Lincoln Options

Opus A community dedicated to

learning, kindness, and celebration!

2016 – 2017 School Year December

Calendar Winter is here! December 9 – Early Release 12:32pm 13 – OCC Mtg 6:30 – 8:30 pm 19 – Jan 2 – Winter Break

January 1-2 – Winter Break 10 – OCC Mtg 6:30pm 13 – District Half Day 11:45am 16 – NO SCHOOL MLK Day 24 – OCC Mtg 6:30pm 27 – District Half Day 11:45am 28 – Rummage Sale 9am - 3pm

Inside: Coffee Sale for CISPUS Scholarships page 2 Clothing Exchange Update page 2 Lincoln Science Fair page 3 News from the Library page 4 January Rummage Sale page 5 Lincoln’s Reading Curriculum page 6 Practice Mindfulness & Compassion page 7 Holiday Services page 8 Science Update page 9 Photos page 10 Box Tops page 12 Native-Fairy Garden Thank You & Wish List page 12 Photos by Paul Rocks.

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

2

1

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the children's clothing exchange during conference week. This year, we earned over $850 for our school. I believe, based on the last 4 years that I have been involved, is our biggest earning ever.

In addition to earning money to support programs at Lincoln Options, we sent 14 bags of winter clothing to families at Standing Rock, and have 4 bags of summer clothing that will benefit our sister school, Ruben Dario.

So whether you donated, shopped, helped

Clothing Exchange a Success! By Jeanne Murdock-Zvonchenko

2

with sorting, set-up or clean up-- or all of the above-- a big thank you!

I am currently seeking 1-2 more volunteers to help keep the clothing sale going. I have a third grader, so I would like to work with some young, new families over these next two years and turn over the reigns of this important event before we graduate.

If you are interested or have questions, please contact me:

Jmurdockzvonchenko@gmail.com

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

3

Announcing … Lincoln Science Fair

Thursday, February 23 (note new date) 6:30 pm to 8:00pm Lincoln School Gym

Entry Forms will be available in the office after winter break

What is the Lincoln Science Fair? The Lincoln Science Fair is a non-competitive exhibition of K-5 student created science projects. All 5th grade students are required to participate, more information will be coming home.

Important Dates Monday, February 13: Deadline to turn in Science Fair Entry Form to the office

Thursday, February 23: SCIENCE FAIR! 6:30-8:00 pm

How can I get Started? • The Lincoln and Timberland Libraries have a number of books with ideas for science

fair projects. • Think of questions, and ways to answer those questions. • Do your own online search. Enter “science fair” into your search engine and see what

comes up!

Can adults help? Yes, by all means. Adults can help you select your topic, help build your display, help gather materials and help figure out ways to organize things, but adults should not do your science thinking or complete your project for you.

Questions or to Volunteer Contact Paul at 596-6458 or procks@osd.wednet.edu

Please no volcanoes or projects with live animals

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

4

News from the Library

By Kari Riggs, Lincoln Teacher Librarian

1

Make reading a part of your family time this winter break! Family time is so important… why not make reading part of this valuable time with your kids? Reading at home is a very important part of a child’s development. It creates a connection between the home and school and allows students the opportunity to practice new reading skills such as fluency and comprehension and, most importantly, it is FUN. Here are a few tips for home reading during break. Enjoy a variety of reading activities: • Read bedtime stories • Play board games • Visit your local library • Read a recipe and cook something yummy together! • Create a comfy reading space in your home. • Put your child in charge of reading the grocery list at the store. How To Read With A Beginning Reader: • Encourage your child to use his/her finger to point to each word. • Take turns reading a sentence each or a page each. • Talk about the story as you read it. • Don’t be afraid to read the same book again! Repeated reading helps build reading fluency! • 15-20 minutes is plenty for a beginning reader!

2

Keep Reading To Your Child: · Children continue to benefit from being read to after they become independent readers! Time reading together allows you to stretch your child’s comprehension and provides a great opportunity to talk about issues in stories that connect to real-life. Check For Understanding • Start the book by making predictions. What do you think will happen in this story? • Ask questions and make comments during the reading process. • After reading a book, have your child tell you the events from the story in the correct order. • What was the problem in this story? • How did the character feel when…? • Encourage your child to make connections. Does this story remind you of another book you read, an event in your life, a movie? And most importantly… HAVE FUN as you share reading with your child!!!

