Week at a Glance

The rescheduled April PTO Meeting is the 15th at 4:00 via Zoom. Thank you for discussing as a team who might be able to share a 1-2 minute grade level update at the beginning of this meeting.

Thank you for routing a copy of your conference schedule to Amber.

Laurie Perez will be substituting in 4th grade the remainder of the year at High Lakes.

Below is the duty schedule for April 5th-April 16th

Next week is a B Week

Wednesday EA Support: Friendship Mountain

The April PTO Meeting is the 1st at 4:00 via Zoom. The plan is to bring back grade level updates from classroom teachers at this meeting. Thank you for discussing as a team who might be able to share this 1-2 minute update at the beginning of the meeting.

Thank you for returning your Lexia doc from the training on Wednesday to my mailbox. We will make a copy and then return to you.

Conference Sibling Scheduling is Monday March 29th @ 3:15 in the Media Center. Monday we will also have a scheduling doc for you and half sheets that can be sent home to families confirming conference times. Amber has personalized these for each teacher complete with Webex addresses. 🙂

There are no scheduled activities for School Improvement on Wednesday March 29.

Here is a copy of the of the Bend-La Pine Schools holiday break shutdown guidelines.

Duty Schedule below for March 29th-April 9th

B Week

Wednesday EA Support: Rainbow Valley

Have you noticed some changes in the lobby area? Several weeks ago a team of Lava Ridge staff conducted an equity audit of the Main Entrance and are now working to implement some improvements. This group discussed the experience different people might have entering our school and what changes we could make so everyone who comes to Lava Ridge feels welcome. Over the last several weeks we have updated signage to be in both English and Spanish, installed a bench, and worked with the Print Shop on revisions to some district signage. Keep an eye out for more improvements in the coming weeks.

Conference information for families will be in teacher mailboxes by mid-day Monday to send home with students.

Thank you for beginning to consider what remaining purchases you may need to make this year with your discretionary funds. We are again looking to the end of April as the cut-off for purchases outside of small year-end expenses. Also, if you have any receipts for reimbursement, please submit these soon so we can get money to you and accounts reconciled.

Heads Up…Lava Ridge will be busy over Spring Break. We have new security camera wiring being installed, an update to the work area around Amber’s station being configured, and Kids Inc. in the gym and Friendship Mountain.

March 15th-April 2nd Duty Schedule Below:

Next week is a B week

Wednesday EA Support: Discovery Falls

Beginning March 17^th, 10 students in each 4^th and 5^th grade class will be on site learning from 8:30-11:15 on Wednesdays. The Bend-La Pine Schools are referring to this as the WINN Program. Transportation will be provided along with lunch. Fourth and Fifth grade families will receive the attached letter later today.

Welcome to Anna Zalewski who joined our staff this week as a 3.75 hour educational assistant.

Students will begin learning Safe Touch in the upcoming weeks. Sarah Dieker will be leading kindergarten and 1st graders through the curriculum, Lybe will be working with 2nd and 3rd grade, and I’ll be teaching 4th and 5th grade. We will send a letter home to families and offer the opportunity to preview the curriculum the week prior to beginning instruction.

Understanding that many will want to listen to the Doug Reeves presentation on equitable grading practices Wednesday at 2:30, we are postponing the Lexia seminar to Wednesday, March 17th in the Media Center

March 8-19th Details Below:

A week

Wednesday Support: Friendship Mountain

Happy Classified Employees Week! Thank you Support Staff for everything you do for our school and students everyday!

Read Across America Week begins Monday. Here again are the dress up days

Thank you for returning SLGGs to my mailbox by March 8th

Spring Conferences (16 hours) and a work day (8 hours) are scheduled for April 14-16. Please help us to decide our schedule for these day by completing this short survey.

At the ICCL Meeting this week we discussed schoolwide recognition and encouragement of students in Lexia and Dreambox. Here’s the plan-

• Beginning Monday, we will be recognizing those students who have completed a Lexia level on the morning announcements.
• Each Friday on the morning announcements, we will recognize those classes that have averaged 5 or more Dreambox lessons that week.

The March Staff Meeting will be on Wednesday at 2:00 via Webex (my room)

On March 10th from 2:00-3:00, K-3rd will be meeting in-person in the Media Center (socially distanced and grouped by grade level team) for a Lexia School Improvement Wednesday training. 4th-5th will be meeting at a different time TBD. The focus of the training will be on monitoring student progress and the use of skill builders.

The ODE is offering a new opportunity called the Promising Practices Idea Exchange. What is the Idea Exchange? A way to share promising practices and strategies that are engaging our students in learning.  The next meeting of the Promising Practices Idea Exchange is on Wednesday, March 3rd with a focus on Building and Sustaining Student Relationships, with additional bi-weekly sessions through March. You will find a description of the other topics that will be covered, dates and a registration link on the flyer.  It is free and open to all Oregon educators.

Thursday, March 4th is the next Book Club meeting in Christina’s classroom after school.

Schedule for Next Week:

Next week is a B week.

Wednesday EA support from 3:00-3:30-Eagle’s Nest

AM Duties for March 1st-March 12th

Read Across America Week is March 1st-5th. While we will not be selling hats this year, we are planning for dress up days this year. We will be sending details out to families next week in our weekly email to families.

It is exciting to see the growth some of our students are making in Dreambox. Dreambox will continue to be part of our students core math curriculum for the remainder of the school year and maybe into next. The minimum usage recommendation is 5 lessons or more per week. Keep up the great work!

The state of Oregon is requiring that students in each hybrid group experience an in-person fire drill monthly. We are planning accordingly and will now schedule multiple fire drills each month. The forecast high of 54 degrees on Monday is tempting for February drill #2. Stay tuned.

