Raleigh Hills Newsletter
October 4, 2019
Weekly Message
Dear Raleigh Hills Families,
We have an incredible community! Currently, we have 552 enrolled students from Kindergarten to 8th grade. Our population is very diverse with 18 different languages spoken. We have students and families from twenty four different countries.
We share this with you all because we want to celebrate all the different individuals who make up our community.
In the links below, please note the Raleigh Hills Handbook. We would appreciate it if you can review this handbook and please let us know if you have any questions.
Best regards,
Jennifer and Lindsay
Attendance
Last week, we shared information about when a child is too sick to come to school. When students are not sick, we want them to be at school!
Every student at our school is an important person in the classroom and our school community. Absences create "holes' in our learning. When students return to school, they might be frustrated because they have to catch up with the learning. It is often difficult to make up the classroom academic time with homework because the learning happens in mini-lessons and partner and group work.
Here are some facts about attendance.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing two days a month. That's about 18 days, or 10% of the school year.
Students late (tardy) 12 minutes a day have missed 1 hour of instruction a week and about four hours a month. That's over one week of school in a year.
If a student misses three days of school every month, he/she will have missed a whole month of school in the year!
#EveryDayMatters
Learning Connection
In building upon the topic of math learning, "Your Child's Math Education" by the Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a great article to delve deeper into this topic. One of the "take aways" is that no matter what parents' personal experiences with math are, they can be positive influences on their children. Encouraging a can-do attitude and an appreciation for the importance of learning math is so important for life.
When many of us grew up learning math, we focused upon going a mile wide by memorizing all kinds of facts. Now we are asking students to go a mile deep by problem solving, communicating mathematically, creating representations, reasoning, and connecting math to everyday life.
Mathematical learning in today's classrooms is exciting, challenging, and interactive. We hope you will have opportunities to engage with your child about their mathematical learning.
Library News
RH Library Philosophy: We are a learning library. We believe in shaping future public library users and want them to support the library, which starts with a good experience in the school library.
Books from the summer or last year: If you can look for any books from the summer or last year, we would appreciate it.
Overdues: The RH's library handles "overdues" kindly. Gentle reminders may go home at the end of each month, but we really want families to use the library and for it to be a positive place. We do not want families to be stressed whether their children have late books. Ms. Moore speaks to students about looking for their books and bringing them back.
Number of Books Checked Out: It is ok if students have 5 or 6 library books at home. Sometimes parents get worried that their children have too many books out, but we want to promote reading!!!
Parent Volunteer Information
OCTOBER VOLUNTEER NEEDS
Bottle Drive - Saturday, October 5th
Lap-a-thon (lap counters, water stations) - Thursday, October 10th
Garden (fall cleanup) - Saturday, October 19th
Clothes Closet (help run CC at admin bldg) - Wednesday, October 23rd
MS Bingo Night card/raffle/food sales, setup and cleanup - Friday, October 25th
SATURDAY! Raleigh Hills Bottle Drive
Sign up on myimpactpage.com >opportunities >bottle drive or myimpactpage.com >opportunities >bottle drive transporter.
The Bottle Drive is an ongoing fundraiser by the PTO to help RHS provide opportunities that are not funded by the Beaverton School District; such as assemblies, field trips, teacher equipment grants, and many more.
For more information about this fundraiser, contact Summer Jelly at summer_jelly@hotmail.com
Raleigh Hills Garden
Please join us for the Garden Work Party on October 19th from 9-11 a.m.
There is much to be done. Besides cleaning out the beds, we are hoping to clean out vines and ivy that have been encroaching as we’ve had our backs turned. Parents, children, and staff are more than welcome to join us. The more the merrier. We could really use some help!
Play Fit Fun
Spencer Rubin, the Head Coach/President of the Kids Action Program reached out to share about this class, Play Fit Fun, that runs every Tuesday from 3:00-4:00 at Raleigh Hills. The organization has operated this class on Tuesdays, after school at Raleigh Hills for about 4 years now.
The class is based around movement and active play. Spencer describes the class as PE mixed with Field Day and put into a blender with team building.
See the Play Fit Fun flyer for more information.