Monday AM Teacher Notes

Hello Team,
I know you’re not counting, but we only have 5 more weeks including this week. It’s been an extraordinary year to say the least and I’m looking forward to lots of fun and celebration in the coming weeks!

A few notes to get you going:
1) A big congratulations to Sara who will be receiving an Excellence in Education Award this week for her extraordinary work in overhauling our learning support program and finding new and creative ways to support not just our students but the entire staff! An extremely well deserved honor!

2) Unfortunately Brad will be out at least until Wednesday. We’ve put in for a sub, but they are hard to come by these days! I’ll check in with you as things unfold.

3) Observations this week
Sara: Tuesday at 8:30am
Haley: Tuesday at 10:30am
Sadie: Tuesday at 12:15pm
Lauren: Friday at 8:00am (ish)
Brian: Tuesday (24th) at 8:30am

4) SIW this week is Teacher Prep–enjoy the time! Just in case you’re thinking about using the time to get some end of year things done, Grows and Glows are ready when you are: Grows and Glows

5) Invitations on Thursday, remember to sign up: Invitations

6) Kinder hosts CT this week! 2pm Friday

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.

7) Graduation update: We will host a community celebration of the graduates on Tuesday, June 14 in the morning (exact times 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) Reminder: SIW next week will be our extended time together to talk and dream about next year.

Upcoming
May 18: SIW-teacher prep
May 20: Kinder hosts CT
May 25: Extended SIW, 1:30-5:30pm
May 27: Grade 1 hosts CT
June 3: Grade 2 hosts CT, 8:15am
June 3: Camp Amity
June 7: Family BBQ, 5-7pm
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

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

Good Morning Team!
I hope you had a fantastic weekend, especially all the mamas! We’re finally having a community-wide event this week and it will be great to have everyone coming together to connect. I am really looking forward to Wednesday evening!

A few notes to get you going:
1) It’s Teacher Appreciation Week (for Amity)! You will be treated to lunch not once, but twice this week! On Wednesday we have sandwiches coming from Beach Hut courtesy of the Borkowski family, and on Friday the classified staff has a special lunch planned for you! I also hope you get lots and lots of love and appreciation from families–you more than deserve it!

2) SIW this week. I’d like teams (K-2 and 3-5) to meet for the first hour (1:30-2:30) and then you can have the rest of the time to get ready for Open House. Prepping for Open House may be doing some work here at school, or getting away from school for a few hours before the Open House event–up to you. I will be sending you all an email with items for discussion at your team meeting–please be on the lookout for the email.

Future SIW time for the rest of the year:
May 18-Teacher prep
May 25-School based (1:30-5:30pm)
June 1-School based
June 8-Teacher prep

3) Open House is Wednesday from 5-7pm. Pizza orders are in and the pizza will be available for families from 5pm until 6:30 or so. We are not taking any more orders as the big order has already been sent in.

With Open House on Wednesday please take some time (if you haven’t already) to freshen up the hallway with new art work/projects. Also, please take a few minutes to be sure the area around your classroom is clean (think cubbies). Need help freshing up? Please reach out to Alanna early this week.

Also, Grade 1’s Operation Hello will be promoted at Open House as families arrive. Grade 1 students will be asking parents to put on a “Hello my name is..” name tag and to sign a pledge to say hello to at least 5 people they don’t know. Go Grade 1!

4) Spring DIBELS is this week on Thursday morning. Like usual, we’ll pull students throughout the morning. It would be a good morning to get the kids doing some reading first thing so that they are warmed up when it’s their turn.

5) Formal Observations will begin next week. I will be reaching out to those on the formal observation cycle to schedule a time.

6) Just a reminder that we are planning to have an extended SIW on May 25 from 1:30-5:30 to do some future planning.

7) Invitations continue on Thursday afternoons at 1:45. Remember to sign up here: Invitations

8) Grade 4 hosts Community Time on Friday at 2pm.

9) Grows and Glows are ready when you are: Grows and Glows


Upcoming
May 11: Open House! 5-7pm
May 12: DIBELS
May 13: Grade 4 hosts CT
May 20: Kinder hosts CT
May 25: Extended SIW, 1:30-5:30pm
May 27: Grade 1 hosts CT
June 3: Camp Amity
June 7: Family BBQ, 5-7pm
June 15: Graduation–details to emerge in the coming weeks

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

Greetings Team,
I hope you had an amazing weekend, especially on Sunday–what a beautiful day! My weekend was a combination of a little play, lots of yard work, and a bit of rest (still not feeling 100%!). It’s May, which means we have 7 weeks of school left!

A few notes to get you going:
1) It’s an exciting day for Grade 5-they’re headed to Camp Tamarack! They’ll be gone from about 9:30am until 7:30pm.

2) Grade 3-5 Pickle ball tournament starts today during afternoon Choice Time.

3) Artist in Residence brainstorming session on Tuesday at 2:45. As we begin envisioning what next year looks like, and with neither Korey or Nathan returning, I’m hoping we can come together and brainstorm a bit about what the program can look like. All are welcome to join the discussion! This is not mandatory but I hope you will consider joining. Staff room.

While we are on the subject of art, our last art sessions for the year will be Wednesday and Friday, May 25 and 27. Please be sure to get this in your calendars.

4) SIW this week is Teacher Prep time, but I would appreciate 15 minutes of your time starting at 1:30. We can meet in the staff room. Much appreciated!

5) We could use your help getting kids ready for lunch recess. We have a lot of traffic in the hallway at lunch recess and it’s for two main reasons (other than using the bathroom)-students forgot to take their jacket with them or they want their stuffed animals. Before leaving the classroom for lunch please be sure kids have:
*Jackets/sweatshirts
*Stuffed animals if they plan to play with them at lunch

It would also be helpful to remind students that the only reason to be inside at lunch recess is to use the bathroom or get medical help. Thanks for your support with this!

6) As you have already heard, visitors are now allowed in the building. I think the biggest upside to this at this point in the year is we can invite parents of students whose class is hosting Community Time. We’ll start this week by inviting Grade 3 families.

In order to accommodate families attending CT we will move it to the end of the day (2:00-2:25pm) on Fridays. We are also moving Invitations to Thursdays at 1:45pm. Thanks for your input on this! Please be sure to add your invitation for this week here

Lastly on this subject, I’d like to consider adding a few more Community Times for grades that have already hosted but did not have the opportunity to include families. This includes Kinder, Grade 1, and Grade 5. Tentatively (until I confirm with everyone) Kinder will be May 20 and Grade 1 will be May 27. I’ll work with Ray to figure out the best day for Grade 5 to host–Grade 5 has lots of end of year stuff going on!

7) End of year observations need to get done! For those on the formal observation cycle (Sadie, Brian, Lauren, Haley, Sara, Brad) I’ll be reaching out with more detailed info. For the others it will be a mini-observation some time in the next two weeks.

8) Open House is next Wednesday, May 11 from 5-7pm. I have shared a link with families so that they can pre-order pizza, and Grade 4 will be having a bake sale to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees. A few of you have already shared what you’re planning to do in your classroom and I’d love to hear from the rest of you about your plans for the evening! I am super excited for the event!

Upcoming
May 3: Artist in residence brainstorm session, 2:45-3:30pm. Staff room.
May 4: Brief staff meeting at 1:30pm. Staff room.
May 6: Grade 3 hosts CT
May 11: Open House! 5-7pm
May 12: DIBELS
May 13: Grade 4 hosts CT
May 20: Kinder hosts CT (tentative)
May 27: Grade 1 hosts CT (tentative)
May 25: Extended SIW, 1:30-5:30pm
June 3: Camp Amity, reaching out to parents for support!
June 7: Family BBQ, 5-7pm (tentative still waiting for approval)
June 15: Graduation–details to emerge in the coming weeks

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

Greetings All!
I hope the weekend was good to you. I spent the weekend in Corvallis celebrating my daughter Arielle’s birthday and having some quality time with the youngest grand kiddo Aurelia. So much fun!

