Week at a Glance

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

Hot off the press from the ICCL Team….Our celebration of Read Across America Day will be March 1st! On this day we will have a Read Around the School event for all of our students from 11:00-11:30. The preliminary plan for this event is below:

• 11:00 Announcement on the intercom for students to go to the room of their choice for a story.
• 11:05 11:25 All teachers (except those on prep) read the story(ies) of their choice
• 11:25 Students released back to class

The weather has not been cooperating with our need to have a fire drill in February. At this point, Thursday next week looks to be our warmest and least-snowy option. I will keep you posted.

Week at a Glance for February 25th – March 1st 

Monday:  

• ELPA Testing Continues!

Tuesday:

• 8:05  Writing Focused PLC

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• Lunch in Classrooms
• 1:15 2nd Grade Music Program dress rehearsal
• 2:30 SIW-Math Core Effectiveness Meetings
• 6:00 2nd Grade Music Program

Thursday:

• 8:05 Kindergarten EBISS

Friday:

• Deadline for Attendance Area Change Requests and Grandfathering papers to be returned to Amber
• Lion Pride Drawing at Lunches
• Newsletter

It is SLGG mid-year check-in time! No action is needed from you on this, I will stop by your PLC in the coming weeks to see if you would like to make any adjustments to the goals you set earlier in the year.

Duty Schedule February 25-March 8

We have about 12 members of our PBIS Team reading the book, Lost and Found, by Ross Greene. This team is meeting periodically to discuss the book. In May, Mr. Greene is hosting a seminar in Bend and we are sending five members of the team to learn more deeply about the concepts in the book. This team will share what they learned with us all at an SIW in May.

Did you know that your students can access Typing.com through Clever? Typing.com teaches typing with interactive lessons, typing games, and achievements.  The technology tracks each student’s most troublesome keys, creating individualized lessons to tackle bad habits before they’re locked into muscle memory.  Cool way to help our Lions develop a life-long skill!

The Education Foundation for Bend-La Pine Schools will open the 2019 Classroom Grants program on February 18, 2019. The online grant application and guidelines will be available at www.engagedminds.org beginning Feb. 18th. The program closes at 5pm on Friday, March 22, 2019. An email communicating this information to all BLS educators and staff will be distributed by the Superintendent’s office on February 19th. 

Classroom Grant Guidelines

Week at a Glance for February 18th – 22nd

Monday:  

• Enjoy!

Tuesday:

• 8:05  Math Focused PLC
• 1:30-2:30 School Tour (Scheduled with families in mind that will be new to Lava Ridge in September)
• January PAW Celebration @ 3:00
• ELPA Testing Begins!

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• 2:30 SIW-PLC Time to continue work on math planning doc and discuss 2/13 SIW learning.

Thursday:

• 8:05 1st grade EBISS

Friday:

• Lion Pride Drawing at Lunches
• Bingo! Doors at 5:30. Event @ 6:00

Thank you PBIS Team for your planning, energy and leadership! What a fun assembly on Tuesday and it’s exciting to think of the impact the February and March school-wide activities will have on Lava Ridge!

On March 12th at 5:30 in the gym, Lava Ridge families are invited to learn how to help their children find a healthy balance when it comes to screen time. Dr. Rebecca Hicks, a parent of a Bend-La Pine student and pediatrician at Mosaic Medical, will be discussing the science behind and current research on the effects of screen time on brain development. She will present recommendations to help keep children healthy and safe from issues that can arise from excessive screen time. A flyer is coming soon that can be shared with families.

At the PBIS Assembly on Tuesday we will be learning about the Bend Joy Project and making connections to Lava Ridge. If you are interested in learning more about the Joy Project prior to Tuesday you can find information here.

Heads (Books!) Up! The ICCL Team is planning for a Read Around the School activity in celebration of Read Across America Day on Friday, March 1st. More details soon!

Week at a Glance for February 11th-February 15th 

Monday:  

Tuesday:

• 8:05  Reading Focus PLC Meetings
• 10:00 PBIS Assembly (Loading at 9:50)
• Winter MAC Survey Day

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• SIW District SIW

Thursday:

• 8:05 2nd EBISS
• Valentine’s Day!

Friday:

• Newsletter
• Lion Pride Drawings at lunch

Our instructional strategy of the week comes from Stephany Dasen and focuses on the importance of Written goals or objectives and the use of visuals.   I use SIOP strategies with all my students.  These strategies allow my students (even my non-language impoverished ones) to build upon their prior knowledge.  Visuals and written goals help my students to develop a clear understanding of the task at hand.

Duty Schedule February 11th-22nd

As you may have seen, we messaged families through the newsletter with information about the new elementary attendance boundaries. The Attendance Area webpage on the district site is a great resource for even more information. Below is the scoop on grandfathering and Attendance Change Requests.

Grandfathering Details:
Current fourth-graders affected by attendance area changes will be “grandfathered”: that is, they will be allowed to remain in the schools they now attend without having to make area change requests. Transportation to and from school will be the responsibility of the family when the “grandfather” option is chosen. Grandfathering forms (for families of fourth-graders affected by the attendance area changes) are available in our office. Completed forms must be returned to Amber by March 1st.

Attendance Area Change Requests:
Kindergarten through 3rd grade families can fill out the Attendance Area Change Request form. This form is available in our office or online on the Bend-La Pine Schools web site. Students currently attending Lava Ridge on an ACR will not need to re-submit an ACR to stay at Lava Ridge…once a Lion, always a Lion. Completed ACR forms should be returned to Amber by March 1. (The deadline for incoming kindergarten students to submit an ACR is May 1).

A note from Lindsay Burden the drama director at Mountain View High School:  The cast of Disney’s High School Musical will be doing an assembly show for area elementary and middle school students. I wondered if any of the teachers at Lava Ridge would like to take a group over to see the show. The show will be Tuesday, March 5th at 9:45 am. We will perform act 1 plus the finale. The show would be about an hour and would get students back to school in time for lunch. The suggested ticket price is $2 per student. More details: [email protected]

Week at a Glance for February 4th-8th

Monday:  

• 8:05 PBIS Assembly Planning Meeting in the Media Center

Tuesday:

• 8:05  Staff Meeting
• AM-Report cards to Amber

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• 10:00 School Tour (Scheduled with families in mind that will be new to Lava Ridge in September)
• 10:30 SVMS Band and Orchestra Visit (4th and 5th in the gym)
• 2:30 Reading Core Effectiveness Meetings in the Media Center

Thursday:

• No EBISS Meetings
• 3:45 PTO Meeting in the Media Center

Friday:

• Lion Pride Drawing at Lunches

We recently received 11 new 2018 MacBook Airs from Tech Services. Each year we get a new fleet of laptops that we allocate to those teachers with the oldest laptops. These laptops have the new USB-C ports (not the standard USB ports) with I.T. providing dongles that give the user the ability to plug in older stuff.

Congratulations on a great first half of the school year! Next Friday marks the unofficial (hey, whose counting? ) mid-way point in the year. Thank you for the impact you have had and will have on our Lions this school year!

On Tuesday, February 4th some of our 4th grade students will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP is a congressionally mandated assessment that is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). It has been years since our students were selected to participate (each year schools are randomly required to participate). More about this assessment can be located here.

Carole’s Language Acquisition Tip of the Week: Building Educational Background.  This week I found in discussing a Wonder’s lesson on the Earth and its neighbors with a 3rd grader that she did not know anything about planets!  On the other hand, in front-loading for 4th graders on Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela a student knew exactly what the words “opposed” and “protest” meant. He is from a 3rd world country and he has experienced people protesting.  He explained these words to the rest of the group.  Sometimes I need to stop and ask students, “What do you already know about this topic?”  We brainstorm together.  Every week I learn that I don’t realize what they know or what they do not know…until I ask. 

Week at a Glance for January 28-February 1

Monday:  

• Yummraiser at Panda Express

Tuesday:

• 8:05  Math PLC Meetings and time for teams to continue working through the Bridges planning document from the Academic Excellence Team
• DIBELS Day!

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• 10:45 Fourth grade music program dress rehearsal (student lunches in gym)
• SIW Lava Read planning time
• 6:00 Fourth grade music program

Thursday:

• 8:05 3rd EBISS
• Newsletter

Friday:

Work day with building hours from 7:30-5:00. If you would like to come in earlier or stay later please disarm the alarm and sign-in on the white board above the alarm panel. Thank you!

We learned this week that the Team Clean is beginning again on Monday. With this adjustment we will have an additional custodian on site around 4:30 (his name is Joel Meyer) and we can plan that Gordon will set the building alarm at 7:30 each evening.

Thank you for always locking the exterior door from the Neighborhood Commons to the playground when you come in from outside (except for the door in Friendship Mountain closest to Bridges)

Language Development Strategy of the Week from Carole: This week, as a staff, we focused on math. Our Math Bridges curriculum is language heavy. In teaching the content of math we will also have language objectives. Students will need to know how to read and explain math word problems. Our language impoverished students need sufficient time to process complex language. Three Reads is a mathematical strategy that helps them to slow down and process what the overall meaning is as well as know the specific steps they need to take in solving it.  (Mathematical Thinking and Communication- Access for English Learners, 2016).  During my math intervention groups I am asking myself, “What is the specific language they need to know to solve these problems?”  This becomes the language objective.  

Congratulations again on our school report card! On Wednesday I mentioned a comparison school document that I would share. It can be located here. As you look at it you will see how different Bend-La Pine schools results compare (percent +/-) to those in their ODE determined, comparison group. There are Math and ELA tabs at the bottom of the page. Interested in historical data and more ODE assessment information? Check out this link .

Week at a Glance for January 21-25

Monday:  Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

Tuesday:

• 8:05  PLC Meetings-Writing Focus

Wednesday:

• 8:05  ICCL Meeting
• SIW: Work in Classroom Time

Thursday:

• 8:05 4th EBISS

Friday:

• Lion Pride Drawings at Lunch

At Site Council we discussed major building dates through Spring Break. These are listed below.

• January 29^th -DIBELS Assessment
• January 30^th -Fourth Grade Music Program @ 6:00 (rehearsal at 10:45)
• February 1^st -No School: Teacher Workday for Report Card Preparation
• February 5^th -NAEP Testing for 4^th Grade
• February 6th -School Tour @ 10:00
• February 7^th -PTO Meeting @ 3:45
• February 12^th -PBIS Assembly @ 10:00 (Loading at 9:50)
• February 18^th -No School: President’s Day
• February 19^th -School Tour @ 1:30
• February 22^nd – Bingo!
• February 27^th -Second Grade Music Program @ 6:00 (rehearsal at 1:15)
• March 6^th– Spring Pictures
• March 12th-Screen Time Presentation by Rebecca Hicks, MD @ 5:30
• March 14-20-Drum Residence
• March 20^th -Drum Assembly @ 9:05
• March 25-29^th -Spring Break
• April 1^st -School Resumes

Duty Schedule January 22-31