Monday AM Notes, December 12 2022

Good Morning All!
I’m hoping you had a fantastic weekend! I’ve been in LA with my whole family celebrating my parent’s 60th wedding anniversary (married in 1962!)–what an incredible accomplishment. For perspective, any of you who have been married 20 years, it’s another 40 more!

My flight from LA does not arrive in Bend until 10am and I will be at school as soon after that as I can. Feel free to call or text before 8am or after 10am. See you soon.

A few notes to get you going:
1) As I have since arriving at Amity, in lieu of holiday gifts I made a donation to the Deschutes Children’s Foundation (https://deschuteschildrensfoundation.org) on behalf of the staff. The orgazingation does amazing work supporting many other local agencies that support children and families in our community.

2) We’ll be switching buddies in January–any thoughts about pairings? I’m open to input either via email or in person. I would like to hear your thoughts!

3) The gift collection for foster children in our community ends this Thursday. If you could push it our one last time to your classes it would be greatly appreciated! Here’s what I’ve been sharing with you over the last few weeks:
Between now and December 15 we are collecting unwrapped gifts for kiddos in foster care. Please encourage your students and their families to join in the giving. We’re doing this through Every Child Central Oregon: https://everychildcentraloregon.org/eccogiftdrive/. Gifts are being collected in the wrapped box in the hallway near the office.

4) SIW this week is teacher-directed. A great opportunity to collaborate with other teachers!

5) The rumor is true–football has been paused for a few days. Some issues simmered over last week that necessitate some time and consideration so we have paused football until we feel confident going forward. At issue are inclusivity and safety, but also looking to see how the Olders can take leadership roles as well as give a little back to aspiring ballers. Frans, Brian, and Ray will be (or have already) discussing this with their classes and then we will be pulling all the football players for a special meeting to help reboot Amity football. We’re aiming for the reboot on Wednesday is all goes well–stay tuned.

There is a Youngers game that will continue as there have not bee any issues with them. However, the Olders (other than Grade 4 Barrett who has been AMAZING with the Youngers) can not join this game for the time being.

6) I have an admin meeting on Tuesday and will be leaving at 2:45.

7) On Thursday a student of mine from my very first year of teaching, Heather, will be visiting Amity. Now in her late 30’s she is getting her teaching credential and lives with her family here in Bend. She was also a student of Ray’s! Crazy, eh?

8) I’d like to send a big thank you to all our volunteers from this first part of the year. If you have someone who regularly volunteers in your class, or who joined you for a field trip, please send their name to me. I’ll be sending out one email to the volunteer group. By the end of the week so I can send out the email Friday. ¡Muchas gracias!

9) No Bread and Jam this Friday-let’s all get out of hear early!

Upcoming
December 19-January 2: Winter Break
January 4-SIW-Integrity and Responsibility roll out
January 18: Winter DIBELS
January 18: Family BINGO Night! Details to follow…
January 26: Student Success Meetings
March 1: Variety Show!

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

Monday AM Notes, December 5 2022

Happy Monday AM!
What a great party Saturday night! Another big thanks to Ray for hosting all of us, and to all of you for bringing such amazing food! This is truly such an incredible group of people and I always have so much fun with all of you!

Just a few notes to get you going:
1) Don’t forget to send me your FOA wish list–if you don’t ask, you don’t get!

2) SIW this Wednesday at 1:30 in Brian’s room. Look for an agenda tomorrow.

3) Reminder: Between now and December 15 we are collecting unwrapped gifts for kiddos in foster care. Please encourage your students and their families to join in the giving. We’re doing this through Every Child Central Oregon: https://everychildcentraloregon.org/eccogiftdrive/. Gifts are being collected in the wrapped box in the hallway near the office.

4) Reminder: New requirement for cleaning up after Community Time. I know that it’s hard to remember to return to the gym to clean up on your Community Time days. The difficulty with not remembering is that the stage is often left a mess, and it interferes with others who are trying to use the stage during the day. If you have used the stage during your CT and there are things to clean up it is now required that you stay with your class in the gym after your CT and clean up. This way you won’t forget, the kids are involved in taking care of our communal space, and it assures the cleaning gets done in a timely manner. Your support is greatly appreciated.

5) Please return any Kindness themed books you borrowed to the staff room.

Upcoming
December 19-January 2: Winter Break
January 18: Winter DIBELS
January 18: Family BINGO Night! Details to follow…
January 26: Student Success Meetings
March 1: Variety Show!

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy