Maplewood Memo
December 20, 2023
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Dear Maplewood Families,
I hope this memo finds you well. We have been having a great week this week even though it was a late addition to the calendar. Students are engaged, positive and of course, looking forward to a week off next week. We do have many staff absent, but have gotten lucky with substitutes filling the absentees. Also, we have two parent helpers who have stepped in to lend a hand where needed. Thank you Carrie Pierce and Lauren Cullop - I don’t know what Maplewood would do without our volunteers!
If your child will not be in school the rest of the week, please let their teacher know. During this week, all absences will be excused. PPS is asking that you report their absences through ParentVue. First login and click on Attendance. Then click on the blue box titled “report absence” on the right of the screen. Lastly, identify the dates your student will be absent from the drop down menu. This “vacation option” will only be available for the month of December.
We also wanted to remind you about actions you can take to stay healthy so you can stay in class and be ready to learn:
Illness: Please keep your child home when they have symptoms that may exclude them from school.
Student health conditions: Please update the school and nurse if there has been any change in your student's health condition during the time of the strike.
Student medications: Please replenish medications that your student may need to receive during the school day. Also, remember to pick up your student’s expired medications from the school.
State-required vaccines/immunizations: Ensure your student is up-to-date on all school-required immunizations. Students who do not provide proper immunization documentation by February 21, 2024 will be excluded from school. Primary care providers - including Student Health Centers and Multnomah County Health Department - provide no- to low-cost vaccinations to students.
Access to health care: Multnomah County Student Health Centers and the Benson Wellness Center remain open during regular hours. Student Health Centers are a great place for students to receive sports physicals, well-child visits, school immunizations (shots), COVID-19 testing, vaccines & boosters, mental/behavioral health, age-appropriate reproductive services, routine lab tests, and prescription refills.
Health care coverage/insurance: People of any age or immigration status may be eligible for full Oregon Health Plan (OHP) benefits. OHP is Oregon's Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program. Click here to learn more about eligibility, and to apply or report changes online. Families who do not qualify for OHP can sign up for health coverage during the Oregon Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment period, occurring now through January 15, 2024. Financial help for Marketplace plans also may be available. Find out what coverage and savings you can get - and find free, local help - at OregonHealthCare.gov.
I hope next week will be restful for you and your family. If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you and your family enjoy a lovely holiday season.
We will see you back at school on January 2nd - it will be here before you know it!
Warmly,
Kit
SAVE THE DATE
December 25- January 1
Winter Break
January 2nd
1st day back after Winter Break
January 12
Parents Night Out
January 16
PTA Mtg. 6:30pm
January 29
No School ???
MAPLEWOOD AUCTION
Your Foundation team is excited to kick off the new year with ticket sales for our annual school auction. Keep a lookout for more information on ticket specials we'll be offering and ways to get involved in your child's classroom art project that will be available for purchase at the event. We wish everyone a safe and happy end of the year and please reach out if you have any questions or would like to get involved or support the Foundation. Thank you!
For more information please go to http://www.maplewoodfoundation.com/ or email us at maplewoodfoundation@gmail.com.
With appreciation,
Maplewood Foundation Team
STAFF NEWS
ART
And that’s a wrap for 2023!
This week in Kindergarten: Gingerbread People team building!
Also, Kindergarten finished their bulletin board scene inspired by the book Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson, which won the 2016 Newbery Medal, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, and a Caldecott Honor.
First Grade made some surprises (Shhhhh!), drew and colored nutcrackers, and painted and cut gloves to go with their hats.
Second grade students have been learning the many different versions of The Gingerbread Man and designed “Piet inspired” gingerbreads. They used a ruler to make their design and could choose their own 3 colors, plus white in their design.
Piet Mondrian was a Dutch artist best known for his abstract paintings. Abstract art does not show things that are recognizable - such as people, objects or landscapes.
He typically used primary colors – red, yellow and blue:
And here is a glimpse of what 3-4-5 have been working on:
Last but not least, since we missed November and Native American Heritage Month, we represented in December. What is the difference between Indigenous Peoples and Native American or American Indian? Indigenous Peoples refers to a group of Indigenous peoples with a shared national identity, such as Navajo or Sami, and is equivalent to saying “the American people.” Native American and American Indian are terms used to refer to peoples living within what is now the United States prior to European contact.
