Our EME Focus
- Tier 1 Instruction
- Belonging
- Define what it means to be an Art Focused School
Thought of the Week
You probably have heard this one, but I find that it doesn’t hurt to be reminded of it every once in a while…
Sometimes it might feel like all things are lost but, we alway have the opportunity to help create positive change! Have you ever asked yourself, “am I really making a difference?” I think this is especially true when we’re talking about addressing big problems in education right now, but it pops up all of the time in our everyday lives, as well. So when I catch myself thinking that way, it helps to remember the story below. You might not be able to change the entire world, but even if you can change a small part for one child, you have made an immeasurable difference!
Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.
Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”
Homework messsage that went home to 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade parents
Hello Elk Meadow Families,
What a wonderful start to the year so far! It’s been a joy to get to know all of the students and meet so many of you parents. As we enter this third week of school, I would like to talk to you about homework. I know there is a lot of debate about what kind of a role homework should play in our kids’ education. The opinions are definitely mixed, but the research is pretty clear. Homework can have negative impacts on the achievement of younger children, positive impacts at the high school level, and mixed results in the middle. At Elk Meadow we are going to do something different this year. There will be no formally assigned homework this year. Instead we ask that you spend your evening doing things that are proven to correlate with student success. These things include reading together, eating dinner as a family, playing outside, and getting your child to bed early. Why would we do this? Instead of nightly power struggles, we want families to enjoy their evenings. We want kids to be able to play and be kids. We would love to see kids pursue their interests in sports or the arts.
Another big reason is that the research does show that homework environments are not equitable. Family life has a huge role to play in setting students up for success with homework as we need parents to help students when they get stuck or struggle with them to get it done. What happens for kids who stay in different homes on different nights and don’t have a consistent schedule? Some parents work multiple jobs and aren’t home to be involved in the homework routine. Many children live in temporary housing such as motels, homeless shelters, or campgrounds. Through no fault of their own, many of our students have little, if any chance, of being successful with work sent home. We truly believe this will be a positive experience for all of our families!
Upcoming Details
MONDAY
- Dental Screening
- Office Staff Meeting 9:45-10:15
- Staff Meeting 2:30-3:10
TUESDAY:
- Dental Screening
- Safety Meeting – 7:00-7:30
- EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
- EET Kickoff – 6:30PM-7:30PM
WEDNESDAY:
- Week B for all Grades for the specials rotation
- Discipline Data Entry Training 1:00-3:00
- SIW – Teacher Prep
- Admin PD 3:00-5:00
THURSDAY:
- Lockdown Drill – 8:30
- MTSS/PLC – 2:30-3:10
FRIDAY:
- Nothing on the Calendar
UPCOMING DATES
- September 28 – School Bus Evacuation Drill
- September 28 – “Pop on In” Event/EME 30th Anniversary Celebration
- September 30 – Peter Hoover Birthday!
Updates from Downtown
Tier I Expectations and Task Force Work from Tammy Doty: As we have been in classrooms, it is clear that Tier I expectations in schools are on everyone’s minds. Tammy created THIS IMAGE below to make sure that we are clear with all of you about our expectations related to the roll-out of the work from the Task Force. Remember, this is such a focus that within every class, these should be visible, obvious, and referred to frequently. Thanks for your diligence to make our practices consistent and common regardless of the school.
- Early Literacy Success Initiative update
- Dreambox Launchpad baseline assessment begins September 18th
- Digital tools access update and timelines
- Support documents for the first 4 weeks of Community Connection
- And much, much more!
TLC Update: September 13th Elementary TLC Update. Reach out to your elementary support staff for any needs or supports.
HR Update:
- Staff Data in UKG: Human Resources/Payroll are aware that data in UKG regarding staff assignments is not currently up to date. Please refrain from contacting either of our offices about this until a future blog entry in which we will be soliciting feedback from you on anything that is not correct. Payroll is also working on updating accruals that are incorrect (like accumulated personal time).
Culture of Care Info: Culture of Care Fall Update
Camp Tamarack Classroom Connection: HERE is a link that outlines a training for teachers who support students at Camp Tamarack. It is designed by OSU and intended to maximize the links between the classroom and the Camp Tamarack experience.
Technology Resources for Parents: Your IT team would like to encourage you to share the following links with families.
The links include step by step guides for parents who wish to sign up for:
- Parent Vue
- Canvas Observer Accounts
- School Meals
- Bus Information
For School STAS Team Members: Make sure you, School STAS Level 1 team, sign up for the SIRC training.
What is SIRC: The Sexual Incident Response Committee sets of assessment protocols and safety planning procedures overseen and administered by a unique collaborative team. The SIRC process is much like the STAS process, but is used when the event is sexual in nature (harassment, assault, etc..).
All Level 1 Team members must register for a full day of SIRC training if they have not previously attended. It is only necessary to attend one day (not both). There is a maximum of 50 participants for each day. Training dates have been separated by elementary and secondary levels. Additional dates will be determined as needed. Registration links for SIRC trainings are attached.
SIRC Training Dates:
- October 16, 2023 8:00 – 4:30 @ High Desert ESD (Middle & High School). Registration
- October 17, 2023 8:00 – 4:30 @ Bend-La Pine School District (Elementary). Registration
From Kinsey:
- Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): We are working to improve the workplace experiences and sense of belonging of our employees. One of the many ways we are doing this is through co-designed systems of support and networking called Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). Details here—page 2 has FAQ
- In 22-23 a few different ERGs met regularly throughout the year, with awesome facilitators and lots of fun activities! Thanks to those of you who participated! We are re-launching groups for 23-24, and need your help.
- Here is the info on this opportunity! Click Here
- CAFE program: here is that staff information
- Bias Lessons: HERE ARE the Bias Incident Lesson Series materials.
From Julie (Curriculum, Instruction and Systems):
- 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 student’s strengths and areas for growth. We will be launching the assessment on September 18th. When student’s 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.
