April we will have two Family Fun Nights!   The first one will be April 1st @5:30 PM with the LEGO guy.   We will have Patrick Markey, the LEGO  Guy coming to conduct a workshop and propose his LEGO afterschool clubs to the audience.   At this Fun Night we will be asking for your help!

Tammy Eutsler from our PTA  will be at this meeting to recruit Elmira Elementary School parents to work on our school auction.   This auction brings in a  tremendous amount of money which is used to support our kids at school, for field trips, parties,  assemblies and supplies.  Our school needs your help to make this event a success!   The Auction is Saturday May 9th starting at 4:00.   This event has incredible prizes and will be hosted this year by Barry MacGuire, radio’s 99.1  personality great…So join us on April 1st have some fun… enjoy some pizza… sign up to support the school’s auction!

We are entering into State Testing time after Spring Break.   Help us help your kids to do their best by following some of the suggestions from the Department of Education.

You can be a great help to your children if you will observe these do’s and don’ts about tests and testing:

• Don’t be too anxious about a child’s test scores. If you put too much emphasis on test scores, this can upset a child.
• Do encourage children. Praise them for the things they do well. If they feel good about themselves, they will do their best. Children who are afraid of failing are more likely to become anxious when taking tests and more likely to make mistakes.
• Make sure your child attends school regularly. Remember, tests do reflect children’s overall achievement. The more effort and energy a child puts into learning, the more likely he/she will do well on tests.
• Provide a quiet, comfortable place for studying at home.
• Make sure that your child is well rested on school days and especially the day of a test. Children who are tired are less able to pay attention in class or to handle the demands of a test.
• Give your child a well-rounded diet. A healthy body leads to a healthy, active mind. Most schools provide free breakfast and lunch for economically disadvantaged students. If you believe your child qualifies, talk to the school principal.
• Provide books and magazines for reading at home. By reading new materials, a child will learn new words that might appear on a test. Ask your child’s school about a suggested outside reading list or get suggestions from the public library.

Our normally scheduled PTA meeting will be postponed until after Spring Break!   No Meeting on March 17th!  The next meeting will be coupled with a LEGO workshop!   Standby for the date!

Thank you to the classify staff who work so diligently in our school to answer questions, get students on the correct bus, who clean up after sick kids, who prepare our lunches, who make sad kids feel better, who teach and help kids learn, who suffer through playground duty in the cold and rainy winters, who do all of the behind the scene things that need to be done to make our school work.

Thanks goes out to everyone of these people who without them teaching and being a principal here would be so much harder. Our hats are off to Elmira classified staff!

Just a reminder that instruction at Elmira Elementary school starts at7:45. We allow the kids to come in hang up their coats and get settled but we are starting to teach at 7:45 to maximize our instruction time with our students. This gives us an extra 15 minutes/ day and extra 75 minutes/week some 6 plus hours /month. As you can see it adds up. And if your child is late 5-10 minutes each day, they are also losing that much in what they can gain in instruction. SO have your kids here no later than 7:45 and for sure no later than 8:00 as that is when they will be counted as tardy. If your student is late 5 or 10 minutes every day he or she is losing a lot that can help her or him be the absolutely best they can be in life!

The job of our Design Committee is to   design the  physical improvements for our New school.   We are a group of teachers, administrators, parents and community members who are planning for the future of our kids. Design Committee members develop a thorough understanding of the district’s unique characteristics and create opportunities for positive improvements in education, and then together as a team we develop a plan of action to guide those improvements.  We impact the future.  Please join us and make a difference.

Next Meeting:

February 17, 2015 3:00 in the Elmira Elementary School Library!

Drop off times at Elmira Elementary school.    This is just a reminder that our office does not open until 7:30.   We will welcome all kids into the school at that time but we are unable to accommodate early drop offs.   The secretary may be in but is working and cannot provide day care for early drop offs.   So thanks for your assistance with this and we appreciate everyone making our system work!   Questions?   Please call Jackie @ 541-935-8214.

Samuel Becerra, the artist for our current Oregon Country Fair grant project, is originally from Mexico City. He has been interested in Pre-Columbian music and culture throughout his lifetime. He has played, composed and recorded music for more than twenty years. He plays a variety of instruments included the congas, bongos, guitar, the cajon and flutes. He has also studied visual arts focusing on ancient Mexican sculptures. Samuel makes his own percussion and wind instruments that resemble instruments of ancient times in the Pre-Hispanic era of his homeland. He promotes the Mexican culture of the past and present as a full time artist.

We are honored to have Samuel working with our students this year to have them create their own whistles modeled after those of the Pre-Columbian era. Each grade level has chosen a symbol to make out of clay such as birds, dragons, bears, panthers, foxes and skulls. In addition to creating their own whistle and learning how to play it, the students are mesmerized as Samuel infuses the history, music and culture of his ancestry.

There will be a culminating exhibit and presentations on Thursday, February 19 beginning at 6:30 in the gym where the students and Samuel will share with parents and the public about this incredible experience.

The school-wide character education program (N.E.D.) is bringing their 45 minute assembly to EES. This assembly will be presented January 20, 2015 from 1:00-1:45. NED is a loveable cartoon character whose name is an acronym for Never give up, Encourage others, and Do your best. NED is simple, relatable and kid-focused.

There will be Yo-Yos… tricks and a strong message of positive self-esteem delivered to all our kids this coming Tuesday!

Next month in  February… our kids are participating in the Portland Opera Grant for schools

 and the Barber of Seville will be performed at EES!

Thanks a  ton to the FRSD Board for the time… effort and dedication to making our buildings and education grow.