Monday AM Notes, November 4 2024


Happy November Y’all (wow, already?!),
I hope you enjoyed the long weekend and that Conversations were fantastic! Please take a moment to reach out to any family (families) that either did not sign up for a Conversation or didn’t make it to the one they did sign up for.

A few notes to get the week rolling:
1) Reminder that I am out Monday, Brad will be here to support.

2) New school wide theme: Belonging!

3) New Buddies (until winter break): K/4, 1/3, 2/5

4) Student Success Meetings on Wednesday, Brad will cover your classes:
8:15-8:45 Ray
8:45-9:15 Lindsey
9:45-10:15 Amanda
10:15-10:45 Lauren
11:40-12:10 Brian
12:10-12:40 Frans

I shared the SSM folder with you last week–here’s the link in case you need it. Prep forms should be ready to go for the meetings on Wednesday.

5) Cafe Amity on Wednesday hosted by Grade 3

6) Reminder that Bias Lessons need to be completed by November 15. Please email when you are done. To date, I have received only 1 email.

7) Pledge sheets for Jammie Jam are going home Monday with a return date of November 13 (day before Jammie Jam). Please include something in
communications with parents. Thanks!

Lastly, I will be sending the following letter to parents on Monday. I am concerned about what things may look like post election and I am appealing to parents in hopes they can be supportive. Following the 2016 election (we were not at school in 2020) there were some uncomfortable moments at school (during celebrations–ugh!), and I’d like to try and keep the school free from the nasty political rhetoric that has been so ubiquitous. I would like us to consider more targeted celebrations on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at Community Time to avoid unnecessary controversy.

Amity Families,
Tomorrow, as it is every 4 years, is a significant day for our country.  The outcome of every election plays a crucial role in shaping the policies and decisions that directly impact all of us, and tomorrow’s election is no different.

The recent election season has unquestionably been a polarizing one, and it has certainly created some uncertainty and unease within our community at large. However, I firmly believe that by working together, we can navigate the post-election period with a high degree of integrity and respect. 

With the election coming tomorrow, I am kindly requesting your assistance in fostering a positive and inclusive environment for all of our students and families. Your support in promoting understanding and respect, regardless of political affiliation, will be instrumental in helping our school community remain free from the strong political emotions and rhetoric that have been present in our community and around the country.  As we know, children tend to repeat what they hear at home, so your words in the coming days and weeks will make a big difference.  Whether we agree or disagree about our political choices, the one thing I think we all agree on is that we want the best for our children.  Let’s all strive to be our best selves regardless of the outcome of the election, and continue to show our children what a respectful and healthy community looks like.  

In partnership,
Andy

November

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
4
Andy out, Brad cover
 5
Election…
6
Cafe Amity, Gr 3
78
11
Veteran’s Day
NO SCHOOL
1213
BINGO Night
5:30-7pm
14
Jammie Jam
(afternoon)
15
Dental Screening
Bread/Jam
18

19
Picture retakes
20
Cafe Amity, Gr 2

21
Fire drill, 10:35am

Gr 1 Stone Soup
22

Gr 1 Stone Soup
25
Break!
26
Break!
27
Break!
28
Break!
29
Break!




Monday AM Notes, October 28 2024

Happy Monday All!
I hope you an amazing weekend and that you’re feeling good heading into Conversations this week! These parent connections are so vital and I know more often than not you generally feel really positive coming out of these meetings. Enjoy the connection time!

Important note: I want to share a little information about one of our Kinders, Mabel. She has a condition called anteversion. In common terms anteversion means “leaning forward”, and it refers to a condition in which the femur rotates inward, causing the knees and feet to point inward as well. This is also known as intoeing or being “pigeon-toed”. As a result of this she is prone to falling which has occurred on a number of occasions already this year. She is receiving physical therapy support to help her balance and strength, but this is going to be an ongoing issue for her (and may result in a corrective surgery at some point). Mabel is a very active kiddo and loves to run and play at recess time, and she is actively involved in Running Club. She tends to get more tired in the afternoon and it increases the risk of her falling. On playground duty and around school if you do see her fall please attend to her as quickly as possible to be sure she is ok and then please report the fall to me–we are trying to track how often she falls and she is not yet self-reporting. Thanks for keeping an eye on her!

