Principal
As you know, schools have long had safety protocols in place to help students and staff members respond to natural emergencies like fires or earthquakes. This year the Fern Ridge School District has adopted a new safety protocol to help students and staff at each school be prepared to respond in case of a man made threat. In August, staff members were trained in a program called ALICE which is designed to help schools, colleges, and other institutions respond in the event of a man made threat.
ALICE (the acronym stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate) has been adopted across Lane County and even throughout the nation as a system for training teachers and students. It has the support of law enforcement including the Lane County Sheriff. ALICE training focuses on helping individuals plan in advance what they can do to stay safe. Alice isn’t a prescribed set of instructions but teaches the individual to assess the situation and make the best choice- whether that choice is to evacuate or barricade. Continue reading
Our School Book Fair is coming in just a few weeks. Our School Book Fair is a great opportunity to purchase books for your family or as gifts. In addition to books for all ages, there will also be novelty and gift items available. The Book Fair will be open from 7:30 to 8:00 on November 19th, from 7:30 to 8:00 and 9:00 to 5:00 on November 20th during the Holiday Bazaar, from 9:00 to 4:00 on November 21st during the Holiday Bazaar, from 8:00 AM to 7:30 PM on Monday, November 23rd during parent conferences, and from 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM on Tuesday, November 24th during parent conferences. Our School Book Fair is also a great fundraiser for our school. 40% of what we sell comes back to the school. So if you spend $40 at the book fair. $16 comes back to the school. We accept credit cards and checks at the Book Fair. You can also purchase books online at our Virtual Book Fair: http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/venetaelementaryschool
If you are interested in helping out with the Book Fair please contact the school office.
As a special treat, click here for a coloring page featuring Scholastic’s fall book fair theme- monsters! Coloring Page
Here are the first pictures of the inside of our new cafeteria under construction. You can already tell its going to be beautiful with lots of natural light. We are already planning a special event in January to celebrate our new cafeteria and new classrooms. Thank you again for your support of our school.
The Fern Ridge School District is seeking people who enjoy helping children learn and would like to become a part of our Educational Assistant Substitute pool. Educational Assistants work under the direction of administrators and licensed teachers. The wage for a Substitute Educational Assistant is $12.00/Hour. Educational Assistants need to be Highly Qualified (see below). If you are interested and would like more information please contact Debbie Moore at the Fern Ridge Schools District Administration Office, 88834 Territorial Rd, Elmira or via phone at 541-935-2253 ext. 1203.
Highly Qualified = 1) Have an Associate’s Degree or higher, 2) Have completed 72 quarter hours (48 semester hours) of coursework at an institution of higher education, or 3) Passed the District’s paraprofessional assessment demonstrating knowledge of, and the ability to assist in, reading, writing, an mathematics. Assistance to pass the paraprofessional assessment is available. To take the paraprofessional assessment, please contact dmoore@fernridge.k12.or.us.
On Tuesday, November 3rd we will be conducting vision and dental screenings of all students. The vision screenings will be conducted by the Lions Club with the help of parent volunteers. The dental screenings will be conducted by staff from the dental program offered through Lane County Community Health Centers. In addition to the screening, we will also be doing the dental sealants for those students whose parents returned the signed permission slips. Both the vision and the dental screening are noninvasive and take just a few minutes. Parents will be notified if there are any concerns noted.
Our vision, dental, and hearing screenings are part of our effort to have safe and healthy students who are ready to learn. However, we want to remind parents that a vision screening or a dental screening does not and should not replace regular exams. Parents can opt out of the screening with a written note to the office.
Thank you to our local Lions Club for their help and assistance.
Please call before 1:00 if your child is going to go on a different bus or get picked up at the end of the day. Bus passes have to be completed in triplicate, logged, filed, and then a copy distributed to the student and teacher. It takes about 5 minutes to process each bus pass and we get upwards of 30 bus phone calls each day. That’s a lot of additional work for Ronda and Lorie on top of their other duties. Continue reading
Once again Veneta Elementary will allow students to wear Halloween costumes to school. Since Halloween is a Saturday, students are invited to wear their costumes on Friday, October 30th. The following guidelines must be followed: Continue reading
Don’t forget that our Jog-A-Thon is this Friday, October 16th. Envelopes with donations should be turned in on Friday. Below is the schedule for the day. We encourage families to come and walk/jog/run with their student or just cheer them on.
JOG-A-Thon Schedule for Friday, October 16th
Kindergarten 8:05 to 8:30
First Grade 8:35 to 9:05
Fifth Grade 10:05 to 10:35
Fourth Grade 12:30 to 1:00
Third Grade 1:05 to 1:35
Second Grade 1:40 to 2:10
Also students who raise funds to support our school can earn great prizes. Below is a list of the prizes for the 2015 Jog-A-Thon:
- $20 Students will get an extra recess.
- $50 Students will get to participate in a Bingo Party with great prizes and lots of fun
- $100 Students will get a special “Drive In Movie” experience during the school day where they will watch a movie and enjoy popcorn and other treats.
- $200 Students will enjoy a special event at Putters featuring Laser Tag or Cosmic Bowling with our principal Ms. Johnson. Students can choose Laser Tag if they meet the height requirement or the always fun Cosmic Bowling if they would rather bowl. Parents must transport.
- Plus every student who participates in the Jog-A-Thon on October 16th will be entered into a drawing for great prizes just for jogging or walking or skipping or just moving the entire 30 minutes
- The class that raises the most money as a class will get a class ice cream party.
Veneta Elementary invites all families and friends to our annual Open House on Thursday, October 8th. We want to show off our new library and give parents the chance to visit classrooms and meet teachers. The doors will open at 6:30 PM. In addition to meeting teachers, PALS will be here to sell Veneta T-Shirts/Sweatshirts, Smencils, and more.
PALS will also provide ice cream treats and popsicles on our playground for families after they visit classrooms. Thank you PALS! We hope to see everyone there!
Update: As you may know, our great new 3rd grade teacher Mackenzie Knox is also the head coach of Elmira High School’s volleyball game. Unfortunately on October 8th the EHS Volleyball team has their big match against Junction City, so Ms. Knox will not be at open house to meet and greet parents. Ms. Knox will be hosting her own “classroom open house” on Wednesday, October 7th at 6:30 to 7:30 for parents of students in her classroom.
This year all of our students will be accessing an online math program called IXL. IXL allows students to practice specific math skill at any grade level. Students are given immediate feedback and if their answer was wrong, the program shows them their mistake. All students will be accessing IXL when they are in the computer lab and some students are receiving additional practice with IXL to build their math skills as part of our Title program this year.
Students and parents can also access IXL at home. Parents can check their students progress and students can practice their math. Below is a link for more information on IXL and how it can be used at home. IXL can also be used to challenge students as they can work at higher grade levels in IXL or practice more difficult concepts.
Older children should know their password and user name. If they don’t or if your child is younger, feel free to email me at ojohnson@fernridge.k12.or.us and I will send it to you.