Upcoming Events
Wednesday, November 17th: Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day
Wednesday, November 17th: Board Meeting, 5:30pm - onsite
Wednesday, November 24 - Friday, November 26: No School, Holiday
Wednesday, December 8 - Parent Council Meeting
2021/2022 Calendar is available here!
Administrator's Message
Dear Village School Families,
We hope all is well with your family and that the gusts of wind are more invigorating than distressing. The wind has been strong. It can be a reminder to set one’s gaze in a new direction, maybe even take a different path to reach a destination. And yet sometimes we must meet the wind head-on. That can be bracing and require subtle techniques to move forward and conserve one’s strength and peace of mind.
Several of the administrative staff received their booster shot in the last five days. Bob is willing to share that he got his Moderna booster on Thursday. He experienced a bit of tiredness on Friday, and for a few hours on Saturday had a tiny bit of muscle ache in his upper legs. He states he is feeling great and is delighted to play his part in helping to protect himself, his family, his colleagues and friends and the greater community, especially against the delta variant. Booster shots help the vulnerable experiencing waning immunity, and will help prevent more people from getting sick or spreading the virus to others.
Vaccinations are now available for our youngest community members. Please take a moment to visit these websites as you decide when and where you might obtain a vaccination for your children.
Vaccines are now available for children
Many pharmacies in Lane County are already taking appointments for children. Target began offering vaccines last Wednesday.
Lane County Public Health has a list of places to go and how to make appointments Covid-19 Vaccine for Children & Teens.
Please see the article below
Staying Healthy and Safe throughout the Winter
Here are two important things you can do to promote health among your family members and our greater school community during the winter months.
Use as many of the eleven mitigation protocols we use at school in your home. The Oregon Health Authority refers to this as Layered Mitigation Safety Protocols.
Whether a student has a cold, influenza, or COVID-like symptoms please err on the side of caution and keep them at home. Most respiratory infections can be prevented using the same preventative methods we use to avoid COVID transmission. When in doubt, seek guidance from your primary care provider. Testing for COVID is the surest way to sort through conditions that have similar characteristics.
Last week’s watchword was layers. Layers of mitigation to protect from the COVID virus and also layers of clothing to protect from the cold. This week the watchword is a concept. How does one move forward against a headwind and conserve strength and maintain a sense of tranquility? We each have proven methods. Please share what works for you with others. We are all in this together. The wind is strong. The pandemic persists. Let’s lock arms, (figuratively, of course) and adjust our gait and gaze as we move toward our collective destination.
Warmly,
The Village School Administrative Team
Bob, Andy, Shannon and Sue
Vaccination available for Ages 5-11
Lane County Public Health has a list of places to go and how to make appointments Covid-19 Vaccine for Children & Teens. The following venues are taking children's appointments:
Pharmacies: Costco CVS Fred Meyer Health Mart Rite Aid Safeway/Albertsons Walgreens Walmart.
Lane County: Lane County Source to Vaccine Clinics. The weekly schedule for children to get vaccinated at Lane Events Center is: Tue/Wed/Thurs 12-6:30 pm, Fridays, 12-6:30pm, Saturday 10-4pm.
Peace Health will be doing weekend clinics (400 per day Sat/Sun)
We will send a special message to our school’s families if and when a pop-up vaccination clinic is scheduled at a 4J school site near The Village School.
P-EBT Benefits for 2021-22
This year school meals are free for all students; however, P-EBT benefits worth roughly $1,000 per student are only available to families who qualify for federal free and reduced meals. We just were informed that the state of Oregon is currently applying to extend P-EBT benefits to the 2021-22 school year. Last year, the sooner families qualified, the greater were the benefits.
How to qualify?
Please submit your Free and Reduced Meal Application. If you qualify, your family will be included when we report this information to the state.
Other reasons to apply:
The more families that qualify for federal free and reduced meals, the more funding we receive for Title I small-group instruction in reading and math. These reading and math groups are vitally important for many of our students. Our funding can shift by as much as $30,000 depending on how many families apply.
Application:
Please complete the Free & Reduced Meals application. Apply either of 2 ways:
Download, fill out and return the following form. (Click here).
Complete the online version at https://www.ode.state.or.us/apps/frlapp.
Village School Kitchen
Today we served kiwi for our fruit of the day. Kiwi are full of vitamin C, dietary fiber and antioxidants. A few weeks ago I visited classrooms and asked students to share what fruits and vegetables they most look forward to eating from the salad bar. Kiwi was chosen by many!
Last week I had a meeting with one of our liaison's from the School Nutrition Program at the Oregon Department of Education. Their extra support and guidance through the past year and a half has been especially appreciated. As a sponsor of the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program we are able to provide free meals to all students. For our school to receive reimbursement, our food offerings must meet many requirements and students must take enough food and a variety of items to create a healthy, filling meal.
Every once in a while we have a child who only wants a piece of focaccia pizza for lunch. We are fortunate to have many caring adults who notice and encourage children to choose a bit of fruits and vegetables from the salad bar. Sometimes we have a student who only wants a pile of apple slices for lunch! We encourage them to round out their meal with supplemental options and teach them about taking a "thank you bite." A "thank you bite" is when we take one bite of something we might not be interested in as a way of giving thanks to the farmer that grew the food, the transporter that helped it get to our school, the people who scrub, chop, cook and serve that food and to those who clean up all the implements used in the process.
Tomorrow we are serving a super yummy lentil soup and our freshly made pita bread. Lentil soup is one entrée that some students are reluctant to try. If a student doesn't want lentil soup they do not need to take it! Over the past 11 years of running our program we have found that many children discover they do like foods that they once did not. We encourage you to have conversations at home with your family about the joys of trying new foods and the significance of thank you bites.
