interviewing during the week of June 20-24th.  Both Emily and Hayley have decided not to return next year.  If you have an interest in joining me for those interviews, please let me know.

Summer School Staff still needed:  With the bulk of the positions filled, we are still seeking EA support across all levels (Jump Start, Spark, Base Camp and SPED/ESY).  In addition, we would like to add a few more teachers to the middle school Spark program, specifically at HDMS.  To apply, find “Careers in BLP Schools” and under “Internal Applicants” you can find open positions for summer employment.  The support for students is rewarding and stipends are substantial!  For more information, please contact Kevin Milner.

Parent Newsletter Link – linked here is the parent newsletter. 

High Leverage Teaching Strategies

PLC Form 

MTSS Guidelines

Tracking Form

Week Preview:

And the final week;

• Monday 6/13
  • Variety Show – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• Tuesday  6/14
  • Field Day

Field Day Session 1 – 8:45-10:30 – Watt, Hildebrand, Eriksson, Glogau, Wright, Reisinger, Vickery, Martinson

Field Day Session 2 – 12:15-2:00 – Henri, Chambers, Fetrow, Sacamano, Howard, Green, Woock, Wittwer

• Greene/Eriksson Culmination after school
• Wednesday 6/15 – 2:15 Release Time
  • 5th Grade Promotion – Gym – 9:00am
    • Only parents, 4th and 5th graders are in the gym for the promotion.
    • 1st grade walking them in at 9:00
    • 1:30 Parade of the 5th grade. Line up along the fence to cheer on the 5th grade. 4th/5th grade team will send out an email with more information. 
    • No Music/PE for 4/5
    • Reisinger Music as scheduled
    • Potentially alternate location for 1st grade PE (Fetrow or Hildebrand)
    • Remainder of Music/PE Schedule should remain the same.
  • 2:15 Release [not an early release day]
• Thursday 6/16 – Last Day of School
  • Follow an Early Release day schedule.
  • All School Assembly 10:00-10:45 in the gym.
  • Resingner will move PE/Music to the 10:55 time frame with Glogau & Sacamano.
  • 1st Grade will not have music/pe that day (You can use the assembly time as prep).
  • 12:45 Early Release Day – Share this frequently with parents so they are prepared.

SEL Concerns Ticket Please use this if you have concerns with a student’s lagging SEL skills and you would like to do some collaboration with us (Heidi T.  and/or Brian) to problem solve. Thanks!

FYI Ticket Please use this if you have an incident or recurring incidents with a student. This helps us with follow through, communication and data. Thank you!!!!! 

How’s it going?

Info from Heidi and the Highland Culture of Care Team: Our character trait for the month of June is Celebration! This is a great time of year to celebrate how far your students have come this year. It’s the first “full year” we’ve had in two years! Speaking of celebrating…. We are excited for our student appreciation day on June 10th. This link will take you to a sign up for a few things I’d love help with and the rough schedule. I know this day will feel dysregulating to some (students and staff) so try and take it in stride and expect it to be a fun (and maybe a little wild) day! I have pictures of last year if anyone would like to get a feel of the day or simple decorating ideas. Don’t forget we want to keep this a surprise. 

Another celebration we are planning for is an all school assembly on the last day of school at 10:00 in the gym. I think classes should be able to spread out pretty well. We will be putting together a video using the pictures teacher submitted for the yearbook (send me more if you want to!), celebrate OBOB, Milage Club, sing the school song, birthday song and say good-bye to any staff that wont be returning next year. We could even do one more send off to our 5th graders. We are open to any other ideas too! 

Newscasts: I have gone through all of the 5th graders who where interested in being a newscaster this year! Yahoo, thank you ⅘ team for letting me borrow your students all year long. I am hoping to make it even better next year by having an entire “production crew”. Stay tuned!

Building Security: FYI – all schools are now directed to keep our building doors locked throughout the day (even within the fenceline).  We will open one door (our cafeteria door) at specific times of the day to allow access to the cafeteria and bathrooms while students are outside.  It will be extremely important that everyone ensures they are following our procedures from earlier in the year and leading students during transitions.  Please be sure you have your ID badges and keys.  We will also discontinue taking students outside the secure perimeter during transitions.  You will need to retrain the students for these final two weeks to make those transitions within our fence line.  No more using the front doors of the gym or main building.  Thank you so much for your prompt attention to these changes.  

Kids Inc Reminder:  Please remind those teachers who are interested in signing up for Kids inc to sign up by June 7th on the BPRD site AND to also complete our internal survey. Bend Park and Rec needs to know who our staff members are so they can try to accommodate them.  

Placements: 2nd round on Wednesday, June 8.  Same schedule as last round.

iPad Roll In:  Monday June 13th – Tuesday June 14th.   Please see Debbie’s email from Tuesday 5/24 for more details.  Huge Thank you to Debbie for organizing this process!

OSAS Testing Progress:  If you are interested in seeing our overall progress check here.  Also to help with finishing up here is the link to a document to track the unfinished tests.  We are almost there!

Dibels Wrap:  Shout out to everyone for their help getting this process done on a Memorial day weekend stretch.

Furniture/stage: Kudos to Zach, Jenn and Heidi for getting our stage ready to go!!  And thank you to Debbie, for taking in some of the excess furniture to the library. 

More Kudos; to Ukiah and her Roots & Shoots gang for raising around $1100 with the Vans sale!  Thanks also to Solve, Sanjay, Sara and Jak Green for the donated samples.

Self-Reflection/Evals: For those of you on your evaluation cycle, please be sure to complete your self-reflection in Talent Ed.  

Roof Replacement:  

• Work will begin the day after school gets out and continue up to the start of school in fall.  
• You should expect to have access to the building during our regular work days even while work is happening.
• After our work days the building is considered closed to the public.
• If you need to work in the building during the closure it will take some coordination with the contractor, so please send your requests to me if and when you need access.
• The work is mostly all exterior, so there is nothing extra you need to do in your rooms.

From Kinsey – This newsletter includes upcoming equity-related learning events and community engagement FUN for you and your staff.  

Parent Newsletter Link – linked here is the parent newsletter. 

High Leverage Teaching Strategies

PLC Form 

MTSS Guidelines

Tracking Form

Week Preview:

• Monday 6/6
• Tuesday  6/7
  • Safety Team 2:30-3:15
  • Glogau Culmination – cafeteria and classroom – 5:30-7:00
• Wednesday 6/8
  • 2nd Round of Placements 1:00-3:15
  • Fetrow Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• Thursday 6/9
  • Howard Culmination – Gym/Stage – 5:30-7:00
  • 4/5 Culmination – Playground/Field – 5:30-7:00
  • Sacamano Culmination 4:00-6:00
• Friday 6/10
  • School Spirit Day: A Day at the Beach
  • Student Appreciation Day – Please keep this a surprise for students!!!
    • Morning Flash Mob – 7:40
    • Fun snack cart goes class to class
    • Stop, Drop and Dance – 12:30
    • Otter pops at afternoon recess
    • NO CHANGE TO SCHEDULE (but expect some fun disruptions)

And the final week;

• Monday 6/13
  • Variety Show – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• Tuesday  6/14
  • Field Day
• Wednesday 6/15 – 2:15 Release Time
  • 5th Grade Promotion – Gym – 9:00am
    • Only parents, 4th and 5th graders are in the gym for the promotion.
    • 1st grade walking them in at 9:00
    • 1:30 Parade of the 5th grade. Line up along the fence to cheer on the 5th grade. 4th/5th grade team will send out an email with more information. 
    • No Music/PE for 4/5
    • Reisinger Music as scheduled
    • Potentially alternate location for 1st grade PE (Fetrow or Hildebrand)
    • Remainder of Music/PE Schedule should remain the same.
  • 2:15 Release [not an early release day]
• Thursday 6/16 – Last Day of School
  • Follow an Early Release day schedule.
  • All School Assembly 10:00-10:45 in the gym.
  • Resingner will move PE/Music to the 10:55 time frame with Glogau & Sacamano.
  • 1st Grade will not have music/pe that day (You can use the assembly time as prep).
  • 12:45 Early Release Day – Share this frequently with parents so they are prepared.

One long weekend to catch our breath and then it’s the final stretch!  

SEL Concerns Ticket Please use this if you have concerns with a student’s lagging SEL skills and you would like to do some collaboration with us (Heidi T.  and/or Brian) to problem solve. Thanks!

FYI Ticket Please use this if you have an incident or recurring incidents with a student. This helps us with follow through, communication and data. Thank you!!!!! 

How’s it going?

Info from Heidi and the Highland Culture of Care Team: Our character trait for the month of May is having a Growth Mindset. This falls under the SEL competency of Self-Awareness. Here is a link to some resources.

Student Appreciation Day 2022: Student appreciation day is back for another fun day of letting our students know how much we love them! Our PTO has approved some funds for snacks and decorations. I will need some help with decorations and/or signs: here is a link to sign up. I know last year some teachers even decorated their doors for the day (so fun!). 

Staffing 2022-23 Update: 

• We will be interviewing for the teacher positions on Wednesday 6/1 afternoon.  Thank you all for your flexibility with the SIWs.
• PE position is tentatively scheduled for Monday 6/7 after school.
• The music position posting is now closed.  I am targeting Friday 6/17 for those interviews.
• ERC teacher – I am working with Colleen Funderberg on securing our new ERC teacher.  

Placements: We will revisit these class lists on Wednesday, June 8.  Similar schedule as this Wednesday.

iPad Roll In:  Monday June 13th – Tuesday June 14th.   Please see Debbie’s email from Tuesday 5/24 for more details.  Huge Thank you to Debbie for organizing this process!

OSAS Testing Progress:  If you are interested in seeing our overall progress check here.  Also to help with finishing up here is the link to a document to track the unfinished tests.

Furniture/stage: I am still planning on moving the furniture off the stage – I promise I have not forgotten. We are going to be phasing out the old, hand-made risers and replacing them with the flip-forms.  The flip-forms are designed within the safety standards and they are more easily moved and cleaned compared to the wood ones.   The flip-forms are fairly expensive so it will take some time to replace all of our risers; so in the meantime we will continue to use our old sets until they can be replaced, so long as they are not broken or unsafe.  Any sets that are broken will need to be disposed of this summer.  Please see me individually if you have any questions.

Self-Reflection/Evals: For those of you on your evaluation cycle, please be sure to complete your self-reflection in Talent Ed.  I will send a separate email to everyone on the eval cycle.

Culmination & Event Planning: Kindergarten Culmination was a huge success – well done, K-team!

• 6/2 Thursday – Reisinger Culmination – Classroom, Library, Ct Yard – 5:30-7:00
• 6/7 Tuesday – Glogau Culmination – cafeteria and classroom – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Fetrow Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Eriksson/Greene & Hildebrand Culmination – Classroom & Hallway – 4:00-6:00
• 6/9 Thursday – Howard Culmination – Gym/Stage – 5:30-7:00
• 6/9 Thursday – 4/5 Culmination – Playground/Field – 5:30-7:00
• 6/9 Thursday – Sacamano Culmination 4:00-6:00
• 6/13 Monday – Variety Show – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/14 Tuesday – Field Day
• 6/15 5th Grade Promotion – Gym

Parent Newsletter Link – linked here is the parent newsletter.  If you ever need to find it, it’s always on the school website each Friday.

Excellence in Education

Congratulations to Marina and Shelly (Shelly is busy spoiling her grandchild, so not pictured) for receiving the Excellence in Education awards this year!  Thank you for representing Highland in such a professional and positive manner!  I apologize for not sharing this earlier, but I was out of town at the end of last week, so unable to get this in the update on time.

High Leverage Teaching Strategies

PLC Form 

MTSS Guidelines

Tracking Form

Week Preview:

• Monday 5/30
  • Memorial Day
• Tuesday  5/31
  • Culture of Care 2:30-3:15
• Wednesday 6/1
• Thursday 6/2
  • Leadership 2:30-3:30
  • Reisinger Culmination 5:30-7:00
• Friday 6/3

Next Week:

• Monday 6/6
  • Memorial Day
• Tuesday  6/7
  • Safety Team 2:30-3:15
  • Glogau Culmination – cafeteria and classroom – 5:30-7:00
• Wednesday 6/8
  • 2nd Round of Placements 1:00-3:15
  • Fetrow Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• Thursday 6/9
  • Howard Culmination – Gym/Stage – 5:30-7:00
  • 4/5 Culmination – Playground/Field – 5:30-7:00
  • Sacamano Culmination 4:00-6:00
• Friday 6/10
  • Student Appreciation Day

And the final week;

• Monday 6/13
  • Variety Show – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• Tuesday  6/14
  • Field Day
• Wednesday 6/15
  • 5th Grade Promotion – Gym – 9:00am
  • 2:15 Release [not an early release day]
• Thursday 6/16 – Last Day of School
  • 12:45 Early Release Day

I am heading to Eugene for the high school state track meet championships tomorrow.  Please see Heidi or Ashley with any questions for me.  Skip will be on call if necessary.

SEL Concerns Ticket Please use this if you have concerns with a student’s lagging SEL skills and you would like to do some collaboration with us (Heidi T.  and/or Brian) to problem solve. Thanks!

FYI Ticket Please use this if you have an incident or recurring incidents with a student. This helps us with follow through, communication and data. Thank you!!!!! 

How’s it going?

Info from Heidi and the Highland Culture of Care Team: Our character trait for the month of May is having a Growth Mindset. This falls under the SEL competency of Self-Awareness. Here is a link to some resources.

Staffing 2022-23 Update: 

1. Ashley and Steph are now hired into a regular position.  Yahoo!!
2. Green light for hiring the three temp positions.  Working on the timeline now.
3. Music and PE are posted close next week. Also, working on the timeline now.

Placements: 

• As of the completion of this update, we are close to having the student surveys done.  If you are needing an extension beyond the end of the day on Friday, please reach out and let me know.  
• Once the survey is closed I will run the class solver and produce class lists.  I will share these with you (hopefully on Monday).  
• My suggestion is to print them and write notes for potential changes or switches when we come together on Wednesday 5/25.
  • 22-23 Class Placements
    • K to 1st = 1:00-1:45
    • 1st to 2/3 = 1:45-2:30
    • 2/3 to 4/5 = 2:30-3:15

iPad Roll In:  Monday June 13th – Tuesday June 14th.   

OSAS Testing Progress:  If you are interested in seeing our overall progress check here.  (As of Thursday morning)

Culmination & Event Planning: There are a few changes below.

• 5/25 Wednesday – Kindergarten Culmination – Classrooms, Hallways, Stairs, Cafeteria – 5:00-6:00
• 6/2 Thursday – Reisinger Culmination – Classroom, Library, Ct Yard – 5:30-7:00
• 6/7 Tuesday – Glogau Culmination – cafeteria and classroom – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Fetrow Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Eriksson/Greene & Hildebrand Culmination – Classroom & Hallway – 4:00-6:00
• 6/9 Thursday – Howard Culmination – Gym/Stage – 5:30-7:00
• 6/9 Thursday – 4/5 Culmination – Playground/Field – 5:30-7:00
• 6/13 Monday – Variety Show – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/14 Tuesday – Field Day
• 6/15 5th Grade Promotion – Gym

Site Tech Change: I received word this week that Robyn Harmon will be rotating to a new assignment soon and Rob Hartsock will be rotating back here to Highland as our site support person.  Please join me in thanking Robyn for his time and care here and welcoming back Rob!  

From Instructional Tech – Make sure all 5th Grade Teachers Get This: – You can give your 5th graders a leg up as they move into middle school! We have an optional Canvas course for 5th grade students, Step Up to Middle School.

Step Up is a course designed to

• introduce 5th grade students to Canvas
• prepare 5th grade students for the transition to Middle School

Teachers, your class roster is ready to go! Please read more in this Quick Start: Step Up to Middle School guide for teachers. This course is designed to take approximately 5 days, 30-45 minutes per day.

Questions? Please contact [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]

Parent Newsletter Link – linked here is the parent newsletter.  If you ever need to find it, it’s always on the school website each Friday.

High Leverage Teaching Strategies

PLC Form 

MTSS Guidelines

Tracking Form

Week Preview:

• Monday 5/23
• Tuesday 5/24
• Wednesday 5/25
  • No Staff meeting – we will need the time for placements.
  • 22-23 Class Placements
    • K to 1st = 1:00-1:45
    • 1st to 2/3 = 1:45-2:30
    • 2/3 to 4/5 = 2:30-3:15
  • Kinder Culmination 5:00-6:00
• Thursday 5/26
• Friday 5/27 – Backwards Spirit Day
  • Dibels Day

Next Week:

• Monday 5/30
  • Memorial Day
• Tuesday  5/31
  • Culture of Care 2:30-3:15
• Wednesday 6/1
• Thursday 6/2
  • Leadership 2:30-3:30
  • Reisinger Culmination 5:30-7:00
• Friday 6/3

SEL Concerns Ticket Please use this if you have concerns with a student’s lagging SEL skills and you would like to do some collaboration with us (Heidi T.  and/or Brian) to problem solve. Thanks!

FYI Ticket Please use this if you have an incident or recurring incidents with a student. This helps us with follow through, communication and data. Thank you!!!!! 

How’s it going?

Info from Heidi and the Highland Culture of Care Team: Our character trait for the month of May is having a Growth Mindset. This falls under the SEL competency of Self-Awareness. Here is a link to some resources.

Morning Circles: I saw some interest in acquiring more morning meeting questions. Here is a link to an article for the why behind circles and here is a link to some beginning and end of the day questions! Let me (Heidi T.  know if you’d be interested in help getting started!). Morning meeting can be a great way to build relationships, problem solve as a class and build confident communication skills! Thanks for showing interest.  

Staffing 2022-23 Update:

1. Moving forward with PE position.  It’s posted as a district-wide opening as there are few other schools looking to hire so we are going to join them in a group interview process.
2. Moving forward with full time Music.  This is a Highland-specific position.  Timeline for interviews TBD very soon.
3. Interviewing for our Office Manger and Secretary positions this next week.
4. Still waiting for approval for the teaching positions; Skip and Tammy are still placing some transfers and then we will start to see some green lights.

Personal Days Reminder:  According to our collective bargaining agreement, certified staff may NOT take personal leave the last two weeks of school (June 6-17), unless there are “unusual or highly extenuating circumstances.”  Anything submitted must be sent to HR for their approval.

iPad Roll In:  Monday June 13th – Tuesday June 14th.  More info later.  

Master Schedule 2022-2023: survey.  Please make sure you provide your input on this survey.  I don’t know if or when we will pull a team together to finalize a schedule, but everyone’s input here will be crucial.

