North Star News
November 2021 - We Reach! We Rise! We Shine!
Mark Your Calendar
11/6 PTC Book Fair 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
11/11 Veteran's Day - NO SCHOOL
11/16 PTC Virtual Meeting 6:30 p.m.
11/22-11/23 Parent Teacher Conferences - NO SCHOOL
11/24-11/26 Thanksgiving Break - NO SCHOOL
11/30 Picture Retake Day
12/9 Last Day for SUN
Principal's Message
Dear North Gresham Families,
As we continue to endure the Covid-19 pandemic and are now heading into cold and flu season, I want to encourage our families to continue to make the health and safety of all a priority.
How can you help?
- Keep your child home when sick. Excludable symptoms include: cough, fever of 100.5 or greater, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, new loss of taste or smell, etc. If you're unsure if your student's symptoms are excludable, please keep your student home as a precaution and call the office for further direction.
- Please contact our school office to report your student's absence and illness. We work closely with MESD to track illnesses and obtain return dates according to county health guidelines.
- If anyone in your household tests positive for Covid-19, please keep your student home (even if they are not showing any symptoms) and contact the school. This is very important, because we will need to contact trace to identify any exposed staff or students who may need to quarantine. Be assured that your information is kept confidential, and our intent is to protect the health and safety of all.
- Please communicate any updates or changes in symptoms to the school office, or any test results that may affect your student's return date to school.
Sincerely,
Shawnda Sewell
Principal
Inclement Weather & Emergency School Closure Information
If school closes early while students are already here, we will send a message to families to notify you of the early school closure. Please note that we send students home as you directed on the blue emergency transportation form you filled out in the beginning of the year. We do not have the ability to call all families and ask how students will get home in the event of an early closure, or to receive a high call volume for last-minute changes. In order to get students home safely and quickly, we rely on advance planning and the information from the emergency transportation form. If you didn't fill out a blue emergency transportation form at the beginning of the year, or need to make a change to your form, please contact the office as soon as possible.
What's Going On In 2nd Grade?
We shared some photos in this newsletter, and you can view all of them on Facebook here!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Leap, Mr. Ng, and Ms. Velasco
Counselor's Corner
Dear North Gresham Families,
Hard to believe it is already November! Time is going by so fast.
This month, we will be visiting classrooms and talking to our students about the importance of practicing self-control and self-regulation and respecting personal space. We would really appreciate it if you could also talk to your child about this topic at home and remind them that at North Gresham we keep our hands to ourselves. For safety reasons, we cannot touch others and we shouldn't allow others to touch us, either.
Are you looking for support for the holidays? Please let us know. Although we have limited resources, we have partnered with East Hill Church and they are supporting some of our families by providing one gift per child. If you would like to apply, please email us at chu2@gresham.k12.or.us and diaz19@gresham.k12.or.us so we can send an application with your child.
If you would like support with a Thanksgiving meal, please make a request at helpinghands@easthill.org.
Are you interested in providing support to our North Gresham families for the holidays? If so, please feel free to contact Mr. Diaz and Ms. Chu directly.
Wishing you wellness,
Mr. Diaz and Ms. Chu
Parent Teacher Conferences
- All conferences will be virtual and on Google Meet (or by phone if requested)
- Conferences are 15 minutes long, and we ask that you schedule only one conference per student
- Please sign-up through the link your child's teacher sends you; if you don't receive the link, please reach out to your child's teacher so they can make sure they sent it to the correct phone number or email
- An email confirmation will be sent to you, please use the link in the email to join your conference (there is a phone number in the email you can call if joining by phone)
- Please be on time for your child's conference; if you need to cancel or reschedule, please click the link in the confirmation email to do so
- There is no school for the entire week of 11/22-11/26 due to conferences and the holiday break
If you have any questions, please reach out to your child's teacher. We look forward to sharing your student's progress with you!
PBIS with Mrs. Reed
For the months of November and December, we're practicing Happy Habit 2 - Begin With the End In Mind. Begin with the End in Mind means to think about how you would like something to turn out before you get started. Reading a recipe before cooking or looking at a map before leaving on a trip is beginning with the end in mind. For young children, a good example is that of a jigsaw puzzle. Before doing a puzzle, they look at the cover of the box. They start with the end in mind.
Do you want to learn more and have free access to the downloadable PDF parent's guide? Visit this link! https://www.leaderinme.org/family-resources/
Also during November and December, students will continue to earn STAR Bucks for demonstrating our four school rules of Be Safe, Respectful, Kind and Responsible. Once we have filled our STAR Bucks bucket we will earn a Pajama Day! We are so close!!
ThoughtExchange for Next Superintendent
Tell us what you think!
The Gresham-Barlow School Board needs your input to help with the process of selecting the next superintendent of schools.
The Gresham-Barlow School Board is conducting a superintendent search to replace Dr. Katrise Perera who resigned on June 30. While the board conducts the search, James Hiu is serving as Acting Superintendent.
Your participation is essential
The school board needs your input to help with the process of selecting the next superintendent. To gather feedback, the school board is using a tool called ThoughtExchange so as many people as possible can participate. You can participate in a variety of languages including Spanish or Russian.
The School Board wants to know:
What should the new superintendent know about our District, and what important skills and qualities would help them be most successful in the role?
To participate, visit: bit.ly/GBSuptSearch
Important Health Reminders
As a reminder, it is important that if a student feels sick prior to coming to school, they should stay home. Keeping sick students home will minimize our need to quarantine students exposed to COVID-19.
Above is a graphic showing some of the symptoms of COVID-19. Please be sure to check your student for symptoms each morning and have them stay home if they aren’t feeling well or exhibiting symptoms. Thank you for partnering with us in this effort!
If your student is sick:
Please keep your student home and call the school office to let them know your student is sick. Leave a message if you call outside of school hours. When you call, you will be asked your student's symptoms, date they began, if you've had any known exposures to Covid, and if your student has been tested and/or you plan to get them tested (if necessary).
When your student is sick, we will fill out a Symptom Tracking form with their symptoms. This goes to our MESD nurse, who will then contact you for more information and let you know when your child can return to school. All return dates come from Multnomah County (not your student's doctor or the CDC), so please be patient as we obtain this information. If your student will be out for more than a few days, you can email or message your child's teacher and request a packet of work for your student to do at home.
If you take your student to get Covid testing, please contact the school nurse or the school office with the results before sending your student back to school. Even with negative results, your student will need to be cleared to return.
Thank you for working with us during this time. It is our goal to have students in school as much as possible while still taking all the proper precautions for the health and safety of all.
From Our PTC
1-DAY ONLY November 6th is the Outdoor BOOK FAIR from 10 am to 4pm by the school front doors!! There will be the Book Fair, PTC merchandise for sale, a couple of kids games with prizes and teacher read aloud times. Come and enjoy for our first community day event! Mask and Social Distancing is required! The school is closed to the public.
PTC Meeting is on the 3rd Tuesday of the Month. This month will be on Tuesday Nov. 16th at 6:30 pm. Log-in at meet.google.com/spn-geym-evb or watch online from youtube.com search North Gresham PTC. We have open board positions, need parent volunteers and helpers. We can’t continue this year without your help.
Please reach out to Heather at northgreshamptc@gmail.com or fill out the Contact Us form on our website www.northgreshamptc.com and message us from our Facebook page www.facebook.com/NorthGreshamElementaryPTC.
Remember, to scan your grocery receipts using the Box Top App (After you scan the receipt, click on the STAR “Credit”, and put in your child’s teacher’s last name to give Credit to that teacher. Yes! We will have competitions.) You can also give back with Smile.Amazon.com (North Gresham Grade School Parent Teacher Club) and Fred Meyers Community Rewards (North Gresham Parent Teacher Club). All funds go back to the school and support our students!
SUN News
If your student won't attend SUN after school for the day, please contact the school front office at 503-661-6415 before 2:00 p.m. to make a change of transportation.
Also, we are aware that times are tough and many are still struggling with the financial effects of the pandemic. I want to remind you that the SUN program is available to connect you to local resources and to help provide assistance with utility bills, food, clothing, school supplies, etc. Please reach out to our SUN Site manager or to our school counselor if you are in need of any assistance. Our services are completely confidential. If you have any questions, please email our SUN Site Manager Yessica Ramirez at yessicar@mfs.email, or call/text 503-519-8523.
From your SUN Program team!
Annual Title I Slideshow and Parental Involvement Plan
Reminders from the Office
Contacting the Office
You can reach the office staff by calling our school at 503-661-6415, Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. You can also email our office team at any time. Nina Thomas at thomas82@gresham.k12.or.us, and Yuli Nolasco at nolasco8@gresham.k12.or.usAbsences
Please call in your student's absence before 8:35 a.m. (9:35 a.m. on Wednesdays). Leave a message if you call outside of school hours. Please let us know your student's first and last name, teacher/grade, and the reason for the absence. Students not present by 8:35 a.m. (9:35 a.m. on Wednesdays) will be marked absent. Students that arrive late will receive a tardy slip, and their absence will be adjusted in the system to a tardy.
Changes of Transportation
If your student will go home differently than normal, including if they will not attend SUN after school, please contact the office to make the change. Dismissal is a very busy time, so we appreciate you calling no later than 2:00 p.m. to make any changes.
Early Student Pick-Up
If you want to pick your student up early, we encourage you to do so before 2:30 p.m. Dismissal gets very busy, and this will ensure that you don't have an extended wait due to dismissal traffic, etc. When picking your student up early, please ring the bell at the front doors. The front office will buzz you into the lobby and have you sign your student out for the day.
Remind App
Sign-up for the Remind app to keep in touch with your student’s teacher! No matter where you are or what you’re doing, get important school updates right on your phone. More information and sign-up here.ParentVue
Register for ParentVue to view your student’s attendance, grades, and make changes to your contact information. If you need assistance with setting up ParentVue, please call the school at 503-661-6415. You can also email our secretaries at thomas82@gresham.k12.or.us or nolasco8@gresham.k12.or.us. Visit the ParentVue web page to login or sign up: https://www.gresham.k12.or.us/domain/2446.North Gresham Elementary School
Website: www.gresham.k12.or.us/nges
Location: 1001 Southeast 217th Avenue, Gresham, OR, USA
Phone: 503-661-6415
Facebook: facebook.com/NorthGreshamElementary
Twitter: @NorthGresham_ES