Hello Woodstock Families,
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! With Spring Break right around the corner (March 27-31), it is definitely starting to feel more and more like spring. The range of weather we’ve had this week is a good reminder to dress in layers and to make sure your child’s jacket and other clothing that may be shed during the day is labeled with their name.
Even though we are shifting to more outdoor activities with this nice weather, we had a handful for great indoor activities happening at Woodstock. To start off of the week, we were treated to another great performance by the Oregon Symphony as a part of their Kinderkonzerts Series.
However, one of the highlights of this week was seeing students participate in the Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) Competition. You can read more about the event below, but congratulations to the Page Traveling Dragons and a big shout out to Ms. Kate (Library EA), Mrs. Engstrom (3rd Grade Teacher), Mrs. Lingo (Librarian), and ALL the volunteers who helped make this happen.
Finally, at our Morning Meeting this week, we had a special visit from our Friendly Lion mascot who reminded us about the great work happening in our school and set a goal for us to fill our new Pride Inside box before Spring Break in order to earn a special surprise from our PTA. You can help us by talking with your child about our school values (Perseverance, Integrity, Compassion, and Curiosity) and asking them what they do to earn Pride Insides at school.
We are looking forward to meeting our goal and the PTA surprise.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the lovely weather.
With Woodstock Pride,
Seth Johnson, Principal
Woodstock Elementary
See the Woodstock Newsletter Archive for past editions.
PICCs of the Week
Please join us in recognizing the PICCs of the Week who are being celebrated for how they have shown Perseverance, Integrity, Curiosity, and Compassion. Congratulations to this week’s PICCs!
Upcoming Events
March 24 - Surprise School Wide Reward (Thanks to the PTA)
March 27-31 - Spring Break (No School)
April 3 - School Resumes
April 5, 8:20 AM - Coffee Conversation
April 7 - End of Quarter Three
April 10 - No School for Students (Teacher Work Day)
April 20, 6:00-7:30 PM - 3rd-5th Music Program
April 26, 6:00-7:30 PM - Save the Date: “Bring Your Grown-Up To School” Night
May 6 (Saturday) - Oregon Chinese Coalition Cultural Day
June 1, 6:00-7:30 PM - K-2nd Music Program
Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB)
Thursday morning wrapped up this year’s OBOB season! We’d like to extend a big thank you to all of the parent coaches and to those who supported their readers this year. Thank you to all of the Woodstock staff who supported the program too - we appreciate the flexibility!
Congratulations to this year’s 20 teams: Apollo and the Radical Readers, The Geeps, Justice League but for Books, Lightning Dragons, The Roasted Chicken Nuggets, The Book Bears, Literacy Llamas, Marvelous Mochis, Revenge of the Raging Readers, Reading Red Pandas, Rad Reading Rabbits, The Simpsons, Hot Cocoa Readers, Hungry Cookie Bats, Page Traveling Dragons, Page Turning Dear, Portland Puppies, Rainbow Cupcakes, Reading Puppies, and the Sour Grapes
Final Four: Roasted Chicken Nuggets, Marvelous Mochis, Simpsons and The Page Traveling Dragons
Second Place →The Roasted Chicken Nuggets: Hazel, Harper, Mari, Lena and Malia
Champions → The Page Traveling Dragons: Aiden, Immie, Jaxon, Logan and Charlotte
To learn more about OBOB, visit the official website here!
Arrivals and Dismissals
We’ve recently seen a decline in vehicular drives following the parking signage around the school. These signs have been installed for the safety of all, with a focus on the high number of students and families walking to and from school each day. When drivers do not follow the signage, it can create delays for students to get to school, slow traffic, and unsafe situations.
Please be sure to follow the parking sign guidance for your safety and the safety of others.
This sign means you should not be parked in this area at any time.
Do not park in this area or drop off students in this area on school days. This zone is needed for our buses. When vehicles are parked in this area during school hours, it can prevent buses from safely dropping off students.
You can park in this area, but keep it to 15 minutes or less. The purpose of this area is to let families park, walk their children to their arrival area, and then leave. Do not park in this area longer than 15 minutes.
This zone is for families that are letting their children get out of the car to walk to their arrival area on their own. The driver should not leave their car. Please use this area for drop offs and do not stop in the middle of the street to let your children out of the car.
This space is reserved for official DMV disabled permit parking. We do have families that need this space to have safe access to the school. Unless you have a disabled permit, do not park in this area.
Finally, please remember to not block crosswalks or park along yellow curbs. When cars park along the yellow curbs, it blocks the view of other drivers and pedestrians who are attempting to cross the street. When cars are parked blocking crosswalks, it makes it very dangerous for students and other pedestrians to cross safely.
Please also be courteous to our neighbors and not block their driveways when you are parking.
Thank you for your help keeping our community safe!
Health and Safety
Even though we are starting to experience some warmer weather, there are still several students who are reporting being sick. Please remember to practice good hygiene, including washing your hands and covering your cough. It will be important for everyone to continue self-screening using the PPS Daily Self-Screening Tool and to follow the guidance if you should stay home.
REMINDER: Staffing Update
At that last Coffee/Community Conversation, we were able to discuss the Woodstock staffing allocations for the 2023-2024 school year. If you were not able to attend, but would like to learn more, please see the Community Conversation Recording from the evening session.
You can also view the Woodstock 2023-2024 Staffing Slide Deck for the details. Please note that the information specific to Woodstock is on slide 10.
Please reach out to Principal Johnson at sethjohnson@pps.net with any questions.
REMINDER: Woodstock Foundation - Help Wanted!
With staffing allocations shared and Woodstock’s new enrollment projections, based on the SE Guiding Coalition boundary work and changing demographics for our neighborhood, a group of parents are exploring the work we can do to re-establish our Woodstock Elementary Foundation to identify ways to support staffing needs at Woodstock.
On Wednesday, Patrick Gronli, the current Foundation Chair, led a meeting about the role of the foundation and how it can support our school. If you were unable to attend the meeting, but are curious about learning more, please see the Woodstock Foundation Informational Slide Deck.
As we move forward this spring, we’ll be looking for a minimum of two parents to take on the roles of Chair and Treasurer. If you are interested, know someone who may be a good fit for this work, or have questions, please contact Seth Johnson at sethjohnson@pps.net or Patrick Gronli at patrick.gronli@gmail.com
REMINDER: Site Council Elections
This spring, we will be seeking two more members to join our school’s Site Council for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years. We hope to have one family representative from our English Scholars/Neighborhood Program and one family representative from our DLI Program.
If you have questions or are interested, please contact Principal Johnson at sethjohnson@pps.net.