I wanted to thank you all for being so receptive to my sharing of the Bulletin article last week and for the way so many of you responded and took action. Your response really validated the sense of community that we try to build here every day, and the need for continuing our work with equity and diversity. Thank you for being so open-hearted and caring, and for having the courage to have challenging conversations with your students!

A few notes for the week:
1) New PE schedule starts this week! Here’s the new schedule starting this week:

Monday
12:00-12:45 Grade 1 PE

Tuesday
10-10:45 Kinder PE 
12:00-12:45 Grade 4 PE

Wednesday
No change

Thursday
10-10:45 Grade 3 PE
12:00-12:45 Grade 2 PE

Friday
10:30-11:00 Grade 5 PE

2) SIW this week is school based. We’ll meet in Ray’s room at 1:30pm.

Future SIW time for the rest of the year:
May 4-Teacher Prep
May 11-School based
May 18-Teacher prep
May 25-School based (See note below about this date)
June 1-School based
June 8-Teacher prep

I would like to use our May 25 SIW to do some future planning for next year and I’m hoping you are all willing to make this an extended meeting–until 5:30pm–so we can really sink our teeth into some important aspects of moving forward. Please let me know soon if you are not able to be available until 5:30 on this date. Thanks, I really look forward to having time to dream, brainstorm, share ideas, and work towards creating the future that we all want.

3) Artist in residence brainstorming session–May 3. Korey will not be returning next year so at this moment we are a blank slate in terms of what our Artist in residence program looks like going forward. You are al invited to a brainstorming and idea sharing session on May 3 from 2:45-3:30pm. This will give us an opportunity to envision what our art (visual, performing, music, etc) could look like!

4) Open House is May 11 from 5-7 pm. Our intention is create an opportunity for parents and students to all be together on campus, tour the building, see what’s been going on in class, and connect with other families. Imagine–families all coming together at Amity for the first time! Based on our conversation at the staff meeting last week there was a shared sense that giving our students a little structure as to how they can share the space with their parents would be helpful. Ideas: scavenger hunt, a menu of activities, sharing a project and/or piece of writing, playing a game. We’ll also want to give some thought to freshening up the hallway and cleaning up classrooms as we get closer to the day.

5) Grade 5 hosts Community Time this week. We’ll have Invitations after CT. Here’s the link to sign up: Invitations

6) Last week I shared the Child Abuse Prevention teaching materials with all of you. Please let me know if you need a thought partner in working through how you will bring this to your class. Also, please share with me when you plan to start–I’d like to get a later out to parents before any of you start. Thanks!

7) Bread & Jam and After School Recess continue this week.

8) I have an admin meeting today (Monday) so I’ll be headed out around 2:45pm.

Upcoming
April 29: Grade 5 hosts CT, then Invitations
May 2: Grade 5 to Camp Tamarack!
May 3: Artist in residence brainstorm session, 2:45-3:30pm
May 6: Grade 3 hosts CT, then Invitations
May 11: Open House! 5-7pm
May 12: DIBELS
May 13: Grade 4 hosts CT, then Invitations
May 25: Extended SIW, 1:30-5:30pm
June 6 or 7: Camp Amity (very tentative, unlikely at this point)
June 14: Family BBQ, 5-7pm (tentative still waiting for approval)
June 15: Graduation–details to emerge in the coming weeks

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

Hello All!
I hope Conversations went well last week and that you had a great 3 day weekend! I had a fantastic time in San Diego and it was great to spend some time with two of my oldest buddies.

A few notes for the week:
1) Please be sure to reach out to any family that may have missed their Conversation last week and see about rescheduling. It’s super important that we connect with each family!

2) We had planned to start the new PE schedule this week but we need to wait until next week as Brad will be out a few days this week. We will hopefully have a sub for the days he is gone (Thursday/Friday)–stay tuned.

Here’s the new schedule starting next week–this is just PE and does not impact Health and Well-being. This is giving everyone a little more prep time now that music is over.

Monday
12:00-12:45 Grade 1 PE

Tuesday
10-10:45 Kinder PE 
12:00-12:45 Grade 4 PE

Wednesday
No change

Thursday
10-10:45 Grade 3 PE
12:00-12:45 Grade 2 PE

Friday
10:30-11:00 Grade 5 PE

3) Staff Meeting on Tuesday at 2:45pm. Ray’s room.

4) SIW this week is Teacher prep–enjoy the time.

5) We’ll host After School Recess on Friday, 2:30-3pm. Bread and Jam begins!

6) Running Club returns this week! Amanda Olson will be here on Thursday afternoon to visit with each class and let then know about Running Club and then the running begins on Friday at AM recess!

7) Earth Day is this Friday! Any plans? Please share!

8) Grade 1 hosts Community Time this week. We’ll have Invitations after CT. Here’s the link to sign up: Invitations

9) May 11 will be our Open House. We’ll talk soon about what this will look like.

Upcoming
April 19: Staff Meeting, 2:45pm. Ray’s room.
April 19: Bend Science Station here with Grade 5
April 22: Earth Day
April 22: Grade 1 hosts CT, then Invitations
April 29: Grade 5 hosts CT, then Invitations
May 2: Grade 5 to Camp Tamarack!
May 6: Grade 3 hosts CT, then Invitations
May 11: Open House! 5-7pm
May 13: Grade 4 hosts CT, then Invitations
June 6 or 7: Camp Amity (very tentative, unlikely at this point)
June 14: Family BBQ, 5-7pm (tentative still waiting for approval)
June 15: Graduation–details to emerge in the coming weeks

Here’s to a great week ahead!
Andy

Greetings Team,

First, a big thanks for all the birthday love on Friday-it was a great way to kick off a fantastic birthday weekend! It was also chef Wendy’s bday this weekend- stop by and wish her a happy bday when you can.

It’s a short teaching week this week, and Conversations!

Mind blowing facts for the week:
*All the names of the continents end with the same letter they start with
*If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

A few notes for this short week:
1) We have our MAC survey today (Monday). You will (or did) receive an email with all the info you need. Please take a few minutes at the end of the day to complete the survey.

2) I’m off to the fairgrounds to help with interviews at the job fair today (Monday) and will be leaving school around noon. Call or text if you need anything!

3) The kids are enjoying having the mobile water fountain on the playground and it’s greatly reducing the traffic coming in and out of the building. Please take a moment to talk with your class about the following:
*The water is for drinking only, not playing
*Encourage them to conserve water by holding it on only when they are drinking. We’ve had kiddos chatting with their friends and holding it on.
*Let the kids know that emptying the buckets is for the adults only (or kids emptying with adult supervision if you are inclined).

4) Looking ahead, we’ll have a Staff Meeting on Tuesday, April 19 at 2:45. That Wednesday is a Teacher Prep SIW, and we’ll have our next team SIW on April 27.

5) Earth day is coming up April 22. Are you planning anything? I’d love to hear your ideas and it would be great to share with each other!

6) I’ll be at school Wednesday morning but will leave around lunch time and will be off on Thursday as well. Again, call or text if you need anything.

Upcoming
April 13/14: Conversations
April 22: Earth Day
April 22: Grade 1 hosts CT, then Invitations
April 29: Grade 5 hosts CT, then Invitations
May 2: Grade 5 to Camp Tamarack!
May 6: Grade 3 hosts CT, then Invitations
May 13: Grade 4 hosts CT, then Invitations
June 6 or 7: Camp Amity (very tentative, unlikely at this point)
June 14: Family BBQ, 5-7pm (tentative still waiting for approval)
June 15: Graduation–details to emerge in the coming weeks

Here’s to a week of connecting with parents!
Andy

Happy April Y’all!
Friday was good fun with lots of pranks and some good laughs! I hope you had a fantastic weekend, Saturday’s weather was incredible. I got out for my first real ride of the season and the trails are riding very well!

Believe it or not it’s April–yikes! While energy begins to ramp up this is really one of my favorite parts of the school year, always filled with lots of outdoor time and fun activities.

Mind blowing facts for the day:
*Termites are the longest living insect–they can live up to 100 years
*The world’s biggest tire producer is…Lego! 306 million tires per year

A few notes to get you going:
1) Conversations at next week! Please be sure to get parents signing up early this week.

2) We’ll continue with a shortened afternoon Choice Time (1:15) on Fridays and Community Time at 1:20, followed by school-wide Invitations. That was a lot fun last Friday! Grade 2 hosts CT this week.

3) Volunteers! Many of our parents have now been cleared to volunteer in your classes. Patti is reaching out to parents on a daily basis as new applications are approved. I’ve asked Patti to get a list out to all of you to see who has been cleared so you can begin reaching out to parents and getting them into the classroom. Still looking for ways to engage parents? Please ask, I have ideas!

4) After School Recess begins this Friday, 2:30-3pm. This will change the end of day pick up on Fridays to more open ended. Let’s spread ourselves out around the playground to help provide supervision. I’ll chase everyone away at 3pm.

5) For now we’ve agreed that Buddies will be within the cross grade (K-2, 3-5) activities you all have planned. We’ll revisit this in May. Of course you are ALWAYS welcome to partner up with another class at any time!

6) SIW this week is teacher prep. Good time to get a jump on preparing for Conversations. I’ll be doing transfer interviews at Pine Ridge that afternoon (all admin are required to participate).

7) As we discussed at our meeting last week we’re focussing in on dates in May to host an Open House. We have permission to host the event and I’m leaning towards one evening–May 11. We’re technically not supposed to serve food, but I am exploring how FOA could sell pizza and/or get a food truck or two to participate. This way we are not serving food, families are purchasing it from an outside group. Keep May 11 from 5-7pm reserved on your calendars. This should be a lot of fun!

8) Please continue to revisit the Choice Time Guidelines with students, specifically about use of the hallway. After Conversations I’d like to open up Choice Time so that students can be in any classroom. 👏🏽

9) SafeTOUCH is back. This is a sexual abuse prevention curriculum that is taught in every elementary school in the district. In the past I taught the 3-5 curriculum and Tammy Short (former school psychologist) taught the K-2 lessons. While I am happy to continue to do the 3-5 lessons, ideally this would be passed along to classroom teachers (with my support at first). With Tammy gone I’d also like to work with K-2 teachers to get you going with this. We’ll make time after Conversations to get this going. In the meantime I will share copies of the curriculum with you so you can begin to have a look.

10) We’re having our A/V system in the gym overhauled on Tuesday–it should work a lot better once the work has been done. A/V systems in classrooms are supposed to be done this month–I’ll keep you updated.

Upcoming
April 8: Grade 2 hosts CT, Inviations afterwards.
April 13/14: Conversations
April 22: Earth Day
April 22: Grade 1 hosts CT
April 29: Grade 5 hosts CT
May 2: Grade 5 to Camp Tamarack!
May 6: Grade 3 hosts CT
May 13: Grade 4 hosts CT
June 6 or 7: Camp Amity (very tentative, unlikely at this point)
June 14: Family BBQ, 5-7pm (tentative still waiting for approval)
June 15: Graduation–details to emerge in the coming weeks

Here’s to a great week ahead, and fun-filled April!
Andy

Greetings All!
I hope you had an amazing break and that you’re ready for the home stretch of the school year. I have a great feeling that the Spring is going to be fantastic! My break was pretty low key, but I had a fantastic time in Corvallis hanging with my entire little family for a few days. Super fun time with the grand kids!

A big thanks to all the teachers for your participation in the Student Support Meetings before break. It feels like we are a very good path with supporting our striving kiddos. I am very hopeful that we will see some really big growth during this last part of the year!

