校長から
From the Principal

Hello, こんにちは, Kon'nichiwa Dear Richmond Community,
and Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year! 

I hope this first issue of our weekly Bulldog Bulletin finds you healthy and hopeful after what has been another very unusual summer break. If your family has been at Richmond over the last 3 years, your kiddos probably know me as Kyoto sensei (the name for Assistant Principals in Japanese schools that the teachers recommended.) I’m honored to now be serving in the Interim Principal role for this amazing community and look forward to introducing our newest team members as the PPS HR processes continue in this challenging hiring season for our nation.  We so appreciate everyone’s ongoing patience, grace, and flexibility as another unique school year begins. While I hope we will all continue to lean into those qualities, I also want to encourage us to lean into one another, because I believe, We’ve Got This because We’ve Got Each Other! 

We will continue to use and refine many of the systems we’ve developed as a team over these last three years, including this Bulldog Bulletin. It’s our weekly communication tool from school to home and across the Richmond community. This year, we plan to send it out on Wednesdays. Every issue will include information, updates, and reminders - from the district, school departments, the office team, and our community partners, including the PTA, Oya No Kai, and Richmond Foundation (please be sure to scroll all the way down to see today’s Foundation message with a special plea for support.) I hope you find our community Bulletin to be a dependable and useful source of information!

As you know, the world is shifting beneath our feet daily, and we are moving with it as best we can. We are looking at every challenge as an opportunity as we plan with an abundance of caution and safety at the forefront knowing that our community will always come together to support and care for one another. Below you will find some details for the upcoming school year as we look forward to seeing our children's smiles (behind their masks) five full days a week. The next weeks’ Bulletins will have lots more information for us, so we hope everyone will be reading!

All Best, Be Well, and Let’s Take Care of Each Other
Alicia sensei

学校から
From the School

CALENDAR Items of Note:

• Class Placements ‘letters’ are coming to families next week, so keep your eyes on your email. For Kinder & 1st Grade, these will include the info for your Ramp Up schedules
• 8/19 (today) Richmond Office opens Hours are 7:30-4:00; doorbell at Main Entrance
• 8/28 Sat. PTA Community Care & Connection Day at Richmond; Community Care campus clean-up starts 9am & Social Play is 1-3pm! Come to the campus to spruce, play, and make friends within other families!

PPS Ramp Up to School Schedule

• 9/1 Wed. First Day of School for All 2nd-5th Graders - YAY!
• 9/1 & 9/2 Wed. & Thurs. Half of 1st Grade attends each day; Kinder families have distance-connection conversations with their teachers
• 9/3 Fri. ALL 1st Grade attends - YAY!  Half of Kindergarten attends
• 9/6 Mon. - HOLIDAY - NO SCHOOL ANYONE
• 9/7 Tues. Other half of Kindergarten attends
• 9/8 Wed. EVERYONE ATTENDS - YAY! And (PPS allowing) PTA hosts the New Family Tea directly after Arrival for KG, 1st Grade, and any other families new to the Richmond Community 

PPS Operations - Pandemic Updates
For the MOST current info, please explore the PPS BackToSchool2021 site which is being updated in an ongoing way and informing all of our planning.

• As of right now we will welcome students back to school with masks on at all times when we are inside the building.  
• We are asked to create 3 feet of distance (when possible, per ODE’s RSSL). 
• We will perform visual health screenings at each entrance as students enter the building.  The details on which door your student enters will come in future communications prior to school starting.
• Recess does not currently have any modifications. However, we plan to encourage all students to wear their masks while outside as an extra safety precaution. 
• Lunch… We are awaiting specific details regarding protocols and will share information when we get the directive from OHA/PPS. (If we can do it, we may need Community Volunteers to support our creative outdoor dining idea - pls stay tuned and be sure your PPS Volunteer Background Checks are in order if you want to be able to help out...THANK YOU, ありがとうございました, Arigatōgozaimashita!)

NOTES & REMINDERS
School Supplies
Thank you very much to the families who have already donated to our school supply fund! Your donations have made it possible for our teachers to have pencils, erasers, folders, notebooks and all other desired supplies ready for our students on the first day of school. 

