Orchard Ranch Weekly BLOG 9.24.18

Useful Links:

Orchard Ranch Bronco intranet website.  Click HERE

INFORMATION & ANNOUNCEMENTS:

(“*” Indicates the number of weeks it’s been in newsletter.)

This week's staffroom Mat Kearney playlist is being brought to you by Joie Darretta!

Lunch Helpers for this week: Mrs. Jackson's class. Click here for the lunch helper schedule! Please send the same 4-5 students this week to help in the lunchroom @ 12:00. Thank you.

Fall Celebrations: The district is guiding all schools away from traditional "age old" celebrations. For example, this year, our kindergarten is doing a "Friendship Feast" not a Thanksgiving Feast with Pilgrims and Indians. This idea is to cross over to other celebrations as well. We will talk about other ideas as we progress through the year.

Halloween: We will NOT be dressing up on Halloween. Our after school "Trunk or Treat" will allow our families and students to dress up. 

Ordering: Thank you for your patience, as it relates to ordering. We've had to and continue to order a lot of items as we grow. We start with the most crucial and then work our way down. We are still trying to get furniture delivered for our portables. As things arrive, we start working our way down the list to ensure proper placement and fiscal availability. Please also keep in mind that sometimes it takes weeks to receive items. The process is time consuming, so thank you for your flexibility. 




LITE Info:

Reminder... We now have EduTyping.  Here are two docs to help. EduTyping- Student Log In EduTyping- Teacher Log In

-District typing program Edu Typing -Students can use at home -Teachers can send instructions to parents as well (give info to staff) -not for 5th because of money -Focus is on grades 2nd and 3rd

Also, for more info on Digital Literacy...

-Digital Citizenship 5 lessons -At the Board Meeting parents were focused on the importance of teaching students the safety of online -When teaching the lessons, give the main idea of lessons and/or combine lessons (some lessons are long)

After School Bus Riders: To help entertain our bus riders, I'm fine with you taking them to the kinder play structure to play on as they wait. Playing in the field can also work, but you may need another option during the rainy/wet season. Thank for continuing to brainstorm.

Monday PLC: We will be meeting in the staffroom for PLC Monday to share out what each grade-level is doing for RtI. 

*Reminder: POD printers are for single pages only. Class sets should be done following the guidelines on the Toshiba Printers and RISO. We have to pay from site funds if we go over our yearly allotment.

*Emails: Please remember to not use student names in emails. Lawyers love looking for names and initials when building a case. If you have to use initials, please make sure the email is business and factual. 

*Chromecarts: Please return chromecarts to the small room in between the library and room 19 when done. This way we don't interrupt either when going to get them. 

Notes from the Psych:  Last week we talked about the different zones and what feelings or emotions might fall into each zone. So why is it so important for these kids to know which zone their emotions fall into? When a student can identify which zone they are in then they are able to identify which tools in their toolbox they can use to get them back in control of their body and mind. What is

a toolbox you ask? A toolbox in reference to the zones is a collection of calming and alerting strategies a student can pull from depending on their present need. The tools in this toolbox are calming or alerting techniques that helps the students in self-regulation. When a student can identify what emotion they are experiencing and the corresponding tool in their tool box to use, they can get back to the Green Zone appropriately. Since the Green Zone is the ideal state of alertness where the student is completely in control of their body and mind, this is the ideal state for the student to be in. If the student is in the Blue Zone they might need to use some  alerting tools in their toolbox to get back to the Green Zone. If the student is in the Yellow or Red Zone then they might need to use some calming strategies to get back to the Green Zone.

Classroom Idea: Create a space in your classroom that has blue, green, yellow, and red construction paper. On this papers have the students brainstorm which emotions they might feel that fall into those zones. Later, if a student is struggling with being in control of their emotions you can refer back to this area of the class.

Have a wonderful weekend and see ya next week!

Note: Dates may change. Please continue to double-check the google calendar to confirm dates.