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

5

Now Accepting Donations for January Rummage Sale The annual rummage sale - held in Lincoln’s gym - supports the work of The Thurston – Santo Tomas Sister County Association – the parent organization of Lincoln’s Sister School Committee. Proceeds from the sale of your gently used clothing and household goods go directly to our sister community. The volunteers at TSTSCA work closely with the teachers and community at Ruben Dario – Lincoln’s Sister School in Santo Tomas, Nicaragua. TSTSCA supports a free-lunch comedor in the neighborhood of Ruben Dario, coordinated the delegation which brought two teachers from our sister school to Lincoln last spring, and supports Lincoln’s Spanish Committee in their efforts to coordinate the exchange of pen-pal letters between the sister schools. Rummage Sale Date: Saturday, January 28th, 2017 How you can help:

• Put that date on your calendar – we’re sure to have a few treasures you’ll want to take home with you.

• Keep us in mind by starting a donation box now. • Donation of smaller items can start now. Call Lincoln teacher Emily Petrie with the

contact information below and she’ll pick up your donation and transport it to a storage space until the sale

• Large items can be picked up and stowed away the week prior to the sale. - Or - • Drop off your donation on Friday, January 27 th between 4 and 7 PM.

Your donations are key to the success of our sale. We are looking for the following (types of) items:

• Clothing • Household items such as dishes, blenders, knickknacks, art, rugs lamps, etc. • Jewlery • Outdoor equipment • Toys and baby supplies • Furniture such as desks, bookcases, stuffed chairs • Suitcases

We cannot accept: TVs, couches, large appliances, cribs, car seats, mattresses or boxsprings, For more information about TSTSCA check out: oly-wa.us/TSTSCA/ For more information about the Sister School Relationship: lincoln.osd.wednet.edu/1our_approach/ruben_dario Please contact Emily Petrie at 360.480.8720 or epetrie@osd.wednet.edu . ~ Thank you for your support!

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

6

By Marcela, Lincoln Principal

1

As many of you might remember, last spring the Lincoln Options staff, along with many, many parents, advocated for a reading curriculum that best fits with our philosophy. It was a long battle with the Olympia School District School Board because the District’s proposed curriculum, Wonders, was not a good fit for us. The Lucy Calkins Units Of Study in Reading dovetails well with the Options Philosophy in that it can be used in Multi-age classrooms, can be aligned with thematic based units, and students are able to choose to read books at their reading level and interest. We are happy and excited about this victory because we are able to use a curriculum that fits with the philosophy, as well as evaluate, and measure student growth in reading. In addition, the Lincoln Option Staff have been using Lucy Calkins Units of Study in Writing for over 20 years. The Reading curriculum is aligned with the writing curriculum and they support each other. Much gratitude to the Olympia School Board for acknowledging that as an alternative program we need the ability to use a curriculum that best fits us. So far we have had a day and a half of training from Lucy Calkins Teachers College trainers. Jamie Hudson, our instructor, has given us a deeper understating of reading strategies, differentiation approaches and assessment procedures that we are and have been excited to implement.

2

Assessments have been a significant part of the training and dialogue. The Options Program philosophy states “that testing will be kept to a minimum” and that has been a struggle to maintain. Lucy Calkins’ curriculum has diverse assessments and they are all classroom-based assessments. This means that the emphasis is on what is going on in the classroom and the evidence the teacher is collecting daily. One of the assessments that Lucy Calkins strongly advocates for is called Running Records. This assessment is given individually to measure the reading level of your child. It measures your child’s growth throughout the year. This also correlates with the Options Philosophy in that the student growth assessments allow for varied developmental levels. This also encourages student motivation through self-determination instead of being challenged through competition and peer pressure. You will be receiving a letter from your teacher about your child’s reading level. This is a work in progress for us in that the assessment is given individually and that takes a long time. In addition we need volunteers to sort through and label our Units of Study library and organize individual classroom libraries.

News About Lincoln’s Units Of Study Reading Curriculum

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

7

Practice mindfulness and compassion By Marcela Abadi, Lincoln Options Principal, and Mimi

4

2

It can, unfortunately, be all too easy as we attempt to navigate our way through our busy days to loose touch with these tenants of courtesy, respect, and kindness. Remember that children learn by example. It is important for all adults to model respectful and courteous behavior. If someone holds the door open for you… say thank you. And if you are ahead of someone… hold the door open for them. If you bump into someone…say I am sorry or excuse me. Practice mindfulness and compassion… and gently remind each other, assuming best intentions all around. Mimi and Marcela

1

Hello Dear Lincoln Options Families, A family member approached me to express concerns about some unkind behaviors she has observed in our community. These are things experienced by her more than once, and perhaps other adults have had similar experiences. She has noticed on a number of occasions a lack of consciousness around kindness, respect, courtesy and honesty, especially at the end of the school day. She has experienced adults, in their rush to get their student(s) to or from class, running past her, sometimes even bumping into her and her child without acknowledgement or apology. During assembly, adults often talk to each other without respect or reverence for the presentations being offered… or they let their younger child talk and be disruptive. These are just a few of her observations. We are “a community committed to learning, kindness, and celebration. Being considerate, compassionate, kind and inclusive while embracing and celebrating diversity is foundational to our Options philosophy.

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

8

Holiday Services 2016 BarbO’Neil’sFamilyandFriends FreecommunityChristmasDinner Christmas:SaturdayDecember17th12pm-6pm DSHSCommunityServicesOffice ToysforTotsprogram360-725-6550 OpentoThurstonCountyresidentswhoarereceivingTANForDSHSBasicFoodprogram SignupinpersonfromNovember28th-December16th,8:30am-4:30pm DSHSCommunityServiceOffice,locatedat6860CapitolBlvdSEBuilding2,Tumwater,WA98501

FamilySupportCenterofSouthSound HolidayGiftProgram360-754-9297 ApplicationsarebeingtakenforfamiliestobeadoptedonM-W-F,itissuggestedthatfamiliesarrivebetween9:30am–10:30am,therearenoguaranteesyouwillbeseenoradopted. FamilieswhohavenotreceivedassistancethroughotherprogramsmaybeabletoreceivesomelastminuteassistanceprovidedonawalkinbasisonlyonDecember22nd. FamilySupportCenterofSouthSound,locatedat201CapitolWayNOlympia,WA98501

OlympiaUnionGospelMission BreakfastChristmasDay,Dec.25thstartsat8:00am. DinnerChristmasDay,December25thstartsat2:30pm 413FranklinSt.NE,Olympia,WA98501 RochesterOrganizationofFamilies(ROOF) OperationSanta OpentofamilieswhohaveachildintheRochesterSchoolDistrict.Call360-273-6375nowtomakearegistrationappointment.RegistrationendsDecember2nd ROOF,locatedat10140Highway12SW,Rochester,WA PleasebringwithyouphotoIDandproofof:income,physicaladdress,andchild’senrollmentintheRochesterSchoolDistrict SouthSoundYMCA FreeFamilyFunNight PhotoswithSanta,children’sgifts,games,artsandcrafts,andfamilyswim. December2ndat6:00pm. LocatedatthedowntownYMCA,510FranklinSt.SEOlympia98501 YelmCommunityService ChristmasFoodBaskets360-458-7000. OpentoresidentsofYelmandRainer. ChristmasDecember22nd1-4pm.AttheFoodBank,Yelmlocatedat624CrystalSpringsStNW,Yelm,WA98597. Proofoflocaladdressandproofoffamilysizerequired

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

9

Science Update

By Paul Rocks

1

I wanted to update families on some statewide changes to science instruction. In 2013 the State of Washington adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These are a set of K-12 standards that were developed nationally, and many states have adopted them. As a public school we are required to teach these standards, and as an Lincoln Options teacher I have a responsibility to uphold our program’s philosophy of developmental focus, curiosity, creativity, and experiential learning. As I plan activities for your students, I hold these two entities at the same time. The authors of the NGSS wanted to create an environment where students become well rounded science thinkers. Historically, science instruction in the United States has focused on memorization of content. The three main dimensions the

2

the NGSS are: Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas (content), and Cross Cutting Concepts (thinking skills). Science and Engineering Practices are the process of of doing science, things like asking questions, analyzing data, developing models. Disciplinary core ideas are the content of science (life, Earth/space, physics), and Crosscutting concepts are skills like observing cause and effect, finding patterns, and understanding systems. I’ve been teaching long enough to see standards come and go, I think this framework is a good match for our work at Lincoln. Above all, I want students to be connected with nature, to understand the world around them, to be curious and creative problem solvers, and to be engaged in learning and thinking.

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

10

Photos by Paul Rocks

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

11

It’s our

Opus Send items to Sarah

Clifthorne at opuseditor@gmail.com by the 15th of each month for next

month’s issue.

Lincoln Options Opus December 2016

Our Native Fairy Garden is almost done! Do you have a truck to help us transport a log? Do you have any native plants? Contact Michael Stine mstine@osd.wednet.edu A huge THANK YOU to Jimmy, Molly, Sam, Christa, Dee, Brian, Claudia, Lena, Hilary, and Michael (and others we may not have written down) for sharing your time and talent with us on Friday and Saturday over Veterans Day holiday weekend to make our fairy dream come true!