Culmination & Event Planning:

• 5/25 Wednesday – Kindergarten Culmination – Classrooms, Hallways, Cafeteria and Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/2 Thursday – Reisinger Culmination – Classroom, Library, Ct Yard – 5:30-7:00
• 6/7 Tuesday – Glogau Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Fetrow Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Eriksson/Greene & Hildebrand Culmination – Classroom & Hallway – 4:00-6:00
• 6/9 Thursday – Howard Culmination – Gym/Stage – 5:30-7:00
• 6/9 Thursday – 4/5 Culmination – Playground/Field – 5:30-7:00
• 6/13 Monday – Variety Show – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/14 Tuesday – Field Day
• 6/15 5th Grade Promotion – Gym

Parent Newsletter Link – linked here is the parent newsletter.  If you ever need to find it, it’s always on the school website each Friday.

High Leverage Teaching Strategies

PLC Form 

MTSS Guidelines

Tracking Form

Week Preview:

• Monday 5/16 – State Testing begins for grades 3-5.  Please help keep hallways extra quiet during the morning academic blocks.
• Tuesday 5/17
  • Storyline Team Meeting – 2:30-3:15
• Wednesday 5/18
  • SIW – Teacher Prep
• Thursday 5/19
• Friday 5/20

Next Week:

• Monday 5/23
• Tuesday 5/24
• Wednesday 5/25
  • Staff Meeting 1:15-1:45
  • 22-23 Class Placements 1:45-3:15
  • Kinder Culmination 5:30-7:00
• Thursday 5/26
• Friday 5/27
  • Dibels Day

And the next week:

• Monday 5/30
  • Memorial Day
• Tuesday  5/31
  • Culture of Care 2:30-3:15
• Wednesday 6/1
• Thursday 6/2
  • Leadership 2:30-3:30
  • Reisinger Culmination 5:30-7:00
• Friday 6/3

SEL Concerns Ticket Please use this if you have concerns with a student’s lagging SEL skills and you would like to do some collaboration with us (Heidi T.  and/or Brian) to problem solve. Thanks!

FYI Ticket Please use this if you have an incident or recurring incidents with a student. This helps us with follow through, communication and data. Thank you!!!!! 

How’s it going?

Info from Heidi and the Highland Culture of Care Team: Our character trait for the month of May is having a Growth Mindset. This falls under the SEL competency of Self-Awareness. Here is a link to some resources.

Morning Circles: I saw some interest in acquiring more morning meeting questions. Here is a link to an article for the why behind circles and here is a link to some beginning and end of the day questions! Let me (Heidi T.  know if you’d be interested in help getting started!). Morning meeting can be a great way to build relationships, problem solve as a class and build confident communication skills! Thanks for showing interest.  

Staffing 2022-23 Update:

1. Sadie Koch will be joining the 1st grade team.
2. Music and PE will be moving to full time.
3. Keeping our reading specialist at 0.8
4. Working on moving our hiring process along for our open positions.

Summer School: Thanks for your help in getting some kids into this program.  It sounds like we were successful at a solid enrollment for each site.

Class Placements: You will receive a survey soon from class solver (via email) to complete for your students.  We are using the same characteristics as our previous two years.  There is language on each scale to help with calibration, but it would be extremely helpful for your team to have a calibrating conversation on what each number looks like in terms of student proficiency in academics and behaviors.  If you would like a quick tutorial on completing the survey please do not hesitate to ask.  The parent input survey will be provided via the piper post this week and due back to the office by the 20th.  The process goes as follows;

1. Teachers complete the survey on student characteristics, friendships, and separations.  Please be sure to check the roster to ensure everyone is included.
2. You do not need to use the pairing function with certain teachers.  The pairing (and separation) function of students with teachers should only be used in rare and specific circumstances, for example, if an IEP team provides input on placement then it would be appropriate.
3. Once the survey is closed, we will run the program to place students.
4. During our first meeting on the 25th we will examine the program-generated rosters and make changes as deemed necessary.
5. Ideally the parent input forms will be examined by teachers after the initial placements.  Reading these might cause some changes to occur in our next round.

To be a truly unbiased system of placement, every child should have an equal opportunity to be placed with any teacher.  And the flipside of this is also true, as a professional teacher you must be willing to teach any and all kids.  When we attempt to place students based on personality or parent-preference we allow bias to impact the outcome.  Bias creates favored tracks, “unbalanced” classes and the cycle is difficult to break.  It’s impossible to completely eliminate it, however we need to take every step possible to control and minimize it.

Staff Appreciation: That was one heck of a sugar rush for a week!!  One way we can repay our appreciation to our PTO is to give some time in the upcoming Carnival.  If you have not already done so, please consider signing up as a volunteer for a shift – this will go a long way to helping them pull off a fun event for the community and it will be a lot of fun for your students to see you running a game booth.