A few notes for the short week:
1) New school-wide theme for November: Belonging!

2) New Buddies start this week (until December 20): K/4, 1/3, 2/5

3) Please remember to email me when once you have completed the Bias lessons (by November 15). Thanks!

3) Safe Schools trainings (on line videos) are supposed to be completed by October 31. You can find these in your UKG. I’m still frantically working on mine!

4) I wanted to share this note from the tech department regarding Youtube access:  YouTube Access for K-8 Students – Trial of “Allow List” Solution. As you know, we are currently blocking all YouTube content for students in grades K-8. Starting next week, we will be implementing a trial of an “allow list” solution, which will enable students to access a curated set of videos. At present, nearly 1,000 YouTube videos necessary for the SchoolLinks curriculum have been added to this allow list.

Why is this important? If this trial proves successful, we can explore expanding the allow list to include additional teacher-requested YouTube content.

We understand that limiting access to non-essential YouTube content remains a high priority for our staff, and this allow list solution is designed to support that goal without diverting from it.

5) I’ll be out starting Wednesday and will return next Tuesday. Brad will be here Monday. Raquel will lock up on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

6) Reminder that Jammie Jam is November 14th in the afternoon, kids will be invited to wear their jammies to school. We’ll be sending pledge information home on November 4.

7) Just future FYI, Grade 1 is making Stone Soup on November 21 and 22 and will be using the staff room off and on during that time.

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

November

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
4
Andy out, Brad cover
 5
Election…
6
Cafe Amity, Gr 3
78
11
Veteran’s Day
NO SCHOOL
1213
BINGO Night
5:30-7pm
14
Jammie Jam
(afternoon)
15
Dental Screening
Bread/Jam
18

19
Picture retakes
20
Cafe Amity, Gr 2

21
Fire drill, 10:35am

Gr 1 Stone Soup
22

Gr 1 Stone Soup
25
Break!
26
Break!
27
Break!
28
Break!
29
Break!


Monday AM Notes, October 21 2024

Hello!
Harvest Festival was a huge success, lots of fun had by all! Thanks to those of you who were able to attend.

It was a busy but super fun week last week with our visiting artist and Sudarshan. You’ll see some of the paintings that the kids did lining the hallway and we’ll get the rest out early this week.

A few notes to get you rolling:
1) First, and most importantly, Patti is out all this week. Kelli will be here covering for her.

2) Fire Drill on Tuesday at 9am.

3) Teacher Collaboration Meetings on Tuesday this week. K-2 please meet in Grade 2, 3-5 please meet in Grade 4. Be on the look out for an email to guide your conversations on Tuesday.

4) SIW this week is a Teacher Work Day.

5) Student Success Meetings will be on Wednesday, November 6. I’ll send out a schedule soon.

6) It’s SLGG time once again. I’ll be sending you your SLGG to upload to UKG soon–be on the lookout. Please upload it as soon as you get it.

7) I sent you information about Bias lessons last week and this a friendly reminder that we want to get these done by November 15. Required Lessons

8) During Harvest Festival they once again sold raffle tickets for the opportunity to throw a pie in my face (0ver $600 raised so far!). We will do this at the end of Community Time on Friday.

9) We’ve set a date for Jammie Jam–please put November 14 on your calendar. We’ll do this in the last block of the day with K-2 doing the first 30 minutes and 3-5 doing the last 30 minutes (no Invitations, Frans/Lauren we’ll figure something out for Grade 3 PE). Kiddos will also wear PJs to school that day (earned by collecting enough coins at Harvest Festival 😉).

10) Amity Eats (fundraiser) this Thursday at Pastini. I’ll be sending a reminder to parents but it would be great if you could include in communications with parents this week. Thanks!

11) Lastly, but super important–we’re at that time of year when we need to remind kiddos to grab their jackets on the way out to lunch. Having to walk with a kiddo to get their jacket out of their classroom during lunch recess is a big hassle, especially now with their only being 3 of us on the playground. Your support with this is greatly appreciated!

I’ll be sending the following out to parents to introduce Libby to the community, just thought it would great to share with you, too:


Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

PS: Yes, I know the formatting on the calendars is a little wonky–it’s not how it looks when I create it but it gets wonky in translation.

