Category: Uncategorized

School-wide Theme: Collaboration (through April)

Welcome back!
I hope you had an amazing break and I’m excited to hear about your adventures (near and far). My dad’s memorial was earlier today and it was really amazing to connect with family and friends and celebrate my dad! Michelle and I are still in LA and driving back to Bend starting tomorrow-I won’t arrive back in town until Tuesday. So, I’ll catch up with you on Wednesday! In the meantime, Brad will be here to help out.

A few notes to kick off this last part of the year:
1) Correction to something I shared prior to the break regarding Conversations. Apparently the adjustment that was made in the Fall had something to do with Halloween being on Thursday night and the need to finish meetings before trick or treat time. We will be back to the old schedule of Conversations on Wednesday afternoon (or all day if you choose), and all day into the evening on Thursday. No school Friday. Apologies for getting out ahead of direction from the district team. Note: You are welcome to start Conversations Tuesday afternoon if you so choose.

Additionally, please be sure to share information about Conversations and your sign up link with families by the end of this week. We always have families darting out early so let’s try and catch them before they finalize their plans!

2) A little housekeeping:
*Please be sure your doors are locked when you are not in your room during break times.
*If you have kiddos in your room (any time) please remember that they should not be alone. As I have encouraged many times, touch base with a neighbor (or me!) to keep an eye on your kiddos while you are away from the classroom. Bottom line is we shouldn’t be leaving students alone in classrooms at any time.
*Let’s do a little better in terms of cleaning up the kitchen on a daily basis-lots of dishes being left in the sink.

3) SIW this week will be an SIW/Staff meeting combo. 1:00pm in Brian’s room. Add items to the agenda: SIW link

4) Same Buddies until April 11, then we start with new Buddies until the end of the school year: April 14-June 6: K/1st; 2nd/4th; 3rd/5th

5) I’ll be leaving right after school on Thursday to help out at the annual job fair in Redmond.

6) Bread and Jam on Friday

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

April
Apologies, for the life of me I can’t figure out why the numbering and formatting turn out wonky!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
31	1	2 SIW/Staff Mtg	3	4 Bread and Jam
7	8 Teacher Collaboration Time	9 Cafe Amity, Grade 1 SIW-TWD	10 G3 Train Your Brain	11 G5 Deschutes River 12 Wendy Bday
14	15 Conversation	16 Conversation	17 Conversation	18 No School
21	22 G4 Knott Landfill	23 SIW-Ed Network	24 Fire Drill, 10:35am	25 G2 Fall River Bread and Jam
28 G4 Suttle Lake	29 G4 Suttle Lake	30 Cafe Amity, K hosts G4 Suttle Lake Ed Network follow up

School-side Theme: Collaboration

Greetings!
Happy St Patrick’s Day! I hope you all had a wonderful, wet weekend. We’re on the glorious slide into Spring Break…

A big Happy Birthday to Brian on Tuesday!

A few notes to get you going:
1) Big thanks for responding to the request to tighten up our morning attendance routine–much appreciated!

2) Fire Drill on Tuesday at 10:35am

3) Cafe Amity on Wednesday, hosted by Grade 2.

4) SIW this week is a follow up to the ED Network day last week, enjoy the time.

5) Please regularly check your UKG account and make sure you are taking care of to-do items.

6) Future item for after break–we will fold the April 1 Staff Meeting into our April 2 SIW, so no staff meeting on April 1.

Here’s to a great week ahead, and Spring Break to follow!

March

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3 El Sancho lunch	4 Staff Appreciation bfst, 7am Staff Meeting, 2:30	5 Cafe Amity, Gr 3 Classified lunch SIW-TWD Info Night, 5-6pm	6 Matilda, K/1/4	7 Matilda 2/3/5
10	11	12 SIW- Ed Network	13 Virtual mtg w/Dr Cook, 3:05pm	14 Bread and Jam
17	18 Fire Drill, 10:35am	19 Cafe Amity, Gr 2 G4 to Reptile Zone, 9:30am SIW-Ed Network follow up	20	21
24 SPRING BREAK!	25 SPRING BREAK!	26 SPRING BREAK!	27 SPRING BREAK!	28 SPRING BREAK!
31	Ap 1	Ap 2 SIW/Staff mtg	Ap 3

Hey all,
Just a quick note this week. I am sad to report that my dad passed away on Friday night, but happy to report that he passed peacefully. I will be in LA through Tuesday and Brad will be at school to help out. Thanks for all the love and support over the last few months, I am beyond grateful!

Welcome back Anna!

3 notes of importance:
1) We’ll be sending classified staff to lunch on Wednesday.

Cover for…	10:45-11:05 (in gym) Silent lunch	11:05-11:30
Patti	Haley	Office: Ray
Karima	Lindsey	Playground: Sara
Diane	Lauren	Playground: Frans
Tom	Amanda	Clean up gym: Haley/Andy

2) SIW this week is Educator Network–we’ll do this together at Amity

3) Virtual meeting with Dr Cook on Thursday at 3:05. Would be nice to do this together.

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

March

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3 El Sancho lunch	4 Staff Appreciation bfst, 7am Staff Meeting, 2:30	5 Cafe Amity, Gr 3 Classified lunch SIW-TWD Info Night, 5-6pm	6 Matilda, K/1/4	7 Matilda 2/3/5
10	11	12 SIW- Ed Network	13 Virtual mtg w/Dr Cook, 3:05pm	14 Bread and Jam
17	18	19 Cafe Amity, Gr 2 SIW-Ed Network follow up	20	21
24 SPRING BREAK!	25 SPRING BREAK!	26 SPRING BREAK!	27 SPRING BREAK!	28 SPRING BREAK!
31

It’s March-Wowza! I hope you had a great weekend! Spring Break is just around the corner…

A few notes to get you rolling:
1) El Sancho lunch today, Monday! A big thank you from FOA for all our efforts on the Variety Show.

2) Staff appreciation breakfast on Tuesday morning hosted by district folks–7am.

3) Staff Meeting on Tuesday at 2:30. Agenda here.

3) Classified lunch on Wednesday. Sign up to help out on the Staff Meeting agenda linked above.

4) SIW this week is a Teacher work day.

5) Lottery info night on Wednesday, 5-6pm. We’ll discuss at the Staff Meeting.

Here’s to another great, busy week ahead!
Andy

March (yes, I am aware that the calendar looks wonky, I can’t figure out why!)

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3 El Sancho lunch	4 Staff Appreciation bfst, 7am Staff Meeting, 2:30	5 Cafe Amity, Gr 3 Classified lunch SIW-TWD Info Night, 5-6pm	6 Matilda, K/1/4	7 Matilda 2/3/5
10	11	12 SIW- Ed Network	13 Virtual mtg w/Dr Cook, 3:05pm	14 Bread and Jam
17	18	19 Cafe Amity, Gr 2 SIW-Ed Network follow up	20	21
24 SPRING BREAK!	25 SPRING BREAK!	26 SPRING BREAK!	27 SPRING BREAK!	28 SPRING BREAK!
31

Greetings all!
I hope you enjoyed the plentiful rain this weekend, always a good time to hunker down and get stuff done around the house! It’s a big week ahead–it’s show time!

A few notes to get you going:
1) Dress rehearsal Monday starting at 8:15am, and hoping to be done by lunch time. Please have kiddos bring chairs to sit in, we’ll break for Choice Time. A few other notes related to the Variety Show:
-On Tuesday we’ll meet with any groups or individuals that may need a little extra practice
-We’ll drop off props at Caldera at 3pm on Wednesday, use the rest of Wednesday as you see fit
-Call time for us on Wednesday is 5pm, doors open at 5:30pm, show at 6pm sharp
-On Thursday AM we’ll do our annual Wheel of Talent after Community Time

2) Collaboration will be our new theme for March/April. I’ve purchased some new books that I’ll put on the tables in the staff room.

3) Save the date–March 13 at 3:05pm, virtual meeting with superintendent Steve Cook. Here are the details: Superintendent Steven Cook will address issues related to K-12 funding in Oregon and what’s going on at the federal level, and answer your questions during two back-to-back virtual meetings with District staff on Thursday, March 13. Everyone is invited to join us for one of these 30-minute virtual meetings: The first will be 3:05 to 3:35 p.m., accommodating staff in our elementary schools. The second will be 3:50 to 4:20 p.m. to align with secondary schedules. The intent is to provide you a quick update on state and federal actions pertinent to our work, and how we can remain focused on teaching students in our communities and serving their needs. The second half of each meeting will be set aside for staff to ask Dr. Cook questions. We will solicit written questions during the meeting and answer as many as time permits.

Here’s to an amazing week ahead!
Andy

February

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3	4	5 DIBELS	6 Camp Amity, Variety Show launch	7 Bread and Jam
10	11 ICCL Dist-cancelled	12 Cafe Amity, Grade 4 Student Success Mtg SIW/Staff Mtg	13 Gr4/5 to BSS	14 Kinder to BSS
17 No School	18 Gr 3 to BSS	19 SIW-Teacher Work Day	20 Gr 1/2 to BSS	21 Bread and Jam
24 Dress Rehearsal 8:15am	25	26 Variety Show! Drop props at 3pm	27 Wheel of Talent in AM	28

Upcoming
March 3-7: Classified Employee Week
March 4: Staff Appreciation Breakfast, 7am
March 5: Cafe Amity, Grade 3 hosts
March 5: Lottery Info Night
March 6: Matilda at Mountain View, Kinder and Grades 1 and 4
March 7: Matilda at Mountain View, Grdes 2, 3, and 5
March 13: Virtual meeting with Steve Cook, 3:05pm
March 19: Cafe Amity, Grade 2 hosts
March 24-28: Spring Break
May 10: Auction

School-Wide Theme: Kindness

Hello All,
I hope you enjoyed the long weekend, it seems to have arrived at just the right moment! I got out for a night ski on Friday and it was incredible–the night sky was brilliant and I could see Mars, Venus, and Jupiter. I love being out on the trails at night! After the ski I went to Winterfest to see a Tom Petty tribute band–over the top fun! I hope you did something fun over the weekend, too.

A few notes to get you rolling:
1) New Buddies start this week: K/2, 1/5, 3/4. This round of Buddies goes until Spring Break.

2) SIW this week is a Teacher Work Day-enjoy the time! I’ll leave that day at 2:30pm to get to an admin meeting.

3) Bend Science Station this week: Grade 3 on Tuesday, Grades 1 and 2 on Thursday.

4) Variety Show rehearsals this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Let’s have rehearsal on Wednesday at 12 like we did last Wednesday–it worked very nicely.

5) Bread and Jam on Friday

6) Lastly, I’ll be doing some mini observations in the next 2 weeks and meeting up with you individually after school to do the follow up. Business as usual, I just need to document visits. If there is something in particular you’d like for me to observe, please let me know!

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

February (see future March dates below)

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3	4	5 DIBELS	6 Camp Amity, Variety Show launch	7 Bread and Jam
10	11 ICCL Dist-cancelled	12 Cafe Amity, Grade 4 Student Success Mtg SIW/Staff Mtg	13 Gr4/5 to BSS	14 Kinder to BSS
17 No School	18 Gr 3 to BSS	19 SIW-Teacher Work Day	20 Gr 1/2 to BSS	21 Bread and Jam
24 Dress Rehearsal	25	26 Variety Show!	27	28

Upcoming
March 3-7: Classified Employee Week
March 4: Staff Appreciation Breakfast, 7am
March 5: Cafe Amity, Grade 3 hosts
March 5: Lottery Info Night
March 6: Matilda at Mountain View, Kinder and Grades 1 and 4
March 7: Matilda at Mountain View, Grdes 2, 3, and 5
March 19: Cafe Amity, Grade 2 hosts
March 24-28: Spring Break
May 10: Auction

Greetings All!
I hope you had a great weekend! For those that had any investment in the actual game of the Super Bowl I hope that your team was victorious. For the rest of you I hope the snacks and commercials were awesome!

We’ve got a super busy week ahead–all good stuff, just very busy! The good news is that you get rewarded with a 3 day weekend!

A few notes to get you rolling:
1) There will be sign up sheets for the Variety Show up in the gym at Community Time on Monday. Kiddos can sign up then or at lunch, and we’ll have our first rehearsal Monday afternoon. Here’s the schedule: Variety Show 2025 Schedule (Lindsey, I’m thinking Kinder does sign ups with you?)

2) Cafe Amity on Wednesday, hosted by Grade 4

3) Student Success Meetings are on Wednesday. Brad will be covering your class while you are at your meeting. Here’s the schedule (unable to have afternoon meetings due to Variety Show rehearsals):
8:15-8:45-Grade 2
8:45-9:25-Grade 1
9:45-10:15-Grade 5
10:15-10:45-Grade 3
*Lindsey and Brian I will touch base with you

4) SIW this week will be a short Staff Meeting and then you will have some much needed planning time.

5) We have our School-Wide performance on Thursday at Community Time. I anticipate this will run until 8:20ish. I’m hoping the majority of our kiddos arrive close to on time for school that day! I know, wishful thinking…

6) Grade 4 and 5 are headed to Bend Science Station on Thursday. Kinder goes on Friday.

