Month: September 2023

Greetings All!
First, a HUGE thank you for making these first few weeks so amazing! The vibe at Pancake Breakfast was amazing and that’s because you’ve done an incredible job building community these first few weeks!

I hope the weekend treated you well. It’s been busy around school so I’m hoping your weekends are restful or playful, or both! I’m hopeful that this is a calmer week for us all!

A few notes to get you going:
1) Vision Screening on Tuesday. We’ll pull small groups.

2) DIBELS on Wednesday AM

3) PE and water bottles: Please be sure your students have their water bottles for PE. It’s essential for them to have access to water and not have to leave the gym and wait in line at the water fountain. This is an easy way to support the smooth running of PE classes. Thanks!

4) No meeting on Tuesday. Brian, Sara, and I will be at an ICCL meeting in the afternoon.

5) For our Wednesday SIW Grades 3/4/5 will meet with Lori for HD word. K/1/2 can work on finalizing your assessments and consulting with Haley and Sara.

6) Please push out these links to Harvest Festival and the School Directory in your communications with parents the next few weeks–your help is greatly appreciated!
Harvest Festival
School Directory

7) Bread and Jam on Friday after school

8) I’ll be leaving a little early on Friday to catch a flight to LA to see my folks. Call or text if you need anything. I’ll be leaving around 1 and will be available until 2:45pm.

Upcoming Dates (just keeping all this on your radar)
October 3: Vision Screening
October 4: DIBELS
October 4: School based SIW
October 6: Bread and Jam
October 10: Picture Day
October 10: Staff meeting, 2:45-3:30pm
October 11: Educator Network SIW
October 12: Bus Evacuation Drill, 9am at the Ed Center
October 16-17: Dental Screening
October 17: Teacher Collaboration Time, 2:45-3:30pm
October 18: Teacher work day SIW
October 20: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 10:45am
October 21: Harvest Festival, 4-7pm
October 25-27: Conversations (likely 25^th and 26^th, no work on 27th)

Hello All!
I hope you had a fantastic weekend! It was a HUGE weekend for Michelle and I as we dropped our youngest, Kaila, off at college (go Beavers!). We are officially empty nesters. Now what? I read a funny quote: Behind every great kid is a couple of parents who are sure they screwed the whole thing up. Here’s hoping we didn’t!

A few notes to get you going:
1) Camp Amity today and tomorrow! You all know my biggest concern: Remember that we always need one adult on the dock and that adult should stay on the dock until another adult comes to trade out. And, remember to take your turn on the dock. Thanks!

2) We’ll just have Invitations on Thursday of this week (Camp Amity on Monday). Invitations 23-24

3) Lockdown Drill on Thursday–look for an email with some good info on Monday.

4) At SIW this week we’ll dive into our roll out of next month’s theme: Problem Solving. 1:30pm in Grade 5.

5) Tuesday is Team Collaboration Time, 2:45-3:30pm. This will be a good time to talk about what you want to work together on as a team this year.

6) Buddies through the end of October: K/5, 1/4, 2/3 on Fridays.

7) Our first Cafe Amity of the year is this week on Wednesday hosted by Grade 5.

8) Our annual Pancake Breakfast is on Friday starting at 7am. All hands on deck.

9) Mark your calendar. We’ll be doing the Jammie Jam again this year on November 1. We got lots of volunteers for the event signed up at Back to School Night! We’ll be sending home pledge sheets in a few weeks.

10) Deb Fisher, Rebel’s aunt, will be our Visiting Artists in October. I’ll be working with you on dates soon. Deb will be doing a mask making project with your classes and I will be sending you an email soon so you can give some input on the mask making options for your class. Stay tuned!

Upcoming Dates (just keeping all this on your radar)
September 25/26: Camp Amity at Shevlin Park!  9:30am-1pm
September 26: Team Collaboration Meeting, 2:45-3:30pm
September 27: School based SIW
September 27: Cafe Amity, Grade 5 hosts
September 28: Lockdown Drill, 9:20am
September 29: Pancake Breakfast, 7-8am
October 4: DIBELS
October 4: School based SIW
October 6: Bread and Jam
October 10: Picture Day
October 10: Staff meeting, 2:45-3:30pm
October 11: Educator Network SIW
October 12: Bus Evacuation Drill, 9am at the Ed Center
October 16-17: Dental Screening
October 17: Teacher Collaboration Time, 2:45-3:30pm
October 18: Teacher work day SIW
October 20: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 10:45am
October 21: Harvest Festival, 4-7pm
October 25-27: Conversations (likely 25^th and 26^th, no work on 27th)

Greetings All!
I hope you had an amazing weekend and got out and enjoyed the Fall weather! We are officially launched, and the 2023 school year is underway-thanks for a great start!

A few notes to get you going:
*School wide theme: Community!

1) Get a jump on signing up for Invitations: Invitations 23-24.
Note: We won’t have Invitations next Monday (25th) because we’ll just be getting back from camp.

2) Staff Meeting Tuesday, 2:45-3:30 in Grade 2. If you have something you’d like to add to the agenda please put it here: Staff Meeting Agendas 23-24. Who’s got a warm up activity for us?? Please bring your computers.

3) Book Fair this week, please refer to the email I sent last week with the schedule. I’ll give you Monday:
8:30-8:50    Kindergarten
8:50-9:10    First Grade
9:10-9:30    Second Grade
10:00-10:20 Third Grade
10:20-10:40   Fourth Grade
10:40-11:00    Fifth Grade

4) SIW this week is a teacher work day. I’ll be leaving school around 1:45 to get to an admin meeting.

5) Back to School Night is this Thursday starting with the Book Fair at 5pm. Parents will report to your room at 5:30pm. Plan to be back in the gym by 6:15–I’ll make an announcement over the PA.

6) Security note: If you are the last adult in off the playground after Choice Time or lunch recess please make sure the back door is shut. We simply cannot leave the door open. Thanks!

7) Just an FYI: Rose City Chess Club begins Wednesday after school in the staff room. This is parent funded chess instruction. We have about 15 kiddos signed up.

8) Camp Amity next week–yahoo!!! Be sure to have all permission slips in.

9) Buddies–let’s talk at the staff meeting about the first pairings.

Upcoming Dates (just keeping all this on your radar)
September 18-22: Scholastic Book Fair
September 19: Staff Meeting, 2:45-3:30pm in Grade 2
September 20: Teacher work day SIW
September 21: Back to School Night, 5-6:30pm
September 25/26: Camp Amity at Shevlin Park!  9:30am-1pm
September 26: Team Collaboration Meeting, 2:45-3:30pm
September 27: School based SIW
September 27: Cafe Amity, Grade 5 hosts
September 28: Lockdown Drill, 9:20am
September 29: Pancake Breakfast, 7-8am
October 4: DIBELS
October 4: School based SIW
October 6: Bread and Jam
October 10: Picture Day
October 10: Staff meeting, 2:45-3:30pm
October 11: Educator Network SIW
October 12: Bus Evacuation Drill, 9am at the Ed Center
October 16-17: Dental Screening
October 17: Teacher Collaboration Time, 2:45-3:30pm
October 18: Teacher work day SIW
October 20: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 10:45am
October 21: Harvest Festival (tentative, pending parent volunteers)
October 25-27: Conversations (likely 25^th and 26^th, no work on 27th)

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

School-wide theme: Community

What a great first week we had! Thanks for making the first week so special and helping students make and re-establish connections! I really loved popping from classroom to classroom and seeing all the joy! I hope you’re feeling really good about last week, too. I’m excited for our first full week!

A few notes to get you going:
1) We have Community Time Tuesday-Friday from here on! As a reminder, here’s the line-up:
Tues: Grades 2 and 4
Weds: Kinder and Grade 1
Thurs: Grade 3
Fri: Grade 5

2) Invitations start this week–Monday and Thursday. Here’s the link: Invitations 23-24.

PE and Enrichment also start this week. Be sure you know your days/times (Master Schedule)

3) Let’s get all the Community Jobs up and running this week:
Kinder/Grade 1: Playground clean-up
Grade 2: Library caretakers
Grade 3: Hallway waste patrol
Grade 4: Green Team waste station*
Grade 5: Office and cafeteria support*
*Brian and Ray: Wondering about Sensory Supporters. This year’s Grade 5 students were trained last year. Should this be a Grade 5 or Grade 4 job this year?

4) SIW this week is our whole team. We’ll have time to check in, talk about some of our kiddos, chat about Back to School Night, and get our eyes on the assessment binders (if you haven’t already).

5) Back to School Night is Thursday, September 21. As noted, we’ll chat about this at our SIW on Wednesday.

6) Fire Drill on Thursday at 9:20am. Please review procedures with your kiddos before the drill. And be sure you have the Green/Red folder with a class list.

7) Scholastic Book Fair is next week, Monday-Friday, and will include an opportunity for parents to shop at Back to School Night, too. Look for some communication coming out soon about times your class will visit the fair.

8) FOA is sponsoring a teacher lunch on Thursday–El Sancho!

9) Rose City Chess Club at Amity will run every Wednesday after school in the staff room starting September 20th. We have about 15 Amity kiddos involved in this activity, paid for by individual families. The Amity Chess Club will also continue this year.

Lastly, but certainly not least, supervision on the playground. This is my annual reminder about the importance of good, vigilant, and safety-minded supervision on the playground. As I always say, supervision is 90% prevention, 10% response (disclaimer: not scientifically proven). If we do a good job supervising on the playground then 90% of the time we can avoid serious injury. Good supervision requires awareness, which requires that you are focussing on what the kiddos are doing. Please remember that there are 3 key areas that we must be covering at all times: the field, the blacktop/gaga pit area, and the playground. Please position yourself in one of these 3 key areas and be sure not to leave the area without passing the duty on to someone else. When we walk away from an area of supervision we leave children at risk.
Reminder: K-2 (including Lauren) on Mondays/Thursdays, 3-5 on Tuesdays/Fridays

Upcoming Dates (just keeping all this on your radar)
September 13: First SIW and Early Release (1pm)
September 14: Fire Drill, 9:20am
September 14: El Sancho for lunch courtesy of FOA!
September 18-22: Scholastic Book Fair (available to families at Back to School Night!)
September 19: Staff Meeting, 3-3:30pm
September 20: Teacher work day SIW
September 21: Back to School Night, 5-6:30pm
September 25/26: Camp Amity at Shevlin Park!  9:30am-1pm
September 26: Team Collaboration Meeting, 2:45-3:30pm
September 27: School based SIW
September 28: Lockdown Drill, 9:20am
September 29: Pancake Breakfast, 7-8am
October 4: DIBELS
October 4: School based SIW
October 10: Picture Day
October 10: Staff meeting, 2:45-3:30pm
October 11: Educator Network SIW
October 12: Bus Evacuation Drill, 9am at the Ed Center
October 16-17: Dental Screening
October 17: Teacher Collaboration Time, 2:45-3:30pm
October 18: Teacher work day SIW
October 20: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 10:45am
October 21: Harvest Festival (tentative, pending parent volunteers)
October 25-27: Conversations (likely 25^th and 26^th, no work on 27th)

Here’s to a great first full week ahead!
Andy