News From The Abernethy Office
Wednesday - October 5th, 2022
Give a Staff Member an Abernethy Shout Out!
Wanting to credit to an Abernethy staff member for a job well done? When you are in the building stop by our staff bulletin board and leave a shout out for a staff member. Not in the building? No Problem! Just send a note with your student to give to the office, or send an email and we will make sure that it gets out up.
Back To School 2022-23
I wanted to thank all of you who joined us last night for Back to School Night! It was so nice to have you all back in the building, sitting in your student's chairs, and connecting with others that you may not have seen in a while. I enjoyed being able to walk around the building, talk to many of you, and hear more about your families and your students. For anyone who was not able to attend, I am attaching the slide deck that I presented with an introduction to of all our staff members.
It was a full house in the Cafeteria!
Mr. Hutchison had a captive audience in his classroom.
Ms. Siri enjoyed her opportunity to talk with her families.
TAG Parent Night
If you were not able to make it to our TAG Parent night, here is the slide deck that explains the TAG program in PPS. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Erica Arthurs, our TAG Facilitator or myself.
The TAG referral process will go live on October 17. Use this link to view a draft of the family guidance document.
SSA/WGA
The window for single subject and whole grade acceleration is closed. There will be another window open in the spring for acceleration in the next school year.
Please reach out to your building TAG Facilitator or AVID/TAG TOSA with any questions.
Dana Nerenberg, Senior Director, Academic Programs dnerenberg@pps.net
Lisa Draper, Data Clerk ldraper@pps.net
Kim Bertelsen, TOSA: Cleveland, Lincoln, Wells-Barnett clusters kbertelsen@pps.net
Kasey Bond, TOSA: Grant, Jefferson, Roosevelt clusters kbond@pps.net
Michelle York, TOSA: Franklin & McDaniel clusters, and Special Programs myork@pps.net
November Conference Sign Ups and Classroom Teacher BTS Slide Deck Presentations
Please click on the picture of the teacher that you would like to sign up for a conference with.
Ms. Ryan
Please email Ms. Ryan, at lryan2@pps.net, if you would like to set up a meeting with her.
Mrs. Dunn
Please email Ms. Dunn, at mdunn2@pps.net, if you would like to set up a meeting with her.
From Our Counselors
Greetings from your Abernethy Counseling Team. We hope that your child is having a great start to the school year. We have been enjoying getting to know new students, and also showing returning students our new counseling space, which is in Room 15 by the library upstairs. We have a lot to share with you about us, our current classroom lessons focus, and other counseling program offerings. First some introductions/reintroductions:
Hi Abernethy families! My name is Sylvie Bishop (I go by Ms. Sylvie at school), and I’m the new half time counselor at Abernethy this year, working primarily with 4th and 5th graders. This is my second year as a school counselor in PPS. I was born and raised here in Portland, attended college in Claremont, California and lived in New York City for about 8 years after that, where I worked at an education non-profit before transitioning to a role as an assistant teacher in an elementary school. I returned to Portland in 2019 to study school counseling at Lewis & Clark and begin my counseling career. I love trying new foods and riding my bike around Portland. I look forward to getting to know you and your students this year!
I am Jenny Morgan, I am the K-3 counselor and this is my 10th year at Abernethy and 20th year at PPS as a school counselor. I live in NE Portland with my husband and two kids, ages 14 and 10, who are PPS students. My son goes to Benson (I can’t believe I have a high schooler) and my youngest is a 5th grade student at Richmond. We missed the pandemic puppy boom….but some of us in our house are really hoping everyone will be on board to add a dog to our family sometime in the next year. We enjoy hiking, camping, and spending time with extended family.
Class Lessons
The frequency of counseling lessons varies based on the age of the students, with Kindergarten students having more frequent lessons for shorter periods of time and 4th and 5th grade students having longer lessons. If you would like to see our scope and sequence for the year, you can find it at our website. To start the year, 1st through 5th grade students are reviewing the Zones of Regulation. This curriculum is designed to foster regulation and emotional control . Students learn the basic concept of organizing feelings into Green, Yellow, Blue and Red Zones and how recognizing our feelings assists us in accessing tools to adjust our mood and how to ask for help. Kindergarten students have been learning about identifying other people's feelings by looking for clues in their face, body and situation.
Small Groups
Small counseling groups are forming now (3-5 students per group). These groups meet weekly for eight 30 minute sessions and address topics such as emotional regulation, social skills, anxiety, changing families (divorce or separation). Please contact us if you would like to hear more about these groups.
QSA
The school counseling team is continuing the QSA group (Queer Straight Alliance). This is an LGBTQIA+ Allies club/student group for 4th and 5th grade students. The first meeting is 10/6 during lunch and recess for 4th and 5th grade students and is voluntary.
Student Council
Student Council is back! This is a leadership group of 2 students in every 4th and 5th grade class. We meet two times per month to discuss ideas to improve Abernethy and our community. The students who are interested are asked to complete an application and our first meeting is 10/13.
Thank you for taking time to read this! We are here for your students and your family, please reach out with any questions. You can reach Jenny Morgan by email jmorgan1@pps.net or by phone 503-679-4799. Sylvie Bishop’s contact information is slbishop@pps.net or 503-567-9728. Sylvie’s schedule at Abernethy is Mondays, Thursdays, and every other Tuesday.
If your family needs financial assistance to participate in Abernethy programs please complete the Confidential Financial Assistance form and email it to jmorgan1@pps.net.
Kindergarten Bus Helpers
Part of student involvement around the school is for the 4th grade students to rotate classes and help walk the kindergarten students to the bus at the end of the day. Mr. Day's students just finished up the first month and they wanted to celebrate by taking a picture!
Latinx Heritage Month
Learn about our Latinx History Makers!
Filmmaker Laurie Coyle came across photographs of Maria Moreno while doing research on another activist in the farm worker movement: César Chávez. Though more and more was known about Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and United Farm Workers, little was known about this earlier figure. Moreno, whose father was a Mexican immigrant and whose mother was a Mescalero Apache, was herself mother to 12 children. Despite having only a second-grade education, she was elected by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) to represent them at the AFL-CIO convention in 1961. Unlike the UFW and other agricultural unions, which often took a conservative stance on the U.S.-Mexico border, AWOC took a radically trans-nationalist approach, and its membership included farm workers of many nationalities.
Moreno was pushed out of the union in the early 1960s for her outspokenness. She began a two-decade career as a Pentecostal minister before dying of breast cancer in 1982. Coyle's film, funded in part by the NEH, is the first systematic attempt to tell her story to the U.S. public.
Learn more about Maria Moreno here Maria Moreno
View additional short clips and extras from the film from PBS.
Learn about the later farm workers movement in the
EDSITEment lesson "¡Sí se puede!": Chávez, Huerta, and the UFW.
Think about the answers to these questions after learning more about Maria Moreno
Why do you think Maria Moreno's story has been less studied and shared than those of organizers like Chávez and Huerta?
What were some of the challenges Moreno faced as a farm worker and labor organizer?
How does Moreno's story and that of farm workers in the 1950 complicate the traditional narrative of post-war abundance?