Breakfast at PPS

Several years ago, students who wanted to eat breakfast had to skip morning recess time (8:00 to 8:10) in order to eat breakfast in the cafeteria.  You can imagine which choice most students made!  Student behavior data revealed that disruptive behaviors were spiking around 9:00 a.m. - just at the time when those hungry students who had played rather than eaten breakfast were feeling REALLY hungry.  Given the fact that both outside play time and breakfast are important to children, the staff made the decision to reserve time within the regular school schedule for a breakfast meal in the classroom.

The school day at PPS starts with a 20 to 25 minute breakfast and morning meeting time for all classrooms.  Students who ordered a breakfast and those who brought a breakfast snack from home eat their food while the teacher checks in with the group to get them ready for learning that day. 

Not every student eats breakfast during this time.  Some students who ate breakfast already order a breakfast or bring a snack from home to save for a snack time the teacher has scheduled later in the day.  Other students haven't eaten breakfast yet, so they eat right away.  PPS teachers are used to accommodating these different student needs throughout the day.

Students order their lunch on the day they are planning to eat it, but breakfast is ordered for the next day.  For example, on Monday, the teacher will ask which students want to order a breakfast for Tuesday morning.  This allows our PPS Kitchen Staff to prepare for the next day's breakfast early in the morning before we all arrive at school.  While this might sound confusing at first, we started this last year and it worked well for us.

Some families really appreciate the convenience of ordering a breakfast or lunch meal for their child and want to place an order every day.  Click on this link to sign your child up for a breakfast and/or lunch meal every day of the week for the entire school year: Breakfast/Lunch Every Day Order Form 

Teachers will check this form until Friday, September 11th.  If you sign up, your child's teacher will automatically place an order for your child through the end of the school year. 

Meal prices are as follows:

• Breakfast:  $2.00
• Lunch:  $3.25 - students can order a regular school lunch, a sandwich, or a chef salad
• Breakfast milk:  $.65 

Breakfast is free for all families qualifying for free and reduced meal prices.  Lunch is $.40 for families qualifying for reduced meal prices.  When students who qualify for free/reduced meal prices purchase a milk separate from a meal, the milk costs $.65 as it does not qualify as a meal under the Federal meal program.  

The PPS Family Handbook (find it on the PPS Home Page) has more information about school meals.  You can download the .pdf document or call the school office if you need a paper copy.

Please give me or your child's teacher a call if you have additional questions:  (802) 264-5920.

August Welcome Back Letter to PPS Teachers

 

 August 4, 2015

Dear PPS Teachers and Staff,

I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying a wonderful summer.  I’ve been appreciating the change of pace since school ended in June and hope you have, too.  While I’ve caught up with a few of you at school recently, I am looking forward to reconnecting with all of you to swap stories about summer adventures and travels.

With this being the second summer for both Sheila and I at Porters, you can imagine how much fun it was for us to reminisce about this time last year.  We were recalling how Sheila started working here on August 4^th with no furniture in the office.  It had all been moved out for new carpeting to be installed. It stayed out for a good week because the carpet installers were not on schedule (surprise!).  We had a good laugh over that one!  Compared to last year, everything has been going along without a hitch.  I can’t even complain over choosing the second hottest day in July to clean Shed #2.  That one was my own fault…

Our August inservice schedule this year has us meeting as a building for the first time on Monday, August 24^th.  Top priority for me that morning is to share with you our summative student learning data from last year.  Without giving too much away, our collective hard work and focus on instruction paid off big time for our students.  Our data shows dramatic increases in student proficiency, especially for students in our subsidized meal cohort and for students with disabilities.  We’re going to celebrate these results because what we did made a difference.  We will use our work last year as the foundation for the difference we will make for students in the year ahead.

The in-service schedule for Thursday, August 20 – Tuesday, August 25 is included in this mailing. All sessions over these four days are required for teachers.  Support staff should check the daily schedule for the sessions you are required to attend. 

Details about inservice:

On Thursday, 8/20, Katie Novak, author of “UDL Now!” will be presenting for both the morning and afternoon sessions.  I’ve been reading Katie’s book this summer to become familiar with the UDL framework.   Simply defined, UDL is a set of principles for developing a flexible learning environment in the classroom that can accommodate the individual learning differences for all students.  One of the things I appreciate about UDL is that it is compatible with many other research-based approaches to instruction, so you don’t have to throw out everything you’ve been doing in order to “do” UDL. 

If you want some background knowledge about UDL before Katie’s presentation, check out these resources:

·       Video:  "UDL at a Glance"

·       UDL Q & A for Educators flier in this mailing

·       Link to National Center on Universal Design for Learning:  http://www.udlcenter.org/

On Monday morning I will spend some time working with you on concepts from Carol Dweck’s research on “mindset” and how mindset influences motivation and achievement.  Please view this short presentation about growth mindsets and fixed mindsets so you come to the Monday morning session with a working knowledge of that they are.  The goal is to spend most of our time thinking about how we can make a difference for students by developing a growth mindset culture at PPS and less time building our knowledge about the concept of mindset.