October

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
 Sept 3o 12 –DIBELS
Cafe Amity, Gr5
3 EL Sancho lunchAmity Eats @ El Sancho4-School Pictures
7 -Scholastic Book FairGr 4 Tumalo Falls8-Scholastic Book FairGr 5 Dillion Falls to SloughStaff Meeting9-Scholastic Book Fair
Educator
Network
10-Scholastic Book Fair
Gr 3 Metolius
11-Scholastic Book FairGr 2 Fall River
Bread and Jam
14
Gr 5 Tamarack
15
Visiting Artist, K-2
G5 Tamarack
16
Cafe Amity-Gr 4
G5 Tamarack
1718
Visiting Artist, 3-5
(Harvest Fest on 19th)
2122-Fire/
Earthquake Drill, 9am
2324
Amity Eats, Pastini
25-Bread and Jam
28 29
Conversations (3:15-7:15)
 30 Conversations
(3:15-7:15)
 31
Conversations
(7:15-3:15)
 Nov 1
NO School

November

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
4
Andy out, Brad cover
 5
Election…
6
Cafe Amity, Gr 3
78
11
Veteran’s Day
NO SCHOOL
1213
BINGO Night
14
Jammie Jam
15
Dental Screening
Bread/Jam
18

19
Picture retakes
20
Cafe Amity, Gr 2

21
Fire drill, 10:35am
22
25
Break!
26
Break!
27
Break!
28
Break!
29
Break!


Monday AM Notes, Oct 14 2024

Hello!
I hope you had an amazing weekend and that you are feeling healthy–so much going around right now! I got up to Lava Lake for an amazing afternoon on Saturday…I love the Fall!


A BIG welcome to Libby who finally gets to start today!

A few notes to get you rolling:
1) Grade 5 is off to Tamarack Mon-Wed!

2) We have visiting artist Sarah Swoffer here Tuesday and Friday during Enrichment. If you haven’t reached out for parent volunteers please do so! Frans and Ray please remember you are switching this week so use the new time when requesting support from parents.

3) We also have Sudarshan visiting this week from India! He will be doing story telling workshops with Grades 2, 3, and 4. He’s also planning on doing something fun with Kinders and Grade 1 on Friday (9:45-10:45). If all goes well, we’ll get to see a couple of kiddos telling their stories at Community Time on Friday!

4) Harvest Festival is this Saturday! Planning is moving along quite well and we just need a few more volunteers to sign up. I’ll continue to update parents.

5) SIW this week is a follow up to last week’s Educator Network Day. You will have planning time for EL!

6) Cafe Amity this week, Grade 4 is hosting.

7) It’s that time of year we need to go over bias and bias incidents with students. Be on the lookout for en email from me on Tuesday.

8) When you have volunteers for field trips please let Patti know who the volunteers are–we need to be sure they have been background checked for volunteering.

9) Conversations are coming soon, please be sure to get your sign up link out sooner than later. Remember, families leave town since it’s a 5 day weekend, so let’s get them signed up soon!

Looking very forward to this week!
Andy

October

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
 Sept 3o 12 –DIBELS
Cafe Amity, Gr5
3 EL Sancho lunchAmity Eats @ El Sancho4-School Pictures
7 -Scholastic Book FairGr 4 Tumalo Falls8-Scholastic Book FairGr 5 Dillion Falls to SloughStaff Meeting9-Scholastic Book FairEducator
Network
10-Scholastic Book FairGr 3 Metolius11-Scholastic Book FairGr 2 Fall RiverBread and Jam
14
Gr 5 Tamarack
15
Visiting Artist, K-2
G5 Tamarack
16
Cafe Amity-Gr 4
G5 Tamarack
1718
Visiting Artist, 3-5
(Harvest Fest on 19th)
2122-Fire/
Earthquake Drill, 9am
232425-Bread and Jam
28 29
Conversations (3:15-7:15)
 30 Conversations
(3:15-7:15)
 31
Conversations
(7:15-3:15)
 Nov 1
NO School

November

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
4
Andy out, Brad cover
 5
Election…
6
Cafe Amity, Gr 3
7 8
111213
BINGO Night
1415
Dental Screening
Bread/Jam
18
19
Picture retakes
20
Cafe Amity, Gr 2
21
Fire drill, 10:35am
22
25
Break!
26
Break!
27
Break!
28
Break!
29
Break!
    

Monday AM Notes, Sept 7 2024

Hello Crew,
I hope the weekend was fantastic! I had my whole clan, including my mom, in town to celebrate birthdays for my two youngest grandkids born a day apart (plus 3 years). A great weekend indeed! Here’s Raya and Teo with their cousin Aurelia who just turned 4.


A few notes to get you going:
1) Book Fair this week. Here’s info I already shared with you via email on Oct 1:
Schedule for each of the grades to preview the book fair & write their wish lists on Monday, 7th October:
8:15-8:35       Fourth Grade 
8:35-8:55       First Grade
8:55-9:15       Second Grade
9:45-10:05     Third Grade
10:05-10:25   Kindergarten
10:25-10:45   Fifth Grade


After CT schedule for the week—please note your time:
Tuesday, 8th October, after Community Time for 30 minutes: Grades 2 and 4 are invited to shop the book fair

Wednesday, 9th October, after Community Time for 30 minutes: Kindergarten and 1st grade are invited to shop the book fair
Thursday, 10th October, after Community Time for 30 minutes, Grades 3 and 5 are invited to shop the book fair
Friday, 11th October, after Community Time for 30 minutes, anyone who was not able to attend earlier in the week is invited to shop the book fair

Last year, we invited teachers to shop for their classrooms when school opened on Tuesday morning, but few showed up. Teachers can create their wish list on Tuesday morning (before school starts) of you can shop during first Choice Time on Monday 7th October. You can grab any books you’d like, and Angela. can check them out using the Scholastic Dollars that the school has already accrued to get free books for their classroom libraries. (Is there a specific teacher that might also like to shop for books to add to the school library in the hallway?) You could also shop during your class’s preview that day, or Angela is open to other suggestions, but we have over $2600 credit going into this fair, so you are STRONGLY encouraged to get lots of books for your classrooms!

Alternatively, you can shop directly online at this site: https://bookfairrewards.scholastic.com/. You can add any books you want to your individual Wish lists, which have already been set up for you, then Patti or Angela can approve the purchase. Teachers should have received a reminder email from Scholastic with their individual links 2 weeks ago.

2) Outdoor Education trips this week for Grades 2/3/4/5, please make sure you have permission slips signed!

3) Our new counselor, Libby, starts next Monday.

4) Harvest Festival is Saturday, October 19. I’ve sent several notes to parents with a link to volunteer. It would be great if you could include this in your weekly communications as well. Here’s the link: Harvest Festival 2024 or here is the link without a hyperlink: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vbvuUMQaFgYgBX8V4BVXLTivzM6kQtWDMmNiIto0usY/edit

4) Conversations are coming up in a few weeks. A few quick notes:
*Be sure to get info out to parents sooner than later as many of them will likely be leaving town as it will be a 5 day weekend.
*The district-wide expectations for Conversations are as follows:
~Tues, Oct 29, 3:15 to 7:15pm
~Wed, Oct 30, 3:15-7:15pm (the rest of the day is a teacher work day)
~Thurs, Oct 31, 7:15-3:15pm

If you choose to use your teacher work time on Wednesday to do some (or many) of your Conversations you can alter your schedule accordingly. It’s important that, at a minimum, you offer several evening times for parents who are not able to take off work.

5) Bread and Jam this Friday after school!

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

October

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
 Sept 3o 12 –DIBELS
Cafe Amity, Gr5
3 EL Sancho lunch

Amity Eats @ El Sancho
4-School Pictures
7 -Scholastic Book Fair

Gr 4 Tumalo Falls
8-Scholastic Book Fair

Gr 5 Dillion Falls to Slough

Staff Meeting
9-Scholastic Book Fair

Educator
Network
10-Scholastic Book Fair

Gr 3 Metolius
11-Scholastic Book Fair

Gr 2 Fall River

Bread and Jam
14 –


Gr 5 Tamarack
15-Visiting Artist, K-2

G5 Tamarack
16-Cafe Amity, Gr 4

G5 Tamarack
1718-Visiting Artist, 3-5

(Harvest Fest on 19th)
2122-Fire/
Earthquake Drill, 9am
232425-Bread and Jam
28 29
Conversations (3:15-7:15)
 30 Conversations
(3:15-7:15)
 31
Conversations
(7:15-3:15)
 Nov 1
NO School