Good Morning All! What a glorious weekend it was–I hope you had a great one! A big thanks to all of you who were able to make it to Harvest Festival, it was an amazing event and kiddos and parents alike had a blast! I wasn’t sure Harvest Festival would make it back, but it’s definitely back and here to stay. A VERY special thanks to Gina who, along with Cari St Aubin (Grade 1 Owen’s mom), stepped up to make Harvest Festival happen and gave countless hours of her time. Thank you Gina! And, believe it or not, the kids earned enough coins to have pajama and movie day the day after Halloween–who would have guessed?! I’ll announce it to the kids at lunch. A few notes to get you going: 1) Conversations on Wednesday and Thursday! Please take a moment to reach out to any family that has yet to sign up and see if you can get them on the schedule.
During Conversations please have your “Opt-in” email list (from Back to School night) handy so parents who have yet to sign up can be included. Next week I’ll collect all the lists and give them to class leads who can get them organized to share with your class.
2) Jammie Jam will be November 1st! I think Lindsey shared the basics with you recently-this is going to be a fundraising fun run that will consist of an obstacle running course on the playground. Parents will be organizing and monitoring the course, all we need to do is encourage the kids to get sponsors and get them pumped up for the event. We’ll solidify the timing for that day soon, but in the meantime please be sure to get the sponsor sheets and envelopes out to your students today–they will be delivered to you before the end of the day. This is a new fundraiser for us but one I think will be really fun. I will be communicating the details with parents before the end of the day and they will be expecting the sponsors forms.
3) Reminder, and for those of you that are new, students at Amity do not dress up on Halloween. I’ll communicate this to parents but it would be good for you to do the same just to be sure.
4) I will be out of town on Wednesday and Thursday but will be available if you need me–don’t hesitate to text or call.
5) Save the date–let’s grab Happy Hour on Friday, October 28 after school. It’s time to gather!
Upcoming October 19/20: Conversations, No School October 26: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 10:45am October 28: Happy Hours, 3:30pm November 3: Student Success meetings November 10: Secure Drill, 9:20am November 11: Veteran’s Day, No School November 21-25: Thanksgiving Break, No School November 29: Fire Drill, 9:20am November 30: Picture retakes
A Hearty Happy Monday To You All! I hope you had a great weekend and are really enjoying this amazing Fall weather! A huge thanks to all of you for making the Pancake Breakfast such a great success last Friday–we had lots of very happy parents and kiddos! It was a great connecting time for all involved!
A few notes to get you going: 1) Harvest Festival is this Saturday, October 15 from 4-7pm. While you are not required to be there, it’s always awesome to have teachers here. If you want to be here but don’t want to just hang out, there are plenty of volunteer opportunities–click here: Harvest Fest Volunteering. Costumes encouraged!
2) Picture Day is Tuesday! Remind families to get their order forms in.
3) Bus evacuation drill on Thursday at 9:45am. We need to be at the admin building ready to load the busses at 9:45 so please leave plenty early. We will have to move Choice Time to 9:10 to 9:30 in order to accommodate this.
4) DIBELS make up on Monday afternoon between 12:30 and 1:50. This is tentative but likely.
5) Reminder to keep your doors locked even when they are open.
6) Invitations sign up change. Lindsey has agreed to bring her computer to lunch on Mondays and Thursdays to help facilitate a more organized and timely sign up process. Thank you Lindsey!
7) SIW this week is teacher directed. I want to remind you that “teacher directed” can certainly mean prep time, but it can mean many other things as well such as team meetings, meetings to move forward on particular action items, professional development, and more. It is simply a time directed by all of you to work on the things you feel are important. While I fully acknowledge that prep time is at a premium, I just also wanted to remind you that the time can be used for a multitude of endeavors.
8) Conversations next week on Wednesday and Thursday. Be sure to get a sign up form out to parents Monday or Tuesday at the latest-I believe most of you are using Google docs. And please remember to make sure you are offering some evening times for parents who cannot make it until after work. I will be delivering a class set of Conversations Prep note forms to you on Monday so you can begin prepping for next week!
