Monday AM Notes, October 11 2021

Greetings Team!
I hope the weekend was fantastic! Two great things happened for me this weekend: first, this beautiful new SUP surf board finally arrived from Thailand after months of waiting. Can’t wait to get it in the surf two weeks from now!

And two, I did a great ride I’ve been wanting to do for long time-Skyliner Snow Park to Shevlin Park via Tumalo Falls. Wowza, so much fun! Also, it’s rare that I get to ride with my son-in-law (Raya’s dad John) these days so it was extra special!

Before the notes, a huge thank you for the check-in meetings last week. The meetings were extremely insightful and it was nice to have some dedicated time with each of you. All in all it feels like we are on a great path, with lots of amazing things happening! I sincerely appreciate the feedback that was offered to me during our check-ins, I always want to be on a path of growth and finding new ways to better support you and our students. I hope you also know how important each of you is to me, and that I will always work to make our little school the best it can be!

To borrow a phrase I brought out at some point in the early stages of the pandemic, which also feels appropriate now that we’re officially starting our 6th week of school, it’s time to move from surviving to thriving. As we all know and share with children, mindset is important. Let’s all shift to a thriving mindset and watch it unfold! We have a lot of fun and adventure ahead of us!

A few notes to get you going-be sure you have your planner and calendar:
1) Super important note about end of day dismissal. It is vital to keep your students in your designated waiting area (where they eat lunch) until they are picked up by their parent/guardian for several reasons: 1) Last week we had students of all ages trying to dash out of both gates to meet their parents; 2) Sometimes parents send someone else to pick up their child and we have to make sure that person is allowed to do so; 3) Pick up time is essentially the only time for us to make contact with parents–if the kids are not with you it’s possible their parents will bypass you altogether.

2) DIBELS on Tuesday. We’ll pull small groups starting at 8:30 (maybe a little earlier if everything is ready to go). This will be a great time for some independent activities!

3) Pictures on Wednesday. We’ll do each class in 2 parts, so you’ll have half your kiddos for about 20 minutes each.

4) Reminder, NO ART this week, but you will have your common planning time. Please have a plan ready for me and the EAs. Lexia and Dreambox have been good options so far for the Olders, and might work on a smaller scale for Grades 1 and 2 if desired.

5) SIW this week is Educator Network. You should have received communications from the district about this. K-1 will meet together here at school from 1:30-3:00. For the rest of you please remember to sign up for Educator Network sessions on Performance Matters – Employee.

6) Kinder hosts Community Time for the first time this week–always a big deal! Grades 2/4 on Thursday, 1/3/5 on Friday. Please chat with your classes and remind them about just how big a deal this is for the Kinders.

7) I think most of you heard at the end of last week, but we are now allowed to consider walking field trips! This is exciting! We’ll be sending home Walking Field Trip permission slips this week, so hopefully by next week you’ll be able to take some small adventures. The big rules are:
*No parents can join the trip (even “coincidentally”, as in they just happen to be at the garden when you arrive), so we’ll need to be creative in staffing up for trips.
*All activities still have to be lead by the teacher.

Denise (Nora’s mom, Grade 3) has sent me a note that I am forwarding to all of you with information about the Environmental Center Garden.

8) It’s official, Conversations will be virtual and we’ll do them October 27 and 28. As far as whether or not you need to be at school to do the virtual conference we should know by the end of today–I’ll keep you posted. I will inform parents of this and you can start sign ups for meeting times as soon as you are ready. Given that they will be virtual you are welcome to start meeting with parents as soon as you’d like, you don’t necessarily need to wait until the 27th and 28th. If you need help with sign ups please reach out to Patti and she can help you set up an on line sign up.

In terms of preparing for Conferences I have created a notebook for each of you with a single copy of the Conversations Prep form–you can fill in a few notes in the writing and math section and then make enough copies for your class. Please keep the notes for reference in the Spring.

9) We will have our first EBISS (student support) meeting on October 21. I will share the schedule with you later this week. Brad will be covering your class during the 30 minute meetings.

10) Pie fundraiser is underway The only help we’ll need from you at this point is to include a reminder in your weekly notes until the 18th. And, collect the forms as they trickle in–each of you should have an envelope to collect these (if you don’t let me know). Thanks!

Upcoming
*October 12: DIBELS, 8-11am
*October 13: Picture Day
*October 14/15: Kinder hosts Community Time
*October 18: Pie orders are due
*October 21/22: Grade 2 hosts Community Time
*October 27-29: No School for students, Conversations (conferences)
*November 1: Halloween Hangover Party
*November 4/5: Grade 1 hosts Community Time
*November 4: Pies arrive-FOA to handle all logistics!
*November 10: Camp Amity comes to a school near you. Sign ups coming soon…

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy