The Wolf Tracks
Lot Whitcomb Elementary
Principal Cathy Lehmann
7400 SE Thompson Road
503-353-5660
Milwaukie, OR 97222
Fax: 503-353-5675
Dear Lot Whitcomb Families:
What an amazing fall this has been. Your children have come back to school eager and ready to
learn. Each day they enter our doors with smiles on their faces and determination
in their hearts. To
September 19, 2014 Volume VII
see them entering our school each day eager to learn and make connections to our community starts my
day with a smile on my face and a clear mission ahead - Learning for all of the students of Lot Whitcomb.
This year our staff and students are beginning to work from a new perspective on learning and
growth. We are using the important concept of Mindset to support and encourage our students’ learning.
Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol
Dweck in decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference.
Dr. Dweck realized that there are two mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are
simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of
developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success - without effort. They’re wrong.
In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through
dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of
learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all people who achieve top
performance have these qualities.
Research shows that people with this view reach higher levels of success than people with
fixed mindset beliefs. Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of
business, education, and sports. It enhances relationships, and increases achievement. In this
newsletter is a short parent overview on Mindset with some resources that I encourage you to read.
Please mark your calendars for some important events at Lot Whitcomb. Attached is a flyer
with dates for grade level curriculum nights. Our staff decided to spread out our parent information
nights by grade level so that parents can attend multiple children’s classrooms.
I am also including the dates of our all school Wolf Pack Meetings. These are fun assemblies
once a month where we come together and celebrate our learning and accomplishments as a community.
Our first PALS (Parents Actively Lending Support) meeting was wonderful with just under 40
people in attendance and planning some exciting community building activities for our school. Please join
us at our October meeting on 16th from 6:00-7:00 with child care provided.
Our PALS fall fundraiser will be kicking off on October 2nd. This fundraiser is optional. We
continue because of the financial success that it created for our activities throughout the year. PALS is
also sponsoring a Harvest Party and “Whitcomb’s got Talent” talent show. These events will take place
on the evening of October 23rd. Please watch for more information coming home soon.
If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s education or well-being at Lot
Whitcomb please give me a call or send an email. We are here for your children and for you as well. This
is going to be a great school year!
Cathy Lehmann
Principal
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Safety Calling
Changing After School Plans?
We ask that you please call the school
office by 9:30 AM any day that your
child will be absent or late.
To help insure the safety of all our children, please
be sure to always send a signed and dated note
any time there is a change to your child’s normal
after school routine. If a last minute change
becomes necessary, please make every effort to
call the school office prior to 1:30 pm.
Without a note, or a call from you, your child will be
sent home according to their normal after school
routine.
It is very important that you call us each
day if your child will be not be here! We
use our district’s automated parent
calling system to check on your child if
they are absent and we have not heard
from you by 10:00 AM.
Thank you!
You’re invited to ELD Day!
(English Language Development)
Learn about the English Language Development Program
at Lot Whitcomb
Friday, October 24th in Room 110
Learn about the English Program, meet the ELD teachers, observe your
child’s classroom during the day
Choose one time:
9:00 - 10:00 AM**
11:30 - 12:30 AM**
2:45 - 3:30 PM ** /*
**Spanish Interpreters available /*Russian Interpreters available
Others Interpreters available, let us know!
Meet Teachers Tami Nelson, Erica Smith, Lauren Bazious, Rachel Kimbrow
Bilingual Assistant, Carolina (CA) Azar.
School Picture Day is Coming!
School pictures will be taken on Tuesday, October 7th.
Watch for order forms to come home soon.
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Wolf Pack All School Assemblies
Parents - Please join us when you are able
2014-2015
Mondays 8:40 - 9:15
September 15
October 13th
November 10
December 8
January 12
February 9
March 9
April 13
May 11
Wolf Pack Assemblies are all school meetings that we use to
celebrate our school’s successes and to set new goals for our
community.
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MINDSET INTRO FOR PARENTS
™
Your school is teaching kids about Mindset. It is important for you to be aware of what it is, why it’s
important, and how you can support it.
Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in
decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference. Dr. Dweck
realized that there are two mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits.
They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe
that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.
In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard
work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is
essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all people who achieved top performance had these qualities.
Research shows that people with this view reach higher levels of success than people with fixed mindset beliefs.
Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports.
It enhances relationships, and increases achievement.
No parent thinks “I wonder what I can do today to undermine my children, subvert their effort, turn them off
learning, and limit their achievement.” Of course not. We think “I would do anything, give anything, to make
my children successful.” Yet many of the things we do boomerang. Our best intentioned judgments, our
lessons, our motivating techniques often send the wrong message, unintentionally.
In fact, every word and action sends a message. It tells children – or students or athletes – how to think about
themselves. It can be a fixed mindset message that says: “You have permanent traits and I’m judging them,” or it
can be a growth mindset message that says: “You are a developing person and I am interested in your
development.”
The most important thing you can do to help your child instill a growth mindset is to praise them for effort
rather than for talent. Messages like “You learned that so quickly! You’re so smart!” teach the child that effort is
a sign of weakness and that they either are or aren’t smart. If they encountered difficulty in the future, they
wouldn’t know how to deal with it. Instead, messages such as “I like the way you approached that problem”, or
“good job to hang in there and find a different strategy that did work”, or “sorry, that seemed to be too easy for
you, let’s do something more challenging”, teaches kids that effort is something we can all benefit from to reach
our full potential, and that they need to be working purposefully in order to grow.
You can visit the Mindset website, http://mindsetonline.com/, read Dr. Carol Dweck’s book Mindset, or visit
the Brainology website, which your kids’ school is using to instill a growth mindset in kids and adults:
http://www.mindsetworks.com/
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© 2013 Mindset Works, Inc.
HIGHER STANDARDS
STRONGER MINDS
These standards, also known as the Common Core, are a set of high learning
expectations in math and English that are designed to better prepare K-12 students for
success in college, work, and life. The standards offer a clear picture of what students
should know and be able to do at every grade level. They have been voluntarily
adopted by 46 states.
STANDARDS IN
Until now, every state has had different learning standards.
Common Core fixes that and raises the bar for learning. This
is a big change in the way students learn and one that will
80% of Oregon
teachers report what is
Oregon students compete for the quality jobs our state has
taught in their school
to offer. They are higher standards for all students.
aligns with the new
college- and careerready standards.
Before these standards, all 50 states had different sets of expectations for what
students should know and be able to do in each grade. Common Core provides a
consistent set of learning standards and expectations for all students, no matter where
they live.
understanding of key concepts. They build on one
another, allowing students to apply the skills and
knowledge learned in the previous grade to real-life
situations.
Common Core focuses on building and applying realworld skills students need to be ready for college and
work -- so they can be more competitive in the new
global economy.
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