October!
October
The campus is buzzing with activity. The Halloween Journey is only two weeks away! Please make sure to sign up to help!
The 7th grade is off to Headwaters Outdoor School near Mt. Shasta on Monday for the week.
There are many important pieces of information in today's newsletter as well as some wonderful opportunities!
Important Dates
Tuesday, October 20: Coffee and Crafting in support of the Halloween Journey at 8:30 a.m.
Wednesday, October 21: Board of Trustees Meeting at 3:30 p.m.
Friday, October 30: No school for the Halloween Journey
Wednesday, November 11: Veterans Day - No School
Monday, November 16 - Friday, November 20: Parent Teacher Conferences - Early Dismissal Days at 12:45 p.m.
Wednesday, November 21: Board of Trustees Meeting at 3:30 p.m.
Monday, November 23 - Friday, November 27: Thanksgiving Break
Día de los Muertos - From Señora Marcela
Día de los Muertos is a celebration rooted in Mexican culture and shared by communities around the world. Through flowers, art, photographs, and stories, we honor loved ones who have passed away and keep their memory alive. It is a time to celebrate the love and connections that remain with us.
We are beginning to build our altar for this year’s celebration. Students are welcome to bring photos of people or pets they would like to honor. Please give them to your child’s teacher.
We can only accept photos in standing frames, labeled on the back with the student’s name and class.
Thank you for being part of this lovely celebration!
The P.O.E.M. Committee - From Celsea Jenkins
Join the POEM Committee!
Love our school? Help us spread the word!
POEM (Publicity, Outreach, Events, Marketing) is a small but awesome group looking for new members to help us with multiple projects including tabling at the farmers market and other local events, supporting our ongoing work on the new website, retention planning, promoting school happenings, advertising, and lots of other fun stuff!
No marketing experience needed. No big time commitment is required. Our next meeting is November 10th from 8:45-9:45 AM.
Reach out to Celsea Jenkins (celsea.jenkins@gmail.com) with any questions. We'd love to have you!
Integrative Student Support
How does this approach work in our school?
We have created an Integrative Student Support team (ISS team) that meets every Monday after school. This team is made up of one early childhood representative, one lower grades representative, one middle school representative, one special subject representative, the faculty chair, the pedagogical chair, and the head of school. This year the team includes Ms. Tina, Ms. Lowenberg, Ms. Nelson, Maestra Mora, Ms. Witcher, Ms. Caverly, and Ms. Kaster.
During these meetings we review and discuss strategies and tools that Kim shares in the extensive library of resources. We bring one or two topics every week to the whole faculty that meets on Thursdays. Additionally, we meet regularly with Kim John Payne via zoom.
The ISS team helps teachers in implementing strategies to support students in various ways and oversees follow up. We will continue to share the ways that we are working with students with the Integrative Student Support approach. Below is a strategy that our faculty uses frequently.
ISS Strategy: The Three R's
Responsibility – Request – Redo
A Quick and Effective Playground Dispute Tool
When a disagreement flares up on the playground between children who normally get on most of the time, we first ask them, “Are you all working this out, or do you need a little help to get back to playing?” This offers the children a chance to pause and consider. The steps are:
a. Responsibility - We ask each child to reflect on what their role may have been in the dispute and provide a safe space to speak about it. They each say one thing they take responsibility for.
b. Request - With responsibility taken, now each student can make a request of the other child they are in dispute with. They begin the request with, “I ask that…” It is often surprising how do-able and straightforward their requests tend to be.
c. Redo - Finally each child is asked if they can agree with the request that was made. This is usually not too problematic because the teacher has worked to make the requests small and do-able. The children are free to get back to playing while the teacher stays close by to make sure the requests are honored.
This brief intervention creates small agreements that shift the trajectory just enough to get back to the game and trust in the healing powers that play can often bring.
May We Raise Children Who Love the Unloved Things
May we raise children
who love the unloved things –
the dandelion, the worms & spiderlings.
Children who sense
the rose needs the thorn
and run into rainswept days
the same way they turn towards sun…
And when they’re grown and
someone has to speak for those
who have no voice
may they draw upon that
wilder bond, those days of
tending tender things
and be the ones.
by Nicolette Sowder