Master Schedule 2022-2023: Start and stop times are still a question for next year.  I am fairly confident we can count on being back in the cafeteria next year.  I am exploring schedules with 40-minute PE/Music time frames to help with our 150-minute requirement.  I also want to hear from you what is working with our current schedule so please take some time to provide information in this survey.

Culmination & Event Planning:

• 5/13 Friday – PTO-sponsored Carnival – See Flier for info
• 5/25 Wednesday – Kindergarten Culmination – Classrooms, Hallways, Cafeteria and Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/2 Thursday – Reisinger Culmination – Classroom, Library, Ct Yard – 5:30-7:00
• 6/7 Tuesday – Glogau Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Fetrow Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Eriksson/Greene & Hildebrand Culmination – Classroom & Hallway – 4:00-6:00
• 6/9 Thursday – Howard Culmination – Gym/Stage – 5:30-7:00
• 6/9 Thursday – 4/5 Culmination – Playground/Field – 5:30-7:00
• 6/13 Monday – Variety Show – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/14 Tuesday – Field Day
• 6/15 5th Grade Promotion – Gym

Parent Newsletter Link – linked here is the parent newsletter.  If you ever need to find it, it’s always on the school website each Friday.

High Leverage Teaching Strategies

PLC Form 

MTSS Guidelines

Tracking Form

Week Preview:

• Monday 5/9
• Tuesday 5/10
  • Safety Team – 2:30-3:30
• Wednesday 5/11
  • SIW – Storyline Team Training 1:45-3:15
• Thursday 5/12
• Friday 5/13
  • PTO-sponsored Carnival – see flier

Next week:

• Monday 5/16 – State Testing begins for grades 3-5.  Please help keep hallways extra quiet during the morning academic blocks.
• Tuesday 5/17
  • Storyline Team Meeting – 2:30-3:15
• Wednesday 5/18
  • SIW – Teacher Prep
• Thursday 5/19
  • Leadership 2:30-3:30 (added as of 4/28)
• Friday 5/20

And another week:

• Monday 5/23
• Tuesday 5/24
• Wednesday 5/25
  • Staff Meeting 1:15-1:45
  • 22-23 Class Placements 1:45-3:15
• Thursday 5/26
• Friday 5/27
  • Dibels Day
  • 
  • 
• These are some happy workers!

SEL Concerns Ticket Please use this if you have concerns with a student’s lagging SEL skills and you would like to do some collaboration with us (Heidi T.  and/or Brian) to problem solve. Thanks!

FYI Ticket Please use this if you have an incident or recurring incidents with a student. This helps us with follow through, communication and data. Thank you!!!!! 

How’s it going?

Info from Heidi and the Highland Culture of Care Team: Our character trait for the month of May is having a Growth Mindset. This falls under the SEL competency of Self-Awareness. Here is a link to some resources.

Morning Circles: I saw some interest in acquiring more morning meeting questions. Here is a link to an article for the why behind circles and here is a link to some beginning and end of the day questions! Let me (Heidi T.  know if you’d be interested in help getting started!). Morning meeting can be a great way to build relationships, problem solve as a class and build confident communication skills! Thanks for showing interest.  

Staffing: Things are starting to move a little on plans across the district.  Our office manager and secretary positions are now both posted as regular positions so this will allow us to get moving on those.  We heard good news this week that there were more open positions than teachers returning from leave or needing to be transferred at the elementary level.  We [all elementary schools] are currently in the process of placing and moving people around the different elementary schools with openings so once this is done, then (re)hiring can begin. 

Summer School: There is some heavy breathing on my neck to get this list squared away soon, so please be sure to get me names of our confirmed students asap.

Staff Appreciation: Next week will be a week of PTO-sponsored staff appreciation.  Be sure to check the weekly preview below for food and treats coming your way.

Culmination Planning: Great news!  All culminations and other events are approved.  I may need to ask you to send out a quick COVID protocol reminder to parents, but since the restrictions are being reduced more and more, I need to wait and see our latest recommendations.

• 5/13 Friday – PTO-sponsored Carnival – See Flier for info
• 5/25 Wednesday – Kindergarten Culmination – Classrooms, Hallways, Cafeteria and Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/2 Thursday – Reisinger Culmination – Classroom, Library, Ct Yard – 5:30-7:00
• 6/7 Tuesday – Glogau Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Fetrow Culmination – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/8 Wednesday – Eriksson/Greene & Hildebrand Culmination – Classroom & Hallway – 4:00-6:00
• 6/9 Thursday – Howard Culmination – Gym/Stage – 5:30-7:00
• 6/9 Thursday – 4/5 Culmination – Playground/Field – 5:30-7:00
• 6/13 Monday – Variety Show – Gym – 5:30-7:00
• 6/15 5th Grade Promotion – Gym

Visitor Update – Starting Monday, May 2, visitors will be allowed in schools at your discretion and by invitation only, which is district policy. Follow this link to the conditions for visitors.  As a reminder, it has been our practice  of safety not to allow parents to walk their child to their classroom. This practice remains.

Parent Newsletter Link – linked here is the parent newsletter.  If you ever need to find it, it’s always on the school website each Friday.

High Leverage Teaching Strategies

PLC Form 

MTSS Guidelines

Tracking Form

Week Preview:

• Monday 5/2
  • PTO sponsored lunch from Jimmy Johns delivered by 11:00am.
  • Q&A for testing 2:30-3:15
• Tuesday 5/3
  • Treats and snacks courtesy of PTO
  • 4/5 EBISS/MTSS – 2:30-3:15
• Wednesday 5/4
  • SIW – Teacher Prep
• Thursday 5/4
  • Treats and snacks courtesy of PTO
  • Leadership 2:30-3:30
• Friday 5/5
  • Breakfast Burritos delivered around 7:00-7:15

Next week:

• Monday 5/9
• Tuesday 5/10
  • Safety Team – 2:30-3:30
• Wednesday 5/11
  • SIW – Storyline Team Training 1:45-3:15
• Thursday 5/12
• Friday 5/13
  • PTO-sponsored Carnival – see flier

And another week;

• Monday 5/16 – State Testing begins for grades 3-5.  Please help keep hallways extra quiet during the morning academic blocks.
• Tuesday 5/17
  • Staff Appreciation Breakfast – Cafeteria – 6:45am
  • Storyline Team Meeting – 2:30-3:15
• Wednesday 5/18
  • SIW – Teacher Prep
• Thursday 5/19
  • Leadership 2:30-3:30 (added as of 4/28)
• Friday 5/20

SEL Concerns Ticket Please use this if you have concerns with a student’s lagging SEL skills and you would like to do some collaboration with us (Heidi T.  and/or Brian) to problem solve. Thanks!

FYI Ticket Please use this if you have an incident or recurring incidents with a student. This helps us with follow through, communication and data. Thank you!!!!! 

How’s it going?

Info from Heidi and the Highland Culture of Care Team: Our character trait for the month of April is honesty/trust. This falls under the SEL competencies of Self-Awareness and Responsible Decision-Making. 

April 27th we will have our final Classroom 180 SIW at 1:45 in the library.  Thank you to the Culture of Care Team for helping to lead this work. 

April 29th is Super Hero Day! Please share this with your class. Thank you!

Stage – I will be clearing the stage of all the extra furniture over the next week or so and I need your help.  If you have the space for a table, desks, and/or chairs please let me know how many of each you can fit in your room without impacting your ability to operate.  I’ve identified a few areas around the building where I can stash furniture until it’s returned to its original place but it will be a challenge to fit it so every item that can be returned to a classroom will be helpful.

OSAS Testing: our state testing window is approaching soon.  We will post some “Testing in Progress” signs along the hallways of testing rooms, so we can provide some cues to keep the halls quieter than usual.  That vast majority of the testing blocks will be in the morning.  I do not want to create a stressful environment but I would like to limit distractions for our test-takers.  I will provide more heads up as we get closer to the start date.

Staffing: No new news on staffing plans as of this week – all plans are still under review.

Sub shortage (again): we are encountering sub shortages again across the district.  Unfortunately this means we may be forced to cancel the half-day EBISS on Tuesday.  I will make the final call by the end of Friday afternoon and send an email to all involved, but I just want to prep you, just in case. 

Summer School: I have some candidates for K and 1, but I have not heard much about upper grades.  Please let me know if you have a family wanting to attend.

Nutrition News!

 Regulations for summer lunch and next school year have changed significantly. All waivers extended during the pandemic emergency will end on the last day of the 2021-2022 school year.

For summer lunch meals will continue to be free to all children 18 years and under but now the meal will have to be eaten on site and grab and go or parent pick up is no longer an option.

For next school year, school meals will be paid, free, or reduced price which will require an application to be completed after Aug 1^st, except for students attending community eligibility provision (CEP) schools. The CEP schools for 2022-2023 are: Bear Creek Elementary, Ensworth Elementary, Pilot Butte Middle, Bend Tech Academy at Marshall High, Three Rivers, La Pine Elementary, La Pine Middle, La Pine High, and Rosland Elementary.

More people may qualify for the meals program due to the Student Success Act. The State of Oregon supports students who do not qualify for free and reduced meal benefits using federal income guidelines. It provides meal benefits to households with incomes above 185% but not exceeding 300% of the federal poverty guidelines. This means that a family of 4 with an annual income of $79,500 could qualify for meals at no cost. Families are encouraged to apply if they think they may qualify.

