April 5th - No School, Teacher Planning Day

April 10th - Virtual Kindergarten Connect 6 pm

April 12th - Principal's Coffee, 9 am in the cafeteria

April 25th - Lockdown Drill

May 4th - Clark Garden Work Party, 10am to 12 pm

May 7th - Kindergarten Connect at Clark 6 pm

May 17th - Principal's Coffee, 9 am in the cafeteria

May 19th - CSS Clark Arboretum Welcome Event, 2 pm - 3 pm in the Arboretum

May 27th - No School

Clark Families,

April showers bring May flowers! Wow, time is flying by this school year. I can’t believe it’s already April 2nd. I hope you all had a restful spring break. I was able to go to the east coast and visit a family member in Massachusetts and ski in Vermont. I had a fun and relaxing time but I am excited to be back at school with students and staff.

This week on Wednesday and Thursday we will be conducting rules reviews with students. We will be reviewing our school rules and expectations for respecting our school and each other and what that looks and sounds like in various areas around our school. We are working hard as a staff and school to create a positive, safe, and inclusive school environment where everyone feels like they belong. We are working with our students to teach them non-violent communication and collaborative problem solving techniques instead of using physical aggression and abusive language to communicate. Please ask your child/ren about our school rules and expectations for positive communication.

If you would like to bring store bought treats or food for your child’s class, please make arrangements with your child’s teacher ahead of time. At Clark, we maximize instructional time and although celebrating birthdays and other special events are important to us, teachers have tight schedules and any treats brought from home that could disrupt teaching and learning time need to be pre-arranged so that teachers can account for the time in their day. Thank you for understanding.

Our second lockdown drill of the school year will be on Friday, April 25th, 2024. Please refer to this Parent Letter from January 8th for more information on our lockdown drill procedures in PPS. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to myself or our school office. Enjoy the beautiful sunshine!

Thank you,

Tara

Dear Clark Families,

Kids Heart Challenge has officially kicked off, and we are so excited to learn how to keep our hearts healthy & happy! Check out our VIRTUAL ENVELOPE to learn more. In honor of the AHA’s 100th birthday, we are asking all families to follow these steps to join our team:

1. Sign up TODAY at http://www2.heart.org/goto/clarkpandas or by downloading the free AHA Schools App for Apple or Android
2. Give or Get a Donation! SEND 10 emails/texts to friends & family in your HQ asking for a donation!

SPECIAL INCENTIVES:

• Everyone who signs up will be put into a drawing to get to ICE BUCKET Mrs. Flores & Mr. J!!
• Everyone who learns Hands only CPR through KHC website will get an extra ticket into the drawing to get to ICE BUCKET Mrs. Flores & Mr. J!
• The class with the most participation (K-1, 2-3, 4-5) will earn a Glow party in PE!!

WHY PARTICIPATE? To help us save lives! Students have the opportunity to raise donations and awareness for the American Heart Association, which helps us provide education in our community, fund research and development, all in an effort to lower the risks of America’s #1 and #4 killers, heart disease and stroke. THANK YOU

REMINDER: If you would like to bring store bought treats for your child or their class, please make arrangements with your child’s teacher ahead of time. All staff emails can be found on our website HERE. At Clark, we maximize instructional time and although celebrating birthdays and other special events are important to us, teachers have tight schedules and any treats brought from home that could disrupt teaching and learning time need to be pre-arranged so that teachers can account for the time in their day. If you bring treats during the day and have not checked with your child's teacher, the office will hold on to the treats and deliver them to the class at the end of the day after instruction. Please feel free to reach out to the Clark office. Thank you for understanding.

Hello Clark Community,

Happy almost spring! I know it’s been a while since our last newsletter– so much has happened, including some wild weather and also the teachers’ strike. I hope you are all well and settling back into a routine.

In January we learned all about the importance of birds in our garden ecosystems and how they help with seed dispersal, pest management, and pollination! Kids especially loved going on a bird walk, making bird nests, spreading birdseed around the garden, and playing an active game of ‘Hawk’s & Sparrows’.

In February students learned about food systems and all classes made a small winter garden-inspired snack (dried berries, Nettle/herbal tea, and cauliflower popcorn) before choosing spring crops and prepping the gardens for planting. In March we are excited to study seeds- their beauty, diversity, and powerful force in the garden as we start our first plantings of the year.

In early January, we had a garden full of prosperous winter crops. While we were sad that the ice storm killed many of these, we received a lesson in resilience from Bok Choi, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, and many herbs that were strong enough to survive the week-long freeze.

And, we have replanted the garden with spring crops such as Spinach, Radishes, Peas, Kale, Carrots, and started many Chinese vegetables indoors such as Bitter Melon.

Also, we recently received a donation of greenhouse plastic for making low tunnels to extend the growing season. With this improvement, we’re hoping to be able to send more food to the cafeteria this spring. Thanks to GK Machine, in Donald, Oregon, for this generous donation!

Please be on the lookout for a spring work party to be announced shortly! And, we are still looking for more parents to get involved with the garden program. If you are interested in helping in any way–big or small–please reach out to me.

Lastly, Are you passionate about getting kids outside and learning about food and Nature! We’re expanding our board at Grow Portland and looking for folks from our schools who can help move our work forward- no experience necessary! If interested, please complete this brief survey. Thanks for your interest!

Warmly,

Max Krieger- max@growportland.org

The Clark community will be selecting a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum for next school year. The choices are Wayfinder and Caring School Communities. Please check out the websites for Wayfinder and Caring School Communities.

We would love to hear from you if you have a preference for either curriculum. Please complete this google form with your preference.

Counseling lessons for Quarter 4 will start with executive functioning skills and finish with career cluster information. Spring is a great time to review and strengthen skills like organization, flexible thinking, time management, and planning. We will finish the year strong with lessons about community helpers, career paths, and education options. In 5th grade, we'll focus on the transition to middle school.

As always, I love to partner with families so please reach out to me anytime at ankennedy@pps.net.

Next year’s bell schedules will change for many students.

Beginning next school year, we added 15 instructional minutes for elementary and middle school students and provided all middle school students with a seven-period day. Accommodating these changes while supporting 410 minutes per week of teacher planning time and aligning our transportation systems requires us to adopt common start and stop times:

• At K-5 schools, students will now start at 8:00 AM and end at 2:30 PM

• At K-8 schools, all students will start at 8:45 AM.

  • K-5 students will end at 3:15 PM.

  • 6-8 students will end at 3:30 PM

• At middle schools, students will now start at 9:15 AM and end at 4:00 PM

• At high schools, students will now start at 8:26 AM and end at 3:30 PM

More particular variations of these schedules (e.g. early-dismissal or late-arrival) will be available in the coming weeks on your school’s website. Multiple Pathway to Graduation schools (alternative, charter and treatment schools) develop their own schedules and will be sharing those later.

School Starts at 8:45 am Please make sure to arrive on time for school. This helps our classrooms get started on time for the day to not miss instruction and fun activities.

School Ends at 3:00 pm Please make sure to pick up your students promptly at 3pm. The Clark Office will begin calling guardians and emergency contacts at 3:10 pm for students. Our office closes at 3:30 pm.

School Hours: 8:45 am to 3 pm

Doors Open for Students: 8:38 am

Please do not drop off your students prior to school opening unless they are supervised by a parent/guardian. We have no student supervision until 8:38 am. Thank you!

Email: lmckinney1@pps.net
Website: www.pps.net/clark
Location: 1231 Southeast 92nd Avenue, Portland, OR, USA
Phone: 503-916-6561