Archive for October 30, 2023

October 30th, 2023

October 30, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thought of the Week

Toothpaste Recant (this might be a good share with kids too)

One night in July at an all-girls summer camp, the campers were gathered around in a circle for their nighttime devotions.

The counselor asked if any of the girls wanted to share something that had happened that day that impacted them.

One camper raised her hand and said a girl from another camp cabin had said something that hurt her feelings and she was really upset about it.

The camp counselor went to the bathroom to grab a tube of toothpaste.

She took the tube and squeezed it just a bit so some toothpaste came out. She then tried to put the toothpaste back in the tube, but it just created a mess. Then she squeezed the tube even more, pushing more toothpaste out and creating even more of a mess, but none of it would go back into the tube.

The counselor then told the campers, “this toothpaste represents the words you speak. Once you say something that you want to take back, it’s impossible and it only creates a mess. Think before you speak, and make sure your words are going to good use before you let them out.”

Speaking is a fundamental social skill required for living a successful life.

However, many are careless with their words, but they hold so much power. They can have a direct impact on the outcome of a situation, creating a helpful or hurtful reaction in our world. The problem is, once words come out of your mouth, no amount of “I’m sorrys” will make them go back in: blurting something out and then attempting to take it back is like shutting the gate after the horse has taken off. 

Thinking before you speak allows you the time to consider the potential impact of your words.

Be careful when choosing where and when you let your words out. You can easily hurt other people, and once you do, you can’t take it back.

Think before you speak, and make sure your words are going to good use before you let them out.

Words define who we are by revealing our attitudes and character, giving people an indication of our intellect or ignorance. 

Stop for a minute before you speak and question yourself about why you’re saying what you are. Are you trying to relay information? Relate to someone else?

Make sure you’re able to take responsibility for whatever you’re about to say!

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • 5 Minute Standing Meeting 2:25
  • Committee Meetings 2:30-3:15
  • New Principal Learning 3:30-4:30
TUESDAY:
  • Melissa’s Birthday!!!!!!!!!
  • Halloween!!!
  • Tier 3 Meeting 8:15-9:15
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
WEDNESDAY:
  • EME Sped Meeting 8:00-8:45
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • SIW – Prep for Art Workshops 1:00-2:30
  • Systems Leadership Meeting 2:30-3:15
THURSDAY:
  • Kindergarten Forest Field Trip
  • PLC’s 2:30-3:10
FRIDAY:
  • Nothing
UPCOMING DATES
  • November 7 – Safety Meeting 7:00-7:30
  • November 7 – ICCL 2:30-3:10
  • November 8 – ART WORKSHOP 1 Day 1 ! 9:30-10:30
  • November 9 – Ben out for Son’s Wedding!
  • November 10 – Veterans Day Observed – No School
  • November 14 – Vision Screenings
  • November 15 – Fire Drill 8:00
  • November 15 – Tori Eisenbeis’ Birthday!!
  • November 15 – Art Workshop #1! Day 2 9:30-10:30
  • November 16 – Secure in Place Drill 8:00
  • November 17 – 4th grade field trip to High Desert 9:15-1:45
  • November 17 – 5th grade walking field trip to Deschutes River Trail 8:00-11:00
  • November 20-24 – Thanksgiving Break – No School
  • November 28 – Staff Appreciation Breakfast! 7:00-8:00
  • November 28 – Picture Retake Day
  • December 1 – EET Giving Tree
  • December 1 – Kindergarten Forest Field Trip #2

Updates from Downtown

New Notes:

From Lisa and Tammy: Lots of great stuff at the PBIS conference this week. One nugget stands out: “…effective educators implement the following “top ten” intervention strategies to support and respond to student behaviors in their classroom.” -Center for PBIS

Although the title of the above link says “students with disabilities”, ALL of the practices are great foundations for our classrooms. Remember, it is nearly impossible to intervene for students with intense needs if Tier I practices are not in place in the school/classroom. This list is helpful, practical, and clear in supporting all of our classrooms to be created for all students.

Student Teachers: Recently, there have been a number of aspiring student teachers who have reached out directly to our schools to inquire about securing a placement at that particular site, so I’d like to take a moment to explain the process we follow for placing student teachers.

Currently, we have established agreements in place with George Fox, OSU-Cascades, and Lewis & Clark that allow us to readily accept student teachers when we can match them with a supervising teacher who suits their needs. For requests from other institutions, we require that they be directed to our Human Resources department so that we can engage the institution in the process of developing an MOA that meets both parties’ needs.

Each request beyond our established agreements is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Typically, we only consider such requests when they offer opportunities for our existing employees, such as Educational Assistants seeking licensure, or when they present a chance for us to develop relationships with individuals pursuing hard-to-fill positions like Special Education or Advanced Mathematics.

If you’re approached with any inquiries, please direct them to Ryan Kelling to continue the conversation. And if you ever have questions or need further clarification, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Ryan.

TLC Update: October 25th Elementary TLC Update– including LA curriculum feedback, Seesaw change, Wayfinder resources, and movement moments.

Youth Truth is coming up: YouthTruth surveys will be happening in January. This is our fourth year working with the organization. Here is a simple timeline of how the process should unfold over the next few months. More general information about YouthTruth is available on their website https://youthtruthsurvey.org/ 

  • Nov. 14 – We will receive a brief 10-20 minute pre-recorded Kick-Off Webinar for principals to watch by Nov. 24.
  • Nov. 27 – YouthTruth will send principals (and any site survey coordinators listed on the submitted School Information Form) instructions on how to access their school’s unique Survey Implementation Guide. This is the first email that school-level teams will receive directly from YouthTruth.
  • Nov. 27 – Dec. 22 – School teams use the instructions in the Survey Implementation Guide to prepare for surveying. This should take a few hours total. 
  • Jan. 2 – Jan. 26 – This is the survey window for all student, staff, and family surveys.
  • Feb. 9 – Results will be available to schools.

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October 23rd, 2023

October 22, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thought of the Week

The Weight of the World

Once, a psychology professor walked around his classroom full of students holding a glass of water with his arm straightened out to the side.

He asked his students, “How heavy is this glass of water?”

The students started to shout out guesses–ranging anywhere from 4 ounces to one pound.

The professor replied, “The absolute weight of this glass isn’t what matters while I’m holding it. Rather, it’s the amount of time that I hold onto it that makes an impact.”

“If I hold it for, say, two minutes, it doesn’t feel like much of a burden. If I hold it for an hour, its weight may become more apparent as my muscles begin to tire.

If I hold it for an entire day–or week–my muscles will cramp and I’ll likely feel numb or paralyzed with pain, making me feel miserable and unable to think about anything aside from the pain that I’m in.“

“In all of these cases, the actual weight of the glass will remain the same, but the longer I clench onto it, the heavier it feels to me and the more burdensome it is to hold.”

The class understood and shook their heads in agreement.

The professor continued to say, “This glass of water represents the worries and stresses that you carry around with you every day.  If you think about them for a few minutes and then put them aside, it’s not a heavy burden to bear.

If you think about them a little longer, you will start to feel the impacts of the stress. If you carry your worries with you all day, you will become incapacitated, prohibiting you from doing anything else until you let them go.”

Don’t carry your worries around with you everywhere you go, as they will do nothing but bring you down.

Put down your worries and stressors. Don’t give them your entire attention while your life is passing you by.

Let go of things that are out of your control. Don’t carry your worries around with you everywhere you go, as they will do nothing but bring you down. Put your “glass down” each night and move on from anything that is unnecessarily stressing you out. 

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • Staff Meeting 2:30-3:15
TUESDAY:
  • 1st Grade Field Trip 9:00-1:00
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • Earthquake Drill 1:30
  • Elementary Leadership Meeting for Admin 3:00-5:00
WEDNESDAY:
  • Teacher Work Time 8:00-4:00
  • EME Sped Meeting 9:00-10:00
  • Lunch Provided by EET 12ish
  • SIW – Conference Prep
  • Admin PD 3:00-4:30 (Out of Building)
  • Conferences 4:00-8:00
THURSDAY:
  • Camille’s Birthday!!!!!!!!!
  • Conferences 8:00-8:00
  • Lunch Provided by EET 12ish
FRIDAY:
  • No School – TGIF Baby! Enjoy a well deserved long weekend!
UPCOMING DATES
  • Melissa Landolt’s Birthday! – October 31
  • Halloween – October 31

Updates from Downtown

Conference Reminders

  • Conference Greeters: It is an expectation that during conferences, there is ALWAYS a greeter at the area where families enter the building. They don’t need to sign in, but someone must be near the door at all times. This may mean that you need to adjust your office staff calendars or share some of these roles with those that are less tied to the classroom.
  • Vector Trainings (Safe Schools): If your days aren’t packed, Conferences are a great time to get these done. Due 10/31

Certified Evaluation Process

BLS and BEA have reached an agreement to modify the certified evaluation process for 2023/24.  Please share this document with your staff. 

Conferences and Seesaw:

  • Teachers, please review their list of connected families and be prepared to help those who still have not connected
  • Teachers, please print copies of the instructions on how to connect and help parents sign up on the spot
  • Want more information or Seesaw how-tos? Check out this document

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October 16th, 2023

October 16, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thought of the Week

Go First and Go Often

What does it mean to “go first”? I think the one thing you all know about me is that I listen to all ideas and adopt many of them. I challenge you to not hold your ideas in, but to “go first”. It is amazing the things we can accomplish with all our ideas combined! 

 I was very fortunate to have a leader who challenged me to act on my ideas, thoughts and beliefs and I went with it. It was uncomfortable at first, to say the least!  I was nervous about what people would think. What if they think I’m stupid or worse yet, they don’t believe in me…but I was able to move past that and started to act and share a few of my core beliefs and ideas to make changes that were impactful both in and out of the school environment! Here are a few examples of some things I was allowed to do, or “go first” on because of great leadership.  You already know my thoughts on homework, so it probably will come as no surprise that I went first on doing away with homework from a district level. I also went first on getting rid of the ”0” from a district level. These were not overwhelmingly popular right away, but after the numbers came in and people could see the impacts, in the end they were adopted across the district. I was able to, with the help of others, change the way teachers got their pay scale advancements.  Instead of college credits, that teachers had to pay for, teachers came up with action research projects that we awarded credits for that went toward lane changes. No cost to the teacher, and benefits to the district though real learning while doing!  Another fun way I was able to “go first” was the redesign of our PE curriculum. We went toward life long activities such as cross country skiing, snowshoeing, biking, curling, and kayaking. We were able to transition the budget to make those activities available to all our students!  

So, what does it mean to “go first”? It means to act on your ideas and share them with the people around you. It means to be vulnerable and open to feedback. It means to make change that is meaningful and maybe even lifelong. It means to listen to that thing tickling your brain about how to make something easier for kids to learn, or how to create a system that makes things run smoother. It means to scratch that itch!

Here are some of the ideas that have come my way, from this staff, that we now do!  

  • Recess lines up under the overhang.  
  • Many, many ideas of how to better serve kids.
  • Dot day
  • Student helpers at breakfast
  • New FYI system
  • Painting a football field and turning the soccer goal (Coming Soon)
  • Moving recess to the AB side
  • New logo
  • 30th year celebration for our families 
  • PD ideas (also coming)
  • Too many more to name, and this is in just one month!

My challenge to you is for you to keep “going first” with that thing you have been thinking about in your class. Let’s figure it out together! You all have such excellent ideas, abundance of knowledge, and I want to see your ideas come to the light. I also challenge you to use this same language with your students. Tell them to “go first”. Everything we enjoy, love, use in this world is because someone went first!

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • Systems Leadership Team Meeting 2:30-3:15
TUESDAY:
  • Elk Tier 3 Meeting 9:00-10:00
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • Fire Drill 1:30
WEDNESDAY:
  • Picture Day!
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • EME Sped Meeting 8:00-8:30
  • SIW – Conference Prep
THURSDAY:
  • MTSS/PLC – 2:30-3:10
  • Thirsty Thursday 3:30
  • BAM Metting 5:00-7:00 (Ben and Amanda
FRIDAY:
  • None
UPCOMING DATES
  • Earthquake Drill – October 24 @ 1:30
  • No School/Conferences October 25-26
  • Camille’s Birthday! – October 26
  • Melissa Landolt’s Birthday! – October 31

Updates from Downtown

Things to consider before conferences.

Did the parent feel that the teachers:

  • have their child’s best interest at heart
  • get their child
  • don’t judge them
  • have empathy for any difficult situations
  • are approachable and won’t get defensive. 
  • are flexible in creating solutions that meet the needs of their child.
  • include them in helping their child succeed. (But they don’t feel like it’s all falling on their shoulders.)
  • will help their child succeed

New Notes:

From TLC: October 11th Elementary TLC Update

From Curriculum, Instruction and Systems-Julie:

Important:  Please put the following in your family newsletters before conferences

Would you like to learn more about EL Education-the finalist for K-5 Language Arts Curriculum?

Access materials digitally here

Provide feedback digitally here

From the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion:

  • Halloween costumes: A reminder to be thoughtful as you prepare for any staff or team costume themes: avoid cultural appropriation or offensive caricatures or stereotypes.  Some examples here.  LEAD/Equity Coaches have shared with your school’s DEI-ICCL rep some resources for talking with students about this issue as well.
  • International events and increased awareness: Please keep extra eyes and ears out for anti-Semitic comments or incidents right now.  Our Jewish community is deeply impacted by recent international incidents and have indicated concern for increased bias incidents in this regard.  Thank you for swiftly interrupting and reporting anything of this nature.  
  • Upcoming Office of DEI events: Thurs, Nov 16th: Our annual district-wide Latino Family Night will be November 16th at Pilot Butte Middle School.  Dinner 5:30pm, Opening 6:00pm, Sessions 6:30-7:45pm.  Please join us to welcome and connect with your Latino families!  Feel free to invite your staff and families directly.

Conferences and Seesaw: For Teachers

  • Please review your list of connected families and be prepared to help those who still have not connected
  • Print copies of the instructions on how to connect and help parents sign up on the spotn
  • Want more information or Seesaw how-tos? Check out this document

We made the District Blog!

A reminder that you can’t have rainbows (2!) without a little rain! Thanks for sharing Elk Meadow!

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October 9th, 2023

October 9, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thought of the Week

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • Staff Meeting/Sibling Match-up 2:30-3:10
TUESDAY:
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • ICCL Meeting 2:30-3:10
WEDNESDAY:
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • Tier 3 Meeting 9:00-10:00
  • SIW – Ed Network @ EME Library
THURSDAY:
  • MTSS/PLC – 2:30-3:10
FRIDAY:
  • EME SpEd Meeting 2:30-3:15
UPCOMING DATES
  • Fire Drill – October 17 @ 1:30
  • Earthquake Drill – October 24 @ 1:30
  • No School/Conferences October 25-26
  • Camille’s Birthday! – October 26
  • Melissa Landolt’s Birthday! – October 31

Updates from Downtown

WAYFINDER Are there any classrooms/grade levels who feel they are using Wayfinder regularly and are interested in being a showcase classroom. The Wayfinder team will be in Bend on the 24th of October and would like to see this work in action and they need 8-10 classrooms to visit.

From Student Services (Colleen, Josh, and Sean) We are very excited to share that we are partnering with The National Resource Center for Paraeducators, NRCP, to provide monthly professional development opportunities for all Inclusion Educational Assistants. These trainings are designed to help deepen the understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Please read more about these trainings HERE. 

We are offering additional CPI training.  An initial CPI training is scheduled for Thursday, October 26.  This is a non-workday for elementary and middle school inclusion EAs due to conferences.  If your inclusion EA has not been trained and chooses to attend, the student services department will pay for the timesheet.  This training should be in UKG soon!  Upcoming CPI refresher and initial training will be scheduled on February 2, 2024. 

DHS Training Video: Please watch this 6 minute video as it is important learning for you regarding the state’s process in investigating child abuse in schools (that is when there is a question about something that has happened at school or on our buses). There were several of these investigations last year in our elementary schools. This will help you better understand the process should it happen at your school.

Recommendations for students for private schools: We recently received a question from one of our local K-12 private schools about policies prohibiting teachers from writing recommendations for students to attend private schools. BLS does not have such a policy. On the other hand, staff should feel NO PRESSURE to complete these types of recommendations. Our only suggestion is that in order to avoid bias, staff do not “pick and choose” who they write recommendations for…either they are willing to complete a recommendation whenever asked or as a matter of practice they politely decline.

Fire Inspection FYI from Dan Dummit: Dan has been making the rounds with the new fire inspector recently. He wanted to be sure that you all have this document, (created by Portland Fire and Rescue) which outlines the expectations for our classrooms when it comes to fire safety. To highlight a few things that we want to draw your attention to because they are common problems, please refer to #4, #8, #9. Also, while you notice there are some things on this sheet that, if done correctly can be used, they go against our sustainability practices and should be avoided, #10 and #18 for example.

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October 2nd, 2023

October 2, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thought of the Week

Circle of Influence, Circle of Control, How I center myself… Whatever you want to call it!

This is something I have used for years!  I do this almost weekly.  Sometimes more often when I feel overwhelmed. I really do try to put 75% of my energy into the things that I can control and 25% of my effort into the things I can influence.  This leaves 0% for the things I cannot control.  So I try to not worry about them.  Sometimes I influence something, but then move it into the outer circle of things I cannot control.  This is obviously just a few things on my plate. I usually acutally write down all the things on a sheet of paper so I can visualize all the things that may be weighing me down that I have no control over and then… let them go.

Worrying today is the interest paid on a debt you haven’t taken out yet!

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • Committee Meetings 2:30-3:10 – Committee leads will reach out.
TUESDAY:
  • Safety Meeting 7:00-7:30
  • ICCL Admin Training 3:00-5:00
WEDNESDAY:
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • Tier 3 Meeting 9:00-10:00
  • SIW 
THURSDAY:
  • MTSS/PLC – 2:30-3:10
FRIDAY:
  • EME SpEd Meeting 2:30-3:15
UPCOMING DATES

Updates from Downtown

Performance Evaluation Module: We are going to use the week of October 2nd to complete our testing (thank you Julie and Sky View MS staff for helping us with this) and then roll out communications regarding the launch of Certified goal-setting, observations and evaluations processes.  Certified staff can expect an introductory notification through UKG regarding the launch of Performance by October 6th.

Safety Site Visits– Starting next week, Kayla and Scott will be visiting one school per week to partner with our administration team to conduct a safety site visit.

From Julie in Curriculum, Instruction and Systems:

  1. Educator Network Day on October 11th will be at each school site from 1:45-3:15.  The topic will be reflecting and refining foundational skills and planning for community connection, partner up and Wayfinder lessons. Admin/ICCL teams meet on October 3rd from 3:00-5:00. We will set each team up to facilitate October 11th during this session. 
  2. Exciting News from the Language Arts Curriculum Review Team: The Language Arts Curriculum Team met September 14th and reached strong consensus on moving forward with EL Education from Imagine Learning as our finalist for K-5 Language Arts Curriculum.
    • Why EL Education?
      • Deep knowledge-building scope and sequence
      • Eight-week modular structure allows for students to go deep with each topic
      • All writing and conversations are purposeful, focused, and anchored in the content students are learning.
      • Students own their own learning and develop the habits of successful citizens 

Next steps: Between 10/2 and 12/11, the Language Arts Curriculum Review Team will move forward with field testing a module for the purpose of identifying professional learning needs and beginning to plan for implementation. During the field test the team will be collecting video, survey and interview data from classroom educators and students. Between 10/25 and 10/27, each school will have an information table with resources to explore the curricular materials and provide feedback during conferences (community and staff feedback).

You can expect materials to be arriving at your schools in the next couple of weeks.  All materials have been sent ATTN: Instructional Coach.  Your instructional coach will organize the materials and set up the table for viewing during conferences. 

From Wayfinder: Transformative SEL Workshop, November 9th 2023 in Bend from 10-4! We are thrilled to invite you to Wayfinder’s in-person event of the 2023-24 school year! Join us and colleagues from across the state of Oregon for collaborative conversations and strategic planning around Oregon’s Transformative Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Framework & Standards. Use this link to pre-register before the official invite goes out next week. Food, refreshments, and swag will be provided. 

  • What to Expect:
    • Engaging Workshops: Interactive sessions led by renowned experts in SEL will empower you with practical tools and strategies.
    • Intimate Discussions: Share your experiences and learn from fellow educators and leaders in a close-knit setting.
    • Hands-On Activities: Experience the power of SEL through immersive activities that you can take back to your students.
    • Resourceful Takeaways: Leave with practical frameworks and tools to support SEL implementation at Scale
    • Community Building: Forge lasting connections with like-minded educators who are passionate about driving student success.

Culture of Care upcoming opportunities:

  • Introduction to Restorative Practices
    • 23-24 Restorative Practices PD Schedule
    • Tuesday, October 3rd: 8:30am-12:30pm
    • Overview of fundamental theory and practices, including the Continuum, Social Discipline Window, Fair Process and Circle Planning & Facilitation.
    • Limited sub funds available (note in your registration if requesting)
    • High Desert ESD (2804 SW 6th St. Redmond)
    • Register here!

TLC Update: September 27th Elementary TLC Update which includes…

  • Dreambox Launchpad window for kindergarten extended
  • Instructional Technology resources are ready for check-out

REMINDERS:

  • Conferences- Less than 25 students= 25-30 minutes. More students = 20 minutes.
  • Walk and Roll to school day is on October 4th this year. If you want stickers, please apply by September 27th to  Street trust. Send tallys to Jackie Wilson.
  • Get There Challenge Oct 1-15: Create a team and sign up here. Any member of your team can be the team captain, but you need one. Check out the great prizes
  • Digital applications for students require multi-factor authentication. Steps to complete can be found on this link.

IMPORTANT DATES:

  • Oct. 3, 3:00-5:00 ICCL/Admin Training–Location is Jewell Cafeteria
  • Oct. 11, 1:45-3:15 Ed Network Training

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