Sunday, January 24th

Happy Sunday! Looks like rain is headed our way this week. I put in a request that it only happen before and after school, but we know how that goes! 

Jamey Schrey's blog post this week really hit home for me. She talked about how we are all 'Work In Progress.' Meaning we are always growing, changing and learning. But more importantly, we need to remember that we have the ability to constantly grow, change and learn in ways we may not consider possible. I am 100% guilty of thinking that I am at capacity, if you will, in one way or another. It is not until I challenge myself and push outside my comfort zone that I can say, 'Wow, I am stronger than I thought.' I have one of my favorite quotes in my office, and at home, right where I can't not see it. It is "It if doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you.' Try saying that to yourself every time you are being challenged. You will find yourself changed in a positive way on the other side. 

Why all of this talk about change and challenge?? Because 4 FEET!! Ha! We had things rocking then, 4 feet. We had things rocking then, COVID. We had things rocking then, Zoom. The list goes on and on, but here we are: Stronger, smarter, more flexible than we ever knew we were. We will get through this next challenge and be stronger for it. We've got this!

If you have not filled out this form, please do: Furniture Request I will be figuring things out and keeping each of you in the loop along the way. 

iReady: This year, there is a little more flexibility within the iReady window, but that being said, I would like everyone finished with the diagnostic by Friday, Feb. 12. That way you will have the data available for the end of the trimester and for our PLC discussions on March 1-3. 

Character Trait: This week, we are looking for students that show Kindness Always. 

Coming Up This Week:

Monday, 1/25: 100th Day of School. AKA~ Wear your 'favorite' outfit to school😂

Wednesday, 1/27: Staff Meeting at 2:30pm

Friday, 1/29: College Gear Day

January 17, 2021

 

Happy Sunday! And what a lovely Sunday it is! Any Sunday before a Monday holiday is lovely💖

A quick check in, how are all of you doing on your 2021 goals? I would love to hear. I have to say, I have been really consistent about my changes and am very proud of myself. I am the queen of starting with great intentions and then quickly falling off! Let's keep going and checking in with one another for accountability! 

Valentines: We will be able to do Valentines. The district is not making any mandates about how it is done other than that students cannot walk around the room putting them in bags. My idea would be to have the bags on your back counter, or even along the wall outside your classroom, and then have one student at a time put their Valentines in each bag. As always, no baked goods from home. Candy is ok. I will be explaining this more at our PLC leadership meeting. 

Report Cards Distribution Date: Please discuss these options in your PLC's. PLC Leads, you can share your preference at our meeting. 

Option 1

Report Cards sent before conferences

Preview 2/17 at noon

Report run by teacher, uploaded to Drive by end of the day on the 17th

Teachers fix any updates by 2/19 7am

Secretaries run reports again by teacher and also grade level span K-2, 3-5 on 2/19, email goes out by the end of the day

Option 2 

Teachers show grades in Otus but not the report card

Report Cards run on 2/26

Option 3 

Run reports on the same timeline as Option 1, but email does not go home until 2/26.  Teachers still have access to the actual report card but it doesn't go home until after conferences.

Conference Week Guidelines: Please see this document regarding conference week. You will need to provide independent work for students to cover the 45-55 minutes mandated by SB98. Conference Week 

PLC Data Meetings: I have March 1-3 from 1:30-3pm blocked out for PLC data discussion meetings. Start thinking about what your PLC time preference might be. We will plan on a 30 min meeting. 

Safety Drills: I will be scheduling Safety Drills including fire, earthquake and shelter in place. Dates will be share soon! 

I loved Crazy Hair Day! The kids really got into it! We will be having more spirit days. I will also be doing another read aloud. I am thinking the 29th for the read aloud. 

Coming Up This Week:

Character Trait of the Week- Looking for students that Choose Safety. See you Tuesday morning! 

IMPORTANT: Wednesday, 1/20, @3:30pm- I would like to have a PLC Leadership meeting. I have an IEP until 3:30, so we cannot do the earlier time. Please let me know if this will not work for PLC Leaders. 

Monday, 1/25: 100th Day of School. Dig through your closets for that favorite outfit! Ha! 

Monday, 2/1: Dine out at Chipotle. 

January 10, 2021

 

I mean, really. Just when you think things may start getting back to normal-- WAPOW!! We are quickly slapped back to reality. This week brought us yet another monumental historical event. One that I know both you and your students felt greatly. Thank you for how you kept moving forward and guided the discussions in your classrooms with professionalism. Now just hang tight to see what is next. Kidding, not kidding.

Conferences: PLC leads, please let me know if the proposed conference schedule works for your PLC. I will be sharing it with parents next week. 

As far as conference scheduling, we are not going to use the site that has been used in the past. Conferences will be on Zoom, so please use a Google Doc or Sign Up Genius for your parents to pick a time slot. Let me know if you have any questions. 

REMINDERS:

Snack and Recess Minutes: Technically, recess and snack should both be happening within the 15 minute recess window. I understand that is not ideal, so I said you could do snack time before or after recess. That being said, the snack window should be around 5-10 minutes max. They should not also have 15 minutes for snack. As many of you have mentioned, these students are behind academically and we have to be mindful of EVERY minute each day. The more minutes we have to provide instruction, the better! 

Preschool Parking Spots: Please do not park in the spots reserved for Preschool. Those spots are for preschool parents dropping off and picking up. We are trying to teach the preschool parents to park in a spot, instead of the curb, and the spots have been filled by staff. We also emailed a reminder to the preschool staff. 

Gates: Please close the gates when you leave. Not only is it to deter people from coming on campus but also to keep our night custodians safe. If they aren't closed, unfortunately, I will have to put the chains back on them. 

Shout Outs: I need shout outs for Timberwolf TV. Send them my way! Everyone loves seeing the shout outs on Timberwolf TV. 

Playbook App: The app where you can access Jesse's workouts, in addition to a whole library of things, is the Playbook App. Don't forget to let me know if you would like free trial access. We are still working out the details, but will share the info as soon as we have it. 

PLC's on Monday: I will be stopping by your PLC's on Monday to talk about the 2021 document you have been working on. If you haven't shared it with me yet, please do. Also, please share your Zoom links with me. 

Coming up this week:

Character Trait of the Week: Looking for those who 'Act Responsibly'

Staff Meeting this Wednesday, 1/13, at 2:30. I know this was not on the calendar but we will have a staff meeting this Wednesday. 

Friday, 1/15, will be Crazy Hair Day! A student keeps requesting it and I do agree, we should sprinkle in some fun spirit days! 

Sunday, January 3

Happy New Year Stoneridge! I have a really great feeling about this upcoming year. Not because I am happy to have 2020 over with, but because I am thankful for what 2020 taught me. In the year 2020, I learned things I never thought I would, like how to Zoom like a pro and master a YouTube channel! It also forced my family to slow down and appreciate our precious family time. Most importantly, 2020 taught me that I, I mean WE, are strong and can get through anything. It is with that new found confidence I look forward to tackling what this next year may bring. And throughout everything, I know we are ALL in it together! 

Tomorrow is our PD/Work day. I will add a Zoom link to the calendar for our morning meeting. We will begin at 9am and go until we are done. The meeting will be lighthearted and focused on each of you. We will be doing some activities based on things you can do to focus on yourself this next year. 

Please print this out to have with you at our meeting. We will be working on it together. 

Self Care Plan

Going along with our theme, Jesse shared some special yoga videos for you. Please take the time to do them-- for YOU!! 

Self Care Yoga

PM Yoga

Upper Body Yoga

I will be sharing this at our meeting as well. This is my proposed conference schedule:

Conference Schedule: 2/22-2/26

Short and sweet today!! Soak up this last few minutes!! I look forward to seeing you in the morning. 

December 13, 2020

 

Happy Sunday! I hope you are getting rest and gearing up for these last 5 days before break! It will be lots of fun and exhausting, at the same time! 

First, IMPORTANT: We cannot have a SING on Friday. As many of you brought up, singing is not allowed in an enclosed area. The district made the official determination that this sort of activity is not allowed. That being said, I am open to other ideas. I thought about teaching the kids a song in sign language or singing songs with hand motions, but after looking into what is available on YouTube, it won't really work. Let me know if you have another idea. I know you will be doing other fun things in your classes on Friday. 

The music teachers are having a Caroling Night! (This is what I shared with parents)

We have also included information and attached a flier that give out information about Caroling with your child's music teacher. 

What: RCSD Music Caroling Night 

When: December 17th, 7pm 

Where: RCSD Music Youtube livestream *The flier itself includes a hyperlink to the event. 

Thank You! Kim Foree Elementary Music Chair https://youtu.be/0FhdPSwTZTU 

This week is a holiday dress up week! 

This is going to be a great week! Enjoy the rest of your day!

Sunday, December 6

 

Happy Sunday! From my perspective, last week was a great week! I am planning for the same these next two weeks! 

Today, I have a few reminders for you.

1) OTUS: There are going to be a lot of absences in these next two weeks. I suggest you use your PLC time tomorrow to share ideas and come up with a plan about what, and how to post things to OTUS. I have heard many great ideas from several of you! As you always do, work together to get new strategies and ideas. I will be popping into PLC's tomorrow. Please send me your Zoom link. 

2) Mask Wearing: Remember that mask wearing is required for all kids K-6. If K-2 cannot wear a mask, they can wear a face shield. The reason I mention this, is because I have had a few kids tell me at the gate in the morning that their teacher does not make them wear a mask, so they do not need the one I am offering them. This is concerning because this needs to be a united effort among all of us. Please enforce the culture of mask wearing in your classrooms daily. Thank you!

Below is the information for the Annual Household Eligibility Form. This information was shared with parents Friday and Sunday. It would be great for you to also share the info. Because so few families have filled out the form, the district is potentially faced with losing a million dollars of supplemental funding. 

Reminder: Whether your child is in person or doing distance learning, WE NEED YOUR HELP! 

Here is a link to the letter with additional information: Annual Household Eligibility Letter

Click on this link to fill out the quick and easy form: Eligibility Form

A Push for Social Media Followers: Please encourage families to follow our PTC pages. PTC is posting everything, but if there are not followers, it doesn't go as far. See below.

Follow our PTC Facebook and Instagram pages! Our PTC is doing a phenomenal job of sharing both school and district info. To stay up to date, please follow both! 

Instagram: @stoneridgeptc

Facebook: Stoneridge PTC

Upcoming Meeting Changes:

This Wednesday, Dec. 9th at 2:30pm will be a PLC Leadership Meeting

Next Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 2:30pm will be a Staff Meeting

Have a great week! 

Sunday, December 29

Love this! Pretty fitting these days! I definitely appreciate how all of you 'roll with it.'

I hope you all had a very restful week! You definitely need to refill your cups before embarking on these few weeks before the Winter Break. These next weeks will be busy but great, no doubt! 

I basically copied the family blog to share with you. I think there is a lot of information that you may want to have to share with parents and answer questions. 

Book Fair: November 30-December 4

The book fair is this week! Check out the site and preview what is available. You can make purchases on line or the students can purchase in person. Check out the videos included in Timberwolf TV!

Stoneridge Book Fair

Music Corner

Video Message from Mrs. Vaaler

SAVE THE DATE! RCSD Caroling Night will be December 17th at 7PM. Get cozy with your family and tune in to our holiday sing-along on the RCSD Music Youtube channel. We'll teach you the songs ahead of time in the Community Song portion of your December lessons.

For Parents~ Online Absence Reporting:

Parents can use this to report an absence. This can also be used if they say someone in their family tested positive and they don't know what to do. Have them fill out this form and one of the district nurses will be in contact to tell them exactly what to do. 

We now have online absence reporting available on the RCSD home page. It is available under Parent Resources. (See image below) This link should take you directly to the form: Online Absence Reporting

Sees Candy Fundraiser:

Many of you have taken advantage of our Sees candy fundraiser. This is just a reminder in case you wanted to buy some candy for family or friends. Sees candy is always a holiday favorite! 

Sees Candy for Stoneridge

Hand Sanitizer Donations: 

Our classrooms would greatly appreciate hand sanitizer donations! We all know it is tough to find right now, but if you happen to come across some, we would be so thankful. In order to use the hand sanitizer in our classrooms, it must follow these guidelines:

• Gel hand sanitizer only, no liquid sanitizer.
• Minimum alcohol content should be 60%, preferred is 70-75%
• Sanitizer should not contain methanol (wood alcohol) - serious health implications, especially for children.  FDA has a "do-not-use" list.
• Larger sizes 16.9 oz, 33 oz, or gallon sized should have pumps for ease of use.  Smaller sizes may not be as easy to use but can still be donated.
• Please avoid too many additives (scents, moisturizers, etc) to avoid allergic reactions.
• Please have a single point of contact for hand sanitizer donations in order to ensure it meets the standards before it is distributed to the classrooms.

Reminder~ Staff Meeting: Wednesday, December 2nd at 2:30pm. 

Have a great week!