Dear Oregon Trail Families,
The 2016-17 school year is off to a great start! I am thrilled to be returning for my 2nd year as principal
and look forward to all the experiences we will have together this year.
Our goal is that all students have fun and are safe at school. Part of this is understanding the rules and
expectations. So, this month, we have spent time teaching and reviewing expectations and procedures
with students. Teachers have reviewed procedures that they have in their classroom, and expectations
as students travel throughout the building from one location to another. On Thursday, September 23rd,
each class rotated to five different parts of the school and talked about expectations for that area
(hallways, cafeteria, playground, bathrooms and front office) My belief is that all students want to do the
right thing, and it is easier to do this if we are all on the same page about expectations.
When students arrived at the front office we talked briefly about dismissal and more importantly, we
reviewed non-negotiable safety topics. These areas are weapons, threats and fighting.
1. Threats - There are no real or fake threats at school.
Words and actions are powerful. We discussed that at school we need to include others in our
play and use kind words to explain our ideas and thinking. We will continue to spend time
throughout the year working on ways to solve problems. We will use Kelso’s choices and how to
make a problem smaller instead of bigger. We want to help empower students to understand how
to work toward solving the small problems and what they should do if the problem becomes
bigger.
2. Fighting - There cannot be any real or fake fighting at school..
3. Weapons - There are no real or fake weapons in school.
This includes pictures on clothes, backpacks, lunch boxes, drawn pictures. We also discussed
using or pretending common items are weapons. A few of the examples that were brought up
were making your finger into a gun and pointing it at another student, using your pencil as a sword
and jousting.
Students had questions about toy items that could be brought to school. We discussed that, if it is at
home, it should stay at home unless you are given permission by a teacher to bring it to school.
Please help us by having a followup conversation with your student about theses topics that were
discussed. Having an understanding of the power of their words and the affect it has on others is an
important concept to continue to reinforce.
Warmly,
Kim Kellogg
October
21st - Jog A Thon
25th - Sports Day (wear sports attire)
PTO Meeting - 4pm in library
28th - Family Movie Night - 6:30 in gym
NOVEMBER
2nd - NO SCHOOL -Teacher work day
3rd & 4th - Conferences - NO SCHOOL (Scheduling info coming soon!)
23rd - NO SCHOOL - Grade report preparation
24th & 25th - NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break
October = SOCKTOBER!
During the month of
October, we will be
working with the Wichita
Family Center to collect
new socks to distribute to
families in need. There are
donation boxes located in
each fort for sock
collection.
Our goal is to collect 700 pairs of socks!!
Attendance Reminder
School starts at 8:30 AM. Students can be
dropped off at 8:10 am in the moving line. At
that time, they can either have breakfast in
the cafeteria, or go to the gym. At 8:20 am,
students are allowed to go to their
classrooms and are expected to be in their
seats, ready to learn, by 8:30 AM. Please
help them arrive on time and ready to go for a
full day of learning! Students not in their
classrooms when the bell rings, are tardy.
Do you know about the Wichita Family Center?
For 100 years, Wichita Elementary School was a resource to our community; educating and helping
generations of children. Now, that legacy lives on at the Wichita Center for Family & Community.
Established in fall 2009 by North Clackamas School District, our mission is to create a safe, healthy
and strong community by providing services and programs for each child and their family. For more
info visit http://www.nclack.k12.or.us/Domain/2986
Programs Include:
• Family Support Center: Resources for homeless students & families facing hard times.
• Lunch Buddies: Weekly lunch time mentoring for at-risk elementary children
• Backpack Buddies: Weekend nutrition program for elementary kids in need
• Dental Health Solutions: Hygiene, screening & critical care for children without dental insurance or
access to provider
• Ready, Set, Go! A kindergarten readiness program for children & parents
• Head Start: Quality preschool for low-income children, age 3 and 4
• WIC: Nutrition program for low-income Women, Infants & Children
• North Clackamas Education Foundation: Non-profit that raises funds for North Clackamas Schools
Clackamas County Mental Health: Mental health services for those covered by the Oregon Health
Plan
Parking Lot Safety
Now that our school has grown in population to over 500 students, this has increased our traffic and
congestion in the school parking lot. Please read and follow the guidelines for each of our student drop
off/pick up areas and use the photo provided for visual guidance. Thank you for your cooperation in
keeping our students and staff safe.
Moving Line
There is only one entrance/exit into the moving line lot
and for that reason we ask for your patience. In the
morning Chris Straley is in the moving line directing
traffic and making sure students get in the building
safely. Holly Russell and Jenny Wilkinson are
supervising the moving line in the afternoon. Please
help us by watching your speed and adhering to the
following rules of the moving line.
1. We have a staff member go around to each grade
level and collect student for the moving line. This
process starts at 2:40 p.m. We start at the 4th
grade fort and go clockwise around the building.
The kindergarten students are picked up by
another adult and brought to the moving line.
2. We have three cones out to indicate where drivers
should stop to drop off or pick up their students.
Please pull forward to the furthest open cone.
3. Students should exit or enter the vehicle from the
building side, this way students are not crossing in
front of or behind the vehicle.
4. In order to keep the moving line operating
efficiently, parents need to stay in the car. If your
student can’t get out by themselves, it may be best
to park in the other lot and walk your student into
the building.
We ask that parents and guardians respect the staff who are working very hard to make sure students
get to and from the building safely. There have been several incidents this year. People have been
frustrated and have taken it out on Oregon Trail staff members. Let’s all be a good example for our
students.
"Park and Walk" Lot
This lot is designed for use only when you park in designated parking space and walk your student
to/from the front doors.
1. This is a One Way lot, please follow arrows accordingly.
2. There are several areas not available for parking:
• Handicapped spaces (unless placard is displayed) or area between Handicapped spaces
• Areas clearly designated with striped painting/red Fire Lane paint
3. If there are no spaces in the parking lot, please park on the neighborhood streets or use the Student
Moving LIne for drop off.
Welcome back to another amazing year at Oregon Trail Elementary! We are looking forward to an
exciting year of many family events: movie nights, WinterFest, Morning with Mom, and much more!
Our first big event, Donuts with Dad, was October 5th and was an amazing success! Thank you to all
the volunteers who made this event possible. And thank you to all the Dads who came out and spent the
morning with the kids and made this day special for everyone. We had the best turnout we’ve ever had!
Our next big event and our primary fundraiser of the year is the Wildcat
Jog A Thon! It is Friday October 21st. A letter and pledge packet has been sent home with your child,
so keep working on collecting pledges! This event is so fun for the kids! Please help us try to reach our
fundraising goal of $22,000. All funds raised go to student enrichment programs, classroom
improvements, teacher grants, grade level grants, field trips, music and PE programs. We appreciate all
the parents help with this event!
Please join us at our next PTO Meeting on October 25th at 4pm in the OTE library. We will have
childcare available and as always lots of snacks and lots of adult conversation!
Our first Family Night will be on October 28th at 6:30pm. We will be having a movie night in the gym
and showing Hotel Transylvania 2. We will have free popcorn and be selling soda and concessions.
Bring your sleeping bags, pillows, chairs and jammies and join us for a fun family night!
- Theresa Atkinson, PTO President
Keeping up with PTO news…
Website: www.oregontrailpto.com
Social Media
• Facebook - Oregon Trail PTO – www.facebook.com/oregontrailpto
• Facebook - Oregon Trail Elementary http://goo.gl/nvZpCV
Email: [email protected]