Here is the link to view the presentation:  https://experientiallearning.makes.org/popcorn/266a 

(Note:  There are links within the presentation that allow you to dig more deeply into mindsets, but I’m not expecting that you click on them.  If you’re curious and want more information, then click away!).

Bring a photo of yourself to inservice on Monday, 8/24.  I will be putting our photos up on the bulletin board at the front of the building so everyone who visits gets to know us.  I will have 3” circles that you will mount your photo on, so make sure it’s a photo you’re willing to part with for the year.

Updates from the summer:

The school is looking beautiful.  The library and adjoining offices have brand new carpet.  Several rooms have been painted, including the main office.  There is a new shed for recess equipment and (hopefully) a new rock climbing wall, glider, suspension bridge, and vine climber installed on our play structure.  The most stunning change is the hallways.  Mike and Steve have been working with Rick, Robin, Mary Rose, and Karen to completely strip the old yellowed wax from our floors.  We now have sparkling white and blue tiles that will be ready for waxing this weekend.

We’ve been busy hiring for support staff positions since mid-July. We are excited to welcome the following folks to Porters Point School this year:

·       Instructional assistants in special education:  Julie Brigante, Colleen Charnley, Corrine Cote, Sara Downes, Gabrielle Gould, and Erin McIntyre

·       Autism interventionists:  Casey Fredenberg

·       SLP aide:  Caitlyn Rathgeb

·       Teachers:  Kelly Bourgea (K), Sandy Bochanski (Library), Annie Brady (Special Ed)

We have a small “garage sale” area this year.  If you see something you want, please make sure to use the inventory transfer form (look for the clipboard) to record the item number so Central Office can keep track of this equipment.  If there is no number, you are welcome to just take the item to your room.  Equipment that is not claimed will either be stored in the shed or sent to the dump on Friday, 8/21. 

There have been just a few changes to class lists over the summer.  As of 8/4, our enrollment stands at 82 in Kindergarten, 71 in Grade 1, and 93 in Grade 2.  I’ve placed everyone who enrolled as of 7/31. Teacher letters are going out on Thursday, 8/6.  Class lists and the master schedule will be posted on SharePoint by the end of the week.

In closing, I hope you take a few quiet minutes before everything gets “crazy busy” to imagine the difference we will make for our students this year.  Imagine all of the promise and possibility the next ten months holds for each child’s academic and personal growth.  Imagine, too, all of the ways we will work together as a professional learning community to make this promise a reality.  This is important, meaningful work that we are about to undertake together and I cannot think of a better group of people to be doing it with than all of you.  Thank you in advance for everything you will do to make this year the best year at Porters Point School.

Have a great August.  Make sure to stop by and say hello if you’re in the building.  Otherwise, I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 20^st at CHS!

All the best,

Carolyn

P.S.  If you’d like to just click through the links on this letter, look for a digital copy on my blog on the PPS website.

Play First, Then Eat:  PPS Pilots Recess Before Lunch in 2015-16

Eating lunch before going to play at recess is such a tradition in school schedules that one might not ever think to question it.  Interestingly enough, many schools across the country are flipping this scheduling convention and finding that the results are positive.  Schools that schedule recess before lunch have experienced several important benefits for students.

First, students are more relaxed at lunch and focused on eating.  When lunch is scheduled before recess, students are typically rushing to get outside even when cafeteria supervisors give students ample time to eat.  There are less accidents reported in the cafeteria and the room is much quieter.

Another benefit was identified by researchers at Cornell and Brigham Young University.  Their 2014 study, published in Preventive Medicine, found that students eat more fruits and vegetables when they go out to recess before eating lunch.  Researchers compared food waste in schools that had recess before lunch to those with the traditional schedule of lunch before recess.  After 23,000 observations, they determined that students in the recess before lunch schools ate 54% more fruits and veggies than those with lunch before recess.  They also found a 45% increase in the number of students who ate at least one serving of these food items.  Schools that scheduled recess after lunch saw a decrease in students' consumption of fruits and vegetables during the research study period.

Follow this link for more information on this study:  http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/OP/Recess

Finally, students who play before eating are calmer and more ready to learn when they head back to their classrooms.   Teachers found that, instead of using instructional time to sort out recess issues, they were able to move into instruction soon after students returned to the classroom.  Students came back to class reporting fewer issues at recess overall.  This decrease in problems at recess was substantiated by adults supervising recess play at schools that scheduled recess before lunch.

With convincing research and anecdotal evidence supporting this change, teachers on the PPS Scheduling Committee found a way to make recess before lunch work in our 2015-16 Master Schedule.  During the upcoming August inservice, I will prepare teachers to implement the procedure to supervise student handwashing during the transition time between recess and lunch.  We have allotted 10-minutes for students to enter the building and wash their hands before lunch. Should students need less time for this transition, we will increase the amount of recess time for students.  Recess is currently 20 minutes long. 

I will check in with PPS families on how this initiative is working in early October.  This feedback will help us make decisions about how to adjust the recess before lunch plan to better meet student needs.

If you have questions or concerns, please give me a call at 264-5920.

All the best,
Carolyn