7) Please be sure to have your iPad charged for Monday afternoon. You’ll either need to remove your password for the time being or tape your password to the iPad so we can all have access. Not the greatest option, but it’s the only one we have at this point!

Here’s to a great, but very busy, week ahead!
Andy

February

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3	4	5 DIBELS	6 Camp Amity, Variety Show launch	7 Bread and Jam
10	11 ICCL Dist-cancelled	12 Cafe Amity, Grade 4 Student Success Mtg SIW/Staff Mtg	13 Gr4/5 to BSS	14 Kinder to BSS
17 No School	18 Gr 3 to BSS	19 SIW-Teacher Work Day	20 Gr 1/2 to BSS	21 Bread and Jam
24	25	26 Variety Show!	27	28

Upcoming (for Feb and March)
February 12: Cafe Amity, Grade 4 hosts
February 12: Student Success Meetings
February 13: School Wide performance
February 13: Grade 4 and 5 to Bend Science Station
February 14: Kinder to Bend Science Station
February 17: No School, President’s Day
February 18: Grade 3 to Bend Science Station
February 20: Grade 1 and 2 to Bend Science Station
February 26: Variety Show
March 5: Lottery Info Night
March 24-28: Spring Break
May 10: Auction

Believe it or not it’s February! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. Unfortunately, I have been significantly ill since Thursday evening and have barely gotten out of bed all weekend. I will definitely be out on Monday and Brad will be there to support.

A few notes for the week:
1) SIW time this week is set aside as an extension to last Friday’s Conversations with families. If anyone missed their Friday meeting it would be good to reach out to them and see if you could squeeze them in on Wednesday (if you have space).

2) DIBELS on Wednesday morning. We’ll start with Grades 4 and 5.

3) Camp Amity on Thursday! Looks like we could have a little snow! Please remind families about dressing for the weather that day–it’s a high of 32 with a low of 21. We’ll have the fire blazing!

4) Variety Show launch after camp on Thursday. I’m figuring around 1:30pm. I’ll show some videos from the past and we’ll get kiddos excited!

5) Bread and Jam on Friday

6) I need to leave school around 2:30pm on Tuesday to get to an admin meeting.

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

February

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3	4	5 DIBELS	6 Camp Amity, Variety Show launch	7 Bread and Jam
10	11 ICCL Dist	12 Cafe Amity, Grade 4 Student Success Mtg SIW/Staff Mtg	13 Gr4/5 to BSS	14 Kinder to BSS
17 No School	18 Gr 3 to BSS	19 SIW-Teacher Work Day	20 Gr 1/2 to BSS	21 Bread and Jam
24	25	26 Variety Show!	27	28

Upcoming (for Feb and March)
February 5: DIBELS
February 6: Winter Camp Amity!
February 7: Bread and jam
February 12: Cafe Amity, Grade 4 hosts
February 12: Student Success Meetings
February 13: Grade 4 and 5 to Bend Science Station
February 14: Kinder to Bend Science Station
February 17: No School, President’s Day
February 18: Grade 3 to Bend Science Station
February 20: Grade 1 and 2 to Bend Science Station
February 26: Variety Show
March 5: Lottery Info Night
March 24-28: Spring Break
May 10: Auction

Greetings All!
I hope you had an amazing weekend! I spent the weekend getting my dad moved into assisted living, a good move but a difficult one! Glad I was there to support him as he settles in.

On this same subject, I have to acknowledge that I’ve been quite distracted over the last few months as I have tried to help my folks navigate a very challenging moment in their lives. I apologize if I’ve missed things, not been fully available to you when you may have needed me, and just generally for not being 100% here. And, I appreciate the understanding and support you have shown me. This is a new phase in my life and one that is weighing heavy on me. I am hopeful now that my dad will be in a safe and supportive place, with my mom joining him in a few months, that I can go about my days with a little less of a heavy heart.

Notes to get you going for the week:
1) Thanks to the 10 out of 12 of you have taken the YouthTruth Survey!  The survey closes on Friday and we’re shutting for 100% participation! Here is the link if you haven’t done it yet:ytsurvey.org/acestaff25. 

2) Teacher Collaboration on Tuesday, 2:30-3:15pm. I’ve asked Brian and Sara to lead these meetings. I’ll share the agenda soon.

3) SIW this week is a Teacher Work Day–enjoy the time!

