Week at a Glance

Are you interested in serving for the next two years as an ICCL? We have three open positions and will be interviewing for them in early June. A job description and details about the application process can be found here and in the Staff Portal by searching for “ICCL”

Save the Date! Or at least be ready to be flexible with some class time on May 24th. Earlier this year Bend La Pine Schools received a 1.5 million dollar grant, referred to as Culture of Care and like most grants involves some data collection. At SIW we will discuss the grant and a survey that our students will complete on Friday the 24th and how we will be communicating home about the project and survey. Interested in some advanced details? You can find it here.

Thank you for the steps you are taking to make sure that students in your class who are not to be photographed are never included in pictures that become public (ie Facebook, bulletin boards, etc). This can be especially challenging away from school on field trips if volunteers are taking pictures and potentially posting or sharing these photos on social media. With it being confidential who in your class should not be photographed it is ok to ask volunteers to not take pictures on field trips.

Here is the flyer with information on the May 29 the Walk or Ride to School event that Commute Options is leading. Tuesday through Thursday this week are the days we have been asked to keep track of the way students get to school. On Monday, Lybe will be sending an email with more information. Here is an example of the sheet we will be using.

Below are more of our grade level teams for 2019-20:

• 1st grade: Katie Van Horn, Robin Sanderson, Christina Kennedy, Katie Duval
• 2nd grade: Dawnelle Roth, Amanda Gylling, Trevor Caswell
• 3rd grade: Kirstin Winslow, Torree Abrams, Allison Barrett, and Jennifer Hamilton (or 5th depending on enrollment)
• 4th grade: Sarah Kamasz, Jason Kingrey, Michele Gottschalk
• 5th grade: Dyan Sultzer, Emily Curfew, Lisa Bangert

Week at a Glance for May 13th – 17th

Monday:

• easyCBM Window Opens
• 5:00 Outdoor School Informational Event in the Media Center

Tuesday:

• 8:05 Reading focused PLC Meetings
• Student Commute Tallies
• 3:00 April PAW Celebration

Wednesday:

• 8:05 ICCL Meeting
• Student Commute Tallies
• SIW: Culture of Care
• Kindergarten Open House @ 6:00

Thursday:

• 2nd grade EBISS
• Student Commute Tallies
• BBQ at Lunches

Friday:

• Next Lion Pride Drawing on May 24

Duty Schedule February May 13-24

Happy Staff Appreciation Week! Thank you for everything you do make Lava Ridge such a great place. I feel very fortunate to work alongside you everyday.

Our teaching tip this week is from Rachel and focuses on Building Background knowledge… “One of the ways that I like to build background in my lessons is to make sure that I review the prior lesson/content from a previous lesson, show a graphic organizer when appropriate, and then review the vocabulary in the context of what we are studying. An example would be using fraction tiles for a lesson on reading/counting rhythms. We built upon the knowledge of fractions to learn about a measure of music being like a whole fraction. “

We should be at a place late next week at which we are able to have a more definite plan for most of our grade level teaching assignments for the fall.  At this point our Kindergarten team has been set and will be: Donna Blankenship, Jessica Cromwell and Stacey Purtzer.

Here are the opportunities (challenges!) that we have been thinking through in setting our teaching assignments for next year. 

• Change from 26 classrooms this year to 20 classrooms in 2019-20 (25 grade level classrooms + 1 Interventionist classroom)
• The five teachers transferring to other schools teaching this year in the K-3 strand
• Interventionist position (ie Dawnelle) moving into a classroom position

I want to thank you in advance for the flexibility and positive mindset that has been so prevalent in the conversations I have had with many of you in the last two weeks.  For those who communicated on their preference sheet a desire to teach at Lava Ridge next year, we knew and discussed as a staff in mid-April that this is what would be involved. As a couple of people have voiced to me, “I will teach any grade level, I’m just happy to be at Lava Ridge next year”. That’s the spirit.

We are planning that most people will teach at one of the 3 grade levels they communicated they would prefer to teach at and if this is not possible, the grade above or below what they are teaching this year. 

