This and That:
Any new information regarding a change in the delivery model?: In short, not really. I received the same information from Lora that you received over the break (at the same time that you received it). As you probably read, Governor Brown has made changes to the back to school guidelines for districts. These changes will affect when and how we return to school. I am attending a meeting early this week to learn more about these changes and any modifications to our return to school plans. I will communicate any changes as soon as possible.
YouthTruth Survey: Beginning January 4th and continuing through January 22nd, all Bend-La Pine Schools’ staff members are invited to take the YouthTruth survey. This is a national survey designed to explore the school experience. The survey focuses on culture, school safety, relationships, engagement, and professional development & support. Here are a couple of quotes from Youth Truth that explain why a survey is important. “Feedback from family and staff members can serve as an actionable, real‐time barometer of factors that influence student success.” “Making informed decisions requires hearing diverse perspectives from these integral groups of stakeholders.” The survey takes about 15 minutes, needs to be completed in one sitting, and is accessible from any device. The link you need to access the survey is ytsurvey.org/elkstaff21
Inclement Weather Guideline for 2020-21: The Bend-La Pine District will be able to respond differently to inclement weather events since we are in Comprehensive Distance Learning. If we need to close our buildings, we can still continue to teach and provide services. Click here to read the 2020-21 Guidelines. Families will get this same information but in a format that is tailored specifically to them.
2020-2021 Report Card Update (From TLC): In a year of so many uncertainties and continuous changes, it is more important than ever to focus on the most important instructional priorities at each grade level. Achieve the Core Partners and Oregon Department of Education have provided us with instructional priorities for the 20-21 school year in English Language Arts, mathematics, writing and speaking, and listening. This year our report card will reflect instructional priorities and standards for each grade level. The most important goal of the report card is to communicate to families/guardians a child’s progress toward grade-level standards. This year we will only communicate progress toward the most important priority standards for each grade level. The additional standards/supplementary standards will be grayed out on the report card. In addition, a document has been created for each grade-level to assist teachers in identifying which priority standards we will report on, which standards we will still teach but will not report on and which data sources might be helpful for each priority standard.
Additional Report Card Information (From TLC):
- The statement “Reporting each semester reflects a student’s knowledge of the content taught to that point. This report card has been temporarily modified for the 2020-2021 school year to represent priority instruction areas,” has been added below the legend to inform families and caregivers of changes to the report card.
- NEI “not enough information” has been added to the legend. This code will be used to communicate not enough information could be collected to communicate progress. It is expected that if the “NEI” code is used, a follow-up explanation will be provided in the comments.
- Priority Standard Documents for each grade-level (will be complete January 8th)
- Link to: Sample 20-21 Report Cards
- There will still be some N/A or NEI for mathematics on the February report card. More information will be provided in January.
TLC Weekly Newsletter: Here is a link to the last newsletter. Here are some items of note:
- January Number Corner resources
- Report card info (same as above)
- A couple of opportunities for college credits
Short Read: What Shall We Do About the Children After the Pandemic? I highly recommend this short read. Thank you, Amy McDonald, for sharing. Of course, we still care about reading, writing, and math; AND it is my hope that we remember how important it will be to listen and help our students process all that has happened in their lives over the past historic year. Below is a quote:
“Resist the pressure from whatever ‘powers that be’ who are in a hurry to “fix” kids and make up for the “lost” time. The time was not lost, it was invested in surviving a historic period of time in their lives—in our lives. The children do not need to be fixed. They are not broken. They need to be heard. They need to be given as many tools as we can provide to nurture resilience and help them adjust to a post-pandemic world.“
Looking for a read? Remember that our Sora digital library has many different titles to choose from. Christie Boen has done a great job compiling some great titles for teachers. If you ever have a title to suggest send it her way and she can try to add it to our collection.
COVID/ Safety related information:
Questions/Concerns about COVID-19 related matters?: Please follow this flowchart. If in doubt about what to do, you can always check with Frank or Kelle. Frank is our Safety Team Lead, and Ann Hollenberg is our School Nurse. You can find our School Safety Checklist here
To Do:
Important Dates:
- Monday: **NO EAGLE NEWS THIS WEEK (there will be a new one ready next week)**
- Tuesday: Gr. 3 and Gr. 5 materials distribution, Grade 1 EBISS in Kelle’s WebEx room,
- Wednesday: Fire Drill
- Thursday: Grades 2 distribution, staff meeting,