This and That:
Conference Length (From Skip and Tammy): After consultation with BEA, we have landed on the following times. If a teacher has 25 or fewer students, their conferences need to be between 25-30 minutes to accommodate transition times as needed (25 minutes gives a quick restroom break, time in case one goes longer, etc.). If a teacher has 26 or more students, their conferences can be 20 minutes, allowing the teacher to have some longer ones and build in transition times as needed.
Conferences:
- Before Monday, 10/10 – All families that require an interpreter will be scheduled.
- Monday 10/10 – Sibling Scheduling – Come with blank schedules (other than conferences with interpreters)
- Thursday, 10/13 – Time confirmation notes should be sent by this date.
Inclusive Language: We will be moving away from the language of “Parent/ Teacher Conferences” to “Family Conferences.” As most of you know, we have many students whose primary caregiver is a different family member or foster care. It’s an easy change for us to use the term “family” to be inclusive for more of our community.
Walk and Roll to School: Walk and Roll to School, sponsored by Commute Options, is this Wednesday, October 12th. I apologize for the late information. We will be sending information from the office on Monday, but we’d appreciate any help you can provide in pushing it out. We are NOT having an official meet-up event this time. However, all students that participate will receive a participating gift at the end of the month and be entered into a grand prize drawing.
Documents Linked in the Eagle Essentials Blog: Just a reminder that most of the document links in the blog do not work for individuals outside our organization. If you plan on forwarding document links to parents or others outside BLS, you will need to copy the document into your google drive and adjust the sharing settings accordingly.
Halloween: With Halloween around the corner, I want to share some thoughts and resources:
- You may have noticed that I used the wording “costume day” instead of Halloween in the family communication. I don’t think we need to eliminate Halloween as much as de-center it as the only holiday worth our collective interest and study this time of year. Thus, I am aiming to change school communications from being Halloween-centric.
- The following was sent to families in our bi-monthly newsletter: “Students are invited to wear a costume at school on Monday, October 31st – please be sure to keep the following guidelines in mind: Plan to wear the costume to school (it’s too crazy to have kids change into them at school!) Costumes should NOT include masks, weapons (even pretend weapons), excessive make-up, blood, gore, or anything of a scary nature. Students will still be expected to go outside for recess, so please be sure they are ready for whatever the weather may bring.”
- Here is a lesson that would be a great one to share about costumes and cultural appropriation (it’s appropriate for all grades and ages).
- Here are some other autumn holidays celebrated around the world. An essential question such as, “How do different cultures explore/represent the relationship between life and death?” could help tie together a unit on different Autumn holidays.
- Authenticity and respectful representation are important when studying holidays that might not be part of our local dominant culture. (Teachers Pay Teachers packets aren’t great here.) Is there a family in the class who could come do a guest presentation? Or a read-aloud written by an author from that culture?
- LEAD Coaches would be great at helping you and/or your team with any of these lessons or ideas.
Staff Lounge: A reminder that the staff lounge is for adult staff members. Any staff kids in the lounge need to be accompanied by their parent.
Education Foundation Grants: Due this Friday, 10/14: SHOUT OUT because we know our K-12 educators are working hard planning, developing, and executing stellar programs and curricula for our Bend-La Pine students. To help with that, we are offering our 2022 Back-to-School Classroom Grant opportunity for funding. Please see the Classroom Grant Guidelines and Classroom Grant Application, which can also be found on our website. The deadline for applications is Friday, October 14, 2022, and all application requests must be emailed to our office at this email address: [email protected]
Funding decisions and fund distribution will occur on November 1, 2022.
The Education Foundation for Bend-La Pine Schools is an independent non-profit 501(c)3 that has aided local schools since 1988. Our mission is to prepare our students for success and the future through educational and extracurricular opportunities. Since 2003, the Education Foundation has invested over $2.1 million into local schools through endowments, special projects, and our main programs. For more information about the Education Foundation, please visit our website at www.engagedminds.org
If you have any questions, please contact me or our Program Coordinator, Jessie Norman, at [email protected]. We look forward to receiving your applications and continuing to help make opportunities possible for our students and teachers! Education Foundation for Bend-La Pine Schools. (541) 355-5660 www.engagedminds.org
UKG Update: All of our staff will be logging on to UKG at our staff meeting this Monday – be sure to bring your computers. Below is an updated training plan leading up to the December 5th Go-Live plan:
October 5th – 11th: Conceptual understanding of Leave Workflow
October 12th – 18th: Conceptual understanding of Leave Request
October 19th – 25th: How to request leave within UKG
October 26th – November 1st: Conceptual understanding of electronic timesheet submissions
November 2nd – 8th: How to make a timesheet submission within UKG
Parent Communication from the Office: The office will send a parent communication twice a month on Fridays. Here is a link to the October 7th parent newsletter.
SIW: This is a “B” week for Wednesday specials. Our SIW this week is “teacher prep.”
Monday Staff Meeting Agenda: The meeting will start at 2:30 in the media center. All staff will log in to UKG (if you haven’t done so already). Classroom teachers will stay and complete sibling conference scheduling (some with an empty schedule, except for families that will utilize a translator).
Focus on Excellence and Equity:
TLC Update: Here is a link to the 9/28 TLC Update. Some items of note: resources for conferences, October 12 Really Great Reading “office hours,” math resources, Harmony resources and supports, and LOTS of great ideas for PE minutes.
Engagement while teaching RGR (From TLC Update): Don’t call on individual students even though the teacher’s editions say to. Just a reminder that your TE may say to call on individual students during the lesson; this is residue left from RGR being used in small group intervention. Instead of calling on individual students, consider: turn and talk, choral responses, stop and jot, partner reading (one student is a reader, the other is a coach), then switch.
Training videos for Really Great Reading (From TLC Update):: You will receive an email from RGR with links and instructions on training videos to support you in implementing RGR. These videos will help answer many of your questions, support you in understanding the why of the program, and may help prepare you for conversations with parents during conferences. You can move through them at your own speed. Courses 1 and 2 are recommended to complete during the first 4 weeks of instruction and then Course 3 after 4-6 weeks.
Spelling Inventory Assessment (From TLC Update): Administered as a whole group spelling test. This assessment quickly shows where students’ phonics skills break down. If you are interested in trying this and want support in planning instruction from the results, reach out to your instructional coach. I linked the LETRS version above, or feel free to continue using words their way!
Digital Citizenship (From Instructional Tech): October brings a refreshed emphasis on digital citizenship. Most of us agree that digital citizenship skills are important but are unsure how to fit teaching them into our already full schedules. Rather than recreating the wheel, Bend-La Pine Schools leans on the expertise of Common Sense Education and its vast resources, including ready-made free digital citizenship lessons for all grade levels. To get started, check out Digital Citizenship Made Simple. These skills will carry our students into the future; please take a few minutes to highlight their importance in your school this month.
COVID & Safety Related Information:
EME Safety Concern Form: Link here. You can use this form to report any safety concerns – big or small. Please use this form or talk directly with Frank or Kelle.
To Do:
Commute Options Data (From Jackie Wilson): Follow this link on Wednesday, October 12th, ask your students how they got to school that day, and record the data in this google form. Thank you.
Parent Volunteers: Before a volunteer can begin, you will need to get official confirmation from Cindy or Chris that the parent has passed the background check. Once they say yes, you will need to add them to this weekly google document letting us know who to expect each day.
Conferences: Be sure to send home conference times by Thursday, 10/13. Forms you can use will be in your box on Monday, 10/10.
Important Dates:
- Monday: Staff meeting (UKG and sibling conference sign-ups)
- Wednesday: Walk and Roll to School, Commute Options Survey, SIW= Teacher Prep
- Thursday: QPS Meetings (you know if you have a student we are meeting this week),