
Important Information
From Julie Walker

Happy Wednesday! So much appreciation to each and every one of our educators. The first full week is exhausting for you and your students. We are all building up our stamina! The time you spend building community, practicing routines and creating predictability is a powerful investment for you and your students. Remember to give yourself grace and find those moments that bring you joy.
What are we about this year?
High Quality Instruction and Belonging
What are we working on?
- Refining Foundational Skills Instruction, What’s Important?
- Phases of Implementation, 4 Parts of Community Connection, Partner Up and Wayfinder
Early Literacy Success Initiative
Oregon’s Legislature passed House Bill 3198 in July which is the Early Literacy Success Initiative. This is very exciting news! This initiative has four goals:
- Increase early literacy for children from birth to third grade;
- Reduce literacy academic disparities for student groups that have historically experienced academic disparities;
- Increase support to parents and guardians to enable them to be partners in the development of their children’s literacy skills and knowledge; and
- Increase access to early literacy learning through support that is research-aligned, culturally responsive, student-centered and family-centered.
Bend La Pine is in the initial planning stages for this initiative. As part of this work, Julie Walker (Director of Curriculum and Instruction) will be visiting all Kindergarten and First Grade classrooms in the next couple of months. The purpose for these visits is to observe, talk with students and teachers and to think about key systems and structures that are helping to move early literacy forward in our schools. These visits will inform our Early Literacy Vision moving forward. I will be in touch with each of you regarding the date and times of my visit. In addition, I am looking to build on our Early Literacy Strategic Team. I need two 1st and two 2nd grade teachers and an interventionist to join our team. Please let me know if you are interested. GO LITERACY!!
Important Information Regarding Dreambox
Dreambox has a new baseline assessment called Launchpad. ALL students will need to take this assessment as it will provide teachers and schools with valuable information regarding students strengths and areas for growth. We will be launching the assessment on September 18th. When students login they will need to complete the assessment which will take 15-45 minutes depending on grade level. The assessment can be paused and started again-it does not need to be finished in one sitting. Students will need to complete Launchpad by September 27th. Here is a link to a quick video and one-pager explaining Launchpad. Students will have normal access to Dreambox until September 18th.
Access to Digital Tools Updates:
Teaching and Learning and Instructional Technology are working hard to make sure each and every teacher and student has access to the digital tools they need for a successful start to the school year. The team has hit a few barriers along the way and is working hard to resolve those issues as quickly as possible.
Here is an update on timelines:
1.Wonders– a few rostering issues are happening currently. These should be resolved this week . K-1 will only have access to the Teacher’s Edition. 2-5 will have access to both the Teacher’s Edition and the Student Edition. A few rostering issues are also occurring with Maravillas and should be resolved by the end of this week.
2. Really Great Reading- We have had some really great issues with Really Great Reading! Classroom teachers should have access to their online teaching tool and reading playgrounds. If you do not please reach out for support. Interventionists, Learning Specialists and Educational Assistants should have access this week.
3. Acadience is loaded and ready for data entry for the 23-24 school year, but historical data is not yet available. We hope to have this resolved by the end of the week.
4. Lexia and Dreambox are loaded and ready for use.
If you don’t have what you need. Please let us know by following the link below:
Instructional Tech and Information Technology partnered to build an application where teachers can see what tools have been deployed to each of their classes. At the top of this page there is a feature where they can request a new tool. This can be requests to add, change, or remove tools
Other Information
Literacy Happenings
Are you wondering how to use your spelling inventories to adjust how fast you move through HD Word PLUS (tier 1) and for small group instruction (tier 2)?
- Step 1: Give a quick spelling inventory
- How to give and score a spelling inventory
- Spelling inventory 2-5- scoring page and directions
- How to give and score a spelling inventory
- Step 2: Input data into Forefront
- How to input spelling inventory into Forefront for a clear visual of students’ strengths and areas for instruction
- Step 3: Use the data to make decisions regarding your HD Word PLUS scope and sequence (tier 1) and small group-directed instruction (tier 2)
- You can also look at your whole grade level in one graph for grouping purposes (I forgot to mention that in the video)
- HD Word PLUS weekly lesson plans
Decodables and some leveled readers
Contact Lindsley Gehrig if you would like some decodables to add to your classroom library. I do not have full sets but random ones you could add to book buckets. Also, a couple of random leveled readers you could have as well.
Units of Study reading and writing curriculum:I have some Units of Study Reading and Writing curriculum available. They are not complete sets. But if you are missing any individual units, let me (Lindsley Gehrig) know the unit (please be as specific as possible). I will get them to you if I have them. This will be our last year with Units of Study and I would love to get these out to schools to be used, if needed.
Math Happenings
Forefront and Dreambox rosters should both be loaded and updating on a regular basis. Please reach out to your instructional coach or Kerry Morton if you are seeing glitches.
Northwest Math Conference is back in Portland on October 12-14! The 62nd annual Northwest Mathematic Conference (NWMC) will have workshops and sessions from nationally known educators as well as local education experts at all levels K-12+. Each session and workshop will address the 4 cornerstones of the Oregon Math Project: Focus, Engagement, Belonging, & Pathways. The opening keynote will be given by Karim Ani, and the closing keynote will be given by Fawn Nguyen. Registration and substitutes is at the cost of the teacher or schools. Ask your principal if you can attend! Registration can be found at this link.
Social Emotional & Mental Well-Being
Links to 1st 4 Weeks Support Documents for Community Connection and Partner Up
K: https://tinyurl.com/3sarjzw5
1: https://tinyurl.com/mr2xzk8h
2nd: https://tinyurl.com/3497bdf2
3rd/4th: https://tinyurl.com/2szxm8bd
5th: https://tinyurl.com/mr46udh9
Technology in the Classroom
Apple Classroom is a great tool for teachers of all grade levels. When using Apple Classroom, teachers can monitor student iPads at school. Teachers can also launch a specific app or website, see which apps students are using, lock student iPads, and more! Reach out to your instructional technology coaches support with Apple Classroom.
Seesaw is a great way to communicate with families and provide a window into their child’s learning. Two teachers from each school will attend a training on September 26th to learn more about how they can help support you and your school with Seesaw this school year.
If you are interested, check out the Seesaw Classroom Dailies for interactive and engaging activities to use in the classroom in September!