Lincoln Staff Blog

The first day is almost here, and I can't thank you enough for all of the preparation that has gone into making that day a great one for each and every student. The power of this team is unlimited. Classroom environments have been carefully designed and you have created peaceful and calm learning spaces. Your educator brains are circling around innovative ways to think about BEAR Time. Our students felt the warmth and love that you have already wrapped around them at the ice cream social. Because of ALL of you, it's going to be a wonderful start to the 2022 - 2023 school year!

Every child, every day--together as a Lincoln team!

I am finding out very quickly how fortunate we are to have Mallory, Leath Ann, and Shay. All three have put in superhuman effort to make sure that Lincoln staff, families, and the building has what it needs to be ready for Monday. The two words, "thank you", can not nearly convey my gratitude for the effort and collaboration I have witnessed. We are fortunate!

Classroom teachers: Please use this lunch document to assign seats and note which table in the lunchroom is your table. All tables are numbered in the gym for easy reference. Once complete, I will print and provide it for lunch supervisors.

All staff: Remember that this is the first time that students have used lunch cards in 3 years. This means that older students will not remember how to do this, and younger students have never done this. Each grade level can head to lunch 5 minutes early, but please stagger your times. This means one class may go 5 minutes early and the last will head to lunch on time. Staggering your times will help so that we are not waiting in the hallway for long periods of time. Help from any LRE aides or Bear Team aides that are available at this time would be greatly appreciated! All hands on deck this first week will help our students to learn the routines in a safe space surrounded by caring adults.

Classroom Teachers: Please only take a lunch count for hot lunch. Do not record salads or milk. The salad bar is for hot lunch students only. Anyone needing milk will get their card and go through the line with the milk. There is soy butter and jelly as an alternate option, but please do not count those.

Emergency Cards are here! Please them hang in your room on a hook by the door. Be sure to take time to go through the safety checklist in your blue folder from opening day. Several things need to be done with students to meet safety requirements. Be proactive with safety by ensuring these steps are complete. Because we did not get a chance to practice the all-call, we will schedule that soon so all staff is aware of how to use that system in case of emergency. These forms will need to be signed and returned to the office. Please plan a due date by 9/16.

My goal is to try to compile the expectations for all areas before Tuesday, but if that does not happen, please use your best judgment based on your group conversations to review the expectations. Take your students to the bathrooms, out on the playground, to the hallways, etc. to discuss and practice the routines and transitions. Remember that clarity is kindness, and our students crave clarity so they meet your expectations.

I have included a tab on our building schedule document titled "Family Communication". Please list what form of communication you will use weekly with your families. If you are working as a PLT (professional learning team) and planning together, feel free to send the same communication weekly to ALL of your families. This sends the message that all of our students in that grade level are receiving the same experiences. This is not a requirement but something to consider. You can use Blogspot, SeeSaw, a newsletter, a BCC email, or another method you feel is best. The guidelines for communication are as follows:

*weekly

*include current learning and events that have occurred or are coming up

*include things to ask their student about

Feel free to copy me if you would like so I can celebrate all you do with our Lincoln families!

The office has ordered binder clips for each classroom. They will be arriving soon. If you are in need of these clips to hold your charging cords in place, please come see us once they arrive. We will send out an email to let you know when they arrive. Jason Huber was kind enough to send a picture of his cart so we can see how the clips keep the cart organized and make it easy for students to plug in their Chromebooks at the end of the day.

Jo-Anne will be visiting classrooms during our first week to get Chromebooks checked out to our students. More instructions will be coming about carrying cases. In the meantime, please plan to shut chromebooks down on Fridays before students plug them into the carts. This will allow computers to restart wtih the new updates each Monday. Remember, teachers need to restart on Mondays as well!

We are also working on a plan for cleaning the computers each week. Stay tuned!

Remember the following:

Y5 - 2nd grade:

• Devices will remain at school unless a special situation arises.
• 2 - 3 sleeves to be issued and kept with the teacher for these special situations.

3rd - 5th grade:

• Devices remain at school unless needed for special assignment/illness/trip (situation-based, not whole district rule to send home)
• No devices will go home in Sept. until "boot camp" and BTS night information to parents occurs.

8:10 Drop-Off Begins: Students can go to the playground or enter the building for breakfast

Supervision will be available on the playground.

8:23 Bell Rings for students to begin to enter the building.

Teachers should be outside their doors to monitor the hallway and greet students as they enter the room

8:30 Tardy Bell Rings

3:50 Dismissal

Late start days are just one hour later for all morning procedures.

Half-day dismissal is at 12:09 p.m.

3:30 Shuttle Bell Rings riders should head outside to the bus (11:55 on half days).

Remember our important staff information will be housed in Google Classroom. If you are new to Lincoln, you may use class code 6e2i4ti to join.

Our Lincoln Building Schedule is housed on the Google Classroom page now and tabs will be added to the document as more schedules are built. The supervision schedule tab has been added. Feel free to see me if there are concerns or problems with the supervision schedule. If you just want to make a switch with someone, please see Lara and she will make the switch.

Stay current by checking the Lincoln Staff Calendar. Remember that the SJPS Lincoln Elementary Calendar is a public calendar and can be viewed through the website. You should NOT add dates to this calendar. If you would like something added to this calendar, please see the office to have it added. It will be important for you to view that calendar so you are aware of what our families are seeing.

We are pleased to announce that we have hired Jessica Brickman as Lincoln's new speech and language pathologist! Jessica has a passion for her job and anything kid-related! In her spare time, she loves spending time with her 9-month old puppy and will be getting married in October. She is soon to be Mrs. Gaytan. She also enjoys hiking, traveling, skiing, reading, and exercising. She is looking forward to getting to know all of us and working as a team to best support our students. Welcome Ms. Brickman! We are thrilled to have you join the team!

Please remember that we are required to offer the Pledge of Allegiance each day to our students. This opportunity will happen through the news each day so please find a consistent time in your schedule to play the news. Additionally, please let the office know if you do not have a flag in your room.

The First Week of School

9/5 Labor Day--Non-contract Day

9/6 First Day of School!!! Bring the energy!!!

Y5/K Phase-In: Students A - K

9/7 Y5/K Phase-In: Students L - Z

9/8 Y5/K Phase-In: Students A - K

9/9 Y5/K Phase-In: Students L - Z

Coming Up...

9/12 NWEA Window Begins

9/14 Late Start

9/19 Back to School Night!

1st & 2nd grade: 5:45 pm - 6:30 pm

3rd, 4th, & 5th: 6:45 pm - 7:30 pm

There is no need to copy and distribute the compact and/or the website use consent form at this time.

The plan is to take field trips this year. We are working on using RevTrack to collect field trip money this year. More information to come soon.

We will plan on three parties this year--

Fall Party--October 31

Winter Party--December 22

Kindness Party--February 14

Thank you to Gretchen for sharing this video from the Neutral Zone training.

Thank you to everyone who was able to make the tailgaiting event. It was overwhelming to see our future bear football players and all of our elementary families enjoying the summer evening together. Great community and great schools!

*Sign your grade level up for a PTO Meeting

*Go through the elementary safety checklist

*Record your communication method on the "family communication" tab (building schedule)

*Organize the cords in your computer cart

*Check out your supervision schedule

*Please let us know if you don't have a flag in your classroom

*Bring your passion, enthusiasm, and positive energy on Tuesday! Your new Bears are looking forward to joining you in the classroom!

Email: lknuth@sjschools.org
Website: www.sjschools.org
Location: 1102 Orchard Avenue, St. Joseph, MI, USA
Phone: 269.926.3700