Hello Vestal Community! I am writing one day early this week! Today we had our December Fire Drill...the kids did a terrific job! You may want to ask your child about how it went for their class!

Next week is our Book Fair-each day from 2:30-3:30 in the library...there are so many wonderful books! Teachers have made special requests,too!

Next Wednesday is out last Parent Coffee of 2018! Please join me at 8:15 in the Teacher's Lounge to check in about how school has been going, or any other topics you want to address.

Feel free to check out any of our Social Justice Books over the holiday break...there are some great titles for both kids and adults.

This FRIDAY---in support of the Timbers making it to the championship game, WEAR TIMBER colors (green and yellow) OR Vestal colors (blue and yellow)! Go Timbers! Go Vestal!

Stay warm, Sabrina Flamoe

Hello all! I can't believe we are at the end of November! As the weather gets colder and more wintery please make sure your kids have outside gear, as we try to get them outside if at all possible. If you don't work in schools, I am sure you can at least imagine a school full of teachers and kids stuck indoors all day- it is not ideal!

Maybe your child has mentioned that lunch has been more pleasant this week...we have decided to split Vestal and ACCESS into separate lunches. This has created a quieter, quicker hot lunch line, less crowded lunch for everyone involved!!

Reminder for everyone who participates in SUN programming after school- SUN is an extension of the Vestal school day and the same guidelines and expectations are in place. Most importantly, students in SUN may NOT leave campus between the school day and SUN. We have had students going to Wendy's and then coming back to participate. If your child does this, please tell them they are not allowed to anymore:)

Also,if your child is NOT in SUN or the Y aftercare, we do not have supervision for them and they need to have alternate plans.  We have a number of 4th and 5th graders that need to have a plan of where to head after school...so again, please make sure they know the plan!

I wanted to share that we had some district visitors on Wednesday visit a few classrooms. They shared how wonderful it was to see so many kids engaged in relevant, challenging, and interesting learning! Their feedback is such a compliment to YOUR students and OUR teachers!

TAG reminder:

If you would like to nominate your child for TAG (Talented and Gifted) testing, nomination forms are due tomorrow, November 30, 2018.  If you have questions please reach out to Morgan Whitney, TAG Coordinator (mwhitney1@pps.net).

Remember- WEAR VESTAL GEAR tomorrow and every Friday!

 

Thanks, Sabrina Flamoe

It is Thanksgiving weekend- a few things we at Vestal are super thankful for-

T-he community at Vestal fro being involved, committed, and  supportive!

H-aving a school wide focus on social justice and seeing our kids learning about the importance of taking action to take care of our community!

A-nice long weekend to step back and appreciate the simple, small moments in life!

N-ew kindergarten class that starts on Monday!

K-ind, Safe, Learners and the TEACHERS who teach their hearts out every day!

S-tudents...your children are the focus and purpose of every single day!

A few upcoming events to know about- 

Nov. 26th- SITE council at 2:45

Dec 4   PTA Meeting 8:15 a.m.

Dec 6  SUN  Showcase

Dec 10  Book Fair We

Dec 12  Coffee Conversations with Principal

Dec 14 Last day of school for 2018

            

Notes about TAG- TAG nomination forms are due November 30.

Benefits to TAG identification:

• Build community = stronger program
• Academic achievement: new teacher sees TAG identification and knows differentiation is needed
• Possible after school opportunities (such as TAG-geared SUN classes)
• Free Night at OMSI
• TAG books in book room
• Easier to request an academic plan for the school year with the child's teacher

Hello all and happy Saturday morning!

At the risk of over sharing, I wanted to share that I was out of commission this Wednesday-Friday...I have actually never missed three days in a row for illness, but...kidney stones seem to fall into a different category all around! I am finally feeling better and am very thankful for all the Vestal staff that stepped up to be certain the school ran as usual! I received some adorable pictures of children giving the high fives at the front door; a job I treasure but am happy it was taken on by students!

We recieved great news...we will be adding a 3rd kindergarten class! This is a terrific example of the district seeing our need and responding in a concrete way. We will begin the hiring process next week and hope to start the new class after conferences!

Speaking of conferences- please check in with your child/children's teacher OR the front office to schedule a conference if you have not already!

A few reminders about the upcoming week-

No School Monday- Veteran's Day

Fri- Picture re-takes AND Harvest Festival!!

News from the library-

Oregon Battle of the Books 2018

All About OBOB

Third-Fifth

 graders received information about Oregon Battle of the Books last month and have begun checking out and enjoying the many great titles on the list this year.  Oregon Battle of the Books is a state sponsored competition where students form teams of 4-5 classmates,

 read from the list of 16 books, and prepare for "battle." An OBOB

 battle uses a Moderator to ask book content based questions to each team. Team members consult on the correct answer and if correct, earn a point.  The team with the most points wins and advances to the next battle. Eventually, a winning school team is determined.

 This team then goes on to compete in a Regional(Portland area) Tournament.  The Regional Tournament then competes in a Statewide tournament.

Students can meet, read, and practice as a team as part of the SUN School OBOB class.  However, attendance at the SUN school OBOB

 class is not mandatory to be on an OBOB team.

Students who are interested in OBOB

 should begin by forming a team of 3-4 classmates.  Teams can be all one grade level or a mixture of grades.  Team captains should turn in one form for

Team Registration

 (see Ms. Lang or Ms. Hutchinson for a form) by 12/7. If students need help finding a team, please email me and I will connect them with others who are looking for a team.  

 

Peace, Sabrina Flamoe

sflamoe@pps.net

 

OBOB

 Dates

12/7:

 Team Registrations turned into Ms. Lang or Ms. Hutchinson (forms will be given out at school and sent home)

February

 1-14  Vestal School Battles (times/dates to come)

Mid-March:

 Regional Battle (date TBA)

April:

 State Battle (date TBA)

 

Volunteers Needed Any parents who are interested in supporting OBOB

 at Vestal can email myself, Melody Lang,

(mdlang@pps.net)

 or Ms. Hutchinson (jhutchinson@pps.net) for details.  

In this week's PPS Pulse: Creative Science students use podcasts to fund cancer research; Cleveland girls soccer excels in classroom

For the second year in a row, Cleveland High School produced the top academic girls soccer team in the state. The Warriors finished with the highest cumulative grade-point average among not just Class 6A teams, but girls soccer teams in all classifications in Oregon in the OnPoint Community Credit Union Academic All-State Awards.

Creative Science School’s motto is, “Encouraging students to be independent thinkers, learners, and problem solvers.” An ongoing project to raise money for cancer research shows just how much the K-8 school’s student live up to the motto.

Do you have experience with performance audits? Portland Public Schools is looking to fill out our District Audit Committee with a community member.