On behalf of all Arleta Staff, we love our Arleta community! Thank you so much for all your thoughtfulness, generosity and care always, and for making us feel so valued this week especially. The commitment and care our families pour into our community is such a special part of Arleta, and makes such a difference in everyone’s days. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the lovely staff appreciation on all the levels.

Skimming through this week’s Dolphin Digest, my heart fills with gratitude for all the ways our community comes together for our students. Make sure to scroll down to the SSJ65 Arleta News Channel brought to us by our wonderful SUN School! Speaking of SUN School, things are looking good! The mayor's budget website talks about supporting SUN (under parks). Our district RESJ SUN Manager, Marco Matias, is hoping for a final, final decision any day.

A quick note on the classroom placement process for next year: the main thing to know is you don’t need to do anything. Our teacher teams work together to create balanced learning environments, with input from specialists and support staff. We consider academic achievement, race, age (the number of younger students vs. older students within a grade), ELD and Special Education services, learning styles, gender, students who are new to our school, and more. I assign teachers to sections over the summer, and staff finalize class lists during the days teachers are working before school for students begins. For more detail, see the Classroom Placement section in our Arleta Family Handbook.

Warmly,

Lisa

 

Incoming Kindergarten and Prospective Students Open House this afternoon! This afternoon, 4th and 5th grade volunteers will lead school tours or demonstrate what music, PE and Library look like with our “Specials” teachers. Thank you to our student leaders and if you see any incoming kindergartners or prospective students today, please mention our Open House! It begins at 2:30.

Ms. Raina and I are excited to bring a screening of a really wonderful math documentary called “Counted Out” to all in our community in our auditorium on Saturday, May 31, mid-day (exact time TBA soon). Please hold the date! Here’s the trailer: Counted Out. The film is so engaging and inspiring; it’s about reducing math anxiety and making math feel accessible and relevant to all students. You can invite anyone to attend with you. Free Popcorn will be served! Raina and I will host a post-discussion with snacks after in Room 4 for all interested, too.

Thank you wonderful Arleta Parents, Family and Community Volunteers! There’s a little note of appreciation for you on our office counter along with a Kind bar (Thank you for your Kindness and Generosity!) but how can words and Kind bars convey the incredible positive impact you all have on our school, in and out of classrooms? Please know it’s deeply felt in my heart, and the hearts of all our staff. The ways you support our teaching, our school grounds, our school climate and culture, each other, new families, outgoing families, the way you support and show up for important priorities when they emerge (SUN!), and the programs, events, and affinity spaces you create and support have so much to do with Arleta being the amazing school it is. I’m so grateful and constantly touched and inspired by you all, and also I learn so much from you.

On that note, an Arleta mom reminded me just yesterday of utilizing our Family-Student-School Compact when we need to work with children on following school expectations. You could keep it handy to use with your children as all work to follow expectations and keep focused on learning and playing (safely!). Every child, teacher, family and I signed it..

Reminder from our Arleta Family Handbook: SUN and YMCA use of the playground after school. YMCA and SUN School programs have Civic Use of Building (CUB) permits for our building and grounds after school. Our goal is to co-mingle our programs with students / families who like to hang out to talk and play, while also ensuring no one has come on the property who shouldn’t be there. Arleta students must have adult supervision in order to play on the school grounds after school. Students should not bring personal toys onto the school grounds after school during our SUN and YMCA programming, as other students would also need to be included, and YMCA and SUN staff need to be able to gather their students according to their program schedules. Thank you for your support!

Warmly,

Lisa

 

What a fun and vibrant Art & Literacy Night last week! Even if you weren’t able to attend this year, your child’s beautiful art and work is displayed and was part of the experience. It felt so good to meet and connect with each other in the shared love for our students… just being together, and also all the help. Thank you! From finding black fabric and stapling it to display boards, mounting and hanging, fantastic flyers, maps and Bingo cards, providing food, our iLumiDance performance, Maya Ceramics and author Aron Steinke, cleaning up, setting up, leading… And! Our amazing Ms. Meyer and Classroom Teachers who led students to share themselves in such beautiful, meaningful ways. Next up is SUN Bingo Night! ~Arleta Cafeteria, 5-7, Friday Night.

I’m thrilled to announce a wonderful partnership Arleta has begun with Black Excellence Group, a play-based modular program and PPS community partner. BE serves over 500 PPS students in Black Excellence cohorts each week across 9 schools, Arleta being the 9th! Our BE students meet in two cohorts (K-3 and 4-5) for 30 minutes weekly. The focus is on accelerating belonging and trajectories for children… for children to hear they belong and are loved, valued, able and excellent.

Our staff also gets to learn from our Black Excellence Leaders, and as your honored lead learner, here is a tip Mr. Matt, BE Educational Programming Lead, shared with me recently, for use when encouraging children to do something we want or need them to do: acknowledge 4 strengths before we re-direct. For example:

• You are such a good thinker, you’re clever, you ask good questions and I love how curious you are. Please use your skills to make Grandma a birthday card!

• You are ___, ___, ___, ___. Yesterday I saw you do___. Right now, what would it take to see that again?

• I see you working hard, you’re a hard working person.”

The idea is that reserving our no’s for when we need them, changes our heart position and our mindset. We feel a change in children’s response to us when we acknowledge the strengths they have. As Mr. Matt put it, we call them in instead of calling them out. Here’s a link to four helpful ways to help ourselves give this 4:1 positive reinforcement and shape the behavior we want to see. I’m so grateful for our new partnership with Black Excellence… for our Black Excellence students and for our whole community.

ICE Action Preparedness: Last week, the PPS legal team learned of letters sent out to families in the metropolitan area telling them that their parole status was being terminated and directing them to leave the U.S. immediately. Here is an FAQ on this issue. According to staff from Innovation Law Lab, the most important takeaway is- people with pending applications (like applications for asylum) are permitted to remain in the country while that application is pending. People who do not have pending applications should consult with an immigration attorney as soon as possible; Equity Corps is a great free resource for that. The phone number for the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition Hotline (PIRC) is (888) 622-1510. It’s important to have: observers may be able to respond quickly to these types of situations.

Warmly,

Lisa

 

Our 3rd annual all-community Arleta Art & Literacy Night is next Thursday evening from 5:30-7! We hope to see your family. It will be a fun opportunity to celebrate our Arleta students’ beautiful art and writing on our wall displays, to enjoy displays across all classes and parts of our school, do some fun art and literacy activities led by our staff and community, and learn ways to practice and enjoy reading and writing at home. Our Art & Literacy Team has contracted an author (graphic novelist), a clay artist, and a dance troupe: two back-to-back dance performances taking place in the auditorium- paid for with funds raised by previous “runs for the arts” all-school fundraisers. And, there will be free food (thank you, wonderful Arleta PTA!) for all in the cafeteria. Please come! Every family and child’s participation will help make it the most fabulous evening for all that it can be.