4) Cafe Amity on Wednesday, Grade 5 hosts

5) No kiddos this Friday–we have parent Conversations. I hope you have heard back from each of the families you invited! Need help getting ahold of a particular family? Please let me know and I can help!

6) Student Success Meetings on February 12–schedule coming soon.

7) New school wide performance date: February 13 at Community Time

Here’s to great week ahead!
Andy

January–Feb and March dates below

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
		1 Break	2 Break	3 Break
6	7	8 SIW in house, Lori presenting	9	10 Andy out, Brad here Bread and Jam
13 TAG ICCL Mtg	14 ICCL Mtg, in house	15 Cafe Amity, Kinder hosts SIW-Ed Network	16	17 Earthquake/ Fire Drill 9am
20 No School	21 Staff Meeting	22 SIW-Ed network follow up	23	24 Bread and Jam Andy out
27	28 Teacher Collaboration 2:30-3:15pm	29 Cafe Amity, Grade 5 hosts SIW-TWD	30 31 Teacher work day, Parent Mtgs

Upcoming (for Feb and March)
February 5: DIBELS
February 6: Winter Camp Amity!
February 7: Bread and jam
February 12: Cafe Amity, Grade 4 hosts
February 13: Grade 4 and 5 to Bend Science Station
February 14: Kinder to Bend Science Station
February 17: No School, President’s Day
February 18: Grade 3 to Bend Science Station
February 20: Grade 1 and 2 to Bend Science Station
February 26: Variety Show
March 5: Lottery Info Night
March 15: Auction
March 24-28: Spring Break

Hey Team,
I hope the long weekend was fantastic! I got over to the valley to see my daughter and her amazing little family and had the best time! There is incredible joy in being both a father and a grandfather, and being a grandfather is truly a “grand” thing! We had a beautiful morning on Sunday…

I shared this last year when Integrity was the school wide theme–just thought I’d share it again because I like it so much!

1) 8 out of 12 of you have taken the YouthTruth Survey (closes in at the end of the month)–thanks to these folks! As I mentioned in a recent email, our goal is 100% participation! Here is the link if you haven’t done it yet:ytsurvey.org/acestaff25. PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY, it is very helpful to get the feedback! If you are not able to get to this before next Tuesday’s Staff Meeting I will leave some time at the end of that meeting to give you an opportunity to do it.

2) Staff Meeting Tuesday at 2:30pm. Main topic is the Variety Show. Brian’s room. Add to the agenda here.

3) SIW this week is Educator Network–it’s a follow up planning day.

4) Our visiting artist Bree Beal was out sick with COVID last week so things are getting pushed back by a week. I’m still sorting out catch up sessions and the final performance date–I’ll update you soon!

5) How is the scheduling going for midyear Conversations on January 31st and February 5th? If you are having a difficult time connecting with particular families please let me know and I’m happy to make the connections.

6) I’ve had to adjust the hallway decoration rotation–here’s the new schedule:
January: Brian
February: Frans
March: Amanda
April: Lauren
May: Lindsey
June: Gina/Ray

7) Looking ahead, our theme next month is Kindness. Just putting it out there as you start to look towards February and possibly Valentine’s Day–as many of you have done in the past this could be good time to start framing that day as one of Kindness and Friendship.

8) I’ll be gone on Friday, Brad will be here to cover.

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

January

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
		1 Break	2 Break	3 Break
6	7	8 SIW in house, Lori presenting	9	10 Andy out, Brad here Bread and Jam
13 TAG ICCL Mtg	14 ICCL Mtg, in house	15 Cafe Amity, Kinder hosts SIW-Ed Network	16	17 Earthquake/ Fire Drill 9am
20 No School	21 Staff Meeting	22 SIW-Ed network follow up	23	24 Bread and Jam Andy out
27	28 Teacher Collaboration 2:30-3:15pm	29 Cafe Amity, Grade 5 hosts SIW-TWD	30 31 Teacher work day, Parent Mtgs

Upcoming (for Feb and March)
February 5: DIBELS
February 6: Winter Camp Amity!
February 7: Bread and jam
February 12: Cafe Amity, Grade 4 hosts
February 13: Grade 4 and 5 to Bend Science Station
February 14: Kinder to Bend Science Station
February 17: No School, President’s Day
February 18: Grade 3 to Bend Science Station
February 20: Grade 1 and 2 to Bend Science Station
February 26: Variety Show
March 5: Lottery Info Night
March 15: Auction
March 24-28: Spring Break