September 23, 2015 - Ventura Park Elementary

Principal's Message
Dear Ventura Park School Community:
These are exciting times at Ventura Park! I am proud of the
work our school community is doing to ensure Ventura
Park Elementary continues to be a safe, welcoming,
supportive community of learners — where every member
of the school community works collaboratively with others
to ensure ALL STUDENTS make meaningful social,
emotional and academic growth. Every member of the
school community plays a vital role in this process —
especially YOU: parents and community members. Learn
more about Ventura Park and opportunities for
involvement at: http://vp.ddouglas.k12.or.us/.
Ventura Park is a SUN Community School. SUN stands for
“Schools Uniting Neighborhoods.” SUN services provide
academic and enrichment opportunities to students, families
and the school community. Your input and participation as a
parent and community member is a valuable part of the SUN
school process; watch for opportunities to volunteer, provide
advisory input, and participate in school community
programming, activities and events. Learn more about VP's
SUN
programming
at:
https://venturaparkcommunity.wordpress.com/.
Ventura Park is also now a Playworks school. Our entire staff
has been trained by Playworks to provide increased
opportunities for play as a research-based strategy that fosters
student learning and growth as well as the health and wellness
of all students and of the school as a whole. Being a
Playworks school also means conflict-resolution skill-building
is included for all students during recess everyday, and at
periodic classroom instruction times. Learn more about
Playworks at: http://www.playworks.org/.
Ventura Park's Parent Teacher Organization is an active,
highly supportive group of parent leaders who care deeply
about supporting all students by supporting the school and
enriching the opportunities for school-community activities.
The PTO supports the school community as a whole, in
addition to providing support directly to Ventura Park's the
teaching staff. Watch for announcements and school support
opportunities available through the VP-PTO. Learn more
about the VP-PTO at: http://venturaparkpto.weebly.com/.
VP staff is committed to fulfilling the David Douglas School
District vision of providing meaningful, equitable
opportunities for all to grow and thrive within supportive
communities of learners. Contact your child's teacher, SUN
site manager Erika Levison, Reading Specialist Elaine
Kristensen, or myself if you have questions about how you can
participate in the supportive community of learners at Ventura
Park.
Sincerely,
Jakob Curtis
Principal
The Voice of
the Viking
Ventura Park Elementary School
145 SE 117th Avenue, Portland, OR 97216
503-256-6508
Jakob Curtis, Principal
September 23, 2015
UPCOMING DATES
Check here for updates in each VOV
*Tuesday, September 29
SCHOOL COLORS DAY! (Green & Yellow)
*Thursday, Oct 15 6:00-7:00pm
Curriculum Night
*Friday, October 16
NO SCHOOL
*Tuesday, October 27
Picture Day
*Wednesday, November 11
NO SCHOOL – HOLIDAY
*Monday, November 16
NO SCHOOL – Teacher Work Day
*Monday, November 23
2:00 PM Dismissal - Conferences
*Tuesday, November 24
NO SCHOOL - Conferences
*Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, November 25, 26, 27
NO SCHOOL – THANKSGIVING
*Monday, November 30
Picture Retake Day
*December 21 – January 1
NO SCHOOL – WINTER BREAK
IMPORTANT
VISITOR
VOLUNTEER PROCEDURE:
&
All visitors must check-in in the office. Volunteers will
need to complete a District and State of Oregon
background check. If you would like to volunteer, please
let your child's teacher know, and complete the
application sent home in First Day Packets. Extra forms
are available in the office. During the school hours of
9:00-3:30, all visitors and volunteers in the building must
be wearing an approved ID badge or sticker issued in the
office. Thank you for helping keep Safety First at
Ventura Park.
Reading
Corner
The educators at Ventura Park Elementary are
committed to helping your child become a
successful reader. As part of this commitment, the
David Douglas School District has chosen to use a
test called DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic
Early Literacy Skills) to help us examine how your
child is doing in learning important reading skills.
DIBELS is made up of six short individual tests.
Because each test focuses on a different reading
skill, your child may be given two to four DIBELS
tests depending on his or her grade level. Each test
takes about 1 minute because the tests are used only
as indicators. Much like using a thermometer to
take a child’s temperature is an indicator of overall
health, each test is an indicator of how well a child
is doing in learning a particular early reading skill.
We completed our fall DIBELS testing, for first
through fifth graders, the week of 9/14 – 9/18/15.