Our Arleta *Site Council is hosting a table during dinner in the cafeteria: while waiting for your child to finish eating 😀you can learn how to download the free library app Libby. We hope you’ll also do a short paper survey to help us understand what our families go through and/or might need to get your child to school regularly and on time. Site council is striving to support attendance and on time arrival to help families and teachers be able to teach so students have strong learning outcomes. (When some students miss the start of the day or whole days, teachers have to figure out how to catch those students up, or how to support those students separately, which has challenging impacts for all.) Please look for our table in the cafeteria during dinner, and then after dinner, in the main building near the book exchange.

Another awesome thing our community is doing currently! As I shared a few weeks ago, our projected enrollment for 1st grade next year is not high enough for us to be staffed with two teachers (yet). To help boost awareness of the great school Arleta is, and hopefully inspire families who live in our boundary but are not sending their children to Arleta (yet), a parent created these wonderful 5 different Enrollment Flyers to post all around our school boundary (see this Google map for our boundary and locations of posted flyers). If you know people whose elementary aged children go to a different school you could look for and point the flyers out or even come to the school office to pick a few up to post on wooden utility poles anywhere in our boundary that you think they’d be visible to the right people. The number of teachers we have at Arleta is based on the number of students enrolled at each grade level, and we currently need more rising first graders to join our school community in order to keep two first grade teachers!

See you next Thursday at Art / Literacy Night! Our event begins at 5:30 (dinner will be in the cafeteria).

*Site Council is a group of staff, family, school partners, and the principal working together to increase student learning and enact our school mission. Arleta Mission Statement: At Arleta we are lifelong learners. We learn how to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve problems collaboratively. We learn how to be mindful, empathetic, and resilient community members.

Warmly,

Lisa

 

 

Thank you so much for your heartwarming advocacy for our Arleta SUN program. At 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon our Inclusion Committee submitted our Arleta letter to the Portland City Council with 248 signatures! PPS SUN Program Manager Marco Matias said after the listening session last night “It was an incredible thing to see the Arleta community show up and show out for SUN, Raina, and most importantly the Arleta families. It is heart-warming and displays to our city council the importance of this initiative and how valuable it is to our most vulnerable populations.” As our Arleta letter says, we can have more influence when we work together.

Unfortunately, I have an additional budget item. Several weeks ago PPS Principals received “staffing”, an allocation of FTE (full time equivalency, or positions) based on our school enrollment and demographics. PPS must cut $40 million in next year’s budget after $30 million in cuts this year. In addition to *Oregon’s unique funding challenges, a major reason is declining enrollment in PPS, including Arleta (see illustration below for more info).

Our projected student count for next school year is 48 students lower than for this year. Our enrollment per grade level impacts the number of classrooms we’ve been allocated for next year… we have a reduction to just one 1st grade classroom, currently projected with 28 students. The threshold for 1st grade for Title 1 schools is 30.

Just like saving SUN- we have more influence when we work together: please help recruit incoming 1st grade students in our boundary! There are families who live in our school boundary but send their children to schools other than Arleta, for reasons they may be willing to talk over with current families or staff then hopefully, reconsider. If we can get our 1st grade enrollment up over 30 within the next few weeks, our staffing could be reconsidered when PPS re-visits enrollment projections in April. If we can get enrollment up over 30 by August, our staffing could be reconsidered in the days leading up to the start of school. Our community came together a few years ago to increase our 1st grade enrollment in a very similar situation.

The #1 way everyone in our community can support our situation is to listen for families who live within our boundary but don’t (yet) attend Arleta and encourage them to enroll, or to give me or any of our staff or partners a call to talk through any questions and hear about all the reasons we’re a great school!

Here are the other (current) projected classroom counts for next year: Kindergarten: 2 classes, 17 students each. (1st grade: 1 class, 28 students). 2nd grade: 2 classes, 20/21 students each. 3rd grade: 2 classes, 20/21 students each. 4th grade: 2 classes, 17/18 students each. 5th grade: 2 classes, 25/26 students each.

It is hard to believe that the year is quickly flying by and we are already getting ready for next year. At the same time, teachers are creatively and brilliantly engaging your children in meaningful learning…and seeing some excellent student learning outcomes! On April 4th, the first Friday after Spring Break, teachers will be preparing Quarter 3 report cards. Thank you so much for all you bring to our community.

Sincerely,

Lisa

 

This Black History Month, teachers have been highlighting Black excellence, culture, joy and contributions across classrooms. Through learning from the classroom through to the playground we are striving to learn, reflect and take action toward each person feeling welcome, included and valued in our community. Throughout the year and especially during February, we’re striving to center the experiences and feelings of our Black students so our students feel valued but not put into uncomfortable situations. For example, earlier in the month 2nd grade teachers led their classes to set class rules for talking about race as they began a literacy unit on ways different groups of people have responded to injustices throughout history: 1. Use “I” statements only 2. Stay present even when you feel uncomfortable, and 3. Expect and accept discomfort. Our school counselor’s lessons the past weeks have ranged from helping students notice how our diversity is s strength in problem solving, to lessons on how to respond to hate speech, to understanding institutional racism. We’ll continue seeking and noticing ways to elevate and celebrate the many meaningful, joyful and important contributions Black people among us bring to our daily lives, community and world.

Today one of our kindergarten classes created their own beautiful rendition in the style of Aaron Douglas. a visual artist best known for his murals showcasing social issues. He was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Kindergartners looked at the different shapes, lines and letters that Douglas used to create his painting. “Hey! That’s a capital W!” “The crown has lots of diamonds in it.” “The nose looks like a triangle!” Following step-by-step instructions, students drew their main character in Sharpie marker, added yellow, green and black crayon resist to the piece and covered it all in black watercolor.

And on the note of Kindergartners! Tonight is our first Incoming Kindergarten “Connect” (Family Information Night). Here’s our flyer (thank you fantastic parent Sadie Bach!) to share with anyone you know who has little ones, or post anywhere you think might catch the eye of families with kindergarten age children. Please spread the word how important it is to register early ...higher enrollment numbers leads to lower class sizes.

Lisa

 

 

There have been so many sweet and meaningful moments happening at school this week! Thanks for your sweet kids bringing us smiles, and thanks to our sweet teachers for creating celebrations of friendship and all the ways they’re helping students generate and deepen friendships. Here’s a little melange that illustrates all the ways teachers have been facilitating joy and belonging while maintaining high expectations and depth of learning this week… the 25th week of the school year!

• Ms. Bidney invited families to send pictures of their children, their pets, and snow creations so she could welcome them back with a slide show.

• Kindergartners visited the Holgate Library! They’ve also been learning how to write a letter then created and mailed their own messages to loved ones at the post office box to prepare for their upcoming celebrations of friendship and

• Kindness, they created their own messages (with art!) for loved ones and walked to the Post Office to mail them!

• Teacher Noah’s class is learning about the Haitian Revolution of 1792 in connection with our Haitian Drumming Assembly last week and all 4th graders' current study of the American Revolution.

• 3rd graders are learning about immigration. They are inviting guests who are immigrants to come to speak to their classes about their experiences. (Please contact the office if you know anyone who might like to share with their students!)

• Dolphin parties! Classes earn these by getting complimented for following our schoolwide expectations in our common areas (hallways, cafeteria, playground, bathrooms, and classrooms) 20 times. Ms. Maggie’s class had “Kids in Charge Day”, working as a class to listen to each other's ideas, create a schedule and remain safe through the excitement.

• Ms. Williams’ 3rd grade class earned enough stars for following directions in class to surprise their kindergarten buddies with cupcakes during their lunch in the cafeteria. 💙

• Grinning students giving staff and each other hugs in order to playfully put heart stickers on each other’s backs.

• 1st graders are learning what a syllable is, starting with closed syllables (when the vowel is “closed off” through being followed by a consonant) and why syllable types are important (they help predict the vowel sound which helps children learn to decode).

• 5th graders are learning the process for writing a speech for the purpose of sharing all the content they’ve been learning in their literacy unit called “Breaking Barriers” via the essential question: how can sports influence individuals and societies. They are learning how to sequence ideas, how to find evidence to support their ideas from the text they’ve been reading (We are the Ship) and how to paraphrase other evidence.

• Our school counselors have been and are teaching lessons in all classes on institutional racism, diversity and inclusion.

• Spotlight and Star Students! Students across our classrooms get to take turns sharing about themselves with their classes, and classmates get to learn about each other, gaining appreciation, empathy and having fun.

With appreciation and commitment to your students, our staff and community,

Lisa

 

Thank you for all the ways our Arleta School Community comes together. It is so important that all feel safe, included and supported. It is vital, and heartwarming, to collectively focus on this, and to ensure students have stable, joyful learning environments in which they’re learning and growing together. I can assure you on behalf of our staff that all dolphins are working hard! And, I see every hour of every day that teachers are finding amazing ways to make learning our grade level content and standards meaningful, fun and engaging.

This being a “fluid” time may resonate. I can assure you our PPS guidance has not changed. For example, regarding action taken by the Department of Homeland Security January 25, our PPS Legal Team confirmed that the change in the federal position of honoring sensitive sites does not change PPS guidance on how to address ICE coming to schools. Oregon state sanctuary laws still prohibit schools from cooperating with ICE agents in civil actions, and our staff will not provide confidential, legally protected information of students or families without a judicial warrant. Regarding Executive Orders targeting public education, PPS is operating business as usual.

 

In times of uncertainty, it is good to be proactive and prepared. Please make sure our office has up-to-date contact information for you and your student. If you haven’t already, please complete the yearly student verification form to ensure we’re reaching you via the right information and in the right language.

 

As shared a few days ago, one of our Arleta parents ordered a large quantity of Red Cards from The Immigrant Legal Resource Center and they are available to everyone in our community. You’ll find them in one bin on our office counter. Another bin of Red Cards will be on offer at various school events. Red Cards can be carried on your person and are meant to help people assert their rights and defend themselves in many situations.

 

Here are some other resources:

 

• This FAQ and this webpage answer many questions about the steps Portland Public Schools will be taking to safeguard staff and students going forward.

• This page from the Multnomah Education Service District (MESD) includes a family resource hub and culturally specific information for families in the Portland area.

• The Immigrant Legal Resource Center Red Card is meant to help people assert their rights and defend themselves in many situations. The cards can be printed out in your preferred language and carried on your person.

• Know Your Rights for Families/Students (Oregon ACLU)

• Immigrant Rights Resources One Pager

• PPS’s Office for Civil Rights offers support addressing discrimination, harassment, and bias-related concerns.

 

Please be in touch if you have any questions or concerns. Our staff and I are here for you and your children. Our community is strong and we are here for each other

 

Lisa

 

LETTER FROM THE PRINCIPAL 1/30/25

Happy Lunar New Year! And, happy start to the 3rd quarter of the school year. Teachers have been busy analyzing all your child’s work and effort so far this year, and figuring out the best strategies for next steps in learning as they’ve been writing and preparing report cards this week. It’s been fun to hear and feel all the excitement around goals being met, exceeded and just as important, around all the effort and growth when there is still a way to go toward meeting a grade level benchmark.

 

We’re at the half-way point of the school year, and it’s a great time to celebrate: every child in our community is listening, sharing, growing, learning and contributing to our school community in meaningful ways. It’s an important time as well, to help your child set new goals, building off areas of strength. A goal we have for every child in our community is that they are listening, thinking and sharing their thoughts in class-- and our own goal as a staff is that we are elevating and affirming each child’s voice.

 

Ask your child how they feel about Socratic Seminar, Math Talk and Community Circle! We need your help to ensure every child is learning their math facts (17-8, 4x7, 4+4, etc.) and their Trick Words (words like “said” that come up often in reading and writing, but don’t follow expected spelling rules). Your child can tell you the facts or words they’re working on. And, every single time you can create space (ideally, 30 minutes daily, but even 5-7 minutes daily is great) for reading with your child, and talking about what’s been read, it’s going to have a positive impact. Report cards will open on ParentVue next Monday, February 3. If you do not yet have a ParentVue account set up, please call our school office.

Warmly,

Lisa

 

LETTER FROM THE PRINCIPAL 1/16/25

I hope you’re all having a great week! Our attendance rate was 91% this week… up a little bit over the 90% rate we’ve been at for the past month or so. Thank you for your hard work getting our dolphin babies to us every day and on time! We really appreciate it.

There are two important events tonight: our own Arleta Neurodivergent Family Gathering from 5:30-7 in our cafeteria and also, a Human Rights “Know Your Rights Workshop” (Spanish Flyer here) at Kelly School (9030 SE Cooper St, Portland, OR 97266) this evening from 5-7 in their library, hosted jointly by Latino Network, SUN, Multnomah County, Portland Parks and PPS. This event is open to PPS families.This workshop will be facilitated in Spanish. Food and childcare will be provided. This workshop will cover essential topics concerning immigration, what to do, and how to protect themselves in the event of interacting with agencies and authority.

Connected to knowing our rights and how to respond to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) should it be necessary, I want to come back to the message Ms. Aud, Ms. Blei and I shared in December and share some additional information. In that message we quoted our Superintendent Dr. Armstrong, and want to reiterate what she said: “We understand that the upcoming federal leadership transition may bring feelings of uncertainty for people in our community. This is especially true for many immigrants and people in marginalized communities. We also know that many of our students and families are experiencing similar feelings of fear and unease.”

Our Arleta Staff is and will continue to be learning and planning for safety for our students and families in the event we experience actions from ICE. Fortunately, there is currently no indication that Homeland Security (ICE) agents intend to target schools. Oregon is a “sanctuary state” and has been since 1987. This means we are committed to protect and safeguard immigrant communities and to continue the prohibition for state and local law enforcement and public bodies (which includes educational institutions) to participate in immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant.

If any of our families or students were approached by Homeland Security, they do not have to, and should not, respond. Families and students can remain silent no matter what is being asked of them. If any of our families were to see ICE talking to someone in a public location, such as a bus stop, our community can remind anyone we see being approached: “You can stay silent; they can’t do anything.” (Buses are private, but bus stops are public: ICE can approach people in public, but again, no one has to respond to them in public or private spaces). ICE can request to come into our school office (only; not the school itself), but we will not buzz them in: our office staff will go to the door (to say we won’t give them any information and that they cannot enter our school). We will deny any request for any information or anything at all from a federal agency unless we have a court order (we do have to comply with the judicial office, which includes courts, state and local juvenile justice agencies and child welfare agencies). The Immigrant Legal Resource Center Little Red Card is meant to help people assert their rights and defend themselves in many situations. These can be printed out and carried on your person.

We will continue to share information and resources in the coming weeks and beyond.

Warmly,

Lisa

 

LETTER FROM THE PRINCIPAL 12/19/24

Dear Arleta Families and Caregivers,

Below are excerpts from a message our superintendent, Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong, sent PPS staff and partners this week that our school counselors and I feel are very important and want to share with you. There are two resources linked below for immigrant rights. We hope to share more resources in the coming weeks and are here for support.

From Dr. Armstrong’s message: We understand that the upcoming federal leadership transition may bring feelings of uncertainty for people in our community. This is especially true for many immigrants and people in marginalized communities. We also know that many of our students and families are experiencing similar feelings of fear and unease.

 

At Portland Public Schools, our commitment to equity and the inherent dignity of every individual remains steadfast. Our top priority is ensuring the safety and well-being of all students and staff, and we will continue to work tirelessly to uphold that responsibility. We are committed to upholding Oregon law prohibiting state and local law enforcement from arresting or detaining people based only on immigration status. Additionally, Oregon law protects student educational records from use for immigration actions.”

 

Know Your Rights for Families/Students (OREGON ACLU)

Immigration Rights Resources One Pager

 

Sincerely,

Aud Manansala, Jessica Blei, and Lisa Hawking

 

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE 11/21/24

We’re excited and busy preparing for conferences next week! Our goal is a conference with every family and for every child so our staff can hear how things are going for your child from your perspective and for you to hear how your child’s experiences and outcomes are coming along from their teacher(s)’ assessments and observations. If you haven’t signed up yet, here’s the link. You’ll also get to see some of your child’s work displayed on the walls or in classrooms… so much fantastic evidence of learning and connection that our staff facilitates with creativity and dedication, and that you support. We’re excited to celebrate with you, and to create goals for next steps together with you.

When you arrive for conferences in the main building or entry, you’ll find a Welcome Table with copies of our Arleta Family-Student-School Compact. The hope is that when you read our compact, you’ll feel it represents our “common agenda”, or what you want for your child, and our community’s collective wish for and commitment to a sense of belonging, love for learning, and successful learning outcomes, for every child. It also outlines ways we all share the responsibility for supporting your child’s learning. Please see my message from last week for more details about how it’s been developed. We’ll also have translated versions available next week.

Our requirement as a school that receives funding through Title 1A is that every child, family and staff member sign this compact every year. We’ll revise it according to our community’s needs next year, so if you have revisions or suggestions needed in order to feel the compact is as you want it to be before you sign it, please write them in to discuss with your child and teacher(s).

Our Enrichment Teachers (Music, Library, Art and PE) are happy to meet with you during conferences too. Because most work at two schools, they will be at Arleta during specific windows of time that may or may not match up with your child’s conference time, but please feel free to call the office if you’d like to set up a specific time as they can meet virtually, on the phone, or arrange something else if needed. Specialists including Specials Teachers, School Counselors, Instructional Support and Office Staff will all be taking shifts at our Welcome Tables in the annex and main building, so if you’re hoping to connect with someone specific in addition to your child’s teacher, please ask whoever is there how and where to find them and we’ll get you set up.

Speaking of Specials, each child in our school will get to perform some music for families at an evening performance thanks to our wonderful Music Specialist Mr. C, and our first showcase for grades 3-5 is coming up Thursday, December 12. See specifics on the flier below. Our K-2 Evening Music Showcase will be March 13!

Thank you, and see you next week!

~Lisa

 

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE 10/24/24

This week I’m excited to share a message with you from Ms. Aud about one aspect of the important work our Arleta school counselors do with each class in our school- weekly counseling lessons… in this case, teaching students how to communicate their feelings effectively when resolving conflict. Thank you, Ms. Aud, for sharing about this important lesson, because as parents, caregivers and school staff, we’re all in this important work together.

The last few weeks Ms. Aud has been reviewing the Peace Path with 3rd-5th grade students. The Peace Path is a conflict resolution tool that has been adopted school-wide to help students solve problems with peers. First, students are asked to reflect on how they currently express their own feelings and how confident they feel in solving conflicts with others. These questions are meant to help normalize how it’s not always easy to express how you feel with words, and how many of us struggle to navigate disagreements we have with one another.

Students learn that the Peace Path helps us build skills to approach conflict in a way so that everyone feels heard, understood, and can find solutions to solve problems. Part of these lessons included opportunities for students to practice the peace path with partners. Through role play, students were able to walk through the 6 steps of the peace path: Agree to do the peace path, STAR (Stop, Take a Deep Breath, And, Relax), Share your I-Statement (I feel ____ when _____), Repeat what you hear (I heard you say you feel ___ when I ____), Brainstorm a solution, Make a deal. While students felt silly acting these steps out, it helps build familiarity with using the tool in real life situations.

Teachers working with students will then encourage students to try the peace path when they encounter a problem with a peer. If a student needs support, their teacher will help walk them through the steps until they start to feel confident in doing it on their own. Ms. Aud is also supporting 3-5 students who’d like to be ‘Peace Path Ambassadors,’ student leaders who can help other students use the peace path.

Visuals of the Peace Path are being placed around the school for students to access wherever: see if you can spot any around!

