Community Letter

Hello LISD Families,

Have you heard the term “growth mindset?" It’s the opposite of a “fixed mindset” and the whole idea is to celebrate growth and effort rather than ability and intelligence. Adopting a growth mindset means that we believe we are ALL capable of making progress and reaching goals. There is such a strong link between growth mindset and perseverance, our habit of character for the month of January. As we said last week, perseverance is the ability to work toward a long term goal, even in the face of obstacles, setbacks, and disappointments. A growth mindset can help motivate us to persevere when things get hard, and a growth mindset can actually build self esteem! It feels really good to work hard over time and see results!

Our teachers have been engaging students in activities and discussions about this link between perseverance and growth mindset. Below, you will see an acrostic poem collaboratively written by 5th graders and some secondary mindset statements written by secondary students.

Monday is Martin Luther King Day. Though we strive to keep Dr. King's messages of hope, peace, service, love, and equity front and center in our daily lives and work, the holiday gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect. In elementary, teachers are planning special MLK activities for students next week. In secondary, students will be discussing MLK's work and how it applies today during advisory on Tuesday. If you are interested in celebrating MLK Day with your own children and teenagers, here are some activities you can do at home:

1. Watch or listen to Dr. King's speeches.

2. Read a book or watch a movie about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

3. For younger students, make a peace craft.

4. Create your own family day of service.

5. Discuss your kids' hopes and dreams.

All our best to you and your family,

Mary and Martha

Ms. Becca's 5th grade class wrote this creative acrostic poem using the words that represent Perseverance to them. Enjoy!

Easy Beat Chips:

Ingredient Checklist

• 6 medium beets, scrubbed and ends trimmed
• ½ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon dill

Instructions

• Step 1: Thinly slice beets to about 1/16-inch thickness using a mandoline. Place beet slices in a bowl and add salt. Toss to combine. Allow beets to sit about 30 minutes. Drain excess liquid.
• Step 2: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Step 3: Pour olive oil over beets and toss to combine. Mix together garlic powder, black pepper, and dill in a small bowl. Sprinkle over beets and toss to coat. Place beet slices on baking sheets in a single layer.
• Step 4: Bake in the preheated oven until crispy, 40 to 50 minutes. Sprinkle with additional salt, if desired.

  
  

Cook's Notes:

Make sure to slice the beets as thinly as you can, or they will not get crispy. I prefer to leave the skin on the beets, but you could peel them before slicing, if desired.

We are so excited to announce that our STEM fair is back on this year for our 4th and 5th grade students. Ms. Becca and Ms. Lorri have their students working hard on envisioning their projects this year. The STEM fair will be held in the MPR the second week in March. Also on display will be some middle school students STEM projects from Joe Behnke's class. We encourage you all to come see how creative our Lopez Lobos are.

How many ways can you divide a square into 4 equal parts?

First, at the white board, we thought of the basic 3 ways of making 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4. Using tape and measuring meter sticks, we made exact equal parts, then quickly evolved the activity into other ways of seeing 4 equal parts by further dividing the table areas.

What a fun way to spend teamwork math time and use a lot of masking tape!

Summer Hagge is our new human resource specialist. In 2019, Summer moved to Lopez Island after living in Colorado all her life. Aside from her undying passion for human resources, she loves exploring the island with her husband and their two pups. After having some time to acclimate, Summer would love get more involved with the Lopez community. Please give Summer a warm Lopez welcome!

Basketball practice and competition will resume on Monday, January 17. Unfortunately, we will not be able to host spectactors at the next home game on Thursday, January 20, against Friday Harbor. Our Athletic Director, Marina, will communicate that information to the other team. Secondary students will be notified through email, since many students come to games to support their peers. Hopefully, this will be a short lived restriction and we can allow spectators again soon. The student athletes love having a cheering section.

Covid testing for high school school basketball players will be Monday morning, January 17, at 9:00 for girls and 9:30 for boys in preparation for an away game with Lummi.

Middle school girls basketball will begin practice with Coach Emily Berg on Wednesday, January 19.

Once again, our school nurse has been busy COVID testing this week to keep our students safe. Nurse Karen Hattman performed over 60 rapid tests on Monday, as well as multiple PCR tests. She wants to thank students, parents, and teachers for their patience and cooperation this week. It has helped in containing the potential for a much wider involvement in the school community. We are in this new normal time and need to work together to keep our little community safe. Karen would especially like to thank Martha Martin, Karrie Warner, Mary Fordham, and Ed Murray for all their help with testing and communicating with our school families. Extra special thanks to Lauren David for leaving her space in line at the Orcas landing to go back to the Orcas Clinic and pick up more COVID tests so we had enough to finish testing all of our exposures. Lauren, you are a true team player and we are so thankful for you!

P.S. We are experiencing a high volume of water and mud incidents at recess. We have some clothes here, but it would be helpful if everyone had a change of clothes and maybe shoes in their backpack. Thanks!

Secondary semester 1 report cards were posted in the Portfolio tile in Qmlativ Family Access. The printed report cards will be mailed to families this weekend.

There will be a COVID Vaccine Clinic on Lopez Island Friday, January 21. There will also be clinics on Orcas Island January 23 and January 26. Please sign up for these clinics on the San Juan County web site.

There have been many recent changes to COVID protocols designed to help us minimize the impact of COVID-19 on our students. Reduced isolation and quarantine periods and the expansion of Test-to-Stay protocols are welcome changes. Their effectiveness in preventing the spread of disease and keeping our schools open largely depends on wearing tight-fitting masks that contain the aerosolization of the virus. We have reinforced masking requirements for staff, and we want to encourage our students and visitors to our school to help us ensure a safe and healthy environment on campus.

This week, we suspended winter athletics because we did not have a sufficient supply of COVID tests to meet the requirements for participation in interscholastic athletics. We now have supplies on hand, and we plan to resume practices and games on Monday, January 17, 2022. While we will do our best to maintain a sufficient supply of tests on hand, this may be a week-to-week decision based on existing inventory.

Our strategic planning process is moving forward. We have had two (2) Project Team meetings, and we are hosting our first Steering Committee meeting this afternoon. These are small group meetings to work out the logistics of the strategic planning process. Throughout the remainder of this month and into February, we will conduct interviews, focus groups, and surveys that will allow everyone to provide input on the future of the Lopez Island School District. We hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to plot our course into that future.

With a three-day weekend ahead, we hope everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the time off, but please be safe and aware. The Omicron variant has not peaked in our area yet, and we need to be hypervigilant to ensure we keep it at bay in our community.

Thank you.

Ed Murray

LISD Superintendent

Ed Murray, Superintendent

Martha Martin, Secondary Principal

Mary Fordham, Elementary Principal

The Lopez Island School District does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employee(s) has been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination: Civil Rights Compliance Coordinator, Ed Murray – emurray@lopezislandschool.org; Title IX Coordinator, HR Specialist, Renee Koplan – rkoplan@lopezislandschool.org; Section 504, Mary Fordham – mfordham@lopezislandschool.org; OR contact by phone, 360-468-2202, OR mail to 86 School Rd, Lopez Island, WA 98261.

Email: mmartin@lopezislandschool.org
Website: lopezislandschool.org
Location: 86 School Road, Lopez Island, WA, USA
Phone: (360) 468-2202
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lopez-Island-School-District-500747673389618