Month: October 2020

Welcome to November! With good news from the governor, November may turn out to be a monumental moment in time–a return to school! Fingers crossed we get to return!

I was able to get away this weekend to the coast, truly my favorite place! On Saturday morning while I sipped my coffee I watched the nearly full moon (it was a Blue Saturday night) set over the ocean–glorious! The photo is below, not great quality but worth sharing! And then, that night I watched the sun set over the Pacific, second photo. I hope you also had a fantastic weekend!

This week may be one we’ll remember for a very long time. With the new metrics creating a possible pathway to returning to school, and a very contentious election on Tuesday, emotions may be running high this week–for students, families, and us. Take some deep breaths as you begin the week, and be sure to take care of your self in all the best ways that you know how to!

A few notes to get you going:
1) In case you missed my email on Friday, here is the link to the new metrics:
https://www.oregon.gov/ode/students-and-family/healthsafety/Documents/Following%20the%20Metrics%20Visual.pdf
These metrics are dramatically expanded and leave lots of room for us to be successful in returning not only to hybrid, but to full-time school across all grade levels! If all goes well we should hear some concrete plans Tuesday. Fingers crossed!

*A note about discussing the return to school with students: Let’s be careful not to be the ones to set up a potential disappointment should the situation change and we are not able to return to school. Please let parents do the bulk of getting their kiddos excited about the possibility, this way we don’t end up being the ones to disappoint. Just a note of caution!

2) Our tentative Staff Meeting this week has obviously been upgraded to a definite Staff Meeting. We’ll meet Wednesday from 2-3pm, but please leave a little extra time open in case we go longer. I’ll be sharing lots of information including the Safety Plan, a document that I’ll be sending to families, our master schedule, and Nurse Kim will share some important info, too.

3) Teacher one to ones. Thanks to all who have already signed up for a time to meet next week. If you haven’t signed up yet, please take a moment to do so: Teacher One to Ones

4) Our decision to do a Community Invitations may not come to fruition given the potential return to school. Just make sure you have November 19 on your calendar in case. If we don’t return to school we can still move forward.

Upcoming:
November 3: Election Day, don’t forget to get your ballots in on time!
November 4: Staff meeting, 2-3pm
November 9-13: Teacher 1 to 1 meetings w/Andy
November 11: Veteran’s Day, NO SCHOOL
November 13: Packet Pick-up, 1-3pm (tentative, to be confirmed closer to the date)
November 23-27: Thanksgiving Break, NO SCHOOL
December 21-January 1: Winter Break, NO SCHOOL

Here’s to a monumental week ahead!
Andy

Good Morning!
Fall has definitely set in–I hope the weekend was good to you!

A few notes to get you going:
1) Interestingly, we are still required to do virtual fire drills while in CDL. Please discuss fire drills with your students at some point this week and use it as a time to remind students what we do when we have fire drills in school. Thank you!

2) Remember, Amity swag for sale until November 1: https://amity2020.itemorder.com/sale

3) K-2 team meeting on Wednesday 1-2pm

4) Staff meeting on Wednesday at 2pm here at North Star. We’ll spend most of the time on our next community activity. We’ll also have a guest (via WeBex)–Rebecca Easton from Silver Rail who is part of the district LEAD team, a group of 25 district teachers who have been selected to support anti-racism work in the schools. Rebecca will spend about 10-15 sharing information about LEAD.

5) We’ll be having a virtual Scholastic Book Fair from November 2-16. I’ll share links with you soon that you can share with families–I’ll also send the link to families. Please encourage families to participate–it puts new books in student’s hands and provides us with lots and lots of free books!

6) If you are sharing Youtube videos with students please take a moment to learn how to do this safely:

If you are sending out links without using this process (or another one that you know of) you are potentially exposing students to content that is not appropriate for them in the form all of the additional links that typically show up to the right of the video you have shared. Thanks!

7) Looking to mix it up a little? Familiar with Kahoot? Kahoot is a super fun game/quiz app that kids really love! You can find it in Self Service, and you can learn how to use it below. Several of your colleagues have experiencing using, too.

Upcoming:
October 28-30: These are school days, NO Conferences
October 30: Packet Pick-up, 1-3pm. Come in costume!
November 1: Deadline to order from Amity Store
November 3: Election Day, don’t forget to get your ballots in on time!
November 11: Veteran’s Day, NO SCHOOL
November 13: Packet Pick-up, 1-3pm (tentative, to be confirmed closer to the date)
November 23-27: Thanksgiving Break, NO SCHOOL

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

Good Morning Team!
Wow, what a beautiful weekend we had–I hope you got out and enjoyed it! I absolutely love this time of year, such a beautiful transition time between the warm summer days and the magical snowy winter. I embrace the change!

A huge, heartfelt thank you for the gifts and very kind words on Friday in honor of Boss’s Day. It feels great to be appreciated, and I sincerely hope that you know I am always here to support you, collaborate with you, and work to make our work as rewarding as possible. I hold you all near and dear and want only the best for us as a community of educators!

A few notes to get you going:
1) The on-line Amity Clothing Store is open for business! This is a limited time event, so act quickly–the store is open from now until Nov 1. Here is the link: https://amity2020.itemorder.com/sale. The turnaround/distribution time is a week or two after November 1. Get your gear on!

2) If you haven’t already, please share your current schedule with me, as well as invite me as a co-teacher on your Seesaw and Google Classroom. Please do this no later than Wednesday of this week. Thank you!

3) From an email I sent you last week: Sometime in the next week please take a  few minutes to record a short  (1 minute-ish) video of yourself and upload it into this folder: Staff Intro Videos.  I’ll compile the videos with an intro and get it ready to send out. Please get this done this week–should include who you are and one thing you do to take care of yourself.

4) Tentative material pick-up dates: October 30 (come in costume), November 13, and December 4. We’ll confirm each of these pick-ups on the Monday of those weeks.

5) I’m working on a virtual Scholastic Book Fair. These book fairs help us buy lots of books each year and puts books in the hands of our kiddos. I’ll get back to you soon with details–hoping to launch it next week, just in time for the holidays.

6) Based on my calculations we missed the metrics again last week. It looks like our first possible return date is now November 16. I’ll confirm this and let you know.

7) Please remember to take attendance by 10am each day (for previous 24 hour period). Still have questions? Check in with Patti.

8) The district is pushing out a new on-line library called myON. Have a quick look to see what it’s about and consider attending one of the informational Webex meetings:
https://blogs.bend.k12.or.us/instructionaltechnology/2020/10/16/myon-digital-library-for-k-5-students/

I shared this on Facebook last week and wanted to share it with you:
Though we are living through some difficult and challenging times, it doesn’t mean we have to lose our sense of humanity and the love we hold for each other. As I was looking through photos last week I found this gem of a photo (below) from last Spring when some families shared their love and appreciation for their teachers drive-by style. This is a great time to remember the mantra shared by Ms. Amanda: May I Be Peaceful, May I Be Kind, May I Show My Love Well. Peaceful, Kind, Love. These things can get us through difficult times if we stay true to them, and now more than ever we need to stay true!

Upcoming:
October 28-30: These are school days, NO Conferences
October 30: Packet Pick-up, 1-3pm (tentative, to be confirmed next week). Come in costume!
November 1: Deadline to order from Amity Store
November 3: Election Day, don’t forget to get your ballots in on time!
November 11: Veteran’s Day, NO SCHOOL
November 13: Packet Pick-up, 1-3pm (tentative, to be confirmed closer to the date)
November 23-27: Thanksgiving Break, NO SCHOOL

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

A picture says a thousand words–we may not be able to take our kiddos to Shevlin Park for Camp Amity, but they are taking themselves! Here are some 2nd graders who spent time at Aspen Hall last week–doing that Camp Amity thing!

I’d like to start the week by welcoming Michelle Dolce, our new SPED teacher! Michelle is new to Bend, but she comes to us with lots of experience as a support teacher. You’ll have an opportunity to meet her at the staff meeting on Wednesday. Welcome Michelle!

A few notes to get you rolling this week:
1) Staff meeting on Wednesday from 1-2pm at North Star. Please also get the following staff meeting days on your calendar, meetings will start at 2pm:
*October 28, Nov 18, December 9

2) October 28, 29, 30–please remember that these are now teaching days (Conferences have been postponed).

Now that Conferences have been postponed it makes it even more important that you continue to reach out to families and make time for 1 to 1 chats during your teaching day. For most of you this is the afternoon time from about 1-3pm. If you haven’t checked in with families in a while, please ask them to sign up for a time to meet with you–it’s vitally important that we are staying connected to families and finding out how things are going for their kiddo and for them.