Instead of asking each family to shop for their child(ren)’s school supplies, we are supplying the teachers with what they need and suggesting families make a $25 donation per student. We understand families may not be able to give that amount or have multiple children attending Richmond, so please give what you can. This donation goes directly to supplies needed in your child's classroom. Here is the SchoolPay link to donate online. Checks can also be given to staff on campus. Thank you for your kind donations!

Yearly Online Verification for 1st - 5th Grade families only:
(Kindergarten and other new-to-PPS families can disregard this message)

Each year parent/guardians need to review and update the information on file for their children in the PPS system. This information can be reviewed, edited, and submitted online via PPS ParentVUE. A link to ParentVue can also be found in the quick links section of our school homepage here. If you need to reset your password, please see these instructions under "Further Information" down towards the bottom of the page. If you need other help logging in to your ParentVue account, please contact school secretary Kirstin at kyamakawa@pps.net.

After School Care and Activities 
PPS advises families seeking child care options to contact childcareservices@pps.net. Other possibly helpful sites include PPS Childcare Info, 211info.org and http://ccrr-mc.org/. See the note below from our own amazing PTA about their family support page with contact information for offsite programs that are historic Richmond partners. There may be onsite activities and clubs offered soon, and updates will be posted there and shared here as things move forward. 

Visit our PPS School Webpages
Mentioned often, and bears repeating, HERE is a great place to look for school information. Choose View All in the Calendar section on the right to get months-at-a-glance. The Button Spots above the School Name (Food Menu, Bus Routes, etc) will take you to PPS Nutrition Services to help you get set up with school meals, PPS Transportation for planning bus route, etc. Quick Links on the left has a number of resource pages below it, including our new & always under construction Helpful Qwik Links Doc, where we will post the updated Community Handbook, School Maps, and other important items as well as our (also new from last year) Family Q&A tools that we use to share answers to submitted questions. Something on our site not working or needing clarification, please let our office team know!

コミュニティから
From the Community

PTA

Richmond Community Care & Connection Day - Saturday, August 28th!
Richmond Elementary School Grounds - 2276 SE 41st Ave
Come at 9am for Community Care Campus Clean-Up; PTA Social is1-3pm 

PTA Super Green Team and Community Care Day  -  9-11am Sat. 8/28
When: Saturday 8/28, 9-11am - Our first clean up of the year is PPS Community Care Day. This year we need to bring all of our own tools, supplies, water & snacks - covid safety. Wheelbarrows & shovels especially helpful for filling the play pits with the district-supplied bark chips & spreading mulch onto the Nature Walk.

(Super Green Team helps tend the school garden areas including the front of the school, learning garden, nature path, and Elm trees. SGT also helps with lunch time composting and various recycling drives throughout the year along with an awesome spring plant sale. If you have an interest in any of the above things and can lend some time, we’d love to have your help! Email us at greenteamrichmond@gmail.com or through Konstella and say Hello!)

PTA Ice Cream Social Reimagined!
Join the Richmond PTA for an All-School Play date in lieu of the Ice Cream Social

When: Saturday 8/28 1-3pm - While we have just learned that PPS is not currently allowing community use of the inside of it’s buildings until further notice, we welcome families to come to the school to kick-off the year together. Kids can enjoy the new playground and parents and caregivers can visit the Parent-Group and After School Activities Information Booths, mingle with one another and discover ways to become more engaged and involved with this incredible school community during what is sure to be another unique school year.

Please Note that NO restrooms or water stations will be available, per PPS current policy, so please plan accordingly. Masks are strongly encouraged throughout the event.

PTA Communications
FaceBook: The JDLI Facebook page is a friendly forum for the entire Richmond School Community and a great place to get connected. Each class also has its own JDLI Facebook page, just search the year of your child’s graduating class and join.

PTA Website: General information on the Richmond PTA can be found at: www.richmondptapdx.com

After school activities list: Updates are being made as more info becomes known. Some vendors will be at the Sat. 8/28 PTA Social between 1-3pm to connect with you!
Click here for most current info

2021-2022 Volunteer Opportunities 
You are invited to join the incredible community of Richmond PTA parent volunteers by stepping into any of the following open PTA Board positions for the 2021-2022 school year:

• Co-Secretary
• Classroom Support Chair
• Equity Committee Co-Chair
• Super Green Team Co-Chair

Richmond’s PTA is looking forward to continuing to build community, encourage family engagement, and support our teachers and staff this school year, and is in need of volunteers like you to help make it all happen! For more information about any of these open positions, click here or email us directly at: richmondptapdx@gmail.com

Richmond PTA focuses on Equity
All are invited to join the Equity group. If you would like to participate email richmondequitypdx@gmail.com.

In this section the Equity committee will share and introduce language related to our equity work both in English and Japanese. This will allow us to learn, use common language and create an opportunity to discuss equity related topics, allowing us to collectively grow as a school community.

リッチモンド小学校PTAは公平性に焦点を当てています。
この章では、公平委員会が公平性への取り組みに関連した用語を英語、日本語の両言語で共有、紹介します。これによって、私たちは学習すること、共通言語を使用すること、そして公平性に関わる問題について話し合う機会を設けることができます。また、学校コミュニティとして共に成長することができます。

Equity: The state, quality or ideal of being just, impartial and fair. The concept of equity is not the same as equality, in which all people are treated the same. In a school setting, achieving equity means that some students require more than an equal amount of resources; they require their fair share of resources. Source: PPS Racial Equity and Social Justice policy documents, with editing by Richmond PTA. Japanese translation by Yuki Wallen. 

公平性：人間の存在の状態や質、さらにはその目指す所が、偏ることなく公平かつ公正であること。すべての人が同じにみられるべきという平等の概念とは異なる。教育の文脈における公平性とは、ある生徒は、他の生徒と平等に割り振られたリソースよりも多くのリソースが必要な場合があること。個人の特質に見合った、公平なリソースを必要としているということを意味する。出典： PPS Racial Equity and Social Justice policy documents（Richmond PTAにより一部編集）日本語訳 : ウォーレン 由紀

Richmond Foundation　リッチモンドファウンデーション

Last year our Community came together in these challenging times to complete funding for a critical core teacher position! With the Covid-19 enrollment decline that happened at Richmond last year, our PPS Staffing allocations were cut in unexpected ways, and we did not feel we could ask our community to do more that help fund one position given the economic landscape. We would like to invite anyone in our community who can, to contribute now in an effort to restore our two lost half-time Education Assistant positions. If we can raise 10K before school begins, we may be able to make this happen! 

Foundation NEEDS VOLUNTEERS
We are looking for community members who would like to volunteer their time to help support Foundation goals through serving on the Foundation board. If you’d like more information, please reach out at rsf.pdx@gmail.com or check out our new website https://www.richmondschoolfoundation.org/.

校長から
From the Principal

Happy Summer, Richmond Families! I am writing to you today for my final issue of the Bulldog Bulletin. Thank you for all the kindness you’ve shown me since I’ve announced my departure from Richmond; I will look forward to hearing about all of the future successes of this amazing school community over the next many years. 

This is our final Bulldog Bulletin of the 2020-21 school year; we anticipate that the next issue will be sent around August 17, 2021. The Richmond office will close for the year on June 22 and will reopen on August 19, 2021. 

If you missed any of our Family Q&A questions/responses or the recordings of Community Conversations across the year, including information on next year’s staffing configuration, you can find all of this information archived in past Bulldog Bulletins on the Richmond website. 

Enjoy a safe and happy summer,
Best wishes, 
Ron Young

学校から
From the School

2021-22 School Supplies
In lieu of asking families to shop for school supplies, we are suggesting a $25 donation per student. We understand families may not be able to give that amount or have multiple children attending Richmond so please give what you can. This donation goes directly to supplies needed in your child's classroom. Here is the SchoolPay link to donate online.

2019-20 Yearbook Distribution in Fall
We intended to distribute last year’s 2019-20 yearbooks before the end of this school year. Unfortunately, the yearbooks are still in production and we will distribute them in the fall. For those moving on to Mt. Tabor Middle School, we will deliver the yearbooks to you there. If you are not continuing to either Richmond or Mt. Tabor MS then we will mail them to you. Please send Sparrow Sensei your mailing address swest1@pps.net. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

From Our Counselors and Social Worker
The counseling and social worker team want to wish you a happy summer break. You all deserve to relax and recharge. We can't wait to see you all again next school year. We will not always see our emails over the break, but please feel free to check the website for resources or email us with non-emergency questions. For any mental health emergencies, please call 503-988-4888. 

For a list of meals during the summer time, please click here to see more information. 

Be sure to check out Ms. Anne's virtual office! It features fun books, videos, games, and has summer resources and information for parents. Specially featured for June is information on Pride Month! You can see it all here or find it linked on the counseling website.

From the Library
A BIG thank you to the Richmond families who supported our library’s Let’s Get Reading! program this year! We successfully circulated about 15,485 books, serving 414 unique Richmond Library student patrons. Happy reading everyone!

Multnomah County Library Summer Reading 2021 begins June 16. PPS and MCL are also partnering on Library Connect, allowing students to use their student ID# to access MCL, without having to sign up for a library card or remember a 14-digit county library card number. Learn more about these programs here.

For a fun & creative opportunity, students may also enjoy Salt & Straw’s current Fiction to Flavor Contest. Learn more about how they can participate and win prizes here.

Dear Richmond families, please be sure to keep reading the direct-to-you emails from PPS over the summer in order to prepare for next year and be informed about all of the happenings, efforts, and planning across our district. We've also updated our Richmond Helpful Links Doc for families (lives on our school Homepage under Quick Links ). Through it, you can access the Bulldog Bulletin Archive, School Calendar, and our Family Q&A tools. For the summer, we've also added a Reading from Home doc and one for Recycling Resources (Thanks PTA's Super Green Team!) Interested in seeing another item linked on that page or run into an error message? Email Kyoto sensei AP Alicia McMillen at amcmillen@pps.net

Continuing at Richmond Next Year? 
Attention KG - 4th Grade Families: If you do not plan to return to Richmond for the 2021/2022 school year, please let us know by emailing Kirstin at kyamakawa@pps.net. Thank you!

コミュニティから
From the Community

PTA

PTA’s June Newsletter
Many of you are signed up for PTA Communications through Konstella where our periodic newsletters (and so much more!) can be found. This final PTA newsletter of the year gives a comprehensive overview of all that Richmond PTA has done to connect and engage families this year, and is worth a read if you’re interested in learning more about PTA or want to get involved next year.

Richmond PTA needs you!
Join the incredible community of Richmond parent volunteers by stepping into any of the following open Board positions for the 2021-2022 school year:

• Co-Secretary
• Classroom Support Chair
• Equity Committee Co-Chair
• Membership Chair
• Super Green Team Co-Chair
• Emergency Preparedness Chair

In order for Richmond’s PTA to continue to build community, encourage family engagement, and  support our teachers and staff, volunteers like you are needed. For more information about any of these or other open positions, click here or email us directly at richmondptapdx@gmail.com

Super Green Team 
We will be spreading new bark chips in the learning garden on Saturday June 12, at 10am. If you’d like to give us a hand, bring a shovel if you can - if not we have extra. Children are welcome!    

Emergency Preparedness
Summer is a great time to check in on your emergency preparedness supplies, refresh your expired food items, change out the water in your water barrels, etc. It is also the start of the wildfire season here in Oregon! If you have them, you can stash some extra N95 or KN95 masks in your emergency kit for smokey days (also great for the aftermath of volcanic eruptions, and post-earthquake dust/smoke). It is also a good time to stock up on HEPA/MERV13 filters for your air filters/fans/HVAC system before there is a run on them.  

Richmond PTA focuses on Equity
Thank You for reading and engaging in the English and Japanese Equity related definitions throughout the school year! Over the summer we will catalog these so you can easily access them and we can continue to build on this common language together. 
This summer we wish to leave you with two huge topics to explore and sit with: 
White Supremacy Culture and Systemic Racism. 

White supremacy culture: White Supremacy Culture refers to the dominant, unquestioned standards of behavior and ways of functioning held by the vast majority of institutions in the United States. These standards may be seen as mainstream, dominant cultural practices; they have evolved from the United States’ history of white supremacy. Because it is so normalized it can be hard to see, which only adds to its powerful hold. In turn, societal moral is based on the values of white culture. White supremacy culture is an artificial, historically constructed culture which expresses, justifies and binds together the United States white supremacy system. It is the glue that binds together white-controlled institutions into systems and white-controlled systems into the global white supremacy system. Source: Racial Equity Tools, with editing for brevity by Richmond PTA

白人至上主義文化: 白人至上主義文化とは、米国の大多数の機関で体現されている、支配的で、全体に合意された行動規範及び社会機能のあり方を指す。米国の白人至上主義の歴史から進化したこれらの規範は、主流派で圧倒的な文化的慣行のように見えることがある。あまりにも普遍化しているため見えにくくなっていることが、さらに強力な影響を与えている。また、それにより白人文化の価値観を元に社会的モラルも決まっている。 白人至上主義文化とは、米国の白人至上主義システムを表現し、正当化して束ねている、人工的で歴史的に構築された文化である。それは、白人支配の制度をシステムに、そして白人が支配するシステムをグローバルな白人至上主義システムに結びつける接着剤である。出典：Racial Equity Tools、リッチモンドPTAによる編集あり (Translation：Mami Kikuchi and Tomoyo Uemura) 

Dive Deeper into White Supremacy Culture and Systemic Racism:
Watch this short clip explaining White Supremacy.
Visit the new webpage White Supremacy Culture for a wealth of understanding about the topic.
Watch this Webinar recorded May 2021 celebrating the 20 year anniversary of the original article on White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun (influenced by her mentor Kenneth Jones) with updated and added characteristics.
Watch this helpful video clip with Japanese subtitles explaining Systemic Racism.

The PTA Equity Committee will continue Equity and Anti-racism engagement through the summer. Stay connected and informed by emailing us! richmondequitypdx@gmail.com
Share the resources that have been helpful to you in your learning on Facebook or Konstella and let’s keep cultivating Omoiyari at Richmond!

AAPI individuals and guests of AAPI Organizations can visit the Lan Su Chinese Garden for FREE every 3rd Wednesday of the summer months! Thanks to a partnership with Rise Against Hate Oregon, cultural performances will also take place on those days. #OpenDoorWednesday
Make sure to register to grab your spot!

Oya No Kai　おやのかい

Don’t miss Kurabu this summer! 
All students entering grades 1-8 are invited to sign up for Virtual Kurabu 2021. This year’s summer camp is free, and we have planned fun themes for each week. You are welcome to join as many weeks as you can. Don’t worry about missing some sessions.

Session 1 
Grades: 1-2
Dates: June 22- July 27
Every Tuesday from 10:00 - 11:00 am

Session 2 
Grades: 3-5
Dates: June 23 - July 28
Every Wednesday from 10:00 - 11:00 am

Elementary School Themes: 

• Week 1: おとで　あそぼう！(Let's have fun with sounds!)
• Week 2: にほんの　ぶんかを　たのしく　しろう！(Let's enjoy learning about Japanese culture!)
• Week 3: たなばたを　いっしょに　おいわい　しよう！(Celebrate Star festival together!)
• Week 4: にほんの　しょうがっこうを　たいけんしよう①！(Let's experience being Japanese elementary school students!)
• Week 5: にほんの　しょうがっこうを　たいけんしよう②！(Let's experience being Japanese elementary school students②!)  
• Week 6: たのしく　うごこう！(Haave fun moving around！)

Middle School Session 3 
Grades: 6-8
Dates: July 8 - July 29
Every Thursday from 10:00 - 11:00 am

Middle school activities will include cooking, baking, craft, calligraphy, exercise in Japanese and more fun! Graduating fifth graders who are entering sixth grade in the fall can join this special four-week session. 

Register now on this Google Form. 

Oya No Kai would like to thank the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington’s Mary Yamaguchi Fund in Memory of Shizuo and Ujitsuto Yamaguchi for their generous support of Kurabu.  

Questions? Please contact kurabu.admin@oyanokai.org.

Richmond Foundation　リッチモンドファウンデーション

Dear Richmond Community,
We want to thank you for your generous support in our spring fundraising drive. We are thrilled to have raised $45,884 (and climbing as donations still trickle in). The official Fund For PPS deadline for raising money for the coming school year is June 30th.