A few notes to get you going:
1) Choice Time begins in earnest this week. A few things to remember:
*Please review the Choice Time guidelines and discuss them with your class–it’s super important we are all on the same page.
*For those staying in with students, EAs will send your students in from the playground after they line up–be sure to explain this to your kiddos

Choice Time Guidelines

2) We need to do a Fire Drill this week–we’ll do it at 9:20 on Thursday

3) Here’s the Community Time rotation for the next 6 weeks (we’ll adjust it as needed):
April 1: Kinder
April 8: Grade 2
April 22: Grade 1 (Earth Day)
April 29: Grade 5
May 6: Grade 3
May 13: Grade 4

If the date you have been assigned doesn’t work for you please reach out to another teacher to see about trading and let me know if you’ve made changes. Thanks!

I’m still working on finding a slot to do an additional adult-led CT each week.

4) IMPORTANT supervision note–There has been some dangerous activity at the swings over the past few weeks. Specifically, students have been swerving in and out of the swings trying to avoid being hit, they are grabbing the polls as they swing, and students are standing right in front of the swings trying to duck before getting hit. When you are supervising please be sure there is someone stationed near the swing set and if you don’t see someone, please go there yourself to keep things safe. If we don’t do our job it could result in a serious injury.

5) SIW this week is a group meeting. I’d like to use this time to discuss a comprehensive approach to re-igniting community on all levels. Please come with some ideas of how we can continue to create more connections across the school and with parents. Also, I’m looking for a volunteer to share an SEL book with the group.

6) As a reminder and for those that are new–when taking a walking field trip there are a few important musts:
*Always have at least 2 adults
*Carry your phone with you
*Bring a first aid kit and an EPI pen
*Be sure you check with Patti/nurse to see if any of your students have medications that need to go with you

7) Conversations update: Conversations will be in person with the parents having the option to request a virtual meeting.  Please begin communicating this with families this week (I will also send info this week). We will have Conversations April 13 and 14, with Friday as a day off. You can begin your meetings any time Wednesday, and it is expected that you will offer some early evening times. If you want to get started a little earlier in the week that is up to you. I’ll get Conversations prep forms out to you this week. I think these forms will also come in really handy when you are preparing the end of year Glows and Grows!

8) For those that are curious, we do the lottery draw this Tuesday morning and then we get letters out to families on Friday. Families then have 2 weeks to accept the offer.

Upcoming
April 1: Kindergarten hosts CT
April 8: Grade 2 hosts CT
April 13/14: Conversations
April 22: Earth Day
April 22: Grade 1 hosts CT
April 29: Grade 5 hosts CT
May 2: Grade 5 to Camp Tamarack!
May 6: Grade 3 hosts CT
May 13: Grade 4 hosts CT

Here’s to a great week ahead, and a wonderful Spring!
Andy

Hello Team!
I hope the weekend has been good to you and that you’re ready for this last week before Spring Break! I think I can safely say we’re all REALLY looking forward to a break!

It’s a new dawn, masks are now optional…I look forward to seeing a lot of smiling faces this week!

A few notes to get you going (note pad and calendar strongly encouraged!):
1) Student Success Meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, Brad will be covering on Thursday. Please be sure you have spent some time updating the meeting prep form: Student Success Prep folder

Wednesday:
1:15-Ray
2:15-Sadie

Thursday:
8:15-Lauren
9:00-Brian
10:00-Lindsey
12:00-Frans

2) Brad will not be at school Monday–he should have reached out by teachers impacted by this.

3) My boss, Skip, will be visiting on Tuesday between 9:30 and 11. Last time he was on campus he visited a few classrooms, this time he’ll want to visit the others. So, I’ll likely be stopping by with him during that time.

4) Pokeman cards seem to be causing quite a few problems (as they often do) so please ask students (and their parents via your weekly email) not bring the cards to school. This could be a fun Invitation in the future and will give the kids a chance to bring their cards to school.

5) We’re sending classified staff to lunch on Thursday. We’ll need to cover their duties at lunch–3 teachers from 11 to 11:20, 3 from 11:20-11:45. Please discuss amongst yourselves who will do which shifts. Thanks!

6) Grade 4 hosts Community Time on Friday at 1:30pm.

7) K-2 will be on a walking field trip for a good chunk of the day on Wednesday–so fun!

8) At the end of last week I shared a draft of Choice Time Guidelines. Please have a look and provide any feedback you may have. We’ll roll this out after the break so we can all be on the same page, including having students line up on the playground and then be let in by playground staff. Let’s start calling it Choice Time rather than recess!

9) SIW this week is teacher prep.

10) On Thursday evening at 5:30pm we are hosting an internet safety presentation put on by Kids Center. This is for Grade 3-5 parents and they have all been invited multiple times. So far I have RSVPs from about 12 families. I’ll send a reminder to all Grade 3-5 families early this week.

11) Staff Lunch on Friday! Be sure you have singed up to contribute–see Patti’s email from last week.

12) I have to leave at 2pm Monday for a medical appointment.

Upcoming
March 16/17: Next Student Support Meetings
March 18: Community Time hosted by Grade 4, 1:30pm
March 21-25: Spring Break!
April 13/14: Conversations

Here’s a fantastic week ahead!
Andy

Greetings All!
I missed y’all on Thursday and Friday and hope you had a great end to the week and weekend. I had an amazing visit with my folks and was able to see my sisters, aunts and uncles, and a few cousins. It had been over 2.5 years, and it was so good to be with all of them again! My dad is not very mobile these days but he has a scooter he’s been waiting to use–I got him out for a walk around a lake on Friday and it was a highlight for both of us! (Sporting some fancy glasses!)

A few notes to get you going:
1) A note from Patti in case you missed it in your email: I wanted to remind you all that the dental screenings will be happening Monday morning.  We will come and get groups of kids (not sure how many they will do at a time).  I apologize in advance for the disruption.  We usually begin with kinders and work our way up but please let me know if you have something happening Monday morning as the grade order is totally flexible.

2) Lottery info night on Tuesday at 5:30pm. We’ll gather in one room here at school.

3) SIW this week will be whole group. I’ll send an agenda tomorrow. Next week is teacher prep, and we’ll have a staff meeting next Tuesday at 2:45pm.

4) This is our last week with the mandated mask requirement! Please take some time this week to talk with your class about this, with a big emphasis on the fact that there will still be students (and possibly staff) wearing masks and that we need to be respectful of everyone’s choices. It’s vital at this time to be sure we maintain a safe and respectful environment–there’s no need for this to become a new decisive moment! I believe that you have received some resources from the district if you are looking for ideas/support.

5) As I noted in an email last week, parents have been notified about the return of volunteers in the schools. If you haven’t already, please be sure to share some communication about this in your weekly note to families, even if just to say you are giving it some think time and will communicate specifics soon. Remember to only share the pdf and links with families who express specific interest. If you want to talk through some ideas please reach out, I’m happy to make time!

6) Community time this week on Friday at 1:30pm. Who’s hosting??? We’ll talk about a comprehensive plan at our SIW this week, but we need a class to volunteer for this week!

7) Looking ahead, we won’t have Nathan here teaching music after Spring Break as he has to go full time with his student teaching. At this point we don’t have someone to fill the music spot. It’s a good time to start thinking about how to use the extra 30 minutes.

8) HUGE thanks to Grade 4 and Brian for their incredible efforts to get the composting program up and running. So far it’s going great, and we’ve reduced our daily garbage from 3 bags per day to 1 bag per day! Taking care of this place!

9) I will be leaving school just before dismissal to attend an admin meeting across the street.

Upcoming
March 8: Lottery Info Night, virtual-5:30pm
March 15: Staff Meeting, 2:45pm
March 16/17: Next Student Support Meetings
March 21-25: Spring Break!
April 13/14: Conversations

Here’s a fantastic week ahead!
Andy