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A community dedicated to learning, kindness, and celebration!
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In this Issue:
- Upcoming Events
- Problem Solving Together
- Science Rocks!
- Dad's Night Out
- Lincoln Winter Market
- Spring Fling Volunteers Needed
- Lincoln Seeking Washington Reading Corps Member
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Upcoming Events:
- Early Release: Friday, 11/9, 12:25
- Dad's Night Out: Thursday, 11/15
- Lincoln Winter Market: Saturday, 11/24
Additional Important Dates can be found at:
lincolnoptions.org/school-calendar
(tip: this is a google calendar, so if you also use google calendar, you can copy events right into yours!)
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Problem Solving Together
At our school, problems are solved by talking with each other!
By Marcela Abadi
In our school community we solve problems by working together. Our work is to include all children and families and to teach children effective ways to get their own needs met while belonging to, contributing to, and caring for the community. Our goal is to create a community of learners and families who are empathetic, independent, and skilled in resolving disputes, problem solving, and “making it right” (repair).
Children are taught and expected to:
- Focus on learning (social and academic)
- Be kind, considerate, and cooperative
- Follow classroom agreements, all school agreements and playground rules of courtesy and inclusion.
- Actively care for our beautiful space (inside and outside the building)
- Teach and expect polite and acceptable language for a school environment (which may be different than home language)
Children are also taught the language of TWA to help them with playground or friendship challenges.
TALK
Talk to the person directly- “Stop”, “I don’t like that”, “I want to play……”, “Leave
me/him/her alone”.
WALK
Walk away from the situation or person. If he/she doesn’t listen, move away to
protect yourself. Walk to a friend or a helpful adult.
ASK
Ask an adult. Report to an adult. Safe adults include Para-educators, My teacher,
Marcela, and many others. (Ask your child who they see as the adult(s) who they report to or ask help from.)
In each classroom, the teacher and children work together to develop rules or agreements for their class. Children are taught rules of safety and inclusion for the playground, garden, and assembly. An example of a rule of inclusion is, “You Can’t Say You Can’t Play.” With gentle reminders, re-teaching and practice, most children learn to self manage when a mistake is made. This is learning to live and learn in community.
For children who cannot yet self manage, a more intentional process ensues:
- 1:1 problem solving with their teacher, Cathy, Patty or Marcela to clarify the problem, make amends and a make plan for next time. The plan is reviewed and modified as needed.
- If the plan is not working: 1:1 problem solving with Marcela. This may include the teacher or other support person. It also may include restrictions from the playground or other privileges. At this step support staff, paraeducators, Jenny, Sarah, Rachel or Dan may be included and Marcela or the teacher will contact the family to inform them and ask their support for the child. The family, teacher or Marcela may ask for a meeting to review, add to, or enhance the plan.
- And in more chronic, severe or unsafe situations:
- If children are verbally abusive or engage in racial, gender, or “ism” language or putdowns, we will teach the meaning and impact of the “ism”, problem solve AND call parent(s) to notify them and to ask for their support in the plan to educate the child and change the language.
- If children are involved in physical violence, defined as hurting WITH intent and anger, the parent(s) is called and the child or children go home for the day. Parent and child then conference with the teacher and or the principal so the child has a plan for safely returning to school.
And finally…issues of harassment and intimidation:
The District has a definition that we follow (this is also in the purple Olympia School District Rights and Responsibility handbook, you can also find the policy by navigating to the Olympia School District website. Once there, find the tab that reads "About Us." Selecting that tab will produce a menu on the left hand side of the screen. Navigate to Board of Directors and hit that prompt. Scroll down to Policy and Procedure 3207) Part of the definition says: “is so severe, persistent or pervasive…” Given this definition, communication between you and your child, between you and your child’s teacher, and between your child and Marcela is paramount to us working together to keep all children safe. If your child is reporting harassment to you, please report it to us.
We want the opportunity to follow District Policy and our building procedures to quickly resolve the issue, restore safety and generate support for all children involved. It is also important to note that these interventions are often on going and private. Children and families working through difficult relational, health or behavior issues have privacy rights, which we must and gladly respect.