Have you ever thought about signing up for monthly giving to Richmond School Foundation? You can sign up here! Simply check the box next to “Make this a recurring donation”.

Lastly, two of our four Foundation volunteers will be graduating with their 5th grader and therefore Foundation NEEDS VOLUNTEERS. If you would like more information you can email rsf.pdx@gmail.com.

Thank you for a great year.

Matt Moran
Hidemi Mousavi
Shaun Davidson
Anna Kapranos Moran

校長から
From the Principal

Hard to believe that this is the last week of the school year! This year has truly been filled with some of the highest highs and lowest lows for our students, staff, and community; from the bottom of my heart I’d like to thank everyone for the grace, patience, and flexibility you’ve all shown throughout this pandemic. I am so hopeful that the 2021-2022 school year will open to fully in-person learning; it will be wonderful to have our halls filled with all of our students once again. 

The end of the school year is always a time for change. In addition to my departure from Richmond, Ms. Jen Loveland, Ms. Jessica Foreman, Mr. Bryan Funatake, Mr. Nathan Saunders, Ms. Yuko Aizawa, Ms. Shade Ajayi, Ms. Mika Brier, Ms. Yoshie Tomita, and Ms. Charlotte Weiss will also be leaving our school. Many of these folks may return to their dedicated service as substitute teachers at Richmond and we look forward to still seeing them around our building in the future. We’re so thankful for each person’s amazing contributions to Richmond and wish them all well. 

On Wednesday afternoon we’ll have more of our lost and found items out for pickup, if you’ve got a few minutes and can come to Richmond to check the items out, we’d love to get them back to their owners. We’ll also be celebrating our departing 5th graders later this week and we continue to welcome the students and families of next year’s Kindergarten class. 

We’ll have one more Bulletin out next Monday! Enjoy your last week of school, 
Ron

学校から
From the School

2019-20 Yearbook Distribution
Our hope was to distribute last year’s 2019-20 yearbooks before the end of this school year. That is still our wish but printing the yearbook is unfortunately beyond our control and there is a possibility we might not have the yearbooks in hand by this Friday. If that is the case, we sincerely apologize and will let you know our plans for distribution if we move into summer break in our last Bulldog Bulletin next Monday. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

2021-22 School Supplies
In lieu of asking families to shop for school supplies, we are suggesting a $25 donation per student. We understand families may not be able to give that amount or have multiple children attending Richmond so please give what you can. This donation goes directly to supplies needed in your child's classroom. Here is the SchoolPay link to donate online. Checks can be made to Richmond School and dropped off with your teacher or at the office. Thank you for your kind donations!

5th Grade Parents:
Richmond Elementary School invites our 5th grade families to join us for the "5th Grade Clap-Out Promotion Parade."

The parade will take place on Thursday, June 10, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. There will be options for both bikes and cars on the parade route. Families are encouraged to decorate bikes or cars if they wish. Staff will be on the perimeter of the school to clap out our 5th graders. Bikes will enter the parade route from SE Sherman and 42nd, proceed clockwise around Richmond, and exit again via Sherman. Cars are asked to enter the parade route heading west on Division, turn right onto SE 42nd and then proceed clockwise around Richmond, exiting the route via Sherman to 43rd to Lincoln. Volunteers will be present to help direct traffic and before the event additional information, including a map of the route, will be emailed directly to families. Families on bikes will kick things off at 3:00 - 3:15 and families in cars are asked to participate according to their original class assignments: 

Schedule:
3:00- 3:15 Bike only (any classroom teacher pair)
3:15-3:30 Cars only - Kapranos/Maehara
3:30-3:45 Cars only - Aubrecht/Kitazawa 
3:45-4:00 Cars only - Loveland/Kawasaki

From Our Counselors and Social Worker
Sports Day: Tuesday June 8th
We are so close to the finish line. So let's dress like the champions that we are. Dress in your favorite team shirts or colors (and if you are like some of our teachers, you might have scarves and socks too). Wear your sports gear, such as your basketball jersey to your baseball hat. Please no swimsuits. If you don't have any sports gear or favorite sports team, wear Richmond colors and any Richmond gear you might have. Richmond colors are red, white, and black. One more victory lap before you enjoy your much deserved summer break. 

Last QSA meeting for the year is Wed. at 1:30. Code is RichQSA

June is Pride Month. Here are some resources from the school district and from local organizations:
https://www.pridenw.org/
https://www.pps.net/Page/2488

From the Library
Do you have library materials at home you are not using? Please check your shelves, under the bed, behind the couch, everywhere! for books to return to the library. Although Let’s Get Reading! has ended, returns will continue June 9th. Bring books/book bags to Richmond (south side) on Wednesday from 8-3 or return them with your students to their classrooms for collection. Help us keep our library materials available for all to use and enjoy. 

Multnomah County Library Summer Reading 2021 begins June 16. Check out this slide deck with more information about summer reading and Library Connect.

Richmond’s QFSA (Queer Families and Students Alliance) is coming together again tomorrow Tuesday 6/8 from 5:30-6:30 for an end-of-year, in-person, BYOwn Picnic Playdate by the Community Garden next to the new play structure & the field. We’ll have a few craft ideas & play items, and folx are also welcome to bring theirs. The plan is to relax and connect with our LGBTQ+ kids and families community. If this sounds meaningful to your family, please come on by with masks on. (PS - a reminder that we won’t have building access for non-staff.)

Lost & Found Item Retrieval Opportunities We have collected a couple of racks of Lost & Found (& Locker/Desk) items that we'd love to get back into their family homes if they're wanted. We do also have a great donation destination planned for anything not retrieved. We'll bring everything out front of the school at the below times and hope this works across these different days for parent/guardians to come and look - and/or for families to remind bus-riding kiddos to take a look at their dismissal time. THIS WEEK: Wednesday 6/9 & Friday 6/11 Please note earlier end time of 3PM (a few photos here) 

Fri 6/11 during Morning Dismissal 10-10:45am and again from 12:30-3:00pm 
Wed 6/9 (Asynchronous day) 12:30-3:00pm 

Reminder about Spring 2021 Helpful Links page as a resource for our families on the school Homepage under the Quick Links banner (on the left mid-page). Through it, you can access the Bulldog Bulletin Archive, School Calendar, Dismissal Plan GForm (for submitting Temporary or Permanent changes), Family Q&A tools, Spring Handbook, and our school Maps. Feel free to click the link now and bookmark it for yourself, or find it anytime on the school homepage! Interested in seeing another item linked on that page or run into an error message? Email Kyoto sensei AP Alicia McMillen at amcmillen@pps.net

Continuing at Richmond Next Year? 
Attention KG - 4th Grade Families: If you do not plan to return to Richmond for the 2021/2022 school year, please let us know by emailing Kirstin at kyamakawa@pps.net. Thank you!

コミュニティから
From the Community

Richmond Foundation　リッチモンドファウンデーション

Dear Richmond Community,
We want to thank you for your generous support in our spring fundraising drive. We are thrilled to have raised $45,884 (and climbing as donations still trickle in). The official Fund For PPS deadline for raising money for the coming school year is June 30th.

Have you ever thought about signing up for monthly giving to Richmond School Foundation? You can sign up here! Simply check the box next to “Make this a recurring donation”.

Lastly, two of our four Foundation volunteers will be graduating with their 5th grader and therefore Foundation NEEDS VOLUNTEERS. If you would like more information you can email rsf.pdx@gmail.com.

Thank you for a great year.
Matt Moran
Hidemi Mousavi
Shaun Davidson
Anna Kapranos Moran

PTA

Due tomorrow!
PTA 'School of Excellence' Survey
Richmond PTA has been steadily working to better meet the needs of our school community in partnership with National PTA’s School of Excellence program. The focus is all about family-school partnerships and enhancing the success of our children. Help us measure our PTA’s progress by taking this survey and rating your experience across a multitude of criteria. We look forward to incorporating our learnings into programming for next year to make things even better for all of you at Richmond Elementary. Survey will be open until June 8th. We appreciate your input!

