Monday Memo
Week of October 14th, 2019
In case you missed it.....
Visual schedules
Have you seen your shadow?
Mrs. Oddie's Turkeys
Important Dates
Monday, October 14th - Day 0
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Tuesday, October 15th - Day 1
- 8:00am - Support Staff Team Meeting
- 8:15am - Feedback meeting involving Marsha and Heather
- 8:45am - parent meeting in Sally's class
Wednesday, October 16th - Day 2
- All day - Jenn at Principal's meeting; Heather is TIC
Thursday, October 17th - Day 3
- 9:15am - Teresa Kingston meeting with Jenn
- PM - Heather at Empower meeting
Friday, October 18th - Day 4
- Afternoon - Jenn at a Principal's meeting with Dr. Michael Ungar
- Teachers, please submit your ALP by the end of the day today :)
Some important information for this week....
I can't thank you enough for all your hard work and perseverance in getting all our IEP's completed. I'm so impressed by the detail and thoroughness of your work. There are very few left to sign - leaving us in really good shape for our deadline on Tuesday. Thank you, merci, thank you!
School Council
Last Monday night we had our First School Council Meeting. A big thank you to Barije and Deb who are our School Council reps this year! We had a strong turnout and it was a positive chance to connect and consider both initiatives Council would like to support and the fundraising that needs to happen in order to pay for those initiatives :) Below you'll see the plan that was created. Of high importance for homeroom teachers - please note that each classroom is being given $250 this year. You may use this to pay for Scientists in the Schools, an artist visit, or another idea you might have for a learning experience that can be brought into the school for your students. They only ask that you please ensure Deb or Barije know what you're spending your money on, and how the experience went. That way they can share back with Council. If you have any questions, please let me know!
Calming Room and new students
A little update about a few goings-on around our school:
Just to let everyone know that we had a new Grade 3 student start in Katie's class last week. Joanne Grasswell (our BSA) has been in to support as Mateus transitions to his new class and school. In addition, Spencer will be starting back with us on Tuesday. He will be working on his IBI program in the room off the library from 9:30am - 1:20pm each day. From 1:20pm - 3:20pm he will join Yvonne's class supported by Kelly and Heather. This will put a little more of a strain on our 4 other support staff, as Kelly and Heather will not be able to respond to any calls for support. Please be patient with all of us as we get used to some new routines around the halls.
AND.....In order to continue to support the ongoing self-regulation needs of some of our students, we are now at a place that we can begin to transform our "reactive" calming room (place to go during and after escalation) to a more "proactive" calming room (place to go to top up the gas tank BEFORE escalations occur). I know this is scary, but we have been collecting data on the use of Room 9, and it shows that it is rare that we need a space for highly escalated students. As we finish the painting and the transformation of the space, the calming room will not be available this week. We will then begin training our students so they know how to use the new area moving forward. As soon as we're set up, I'll invite all staff in for a few minutes after school one day so you can see how we intend the room to work. I'm sure everyone has the same question - what if a student is highly escalated? As I mentioned, our data from the beginning of September shows that the majority of time, this is not a concern. On the few occasions when this does happen, we may need to quietly shut down a hallway for a few minutes. However, if we find that this isn't working and becomes more disruptive, we will look at alternatives. For the time being, I'm feeling very positive that this is a great next step for our students and school - and that we're ready to take the leap into the proactive. Stick with me - we can do this!!! P.S. - we need a new name for the room....check Edsby for a poll :)
Climbers
Just a gentle reminder to please not allow students to climb, stand, sit on top of the high climbers..... a fall to the ground from hanging (feet down) is very different than a fall from sitting or standing (body or head first) on top of the climber. I know we can't bubble wrap our kids, but we can try to keep them a little safer.
Key for Nature Area
Given that the gates are all locked during the day (due to the needs of several students), I recognize getting to the nature area can be tricky. I'm hoping we can leave a key at the office with Mrs. E. that you can pick up any time you want to make the trek up the hill.
School Morale
Kathy, Heather and I had the chance to meet last week to discuss some fun ideas for Staff Morale and School Wide Morale activities.... Attached are some ideas we came up with. Stay tuned for more information....but if you have any further ideas or suggestions, we'd love to hear from you!
Ophea update
Just to let you know, that once again this year, KPR has purchased a membership for OPHEA. This includes:
Resources for Health and Physical Education (H&PE) Curriculum & Implementation can be found at Teachingtools.ophea.net. Included are new lesson plans for grade 1-8, that address the healthy eating component of the 2019 elementary H&PE curriculum, as well as the revised Canada’s Food guide.
Cannabis Education Resources including discussion guides for elementary and secondary educators can be found at TeachingTools.ophea.net. Included in these resources is a guide to help promote open dialogue within the school community about nonmedical and medical cannabis as well as assisting in addressing questions and concerns that will encourage a whole-school approach when dealing with situations involving cannabis.
Ontario Physical Activity Safety Standards in Education has a new name and website safety.ophea.net. The new website makes it easier for you to find and use what you need to manage risk while encouraging physical activity in your school.
Annual Learning Plans
Thank you to those teachers who have submitted their Annual Learning Plan to me. For those that haven't had a chance, please try to get it in by the end of this week. The form for ALP's can be found at: http://www.etfo.ca/supportingmembers/professionals/pages/alp.aspx
School Improvement Plan
Happy Geometry and Spatial Sense everyone!!!! Last week, Carolyn, Sally, Katie, Heather and I met and completed our DRAFT Math School Improvement Plan. We look forward to sharing the plan - and suggestions for Staff Meeting and PLC foci in the next few weeks. Our goal was to create a plan that felt meaningful and manageable, with learning and support built in. We hope we've achieved our goal!
Upcoming Dates to Keep in Mind...
October 19th - KPR Parent Conference
October 28th - Headlice Check
October 31st - Rees' class to Outdoor Education
November 1st - Progress Reports due to the office
November 4th - Staff Meeting
November 8th - Progress Reports are sent home
Just one more thing.....
Jennifer Sampson
Email: jennifer_sampson@kprdsb.ca
Website: https://kawarthaheights.kprdsb.ca/
Location: 11 Kawartha Heights Boulevard, Peterborough, ON, Canada
Phone: 705-742-7521
Twitter: @KawarthaHPS