10.21.22 Staff Blog
Let’s keep our fingers crossed for some relief from the smoke! I want to thank you for your flexibility (once again) as we navigate indoor recess, and various other changes needed due to air quality. I wanted to highlight an update from the family newsletter here, and let you know that the district shared a similar statement regarding seasonal celebrations.
EVENTS, CELEBRATIONS, AND HOLIDAYS:
Families may want to be involved in the planning for special events and celebrations at school. In keeping with our mission and vision, we want to include everyone in all of our school activities we plan so that all children and families can participate without conflicting with their families’ values or beliefs. We refrain from any kind of religious observation, such as prayer, songs, posters or symbols and instead focus on shared experiences that include everyone. Although we listen and learn from children and families as they share stories about their family religious and cultural celebrations, we do not observe or highlight any specific commercialized or religious holiday as a focus of our daily curriculum, including birthday celebrations.
Here are some of the ways we celebrate together:
Program - Wide Events There will be program wide events regularly over the year. Examples include the Back to School Potluck, Family Dance Party, S.T.E.A.M events!
PTSA planned Events - PTSA events are planned and scheduled outside the school day. They are optional and may include a wide variety of celebrations. The Cascade K-8 Community has celebration and community at the heart of the school, and this shines through in our PTSA events.
Please let me know if you are fielding questions from families, or need any support from me in this regard.
Quick Look:
CONFERENCE WEEK PTSA SPONSORED LUNCH: ACTION
PTSA will be providing lunch for staff during conference week. Here is the menu:
Monday - Soup, Salad and Bread.
Tuesday - Taco Bar:
Wednesday - Baked Potato and Chili Bar
Thursday - Order in Catering from Panera **Use THIS LINK to order your Thursday lunch no later than 10.29.22.
(here is the menu) https://catering.panerabread.com/menu/category/111
Friday - Leftovers Day
S.T.E.A.M AFTERNOON: HELPFUL
For the last hour of the day on Friday (10/28), classrooms will have S.T.E.A.M activities available for students to experience. A big thank you to Becca Drury for helping to plan activities for 2nd/3rd and 4th/5th and to Tamara for getting the supplies needed for the classes to host their events. Journey students will pair up with grade levels to help make the event successful for all.
EVALUATION: ACTION
For all, your student growth goal will be linked as an artifact under the observation in eVal labeled “student growth goal”. This is often an area of confusion as there is a link on the left side of the teacher dashboard labeled “student growth goal”. Instead, please link your student growth goal form under the artifacts section of the observation labeled “student growth goal”.
Growth Goal Forms:
TECH TIP: HELPFUL
In case you missed the tech tip for this week, here is the updated tip for this week.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12dDuwuMWaTzM6O_OFvcwFyRUHKso2wxeWZyYYOMZyIQ/edit?usp=sharing
CONFERENCE INFORMATION FOR K-5 TEACHERS FROM OUR INSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT: HELPFUL
Each fall the Teaching and Learning Department shares a guide for conferences. This year’s guide can be found by clicking this link: Family Conferences Information Fall 2022
We have also received questions about whether conferences may be held on Zoom. We recognize that there are health and safety reasons why a person may choose to meet remotely and also that the continued opportunity to hold meetings remotely can increase access for members of our school community. If a parent requests a Zoom meeting, teachers may choose to offer this as an option, but a Zoom meeting should not be required of parents.
Family conferences are also a great opportunity to communicate proactively with families whose students qualify for Highly Capable services in the Primary Enrichment Program (PEP), literacy and/or math. There is a quick checkbox form that can be completed by you or collaboratively with the family and/or student. This form also defines for families common strategies for serving Highly Capable students. PEP Service Description, Grades 2-5 Literacy Service Description, and Grades 2-5 Math Service Description.
K-5 TEACHERS- OSPI Structured Literacy Professional Learning Opportunity: HELPFUL
OSPI has partnered with Glean Education to provide a free course bundle of five on-demand courses on Dyslexia, Structured Literacy, Intensifying Instruction, Reading Fluency, and Serving Students with Dyslexia for educators, including school psychologists and teachers. Educators in Washington can earn clock hours for completing these courses. Learn more and enroll for free here.
Also, OSPI will be hosting a free expert webinar series throughout the year on topics such as Dyslexia, Structured Literacy, and MTSS. Find more information and register here.
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