A couple of questions surfaced after we evacuated the building on Wednesday during lunch time. We have not had a drill or evacuation during lunches this year so we were all presented with a great opportunity to learn and practice. Part of learning is making mistakes so please do not be hard on yourself if you did not follow or remember our protocol for evacuations during these times of the day. I am hopeful this document can help and you will see it also provides answers to the questions that were asked during SIW. Please talk with Lybe or I if you have any additional questions.

Please let me know if you might be interested in hosting a teaching intern next year. Thank you!

Week at a Glance for May 6th – 10th

Monday:

Tuesday:

• 8:05 Staff Meeting

Wednesday:

• SIW: March for Students

Thursday:

• No EBISS
• Luncheon provided by Classified Staff (Soup and Salad from Olive Garden)

Friday:

• ICCL Meeting @ 8:05
• Lion Pride Drawings at lunches
• Newsletter

Below is the schedule PTO has set for Staff Appreciation Week:

• Friday, May 3rd: 3:45pm to 6:00pm – Door Decorating
• Monday, May 6th: Theme – You Make Us Bloom
  • 7:30am to 8:25am – Door Decorating 
  • 7:45am-8am – Staff Potluck Breakfast coordinated by PTO provided by parents
  • 8:25am to 8:55am: EA Appreciation Station
• Tuesday, May 7^th: Theme – Teachers Are Noteworthy
  • 8:25am to 8:55am: Teacher Appreciation Station
• Wednesday, May 8th: Theme – My Teachers A Treat
  • 8:25am to 8:55am: Office & Specials Appreciation Station
• Thursday, May 9^th: Theme – Teachers Brighten Our Rainbow
  • 9am to 11am-ish – Treat Cart, We will be going around to Staff offering them a treat from our Appreciation cart
  • 8:25am to 8:55am: Cafeteria & Janitors Appreciation Station
• Friday, May 10th: Theme – Supply Them with Thanks
  • 8:25am to 8:55am: Appreciation Station for any Staff a student wishes to recognize

Our Teaching Tip this week is from Stephany Dasen and focuses on engagement strategies that encourage student collaboration.   She included 7 strategies that she uses on this worksheet: Consensus Map, Two stay, one stray, Agree-Disagree Line, Four Corners, Gallery Walk, Snowball Discussion, and Inner/Outer Circle Activity…” I use various types of engagement strategies to promote collaboration and classroom discussion. These support speaking and listening standards as well as help all language learners. These strategies are great for all academic activities as well as social emotional learning & getting to know you activities.”

The OPB story about the efforts taking place in kindergarten classes in Central Oregon (including Lava Ridge!) to develop Growth Mindset and Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) dropped! The story can be located here.

We are adjusting the after school duty locations at the Main Entrance slightly. Either Dawnelle or I will be heading down to Egypt to make sure students are safely crossing the raised crosswalk closest to the front parking lot. We will now have 1 person stopping traffic for those using the crosswalks in the parking lot and 1 person by Egypt doing the same. If you are one of the other staff members in this area, your assistance with reminders to students about walking bikes/scooters and to dog owners is so appreciated! We also sent an email to families this week re safe crossing of Egypt…”Does your Lion cross at the intersection of Ranch Village and Egypt?  We are encouraging all walking and riding students who cross at this intersection to instead use the raised crosswalk on Egypt that borders our campus.   After crossing the street, students can then walk up the south side of the street to Ranch Village.”

Week at a Glance for April 29-May 3

Monday:

• Walking School Bus Begins!

Tuesday:

• 8:05 PLC Meetings
• 1:30 School Tour

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• Golden Ticket Celebration at Lunches
• SIW: School Design Team Meetings

Thursday:

• 8:05 EBISS for 3rd grade

Friday:

• Next Lion Pride Drawing on 5/10

Congratulations to Paul Galvin and family who have decided to travel next school year! Paul is taking a leave from his position for the year. Enjoy!

Duty Schedule February April 29-May 10

Our instructional tip this week from Carole is very timely and focuses on the importance of teaching our students (even those in non-state testing grades) academic testing vocabulary…This is critical for our 3rd-5th graders as we prepare them to take the SBAC.  Recently I pretested 4th and 5th grade ELL’s on 30 academic testing vocabulary words.  The average score was a 43%. The lowest score was a 16% and the highest was a 73%.  The 4th grade team is using the SBAC materials from Jenn Montoya to teach strategies and together we are working to teach them the vocabulary that they need.  Words such as summarize, illustrations, predict, identify, context, and comprehension were the ones that they missed the most.  Even if we all have taught these words, they may not really know them. We are investing time to be sure that they understand what these words mean.  I have a word list if you would like it.  Dyan has a word search from Cate Hill with pictures and definitions of common testing vocabulary.

We have a Walking School Bus starting on April 29! Commute Options has hired April Frey one of our Lava Ridge parents to drive (ie walk!) this route with our Lions. Here is the flyer we will be routing to families. Even more information can be found about Walking School Buses at this link. April will also have a table set up after school next week in front of the school with information for families.

When will we know grade level teaching assignments for next year? As soon as possible. At this point it looks like we might be able to have all of these determined in the next 2-3 weeks. It could be longer too, and as soon as a grade level(s) team is set I will let you know.

Week at a Glance for April 22-26

Monday:

• March PAW Celebration @ 3:00

Tuesday:

• 8:05 Writing Focused PLC Meetings

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• SIW: PLC Time

Thursday:

• 8:05 EBISS for 5th grade

Friday:

• Lion Pride Drawings at lunches
• Newsletter

Our teaching tip this week is from Stephanie Dasen and focuses on her use of Classroom Discussion to reach all learners. In John Hattie’s research this has a very high (.82!) effect on student learning…In Math I evaluate student’s formative assessments and I find a common misconception.  We discuss this as a group.  I set up sentence frames and use class nonverbal signals such as “I agree”, “I have a different opinion”, and “Please explain because…”.  This gives students an opportunity to discuss their thinking and correct their mistakes.  

Thank you so much for making sure that Pam, Amber and I are aware of those times when you might have special guests (not regular volunteers) coming to your classroom. You are the best! This sets everyone up to be able to best meet the needs of these individuals with directions to classrooms, potentially double checking they have completed the District background check requirement, and most importantly, so in the event of an emergency we know who is on site.

Week at a Glance for April 15-19

Monday:

Tuesday:

• 8:05 Math Focused PLC Meetings

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• Poetry Day!
• 9:05 3rd grade bicycle helmet assembly
• SIW: District SIW

Thursday:

• 8:05 EBISS for 5th grade
• Central Oregon Symphony visits PM music classes

Friday:

• Lion Pride Drawings at lunches
• Central Oregon Symphony visits PM music classes

Duty Schedule February April 15-26

Carole recently attended the English Language Alliance conference and shared with me this week information that continues to support how important it is to maintain rigor for our struggling students. This came from a workshop, “Scaffolding Mathematical Tasks- Making tasks accessible for English Learner while maintaining rigor”

From the presentation, “There is a difference between scaffolding and modifying.  A scaffold is a temporary support provided to students to help them achieve a learning goal.  A modification changes the learning goals, standards and expectations for students. 

Here are some examples of scaffolding

• *chunking skills
• *start simple-build complexity
• *gradual release of responsibility
• *talk time/processing time
• *Build background- pre-teach vocabulary, visual aids, connect with student’s lives.

Here are examples of modifying

• *reduce the difficulty of assignments
• *reduce the reading level
• *change the standard addressed
• *change the learning target
• *change the grade level materials used
• *change the difficulty of the task

How can we be sure our scaffolds are maintaining rigorous standards? Build a toolbox.  Here are some tools to start with.  Connect to prior knowledge. Start with a simple skill and move on.  Give visual representations and models.” Carole is planning to share additional tools in the future.  

Pam has been organizing and purging the upstairs storage area. If you have any questions about the storage of curricula, please ask her. Thank you!

As you look around Lava Ridge it is becoming more difficult to tell that we are one of the oldest elementary schools in Bend! Thanks to bond dollars and thoughtful accounting by Pam we have been able to upgrade our classrooms, lighting around campus, and begin to update some areas in the office. More updates are on the way! This summer we are having the carpet in the Music room replaced, new asphalt spread in the parking lot between Lava and Sky View and on the South Playground and new chairs delivered for the Staff Room and other parts of the office. We are making progress! We still have updating to do in the Media Center, Main Office and other areas of the school and plan to keep saving our nickels for updates, so Lava continues to look marvelous!

A note of thanks to Trevor, Jenn, and Amber for being part of the interview team that met with candidates interested in being our next Office Manager on Wednesday and Thursday. We had 29 applicants for this position and our team met with four outstanding people. As interview teams are needed we will continue to include (if possible, depending on the time of year) certified and classified members of our staff and also be thoughtful of the size of the team. Over the years, I have tried (and will continue to do so) to include a variety of people on these teams (ie. not just ICCLS or the first people to respond to an email of who would like to be on the team, etc) to meet applicants interested in joining our staff. I will have an update for you next week on the Office Manager position.

Week at a Glance for April 8-12

Monday:

Tuesday:

• 8:05 Reading Focused PLC Meetings
• 1:30 School Tour
• Book Fair Family Night until 8:00

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• SIW: Conference Prep
• 4:30-8:00 Conferences 4:30-8:00; Dinner provided by PTO at 3:30

Thursday:

• Newsletter
• Conferences 4:30-8:00; Pizza Dinner ready at 3:30

Friday:

• No School…Enjoy!

It was shared with elementary principals that the staffing for the new elementary school will not be finalized until mid-to-late April. Originally HR had planned to finalize this process the first week of April. I have not received our staffing allocations for next year or grade level enrollment projections but do know our allocations will be based off of a total school enrollment of 504.

Any day soon (we hope!) we will be able to have outside lunch. Over the last couple of years we have learned how much our students enjoy this and that we also have a reduction in waste when we eat in the courtyards. Thank you for teaching your students our outside lunch expectations the morning of our first outside lunch day and also coaching them on where lunch box bins will be located. This year K, 1st, and 4th will eat on the North side of the school and 2nd, 3rd, and 5th on the South. We have a note about outside lunch in the newsletter this week and appreciate you also messaging about this to families so they can plan accordingly and understand the shade options that are available in the courtyards either under the overhang or trees for sun-sensitive students. We are planning that we will announce if we are eating outside via morning announcements or I may email if we end up with a long stretch of nice weather and can plan for a longer stretch of time.

Week at a Glance for April 1-5

Monday:  

• Smokey the Bear is here! (No foolin’)

Tuesday:

• 8:05-Staff Meeting (MAC Training, please bring your laptop)
• Site Council @ 4:00
• Read A Thon Kick-off Assembly @ 2:55 (loading at 2:47)
• Running Club Resumes

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• Dental Screening begins for K-2 students in the ERC Classroom
• SIW: Conference Prep

Thursday:

• Dental Screening for K-2 in the ERC Classroom
• PTO Meeting at 3:45 in the Media Center

Friday

• Lion Pride Drawing at Lunches

Duty Schedule February April 1-12

Our Teaching Tip this week is from Rachel Schendel and connects with John Hattie’s component of Classroom Discussion:

I like to use partner talk before cold calling students. For example, when we are learning information about a new artist, genre, composer, etc, I will put questions on the board. We will read them out loud before the song, video, lesson etc. Then, I will ask students to get into “elbow partners” and discuss the questions on the board. When they have discussed all the questions, they put their hands on their heads. Then, I use my Random Picker to ask students to answer the question. (I do NOT call on volunteers because I am checking for full participation by all.) They can also ask their partner. If neither of them knows the answer, they say pass. They are very engaged during this process and lots of dialogue is happening using key vocabulary.

Pam and I were discussing how cool it is that class sets of color copies are not being printed via our printer in the Media Center ($.50 a copy!) and how people are being so thoughtful due to the cost of color copies in considering whether a non-color copy can be used instead. Our budget is always super tight and this helps us out! Thank you!

It is that time of year when substitutes are in high demand! Each year around this time we hit a stretch in our district when more personal days are being used while illness and other substitute needs remain constant. Recently there have been days in which over 30 substitute requested positions in the district were not able to be filled. We have learned that on Fridays and Mondays, substitute jobs that are requested day-of after 6:00 AM, will likely go unfilled. Thank you for doing all you can to make sure your position fills in the event you are not able to be here. A couple of tips from our sub-whisperer, Pam:

• If you have any questions about how to use Subfinder see her today (really, please don’t wait until you are not feeling well and need to try and navigate this system)
• Calling subs on your own is a great practice, but if you have not located someone by 8:00 on the eve of when you need to be gone, please enter the absence in Subfinder.
• Always let Pam know either by email or phone if you are not able to be at work .

Week at a Glance for March 18th-22nd

Monday:  

• Drum Residence continues

Tuesday:

• PLC Meetings to discuss and plan for conferences. We will begin as full faculty in the Media Center at 8:05
• Drum Residence continues
• 1:30 School Tour
• 3:00 PAW Celebration for February
• Last day to submit Excellence In Education nominations
• March Madness Brackets Due! See Emily’s email for details

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• 9:05 Drum Assembly (loading after announcements)
• SIW: State Testing Training for grades 3-5; Math planning doc collaborative time K-2

Thursday:

• 11:30 Fire Drill

Friday:

• Lion Pride Drawing at Lunches
• Newsletter

Nominations are open for the Bend-La Pine Schools, 2018-19 Excellence in Education awards. We will be submitting the name of a certified and classified employee who will be recognized in May and will then be considered for the district level award in their respective employee groups. I would appreciate your input into the decision of who we select as our certified and classified recipients for Lava Ridge. If you are interested in nominating a colleague, please complete this form and return to me by Tuesday, March 19th and we will then use this information in making our school nominations to the district. Thank you!

hThere are a couple of opportunities through Onpoint Credit Union you may be interested in: the annual Educator of the Year awards and potential grants for school projects

Thank you for stopping anyone you might see in the halls without a visitor or volunteer sticker and escorting them to the office and also for not allowing any non-employee to enter our school through classroom doors, side entries, or the bus entrance. You are the best! These shared elements of building security are so important!

Week at a Glance for March 11th-15th

Monday:  

Tuesday:

• 8:05  Math Focused PLC Meetings
• 5:30 Screen Time Presentation; Friendship Mountain Commons

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• 2:30 SIW-Round # 2 of District Choice SIWs

Thursday:

• 9:30-11:00 Screen Time Presentations for 3rd-5th grade in the Friendship Mountain Commons

Friday:

Lion Pride Drawing at Lunches

Duty Schedule February March 11-22

Thank you Classified Staff for everything you do for our students and school each day! You are the best!

Our instructional tip this week comes from Dyan: One way teachers can use interaction to launch students to higher levels of English proficiency is Jigsaw. Jigsaw is a literacy routine with an effect size of 1.20 according to John Hattie’s research in Visible Learning. Jigsaw is a cooperative learning activity that works well for all students, especially with English learners when there is difficult text to read. 

Description of Jigsaw:

• Assign students into small groups (3-5 people)
• Take a piece of reading and divide into sections, assigning each person on the team a different section
• Each member of the team reads their section and reports the main ideas back to their team
• Variation – Assign students into small groups (3 students). Assign each student a different role; reader, writer, and presenter. Groups complete the task assigned for the section and then report the main ideas to the class. 

Week at a Glance for March 4th-8th

Monday:  

• ELPA Testing Continues!

Tuesday:

• 8:05  Staff Meeting
• Lunch in Classrooms
• 2:45 2nd Grade Music Program dress rehearsal
• 4:00 March Book Madness Match 7 and 8 votes due
• 6:00 2nd Grade Music Program

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• Spring Pictures
• 2:30 SIW-Math Core Effectiveness Meetings

Thursday:

• 8:05 Kindergarten EBISS

Friday:

• Newsletter
• Lion Pride Drawing at Lunches