North Plains Hawks News
November 3, 2017
Principal's message - week 14
Greetings North Plains Families!
What a fun week! Thank you to all of you for making our dress up day on Tuesday fun and appropriate for all. See below for some fun pics!
I just found out about a way we could earn $10,000.00 for our school! Cha-ching Usa is having a contest where people vote for a school to win. You can vote once per day! The contest began in Sept. and ends in Dec. so we may be too late, but I figured what the heck! When you click on the link you go to the voting page, but if you want to see the program the option is there too. There are free lessons for teachers to help students learn about money and financial management. It looks great! Here is the link if you are interested. https://www.cha-chingusa.org/contest
The lost and found has been updated again, so please use the link below to check for missing items for your kids! Thank you again to Mr. Orozco for donating his time to keep that updated for us.
The pottery the students have created with artist Karie Oakes is in the process of being fired for the first time. Thank you so much to parent Eddie Arellano for stepping up to help with the kiln! There is no way I could have done this without him. Today is the 2nd firing and we'll be ready Monday to unload and reload for our last batch. Karie comes back the week of Nov. 13 for the glazing, then we'll redo the firing process again. If anyone else is interested in learning how to work the kiln, I know Mr. Arellano would appreciate the help:)
Some of you may have heard the good news about getting a new teacher to alleviate the large class sizes in grades 1 and 2. I was surprised when I found out we get a 1.0 teacher at this point in the year! The decision was made to put this teacher in primary as we have 96 students (+ another starting on Monday) in three classes; far too many! Yes, 3rd grade is high as well, but to fix that would mean adding a split instead of eliminating one. Originally I was planning to get this teacher hired and in place by Monday, Nov. 13, but it was brought to my attention yesterday that each of the current 3 classrooms have a field trip that week, all on different days, and our Right Brain artist is back that week as well. When we add a new teacher, many of the special classes change, especially because we are adding a day of PE as well! So we will go one additional week, starting the new class configurations on Monday the 20th. This will give the new teacher time to get the classroom ready without having to work all weekend, and also give us time to introduce the students to the new person in small groups and make it a smoother transition. First and second grade parents were notified of this change earlier in the week and I really appreciate the positive responses and helpful information about class changes I've been getting. So the official start date of the new class and the new special schedules will be Monday, Nov. 20!!
Remember, conferences are next week! If you need to change your time, be sure and contact the office ASAP.
Spirit and Pride tee-shirt orders are in and should be back soon. If you are still interested in getting a tee-shirt, you will need to order online by Nov. 14. The link to order is http://www.spiritandpride.com and our school ID is 185486.
If you have old phones or ink cartridges you need to get rid of, feel free to bring them in. We have some recycling boxes we are filling up to send in and get school supplies!
Remember, Oregon Battle of the Books is starting soon and all kids are welcome to participate in grades 3-6. Contact Renee Ramey at mailto:only2be@gmail.com for more info.
Have a great weekend!
Becky
Upcoming Events
This Week
Nov. 7 - Evening conferences
Nov. 8 - Conferences all day, 7:30 - 7:30
Nov. 9 - No school (teachers off due to working two evenings)
Nov. 10 No School - Veteran's Day observance
Upcoming Events
Nov. 13 - 17: Right Brain activities. Volunteers needed!
Nov. 13: Ms. Gale's class goes to Sauvie Island 9:30 - 1:30
Nov. 16: Ms. Smith's class goes to Sauvie Island 9:30 - 1:30
Nov. 17: Ms. Job's class goes to Sauvie Island 9:30 - 1:30
Nov. 23-24 - No School - Thanksgiving weekend
Nov. 30 - Science Matters, Mad Science, choir, all after school
What a great team!
The dinosaur and the princess!
Three little bat girls!
Every Week:
school supplies! This is different than the district list, so please take a look! http://tinyurl.com/npes-supply1718update1
Many of you have already signed up for "Remind" to get alerts and reminders of events. Click the link below if you haven't yet signed up! https://www.remind.com/join/ge3cf8
You may not know that you can earn money for our school by simply using your Fred Meyer Card! NOT affect your Fred Meyer rewards, so there is no downside! Click the following link to register your card!
http://tinyurl.com/fredmeyer-npe-pto-support
Lost something at school? Please click on the link for photos in our lost and found. Thank you Mr. Orozco!
http://tinyurl.com/npe-lostandfound
Did you know that you can load money onto your child's school lunch account as well as check balances and get alerts through email and/or text? If fact, you can use the site for alerts even if you choose not to add to the account online. Go to http://www.myschoolbucks.com to get connected!
Box Tops: Remember that we are still collecting box tops! There is a bin inside the main entrance, so feel free to drop them by any time! Thank you to Laura Moradi for taking the lead on box tops again this year!