NO SCHOOL NEXT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24TH
This is a District-wide Professional Development Day, and school offices will be closed!
GRANDPARENTS/SPECIAL FRIENDS - WHEN: Grandparents or special friends can come to Maplewood on Thursday, Oct. 23rd. A ceremony will be held starting at 12:30 p.m. in the gym. WHO: Grandparents or Special Friends of your child. Space is limited for the performance and in the room, so it is usual to have one or two people come (but we don’t have room for the “whole family”. WHAT: The student musical performance will be in the gym, and we ask all attendees to stay until the end; after the program in the gym is finished, the adults can go back to the classroom with the students to visit there and see the classrooms; hint: we’ll let our guests all leave school by 2:00 p.m. to avoid the usual traffic jams at the dismissal time at the end of the day. (If you want your child to leave school with someone different than we have on file, or to leave early, we must have a note from you or the hot pink permission slip turned in!) Come enjoy the children, and hear praises for you as their Special Friends or Grandparents! The kids love to see you here!
MAPLEWOOD AWARDED FUNDS FROM INTEL - I received this message today from Intel: I am pleased to inform you that Intel volunteers invested 259 hours at Maplewood Elementary during the 2007-2008 school year, earning your school a $2590 grant from the Intel Foundation through the Volunteer Matching Grant (VMG) program. I want to congratulate you and your volunteers on this wonderful investment of time. A big thanks goes to Scott Noble, Christina Foulger, and Slobodan Mrdjan who donated a great amount of volunteer time, which earned us this funding amount which I’m putting in a discretionary account until we decide where to allocate these funds! If you know of other Intel employees, please remind them.
COSTUME PARADE - FRIDAY, OCT. 31ST - again be the day when children can bring costumes to school to wear in an afternoon parade. Students will put on costumes after lunch, and begin the parade at 12:45 p.m. on the playground (in the gym if poor weather). To make this a safe, enjoyable event for everyone, make sure that the costumes are: SAFE (they shouldn’t restrict vision or trip them up; also, absolutely no fake or real weapons should be brought for this school affair) and APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR AGE (no revealing, bloody, or violent costumes) and CONVENIENT (so the student doesn’t have to be stressed about the time limits to get dressed; they will not be allowed to put on costumes until right after lunch).
LIFESKILLS - The Lifelong Guidelines are the behavior guidelines that our school community will be practicing this year. These five guidelines (Trustworthiness, Truthfulness, Active Listening, No Put-Downs, and Personal Best) are based upon a respect for others and self and provide a safe environment in which learning can take place. The specific Lifeskill that our school focused on in October was Active Listening. Some of the ways that we can explore the Lifeskill of Active Listening include:
• Practice note-taking skills
• Listening to different forms of music
• Listing the characteristics of an active listener
• Attending an in-school or community performance and practicing active listening skills
In addition to modeling Active Listening for your child, there are ways that parents can help improve their children’s listening skills. You can support your child by:
• Reading aloud increasingly longer stories, staring with picture books and working up to chapter books and asking him/her to share what pictures come to mind as the story progresses
• Asking him/her to retell and evaluate TV programs
• Providing opportunities for your child to remember and follow increasingly difficult, multi- step instructions
• Identifying nature sounds during a walk in the woods, park, or while strolling along the beach
TAG PARENT INFORMATION SESSION - On Weds. Oct. 29th, from 7:00 to 8:00 at Wilson High School, I will be hosting an informational meeting for parents wanting to learn more about TAG identification and instruction. We will be meeting at Wilson with the parents from all the other Wilson Cluster Schools for a joint meeting, and then we’ll follow this with “bread-out” sessions for each individual school to meet with the Principal and ask more specific questions. Roxanne Coleman, a representative from the district’s TAG office, will be present to offer information and answer questions.
DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIALS TO YOU - It is the policy of the Board of Education to allow organizations that provide educational, athletic or training services or opportunities for children to send information home to students on a schedule established by the school. The Board adopted this policy and the Superintendent has developed an accompanying administrative directive because there is a vast array of excellent community opportunities available to supplement your child’s education, and we want you to be aware of these opportunities.
However, once we decide to allow this type of information to be distributed, state and federal law prohibit Portland Public Schools from restricting certain information based on the viewpoint of the group distributing information. This means that from time to time you may receive materials from a group that holds values that may offend some of our families. You will want to review this material closely to determine if it presents an opportunity in which you want your child to participate.
The organizations providing this information are not endorsed or sponsore6308d by Portland Public Schools. District policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, color, creed, disability, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation (BP 1.80.020). Not all outside organizations comply with the District’s non-discrimination policy. Again, families are strongly encouraged to review all materials closely (3.30.038-AD).
Maplewood has made the decision to distribute materials on Fridays.
From time to time, items may be placed on the Community Information Display Area, where items will be available to students and families. Organizations that choose this mode of distribution will have the opportunity to display their items in this designated area for two months.
If you have any questions regarding this policy or the administrative directive (3.30.038-AD), it is available on the web at www.pps.k12.or.us (click Board of Education, then Policies). You may also contact our office at 503-916-6308.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULING OR RE-SCHEDULING – I have become worried again this year that an unusually high number of parents may have scheduled family vacations during the days that school is cancelled for parent/teacher conferences and Thanksgiving Holiday Nov. 24 through Dec. 1st. I have requested that if a conference is not held that week due to family vacation plans:
• that the conference not be re-scheduled, but
• that any conference information be sent home after the conference week for parents’ information.
My concern is that re-scheduled conferences take more teacher time, which affect teachers’ planning time (the time that they use for valuable curriculum and lesson planning that affects all students). If the conference can’t be held for unavoidable reasons, please contact the teacher for re-scheduling; however, if it is for avoidable reasons such as vacations, please do not request a different meeting time.
Also, because of the high numbers of students here and the limited times for conferences, I’m also asking that conferences with divorced/separated parents be held when both parents can attend at the same time. It helps with healthy communication to have both parents discuss the child with the teacher together.
LOST AND FOUND - We are setting a record for number of clothing items that are “lost” and then put in our “Found” area (at the top of the cafeteria stairs near the Kindergarten room in 101). It is a huge pile, and usually if filled with clothes that the kids forget somewhere, and with clothes that don’t have any name written on them anywhere. I would strongly suggest that you put your child’s name on the clothing somewhere (on the label, e.g.); also, please make sure you or your child check there for any lost clothing items.
Upcoming Events:
Oct 17 - Maplewood Carnival!
Oct 21 - Kindergarten Vision/Dental Screening
Oct 23 - Grandparents/Special Friends Day at 12:30 pm
Oct 24 - NO SCHOOL – Professional Development Day
Oct 28 - 1st grade Vision/Dental Screening
Oct 29 - TAG Parent Meeting at Wilson High School 7 to 8 pm
Oct 31 - Sally Foster Orders Due
Oct 31 - Costume Parade 12:45 pm
Nov 10 - NO SCHOOL – Teacher Planning Day
Nov 11 - NO SCHOOL – Veteran’s Day