This information will be shared with families at
parent teacher conferences in November. If you
have any questions about this testing please email
me at elaine_kristensen@ddsd40.org.
Elaine Kristensen
Reading Specialist
Student Supply/Snack Fees
Please pay your child's $20.00 Student Supply Fee and
Kindergarten Snack Fee in the office at Ventura Park as
soon as possible. If you need to spread the amount over
several payments, the office is happy to accommodate
you.
SUN - Schools Uniting Neighborhoods
I hope everyone had a fun and restful summer. We
are so excited to jumpstart our second year as a
Community School. This year my vision for our
Community School is to provide meaningful
opportunities for families, staff and students to grow
in a healthy learning community. While we are
reaching out to partners, businesses and,
organizations - the most important partner in
student success is you. I want to thank every parent
who has given input over the last year whether in
person or at a community meeting. Here are some
updates for our Community School this year:
Food Bags for Families this year will be on
Mondays at 3:15pm
Visit our SUN Community School Website for
updates on Service-Learning Opportunities,
Culturally Specific Services, our Community
Garden and Family Resources.
https://venturaparkcommunity.wordpress.com/
Extended-Day Programming
Fall Registration: September 23rd - September 30th
Fall Session: October 12th-December 10th
Students are selected on a lottery basis, some
students are "saved a spot" by referral or
enrollment in a yearlong program. To keep class
sizes small, and student's supported in a safe,
positive environment - we cannot promise
enrollment at any time.
Warmly,
Erika Levison
SUN Site Manager
HAPPENINGS
Please be sure to read the back of the lunch menus
sent home each month. There are many district
opportunities for you to take notice of!
ATTENDANCE – IMPORTANCE OF
COMING TO SCHOOL EVERYDAY AND ON TIME
At Ventura Park we continue to focus on the importance of
on-time daily attendance for every student. Coming to school
every day, arriving on time, is directly linked to children’s
success in school. Please support students by helping make
sure they arrive to school daily and on time, and that students
remain in class until the end of the day. Students are dismissed
at 3:15pm on a daily basis. To ensure all students enjoy the
benefits of attending the full school day without interruption,
parents and guardians are asked to refrain from requesting
students earlier than 3:15 except in emergency.
BE AN ATTENDANCE CHEERLEADER Parents, to
help your kids have great attendance, use your own energy and
enthusiasm. When your children see you excited about good
attendance, they will become excited as well. To encourage
your children to have great attendance, try these ideas:
·
Praise good attendance. Make a point of bragging about
your child’s good attendance to friends and family. Make sure
your child hears this. Make a big deal about it.
·
Make a chart that shows days attended at school. You
can use this to show successes and to celebrate. Let your child
mark off each day on a chart and celebrate when each month
is through.
·
Help build your child’s excitement about school. Each
day ask your child, “What is something cool that happened
today at school?” or “Tell me something interesting that you
studied today at school.” This can help your child to see
school as a super place to be.
LATE OPENING EVERY WEDNESDAY
Doors open at 9:30 for breakfast
Students may go to the classroom at 9:45
Students must be seated at 10:00 AM
Parent Teacher Organization~
PTO Welcome Back Vikings!
As a parent or guardian of a Ventura Park student, you are part
of our Parent Teacher Organization! As community members,
our goal is to work together to make our school a hub for the
neighborhood and for our city, and to give our students
memories that will last a lifetime. We would love your input
and feedback so we can make this year the best we can for our
students and our staff. Please consider coming to our
meetings (the first Monday of every month from 6:30-7:30 in
the school library and childcare is provided). If you can’t
make a meeting, join the Ventura Park PTO Facebook Page at
facebook.com/groups/venturaparkpto. The Parent Teacher
Organization uses the Facebook page to remind parents of
school events, get input from families, and to ask for help. If
you’re on Facebook, please join our group. It only takes a
minute!
BoxTops: One of the easiest ways to support
our school is by collecting BoxTops for
Education. You can find BoxTops on several
products
(a
full
list
is
available
here
http://www.boxtops4education.com/). Each BoxTop is worth
10 cents for our school. It may not seem like much, but last
year we raised almost $900 in Box Tops alone. So cut them
out, collect them, and bring them to your classroom teacher!
As always, you can find us on our website
(venturaparkpto.weebly.com),
our
Facebook
page
(facebook.com/groups/venturaparkpto), or via email at
venturaparkpto@gmail.com
STUDENT TRANSPORTATION CHANGES
Student safety is our priority! If you are making changes
to your student’s regular transportation schedule, please
send a note to school explaining the transportation
change for that day. Changes regarding picking up your
child or whether your child should ride the bus must be
communicated to the office no later than 3:00 PM each
day. To ensure safe transport of all students, we do
NOT accept bus riding changes after 3:00 PM, except in
emergencies.
HEALTHY CELEBRATIONS AT SCHOOL
David Douglas School District and Ventura Park Elementary School
encourage healthy eating and safe, physical activity. We want all VP
Vikings to be safe and healthy. We take the health and education of
every student very seriously. With the existence of sensitive food
allergies among students, it may be unsafe to distribute foods in
classrooms, when ingredients are not carefully accounted for ahead of
time. Please do NOT send food to school for your child to share with
classmates. Please also do NOT bring cupcakes or other food/treats
expecting teachers to pass these out during class. Class time is very
limited, and we want to protect instructional time for the academic
success of all students. DDSD has an outstanding food services staff
that takes special care to provide healthy food everyday to students at
both breakfast and lunch. Party food/treats sent from home are not
necessary and often disrupt the educational program of school.
Instead of food, students may bring to share: stickers, special pencils,
or other fun and useful items. If sending such items to school, please
first check with your child's teacher. This may be a thoughtful way
to celebrate a special occasion without sending food to school.
SCHOOL LUNCHES
David Douglas School District’s lunch prices for the
2015-16 school year are as follows:
Breakfast is free for all students during 2015-2016!
Adult Breakfast is $2.10
REGULAR ELEMENTARY LUNCH $2.45
STUDENT MILK .50
ADULT LUNCH $3.75 NO MILK
We are using MealTime, an automated cafeteria system with barcoded student ID cards. Parents or students may bring any amount of
money to school, which will be entered in the individual student’s
lunch account. It is best to have a larger amount of money on hand to
assure your student of a hot lunch whenever needed. When the
account balance becomes low, a notice will be sent home with the
student in their Wednesday Folder, informing parents that a deposit is
needed in their child’s account. When students move, the balance in
the lunch account is refunded to the parents. If your student’s
account falls into a negative balance, a light snack lunch will be
provided until the account is current. Notices will be sent home
when this occurs.
Please remember that each new school year you MUST apply for
FREE lunches. These applications may take a week or so to
process, and you are responsible to pay for any lunches eaten
until applications are approved. If your financial situation
changes at any time, please ask any staff member to send home
an application. You may also pick one up in the school office.
In order to help you remain informed, we would like to make the
following suggestions:
1. Contact Food Services Cashier for questions. Jeannie
Walker can be reached by calling 503-256-6500, extension
4870. You may leave a message and she will be able to
check and return your call within the day. You may also
email her at the following: jeannie_walker@ddsd40.org
2. Speak to Jeannie in person during the following hours:
9:00-11:00 am OR 1:00-2:15 pm.
3. Sign up with MealTime Online. You can use the following
address to do so: www.mymealtime.com, click Create
New Account, and complete the registration information.
Your student’s ID# is needed to make deposits or view
your student’s account. The food services cashier or office
staff can help you with the ID#.
COMMUNICATIONS:
Be sure to check out the back of the Lunch Menu. There are several
opportunities around the district that you may want to participate in.
The David Douglas Web Site is another very valuable source of
information
that
you
will
want
to
be
familiar
with.
www.ddouglas.k12.or.us
Read all teachers memos and letters and look for this school
newsletter every other week. Most information is sent home in
Wednesday Folders, but sometimes we need to get news to you on
other days. Get in the habit of checking your student’s backpack each
day.
STUDENT PROFILE FORMS
Student Profiles will be coming home soon for you to
review all your student registration information. Please
make any corrections on the form and return it to your
classroom teacher as soon as possible. Keeping the
school informed of any changes allows us to contact the
appropriate people in the event of emergencies and mail
important documents to the correct locations. Thank
You!
PARKING LOT SAFETY
To keep kids safe please remember:
~Drive at a slow speed of 5mph in the parking lot
~Always stop at crosswalk when students are present
~Obey crossing guard directions
~Be cautious on streets when students are present
~Follow safety patrol signals for stopping
~There is no parking or stopping permitted in the parking lot
unless you are in a designated parking space
~Never park or stop on the "safe-walk" zone painted white