Week at a Glance

One of the things I enjoy in December are “Best of …” lists for the year . Came across one from the School Library Journal you may find of interest (on the right hand side of the page are more categories of book “Best of” lists)

A note from Skip about student use of iPads: Over recent weeks a few incidents have occurred at different schools and classrooms with students and technology. Thank you for making sure your students are following the digital device guidelines below:

• Google searches – The internet is a great place but just allowing students to surf unsupervised or without an academic purpose can sometimes lead to unexpected results and consequences.  Instead, have them utilize tools such as Discovery Education or World Book.
• Image searches – Searching for images should be monitored and managed closely.  Just telling students to google an image should not occur.  The same applies to using other search engines such as Bing.  Instead, direct students to the image search page that was created by our department.
• Free Time and Rainy Day Recess – At no time should students be given “iPad Free Time”  Whether it be during rainy day recess, snack time, waiting for the bus, before school, or when they finish their work, students should not have free time on the iPad.  There should always be a reason for using devices so that screen time is purposeful.
• Apple Classroom – This tool allows teachers to monitor and manage student use.  All teachers should know how to use this tool.  If they don’t, schedule a coach to come over and conduct a staff or small group training or refresher.
• AUP and Digital Citizenship Lessons – After returning from break it would be a great time to review the AUP and the digital citizenship lessons. A mid-year refresher never hurts.
• Parent Tools – there are settings and tools that parents can use at home to manage devices.  Here are two blog posts from our coaches that outline steps parents can take.
  • http://blogs.bend.k12.or.us/instructionaltechnology/2019/10/09/set-students-up-for-success-with-screentime-settings/
  • http://blogs.bend.k12.or.us/instructionaltechnology/2019/11/06/jamf-parent-app-available-now/

We learned this week that over the next several months Stoner Electric will be on campus after school updating our intercom system. 🙂

Week at a Glance for January 6th-10th

Monday:

Tuesday:

• 2:45 Staff Meeting in the Media Center

Wednesday:

• easyCBM Winter Window Opens
• School Improvement Wednesday: Work in Classroom Time

Thursday:

• 2:00 December PAW Celebration

Friday:

Duty Schedule for January 6th-January 17

A note from the PBIS Team…The PBIS team is working on the staff request to organize PBIS character trait lessons, videos, and other documents in a Google Drive folder. There is now a PBIS folder in your shared drive located on the right side of your screen in google docs. Need directions? They can be found here. The team is continuing to work on updating the character trait lessons, getting rid of some “fluff” and adding items that can be used for SEL lessons. If you have other ideas or needs please send Lybe an email.

The last couple of years PTO has offered families the opportunity to purchase a Golden Ticket for a special drawing during Bingo night. PTO has advertised that dollars raised from the Golden Ticket go directly towards funding a specific item at Lava Ridge that benefits or can be used by all of our students. Last year proceeds went to purchase the TV in the Media Center and the year prior the wall ball walls on the playground. Ideas for the Golden Ticket this year have included gaga ball pits for the playgrounds and a large inscribed rock at the entrance to campus. Please let me know next week if you have any other ideas for what the proceeds from Golden Ticket sales might go towards.

Spirit Week (January 21-24) is right around the corner. Again this year, PTO is taking the lead with organizing dress up days and activities students can do before school each day. They sent us a draft of ideas and activities. Please let me know next week if you have any feedback.

The Excellence and Equity Review was released this week. The goal of this report was to gain a deep understanding of students’ and families’ experiences in Bend La Pine Schools and to have feedback from a variety of stakeholders for use in allocating Student Success Act dollars. This report includes the feedback from the SIW activity we completed on October 9th along with input from community listening sessions, BEA surveys, and family surveys.

Bend-La Pine Schools and Deschutes County are teaming up to provide four free parent workshops (the same workshop, offered four times) starting in January. The Connect Workshop is a 2-hour training aimed at providing parents with skills to navigate conversations with their child(ren) around the topics of marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Here is the flyer . We will be sending this home to all families. Childcare is provided for two of these workshops and one will be facilitated in Spanish.

