Black Bear Bits
October 1, 2021
Important Dates
10/6: Walk and Roll to School
10/8: No School - Staff Professional Development day
10/19: PTA Meeting 7:00 p.m.
10/28-29: No School - Conferences
Letter from the Principal
Dear Tualatin Families,
October is here! This month can bring a lot of fun and celebration. Normally we would have a school full of volunteers helping support our students each day and celebrating right along with us. Unfortunately, this October will not look like it typically would. Fortunately, our students and staff are finding new ways to enjoy the fall harvest season while staying safe and healthy. Please look for messages from your child’s teacher to learn how things will be new and exciting during the next months at school.
Fall weather invites more indoor gatherings and activities. Please continue to be mindful of doing your part to prevent and reduce any community spread of COVID-19. We rely a great deal on our entire community to help keep our school doors open for in-person school days.
Safety & Health Reminders
Please avoid unnecessary indoor gatherings
Keep the numbers of people small when indoors
Continue to wear masks, physically distance and wash hands regularly
Another Lunch Time Reminder:
Please remember to send students dressed for the day’s weather
Fall brings cooler temperatures and students will continue to eat snacks and lunches outside each day
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Conferences will be mostly virtual this year on Oct. 28-29
There may be some in-person conferences to meet specific student or family needs as available
Please look for communication from your child’s teacher soon
Reminder for tardies and absences:
Classroom instruction starts at 8:00 A.M. each day for all K-5 students. Morning PreK starts at 8:00 A.M. and afternoon PreK starts at 12:00 P.M. Please call our attendance line if your child is going to be absent or tardy (503.431.4770). If your child has an unexcused absence you will receive an automated phone call. You simply need to acknowledge the call by responding to the directions given in the message. The system will continue calling all of the phone numbers listed for you or your family until someone confirms that the call was received. The automated calling system helps us communicate with families to ensure your child’s safety.
Please contact our office with any needs. 503-431-4800
With Gratitude,
Mr. Kingery
Principal
Covid-19 Testing and Screening at Tualatin Elementary
COVID-19 screening is another safety measure in managing infections in our buildings. TTSD has applied to OHSU for the optional weekly screening testing of unvaccinated students in grades K-12.
A packet has been sent home with your student with information about how you can opt-in to the weekly at-home COVID-19 testing program. In addition to giving consent to be part of the OHSU screening program, the “Covid-19 General Consent Form” also gives consent for us to perform a 15 minute Covid-19 test on a student that may develop symptoms at school. (We will call you prior to giving your student the test.)
If you are interested in enrolling your child(ren) please complete BOTH forms and have your child return them to school by Thursday, October 7th.
Every Student On Time Every Day
One of our school’s goals is that we maximize classroom learning time. When your child is on time, everyone wins! Your child is settled in for the day and ready to learn, teachers may teach without interruptions and lessons can begin promptly. Thank you in advance for helping your child arrive at school on time every day.
Congratulations PAX Raffle Winners!
PAX is a program that reinforces positive behaviors at school. Students can receive PAX Paws from adults for being a PAX leader. Students can save up their PAX paws for class rewards, individual rewards, or participate in school-wide raffles.
We held a school-wide raffle on Thursday and the following were winners!
Andrew (Hole's 4th grade class) won the Water bottle
Mark and Fletcher (MIchaels) both won the $5 gift card to Fred Meyer
Izabella (Fossati) $5 gift card to Fred Meyer
Walk and Roll to School!
With consideration for Covid precautions and having some students in Virtual Classes, this year’s challenge will include an art contest, walk & roll lesson plans for teachers, and a one-day challenge to Walk + Roll to school! As a Covid precaution, we will not have prizes and volunteers before school this October.
PTA Volunteers Needed
Interested in getting involved in the school? Needing some adult connection? The PTA is looking for volunteers for the following:
- 5 more people to join the auction committee
- A chair person for memory books
- A chair person for the Read-A-Thon
If interested contact the PTA at tualatinpta@gmail.com
Memory Books from 2020-21
News from the Garden
Our school garden is a treasure to behold! Please make it a part of your life here at Tualatin Elementary.
Explore our native plant area. Harvest the produce. Currently we have: tomatoes, asian pears, green beans, apples, wine grapes, cauliflower and chard. Rosemary, thyme, oregano and chives are common herbs that are always in abundance!
To keep our garden thriving and beautiful we also need your support. We are ooking for more volunteers to help care for the garden: trim, mulch compost, water. We also would love to have more committee members to help us keep our garden sustainable. Please contact Paul Taylor (paultaylorocnp@aol.com) or Pam Soderquist (psoderquist@ttsd.k12.or.us) to find out more.
- Like us on Facebook @TualatinElementaryGarden
- Signup to volunteer at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090544acad2da2fb6-tualatin3
See you in the garden!
Tualatin Elementary School
Email: jkingery@ttsd.k12.or.us
Website: https://www.ttsdschools.org/tualatin
Location: 20405 SW 95th Ave
Phone: 503-431-4800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TualatinElementaryGarden/
Twitter: @TuES_BlackBears