Listed on this bulletin board are Maplewood Neighborhoods’ first natives:
Atfalati
Stl’pulmsh Cowlitz)
Kalapuya
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Indians
Cayuse
Umatilla
Walla Walla
See you in 2024,
Ms. Smith
LIBRARY/TECH
Magazines
Did you know that PPS students have access to 48 magazines online? (Sports Illustrated, Manga, PC Games, Animal Tales, Minecraft World... and more)
Here is how to access magazines:
Visit the Maplewood library page: https://www.pps.net/maplewood
Library: OPAC: OPAC: SORA: Magazines
OR -- students can log into their chrome book -- click on the Destiny icon -- then SORA: Magazines.
Idea! Do you struggle to return books at home? Some families set phone alarms/reminders to ring on "library" day, and put them in your child's backpack.
Ring, ring, ring.
Enjoy!
PE
In PE we are continuing our striking unit. Grades 2-5 have been working on 4 square. This is a great game to work on striking skills along with game strategies, cooperation and self-reffing. We will continue striking in our hockey unit until winter break. If you'd like to take your child to a hockey game, this is the season and tickets start around $28.50 each. Students in K-1 are also working on striking and we will continue working with striking with our hands. We will do a few activities using some foam implements and striking on the floor (lead up to hockey).
Have a great break. If you're looking for ideas to get active check out these ideas: *Bring them to a park or school playground *Walk or bike around the neighborhood, *Find an empty church or school parking lot to practice bike riding, scootering, etc. *Swim at Gabriel Park Community Center. *Explore one of the SW Trails in our neighborhood. *Visit a rock climbing gym. Often their first class or lesson is free! *Take a walk through the Hoyt Arboretum grounds for free. *The Audobon Wildlife Sanctuary is free and has trails for short hikes. *Visit the Oregon Rail Historical Center (free!) and also take a walk over the nearby Tillicum Bridge. *Portland Art Museum is always free to kids under 17, active military and Veterans and $5 if you are an Oregon Trail Cardholder. *DANCE PARTY!
Ms. Weatherill
FACE of Maplewood
PPS held their second Family Advisory Council on Education (FACE) meeting on December 6th.
Here were the meeting goals:
Participants will have an opportunity to process through the impact of the strike and share with District Leaders
Participants will continue to better understand the purpose and structure of FACE
Participants will share their perspective about their student’s learning experience with Math
Participants will engage in a discussion about Middle School Math programming to inform our direction for Math sequencing and Compacted Math
If you are interested in learning more about FACE or would like to discuss in more detail the topics covered in our meeting please feel free to reach out to me Katie Unger (Katie.unger3@gmail.com)
NUTRITION SERVICES
Notes from the kitchen
Menu for week of December 18-22
Day Breakfast Lunch
Monday Blueberry Muffin Chicken Tenders
Tuesday Mini Pancakes Orange Chicken w/rice
Wednesday Early Riser Cheeseburgers
Thursday Waffles Pizza
Friday Honey Cheerios Nachos
Wednesday's Early Riser is an egg & cheese filled hash browns. I will have hummus, PBJ and yogurt every day until they are gone, so not as much later in the week. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Lunch Lady Amy
Read a thon
Wow, the Maplewood Community has once again risen to the challenge and exceeded our expectations! You have gone above and beyond our Read-a-Thon goal of $12,000!!! The grand total raised was $15,116! There were some credit card fees & taking account for the bookmarks, gift card and prizes...the total profit for the PTA was $14,400!! Way to Go Maplewood!!
Thank you to everyone for the participation! We hope you & your students had fun reading; and now for the prizes . We will place the awards for each winner in your mailbox this week. Please make sure this gets to the students and congratulate them! We will be announcing the winners in the next Memo.
Total amount raised by each class:
Teacher - Grade - $ Raised
Riscol - KG - $1,537
Thomas - KG - $1,020
Patterson -1st - $1,455
Chou - 1st - $835
Bokoske - 2nd - $1,074
Bennett - 2nd - $1,059
Manian - 3rd - $2,007
Wagner - 3rd - $1,595
Looney-4th-$2,076
Caton-4th-$1,401
Kaplan - 5th - $454
Anderson - 5th - $475
Congratulations to:
Ms. Looney’s class, who collected the most donations and earned themselves some a donut party…and has the privilege of throwing a pie in Kit’s face, at the Brinner in January! They raised $2,076!! Because Manian was such a close second, we've decided to celebrate both classes with a donut party!