3) One of the topics for discussion at our staff meeting this week is Goals for Amity Creek for this year. Indeed this is unlike any other year but we want to keep momentum going in terms of our goals as a school. Please find time before Wednesday to think about some goals you think we should be focussed on this year. Thanks!

4) A few of you have asked about taking Personal Days. You are allowed to take personal days during CDL with the understanding that you will still provide lessons (pre-recorded) and activities for your students for the day. Also, you need to notify parents ahead of time about the plan. Please also let me know in advance if you are planning to take a Personal Day.

5) Integrated Learning Projects. In case you haven’t had time to explore some of the links that TLC is sending out, here is a direct link to some great Integrated Learning Projects that could be utilized on Wednesdays:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BCuXRr1KMdXkVufUNsTf0UTnk0LKxn8cc5HPzKUyoag/edit

Also, now that you’re settling into some consistent rhythms, I’d like to continue to encourage you to engage in some equity education during CDL. A great place to start is the Teaching Tolerance website:
https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources

Upcoming:
October 14: Staff Meeting, 1-2pm
October 28: Staff Meeting, 2pm
November 11: November Veteran’s Day, NO SCHOOL
November 18: Staff Meeting
November 23-27: Thanksgiving Break, NO SCHOOL
December 9: Staff Meeting, 2pm
December 21-January 1: Winter Break, NO SCHOOL
January 4: Move back to Amity??? 🤞🏾

I’m really excited about a doll I bought for my new granddaughter to memorialize the year she was born:

Have a great week, see you on Wednesday if not sooner.
Andy

Good Morning All!
First, a big thanks to Frans for hosting Happy Hour and showing us around his place on Friday! I hope we can continue to gather regularly and enjoy each other’s company.

A few notes to get you rolling:
1) Most of you have been hearing about Limited In Person Instruction (LIPI) starting in the district and I want to share some information. As of last week we are allowed to bring students into school during the school week, on a limited basis, to provide support that we cannot provide on-line. If you have a student or students who you feel would benefit from some in-person support (reading, math, writing) please let me know so that we can discuss a plan. The plan could include a daily amount of time, a few times per week, or even once per week. The support needed would not necessarily have to be provided by you (could be an EA, me)–we would need to sort that out once we decide what is needed.

2) I hope you have been able to complete beginning of year assessments in reading and math by now. If there are students that you are concerned about, let’s discuss how we can work together to provide needed support. We do not know when we will return to in-person instruction so it’s important that we don’t wait if there is a student who needs extra support.

3) We are being encouraged to use Lexia and Dreambox as an additional way to monitor progress of our students while we are in a distance learning mode. I am hopeful that you are either using these programs or are planning to launch them soon. Please also share if you are finding useful elements of the programs that would be beneficial to others.

3) Update on whiteboards-we hope to have them in our hands by the middle of the month.

4) From the district: Each fall, SELCO awards grants of up to $1,000 to K-12 educators at accredited schools throughout Oregon. If you have a creative classroom idea we can help with, we’d love to hear it. To accommodate educator’s needs, this year’s application period is now open and runs through October 31. Visit selco.org/SPARK to learn more.

5) Conferences: They are on the schedule for late October and the district is considering what to do–stay tuned for more information.

6) Have you had a chance to ready the Ready, Set, Learn document, the most recent document produced by the district and shared with families? If not, please take a few minutes to have a look: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x7W8MnG3rUury-n3JaBesGxQ-wbh9Rma/view

7) And, the latest OHA document about returning to school: https://www.oregon.gov/ode/students-and-family/healthsafety/Documents/Following%20the%20Metrics%20Visual.pdf

8) New Webex features: If you haven’t heard, some new WebEx features were recently released. The biggest feature was the addition of breakout rooms – this is turning out to be a great option to engage students in small group discussions–probably best for older.  This link is super useful if you are interested.  Additionally, John Craft could provide some training if you are interested. Let me know.

9) As far as I can tell it doesn’t look like we met the metrics again this last week (waiting for the official word, but what I have seen puts us over the mark). If I’m correct, the earliest return (assuming we keep numbers of new cases down) is the week of November 2.

Lastly, I think we should continue to plan for fun activities for the year, such as dress up days. Here’s a tentative schedule:

It should include Backwards Day, but so far every day feels like backwards day!

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy