Wildcat Newsletter
Edition 33: April 24th, 2024
Dear Wildcat Families,
We’re having “a whale” of a time this spring. Ms. Amanda’s Kindergarten class is studying the continents and made a 23 foot whale, along with a very large albatross that go with a Wit and Wisdom story called, “Antarctica.”
We have many grades going on field trips soon and I know we are getting many questions about parents and caregivers ability to chaperone. First, any adult that will be with students during the school day MUST be a cleared volunteer. That means any inside or outside activity, Monday-Friday, 8:00AM through 2:15 PM can only have cleared volunteers with students.
The process to become a cleared volunteer is two-fold. First, the adult must pass the volunteer background check process through PPS. This link is pps.net/volunteer and must be updated every three years. Once you complete this process, you will receive an email from the system. At that time, you can come into the office and present your ID. This second step is running your ID through a database that flags any violations that may prohibit your contact with children.
Once you are a cleared volunteer, you can support your child's class or in other areas of the school during the school hours. This would include field trips. Not all volunteers can attend field trips due to space. Each class has a specific number of spots for a field trip. This invite comes directly from the teacher. Again, not all interested volunteers are invited to attend as space is limited.
Today is National School Secretaries Day!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to our incredible secretaries Ms. Luna and Ms. Kellie! Our secretaries are the glue that holds Woodlawn together, thank you for working tirelessly to keep us safe, organized, and running smoothly. We appreciate you!
It’s That Time of Year! Take The Successful Schools Survey to Help Our School! Survey opens May 6th
Each year PPS gathers information about our school from many stakeholders. Parents, students, and WOodlawn staff are all invited to give input in the survey. You can take the survey from any device that connects to the internet. You will receive the link and information from PPS Communications on May 6th and May 20th. We are accepting one response per family, not per child enrolled. Please complete the survey in one sitting, and ensure you click the blue submit button at the end. You will receive a “Thank You” screen confirmation once you have successfully submitted your response. There are no paper copies available. Please make sure you select Woodlawn School! Students in grades 3-5 also complete their own survey during school hours.
What we’ve done with the data: We use data from the Successful Schools Survey to draft our School Improvement Plan and ensure we are best serving students, families and staff. Your responses help us know what we are doing well and where we can improve for next year. Having a well rounded response pool that accurately reflects our students and families helps us serve all of our students and implement improvements that best suit our entire student body. Please take a few moments to complete the survey so we can continue making Woodlawn the best it can be!
We will continue to put reminders in this newsletter and you will receive reminder push messages from Paige. We hope to have a robust response from families. In the past we have had between 20-40 families respond. We can get higher than that! Help us get 100 responses!
Woodlawn Elementary School is excited to welcome Oregon Book Award-winning author and illustrator, Kate Berube, on June 5th for a visit with our K - 2nd grade classes.
This is a unique opportunity for Woodlawn students to learn about the book creation process from a talented artist and writer of picture books.
We are partnering with Green Bean Books for families that are interested in purchasing signed copies of her books. When ordering through the link below, please:
Fill-in your shipping address even though the books are being hand delivered to Woodlawn, because this step is necessary for the order to process
Select Woodlawn under "Calculate Shipping Cost". This allows Green Bean Books to know what book orders are for your school
Write your child's teacher's name in the comment box
The deadline for submitting orders is Wednesday, May 22nd
Updates on Our A-T-T-E-N-D-A-N-C-E Challenge
Ms. Escovedo and Mr. Ransom are doing really well at the Attendance Class Challenge!
Reminder that we are piloting this attendance contest to improve our school wide attendance. Currently, 37.94% of students at Woodlawn have chronic, severe, or acute attendance.
Here is our school’s attendance breakdown:
Jefferson Modernization Update--Thursday, April 25 from 5-7pm
As part of the 2020 bond, Jefferson High School--to which Woodlawn feeds--is being modernized. The design process has been underway for two years. Last fall the plan to move students to Marshall Campus in SE Portland, 11 miles away, and renovate the original building was stopped by community feedback regarding the hardship of dislocating students during construction. You are invited to a project update on Thursday, April 25, from 5-7pm, at Jefferson cafeteria. The project team will share what has happened over the past several months and kick off the next phase of the design process. For more information about the project, please visit
PTA Updates:
Earth Day School Clean
Thank you to all the wonderful families, neighbors, and staff who joined us for our Earth Day clean-up event! Your dedication and hard work made a real difference in our community. Together, we tackled litter, weeds, beautified our surroundings, and celebrated Earth Day.
BottleDrop - Matching Funds opportunity!
Donate your cans & bottles to help support the Woodlawn PTA. BottleDrop's Earth Week Give runs from April 22 - May 4.
Funds raised during this time will receive a 20% match from BottleDrop
Blue bags can be picked up at the main office.
From the PTA Staff Appreciation team
Help us celebrate the Woodlawn staff during teacher appreciation week!
We are looking for volunteers to bake cookies and brownies, to bring items to help us put together a salad bar lunch spread, to provide drinks, to help us set up on a couple of days, and to help deliver coffee from the fun coffee cart we bring in. Let us know where you would like to jump in by signing up here!
Teacher Appreciation Week Sign-Up Genius
SAVE THE DATE! Spring Walk, Bike & Roll to School Day is May 8th
Poetry Slam was AMAZING!! THANK YOU!
Thank you to all of our incredible performers, audience, and staff that made the evening run smoothly. Our poets worked so hard rehearsing, and were so brave performing in front of over 250 people! We are so proud of each and every one of you! We are sending each of our poets home with a poetry book as a thank you for your excellence and dedication. Thanks, Ms. Paige and Ms. Freeman
Save The Date! Family Fest is May 16th from 5:00-7:00pm
Upcoming Important Dates:
5/3 Spirit Day: Silly Hair Day
5/6 - 5/10 Staff Appreciation Week
5/8 Walk, Bike, Roll Day
5/16 Family Fest
5/23 Last Day of SUN (Spring)
5/27 Memorial Day, No School
5/31 Celebrate Woodlawn