Most minutes read for each class – These students will get a $10 gift certificate to Annie Bloom’s.
Teacher Grade - Student - Minutes Read
Riscol KG - Reese Puterbaugh - 350
Thomas KG -Adeline Markowitz - 359
Patterson 1st - Nolan Bennett - 565
Chou 1st - Alexis DeVenuta - 320
Bokoske 2nd - Calvin Puterbaugh - 557
Bennett 2nd- Greyson Markowitz - 707
Manian 3rd - Madeline Vandersloot - 763
Wagner 3rd - Coralie Tiradon - 1554
Looney 4th - Jasper Bailie - 656
Caton 4th - Lior Herman - 780
Kaplan 5th - Arya Soper - 1108
Anderson 5th - Lila Hoffman - 1003
Congratulations to:
Coralie Tiradon, 3rd grade, Ms. Wagner’s class, 1,554 minutes!! Coralie has also earned the $25 gift card to Thinker Toys.
Thank you again
OFFICE SCHEDULE
Maria Belgrave (mbelgrav@pps.net) works Monday through Thursday.
Shannon Riley (sriley@pps.net) works Tuesday through Friday.
Julie Ries (jries@mesd.k12.or.us) Health Aid- Monday through Friday 8:00am - 2:30pm
Chris Khodadadian (ckhodadad@mesd.k12.or.us) School Nurse - Thursday 8:00a-12:00p
Please be sure to include both Maria and Shannon in communications regarding your children.
SCHOOL NEWS
YEARBOOKS
https://buytheyearbook.com or use the envelopes sent home in backpacks recently (more available in the school office).
This year’s book is $23 (early bird rate before January 31, 2024; $26 after). Books are distributed to students at the end of the school year.
PARENTVUE RACE UPDATE
As we look at our school assessment data, we noticed that there are many students whose race is not correctly recorded in our system. Please be sure to update this information asap so our data reflects our true demographics.
Click on “Yearly Verification”
Click “Verify Online”
Follow the prompts to update your information.
OBOB
Oregon Battle of the Books at Maplewood!
OBOB is a statewide reading competition spanning 3rd to 12th grade. Each year new book titles are chosen by the state OBOB committee and they are always amazing! Grades 3-5 can participate in elementary school (3rd has 8 books, 4 & 5 have 16 books). Students form teams, read books and compete game show style answering questions about the books. It's a great way for kids to be exposed to a variety of great books, practice reading comprehension and demonstrate their sportsmanship.
Maplewood students have already started forming teams and reading books! We hope to have the teams finalized by December 15th, but we left a week of wiggle room before break for anyone needing team adjustment or placement. Every student that wants to participate will be placed on a team, we want any and all students to participate! Team forming will be facilitated by teachers and Ms. Kordahl when needed. We will hold battles during recess time starting in February with the goal of sending our winning 5th grade team to regionals!
In January we will put out a call for volunteers to help moderate battles! All battles will take place between 11:30am and 1:15pm, keep this in mind if you are interested in helping!
The book list for this year is available in the library or on our new OBOB webpage. Below is the new official Maplewood OBOB website, as well as Ms. Kordahl's padlet page, both contain all sorts of great info. Teachers will be discussing OBOB in class and the kids will also learn about it during their library time.
If you or your student(s) have questions please reach out to Ms. Elin Kordahl or the parent mOBOB committee.
Your Parent mOBOB Team,
Heather J, Manda B, Darcie G, Lauren C, Christy W, Megan P and Katie U
MW OBOB site:
https://www.maplewoodpta.com/obob/
Ms. Kordahl’s Padlet:
ENROLL FOR 2024 HEALTH COVERAGE
Enroll your Family for 2024 Health Coverage by January 15, 2024
Individuals and families will have the opportunity to enroll in, renew, or change their health insurance plan for 2024 during the upcoming Marketplace health insurance open enrollment period, which is Nov. 1, 2023 through Jan. 15, 2024. Open enrollment is the only time when anyone who is not offered coverage from a job or a public program like the Oregon Health Plan or Medicare can enroll in health coverage through OregonHealthCare.gov, often with financial help.
Health insurance covers essential health benefits critical to maintaining individual health and treating illness and accidents. Health insurance helps to reduce medical and prescription drug costs, making health care more affordable and thus more accessible.
Health coverage also is important for students because:
Having health insurance is linked to better health (study here).
Health insurance coverage helps boost test scores among children from low-income households (study here).
Expanded health insurance coverage has led to historic reductions in racial disparities in access to health care (study here).
Trained community groups, Tribal health organizations and insurance agents are available to help Oregonians enroll in coverage through the Marketplace during open enrollment. There is no cost for their services. Many of them offer services in multiple languages. These “Enrollment Assisters” also can help people transition to private health coverage if they have experienced a qualifying life event. This includes people who are losing Oregon Health Plan benefits as the state works to renew each of its current members. Click this link to find an Enrollment Assister near you and who speaks your preferred language.
PTA
PTA Current & Upcoming Events
Oregon Battle of the Books PTA Book Fundraiser (3rd - 5th grade students) - The PTA has partnered with Annie Bloom's to make purchasing our Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) titles super easy! Books are available now to be ordered through our Maplewood Store and sent home in your child's backpack in early November. Want books as a gift? No worries, pickup options are available. Please email with any questions.
Please visit the PTA website and Maplewood Facebook page for all PTA events and information.
For any question, please contact Maplewood PTA at: maplewoodptareflections@gmail.com
FOUNDATION
Ways to Support Foundation
Monthly recurring donation
A monthly donation is the most convenient and effective way to give to Maplewood. Even small monthly donations make a big impact over time. Set up your monthly recurring donation here.
One-time contribution
This is a great option for grandparents, extended family, and loving neighbors to support your Maplewood student. Make a one-time contribution here.
By check
We are happy to receive donations by check made out to Maplewood Foundation and dropped off at or mailed to the school:
Maplewood Foundation
7452 SW 52nd Ave, Portland, OR 97219
Matching employer contribution
Ask your employer if they have a matching program for donations to non-profits. Click here for a list of already participating employers.
Fred Meyer Rewards Program Contribution
If you shop at Fred Meyer and are part of their rewards program, you may designate those reward savings to the Maplewood Foundation. It’s super easy and you can learn more here (sign in and search for Maplewood Foundation or IF500): https://www.fredmeyer.com/i/community/community-rewards.
BottleDrop Donations
Individuals can donate funds from their BottleDrop account balance to your Give account by logging into their account and using this link or connecting with the Foundation for bag tags.
Student Health
(Translations are linked here):
******
Dear Families and Students,
We are so glad to have you back at school! We also wanted to remind you about actions you can take to stay healthy so you can stay in class and be ready to learn:
Illness: Please keep your child home when they have symptoms that may exclude them from school.
Student health conditions: Please update the school and nurse if there has been any change in your student's health condition during the time of the strike.
Student medications: Please replenish medications that your student may need to receive during the school day. Also, remember to pick up your student’s expired medications from the school.
State-required vaccines/immunizations: Ensure your student is up-to-date on all school-required immunizations. Students who do not provide proper immunization documentation by February 21, 2024 will be excluded from school. Primary care providers - including Student Health Centers and Multnomah County Health Department - provide no- to low-cost vaccinations to students.
Access to health care: Multnomah County Student Health Centers and the Benson Wellness Center remain open during regular hours. Student Health Centers are a great place for students to receive sports physicals, well-child visits, school immunizations (shots), COVID-19 testing, vaccines & boosters, mental/behavioral health, age-appropriate reproductive services, routine lab tests, and prescription refills.
Health care coverage/insurance: People of any age or immigration status may be eligible for full Oregon Health Plan (OHP) benefits. OHP is Oregon's Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program. Click here to learn more about eligibility, and to apply or report changes online. Families who do not qualify for OHP can sign up for health coverage during the Oregon Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment period, occurring now through January 15, 2024. Financial help for Marketplace plans also may be available. Find out what coverage and savings you can get - and find free, local help - at OregonHealthCare.gov.