Month: April 2019

Good Morning All!
I hope you enjoyed the stellar weather this weekend, I do love this time of year! We’ve got a busy few weeks (2 months) ahead, but I think it’s better to be bustling with activity this time of year in order to meet the kids’ energy.

I’ve been deep in thought about change recently, and how much change we have had at Amity in my short tenure. This week at SIW we will look to the future and begin to find our growth edge for the coming year (and years) ahead. All the change we have been experiencing, and will continue to experience, feels both exciting, but also little overwhelming at times. I read this quote over the weekend and it gave a me little levity: “Change is inevitable–except from a vending machine.” –Robert C. Gallagher

A few notes to get us going:

1) Book Fair is this week in the Studio, Wed-Fri. This means art will take place somewhere other than in the studio–either in your classroom or in the craft room. Alisa will let us know.

2) Field trips this week:
*Grade 2 heads to the Bend Science Station on Tuesday
*Grades 4 and 5 head to Blue Hole on Tuesday

3) Grade 5 hosts Cafe Amity this week.

4) A change to SIW this week. Since we have the walk out rally next Wednesday I am shifting things around. This week we will begin visioning for next year and I have moved our engagement with Running Records and IRI to August. Please come with thoughts, ideas, and goals, as well as reflections from this year, that you’d like to share with the group as we begin to envision what next year can be. This will be a 2 part series with the next one on May 15. Ray will be joining for part 2.

5) Easy CBM next week, please make note of the times scheduled:
*Kinder@10:45am on Wednesday, May 8
*Grade 1@10:45 on Tues, May 7
*Grade 2@9:15am on Tues, May 7
*Grades 3/4/5 please let me know when you will administer in classrooms

6) Bend Food Project collections will run through next Wednesday, May 7 with pick up on May 8. I will send out a reminder to families but it would be good to include the info in any communications you send to families this week. In the spirit of giving and generosity please encourage families to participate.

7) Next week, May 6-10, is Teacher Appreciation Week. Like in previous years there will be a variety of efforts from our sweet community to show their love for all of you. As in the past, the classified staff will be preparing a tasty lunch for you on Tuesday of next week so be sure to join in the staff room for lunch that day.

8) Pint Night at Worthy Brewing is next Tuesday from 4-9pm. It would be great if we could all make an appearance in support of this fundraising effort.

9) The annual Bowl-a-thon is next Friday, May 10. All the info has gone home–please, please, please encourage families to get sponsors and donations. This is a HUGE fundraiser for us–in the neighborhood of $6000–and it is especially important because it is our last big fundraiser of the year and a chance to hit our fundraising goal. Please remember that all of us, students and staff, benefit from the extensive fundraising that occurs throughout the year and our support of these efforts is crucial! Please do all you can to support this. Thank you!

Upcoming:
May 1-3: Spring Book Fair
May 6-10: Teacher Appreciation Week. Teacher, keep Tuesday lunch free!
May 7: Pint Night at Worthy Brewing. Let’s all try and make an appearance even if just for a short while. 4-9pm
May 10: Bowl-a-thon. All info has been sent home. Please encourage families to get donations.
May 15: DIBELS
May 28: The Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM)–more info in a few weeks. Some data collection for the district.

Here’s to a great week ahead and to the last 7 fantastic weeks,
Andy

Happy Earth Day!
I hope you enjoyed the amazing, sunny day yesterday. My youngest, Kaila, turned 15 and we had a great birthday/Easter celebration in the glorious sunshine with friends and family.

It’s Earth Day so I want to start with a quote from Leo Tolstoy:
“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between human and nature shall not be broken.” I hope you take some time to celebrate Earth Day with your class today and to honor this great planet that we share!

More than few notes to get you going on this beautiful morning:
1) If you haven’t already singed up for a meeting time with me and/or done the feedback survey please take a few minutes to do so (teachers only–I will meet with classified staff soon). Here are the links (I’ll resend in an email today):
Meeting time w/Andy
Feedback for Andy

2) I’m still gathering some kinds words about Minday for the Excellence in Education award presentation. Please get me a kind word or two soon.

3) PE equipment is now under lock and key again. We’ve had to much equipment go missing and too many kids getting in to the cupboards without permission. If you don’t already have a key please see Patti.

4) If you take your classes outside to play after afternoon Choice please be sure to gather all equipment that your kiddos take out. Thanks!

5) Brad and I would like to meet with each class for a few minutes (15) this week out on the playground to review some of the playground rules. I’ll check in with each of you time find a time.

6) At the moment Alisa is scheduled to be here to teach art on Thursday and Friday, and may contact you to fit in some extra lessons on Wednesday, too. Greg did receive an official diagnosis of ALS last week so things are challenging for Alisa right now–let’s show her a lot of extra love.

7) Spring Clothing Exchange is this Wed/Thur/Fri and will take place on the stage. This means the stage will not be available for Community Time on these days. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause!

8) SIW this week will focus on some of the mechanics of next year: Master Schedule, EA Time, and Whole School Activity Planning.

9) Bowl-a-thon is Friday, May 10. Info packets will go home with kids this week.

10) Kinders host Cafe Amity this week.

11) Field trips this week:
*Grade 3 to the Metolius on Thrusday
*Grade 4 to Elk Meadow on Thursday

12) Ale Apothocary is hosting a fundraiser for Amity this Wednesday from 4-8pm. We get a percentage of the proceeds for the evening. We’ve done a little advertising already and will send out a note to families today.