Upcoming October 11: Picture Day October 12: Vision Screening (Lion’s Club) October 13: Bus evacuation Drill, 9:45am–all school at Admin Building (10 minutes) October 15: Harvest Festival, 4-7pm October 19/20: Conversations, No School October 26: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 10:45am November 3: Student Success meetings November 10: Secure Drill, 9:20am November 11: Veteran’s Day, No School November 21-25: Thanksgiving Break, No School November 29: Fire Drill, 9:20am November 30: Picture retakes
Greetings All, Believe it or not it’s already October! I hope you had a fantastic weekend and that you’re ready for another fun-filled week.
I want to start this week’s note with a HUGE thank you to all of you for stepping up in my (and Patti’s) absence last week. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the way in which you all did what had to be done! Both Skip and Tammy told me independently that when they die they hope they get reincarnated as a teacher at Amity–a tribute to all of you and the amazing people you are and the extraordinary program we run! Cheers to that!
A big thanks to all of you who offered ideas for October’s theme. After some significant thought I have decided that I’d like to double back on our efforts with Taking Care of Yourself, Taking Care of Each other, and Taking Care of this Place. I’ll talk a little more about this at our SIW this week.
A few notes to get you going: 1) Pancake Breakfast this Friday starting at 7am–this is always a fun way to start the day! All you have to do is show up and flip the flapjacks! (Since we’re doing pancakes fro breakfast there will be no Bread and Jam on Friday).
2) SIW this week: We’ll take time to discuss kiddos in need of extra TLC and support for the first part of the meeting (finally!), and then we’ll break up into two work groups to continue conversations about reporting at Conversations and working towards common language/approach to problem solving with students. I feel strongly that both of these endeavors are well worth our time and I look forward to making progress on both. I’d still like to meet with a small group on Thursday after school to help fine tune the work of the problem solving group so we can make even further progress.
3) I know it was a crazy week last week, but just circling back to see if you were able to fit in the Bias Incident lesson and how it went. If time eluded you last week please be sure to get the lesson done early this week. I’ll be checking in with each of you to see how it went.
4) I am working with two parents to re-launch Harvest Festival. With me being out last week it definitely put a crimp in the plan but I am committed to doing all I can to pull it off with the help of these and many other parents. They’ll be a big push starting this week to get volunteers on board (many have already signed up) and I’ll reach out to your new class leads (names coming to you soon) to help with the effort. The plan is to hold the event on Saturday, October 15 from 4-7pm. While you are not required to be there, your presence is warmly welcomed, and volunteering to help is always greatly appreciated.
5) Please note the addition of a Bus Evacuation drill on October 13. This is district mandated. It will take 20-30 minutes.
6) Out first Student Success Meetings will be on Thursday, November 3. Originally this was planned for October 27 but Grade 2 is going to Fall River! This does not mean we cannot be setting up supports for students now (which I know many are already doing with Sara and Brad), it will just be our first formal meeting.
7) Grade 3 is headed to the Metolius this Friday for their first outdoor ed trip of the year!
8) Our October Earthquake/Fire Drill has been moved to October 26 at 10:45am. The Fire Marshal is requiring us to mix up days and times for our drills so they are not always at the same time.
Upcoming October 3/4: Dental Screenings October 6: Problem Solving group, 2:45pm October 7: Pancake Breakfast, 7-8am October 11: Picture Day October 12: Vision Screening (Lion’s Club) October 13: Bus evacuation Drill, 10am–all school October 15: Harvest Festival, 4-7pm October 19/20: Conversations, No School October 26: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 10:45am November 3: Student Success meetings November 10: Secure Drill, 9:20am November 11: Veteran’s Day, No School November 21-25: Thanksgiving Break, No School November 29: Fire Drill, 9:20am November 30: Picture retakes
I hope you had an amazing weekend after our first full week. We are definitely underway! Thanks for all your hard work launching the new school year, it feels great!
It was a low key weekend for me, just a lot of relaxing in my new socks…
A few notes to get you going: 1) Fire Drill Tuesday at 9:20am. Please talk with your class prior to the drill, and be sure to take your class roster, emergency book (red/green), and first aid kit out with you.
