3.28.2021

This and That:

Staffing: As many of you know, Andrea Morgan and Leslie Carrol have been on leave these past two years teaching abroad. Leaves for teaching abroad last two years, and Leslie and Andrea were recently asked to state their plans for next school year. Both made the decision to resign their positions. Les plans to keep teaching internationally until she retires from teaching, and Andrea plans to return to BLS for the 2022-2023 school year. Over the next couple of weeks, I will follow up with several of you regarding your staffing wishes for next year.

All-in!! I hope that by now, you have all read the email sent by Lora on the first day of spring break (3/19) and my follow-up on 3/20. Since those two emails were sent, ODE has officially adopted an updated version of RSSL that changes the distancing to 3 ft (in most situations) and removes the 35 square foot occupancy rule. BLS has been committed to returning students to classrooms as soon as possible by RSSL, so we will be starting with all students all-in on Monday, April 5. Please carefully read Lora’s email for the timeline.

Master Schedule: I am super happy for our 4/5 teachers and families to be returning to the classroom with all students every day! This will be a huge difference-maker for them. To provide specialist time and recess with cohorts for all classrooms, most staff will be impacted by a schedule change. Frank is currently working on a schedule to accommodate these changes; here is a link to a DRAFT of what it may look like (make sure that you are in the tab that says “Draft of K-5 all in.” Don’t get attached to this schedule as it is truly a draft, and communicate with Frank if you see obvious problems.

Conferences: As explained in Lora’s email on 3/19 and my email on 3/20, there will also be changes to our conference plans. Classroom teachers: please follow this link to share your new conference plans. I am assuming that all classroom teachers will be offering a conference for each student; please come and talk with me ASAP if this is not your plan. I will not be calling any meetings from 4/1-4/3 this week, so you can use the time for conferencing without worrying about meetings.

Compacts: Compacts will now be going home on Monday, March 29th. Classroom teachers, please do what you can to get these back and signed by parents and students. Please turn them into the office, and April will keep track of who has returned them and who has not. In a couple of weeks, we will make a second effort to get them back from the families that have not yet returned them.

Conference Interpreters: I’m working on getting information about conference interpreters. I will let you know when I know more.

“Fricken’ Packets“: This is a good read about the use of packets in the classroom, the difference between a “busy sheet” and a “power sheet”, and ideas to replace “busy sheets.”

Everyone teaches differently, and as we have established, all worksheets are not created equal. There is no single prescription for what kind or how many worksheets you should be using with your students. Only you and your students can know that for sure.

So my challenge to you is simple: From now on, every time you’re about to use a worksheet, ask yourself if it’s contributing to student learning or if it’s actually just keeping them busy. If it’s the latter, start replacing your worksheets with better, richer alternatives. Your students will learn better, school will be more fun, and you’ll waste a whole lot less time in line at the copy machine.

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. And here is a link to our COVID anonymous safety concerns form.

To Do:

Yearbook Photos: Please contribute photos for the yearbook by clicking this link. There is a folder for each classroom and a miscellaneous folder for any other photos. Thank you!

Empathetic Eagles: Please share the gold coins from the gnomes and Lucky the Leprechaun when you see empathetic eagles. Thank you!

Important Dates: