Monday Morning Memo: Monday Morning Memo 4/4/22

Welcome back! I hope your Spring Break was SPECTACULAR and that you had time to recharge and take time for YOU!

Just a reminder that this Wednesday, April 6, is Paraprofessional Day, so please be sure to show every member of our incredible support staff extra TLC. We couldn't make it a day without them!

Donny thank you for hanging another hula hoop rack in my closet and for everything you do for us here! Thanks Russ for always looking out for your PE teachers! The school wouldn't run without you both so thank you for all you do!

and
Abby Kadera for being my go to person with help with reaching out to families and for always keeping your kids and families in the loop! You truly are amazing!

and

Sue for collecting all the skating money and sending out frequent reminders on students who have not turned it in. As well as collecting all my club info as well.

and

Guiding Coalition! That was a FUN and exciting event and so happy that I was able to watch a lot of you bowl! And for those who added their names on our Strike & Spare Club Poster! The kids loved it! :)

- From Amber Mysliwiec

Victoria Miller, Gayle McManaman. Cheryl Schuck for always checking to make sure I am good in the lunchroom with my kiddos

add

Penny, Sonia, Yesinia, and Hilda for being great with my ever changing palates of my kiddos.

-From Colleen Robinson

Kudos to everyone who helped/offered to help clean up my room, checked in on me and my team, and/or offered help on Wednesday. I'm very lucky to work with you all!

-From Emily Welsh

Gayle - you are such an inspiration to our students and school. Thanks for bringing Art into our world. Can't wait to see your newest masterpiece on Monday :)

-From Kim VanHoorelbeke

Thank you to Mike Szotek for helping me - twice in one week! - with some tech issues. Your explanations and advice were appreciated.

-From Mary Santi

Thank you to the Lotus team supporting the complex student situations and for all the time and energy you have put in and will put in this week. Remember that we are truly all in this together!
-From Heather

Please send me KUDOS to give shout outs to colleagues! I LOVE to put them in the Monday Memo! 🎉

2022-23 Calendar Oops!

I made a mistake in the calendar dates, forgetting completely that we are required to take Election Day EVERY YEAR (not just in 2020) as a holiday. This means we will have Tuesday, November 8 off and we push the last day back to Thursday, June 8 (latest last day is Wednesday, June 14 if we need to take all emergency days). The revised calendar is attached to this week's memo, and I'll send it out again after I take it to the Board at the April meeting for an updated approval date.

I'm so sorry. 😔

Work at Camp Duncan?

Camp Duncan is in need of some help with their food service department--specifically staff who would like to pick up some extra work on weekends and evenings.The link below is to the application.

They are looking for folks to start as soon as possible, but mostly on the weekends until summer break so as not to interrupt school schedules. Thanks so much!

https://careers-ymcachicago.icims.com/jobs/14097/food-service---k itchen-assistant/job

Summer School 2022!

More details/confirmations coming on Summer School this week!!!!

Pay rates:

Certified staff--$52/hour (this pay rate uses the end of our ESSR funds, and the rate is higher than other elementary districts in our area)

Support staff--hourly rate + $75 weekly bonus for each week with perfect attendance

Dates for Programs

At Lotus due to Stanton HVAC construction

Mondays-Thursdays, 8:00-11:00AM (11:00AM-12:00PM paid plan time)

Current K-7 students:

6 Weeks:

June 6

June 13

June 20

June 27

July 11

July 18

PreK Plans

2 week Preschool Camp-any current prek students invited

June 6th-9th, June 13th-16th

4 week Transition Program for Kinder-only Kinder age (invite new Kinders from registration if room)

July 11th- Aug 5th (new dates)

If you are interested, shoot me an email!

CLICK HERE for the ongoing Q and A document!

We have N95 and KN95 masks available for staff in each building's office. Please request them if you'd like! :)

Family Member Surveillance Testing

If you have a family member who would like to participate in weekly surveillance testing, we now have the capacity to send tests home for you to give them! We'll mail them in, and you'll get results back via email.

To participate, your family member(s) must register using this link:

Family/Community Member Consent Form

Please let me know if you have any questions!

PLEASE BE SURE TO LABEL THEIR SAMPLE BAG WITH FULL NAME AND DATE OF BIRTH.

Current Local COVID Data

Current D114 Daily Data

4/3/22
CDC thresholds and local data for Lake County
Indicator
Low Transmission
Moderate Transmission
Substantial Transmission
High Transmission
Current Status

Incidence Rate:
Total new cases per 100K persons in the last 7 days
0-9
10-49
50-99
100 or greater
69.77
7 Day Average Test Positivity Rate
Less than 5%
5.0%-7.9%
8.0%-9.9%
Greater than 10%
2.63

D114 Local Zip Codes Data from Northwestern University COVID Dashboard--ALL DATA INCLUDES ACTUAL AND PROBABLE CASES!
Indicator
Low Transmission
Moderate Transmission
Substantial Transmission
High Transmission
Current Status

Incidence Rate:
Total new cases per 100K persons in the last 7 days
0-9
10-49
50-99
100 or greater
41.5

7 Day Average Test Positivity Rate
Less than 5%
5.0%-7.9%
8.0%-9.9%
Greater than 10%
1.97%

-iReady Data

Week of 3/21/22

Week of 3/14/22

-Formative Assessment (updated bi-weekly)

Organizer

Relationships Matter

Resetting Your Classroom

By the time spring rolls around, it often feels like you’re never teaching a full typical week!

Just when you start to get some momentum in a unit, events like spring breaks, standardized

testing days, spring concerts and field trips throw a wrench in your plans. Check out these

five suggestions for how to reset your classroom environment after disruptions to maintain

productivity through the final school days of spring.

Desk Change

This is a super simple action that can have a big impact on students’ perception of your room. A seating change signals a shift in the mood of the classroom, which sets the stage for the rest of your resets.

Firm Expectations

As spring approaches, sometimes our own commitment to consistent and firm behavior management starts to slip. During your reset, invest some time in reviewing your own behavior expectations.

Ask yourself:

Are your expectations clear to students?
Are you encouraging expected behaviors through positive reinforcement?
Do students remember your expectations?
Could students explain the logical consequences that come from breaking expectations?
Are the consequences that follow behaviors logical and consistent?
Are you redirecting students or administering consequences in an objective,
matter-of-fact tone that prevents escalation?

Easy-to-Manage-Activities

When students are dysregulated after a break or disruption, it may feel like an uphill battle to

manage behaviors. At the beginning of the week, prepare something that is still rigorous but

straightforward enough for independent completion. By having a clear, structured lesson that

doesn’t require heavy amounts of collaboration at first, you can focus on keeping

expectations for behavior firm and responding to disruptions with consistency.

Explain & Model Everything

Yes, just like at the beginning of the year!

Whenever you introduce an activity or assignment, explain in very specific language exactly

what your behavior and academic expectations are. This includes whether or not students

can talk, whether or not students can move around the room, whether or not students can

work with peers, and so on.

When explaining, look for and take every opportunity to actually model the task as well.

In the spring, students are looking for chances to avoid their tasks. Don’t give them any

reason to misunderstand your instructions or expectations.

Stay Positive

We’ve discussed keeping your management consistent and firm. But a little joy also goes a

long way during the spring season! Even if you are feeling frustrated and burnt out, it’s

important to resist letting that mood seep into your teaching. Students are perceptive, and if

they can tell if you’ve checked out. If you’ve checked out, they certainly will.

-Community Builder:

Brain Toss Across:

-Have students split into 1-3 groups.

-Students will stand in a circle and

toss a ball back and forth to other

members of the circle.

-Ask content or non content related questions.

The person receiving the ball must answer the

question.

-Weekly Cheer/Silly Sport/Brain Break:

We hope everyone had the wonderful and restful spring break that you all deserve.

Please be on the look out for our spring articulation agenda which will be coming out shortly. We are looking forward to having a chance to meet together and update you on important happenings!

In the meantime, check out the Region 49 newsletter. It has some wonderful information and links to PD as well as upcoming events and discounts.

Have a great week back!

Lotus

PBIS Winners for February

- Walking in the Hall Contest- congratulations to 1st Grade Ms Logar's class & to Ms. Figel's

class.

- Congratulations to Victoria Corrado, Nicole Mild, Cheryl Schuck, & Brittany Miller. Way to Go for continuing to praise our students for positive behavior on a daily basis.

Stay tuned for more information on Field Day!

Important Dates:

April 8th - Announce winners of Walking Quietly and Staff PBIS Point Incentives

Week of April 25th will be Mid Trimester Celebration - stay tuned.

May 26 (Thursday): Field Day

May 27 3rd Trimester Raffle Winners (4)

PBIS Tip: Look what you can do with groups!

"ALL BEHAVIOR IS COMMUNICATION, WE JUST NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT'S SAYING!" - said the PBIS Coach