Survey (English):  https://forms.gle/1qN5XtQD6oZc1ryN8
Survey (Japanese):  https://forms.gle/v8NHKwz9GubvrypN9

Thank You Richmond Community for showing up and supporting our first Equity Committee event! 
We are inspired and hopeful by the connections and discussions shared. Toward the end breakout room conversations participants were asked to share their "burning questions." Here is some of what our community is sitting with and may inspire future events. We invite you to join in the journey to answer these questions with us! 
Email us at: richmondequitypdx@gmail.com to stay connected.

• How do we build genuine, deeper connection within the AAPI community?
• How do we embrace the BIPOC community more broadly?
• How do we talk to our children about: racism, allyship, equity, social justice? 
• What are the barriers to everyone feeling included and valued at Richmond and how do we break those barriers down? 
• How do we come together and have authentic relationships? 
• How do we include BIPOC beyond Asians in the program? 
• Where can we learn more and find resources? 
• How do we, who are Japanese born, understand what racism means to us, while maintaining our non-confrontational culture?

Richmond PTA needs you!
Join the incredible community of Richmond parent volunteers by stepping into any of the following open Board positions for the 2021-2022 school year:

• Co-Secretary
• Classroom Support Chair
• Equity Committee Co-Chair
• Membership Chair
• Super Green Team Co-Chair

In order for Richmond’s PTA to continue to build community, encourage family engagement, and  support our teachers and staff, volunteers like you are needed. For more information about any of these or other open positions, click the link below or email us directly at richmondptapdx@gmail.com
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UzPLJMztPTGbyWmPdZhhov851kW74wm4r5gUKj3pjSc/edit

Class Photo Collage & Frozen Yogurt Voucher
The PTA class photo collage project is complete and will be heading home this week along with the free “Spring Festival”  Eb & Bean Frozen Yogurt vouchers. Students in hybrid learning will receive their envelopes from their teachers, and students in CDL will have their envelope mailed directly to their home address. 

Big shoutout and thanks to the many volunteers who made this project possible! We hope this small gift from the PTA brings much happiness and togetherness to our learning community. 

Richmond PTA focuses on Equity
AAPI identifying individuals, check out this 3 part workshop ‘Healing in the Asian Community’. Our gracious Japanese facilitator Fumiyo Nishimoto Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW will be leading the first session called “Vicarious Resilience”.

See the AAPI Community Resource List for AAPI mental health resources, how to talk to your kids about anti-Asian hate, and additional learning for non AAPI individuals.

June is Pride month! 
While Portland can be a supportive city to live in for people identifying as LGBTQ+, we can continue to build our awareness around language and heteronormative blind spots. This article about “How to use Gender Inclusive Language” is helpful. One of the ways we can help children not absorb heteronormative perspectives is by offering them opportunities to see all kinds of relationships and families as “normal". Check out this list of kids books from Human Rights Campaign about two Mom and two Dad families. Our Richmond Counseling website offers many great resources as well. Lastly, don’t forget that Tuesday 6/8 from 5:30-6:30 is Richmond’s QFSA (Queer Families and Students Alliance) end-of-year, in-person, BYOwn Picnic Playdate!

Oya No Kai　おやのかい

Register for Kurabu for free! 
All students entering grades 1-8 are invited to sign up for Virtual Kurabu 2021. This year’s camp is free! 

Join us weekly on Zoom for a fun and rewarding hour of Japanese songs, stories, crafts, and physical activities. You are welcome to join as many weeks as you can. Don’t worry about missing some sessions.

Graduating fifth graders who are starting sixth grade in the fall can join a special four-week session just for middle school students. Kurabu is open to older students for the first time this summer, and we are planning special projects geared toward them. 

Session 1 (6 Weeks)
Grades: 1-2
Dates: June 22- July 27
Every Tuesday from 10:00 - 11:00 am

Session 2 (6 Weeks)
Grades: 3-5
Dates: June 23 - July 28
Every Wednesday from 10:00 - 11:00 am

Session 3 (4 Weeks)
Grades: 6-8
Dates: July 8 - July 29
Every Thursday from 10:00 - 11:00 am

Register now on this Google Form. 

Oya No Kai would like to thank the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington’s Mary Yamaguchi Fund in Memory of Shizuo and Ujitsuto Yamaguchi for their generous support of Kurabu.  

Questions? Please contact kurabu.admin@oyanokai.org.