Week at a Glance

There may be times you wish to group same grade-level students from different classes together, inside, for an intervention or activity. In the event you do, here are some to do’s-

• Please let the office know in advance.  This helps with locating students and is important in the event of an emergency.
• Use a seating chart or other system that can be used for potential contact tracing.
• Let families know their child will be in a different classroom and with different students.    

Picture re-takes are Tuesday in A1

Staff Meeting on Tuesday @ 2:30 in the Media Center

School Improvement Wednesday: Math Reengagement Focus with Sara Swedlund, 1:45-3:15 in the Media Center.

Lion Pride Ice Cream drawing on Wednesday

Our next PBIS meeting is Wednesday, Dec. 8th  @ 1:00.  Thank you for having at least one person from your grade level attend. Classified staff are welcome as well! We will be discussing CICO (Check In/ Check Out) for students needing Tier 2 interventions, and the December assembly.

Thank you for your thoughtful planning with the holiday parties and other celebrations you may have in the coming weeks. With Lava Ridge students celebrating a variety of holidays this time of year, some not, and some not able to, your consideration of every student is appreciated. If you need items for parties or activities, feel free to use student body dollars, grade level funds, or classroom discretionary dollars.

Heads Up! Friday, December 17 will be the final day that Nutrition Services will be providing supper/snack for students. The funding Nutrition Services receives is no longer available for this program. Students involved in after school activities (ie. Kids Inc) will still receive a supper. We will be messaging this information to families next week.

Next week is an A week

We are still struggling to fill the two, full-time educational assistant positions we have open. We have not had anyone apply for these jobs so if you know of anyone who might be interested, please encourage them to apply. Thanks to the help and flexibility from a number of people, including some who have adjusted their work hours or are on-call to help with recess/cross-walk duties, we have been able to apply fresh band-aids to this situation daily. I can not thank those of you who have stepped up to assist with these needs enough. Unfortunately this situation has the potential to get worse in December with a member of the EA team on leave and classified subs in scarce supply. With the need to supervise students at recess, this may impact some push-in classroom support. If you are interested in helping with recess duties please let us know.

The building alarm will be on during most of Fall Break. If you plan to be on-site, thank you for entering through the Main Entrance, being ready to disarm the alarm, and signing in on the white board while you are here. Bend Parks and Rec, Operation Recreation, will be in the gym Monday-Wednesday.

​​From Jackie Wilson, Sustainability Coordinator – Here are the Standard Operating Procedures for Holiday Shutdowns.

Please join me in welcoming Israel Tico, our new Family Liaison. Israel is a recent graduate of Bend-La Pine Schools.

Andrea Thompson will be on medical leave during the month of December. Laurie Coffey will serving as the long term substitute in her absence.

From Jennifer Hauth, Director of Social, Emotional and Mental Well-being-Are you currently using social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum or strategies in your classroom? Please take a moment to apply to be on our SEL steering committee by Friday, December 3rd. We are looking for certified, classified and administrators to serve on the team. We will meet monthly beginning in mid-December.

SEL Steering Committee Survey

The Climate Team has decided to combine the November and December meetings and will meet next on December 6th.

School Improvement Wednesday on December 1st will be time for grade level teams to meet and discuss the math standards and Bridges units students will be learning in December/January. The ICCL Team is working on details for this standards-focused day. We will start as a full-certified staff in the Media Center at 1:45.

On Friday, December 3rd, Skip will be on site visiting classrooms with me in the morning.

Technology Support–from Brenna  The instructional technology department has created this easy one-page document, complete with hyperlinks, outlining where to find specific support around technology questions.

Next week is a B week

Here comes the Read-A-thon! This is typically the largest PTO fundraiser of the year and your help communicating and promoting is appreciated! Here are the details from PTO. Flyers to share: #1 #2

College and Career Day 2021-On Friday, November 19th, Bend-La Pine students and staff are encouraged to sport the colors of their favorite college, university, trade school or other post-secondary educational institution as part of the district’s annual College and Career Day.

A reminder that we can only send emails (including Seasaw communication) to parents/guardians with the box, “Mailings Allowed” selected in Synergy. If you receive a request from a family member to be added to your digital communication and are not sure if they are approved to receive mailings (this situation can arise with step-parents) please see Amber. Thank you!

Interested in a movie to raise your spirits? Here is a list of great ones from our staff:

• Big Fish
• Dumb and Dumber
• Nacho Libre
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Ron’s Gone Wrong
• The Proposal
• Star Wars or Lord of the Rings
• It’s a wonderful life
• Edge of Tomorrow
• Up!
• Any Hallmark movie
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire or Elf
• Bridesmaids 
• Iron Man
• Mary Poppins
• The Breakfast Club
• Any rom-com movie
• Moana
• School of Rock

Next Week is an A Week

Below is the final draft from our “Reimagining” work on Wednesday. Please let me know if you have any additional ideas or revisions.

Our purpose at Lava Ridge is to welcome all students and families:

• We will challenge all students to reach their full academic potential and to become lifelong learners. 
• We will promote a school-wide culture of caring so all students know they belong in our Lava Ridge community. 
• We will value and celebrate all students for their individuality and uniqueness.

Here are details about mini-observations and a preview of the SLGG guidelines for this year. The ICCL Team is working on two SLGGs teachers will be able to adopt if they like. These will be shared in early December.

Thank you to Sara Swedlund for sharing her knowledge of Google Docs with us on Monday. Here is a link to the slides from the presentation.

Heads up…With the shortage of substitutes, we can only approve certified personal days for 5% of our staff daily. This is 1-2 people per day.

Thank you for finishing up your Safe Schools Trainings. The timeline for completion of these was adjusted this year to October 31.

The November PBIS Assembly begins at 8:30 on Wednesday.

SIW Next Week: Tech Focus with Brenna Frost; K-2 @ 1:45-2:30 and 3rd-5th @ 2:30-3:15.

Here is the School Improvement Wednesday schedule from Wednesday. Yesterday the ICCL Team discussed having the Teacher Learning Team (TLT) focus for December be math. We are planning that December 1st will be centered on math standards and December 8th, math intervention.

Next week is a B week

If you’re looking for a Veteran’s Day activity, here is one to consider: Honor Flight of Central Oregon is a local non-profit organization that fly’s WWII, Korean and Vietnam War Veterans to see their memorial in Washington DC.  On the return flight from Washington DC, each Veteran receives a package full of cards and letters to open.  Honor Flight is asking Central Oregon schools for help in preparing letters and cards for Veteran’s. Here is more information

Happenings this week:

• Interested in learning more about Google Docs? Sara Swedlund is hosting an optional training on Monday, November 1st at 2:30-3:15 in the Media Center.
• We will have a MAC Training at the Staff Meeting on Tuesday @ 2:30 in the Media Center
• School Improvement Wednesday @ 1:45-3:15-Finalizing the Reimagining of Lava Ridge + SIW Schedule Updates
• Picture day is Thursday. Thank you for getting your picture taken too. Here is the class picture schedule.

We love the fall at Lava Ridge! Here are some of our favorite things about this time of the year:

• Cool mornings and sweaters
• Cool brisk mornings
• Beautiful colored leaves
• The changing colors
• Wearing warm fancy clothes
• leaves changing
• Colorful leaves
• blankets, fuzzy pajamas, and hot coca
• Sweater weather!
• The weather
• College football
• Pumpkin scented candles!
• The colors in the leaves
• The weather- warm days (usually) and cool nights.
• Apple cider and the pumpkin patch
• Changing leaves
• reading by the fireplace
• OSU football games, fresh hop season, & the changing leaves/weather
• Fall fashion
• Duck Hunting
• The colors
• Sweaters, pumpkin pie and fall leaves
• The beautiful trees in Central Oregon
• Seeing the snow on the mountains

Next week is an A week

At arrival this morning one of our students who is hesitant some days to come into school was having a difficult time transitioning into the building. Three different staff members who were by the Main Entrance, recognized this and all shared words of encouragement and approached him to help him through this challenge. One of these staff members engaged him in a conversation about Mind Craft, offered to walk him to class and off he went down the hall with this person. Now that’s Lava Ridge! 🙂

We received notification from Human Resources that until further notice, Yolanda will not be serving as an educational assistant at Lava Ridge. Yolanda has had such an impact on our school. From her friendly greetings to students crossing Cooley Road in the morning, to her energetic Lava Read groups, and relationships with students, Yolanda has made such a difference at Lava Ridge.

Thank you for giving a copy of your conference schedule to Amber after it is finalized.

We will have our next PBIS meeting on Thursday, October 28th @ 9:00. We would love to have one representative from each grade level if possible (though this is an optional meeting)

It’s not too late to sign-up for the Educational Assistant Seminar. Here again is the flyer.

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides services to help people to privately resolve problems that may interfere with work, family, and other important areas of life. This includes counseling, wellness resources, and work-life balance resources. As an OEBB member there is no cost to you or your family. Here is a link to the flyer.

The week of November 1st will be an A week.

Thursday is the first climate meeting of the year. The purpose of this meeting is for a group to meet and discuss what is going well at Lava Ridge, concerns people may have, and review upcoming events. The members of this team are Kirstin Winslow, Miriam Dunn, Lybe and I.

Here’s how it works: On Monday, you will receive an email inviting you to communicate feedback you may have for the two questions below, to either Miriam (classified representative), Kirstin (certified representative), or myself. Feedback can be communicated to any of us and can also be sent to all three. If you choose to participate, know that your name will be kept confidential by the person (or people) receiving the information. 10:00 on Wednesday is the deadline for submitting information for the meeting this month.

1. What is going well at Lava Ridge?
2. What concerns are on your mind?

On Thursday, the Climate Team will meet, discuss, and problem solve the information received, and will send out minutes of the meeting to all staff early the following week.

If you ever have an interest in wearing a KN95 mask (even just temporarily as students are eating) these are available for you in the Main Office.

Thank you for completing Personal Day Forms and arranging for a substitute, as far in advance as possible. Form are available from Miriam.

If the fire drill today were to take place during Lava Read (it won’t), would you know the different adults your students are with? This is great information to keep with your Quick Reference Guide for Emergencies along with a current class list.

Meeting/Event Reminders for Next Week:

• Monday-Sibling conference scheduling at 2:30 in the Media Center
• Tuesday-4th EBISS @ 2:30 in the Media Center
• ICCL Meeting Wedensday @ 1:00
• SIW- Fall Conferences and Reimagining Lava Ridge @ 1:45
• Thursday-Fire Drill

Below are some recommended books from our staff for you-

• Your Name is a Song (children’s read aloud about identity)
• Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
• Martin Marten
• The Name of the Wind
• It’s OK to Make Mistakes by Todd Parr (children’s literature)
• The Wait List!
• The Giver of Stars
• The Four Winds
• The Two Most Important Days of Your Life
• The City We Became
• The Book Thief
• How to Stop losing your Sh*t with your Kids
• I am Happy-Sad today
• The Poet

Next week is a B Week

Breaking news! Conferences will be virtual. Families will have the choice of either meeting via Webex or discussing academic progress over the phone. A letter will be sent home next week that will include a way for families to communicate their conference time preference. At this point, Carole is working to schedule ELL conferences and we will schedule sibling conferences the week of October 18th. Thank you for not scheduling any conferences until ELL and sibling conferences have been coordinated. We will be discussing ideas and strategies for virtual Conferences during SIW on October 20th.

In the event a student in your class tests positive for COVID, contact tracers will likely ask if other students were seated within 3 feet of the child for an extended amount of time. Thank you for continuing to keep distancing guidelines in mind with the seating arrangement in your classroom.

Wednesday will be our first virtual assembly ever! Here’s the plan: The assembly will be hosted in Lybe’s Webex room and classes will view the event on screens in classrooms. Please plan to log-in to Lybe’s Webex room before 7:45. We will go over more details at the Staff Meeting on Tuesday. Here is a copy of the draft agenda

Feel free to send the message in italics to families with your Harvest Party communication: We are looking forward to Harvest Parties at the end of the month. For our celebration all current COVID safety protocols will be in place including masking and maintaining 3 feet of distance between students when possible. If your Lion chooses to bring a costume, please remember that for school celebrations, weapons, blood, and overly scary masks are not allowed.

Thank you for signing up for the SIW session you will be attending Wednesday. Registration is through Performance Matters.   The times for the in-person, 2nd-5th sessions, have been adjusted to 2:00-3:15 to provide additional time for travel.

Next Friday, October 15th is the deadline for Education Foundation Classroom Impact Grants. Here is information on the application process. This link will take you to the application.

As the weather turns more fall-like we will be having students eat inside when the temperature is below 45-degrees (or if the outside temp + windchill is below 40) When we need to eat inside we will communicate this over the intercom or to you in-person.

The HDESD, Culture of Care team, is hosting two book studies over the 2021-22 school year for individuals working in education. You may sign up for one or both read alongs. Click here for more information.

Next week is an A week

Welcome back Matthew Crawmer!

The Transportation Department is not planning to do in-person bus evacuation drills this year. In lieu of this, we are being asked to watch this video with students by October 14. Thank you!

The ICCL Team discussed Harvest Party celebrations and they are a go for Tuesday, October 26! Whether to have them at your grade level and the design of the event is up to you. Here are some general guidelines to follow.

Certified Staff: We need your input into the Conferencing/Workday schedule we will use October 27-29 and April 13-15. Over the course of these three days certified staff conference (16 hours) and have workday times (8 hours). Please take this short survey by Wednesday.

Speaking of Conferences– At this point a decision has not yet been made on whether fall conferences will be virtual or in-person. The district wants to see what the community COVID spread is during the week of October 15. If we have moved from High or Substantial into Moderate or Low, Bend-La Pine Schools would then most likely offer in-person conferences to families. We will be working on communication to families about conferences next week.

We are still planning to take a staff picture on Wednesday after school. Fingers crossed on the weather!

The PTO Meeting is Thursday after school in front of the school on the grass by the reader board.

From Kinsey Martin, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion– Through our district Excellence and Equity listening sessions in 2019, we gathered incredibly valuable information about our students and families.  However, we don’t have this same level of information on one key district group: our employees.  We care deeply about who you are and what it’s like for you to work in our organization.  You are invited to share your identity, experiences, and perspective with us via a brief survey.   

The survey: 

• is entirely anonymous; 
• will take less than 10 minutes;  
• is intended for all Bend-La Pine employees (certified, classified, administrative, and confidential); and  
• will only be used to gather district-wide trends about our workforce and to identify areas we can better support our most valued resource: you!   

Thank you for partnering with us.  Here is this survey

Next week is a B week

The Education Foundation is accepting applications for classroom impact grants. Here is information on the application process. This link will take you to the application.

Here is an additional copy of the Staff Symptom Algorithm from the Staff Meeting

Here is an additional copy of the Staff Room Cleaning Schedule

While we have had students test positive for COVID this year, we have had no known spread of the virus at Lava Ridge. Thank you for the friendly reminders and structures you are using to space students 6 feet apart when they are eating breakfast/snack, opening windows and doors while students are eating, and all of your friendly mask reminders. You are rocking it. Keep up the great work.

October 7th after school (around 2:50) is the first PTO meeting of the year. This meeting will be on the front lawn in front of school by the reader board on Egypt. Grade level reports (less than 2 minutes, please) will be an agenda item at each meeting. Watch for a sign-up sheet soon!

DIBELS Testing on Tuesday will be in Discovery Falls, rooms A1 and A2.

Save the date! We are planning to take a Staff picture on Wednesday, October 6th after school in our school shirts.

Students will have one more week of SEL when they attend music next week. Matthew will be back on Monday, October 4th.

School Improvement Wednesday (1:45-3:15, Media Center): TLC Update, Continued Work on Reimagining Lava Ridge. SIW on October 6th will be for Lava Read preparation.

A reminder to please delete all old bookmarks for Absence Management (formerly AESOP/Subfinder) and instead use the BLS Single Sign On link to Frontline products using either of the two links below.

https://login.frontlineeducation.com/sso/bls

https://bls.fyi/frontline

Directions for how to add/access the Lava Ridge Google Doc Calendar can be found here.

Here are the ICCL Notes from the meeting on Tuesday.

Next week is an A Week