Schedule for Next Week:

Next week is an A week.

Wednesday EA support from 3:00-3:30-Discovery Falls

AM Duties for February 22-March 5th

Thank you for continuing to check-in and check-out everyday when you arrive and leave campus (ie Using the QR code or your computer to access the doc) This is a must-do for each of us every day. This data base of information will be used for contact tracing in the event we have a confirmed case of COVID. Remember, when you leave for the day the only groups or individuals you need to list (by checking boxes or listing names in the other section) are those you were not able to maintain 6-feet of social distance from for 15 minutes or more over the course of the day. Feel free to also list students on this doc who you were not able to maintain 6-feet of social distance from for a total of 15 minutes in the other section if this is more convenient than maintaining a log of this information in your classroom or area.

Here are the most up-to-date Inclement Weather Guidelines from Human Resources. The doc explains the expectations for staff in District CDL, CDL related to quarantine, Hybrid, and All-In models.  A less detailed letter will be shared with families. Please let me know if you have any follow up questions after reading through the information.

Below are some photo reminders from Alandra Johnson

• Please be sure that the photos you share reflect the consistent safety practices you have in place in your buildings. 
• Mask up! All photos on campus should include students/staff wearing masks over the NOSE and MOUTH
• Keep your distance. Make sure folks are spread out in any photo shared.
• If you use a photo that is pre-pandemic, be sure to list the year it was taken when you share it.

The Lexia Training on Wednesday will be from 2:00-3:00 and can be accessed in person in the Media Center and via my Webex room.

Schedule for Next Week:

Next week is an B week.

Wednesday EA support from 3:00-3:30-Friendship Mountain

AM Duties for February 16-26th

Thank you for teaching your students all of our building safety protocols. Things have gone very smoothly the past three weeks and your instruction and continuous coaching has made a difference.

Some safety notes below:

• As you fine tune student routines and transitions outside of class, thank you for continuing to do your best to limit the amount of time students spend standing in line. Students not arriving early to recess, lunch and specials and being picked-up on time has really helped with this. Thank you!
• Each school is required to have an anonymous sytem for reporting COVID concerns. The Safety Team discussed this requirement and at this point anyone wishing to make an anonymous report should see me to make this report. I will keep this information confidential and will work to resolve the issue.
• Thank you for only sending students to the office after calling via phone or walkie-talkie. This helps to prevent cross-contamination from students who may be in the office with potential COVID symptoms.

A couple of staffing updates:

• Congratulations to Laurie Perez who has been hired to the Bend-La Pine certified substitute floating pool.
• Suzi Galvin (welcome back!) and Brandon Powers (formerly of Team Up) have been hired to our educational assistant team.

Spring Conferences have been adjusted by a week to April 15-16 and will be done via Webex. More details to come.

Schedule for Next Week:

Next week is an A week.

Wednesday EA support from 3:00-3:30-Rainbow Valley

AM Duties for February 8-19th

Our first 5 day week with students is in the books! Wow, nothing compares to the first week(s) of school. It is an exciting and fun time that can be physically and emotionally draining. We experience the joy of seeing students and the excitement of the new school year, yet must also navigate (both the good and the bad) of new schedules and new routines. The things that are out of our control can present some of the greatest challenges- late buses, snow (when you begin a school year in January), the need to have inside recess the first week of school, and this year, experiencing the realities of the student physical distancing guidelines we must follow and how it impacts us. It can be a test of patience. Thank you for all your hard work, being flexible, and giving others grace.

The number of substitutes available this year is extremely limited. If you know of a date in the future you will need to be gone, please arrange for your sub ASAP.

The February PTO Meeting is on Thursday, February 4th via Zoom. Thank you for sending me your grade level report of what students in your grade are learning in reading, math, and writing by Wednesday at 4:00. Feel free to keep it brief and I will share at the meeting on Thursday.

Communicating with each other. Thank you for continuing to be thoughtful in your communication and considerate of the volume of email that lands daily in others mailboxes. Below are some key ideas to keep in mind:

• If you have a question and you don’t know where to direct it, send it to Lybe or I rather than sending it out into the email stratosphere (ie. sending it to all Lava Ridge Staff)
• If you receive an email from a colleague and you have a question, clarification, disagreement, etc. Please DO NOT “REPLY ALL.” Reply only to the sender.
• If you are sending a long email with anything but information (emotion, arguments, etc.) delete the email. Then make the time to discuss the issues you addressed in the email in person.

We are getting closer to Valentine’s Day! This year Valentine cards should follow the same safe handling rules as we do for other materials. As you work on plans, encourage students to bring their Valentines to school and distribute them to individual boxes by Tuesday, 2/9.  Valentine’s boxes can then sit until Friday, February 12th, when students can open them at Valentine parties.
•Any candies brought need to be sealed airtight – i.e., foil-wrapped Hershey Kisses are not airtight.
•If students bring their Valentine cards with less than 72 hours to sit, their cards can be laid out on a table and misted with the electrostatic machines.

AM Duty Schedule for February 1-12th

Thank you for all of your efforts assisting students in locating their classrooms in the morning this week. We are anticipating this need to continue as we welcome back 4th and 5th graders next week and our younger students continue to learn their way around campus.

The inclement weather guidelines for staff can be located here. With Lava Ridge K-3 students all-in and 4th-5th grade beginning hybrid, the information in the section about CDL does not apply to our staff.

Lexia and Dreambox will continue to be part of the elementary core curriculum for the remainder of the year. Next week, the Teaching and Learning weekly update will have ideas for how to incorporate this into daily schedules.