Sincerely,

Ms. Aud (and Lisa)

 

Hello Arleta Families and Caregivers! Gratitude for all the ways our families contribute to our school and community is at the forefront of my mind and, I know, on the minds of all our staff. Thank you so much for helping us in all the ways you do! There are way too many to capture fully but a few that pop to mind are: getting your students to school by 7:53, supporting each other as parents and caregivers, planting and maintaining our beautiful garden, putting up meaningful bulletin boards to elevate heritage months and cultural traditions, helping in your child’s classroom, picking up litter, helping on various committees that organize school events, alerting relevant staff about issues that come up and taking care of things that come up on our grounds (we’re in process getting a new flag!).

I hope it’s okay to appreciate so much that’s already happening, and ask for more at the same time. We do have some specific needs currently, and would love help finding new people in our community who might be able to help with any of the following:

• Helping during our Fall Festival coming up next Friday evening! Sign up here

• Helping during lunch-- volunteer to walk around, open granola packs or sit in with groups of kids to help them chat happily yet calmly and focus on eating: PTA Sign Up Genius for Recess/Lunch

• Leading our Litter Pick-ups - email ArletaSchoolPTA@gmail.com if interested

• Updating the PTA Website - email ArletaSchoolPTA@gmail.com if interested

• Help shelving books and other library-related tasks for Ms. Street - email tstreet@pps.net

• Someone to sweep all of the rocks off of the soccer court on a regular basis, at 9 a.m. and/or 10:30 a.m. daily (or once week, once/month-- whatever is possible)

It can feel challenging as full time working parents, and especially for parents or caregivers new to a school community, to know how they fit in. If your child goes to Arleta, you fit in! We need you, whether for half an hour once during the school year, to help with one event, or something more regular. And again, you are deeply appreciated whether you can consider any of the above roles or not. I’m so grateful for all the smiles your children bring to our staff and me every day, and for all the ways our Arleta students keep us thinking and energized in our work. Thank you!

 

Warmly,

Lisa

Happy October! So many good things are happening at Arleta. Teachers are learning together, planning meaningful instruction and activities tied to our school goals, facilitating students to build stamina, grow their belief in themselves as learners and demonstrate learning across content areas. This all looks and feels incredible inside your children’s classrooms! Our school goal is to elevate and affirm student voices-- here are a few samples of Arleta student voices from this week, relative to what students are learning in literacy.

 

• Kindergarten: “With his eyes he sees the moon and the stars” (Learning Target: I can think about and say how people use their senses to learn about the world)

• 2nd grade: “The chameleon changes when he finds a friend.” (Learning target: I can write a topic statement.)

• 3rd grade: “What’s the purpose of the painting?” (Notice and wonder about this text)

• 4th grade: Literal Heart: blood, oxygen, organ, muscle, veins, pumping. Figurative heart: love, family, kindness, shape, caring, friendship.

• 5th grade: “Mountains are born and then grow taller over the years and change their shapes and are finally worn down and disappear into the earth.” (What does a deeper exploration of the main ideas and details reveal in “Mountains”?)

 

During “Early Release” last week our staff worked on phonics instruction (skills to help students be able to link sounds with spelling patterns) and scaffolds for students who need additional support or additional challenge. On the other Wednesdays of the month after school, our Instructional Leadership Team or our Climate and Culture Team meet to plan and implement action steps around instructional practices and systems. Today, our combined ILT and Climate Team read samples of our students’ responses to “I belong when ___” to see what we can learn from what students have shared. A few voices: when someone smiles at me, when people are nice, when I listen to the Arleta song, being loved for who I am.

 

In the spirit of taking care of our beautiful community both emotionally and physically, a request in the spirit of “I am because we are.” Some mornings we find that visitors have been on our grounds the night before and left things we don’t want anyone, and especially our children, to encounter. A few days ago 3rd grade went out to recess and found trash and hate speech written in chalk on the blacktop. The teacher chalked the word out right away, called me and I brought out water and a scrubber to eliminate it completely. If you’re on the grounds in the evenings and see people who aren’t treating our campus with respect, anything you feel comfortable saying to remind them that little children will be playing here in the morning. If something isn’t as it should be, please text me: 503.348.3982. Thank you so much.

 

Sincerely,

Lisa

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE 9/19/24

It was great to see so many families connecting with our staff and each other, and to hear and see children excitedly sharing about their learning and classrooms with their families, at Back to School Night last week! Thank you for being there if you could. Here are the B2SN slides; you might bookmark them for reference.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Be sure to check out this week’s food and crafts highlights further on for fun ways to celebrate or learn with your child. (And look back at last week if you missed the music and museum content), Thank you so much to our own Arleta mom, Katy Liljeholm, for providing these wonderful opportunities at our fingertips.

This morning we’ll hold our first all school assembly to celebrate our school year being fully launched. This assembly will be short and sweet! We’ll practice how we enter and exit the auditorium, how to participate and contribute during an assembly, we’ll learn or remember our Arleta School Song together led by Mr. Cunningham, and enjoy being dolphins together (ask your child to tell you more about what that looked like!). In October, November and January, we’ll have student-led assemblies. Look back at last week’s message for more about that.

Our attendance the 1st week of school was 94%, the second week was 90%, and last week was 86%. Let’s get back up to the 90’s this week! Thank you to all in our community for your contributions to our wonderful school and to this year full of learning and fun ahead for your child and family.

1:1 student support volunteer opportunity! If you have basic computer skills and are available to sit with a 5th grader on Mondays and Fridays from 9-10, please call the office to let us know. You’d sit by and answer any technical questions for a student with an independent study for math.

Hope to see you at Popsicles with the PTA this afternoon at 6pm!

Lisa

 

Hope to see you at Back-to-School Night tonight! Our SUN Information Night begins at 4:45 in the cafeteria, then our Community Connect at 5:30 out front. In the spirit of our school motto, “I am Because We Are,” we hope you will join us! Attending B2SN shows your child you value the place they spend a major amount of their time over the year and creates a connection to supporting students to attend school regularly. That in turn helps them feel better about themselves and school. One of our action steps toward all three of our school goals this year (Reading and Math Achievement and Sense of Belonging) is to improve our percentage of “regular attenders” -- last year our rate grew 6% and we want to build on that!  We ask you to strive for your child to miss no more than 9 days of school, and we’re committed to making school engaging, meaningful and differentiated for your child’s learning. Here is a handy tool for you: “Keep Track of Time.” We’ll have copies out on our “Office” Table (look for Nicole!) at Back to School Night; please stop by and pick up a copy!  On the back side you’ll find this collection of tips and facts. (This Back to School Google site with resources to support you with PPS digital tools, might be handy as well.)

National Hispanic Heritage Month starts on the 15th!  Another of our action steps toward our school goal of increasing a sense of belonging for every student is to create student-centered, culturally affirming celebrations and teaching by weaving equity throughout our students’ experience at Arleta over their six years with us. Fourth grade teachers, for example, have adapted the readings in their first literacy unit called A Great Heart to include Simone Biles and Dolores Huerta, intentionally including African American and Hispanic American history, story and voice. A parent (thank you Sheryl Moren!) recently shared the idea of adding Hmong or other culture's mythology into our 4th grade “Myth Making” literacy unit, which centers Greek Mythology, to compare their similarities and differences and how that may reflect their respective cultures, values and societies. We can benefit so much in our efforts through collaboration and learning with all of you parents: as you look at the B2SN slides for your child’s grade level, please let us know if you see connections to diverse perspectives we could work to integrate. 

A few other components to highlight for you: at three of our school-wide assemblies this year, K/1, 2/3, and 4/5 grade bands will present something meaningful they’ve been learning about as part of their grade level standards, also highlighting connections to various heritage, cultures or identities. Up first in October will be 2nd & 3rd grades. We’re also working on ways to showcase other cultures via performance groups at some of our family events or assemblies. And, last but not at all least- something fantastic about our Arleta PTA is our Inclusion Committee. Each month 5th grade parents Sheryl Moren and Melissa Sircy create meaningful, informative and thought-provoking displays in our main entry and cafeteria; be sure to check them out when you pass by. These are some of the ways we are striving to affirm our student’s own identities (creating mirrors) and also teach about identities different from one’s own (creating windows). 

See you tomorrow night!

Principal Hawking

August 19, 2024

 

Dear Arleta Families and Caregivers,

 

I hope this “week-before-the-first-week-of-school!” message finds you looking forward to a new school year ahead for your Arleta Dolphin(s). I’m excited to begin my third year as Arleta principal. It is my honor and commitment, in collaboration with our fantastic Arleta Staff, to ensure your child and family have a great year of learning and fun ahead. We are striving to create a culture where every student’s voice is affirmed and elevated and where they feel a sense of belonging and deep engagement in their learning. Within that, I’m eager for opportunities to listen to you. Please always feel welcome to reach out to talk. I’m happy to answer questions if I can, or do some research on your behalf if you bring me something new to learn. That’s what working with and on behalf of children is all about for all of us! 

 

Launching the year together with an Amazing Arleta Staff including 4 new staff: Click here for new staff introductory messages including our new 1st grade teacher Mr. Derek Nelson!

 

2024-2025 Classroom Teacher Staff 

Kindergarten:  Adora Arias, Karin Hedlund 

1st Grade:  Katherine Kayrouz, Derek Nelson

2nd Grade:  Caprial Sides, Maggie Moran

3rd Grade:  Joanne Havran, Karen Williams

3rd, 4th & 5th Grade SES:  Chantelle Patterson

4th Grade:  Jessica Doyle, Noah Johnson-Greenough

5th Grade:  Jackie Bidney, Kyle Cooke

 

Classroom Teacher Assignments:  

1st-5th grade classroom teacher assignments will be shared this morning, August 19 via ParentVue. (Kinder families, teacher assignments will be shared later this week and you’ll find further information below.) Please spread the word to anyone you know who isn’t yet accessing ParentVUE. Please call Arleta if you have trouble accessing your ParentVUE account. 

 

Friendships are such an important part of elementary school! But friends aren’t always in the same class. Sometimes students who are friends are not necessarily the best learning partners. Sometimes even if they are strong learning partners they won’t be in the same class because so many factors go into creating balanced classrooms. If your child was hoping a certain student would be in their class who isn’t, reminding them that they’ll see their friend at lunch, recess and other times whole grade levels come together will hopefully help. Within a few days of school children will have made new relationships in their class as they also maintain their current closest friends. 

 

Teachers are sending a letter home to their new students via US Mail that you should receive by this Saturday August 24. As school begins, our staff will be reaching out to connect with you, to learn your hopes for your child, and to learn from all you know and want us to understand about your child's strengths and learning.  

 

Welcome to our Incoming Kindergartners!  

Kindergarten enrollment is open. You can begin the enrollment process here.

 

To provide a welcoming and supported introduction to school before the first full day of Kindergarten with all students on Tuesday Sept. 3, all incoming Kinder students and families will receive:

•  A 1:1 family contact with their Kindergarten teacher (focused on relationship & connection… your hopes, dreams and goals for your child this year). These meetings will happen August 27 or 28.  Kindergarten Teachers or the office will call you later this week to schedule.

AND

• A full-day, half-class practice day for your child (orienting to Kindergarten staff, spaces, and routines).  This will be either August 29 or 30 (your child will have school one day and not the other.)

 

Staffing Updates  / Budget Reduction

Oregon is not adequately funding its public schools and as shared last spring, we’ve had some staffing reductions. This year we have reduced paraeducator support (our 3 Learning Center para positions were transferred to other schools who have students with 1:1 paraeducator support on their IEPs). I was not able to continue funding our reading intervention teacher, Library Assistants were cut district-wide and our Enrichment Specialists (music, art, PE hours are reduced. Specifically, it was and still is with a heavy heart I had to unassign the following positions and staff last spring or this summer as I worked with our budget cuts.)

• Ms. Rachael Gottgetreu, Reading Intervention. Ms. Jen Guzman, Library Educational Assistant.

  • Ms. Rachael and Ms. Guzman will both be subbing this year. 

• Ms. Luna Koenig, Paraeducator will be working at Marysville School this year.  

• Ms. Topanga Adanna is pursuing her PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at PSU and will still be subbing for us when she can!

• Mr. Andrew Coltrin is taking a year leave of absence to be home with his baby.

• PE will be 4 days per week: Ms. Kianne Williams will be at another school on Mondays. 

• Art and Music will be 2 days each rather than 2.5 days each. The least senior staff in our district lost positions due to cuts, which means our wonderful Art Specialist, Ms. Sarah (Art) was unassigned from Arleta. She will be teaching Art at Woodmere this year. Ms. Joy’s position was temporary since she wasn’t hired until so late in the school year. Ms. Joy and all our above staff will be dearly missed and we thank them each for their service to our students and community.

The silver lining is that we have two wonderful Arts Specialists joining us from other schools.  Both Mr. Cunningham (Music) and Ms. Meyer (Art) were full time at other schools who also had reductions so will now work at two schools.  Warmest Arleta Welcome to our new Arts Specialists and other new staff.   Again, click right for new staff introductory messages.. 

 

Ms. DeNiro will be full time as .5 ELD (English Language Development) and .5 Academic Interventionist.

 

Following is some logistical information I hope you find helpful as the school year approaches.  In addition, our Arleta Family Handbook is linked on our website and contains additional important details and updates for this year, including updates to our cell phone policy, toys at school, a note on dogs and more. Please consider bookmarking the Handbook for future reference.  We will continue to update it throughout the year(s). 

 

School Hours Reminder! 

Our Arleta school day for students is from 8:00-2:30.  Please have your children to school at 7:53 so they can go in with the bell and be in class ready to learn when the tardy bell rings at 8 a.m. Students benefit greatly when they are at school on time to begin the day in sync with their classroom community. The bell that rings at 8:00 is the signal that all students should be in their classrooms (it’s a “tardy” bell).  

 

ARRIVAL PLAN 

Video example Arleta Arrival

The changes to be aware of with arrival are:  

1. Breakfast begins at 7:45 (last year that was 7:40. Teacher contract changes have led to some  time shifts.) 

2. 1st & 2nd graders enter school through the main annex doors rather than the doors by the cafeteria / under the Breezeway (or through the cafeteria if they eat breakfast and have class in the annex).

 

All Arleta and all PPS students can have breakfast and lunch at school free of charge as our school (and this year, all PPS)  receives the “Community Eligibility Provision” (CEP).  

 

Request when dropping students off at school

We ask families to say goodbye to their children outside the school building rather than walking them into the classroom, even kindergartners on the 1st day of school (with the exception of Soft Start Days where half the kindergarten class comes August 29 and the other half comes August 30).  

1. This allows teachers to focus fully on greeting all their students at the door every day, which is an important practice teachers are asked to follow across our school.  

2. It helps teachers get the school day going right on time.  

3. It is actually easier for children; we find there are fewer tears and clinging to parents, especially after the first few days, when families say goodbye outside. 

 

We want to connect with families! If you pick your child up, dismissal can be a good time to talk to teachers, especially once most students are dismissed.  Or, just call or email and we’ll call you back or set up a time to talk. Thank you for understanding! 

 

NEW DISMISSAL PLAN FOR KINDERGARTEN, 1st and 2nd GRADES

Dismissal begins at 2:30. 

Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students have new dismissal areas this year as seen on this map.  All students, K-5, will be dismissed out front this year.

 

Video example: Arleta Dismissal

 

 

Please send a note with your student that outlines their dismissal plan. Students will be dismissed to their adult or according to their written dismissal plan. Please always communicate any changes in their plan directly to the teacher, office or with a written note. Thank you!

 

Monthly Early Release Wednesdays this year

All PPS schools will have eight Wednesdays on which school will end for students at 11:45 a.m.. These Wednesdays are: 9/25, 10/23, 11/20, 12/18, 2/26, 3/19, 4/23, and 5/21.  On all those Wednesday afternoons, our staff will be engaged in professional development in the area of reading; specifically, learning current science and evidence-based best practices, and how to best apply our learning and adjust our instructional practices based on our individual student’s strengths and needs. 

 

School Supply lists are listed here by grade. 

If the number of items on your list(s) presents a financial hardship for your family, options include choosing several basics, focusing on any bolded items, purchasing one vs. the higher number of items listed, and/or call the office to ask for the most essential items at your child’s grade level. 503.916.6330.   Please feel comfortable to focus on and purchase what you are able to.  

 

Summary of Important dates and details (all grades):

• Thursday, August 22, 4pm: Incoming Kindergarten and 1st Grade Ice Cream Social (Playground)

• Our office is open 7:30-3:30 all school and in-session days, Monday through Friday. 

  • See district calendar for schedule of school days.

• Tuesday, August 27 is

  • First day of school for 1st-5th graders.

  • Kindergarten families, students and teacher will have quick, individual meet ups at Arleta, or your home if you’d like, on either Tuesday August 29 or Wednesday August 30.  

• Wednesday, August 28: Kindergarten 1:1 family contact with Kindergarten teacher, con’t.

• Thursday August 29 and Friday August 30: Kindergarten full-day, half-class  practice days

• NO SCHOOL Monday, September 2:  Labor Day 

• Tuesday, September 3: First full day for our new Arleta Kindergartners, First Full Day K-5!

• Back2School Night Thursday, September 12, 5pm-7pm 

 

Arleta SUN Community School provides a FREE after-school program that promotes student success by extending the school day through enrichment activities and academic support. SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) also provides adult classes & workshops and fun family events. Community schools serve as mini “community centers” by keeping a public building open & active during after-school hours, and bringing youth & family opportunities directly to the neighborhood. It’s an alternative way for you and the local community to connect via the school! SUN is not a childcare program. Portland Parks & Recreation manages the Arleta SUN program.

 

Our SUN School Coordinator Raina Bilbrew is wonderful as so many of you already know!  In addition to coordinating the various aspects of our after school program, she collaborates with and deeply supports our staff,  supports students within the school day, serves on Arleta Site Council, runs an intentionally designated SUN Community Space in Room 4, and collaborates with our PTA Inclusion Committee. Ms. Raina and Ms. Sheryl Moren, Inclusion Committee co-chair, host our BIPOC Affinity Space. To contact Raina directly: raina.bilbrew@portlandoregon.gov or 503-916-6332.  Our school website also has a page dedicated to SUN. 

 

How can I help during the start of the school year?

 

1. Returning families, Please be sure to go online and complete the PPS yearly verification form via your ParentVUE account. Reviewing your information yearly is essential, and it’s easy to forget all the important details on this form that may need updating. We want to be sure everything is in order so that we can contact you if illness or an unexpected situation arises.   

 

2. Please consider applying for SNAP benefits even if you don’t think your family will qualify. The percentage of students who qualify for SNAP is connected to the number of teachers with which schools are staffed. The application process and whether you qualify are strictly confidential. 

 

3. If your schedule permits, please sign up to volunteer at school!  There are many ways to support our community: recess and/or lunch supervision, Oregon Battle Of the Books, shelving returned library books, letting any staff or partners know a skill you could offer or a way you’d like to share your family culture. We hope to establish a team of parents who are available to volunteer at specific times teachers across our school identify, whether weekly, monthly once/year or anything in-between. Stay tuned for more information or let the office know if you’re interested!

 

How is Classroom Teacher Placement decided ?

The classroom placement process has many steps that can’t be considered complete until as close to the 1st day of school as possible, in order to balance classes including students who are just being registered in those final days. Here are parts of the process--

• Removing students who have moved, adding students who are new to Arleta

• Adding/Removing students who are transferring into or from other PPS schools

• Balancing for academic strengths and needs, race, age, ELD, Special Education, learning styles, and strong learning partnerships

 

Your child’s classroom teacher’s name will be available on Parent Vue.  Parent requests for specific teachers are not accepted. 

