THE ORION GAZETTE
Week of April 8 2019
WALK-A-THON: THANK YOU!!
A HUGE thank you to our amazing students and our wonderful parent volunteers for producing another wildly successful and deeply energizing Walk - A - Thon!! The walk-a-thon raised over $5000! WOW!! What an incredible amount of money and heart to share with Asante Africa! A special thank you to Teacher Jenn who spent countless hours organizing and infusing this event with extended learning (informative and adorable slide shows, spectacular assemblies and fabulous hands on projects) to create a truly school wide shared learning experience. Teacher Jenn's leadership and passion enabled Orion to shine and show compassion in the ways that only Orion can do! Thank you, Thank you Teacher Jenn!!
NATIONOAL NUTRITION MONTH - THANK YOU!!
Orion celebrated National Nutrition Month throughout the month of March with weekly quizzes and prizes. Our kiddos learned a ton and had lots of fun doing so! A BIG thank you to Nicole Sommerfeld for tirelessly putting together the weekly learning experiences and for gathering the special cookbook prizes! Thank you! Thank you!
ORION STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING
The document describes our Orion Alternative School Program, the importance of our Voluntary Parent Participation Hours, the logistics of our Voluntary Parent Participation Hours and a description of and a consent to enroll in our Alternative School Program.
In addition, as part of our new Voluntary Participation Guidelines, we will no longer be tracking volunteer hours, so there is no need to turn in hours sheets for the remainder of this year. However, THE FOUNDATION OF ORION'S SUCCESS IS THE COLLECTIVE VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION OF FAMILIES. To keep this foundation strong, we request that families volunteer 72 hours per year.
This new document was distributed to everyone a few weeks ago in our Friday's Folder. If you need a new one, please see Liz in the office. Please read our New Statement of Understanding, sign it and return it to school by Friday, April 12th.
THIS IS FOR OUR CURRENT SCHOOL YEAR: 2018-2019. A NEW FORM WILL NEED TO BE COMPLETED IN AUGUST FOR THE 2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR.
TRANSITION UPDATE
The transition of the Orion Alternative Parent Participation Program to the Gill campus for the 2019-2020 school year is underway. Principal Rivera, myself, District Leaders and Parent Leaders form both school sites will be working together to provide a smooth transition for both the Gill and Orion communities. There is much to be done but thankfully we have time do it! As always, I will keep you all updated on our progress.
On March 28th, the Gill/Orion Transition Team held its third meeting . At this meeting, school transition facilitators from the San Mateo County Office of Education provided the leadership teams from both John Gill and Orion (Principals, SSC Teams and PTO Groups) an opportunity to continue conversations regarding the transition process. At this meeting, time was spent discussing the best ways to merge the Gill and Orion School Site Councils and PTO's/PTA's. Dr. Baker will send out an email to both communities detailing the notes from the meeting.
On March 28th, Principal Rivera joined our SSC meeting. She enjoyed getting to know and share ideas with our SSC members. She will be joining us for our remaining SSC meetings.
Please note the following important next steps in the transition process:
1) April 18th - Principal Rivera will host a Meet and Greet for the Gill and Orion teachers.
2) April 25th - The John Gill community will host a STEAM Fair form 5:30PM - 7PM for both the Gill and Orion communities. I know our community is just as excited as the Gill community to spend some time together! An invitation/flyer will be coming soon form Principal Rivera.
3) May 31st - The John Gill community will host a Field Day for our current Kinder - 4th Graders (Time and Logistics: TBD). This will a wonderful opportunity for our kiddos to spend some time together before the beginning of next year.
PARENT EDUCATION NIGHT - TRANSITIONS
Amy McCain from Soul Shoppe will be with us that evening to provide guidance and strategies for helping our kiddos and ourselves navigate the feelings involved in times of uncertainty. We hope you will join us!
Childcare will be provided for a limited number of kiddos. YOU MUST SIGN UP IN ADVANCE FOR CHILDCARE. TO SIGN UP, PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0E4BA5A9238-babysitting
A little more about Soul Shoppe...
Soul Shoppe’s mission is to create big-hearted bully-free schools
where every child is "free to be" themselves, where kids show
compassion, empathy and respect. They deliver year-round
in-school programs that help students and teachers make
problem-solving fun and help students learn better, get along
better, and take care of their feelings and problems on their own!
At a Soul Shoppe Parent Night, we share the tools we teach to
children at school, and some very effective secret parent tips to
ensure that your home and school are places where children
actively contribute to a positive environment, and can
independently resolve conflicts.
ORDER YOUR ORION YEARBOOK TODAY!
We're really excited about this year's Orion yearbook. Why? Because we get to capture all the great things that happen at Orion. Order your yearbook today -- and for the first time, you have the option to customize YOUR child's book with two free pages that capture your own kiddo's photos and memories. You can start here to customize. The personal pages are totally optional, so if you just want the more traditional yearbook, that's okay, too.
Whichever you choose, you can click here to purchase a yearbook for $16.00. You can also call (877) 755-8733 to order a yearbook.
And for every yearbook purchased, our yearbook publisher, TreeRing, will plant a tree. All yearbooks are printed on recycled paper.
Customized pages and yearbook order deadline is April 12, 2019. Questions? Email yearbook@orionschool.org
Thanks!
Orion Yearbook Team
URGENT HELP NEEDED!!
APRIL EVENTS
Kindergarten Tour
Friday, Apr 12, 2019, 08:30 AM
Orion Alternative School
Orion PTO Meeting
Tuesday, Apr 16, 2019, 07:00 PM
Orion MUR
Parent Education Night
Wednesday, Apr 17, 2019, 06:30 PM
Orion MUR
Fairytale Players Assembly
Thursday, Apr 18, 2019, 08:45 AM
Orion MUR
NO SCHOOL - FRIDAY, APRIL 19TH
ELAC Meeting
Thursday, Apr 25, 2019, 12:30 PM
Orion Library
SSC Meeting
Thursday, Apr 25, 2019, 01:45 PM
Orion Staff Room
STEAM Fair
Thursday, Apr 25, 2019, 05:30 PM
John Gill School
FRIDAY, APRIL 26TH - ORION SPIRIT DAY
Orion Family Dance
Friday, Apr 26, 2019, 06:00 PM
Orion MUR and Blacktop
ORION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Email: jguaspari@rcsdk8.net
Location: 815 Allerton Street, Redwood City, CA, USA
Phone: 650-482-2412