Week at a Glance for December 16th-20th

Monday:

Tuesday:

• 2:45 Staff Tea Time Celebration in the Media Center

Wednesday:

• Craft Fair 8:30-10:30
• December Lion Pride Drawing at lunches
• School Improvement Wednesday: Work in Classroom Time

Thursday:

• 2:45 EBISS-Kindergarten

Friday:

• Holiday Sing-A-Long @ 8:05

Duty Schedule for December 16th-January 10th

I came across an interesting article from Education Week with 10 ideas for supporting students impacted by trauma. It can be located here.

Interested in donating to the United Way? Additional pamphlets of information can be found at the mailboxes or on the counter outside Miriam’s office.

AR Update: Miriam negotiated us a pro-rated rate for AR (even got myON reading for free!) and PTO will be cutting us a check for payment soon. We should be up and running in early January. 🙂

Over the next couple of PLC meeting cycles I will be stopping by to meet with your team to sign-off on SLGGs. This should only take 5-10 minutes. I’m planning to use these meetings as a Professional Mini-Observation.

We have penciled in the December fire drill next week.

Week at a Glance for December 9th-13th

**Giving Tree all week through Friday**

Monday:

• PBIS Meeting @ 2:45

Tuesday:

• 2:45 PLC Meeting-Math Focus

Wednesday:

• School Improvement Wednesday: Classroom Behavioral Supports with Amanda Schook
• 5:30 5th Grade Family Sing-Along
• 6:00 Cocoa and Carols on the North Playground

Thursday:

• 2:45 EBISS-1st grade

Friday:

• Staff Holiday Party at the Purtzer’s @ 5:30

Duty Schedule for December 9th-20th

Week at a Glance for December 2nd-6th

Monday:

• Gift and Canned Food Drive Begins

Tuesday:

• 2:00 PAW Celebration for November
• 2:45 Staff Meeting

Wednesday:

• School Improvement Wednesday: We have invited Sean Reinhart from Special Programs to share information on the RTI process and how it is used to potentially identify students with learning disabilities.

Thursday:

• 2:45 PTO Meeting in the Media Center

Friday:

• SIOP Training

Duty Schedule for December 2nd-13th

Friday is College Day! Got any gently used, OSU, U of O or other university’s children t-shirts or sweatshirts at home? Consider donating them to FAN and Tara will get them into the hands of our students who might not have the means to purchase these types of items. Thank you!

Thank you for letting Miriam know in advance (week+, please) of any outside visitor (those who do not regularly visit or volunteer) coming to your classroom. This advanced notice provides time to check volunteer status and if need be, problem solve any issues that may come from this.

The Webinar on Wednesday with Renaissance provided a great opportunity to learn more about Accelerated Reader (AR), the individual goal setting function, and to ask questions about the program so we can best use it to encourage and recognize our students for their reading. We now have a plan for AR and how students will move their cards around the school in their journey to earning a medal. If you are interested in using AR this year please attend the short overview of the program on Tuesday from 2:45-3:00 in the Media Center.

Week at a Glance for November 18th-22nd

Monday:

Tuesday:

• Lion’s Vision Screening in the Media Center
• 2:45 Information session in the Media Center about AR followed by PLC Meeting time

Wednesday:

• Lion Pride Drawing at Lunches
• School Improvement Wednesday: Work in Classroom Time

Thursday:

• 2:45 2nd Grade EBISS

Friday:

• College Day

Duty Schedule for November 18th-December 6th

The feedback on the online master calendar has been verypositive! As events are added or dates adjusted (ie EBISS, Golden Ticket) Miriam usually updates the calendar that day. 🙂

Thank you for your time with progress monitoring. Our EA team is working fast and furious to assess as many students as possible on Wednesdays and your time making sure that all intensive students are monitored weekly and strategic every other is appreciated.

Week at a Glance for November 11th-15th

Book Fair Week!

Monday:

• Veteran’s Day Holiday-Enjoy!

Tuesday:

• Picture Retakes in the gym
• 2:45 Staff Meeting (Faith’s Classroom; D1)
• Book Fair Family Night 2:30-7:00

Wednesday:

• School Improvement Wednesday: k-2 PLC Time to meet and discuss/plan for implementation of ideas learned on 11/6; 3rd-5th DreamBox PLC Time

Thursday:

• SIOP Training
• 2:45 3rd Grade EBISS

Friday:

• Last Day of Book Fair

Duty Schedule for November 11th-22nd

Thank you for returning your completed salmon-colored reflection sheet from the Collective Genius SIW activity to my mailbox. We will put extras by the mailboxes for those who may not have received one on Wednesday.

After talking with several of you and hearing your feelings and frustrations with “reply to all” and packed email mailboxes, I felt I should share a couple of “reply to all” ideas.   We are all inundated with lots of emails.  Please be very thoughtful if you reply to all because your question, comment, or idea goes to everyone on the list.  If this is on the Lava Ridge Staff thread this is 59 people.  If you have  a question or wish to offer feedback, best to respond to the sender.  Thank you for keeping all of your colleagues time and feelings in mind with your communication. 🙂

You may have noticed on the master calendar that the November Staff Meeting will be on November 12th and not on November 5th. Why? A number of us will be attending the first session of SIOP on Steroids on Tuesday.

Oh the weather! So how do we decide whether to have recess inside or outside when NOAA says the temperature in Bend is 17, weather.com states 21, and KTVZ says 19? A team of us check the temperature close to Lava Ridge, follow the Bend La Pine Schools guidelines and most importantly, factor what is in the best interest of our students. The cold weather guidelines for Bend La Pine Schools state, ” When the outside temperature falls to 20 degrees or below (not including wind chill), the administration will use caution when allowing outdoor school activities” These provide schools some flexibility in weather related decisions so we might still be able to go outside when the situation above arises or have students stay inside when it is 29 degrees and snowing. Honestly these are often tough decisions, rarely make everyone happy, and are debated by many an arm-chair meteorologist. 🙂 Thank you for your grace and may it be a warm winter!

We need your help and input! Rachel and I met recently and discussed the Holiday Sing-A-Long and the dress rehearsal for the 5th grade music program. While both have been stellar events we discussed that they have felt similar and a bit repetitive the last two years. Similar songs, one week apart, etc. As a solution we are going to try mixing it up this year. The 5th graders will lead the Holiday Sing-A-long! So, when should we do this? While having it on the day of the actual 5th grade Family evening concert (12/11) would provide an opportunity for 5th graders to practice in front of a large group we know some would prefer this event be the day before the start of Winter Break. Thank you for your time taking one of the shortest surveys ever.

Week at a Glance for November 4th-8th

Monday:

• 2:00 October PAW Celebration

Tuesday:

• 2:45 Writing PLC
• SIOP Training at District Office

Wednesday:

• PBIS Kick-off Assembly for Respect @ 9:30 (We will have recess at the end of the assembly)
• School Improvement Wednesday: District SIW: Grades 3-5 DreamBox Training in the Media Center; K-2 Choice Sessions (Thank you for signing up on Performance Matters)
• 3rd grade Family Dance Night @ 6:00 in the gym

Thursday:

• Fall MAC Survey Day
• Site Council @ 2:45 in Eagle’s Nest Commons

Friday:

• Book Fair Begins!

Duty Schedule for November 4th-15th

On Friday, November 1st we are participating in the Education Foundation Principal for the Day event. In the morning we will have a guest community member on site learning about Lava Ridge and the magic that you make happen every day for our students. I haven’t heard who this person is yet and will let you know once I do. We are developing a list of activities for our guest to experience and at this point are planning for:

• Announcements
• Fire Drill
• Recess Duty
• School Tour

Please let me know if you have an activity in your classroom our guest could be part of and we will add it to the agenda. Thank you!

I came across this short read on PLCs. The article contains five questions to help teams to focus on improving teaching and learning and achieving equitable outcomes. It can be located here.

Accelerated Reader update- We recently had a conference call with Renaissance Learning (owner of AR) and discussed how we have been using AR and the Star Assessment and our school needs. Below is a recap of the big ideas from the meeting:

• Renaissance would encourage us to rethink the use of points for students to earn reading medals. In the research they have conducted, what they see is that having each child set individual goals with their teacher is the best way to encourage all students to use the program (versus benchmark and above students who are more drawn to the point system)
• After hearing more about our point system for students earning medals they encouraged us to take a look at myOn Reading What was described to us was that this program tracks the number of minutes read and also involves students taking comprehension tests.
• They said they would send us quotes for the products we have an interest in (we are waiting for these)

Next steps: Miriam has been working to set up another conference call with the company so those who are interested (this means you!) can listen, ask questions and then decide what is best for Lava Ridge. We will send an email letting you know the day/time for this conference call and meeting.

Week at a Glance for October 28th – November 1st

Monday:

• 2:45 PBIS Team Assembly Planning Meeting

Tuesday:

• PLC Meeting with Reading Focus
• Yummraiser at Laughing Planet (15% to PTO all day!)

Wednesday:

• Lion Pride Monthly Drawing at Lunches
• School Improvement Wednesday: Collective Genius Sessions (More details on the way)

Thursday:

• Harvest Parties (Thank you you for letting Amber know in advance of your volunteer and visitors) 🙂
• Potato Bar Lunch Provided by Office Staff
• Fire Buster’s Bike Drawing during announcements

Friday:

• Ed Foundation, Principal for the Day guest principal
• November Fire Drill (depending on the weather)
• Newsletter

Bonus Heads Up: October PAW Celebration likely the week of 11/4 (weather dependent)

I came across this article on increasing student participation in class. The focus is on strategies to get all students participating in discussions especially those who may be reluctant to share their ideas.

We are noticing an increased number of students not finishing their lunch or seeming hungry during lunch time. Not sure why but wanted you to know as you reflect on when your students have their morning snack. Thank you!

Week at a Glance for October 21st – October 25th

Monday:

Tuesday:

• Lion Dash Awards Assembly (Loading at 1:50)
• PLC Meetings: Team Choice Topic

Wednesday:

• 7:30-12:00 Work in Classrooms and Lunch
• 12:00-7:30 Conferences (Dinner from PTO @ 4:00)

Thursday:

• 7:30-12:00 Work in Classrooms and Lunch
• 12:00-7:30 Conferences (Dinner provided by Office Staff @ 4:00)

Friday:

• Enjoy!

Duty Schedule for October 21-November 1

Thank you for letting Miriam know of any visitors coming to your class who do not volunteer for you on a regular basis. This advance notice provides time to make sure the person has completed their background check and so we know they are scheduled to be on campus in the event of any emergencies.

I reached out to Lora Nordquist with the question that came up at SIW on Wednesday about why TAG students are not considered a Historically Underserved group. Lora’s response was:

“when we talk about “underserved students,” we are referencing those groups of students who historically have performed below their non-HU counterparts on basically every metric related to schools: test scores, graduation rates, representation in advanced classes, etc. While we can absolutely talk about better ways to challenge our TAG students…and all students, for that matter, these students typically perform very well on all these measures.”

Week at a Glance for October 14th – October 18th

Monday:

Tuesday:

• Sibling and ELL Conference Scheduling @ 2:45 in the Media Center. Thank you for not scheduling any conferences prior to this time. 🙂

Wednesday:

• School Improvement Wednesday: Conference preparation time.

Thursday:

• Earthquake Drill
• Last day for Firebusters to be returned to office
• Potato Bar Lunch Provided by Office Staff
• 5th Grade EBISS @ 2:45 in the Media Center

Friday:

Duty Schedule for October 14-22