Friday 9/18/2020
Dear Families,
I know I have shared this with you many times, but it’s worth saying again, I am extremely grateful and proud to be the principal of Llewellyn. When times are tough, we as a community dig deep and can rely on each other for strength. When the work is hard, we come together to lend a hand.
This week has not been without its hiccups. Technology can be like that! And serious challenges and danger due to wildfires that impacted many staff and families close to us, in addition to the pandemic. However, due to the perseverance and resilience of our students, teachers, and families we have made it through our first week of our Fall Distance Learning class schedules. I have heard from a number of students and parents that they have enjoyed the social emotional lessons and the focus on helping our students to learn about themselves as learners. Students were also reported as being engaged and excited to be in school again and are learning to feel comfortable connecting with others online. I know our teachers have been working extremely hard to create that sense of community and belonging in their classes, but more than that they want our students to have fun! Thank you parents for all that you are doing to help our students thrive. We know that balancing student support and your own professional lives is NOT easy. We will continue to make this happen together!
Communication: want to make sure everyone is aware that our Friday Newsletters are one of the main ways we communicate with families. If for some reason you know someone who is not receiving these emails, please let our office staff know and we will work to correct the problem. If you want to refer back to past newsletters or need to find information such as upcoming events, you can also go to our Llewellyn School Website for this information and more! Just click on the Our School tab and scroll down to the Friday Newsletter link. To the right of the most current newsletter you will find a list of previous newsletters listed by date. The best way to reach me personally is through email or by using the Remind App with a text.
IMPORTANT DATES TO SAVE ON YOUR CALENDAR:
Llewellyn School Open House,
Tuesday, September 29th (grades K-2) and Wednesday, September 30th (grades 3-5)
5:30 pm Principal’s Community Meeting
6:00-7:00 pm Teacher Visits (2 sessions each night)
⭐More information to come soon!
In closing, I am excited for the rain that we have received. I hope that it will bring some relief to our firefighters who have been courageously battling the merciless fires all over our state as well as provide fresh air for us all to breathe. To all of our families, friends, and staff who have been impacted by the wildfires in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for assistance and we will help connect you to the resources available.
Be well and be safe!
Principal Pam
New to our Llewellyn family this week! Please join me in welcoming...
LeAnn Teixeira, our new school nurse! LeAnn has been working for MESD in our district for 15 years. She will share her own personal introduction soon.
AND...Adam Hamler, our new Adaptive PE teacher! Adam Hamler Meet-2(1).pdf
From our Counselor: Allie Penix
Many of you have heard from or been introduced to the second half of our amazing counseling team, Ms. Allie Penix. She is excited to be at Llewellyn and wanted to share the following with you:
Hello Llewellyn students and families!
My name is Ms. Allie and some of you might recognize my name from when I introduced myself at the end of August in the Counselor’s “Welcome Back” letter. I am the newest member of the counseling team, and will work as the primary school counselor while our awesome Ms. Brittany is on maternity leave.
To say that right now is an unprecedented time feels like an understatement. Right now it is important to give ourselves permission to feel overwhelmed, and to be kind to ourselves about what a challenging time this is. You are not alone! I would love to hear how you are all doing, so please feel free to fill out this Llewellyn Student and Family Check-In Survey to let us know of any support or connection to resources that your family may need (you can also check the Llewellyn COVID-19 Counselor Community Resource list that I created). I am happy to check in and get to know students individually - just send me an email if you are interested (office hours are coming soon as well)!
My social-emotional focus over the coming weeks will center around resiliency strategies. I will be providing teachers with weekly asynchronous lessons, and my first slide deck (with a video on the 3rd slide) on mindfulness and breathing can be found here, and my most recent video lesson on measuring the size of a problem and then focusing on what we can (vs. can’t control) can be found here.
The resiliency strategy I will be focusing on this week is the importance of having a positive outlook, as studies have shown that resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences.. I understand that sometimes it is harder to see the bright side when we are faced with what feels like immeasurable challenges... I encourage you all to look for silver linings this week, as gratitude is another resiliency strategy and just the act of giving thanks can make you happier.
Please feel free to reach out and introduce yourself - I can’t wait to meet all of you!
Best,
Ms. Allie
apenix@pps.net
From the Library:
The staff in the library is still hard at work assembling book bags to start distribution to students next week. We're excited to get good books back in the hands of students. If your assigned week by last name does not work for your family, simply come the day/week that works for your family. (We're not picky!)
Thank you for the paper bags you've donated for us to use with our book bags. At the time, we have enough, but we may ask for more bag-donations down the road.
Remember to come around to the back of the school at the library door facing 13th Ave. for your Let's Get Reading Book Bags. We will be following COVID safety procedures in the "resting" of books between uses and the dissemination of books. Please wear masks. Once you receive your book bag, there will be discussion prompts included, if families want to generate conversations about the books they're reading.
Have questions or observations about this program, please send them to Nancy Gilkey, Teacher Librarian at ngilkey@pps.net.
Keep reading,
Nancy Gilkey , Teacher Librarian, and Kari Shawen, Library Assistant
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jnxgmzYXgQ6eD7jt9bajMd5GQaHsOIn3DPwy4vCcLjk/edit?usp=sharing
From The PTA:
The PTA is hosting a virtual, informal parent meeting for parents and caregivers to share concerns and ideas with Principal Pam on how they envision the school year and schedules being a success for everyone. We hope that this will give families an opportunity to brainstorm together.
This meeting will take place on Monday, September 21st at 7:00pm. Details are below. If you can't make it, but would like to send your thoughts, or would prefer to share your thoughts anonymously, please email llewellynpta@gmail.com and they will be passed along.
Details for the call:
Topic: Llewellyn Schedules
Time: Sep 21, 2020 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87388476584?pwd=OWNZMC96Q1YzNmMzNWluZGVWdkU5UT09
Meeting ID: 873 8847 6584
Passcode: 424183
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Meeting ID: 873 8847 6584
Passcode: 424183
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcRTjnuR3H
PTA-Room Lead Volunteers Needed!
Hello Parents,
I am coordinating Classroom Leads for Llewellyn this year. Our goal is to have each classroom represented by at least one Room Lead.
While our school year looks different right now, PTA and Mrs. Gwynn feels it will still be helpful for teachers and families to have at least one Room Lead for each classroom. A couple of things that Room Leads can help with this month are:
- encourage all parents in your child's classroom to sign up for Konstella
- be a point person for communication between the teacher and classroom families
- communicate with teacher and gather parent support for teacher/class needs
If you are interested in stepping into this role for your child's classroom, please email me at harrisjsarah@yahoo.com. I will collect your names and send them to your child's teacher.
Thanks!
Sarah Schroeder