 

How do I know if my child is too ill to come to school even if they seem fine?

Please use this PPS Self-Screening Tool to determine if your child can attend school.

 

What if my child has food allergies? If your child has food allergies that were not already known by our Student Health Assistant (SHA) Ms.Elise Miller last year (who had a baby boy in June and is on maternity leave until November!), please email our new MESD School Nurse, Mary Hoy mhoy@mesd.k12.or.us and cc Ms  Nicole Francois, our School Secretary: nfrancois@pps.net.  We will plan for and accommodate  individual student needs.

 

How does communication between home and school work?

Two methods of digital communication between school and home will be:

 

• Remind is now our primary communication tool used across PPS schools for two-way communication between school staff  and families. Remind allows for text, email, push notifications and phone calls. Please visit remind.com for more information and to set or change your notification preferences.

 

Arleta will send school newsletters via Remind each Friday.  We also post the school newsletter and Principal Letter on the Arleta Website: pps.net/arleta. Many Arleta teachers use Remind to communicate with families. Some other teachers use email or their school website. Each classroom teacher will send regular communications in one of these ways and will let you know what to expect.

 

If you need hard copies of major school communications, or know someone who does, please let us know.  We send a few larger communications such as this one, teacher letters, and information about major school events such as Back to School Night home in backpacks, but most regular communication happens digitally.  If that does not work for a family, we will do our best to provide what is needed. Please help us know what is needed by calling or stopping into the office.  Thank you!  503.916.6330.

 

What are our Childcare options?

YMCA is Arleta’s contracted child care organization.

• 211 info is the agency that provides child care referrals to families along with many other social services such as rental assistance and parenting support. 211 info can also provide information about state subsidies to reduce the cost of childcare for working parents and guardians. 

• If you have questions or concerns about child care you can reach out to childcareservices@pps.net

• Our school bus can make a stop at the Boys and Girls Club if requested. Please talk with Nicole in the office if you want more information about that. 503.916.6330

• If you provide childcare in our neighborhood, we’d love to have your contact information so we can share it with interested families.  Please call the office to share your details!  Thank you.

Thank you, Arleta Community Care Day volunteers!  Everything looks so much nicer!

Arleta Community Care Day 2024

 

You’ve reached the end of what is sure to be my longest message of the year. Thank you so much for your time reading and engaging with the links. We look forward to meeting or re-connecting with your child, or children, and family soon! Again, please reach out to me by text (503.348.3982), email or calling the office any time and I will do my best to respond promptly. (If you put the words “message from Arleta parent” in your subject line when emailing me, it helps me search for and find families and caregivers within my inbox.)  I look forward to partnering with you all and our incredible staff this year, in our most important work of creating a culture where every student experiences belonging, love and joy. And, in creating experiences that will lead your children to believe in themselves and put their effort and energy into engaging and learning this school year! 

 

Sincerely,

Lisa Hawking, Arleta School Principal

 

PRINCIPAL LETTER 8/15/24

 

Hi Arleta Community! I hope you’re all enjoying these last weeks of summer vacation with your wonderful children… I can’t wait to see them soon!

 

I’ll be sending an official “Welcome Back” letter out via Remind early next week. Please watch for it! I’ll link our Arleta Family Handbook which will have some important updates to review. In the meantime, here's information on how to use Remind, and be sure to see the information about Konstella further on in this newsletter. (Konstella is another communication tool (and more!) that we’ll be using as a larger community this year.

 

I hope we’ll have lots of families here for Community Care Day on Saturday morning! Every year when this special morning arrives I love arriving at school and joining in with the spirit and connectedness that comes with caring for our beautiful school for a few hours, chatting and working with the others who have come to help, and imagining the year ahead for our children. I always leave feeling like it was a special little gift outside of real time to have participated.

 

A special invitation for families of new 1st through 5th grade students! Our new PTA co-president Sadie Bach and I will host a short Open House just for your student(s) and family this afternoon, Thursday August 15, from 5-5:30 p.m. We’ll meet at 5 in the breezeway near the cafeteria (straight down the pathway that divides our two buildings) then go on a short tour of the school (it will be empty, and we do have an ADA upgrade/construction project underway through the 24th, but you’ll still get the layout). We can discuss any questions and get to know each other a little bit along the way. Changing schools brings lots of feelings for children whatever their age, and our goal is for your child to be able to meet other new students who also have so much newness ahead of them and to offer any other support or information that would be helpful.

New Kindergarten Families and Rising 1st Graders! I can’t wait to see you at our Ice Cream Social next week on Thursday, August 22 and 4 p.m. I’ll be coming from a Professional Development Day with our staff downtown (we’ll all be learning about our new Social Emotional Learning Resource, Caring School Community, that afternoon!) so I’ll be a little late but I’ll be excited to see you, and I know you’ll have so much fun connecting with each other and eating ice cream. Our fantastic Kindergarten Teachers Ms. Arias and Ms. Hedlund will be there too.

 

For those of you who do not already know, PPS has switched all of our communication systems to Remind. Here at Arleta we have been using Remind for a few years, so many of you are already familiar with the system. Parents and guardians are able to choose how they would like Remind messages to come to them, via email or text. Because this is now the primary way that messages from both Arleta staff and teachers as well as district staff will be sent, it is imperative that parents and guardians do NOT opt out of Remind messages. Please refer to the Remind Parent Guide for instructions on how to set up or change your settings and preferences.

 

Hope to see you all Saturday morning!

Warmly,

Lisa Hawking, Arleta Principal

 

Hello Arleta Families,

Our staff is so filled up from all the sweetness and care last week! Here are some notes of appreciation for our community.

A simultaneous request! Everything you can do to get your child to school right before 8 (so they’re in class ready to start the school day by the 8:00 bell) and to help your child stay focused on school and learning is greatly appreciated! Across the grades, children get a little unsettled this time of year with looming changes to their schedules and circumstances, whether they’re changes that are looked forward to, changes there is some anxiety around, and/or everywhere in-between.

I hope as many families as possible are able to miss or make it quickly through the viruses going around. We’re all washing hands a lot but we’ve had lots of staff and student illness the past few weeks. Stay healthy!

For any absences that you can possibly avoid or postpone (appointments, vacation days etc.) -- I’ve heard a few teacher teams talking about the impact of student absences and tardies recently. When one or more students miss the concepts taught, the partner work begun or concluded, the work time on assignments, or even just when students come in late, finding a way to keep things going for students who were present and simultaneously catching students up is quite challenging. Everything you can do to have students here every day on time is so appreciated.

A reminder our Site Council self-nomination for parents and caregivers is open though Tuesday, May 28. Here is the link, and here is the link to the Dolphin Digest with more on Site Councils.

Have a great weekend!

Lisa