Thanks, Garra

Culmination Planning: I need to start moving forward with culmination plans, so the following are going to be calendared;

• 6/2 Reisinger Culmination – Classroom, Library, Ct Yard
• 6/7 Glogau Culmination – Gym
• 6/8 Fetrow Culmination – Gym
• 6/8 Eriksson/Greene & Hildebrand Culmination – Classroom & Hallway
• 6/9 Howard Culmination – Gym/Stage
• 6/9 4/5 Culmination – Playground/Field
• 6/13 Variety Show
• 6/15 5th grade graduation – gym

I need to submit event requests for each of these, so if you could provide me a paragraph description for your event it would be extremely helpful for the process.  You can email or write it out – whichever is easiest.  My hope is to have everything submitted by the end of the day on Monday.

Parent Newsletter Link – linked here is the parent newsletter.  If you ever need to find it, it’s always on the school website each Friday.

High Leverage Teaching Strategies

PLC Form 

MTSS Guidelines

Tracking Form

Week Preview:

• Monday 4/25
• Tuesday 4/26
  • EBISS/MTSS for Kindergarten & First Grade (Might be canceled due to sub shortages)
    • 8:00-9:30 = 2nd/3rd grade
    • 9:45-11:15 = 4th/5th grade
  • Culture of Care Team Meeting 2:30-3:15
• Wednesday 4/27
  • Staff Meeting 1:15-1:45
  • SIW – Culture of Care Work 1:45-3:15
• Thursday 4/28
• Friday 4/29

SEL Concerns Ticket Please use this if you have concerns with a student’s lagging SEL skills and you would like to do some collaboration with us (Heidi T.  and/or Brian) to problem solve. Thanks!

FYI Ticket Please use this if you have an incident or recurring incidents with a student. This helps us with follow through, communication and data. Thank you!!!!! 

How’s it going?

Info from Heidi and the Highland Culture of Care Team: Our character trait for the month of April is honesty/trust. This falls under the SEL competencies of Self-Awareness and Responsible Decision-Making. 

Here is a quick read on simple and effective ways to integrate SEL into your day. This is from the folks that I got the SEL journals from. As always, please let me know if you are looking for any resources. 

I (Heidi T.) will be gone April 18th-20th. I have a sub for most of the time I am gone to help cover Nessie’s Nest, recess, lunches and bus. 

Quick Breakfast Reminder: Breakfast is available for all students before school. If kids would like to grab a breakfast and save it for snack, that is fine but they need to do it before school. Thanks for helping to remind your students about this! Speaking of nutrition services, Linda is going to be out for the rest of the year and Debbie is here to replace her. Pop down, say hi and introduce yourself when you can.

Bus: We have noticed more and more bus riders lining up for the bus as early as 2:00! Please don’t send your bus riders until after 2:10. They are gathering outside of Susie’s classroom and this can be distracting to other students and they are not supervised until 2:10. The bus doesn’t need to leave until 2:18 so sending your bus riders at 2:15 is fine as well! Thank you!!

Staffing Plan:  Thank you all for your time and effort on the plan.  I will be having more conversations with Skip and Tammy over the next few days as ours is finalized.  Once all the plans are in, then there will be some time spent on placing teachers returning on leave and possibly some transfers due to changing enrollments – this could take weeks.  Once the district wades through that we will start to see some schools get a green light to hire for any openings.  I will keep you posted on how things are shaking out for us.

Different Blend Ideas:  This link is the document I shared via email earlier, but it’s here for reference.

Spring Dibels Day; Our final spring dibels screener day is Friday 5/27.  This should already be on the calendar.

Culmination Planning: Please use this link to input information regarding your culmination plans.  

Sustainability Alert – please remember to turn off any extra sparkle lights, lamps, etc.  These are being left on frequently.   This can add up to a lot of unnecessary power draw over time.

Foundational Skills Adoption Update-from Julie

• Please share community viewing sessions and digital resources in your  family newsletters. 
• 4/6-4/28-committee members field testing lessons, materials on display at 5 sites
• 5/4- Foundational Skills committee consensus meeting 1:30-4:30pm

iPad collection – Just an FYI that directions for iPad collection will be coming out soon.  Skip recently met with Christie Boen, Tracy Howk and Roy Fuller to brainstorm the steps we will be taking for this process.  The goal was to make it as easy as possible for teachers and librarians.  

Parent Newsletter Link – linked here is the parent newsletter.  If you ever need to find it, it’s always on the school website each Friday.

High Leverage Teaching Strategies

PLC Form 

MTSS Guidelines

Tracking Form

Week Preview:

• Monday 4/18
• Tuesday 4/19
  • Storyline Team Meeting 2:30-3:15
• Wednesday 4/20
  • SIW – Teacher Prep or Optional Ed Network
• Thursday 4/21
  • EBISS/MTSS for Kindergarten & First Grade
    • 8:00-9:30 = 1st grade
    • 9:45-11:15 = Kindergarten
• Friday 4/22