The Olympia School District also has a safe schools reporting service. You can report situations that are unsafe online, via email, or via call or text to 360.529.0938. For emergencies, please call 911.
In a compassionate community we work together, however difficult the issues, to restore safety and harmony. Our goal is to listen intently to you and our shared children to work together in ensuring the safety of all children and to create and live in a community of kindness.
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Science Rocks!
By Paul Rocks
We started the year learning and working in the garden. The garden is such a
wonderful place to connect with nature. Kids get lots of experience harvesting,
eating, working, and making observations. This year we brought out the toaster
oven and the older students started a kale factory restaurant. They spent recess
walking around the playground taking orders for kale chips. The garden cycle
makes a big transition during the months of September and October. After the great
harvest, we put the beds to rest for the winter. We still use the green house all year.
This year, Parker, Kaleb, and Helen (pictured below) come to us from Evergreen and the Thurston County Food Bank and they will be helping kids grow food for the Food Bank and Lincoln cafeteria.
Our next garden work parties are November 3rd and 4th from 10-12! You can also stay in the loop about all of our garden work party opportunities on our new Facebook group.
Our current science theme is a unit on physics. We’re looking at Newton’s Three
Laws of motion, gravity, cause and effect, and energy. Students have been building
roller coasters to experiment with potential energy, stomp rockets to test
action/reaction, and a variety of toys to discover inertia.
Finally, please mark your calendars for our annual Science Fair on February 21, 2019.
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Lincoln Winter Market
Even if you're new to Lincoln as a family, you've likely heard of the Lincoln Winter Market! This favorite community event was started in 2010 by Make Olympia and several years ago, the Options Community Council took over coordination, with proceeds from all vendor feeds going to support our school.
The Lincoln Winter Market showcases local art and handmade goods, with 60+ vendors, yummy food, live music, and a great kids only market.
Come do some of your holiday shopping or get yourself something special!
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Spring Fling Volunteers Needed
By Mike Santana
As we head into our fall weather, there is no better time to begin thinking about next spring. On March 23, 2019, we'll be holding our annual Spring Fling auction, which the biggest and most important fundraising event for the Lincoln Options community.
The Spring Fling raises about 50% of the approximately $65,000 we need to cover the difference between the funding we receive from the district and what it takes to offer our enhanced programming. This evening celebration comes with a lot of laughs, good food, and many opportunities to participate in unique experiences.
The Spring Fling can only happen because for many years there has been a committed group of individuals volunteering to organize and procure everything necessary to throw a party and successful auction for over 100 people. To achieve our fundraising goals for this big event, we need YOUR help!
There are many types of volunteer opportunities for the Spring Fling that can accommodate what we know are busy work, life, and family schedules. For many of the opportunities, you will not even need to leave your house!
Some of those volunteer opportunities include procuring items for the auction, speaking with potential event sponsors, and writing thank you cards to those who support us. Other important roles include helping set-up, staff, and promote the event.
We are looking to fill some of these volunteer positions now as we enter the planning phase, while others will begin in a few months. Whatever your schedule and interest, there is an opportunity for you to contribute to this great event.
If you are interested in volunteering with and getting to know a great group of people, please contact the Fundraising Committee at lincolnoptionsfundraising@gmail.com.
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p.s. - We are seeking event sponsors for this year's Spring Fling auction as well! If you have a business or organization that would like to learn more about sponsorship opportunities, please email us. Sponsoring the event helps us to ensure that all proceeds from the auction go directly back to the school and we can include your organization in our promotions for the event - a win, win!
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Lincoln Seeking Washington Reading Corps Member
We are currently seeking applicants to fill this year's Washington Reading Corps position at Lincoln. This role is integral to helping our students grow as readers. This is a full time position, running for 10.5 months. Members receive a stipend of $1,307 per month (pre-tax) and are eligible for an education award of $5920, dependent upon member’s successful term completion and accumulation of at least 1700 service hours. More information and application instructions can be found here.
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