2) Gym use and Invitations. Be sure you are using these two docs every week: Gym Use, Invitations
3) Back to School Night this Thursday, 5-6:30pm. This is a time to share your excitement about the year ahead, talk about some of the exciting things you’ll be doing with your class, share highlights from the first two weeks, talk about routines, and let parents know how they can partner with you. This would be a good time to get some student work up in the hallways! Reminder that childcare is available–BIG thanks to Karima and Diane!
The plan: *5:00-5:30 all in gym, intros and volunteering info (you can head back to your class after intros) *5:30-6:30 in classrooms
4) Staff meeting Tuesday, 2:45pm in Grade 4.
5) SIW this week is teacher directed. Hoping you will spend a little bit of this time with your team.
6) Reflections from last week: *Drop off and pick up are going really well! Any feedback? *Regular Community Time is awesome, and keeping them short and sweet is working very well! The reinforcement of expectations is really helping as well. *Enrichment and PE are both going great. Two things: ~One thing we need to focus on is supporting Lauren in the PE transitions–these transitions are very tight with really no time or wiggle room. It’s crucial that you arrive on time with your students and that you are waiting for them when their time is up (unless you have made special arrangements with Lauren). I know your half hour goes by very quickly, and if it were me I’d set an alarm on my phone to make sure I arrived on time for pick up. Smooth transitions in and out of PE make a HUGE difference for students and their experience! Also, please remember to have students bring water bottles to minimize the need to leave the gym. ~ For Enrichment it’s important to know that both the rear door (to the playground) and the Wolf Den door have to be locked during classroom time. So, it’s really important to be sure you have your entire class with you when you drop them off, and students should bring water bottles so they don’t need to come back into the building. Thanks for your support with PE and Enrichment! *End of lunch: Some students still seem a little confused about where to put their lunch boxes before they head outside. Please be sure you have communicated where students should put their lunch boxes outside your classroom (many were asking to go into their classrooms to put lunch boxes away). Also, please remind students to be sure they have everything they need at lunch/recess before leaving the classroom. And lastly, please be sure to lock your doors when you leave for lunch. Thanks!
7) Following up: One big thing that seemed to emerge from our retreat and the follow up we had last week is the idea of having some common language and structure for problem solving with students. I’d like to meet soon with an interested group of people to begin the process. The idea would be for a small group to meet and work on this and then for this group to share their thinking with the larger group and get input. I’m excited about this and look forward to working with a few of you to get the ball rolling. The first meeting will be Thursday, October 6 at 2:45.
8) School-wide themes input needed. September is flying by and before too long October all arrive-I’d like to have a theme ready for October. Please discuss amongst yourselves (perhaps at lunch) and if you are inclined email me your top 2 ideas for a theme for October by the end of the week. I’ll let you know the theme soon. In October we can discuss a more long term plan for themes.
9) Bias Incident lesson. Last week I sent you a link to view the Bias Incident Lesson. I know many of you haven’t had a chance to look at it but if you have a moment please give it a look before the staff meeting. I’ll give you the context for the lesson at our staff meeting on Tuesday–it’s important!
10) Just an FYI, since we are using the gym every day until 2:20 (1pm on Wednesdays) Campfire will be using the staff room to do their prep each day from 2:15-2:30.
11) Trip slips for Camp Amity and field trips-please be sure you have slips for all students. Grab some extras for Back to School Night just to be sure!
12) Mark your calendars, the Variety Show is back! We have reserved the Bend High auditorium for March 1!
Upcoming Dates (be sure you have these on your calendar) September 20: Fire Drill, 9:20am September 22: Back to School Night, 5-6:30pm September 26/27: Camp Amity at Shevlin Park! 9:30am-1:30pm September 29: DIBELS (AM) September 30: Lockdown Drill, 9:20am September 30: Pancake Breakfast, 7-8am October 3/4: Dental Screenings October 6: Problem Solving group, 2:45pm October 11: Picture Day October 12: Vision Screening (Lion’s Club) October 15: Harvest Festival (tentative, pending parent volunteers) October 18: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 9:15am October 19/20: Conversations, No School November 10: Secure Drill, 9:20am November 11: Veteran’s Day, No School November 21-25: Thanksgiving Break, No School November 29: Fire Drill, 9:20am November 30: Picture Retakes
Happy First Monday! I hope you had a great weekend with plenty of time to rest up. Michelle and I loaded up our van and headed to the Metolius on Saturday and had a great hike along the river. We also had a great camping spot along Canyon Creek.
A few notes to get your week rolling: What a fantastic week it was last week, with so many community highlights-three Community Times, Invitations, two rounds of Buddies, and a nice Friday afternoon with popsicles! It really was a fantastic week, thank you for all your hard work getting ready. I feel like we’re ready for our first full week!
1) We learned a thing or two during our first short week, especially related to the beginning and end of day. Drop off and pick up were a little wobbly at first, but smoothed out by week’s end-a big thanks for your patience! Starting today (Monday) we begin a regular rotation for families coming in to pick up their kiddos. If there is a parent who absolutely cannot come in to retrieve their kiddo, please work something out with another teacher and have that student join the other class at dismissal. I don’t foresee this being a big issue, but just in case. Here’s the schedule: Monday-K/1 Tuesday-2/4 Thursday-3 Friday-5
2) Specials start this week–PE and Enrichment! Please walk your classes to and from PE and Enrichment, this really helps keep transitions smooth. Check the master schedule to be sure you know your times, and please be on time with drop off and pick up to keep things running like the finely tuned Swiss watch we are. Seriously, it really helps!
3) Regular Community Times begin this week starting on Tuesday with Grade 3. Please remember to communicate with parents to let them know when you are hosting and that they are invited to attend on that day–and that we start promptly at 8am. Please also remember to continue to review habits of a good audience.
Good audience members: *Sit next to people they feel will also be good audience members *Quietly listen when the hosts/performers are speaking, singing, or performing *Let the hosts/performers know they appreciate their efforts by clapping and cheering when they are finished *Politely ask their neighbors to be quiet if needed *Leave their snacks and toys in their classrooms
CT rotation MondayAM: Classroom connection time Tuesday AM: Grade 3 Wednesday AM: K or 1 Thursday AM: 2 or 4 Friday PM: Grade 5
4) Y’all look great in neon yellow-thanks for making sure to have a vest on when you are on duty!
5) For Grade 4 and 5 (and EAs)only: Starting today Grade 5 has priority for sitting at the tables outside at lunch. If a table is left empty once all 5th graders have settled on their lunch spot, Grade 4 students may use the table and cannot be asked to leave it if Grade 5 students later decide to sit at the tables. I plan to visit both classes on Monday AM to share this info, but just in case I don’t make it please share this with your classes before lunch.
6) SIW this week will be time to catch our breath, reconnect to the work we did at the retreat, and have time to meet with your team. Look for an email with more info today or tomorrow. Looking for a volunteer to do the warm up activity–any takers?
7) I will be leaving shortly after school gets out on Monday and Tuesday for Admin meetings.
8) Please remember that we will have Back to School Night next Thursday, September 22. I’ll send more info soon, but be sure to communicate this to parents. I will also share the information with parents this week.
9) SIW and Staff Meeting dates (now until Winter Break) September 14-School based September 20-Staff Meeting September 21-Teacher discretion October 5-School based October 12- Teacher discretion October 18- Staff Meeting October 19/20-Conversations October 26-School based November 1- Staff Meeting November 2-Teacher discretion November 9-School based November 16-Teacher Education Network (district) November 30-School based December 7-School based December 14- Teacher discretion
Upcoming Dates (be sure you have these on your calendar) September 12-16: Scholastic Book Fair-CANCELLED. More info soon September 20: Fire Drill, 9:20am September 22: Back to School Night, 5-6:30pm September 26/27: Camp Amity at Shevlin Park! 9:30am-1pm September 29: DIBELS September 30: Lockdown Drill, 9:20am September 30: Pancake Breakfast, 7-8am October 3/4: Dental Screenings October 11: Picture Day October 12: Vision Screening (Lion’s Club) October 15: Harvest Festival (tentative, pending parent volunteers) October 18: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 9:15am October 19/20: Conversations, No School November 10: Secure Drill, 9:20am November 11: Veteran’s Day, No School November 21-25: Thanksgiving Break, No School November 29: Fire Drill, 9:20am November 30: Picture Retakes
Happy New School Year! First, thanks for an amazing retreat last week-it was so good to spend the day with you sharing our hopes and dreams for our students, and thinking deeply about the ways in which we can impact their lives. I feel genuinely inspired and I look forward to following up on this soon with all of you.
School starts Wednesday and I’m super excited for the start of this year. Yes, we still have some obstacles in our path, but as always we will work together to find good, safe routes around, over and through the obstacles! Thanks for your enduring flexibility and positive attitude as we work to bring Amity back into it’s full glory!
One thing I had hoped to spend some time discussing last week was School Wide Themes for the year. We simply ran out of time to do this last week, but I’d like to start the year with the theme of Community. It seems to make sense to start here for the first month. The beginning of the year is always a great time to talk about community and how we are all an integral part of the community. Please spend time in the coming days and weeks exploring what community means, how communities function, what the key components of a community are, how our school is a community, what role each person plays within a community, and what responsibilities each community member has in relation to each other. It seems natural to weave in Taking Care of Self/Others/Place! Here are two sites I found that could help you get started: *https://npl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WhatisCommunity_lesson.pdf *One World, One Heart Beating
A few notes for this first week: 1) Be sure you have are up to date on the First Two Weeks
3) We will have Community Time on the first day. Prior to bringing your students down please spend a few minutes setting expectations. At the retreat it felt like we all agreed that we need to do a better job of setting clear, school wide expectations. Let’s start with the following traits of good audience members (this can also easily transfer to outside performers/experts who come to school). Asking your class what makes a good audience member would be a great way to start the conversation, and they will likely nail every one of these!
Good audience members: *Sit next to people they feel will also be good audience members *Quietly listen when the hosts/performers are speaking, singing, or performing *Let the hosts/performers know they appreciate their efforts by clapping and cheering when they are finished *Politely ask their neighbors to be quiet if needed *Leave their snacks and any toys in their classrooms
4) Remember that parents are allowed to walk their child to class in the morning. Here is the after school in-class pick up rotation (all other days you will walk students out to the grass area along the fence): Mondays: Kinder and Grade 1 families Tuesdays: Grades 2 and 4 families Thursdays: Grade 3 families Friday: Grade 5 families
5) I have left a master schedule in each of your classrooms and it can be found in the shared folder: Master Schedule 22-23
6) Attendance: EAs will take care of this each morning. Kelli will do Kinder and Grade 5, Karima will do Grades 1 and 2, and Diane will do Grades 3 and 4. Please help them provide reasons for absences if you are in the know. Thanks!
7) As a reminder, Specials (Enrichment, PE) start next week.
8) Afternoon duty help needed first day! Normally we don’t have afternoon Choice Time on Wednesdays, but we do on the first day. Since no one is assigned to duty on Wednesdays I kindly request that everyone try to be out on duty the first day. As a reminder, here’s the duty rotation–be sure to grab a vest and fanny pack, and have your keys and phone: K-2 Teachers (including Lauren): Monday and Thursday 3-5 Teachers and Brad: Tuesday and Friday
9) You will be provided with some paper work for each student to take home on the first day (including a Camp Amity permission slip). Please be sure it goes home and that you let parents know to expect it and to sign and return forms ASAP. Please collect and track the Camp Amity permission slips as they come in, and keep them in the folder. Please also collect all other forms and pass them along to Patti and she will track them.
Upcoming Dates (lots here but want to be sure you get these on your calendar) September 7: First day–full school day. Community Time at 1:45pm September 8: Invitations, 1:30-2:00pm. Sign up! September 9: PM recess and popsicles, 1:45pm September 12-16: Scholastic Book Fair-CANCELLED. More info soon September 20: Fire Drill, 9:20am September 22: Back to School Night, 5-6:30pm September 26/27: Camp Amity at Shevlin Park! 9:30am-1pm September 29: DIBELS September 30: Lockdown Drill, 9:20am September 30: Pancake Breakfast, 7-8am October 3/4: Dental Screenings October 11: Picture Day October 12: Vision Screening (Lion’s Club) October 15: Harvest Festival (tentative, pending parent volunteers) October 18: Earthquake/Fire Drill, 9:15am October 19/20: Conversations, No School November 10: Secure Drill, 9:20am November 11: Veteran’s Day, No School November 21-25: Thanksgiving Break, No School November 29: Fire Drill, 9:20am November 30: Picture Retakes
Here’s to a great year ahead! But let’s start with a great first day… Andy
A Very Happy Last Monday! Well, we made it. What a (another!) crazy year it’s been! Let’s fully enjoy the kids and each other this week, it is definitely a week to celebrate!
Knock Knock Who’s there? Noah Noah who? Noah more school – it’s summer vacation!
A few notes to get you going:
1) Schedule for the week
Monday
Tuesday
*Community Grade 5 Celebration, 9:00-10:30 *3rd grade Garden celebration- 11:15-1 *1st Grade in the gym (1:30) *4th Grade Water Balloons on the field (1:20-2:20)
Wednesday
Full School Day, out at 2:30pm *All School Invitations, 3 rotations: 9:00-9:30/10:00-10:30/12:00-12:30 *4th Grade Field Trip to Miller’s Landing (Brian + Brad) 1:20-2:20 *Help Ray hang art, 2:45pm *Grade 5 Family Grad, 5pm (arrive by 4:45)
Thursday
Last Day, out at 1pm *Staff v Grade 5 Kickball, 9am (followed by recess) *Memory Books, 10:30am *Staff Gathering, 3pm (location TBD)
Friday
Staff work day *Let’s have lunch together at 11:30 (outside or in staff room)-BYOF (food)
2) Grade 5 Community Graduation plans: *Tuesday-We’ll start at 9am and break for recess after some abbreviated speeches and class gifts (K-2). After recess K-2 students do not need to rejoin the festivities, but they are welcome to (including if just a few students want to return). Grades 3 and 4 will return to gym for the duration (around 10:30).
Please have class gifts ready to go. Usually the teacher (or you could have students) says a little about the gift before presenting it to the class.
3) Family Graduation is Wednesday at 5pm, please arrive by 4:45. Ray will need help right after school hanging art work around the gym–thanks in advance for helping out! It usually only takes a few minutes if everyone is helping.
4) Invitation rotations on Wednesday. You’ll sign up to do one invitation and students will get to rotate to 3 different invitations. We’ll do 9:00-9:30, recess, 10:00-10:30, and then after lunch from 12:00-12:30. Be sure to sign up: Last Invitations
5) Memory Books and signing on Thursday. We’ll do a school wide Memory book signing from 10:30-11am on Thursday. With this in mind I suggest handing out the books earlier so that your students have time to sign each others books before the school wide time, during which time students can roam the hallways and visit classrooms. I recommend doing some hand stretches ahead of time, because you’ll have lots of signing to do! We’ll flow right into lunch after the signing but please make sure students don’t take their books out to lunch.
IMPORTANT signing guidelines: Please have a chat with your classes before they begin signing books and remind them about the sacredness of these books. Encourage them to write nice things to each other (or just sing their name) and to be considerate by not writing their name really big or in a place that the book owner doesn’t want them to (especially not on pictures). This generally is not a big issue but I have seen it enough that I’m writing this note!
6) Bend Brewing Company at 3pm on Thursday to celebrate!
7) Refrigerator alert! At the end of the day Friday the fridge will be emptied and cleaned so be sure you have all your stuff out of there.
8) Lastly, please make sure all counter space in your room is left completely free, and that you have put away as much stuff in your room as possible (in cabinets) so the cleaning crew can easily do their work. The easier the room is to clean, the deeper they will clean. Also, please make sure the kids help with the cleaning up, I think it’s an important part of the closure of the school year (and supports taking care of this place).
Signing off for the last time this year–let’s make this a fantastic week! Andy
Greetings! Believe it or not, this is the last full week of school! Lots of activities these last two weeks and I’m looking forward to enjoying them with you!
A big Happy Birthday to Sara to Tuesday this week!
A few notes to get you going: 1) Don’t forget to consult the Last Two Weeks of School schedule as you plan for these next two weeks: Last 2 Weeks
2) Family BBQ is tomorrow night, 5-7pm. We’re encouraging families to bring their own dish ware/utensils and camp chairs (the grass is likely to be a little wet). We’ll need help starting at 4:30pm getting some of the prep work done, and then we’ll need folks helping on the grills.
3) SIW on Wednesday is all yours, enjoy the time. A good time to get a few Grows and Glows done: Grows and Glows (End of Year Celebrations)
Also on Wednesday I’ll be dropping by to have you sign your SLGGs (remember those?), and for those on the evaluation cycle I would like a few minutes of your time to go over the evaluation. Please be sure your self-eval is done by then.
4) Invitations this week on Thursday at 1:45: Invitations
5) Fire Drill on Thursday at 9:20am
6) Water Fun on Friday, 1:30pm! The Bend Fire Dept is schedule to arrive at 1:30 to shower us with water. I’ll send home a note this week to parents to let them know and to send extra clothes for kiddos who will need them.
7) Grade 5 hosts Community Time this week-their last one ever! Please note this will be at 8:15am.
8) Next Tuesday we will have our Grade 5 community celebration. Plan on the celebration running from 9am until 10:30am with recess break in between. We’ll have Youngers there for just the first half hour, 9-9:30am. We’ll have Olders there for the whole time. Ray is working with his students to have a mini version of their graduation speech to share, not the full length versions that will be read on Wednesday. It should go very smoothly. Please be sure you have your Grade 5 gift ready to give. The teacher gift is the t-shirt that was designed by students.
Upcoming June 7: Family BBQ, 5-7pm June 9: Fire Drill @9:20am June 10: Grade 5 hosts final CT, 8:15am June 10: Water Play last part of the day, 1:30pm June 14: Community Celebration of Grade 5, 9-10:30am (see note above) June 15: Grade 5 Graduation, 5pm June 15: Full school day, no early release June 16: Last Day! 1pm dismissal June 16: Staff gathering, 3pm (location TBD) June 17: Teacher work day
Happy Tuesday All! I hope the 3 day weekend was fantastic! I hope you slept like elephants and are feeling rested and excited about the last 3 weeks (yes, 3 weeks!).
Sorry, couldn’t resist–I saw this picture and had to share it somehow…
I have a big week ahead as Michelle’s surgery is finally happening on Wednesday. We won’t know the surgery time until tomorrow afternoon, but I will need to drop her off at some point Wednesday morning and then return about 4 hours later. It’s likely I’ll be here most of the day on Wednesday, but I will be off all day Thursday. My daughter Arielle arrives Thursday afternoon and will cover nursing duties on Friday and all of next week. This also means my youngest granddaughter, Aurelia, will be here for a week! She seems pretty excited about it, too…
A few notes to get you going: 1) Baby Shower for Haley (and Gary) today at 3pm!
2) It’s Camp Amity this Friday! Here are the details: *Start at 9:30am, break for lunch at 11:00am, end when things feel like they are winding down *Parent run activities scheduled: ~Rock painting ~Charcoal face painting–anyone have charcoal at home? ~Drum circle ~Nature art ~Fort building (branches) ~Marshmallow roasting ~Possibly more activities coming… a few parents are thinking about how they can help out.
3) Invitations this week on Thursday at 1:45: Invitations
4) As a reminder, here’s what’s already planned for the last two weeks–please add classroom events so we can keep track of all the great things going on: Last 2 Weeks
5) SIW on Wednesday is all yours, enjoy the time. A good time to get a few Grows and Glows done: Grows and Glows (End of Year Celebrations)
6) Annual family BBQ is next Tuesday, June 7 from 5-7pm. In Grade 4’s ongoing quest to reduce waste at Amity, they will be reaching out to families encouraging them to bring their own dish ware/utensils. Denise from the Environmental Center will be bringing some dish ware, and we now have two entire class sets of re-usable dish ware that we can also use (thanks Grade 1!). In terms of help for the event we will need a little help getting everything ready to go starting at 4:30, and then some help working the grills from 5pm on. This is always a really fun event!
