Hello Vestal Community-

Happy Thursday…it is so very nice to have a little bit of sunshine today!

Lots of news and notes-

Tomorrow is Spirit Day and Food Pantry Day!

For now we will continue to ask students to take chrome books back and forth…I am personally feeling very hopeful that Vestal will not end up having to go to Temporary Distance Learning, but we do want to be prepared just in case!

Please be aware that both Jan 28 (FRI) and Jan 31 (Mon) are NO SCHOOL DAYS.

Jan, 28th is on the calendar as a teacher work day. Monday the 31st was JUST added as a staff professional development day.. So, students do not have school  next Friday OR Monday the 31st.

Parenting Tools for Vestal Families- Please join us! 

(From Kate Blackmore and Michael True)

Please join us in a free online series for Vestal families to help continue conversations on social and emotional skills with your family at home, including:

- Identifying emotions through Zones of Regulation

- Practicing the Toolbox Tools we use consistently at Vestal (breathing, practicing empathy, listening, apologies, and more)

- Communication skills and practice with your kids, like using "I feel ____ because I need ____. 

Workshops are online from 9 to 9:45 a.m. Upcoming workshops are on January 24 & 31, and Feb. 7. Although this is a series, please feel free to join anytime for parenting support, ideas, and tools! To join the meetings, go to: meet.google.com/spf-itfm-otm

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Hello Amazing Vestal Families: (From Coach C)

This week in Physical Education brings exciting news. Brand new equipment for use with the P.E. curriculum has started to arrive. Vestal now has a fully stocked equipment room for use with all students across the grade levels.This is so exciting! Using the new equipment, the 5th and 4th graders are learning how to play volleyball (using a brand new net)  . In grades k-3 we are busy learning how to dribble and shoot for use in the game of basketball. I hope everyone is staying safe out there! Have a great week, amazing Vestal Community!

Covid Updates- There have been some changes to the COVID restrictions that we follow at school. The biggest change is moving from a 10 day quarantine to a 5 day quarantine for positive cases. We continue to remind students about proper mask wearing and social distancing. One thing I have realized is that some kids seem to think they don't have to distance themselves if they have been vaccinated, so please remind your student that at school we are following all the same guidelines as we have all year!

Please email Madison if your student is going to be absent due to a COVID positive test OR COVID symptoms. That way we can give you a return date for your student based on symptoms.  If you have any questions related to health concerns  please email Madison at mdoran@mesd.k12.or.us 

Just a reminder to keep students home when they aren't feeling well. We are in that season where there are lots of germs flying around!. 

COVID times have been so challenging for all of us…we will get through this…better together!

2nd Quarter is almost over, which means we are just about half way through the school year. Please reach out to your child’s teacher or myself  with any concerns or questions…we want open and consistent communication!

Vestal Peace, Sabrina Flamoe

Hello Vestal families!

We have a had a full and busy week here at Vestal!

Remember that tomorrow is both Vestal Spirit Day and our wonderful food pantry!

A huge shout out to all of our teachers for being prepared each day with engaging learning and a supportive classroom community!

COVID Updates- There is a lot here, please read carefully :)

As everyone is likely aware, the Omricon variant is spreading quickly everywhere.

I wanted to remind folks what we have in place at school AND what help we need from you.

At school we continue to wear masks all the time, except eating. Students are to be 3 feet apart, except when eating. Eating is with masks off and 6 feet distance. For January, we will eat mostly indoors, due to the weather. Every classroom has an established system for eating while 6 feet apart.

When/if a student has primary symptoms of Covid, we strongly encourage you to keep them at home.

Primary symptoms are-

Fever of 100.4 or higher

Chills, Cough, Shortness of Breath, difficulty breathing

New loss of taste or small

If you student has any of these symptoms at school, we will call you.

In PPS there are three ways to test right now. on Friday you will get a BRIGHT YELLOW paper sent home asking for consent to test.

Here are the three possibilities-

1. Consent to test for any symptoms (many of you have done this already)

2. Test to Stay- If your child is a close contact, unvaccinated, AND you have signed consent

3. The OHSU weekly tests (many of you have done this already)

You can sign YES for all three, or just whichever tests you want available.

We are following Oregon Health Authority guidance on all things Covid. AND it can be frustrating to get a phone call from us...we understand this frustration AND ask for your support and partnership. We are still in a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. Please be respectful when our staff needs to call about your child's health.

What if my child has to quarantine?

We are making bags for each student that contain-

* A menu of options for each day of at home learning. We suggest putting this on the refrigerator! 

* Directions on how to help your child log-in to the chrome book

* A New Clever badge for your student

We will also send home a chrome book that your child will keep until they return to school

IF your child has to quarantine, we will either send this all home with them OR deliver it to you safely.

Individual teachers MAY choose to give more at home work and if they do it will come directly from them.

IF your child is home NOW in quarantine, please email me today and we will get you the bag and a chrome book if needed.

I know this is just so much to deal with, believe me! It is also almost entirely out of our hands, which is very frustrating.

Please continue to work with us, be in communication with us, and ask questions as we go.

We look forward to the day we are all back at school without masks, where a cough (or other symptoms)  doesn't involve all of this follow up!

However, for now...this is where we are and what we must do.

Ok...more fun....an update from Mr. Williams-

Happy New Year Vestal Families! In music class this week, we are jumping right back in with a review of all of our Fall semester curriculum. Students will be reviewing how to keep a steady beat with a variety of percussion instruments, reminding ourselves how to read notes on the treble clef staff, and refamiliarizing ourselves with the instrument families and how they function in ensemble settings! We will also be finishing a cooperative project both expanding and finalizing our Music Classroom SKLS and agreements to create the best learning environment for all students. 

To top it all off, I am very excited to say our 5th graders will be finally starting our work with Ukuleles this week with a brief lesson on ukulele history along with an introduction to maintenance and handling of the instruments. 

Looking forward to an awesome semester making music with our students!

Musically Yours, 

Mr. Williams

AND PTA News:

Vestal PTA Meeting
We would love to see you all!
Tuesday, January 11th
6:30pm to 8:00pm
Zoom Meeting ID 826 7170 4834
Passcode 453999


https://us05web.zoom.us/j/82671704834?pwd=QjBQNFFHMmJlR3dGV0hEcnIraXh0UT09

Hello and welcome the closure of 2021...a historic year unlike any other. Let us hope that 2022 brings greater health and peace to the world, starting right here in Montavilla!

This week has been filled with fun and lots of celebrating....end of the month, year and of course many holidays being recognized!

Speaking of celebrations, tomorrow we celebrate three things school wide-

1) Our kindergarteners will be going on a New Years Parade that many classes will watch and hear!

2) EVERY single class met the goals of being Safe Kind Learners during specialists (PE, Music, Art, and Library) for ALL of December! This means every student will receive a yummy prepackaged Rice Krispie treat! We are proud of each class working hard and working together to achieve the goal!

3) Tomorrow is Vestal Spirit Day...so please encourage your child to wear Vestal gear and/or clothing with positive messages of hope, peace and justice!

I feel like I should be able to say something profound and insightful as a year end closure, but...not sure what that would be:)

What I can say is that I continue to feel so supported by Vestal families and students as your principal; I know I speak for our staff when I say we are inspired by and learn from your students every day...and we care deeply for each of them as individuals. We have hope for the future as we daily get the gift to hear your kids practice social justice through small local actions to make sure their community is safe and kind.

Our first year of being a School for Social Justice we had a 2nd grader capture the essence when she said, "Oh so you mean "Social" like all of us together and "Justice" like we take care of people if they are hurt or need our help?" YES, YES, YES...this is what we mean by being a school for social justice...a sweet, simple reminder of our focus!

May we all have a peaceful winter break where we care for each other,

Vestal Peace, Sabrina Flamoe

Hello Vestal community-

Wow, what a chilly, wintery day! As always, a reminder to send your kids with warm enough clothing for this chilly, wet weather!

It is hard for me to believe, but next week is our last of 2021! We know the kids will be excited about winter break AND that we have a full week of school to still focus upon. A reminder that within our beautifully diverse community, multiple winter holidays are celebrated, and some choose not to celebrate any holiday. We honor and respect each families traditions and choices. Within classrooms, there are multiple opportunities to share about family tradition, learn about different traditions around the world, and explore how some holidays are religious/spiritual, some are cultural...some have been around for a long, long time and some are newer. Please continue talking with your kids about respecting the many traditions and choices of ways to celebrate.

* Tomorrow is Vestal Spirit Day AND the Timbers are playing in the MLS championship this weekend...wear your Vestal gear or Timbers gear to support our home team!

* Remember- Our amazing Food Pantry is tomorrow! Come get yummy food!

* Thank you to our PTA for the pie, wreath, hot cocoa, and Vestal sweatshirt sales last week! Way to support!!

* This month we are focusing on the value of APPRECIATION- and I wanted to take a moment and say how much I appreciate the Vestal families and how you show up and support your children and our teachers every day! Thank you for allowing us to partner with you to make school into a community center! We take seriously AND love caring for your kids!

I VERY much appreciated everyone's flexibility if you were part of car drop off this morning...we had a bus stop running RIGHT as they were ready to pull out on 82nd...this caused quite a confusing traffic situation...I so appreciate how patient and flexible everyone was as we worked out how to get cars and buses turned around all while kids were still coming to school!

Vestal Peace...happy weekend,

Sabrina Flamoe

Dear PPS Community,

Today we want to offer you an update on the protocols we are using. We are regularly evaluating and revising these protocols to minimize risk for our students and staff as we deal with the rapid changes driven by the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.

Dear Community,

After careful consideration and in consultation with school principals, we are extending the temporary distance learning return date until Tuesday, February 1 for the following three middle schools: George, Harriet Tubman and Kellogg.

On Thursday, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) released graduation rates for the 2020-21 school year, with 84.4% of Portland Public Schools  students earning a high school diploma within four years, an impressive result and a steady increase for the 12th year in a row.

Dear Community,

We are so pleased to inform you that your school (see chart below) will return to in-person classes early next week. We realize that closing the campus and moving to temporary distance learning created challenges for families, but the dramatic rise in absences of staff and students fueled by the omicron variant of COVID-19 made it too difficult to keep the campus open safely.