We are serving more and more children at breakfast every week. Even if your child is picking up a to-go breakfast to use as a morning snack they must arrive to the courtyard by 8:20. Please help students start the school day off in a calm manner by ensuring they arrive to school with enough time to get their snack and then walk to their classroom before school starts at 8:25.
Warmly,
Toña
November Breakfast Menu November Lunch Menu The Village School Eugene, Oregon w - 541-345-7285 c - 541-510-8604 taguilar@eugenevillageschool.org
Dia de los Muertos Slideshow
Maestra Sarah put together a slideshow of tributes that students wrote, honoring those that have passed away. Click on the image to see the whole thing!
Free Opt-in Testing through U of O and OHA
The Village School has joined other schools in a program that makes weekly testing available to our students! U of O has partnered with Oregon Health Authority to provide free, voluntary COVID-19 testing kits to children attending participating K-12 schools.
Use the link below to opt-in:
Please fill out the following form as well and return it to the office!
Library News
Lost Library books
Recently several children have told me they may have lost their library books. When this happens I usually instruct them to tell a caregiver and to keep looking around their home or other places they may have taken it (vehicle, daycare, etc). If the library book(s) still cannot be found, contact me and I will let you know the cost of replacement, and you can pay the office. Once the book(s) are paid for, students can resume checking out books from the library. Please let me know if the cost is a hardship for your family and we can work something out. My goal is to maintain access to the library for all students as much as possible.
Here are some tips for helping keep track of library books:
- Check in with our child on their library day and find out what book(s) they brought home.
- Designate one spot in your home to keep them until your child is ready to return them. If you have many books from other libraries, it may help to keep them separate.
- It may work best for your child to choose (books) from the library but keep them at school in their desk or cubby.
Thank you for helping keep as many books available for our Village School community as possible!
Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB)
Meetings for Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) have started for grades 3-5. OBOB is a voluntary state-wide reading program in which children read from a list of 16 books, form teams, then "battle" against other teams by answering trivia questions from the books. In previous years, students formed teams and met outside the school day. This year, due to cohorting and social distancing requirements, interested students will meet in small groups with me in the library during the school day. Later in the winter we will be forming teams, and the school battles will take place in late February. The winning team will represent the Village School at a virtual regional tournament. The VS library has copies of the books, but students can also get print books, ebooks, and audio books through the Eugene Public Library. For more information about OBOB, please reference the OBOB website or feel free to contact me.
Molly Bautista, VS Librarian
LTD Passes Available! - Deadline Extended to December 30th
The Village School is working with 4j and LTD to make touchpasses available to Village School students!
(The deadline has been extended by LTD to December 30th account for the challenges they have had getting touchpasses out to schools and students)
If you have a child that does not attend Village School, please contact their school to see if they have touchpasses available for students. We are only able to provide passes to Village School Students.
Fill out the form below to sign up and provide permission for your Village School student to have a card. Then come into the office to have a card assigned to your child!
Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day this Wednesday!
On November 14, 1960, at the tender age of six, Ruby Bridges became the first African American student to integrate into an elementary school in the South. Her simple but courageous act of showing up for school each day played an important part in the civil rights movement.
In May 2018, a group of fifth-graders from Martin Elementary School in South San Francisco, California, learned about Ruby and asked their school board to pass a resolution making November 14 Ruby Bridges Day. The San Mateo County Office of Education Safe Routes to School team met with the students about making it a Walk to School Day and invited them to present this proposal to the San Mateo County Board of Education. In years when November 14th falls on a weekend, Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day is celebrated the following Wednesday. This year that falls on Wednesday, November 17th.
Learn more on the Safe Routes to School Page!
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!
Like Dorothy stepping from her front doorstep and into the land of Oz, the past year and a half has been like stepping into an unfamiliar land filled with unpredictability, unexpected friendships and many challenges; and like Dorothy, many of us are seeking a return to the familiar.
The Village School staff would like to lead you along the yellow brick road, bringing together our community with something purely fun and entertaining!
Each day you can listen to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, each chapter will be read by a different staff member (maybe your child can guess who is reading!)
The chapters are linked on the front page of The Village School Website so check back each day as our children, families and Village School community go on a journey together!
“The story of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.”
L. Frank Baum
Chicago, April, 1900.
Counseling Corner
In the book Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne he talks about the Threefold Filter around speech. The Threefold Filter encourages us to ask, is it True, Kind and Necessary before we speak. Many of our students explored this concept with me these past few weeks during a classroom lesson. We expanded the questions to include Helpful and Inspiring to form the statement T.H.I.N.K. (True, Helpful, Inspiring/Important, Necessary, Kind) before you speak.
If you would like to read further about how to incorporate the Threefold Filter into your family you can read this extract from Simplicity Parenting - True, Kind, Necessary, Securing
Rebecca Macemon
rmacemon@eugenevillageschool.org
December Parent Council
The next Parent Council Meeting will be Wednesday December 8th at 5:30 pm
Please join us for the last meeting of 2021 and send questions and ideas to parentcouncil@eugenevillageschool.org.
The notes from past meetings can be found here.
Every Village School parent and guardian is a part of Parent Council - The Virtual Parent Council Meetings are open to all parents and guardians on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.
You can also engage with Village School families on the Parent Council Facebook page, The Village Vine!
Don't forget to sign in to HelpCounter and report your hours so we can see the amazing contributions from our Village School Families
Wellness Resources - The Well
School Psychologist Kelly Korach created a wonderful resource for Village School families. Please check out The Well for wellness resources for parents and children!