7) Tentative plan for some water fun in the afternoon of June 10. The Bend Fire Department has tentatively agreed to come and shower us with water on Friday, June 10 around 1:30pm. This is something they offered to do several years ago in honor of Landon’s dad Rhett, but it never worked out. Now that Landon is graduating we thought it would be fun if we could make this happen. They have agreed to come at 1:30pm next Friday as long as they are not out on a call. I will also be working to see if we can get the sprinklers turned on at that time–I’ll keep you posted. I’ll let parents know the plan and encourage anyone with children staying for Campfire or Boys and Girls club to send extra clothes.
8) Grade 2 hosts Community Time this week–please note this will be at 8:15am.
And finally, Happy Birthday to Brad this week (Friday)!
Upcoming May 31: Baby Shower for Haley (and Gary), 3-4pm June 3: Grade 2 hosts CT, 8:15am June 3: Camp Amity June 7: Family BBQ, 5-7pm June 9: Fire Drill @9:20am June 10: Grade 5 hosts final CT, 8:15am June 10: Water Play last part of the day June 14: Community Celebration of Grade 5 in AM-more details coming soon June 15: Grade 5 Graduation, 5pm June 16: Last Day! 1pm dismissal June 16: Staff gathering, 3pm (location TBD) June 17: Teacher work day
Happy Monday All! I hope the weekend treated you well, the weather was certainly beautiful. Lots of yard work this weekend for me, plus a fantastic mountain bike ride on Sunday. I was feeling so relaxed on Sunday that I even took a moment and laid in my backyard watching the clouds float by–really, I did!
I’m feeling ready for the week, and I hope you are, too! Just 4 weeks left, and a 3 day weekend coming up!
A few notes to get you going: 1) SIW this week will be our extended time together to talk and dream about next year. We’ll start at 1:30 in Brian’s room. I will resend the prep questions later today to give you a little more time to think…
2) Our last two Fire Drills of the year will be this Tuesday at 9:20am, and June 9 at 9:20am
3) Invitations on Thursday, remember to sign up: Invitations
4) Grade 1 hosts CT this week! 2pm Friday
5) Just a reminder: We’re adding a few more Community Times between now and the end of the year for classes who haven’t had a chance to invite parents to join. June 3: Grade 2 will host at 8:15am (we have Camp Amity this day) June 10: Grade 5 will host their very last Community Time and we’ll start at 8:15 as they have a big day of biking adventures that day.
6) Camp Amity plans are coming together with parent volunteers. We’ll go with the same plan as last time as it seemed to work well (unless it didn’t, then please remind me!): *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. *If you plan to lead an activity please be sure all your materials are ready to go by 9am. Please put them on the stage in the gym and the EAs and I will take them out to the playground and get them set up.
7) Graduation-no new updates but just a reminder: We will host a community celebration of the graduates on Tuesday, June 14 in the morning (exact times still coming soon). A few students will give speeches, we’ll have a slide show, and class gifts will be given to the graduates. We’ll be done some time before lunch.
Family graduation will be Wednesday at 5pm. Traditionally all staff are present for this special event. We should be done around 6:30pm.
8) Another reminder, I’ve started a “Last 2 Weeks of School” doc–please have a look before planning events and be sure to update it as you do: Last 2 Weeks
Upcoming May 24: Fire Drill @9:20am May 25: Extended SIW, 1:30-5:30pm May 27: Grade 1 hosts CT May 30: NO SCHOOL! May 31: Baby Shower for Haley (and Gary), 3-4pm June 3: Grade 2 hosts CT, 8:15am June 3: Camp Amity June 7: Family BBQ, 5-7pm June 9: Fire Drill @9:20am June 10: Grade 5 hosts final CT, 8:15am June 10: Water Play last part of the day (details coming soon) June 14: Community Celebration of Grade 5 in AM-more details coming soon June 15: Grade 5 Graduation, 5pm June 16: Last Day! 1pm dismissal June 16: Staff gathering, 3pm (location TBD)
