Month: December 2021

Happy New Year To You All!
I hope you had an incredible winter break filled with lots of great family time and fun. My trip to Mexico was full of adventure and lots of misadventures–I’m sure you’ll hear all about it from Ray at lunch in the coming days. No shortage of stories to tell!

I’m looking forward to the beginning of 2022, and though we’re likely to continue to face challenges, I have high hopes for good things ahead!

A few notes to get us going:
1) I hope you have had a chance to read the letter sent to families by Steve Cook. We know that the latest COVID variant is moving through the community very quickly but we are committed to keeping school open and students at school. Let’s continue to do our best to mitigate the spread of the virus here at school and stay vigilant!

2) Given the winter temps lunch will be in classrooms for the foreseeable future.

3) I know that from time to time you like to send students out early to recess. If you plan to do this please be sure to join them as there is not always someone out early waiting to supervise. Thanks for your help!

4) We start new buddies in the new year. At this point I think we should wait until next week. As a reminder, here are the buddies: K/3, 1/5, 2/4

5) I am sure that some of you may want to reach out to FOA to say thank you for the holiday gift. I’ve sent you their emails so that you can easily copy and paste into an email.

6) As a reminder several of you have formal evaluations coming up this month- Lauren, Sadie, Brian, Sara, Haley, Brad. Here’s a link to sign up for a pre-eval meeting with me:Pre-Eval Meetings. Please sign up now and I’ll send more information soon.

7) SIW this week–we’ll spend some time catching up and looking ahead.

8) The district is once again administering the Youth Truth survey. Please take a few minutes to take the survey very soon: ytsurvey.org/acestaff22.

Upcoming
January 13: Student Support Meetings (EBISS). More info coming soon!

Here’s to a great new year and a fantastic week ahead!
Andy

A very happy Monday to you all–the last one of 2021!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that you’re charged up for a week of fun before the break! 5 more days and you’re off for a 16 glorious days! My family and I are headed to Mexico and I am beyond excited! I hope you have something amazing planned, too.

Last week was really amazing- Camp Amity, Kinder Community Time, and Grade 1 Dolfin cookies! Who could ask for more. Thanks for bringing the joy last week!

A few notes for this week
1) We have to get one more Earth Quake and Fire Drill in before break. We’ll do this on Tuesday at 9:20–EQ then fire drill. Please remember that EQ drills are Drop, Cover, and Hold. We’ll follow the EQ drill with a fire drill and should be done by recess.

2) Staff meeting on Tuesday at 2:45. Ray’s room.

3) SIW time is all yours this week.

4) Community Time on Friday hosted by Grade 2 at 1:30pm. Let’s plan to spend the rest of the afternoon outside after CT (weather permitting).

5) With the snow falling (finally!!!) it’s a good time to talk with your kiddos about snow play outside. The bottom line is this–no throwing snow at others. Please emphasize this with your class before they go outside for fist recess on Monday.

Also, in your communications with parents please encourage them to send their child to school with snow gear to help keep them dry and warm when we are outside.

6) Formal evaluations for some of you (Lauren, Sadie, Brian, Sara, Haley, Brad) begin in January. Here’s a link to sign up for a pre-eval meeting with me:Pre-Eval Meetings. Please sign up now and I’ll remind you when we get closer.

Lastly, as I have done for the last few years, in lieu of staff gifts I have made a donation to the Deschutes Children Foundation (deschuteschildrensfoundation.org) on behalf of the Amity Staff. This is a great local organization that provides many supports for children and families in our community.

Upcoming
December 20-31: BREAK!!!
January 3: First day back
January 13: EBISS–I’ll send info after the break

Here’s to a great week ahead!!
Andy

Greetings!
I hope the weekend was fantastic and that you’re feeling really good about the next two weeks. I had a great weekend in Portland with my good pal Louie–so much fun tripping around the city looking for mischief!

A few notes to get you going:
1) SLGG meetings this week. Please be sure you remember your time: SLGG Meetings. We’ll meet in my office.

2) Camp Amity on Wednesday–I’m super excited about this! A few logistics:
*We’ll start at 9:30am, break for lunch at 11am (15-20mins), and then continue until it feels like it’s time to end.
*No masks required outside, masks must be worn in studio (perler beading)
*Limit numbers at your activity area if needed to make it manageable
*Be sure all your materials are ready to go by 9am. Please put them o the stage in the gym and the EAs and I will take them out to the playground and get them set up.

3) SIW this week-1:30pm in Ray’s room. We need a volunteer to do the warm up–let me know if it’s your moment to shine! I’ll send an agenda tomorrow.

4) Grade 5 food drive starts today! A note and flyer have gone home and it would be greatly appreciated if you could include the info in your weekly letter. Food will be collected until Thursday, December 16. Feel free to use any and all of the following or create your own blurb:

Grade 5 is currently planning a food drive in partnership with a local food relief agency called The Giving Plate. Here are the basics: The Giving Plate provides food to over 2,700 individuals a month, between all three of their hunger-relief programs. As the largest food pantry in Central Oregon, they are committed to ensuring neighbors in need have the food they need not just to survive, but to thrive. The Giving Plate is now providing 150 meals a week to children at the Boys and Girls club, too. These children have been identified by the club as needing extra help and the Giving Plate has stepped up! Over 60% of the food given out by the Giving Plate is now going to help feed children in our community.

Grade 5 will be collecting items such as:
*Individual sizes of soup/chili/stew
*Mac and cheese cups
*Ramen (In the square packets as they fit into bags and backpacks more easily)
*Individual shelf stable milk boxes
*Individual drink boxes
*Individual peanut butter
*Tea/hot chocolate
*Granola Bars, raisin boxes, pudding packs, and applesauce cups
*Trail mix or items to make trail mix

5) Community Time on Friday at 1:30 hosted by Kinder.

Upcoming
*December 6-10: SLGG Meetings
*December 8: Camp Amity
*December 20-31: Winter Break
*January 13: Student Support Meetings (most recently known as EBISS)

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy