Wednesday: Sibling Conference Scheduling @ 1:00 in the Media Center, SIW-Educator Network Day (K-5 classroom teachers will meet in the Media Center @ 1:45; focus ares: Foundational Skills, Wayfinder)
*We are planning that the Fire Department will deliver the Fire Buster worksheets on Monday. There will be a basket in the office for completed activity pages.
Thank you for arriving at Sibling Conference scheduling on Wednesday with only ELL conferences scheduled. Coordinating consecutive conferences (i.e. back-to-back time slots) for families with multiple Lions is a priority and this makes scheduling these most efficient. Jessica is planning to list ELL Conferences on teacher conference Google Docs prior to the meeting on Wednesday.
We continue to see dividends from the lost and found tub system. Thank you for bringing in your lost and found tub at the end of the day and being ready with your tub placement for the rainy and snowy days ahead.
Wednesday: Walk, Ride or Roll to School Day; SIW: MTSS Doc Preview and Seesaw PD @ 1:45 in the Media Center
Thursday: 5th MTSS @ 2:30 in A3 (Discovery Falls)
Next week is the first MTSS meeting of the year. MTSS will again be on Thursdays beginning at 2:30 and will take place in A3 (Discovery Falls). With Lava Team meetings also occurring on Thursdays, next week we will be sharing a schedule with you that also makes Thursdays our PLC meeting day. In a sense, Thursdays will be a day when we can all plan to be either be meeting in MTSS, Lava Teams, or in PLCs (similar to when Tuesday after school was when we met as PLCs or had a Staff Meeting). This common time will hopefully add some simplicity to all of our calendars. More details to come!
A note From Tech Services: IT made a change over the summer that now requires students to use MFA (multi-factor authentication) when signing in to BLS services from a personally owned device. An area of impact for our elementary schools is families that want to use Clever services such as Lexia and DreamBox on a home device. Families will not be able to do that unless their student has setup MFA. Complicating matters, MFA needs to be setup from a known secure network. For Bend-La Pine Schools, that means MFA needs to be setup either at a school (using BLS BYOD or BLS Visitor) or using the student’s iPad at home (which is always connected to the BLS network with VPN). Of these options, setting up MFA from the student’s iPad is going to be the easiest. If you have families that want to setup MFA so they can use services from a personal device, please send the student’s iPad home for 1 day along with either a 1 page printout of our student MFA instructions or share this link: https://bls.fyi/mfa-student Parents should be able to use the instructions along with the student iPad to get MFA setup. Once setup, the iPad can go back to school and stay there.
The Language Arts Curriculum Team met yesterday (Thank you Rachel for representing Lava Ridge!) and reached strong consensus to move forward with EL Education from Imagine Learning as our finalist for K-5 Language Arts Curriculum. Here are more details
This year Kids Inc. is incorporating STEM activities into the daily routine for attendees from 2:50-4:00 each day in the Rainbow Valley and Friendship Mountain Commons and in the gym.
Coming soon to your inbox…an email from the UKG Performance Evaluation Module. This year, certified goal setting and evaluations will be connected to UKG and we can expect more information about this later in October.
Wednesday: Lockdown Drill; SIW-Walk to Skill Focus
Thursday: *Tammy Doty/Lisa Burk Site Visit-AM; Lava Teams @ 2:30
Welcome to Avery Burger! Avery joined our team this week as an educational assistant and will be at Lava daily from 11:30-2:30.
*This year Laci and I have twice monthly meetings with Tammy Doty (Executive Director of Elementary Programs) and Lisa Birk (joins for one meeting a month; also an Executive Director of Elementary Programs). During these visits we will spend time in classrooms and also meeting.
Thank you for your input into the schedule we will use for Conferences this year. We will plan for: Wednesday: Work In Classrooms 7:15-11:15; Conference 11:15-7:15 Thursday: Work in Classrooms 7:15-11:15; Conference 11:15-7:15 Friday: Trade Time (Day Off)
Welcome to Tatum McDaniel! Tatum joined our staff this week and will be supporting students in the Ocean and Learning Lab.
From Mary Schlaefer: Across from the mailboxes is a 1-page form to complete if you would like a student’s speech screened. It can be a parent request or it can come from the teacher/staff member. If a staff member is requesting a screening, we must have permission from the parent to do a speech screening, which can be a phone call, e-mail, conference, etc.
Next week, Kenya will begin a leave absence. Andrea Thompson will be teaching her class during this time.
From Julie (Curriculum, Instruction and Systems): Important Information regarding Dreambox: Dreambox has a new baseline assessment called Launchpad. Every elementary student 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.
At the Staff Meeting Tuesday we’re planning to discuss the bias lesson students will learn during October. Similar to last year, all Bend-La Pine students will have instruction about bias prior to the end of October. This year, grade level teams will have discretion to either teach a bias lesson in isolation or follow a sequence of lessons that includes Wayfinder content and the bias lesson. Here is the information from the District LEAD Team.
From Mid-Oregon Credit Union: Thursday, 9/21: Educators’ Night Out at the High Desert Museum. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., event from 6 to 8 p.m. A free, Back-to-school night for all of the adults working in Central Oregon schools. Join in demonstrations and get take-home resources. Food and beverages provided. Information and to register: https://highdesertmuseum.org/events/educators-night-out/.
Next week is a B week
Happenings next week at Lava Ridge:
Tuesday: Staff Meeting @ 2:30 in the Media Center
Wednesday: 12:10 EA Monthly Meeting in the Media Center; 1:00-1:30 Student overview meeting for Specialists and Educational Assistants with Emily in the Media Center; SIW-Teacher Prep
The latest book recommendations from our staff include:
The Silent Patient
All of the Brandon Sanderson books
Libertas
The Last Year of the War
Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own, By Erma Bombeck.
S#@& my Dad Says
Lessons in Chemistry
If You Tell
The Lost Girls of Willowbrook
Hello Beautiful
Gods Hotel
The Armande Ganache series by Louise Penn
Fredrik Backman Novels
The Old Place by Bobby Finger
Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power
Wednesday is the first School Improvement Wednesday of the year. We will be meeting from 1:45-3:15 in the Media Center. Thank you for reminding the families of your students that dismissal on Wednesdays is at 12:45.
Teachers: If you are in need of additional curriculum please let Laci know.
Happenings Next Week at Lava:
Wednesday: School Improvement Wednesday 1:45-3:15: Tier I Focus
Thursday or Friday: Fire Drill (we will announce this drill to students prior to the alarm sounding)
Welcome to Brandy Duffy! Brandy is the newest member of our Special Programs Team.
From Teaching and Learning:We need you! On Sept 26th there is a half day Seesaw training for two teachers from each school (planning for one primary and one intermediate). A person doesn’t need to be a current super user of Seesaw but should be enthusiastic to learn more about the program and be willing to train others back at your site. The training will focus mainly on parent engagement and will take place in the board room at the Ed Center. The actual training will run from 8-11 to allow teachers time to return to their building. Interested in representing Lava? Please let Gary know. Thank you!
From the Teaching and Learning: 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:
Wonders- a few rostering issues are happening currently. These should be resolved by next 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
2. Really Great Reading-Classroom teachers should have access to their online teaching tool and reading playgrounds by the end of this week. Blend classrooms are loaded and should be visible for teachers and students. Interventionists, Learning Specialists and Educational Assistants should have access by the middle of next week
3. Lexia and Dreambox-a few rostering issues were happening earlier in the week and should now be resolved. Both programs should be visible for teachers and students
4. Acadience– will be available early next week. 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
At Lava, we love birthdays! We will be calling birthdays on the morning announcements again this year and and inviting those celebrating their special day to come to the office for crowns, pencils, and stickers. We will be messaging this information to families in an upcoming newsletter and will again be asking families to not bring in treats for their child’s birthday. Your help in messaging this to be families too, would be wonderful. Thank you!
If a student has a significant injury in class or on the playground (thinking something that leaves a mark or bleeds) please let the office know. In some instances we may need to submit an incident report for the event and we also always follow-up with a call from the office for support. Thank you!
At the end of the day, students can walk to buses or the front parking lot via the halls or outside (exiting through playground gates is ok) Please decide as a grade level which route you would like students to take and work as a team to have one teacher walk and supervise students as they go to the buses and one do the same with walkers/riders/rollers. Thank you!
Thank you for coaching your students to be ready to give their last nameto Kathy or Teresa if/when they get lunch or breakfast from the Cafe.
We need you! If you do not have students at the beginning of the day Wednesday-Friday next week, we could use help at the Main Entrance navigating kids to class. Thank you!
Happenings next week at Lava Ridge:
Wednesday: First day!
Friday: Wear your staff t-shirt day! All kindergarteners attend.
This school year, the High Desert ESD is using the Red Rover, substitute management system to deploy subs to school. This week, please activate your Red Rover account (this is done via an email you should have received in recent weeks; let Haley know if you did not receive this) and watch this Red Rover Basic Training Video.
In the event you need to be away from Lava, after entering your absence in Red Rover, please immediately let Haley know in-person, or via text. In the event you need to enter a same-day absence early in the morning, please text Haley first and then enter the absence in Red Rover. If you do not need a sub, you do not need to enter the absence in Red Rover.
After entering the absence in Red Rover and letting Haley know, you will also submit the time off request into UKG. Time off requests will be made through the Self-Service tab by clicking on the button (see below) and following the prompts.
Tech Support Support for UKG Timesheet/Time off questions contact Payroll Department: [email protected]
From the Teaching and Learning Department: We are excited to share that all K-5 teachers in Bend-La Pine have access to Seesaw this year! Seesaw is a great way to engage families in two-way communication centered on learning. All K-5 teachers will use Seesaw and our goal is to engage families in meaningful ways and to provide a window into the classroom, by sharing celebrations, highlighting specific learning, and hearing from the kids themselves.
As soon as you can please complete the get started steps below:
If you have any questions, visit the Seesaw Help Center or reach out to Robbie Faith, Tracy Howk, or an existing SeeSaw user at our school.
What about other systems like Class Dojo, Google Classroom, or a teacher’s WordPress blog?
Teachers can still keep using Google Classroom, in fact Seesaw and Google Classroom work well together and they each have their own purpose- more on that later. If teachers have a WordPress blog they can keep this going too. However, as they learn more about Seesaw’s capabilities, they might consider moving away from it but this will be up to them. As for Class Dojo, we are asking that teachers do not use this system and that they transition to using Seesaw. Class Dojo is not a district supported system and there are features of it that do not align with our current practices and stances. The instructional technology team stands ready to help teachers make this transition.
A couple of additional notes for those who may have volunteers this year. When you are ready to have volunteers assist in your classroom, feel free to share the link below, which will take volunteers to the Bend La Pine Schools web page dedicated to volunteering. The application is available under the Parents tab on the district web site for for anyone who wishes to apply. We are not planning to share the application broadly with families as there continues to be cost to the district with each application. It typically takes a week+ for applications to be approved and Kim and Haley can always assist with looking up if a person’s application has been approved.
From the Tech Department: Please encourage your teaching staff to check out the “Teacher Hub” located in the Staff Portal Quick Links. This is your one stop resource shop for all new and returning teachers.
The ICCL Team this year will be: Sarah Kamasz, Tracy Mauze, Robin Sanderson, and Jennie Willis
Update: Teachers attending the PD Day at Lava on Wednesday, August 30, will have lunch provided.
We again are planning that teachers will send an email of introduction/welcome to their students in lieu of the posting of class lists at Open House. This will be sent between 10:00-10:20 on Thursday, August 31st. Let’s plan that this email will be a brief (really, it only needs to be a couple of sentences) email to families welcoming them to your class and reminding them of Open House that afternoon from 4:00-6:00.
The Bridges program will also follow the 7:45-2:15, instructional schedule this year.
From HR: Accessing Safe Schools Trainings: HR has created a help document and help video for employees to access the Safe School’s Trainings in UKG. Here is a link to the help video and this is a document that staff can use to guide them through the process.
The basic system is to login from their district UKG screen and go to the learning module. Because of the varied nature of the trainings, employees need to go select the training that they need- it isn’t auto-populated. Need assistance? Please email [email protected]
Thank you for the time you spent at the end of the school year clearing personal items from the neighborhood commons. This year our goal is to have all items in these common areas stored inside a cabinet (besides tables/chairs & recess equipment). Keeping these areas organized and all items stored, will maximize space for our students during inside recesses, be most regulating for students, and also prevent the opportunity for a disregulated student to throw or dismantle non-stored items.
Beginning the week of September 18, feel free to begin utilizing volunteers in your classroom. We are planning for one volunteer per classroom per day and ask that volunteers be assisting with a specific task at a specific time, and complete tasks insidethe classroom. At times we have students navigating big behaviors in the Neighborhood Commons and we want to make sure to always respect the privacy/dignity of our Lions as they sort through feelings. Whether/when to have volunteers is at your discretion. All school volunteers will need to complete a background check. Background checks are good for 2 years. In the event you need more than one volunteer (ie. Field trips, class parties), just communicate this to Gary and Haley so we can plan accordingly. Haley and Kim are both able to check the status of volunteers for you.
This is the time of year when you may be contacted by families wishing to make a monetary or other type of donation (i.e. school items, popcorn machines, jackets, etc) We met recently with PTO and they are ready to accept monetary donations from Lava Ridge Families. Thank you for steering families wishing to donate money or items to the PTO or to Haley.
Visitors again will be allowed on campus during the day when invited for specific events. At the beginning of the year we will only be inviting families to attend meetings with teachers and Open House. With principal approval, there may be other events later in the year we invite families to attend during school. We are not planning to have visitors in the building during lunch or at morning arrival.
During the student day, volunteers and visitors, must check-in via the Raptor system (with government issue ID) and wear a Raptor generated sticker during their time on campus.
Last year, one of the feedback items we heard was the challenge for classroom teachers of providing snack for students who did not bring one (or were not able to bring one) from home. While we have the funds to provide these, the logistics of needing to have something on hand for hungry kids without a snack presented a challenge. We know that having families sign-up to bring snack, adds one more thing to the busy lives of those we serve and that some are not able to afford or have the time to go to the store. We also know that having families donate snacks creates a system that is ripe for impacting student status for those who are not able to bring in a donated snack for their peers. Alas, the ICCL Team has devised a solution! The Student Snack Stash. While in its developmental stages, this will be a place teachers can get snacks for those students who need a classroom snack during the day. More details, and the snacks, will be coming soon.
Safety Updates/reminders:
When school begins, please do not prop open any exterior doors (including to the courtyard) Please let Mike know if you need assistance opening windows in your classroom for increased airflow. Students can still enter/exit courtyard doors for recesses or other activities.
Please do not cover the interior windows of your classroom. These windows should be kept clear so it is easy to see in and out.
In the morning, staff should enter Lava Ridge through the main entrance, bus entrance, or a classroom door. Please do not enter through the playground gates.
We will have a fire drill within the first two weeks of school.
Wildfire Smoke / AQI and Heat Illness Training Reminder. Please take time to review the training materials available on the portal:
This year, Week at a Glance, will again be an important part of our communication system at Lava Ridge. I will send out notes to you weekly, typically on Fridays, and appreciate you making this a must read before the start of the next week. You can always toggle back in time for attached documents, website addresses, and information from earlier in the year. I want you to be well-informed of goings-on a Lava, have the information you need to do your job, and for us to limit the need for in-person staff meetings to once a month. Thanks for reading.
We (the DeFrang’s) are having a great summer. My wife, Kim, our boys Matthew (age 16) and Jon (age 13) traveled to the coast, camped at Paulina Lake, and spent some time at the local lakes. We spent most of our time close to home with Matthew lifeguarding at Juniper and Kim continuing to teach fitness classes for Bend Parks and Rec. It’s been nice to have this time to catch up on chores, garden and taxi kids around.
Each August brings the energy and anticipation of a new school year. I’m excited for what I believe will be one of the best years ever at Lava Ridge. Regardless of how long we have worked together, it is important that you understand what you can expect from me as principal. What follows is a lengthy and important description of who I am as a leader and some of my beliefs. Please take a minute to read through what I like to refer to as leading from a place of “Warm Demand”.
On thewarm side, I am relentlessly positive (or at least try to see the opportunity in the challenges that are inherent during a school year), believe people have the best intentions, and believe in the importance of relationships. Trust is crucial in these relationships.
During my 19 years as a building principal, I have experienced actions that build trust and others that wreck it. As examples, making a mistake, disagreeing with me or a decision we make, rooting for the Ducks, and forgetting duty, are examples of things that will not damage trust or our relationship (Yes, even the Duck thing). On the other hand, gossiping, talking behind other people’s backs, and not respecting colleagues, are not ok with me as they do not support a positive culture.
I operate with the golden rule. I’m going to do my best to treat you how you like to be treated and my hope is that you will reciprocate. If you have questions, concerns, or ideas, please come and talk with me. I will always listen. I am a person who believes in the value of face-to-face communication, so invite you to come and discuss issues or concerns with me at any time. I may not change anything, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t listen or you don’t have my support. It just means I felt there was a more compelling reason to do it differently. I’ll do the same for you. I’m not a fan of, “Well, I’ve been talking to people and lots of them are very…” or “At lunch today, staff were saying…” Encourage those people you have been talking to to talk or meet with me. It’s similar to when a parent shares a concern with me about a teacher, I will direct them to the teacher to discuss the issue.
I ask for your support and grace. All of us have very difficult jobs when things are going well. I trust you to do your job and will not micromanage. Please do the same with me and the responsibilities that I have as principal. Working together and trusting each other is imperative.
On the demand side, I have high professional expectations for myself, for you, and Lava Ridge. I believe that it is our job and responsibility to give our students our best each day and that every day is an opportunity to make a difference. We need to have strong relationships with our students and their families, use the best instructional strategies and district adopted curriculum, and be open to learning new ideas that can help us to grow, whatever our role is at Lava Ridge. We are all here to serve our students and families and have each made the choice to do this in the Bend-La Pine Schools at Lava Ridge.
There are days when each of us (me included) would rather be somewhere else. I get it. On these days, I fake it. I made the choice to be here and serve in this position and owe it to our students to be the best principal I can be every day (even when I might rather be skiing). I also believe we must treat every child with dignity and professionalism in every situation we encounter. This can be hard at times, especially when a student is in a dysregulated state and acting out. Again, I rely on my acting skills, pretend to be calm, and support the child.
This professional “Demand” is typically left at school when I leave at the end of the day. Having a healthy work/life balance is important to me. Away from school my job is being a dad, a husband, and trying to maintain my dream of being an Olympic swimmer (there’s always a chance, right?) You will most likely not see my car in the parking lot on the weekends or receive emails from me at 9:00 at night. When I’m here, I work hard, move fast and try to be as efficient as possible. My goal when I leave Lava is to spend as much time with my family as I can, navigate the grocery store with ease, and do things I enjoy. (ie. Lap swimming, skiing, watching college football). Time is precious and I encourage each of you to also have a healthy work/life balance.
I’m excited to work alongside you this year and will do everything within my control to make it a great year for our students, families, and our staff.
Here are some nuts/bolts for the start of the year:
Elementary start and end times for 2023-24 (same as last year): Regular Schedule: 7:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.; School Improvement Wednesday 7:45-12:45 p.m. (beginning September 13)
CertifiedWork Hours for 2023-24: 7:15-3:15 p.m.
Details below for August 28th-September 8th: (More details to come soon)
Monday, August 28th
New Teacher Day at North Star Elementary
Option for work day for certified staff
Tuesday, August 29th
Inservice day at Lava beginning at 7:30 a.m.
First day for educational assistants
Lunch provided
Wednesday, August 30th
Inservice and meeting day at Lava; 7:30-3:15 p.m. The certified staff from Pineridge and Ensworth will be joining us.
Lunch on your own
Draft agenda from TLC
Thursday, August 31st
Certified work day; 10:00-6:00 p.m.
Inservice; 10:00-1:00 p.m.
Lunch provided
Work in Classrooms; 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Open House 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Friday, September 1st
Work in Classrooms
Tuesday, September 5th
Option for flexible work day for certified staff
Wednesday, September 6th
First Day of School! Half of our kindergarteners will attend on the 6th, the other half on September 7th, with all here on the 8th.
Here are all of the details for the Last Week of School The 5th Grade Celebration Walk has been added to the calendar and is on Thursday @ 1:45. The extra recess for the Lion Dash top runners in each class is on Tuesday @ 1:45 on the South Playground.
Thank you Jenn for leading us to achieve Oregon Green School status!
Here is the Bend-La Pine Schools, Beginning of the Year, Work Calendar. We will use this to set our schedule for the time we are together in late August. Open House is scheduled for Thursday, August 31 @ 4:30-6:00.
And, our Media Manager for next year is…Katrina Bailey! Katrina was the unanimous selection of our interview team that met with candidates. Katrina is a Bend High Sch00l graduate with a Masters degree in Library and Information Sciences.
From TLC: The Ethnic Studies Summer Institute will take place at Oregon State University, Corvallis Campus, June 26-29. The program will equip participants from varied subject matter areas to understand and fulfill the new ethnic studies requirement. To ensure relevance and engagement for both teachers and students, we’ll take a dynamic, interactive approach centered on Oregon communities.
Teachers will leave this experience with an understanding of the state’s ethnic studies standards and practical strategies to implement those standards with a curriculum that is site-specific, historically-informed, and inclusive of students and communities all too often overlooked by mainstream U.S. history and social studies.
Note: This professional development opportunity provides 30 hours of instructional time. Space is limited! Visit this page to learn more about our Ethnic Studies Summer Institute.
Next week is B week (Specials on Friday will follow a Wednesday schedule and Wednesday, the Friday schedule. Oh my! 🙂 )