13) Later today I will let families know about our teacher line-up for next year. In my note I will also let them know that we are actively discussing how we can best meet the needs of students in terms of shifting group dynamics and creating new relationships with mixed age groupings, especially in grades 2-5. This is not a declaration of blending classes but rather an acknowledgement that we interested in how to best meet the needs of our kiddos through flexible groupings along their journey at Amity.

14) I’ll be off campus today from 11:45 until 1:30 for a meeting.

15) I’ll be at a Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI–restraint) training all day Tuesday. I’ll be next door at the church if you need anything.

Upcoming:
April 24-26: Spring Clothing Exchange
April 24: Ale Apothecary fundraiser, 4-8pm
April 30: Grde 4/5 Blue Hole trip
May 1-3: Spring Book Fair
May 6 (week of): EasyCBM assessment
May 7: Worth Brewing Fundraiser
May 6-10: Teacher Appreciation Week!
May 10: Bowl-a-thon. Permission slips to go out this week. More info going home soon!
May 28: The Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM)–more info in a few weeks. Some data collection for the district.

Here’s to a great, glorious Earth Day and a fantastic week!
Andy

Good Morning All,
I hope Conversations went well on Friday–I had lots and lots of positive feedback from parents on their way out after their Conversations. You are all very loved and appreciated!

With Easter coming soon, a little Easter joke for you:
Why did the Easter Bunny have on a hat? Because he was having a bad hare day.

It’s a bit busy this week, here are some notes to get you going:

1) IMPORTANT: Short staff meeting (10 mins) at 3:45 today in Heidi’s room.

2) SIW this week is district level

3) MAC survey is on Thursday of this week. Email will be coming soon.

4) I’m at a workshop all day on Tuesday–call or text if needed.

5) Pastini Fundraiser tonight and tomorrow night. I’m sending out a reminder to families today.

6) Dale is out for the next 3 weeks, Deb will be here. Casey, Taran’s mom, will be covering Tuesday AM (before school) choir.

7) Fire Drill Tuesday at 9:15am.

8) Grade 1 hosts Cafe Amity this week

9) EBISS on Wednesday:
9:15-9:45—Grade 5
9:45-10:15— Grade 4
10:45-11:15—Grade 2
11:15-11:45—Grade 1
1:00-1:30—Grade 3 (Brad to cover)

10) Staff Appreciation Breakfast on Wednesday at 8am

11) Field trips this week:
Grade 2: Fall River on Tuesday
Grade 3: Bend Science Station on Tuesday
Grade 4: High Desert Museum on Monday

12) SIWs for remainder of year:
*April 24: Master Schedule, EA Time, Whole School Activity Planning
*May 1: Running Records and IRI
*May 8: Visioning and Planning for 2019-20
*May 15: Planning for 2019-20
*May 22: Teacher’s choice
*May 29: Meeting with new teams
*June 5: Grade 5 gift

Upcoming:
April 15: Staff meeting at 3:45
April15/16: Pastini Fundraiser
April 17: EBISS
April 17: District SIW
April 17: Staff Appreciation Breakfast hosted by district, 8am
April 24-26: Spring Clothing Exchange
May 1-3: Spring Book Fair
May 10: Bowl-a-thon. Permission slips to go out this week. More info going home soon!
May 28: The Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM)–more info in a few weeks. Some data collection for the district.

Here’s to a great week!
Andy

Good Morning All!
First, an article to share that was posted on our Creeker Facebook page by a parent addressing a better alternative to saying sorry–this is worth the read:A Better Alternative to “Sorry”

Two jokes for you:
*What did one raindrop say to the other? Two’s company, three’s a cloud 

*For those of you who are more hip: Why does Snoop Dogg need an umbrella? Fo’ Drizzle 

A few notes to get us going this week:
1) Dale is out for the rest of this month and Deb will be here to cover

2) Free Cone Day Tuesday! As discussed we’ll be making our way there in waves with most partnering with another class. Please be sure to let families know we will doing this.

3) SIW this week is time for you to prep for Conversations

4) NO Cafe Amity this week.

5) Easy CBM is coming up the first week of May. I’ll share a schedule in a week or so.

6) I’ll be at an admin meeting this afternoon so will be leaving school a little before 3pm.

7) New staff member for next year update (no longer calling it a “hiring update”): Principals involved in receiving or losing teachers will be meeting on Wednesday morning (I’ll be at the meeting for a few hours that morning) and Gary will update us all on his initial plans for transfers with final decisions and announcements done Friday. At the moment we have at least two great possibilities, so I am feeling very optimistic!

8) Please remember that we have money to spend–what do you need for your classroom and/or the school? Let’s be sure we are spending the money we have. Check with Patti.

9) We may need to do Lunch Recess inside today; if so, we will use K/2/4 classrooms. Hoping we don’t need to!

Upcoming:
April 9: Free Cone Day!
April 10: SIW–prep for Conversations
April 12: Conversations
April15/16: Pastini Fundraiser
April 17: EBISS
April 17: District SIW
April 17: Staff Appreciation Breakfast hosted by district, 8am
April 24-26: Spring Clothing Exchange
May 1-3: Spring Book Fair
May 20: The Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM)–more info in a few weeks. Some data collection for the district.

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy