Upcoming Events
Administrator's Message
Dear Village School Families,
We hope you had a pleasant three day week brought to us by the federal holiday celebrating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His words and actions can be a reminder of how far we have come as a nation and the work that lies ahead to achieve the beloved community he often spoke about. In 1963 in an address in Detroit he said, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” It is but one of thousands of Dr. King’s quotes that deliver inspiration when we pause to reflect and choose how we serve our local and global community.
At The Village School we continue to work together to keep our students and staff safe as we maintain in-person instruction during the Omicron surge. A local epidemiologist referred to the Omicron as “more like a flash flood rather than a wave.” Federal and state modeling suggest it will peak by the end of January. And yet, we must stay steadfast and true to meet the highest mitigation standards even after the surge recedes.
We continue to administer all 11 layers of health and safety measures and ask all families to join us in taking a layered approach to keep the virus from spreading.
Proper Masks are Critical to the Safety of Oneself and Others
Health experts including OHA recommend using better masks because cloth masks alone are not very effective at preventing Omicron.
We highly recommend KF94 or KN95 masks. The next best is a surgical mask.
KF94, KN95 and Surgical masks are available in the office for students upon request.
If a person absolutely can’t tolerate wearing a KN95 or KF94 mask all day, the best mask is one that is worn consistently and correctly
Check out What Mask Should I Wear for more information.
Symptom Screening, Stay Home if Ill and Seeking Tests
Screen your child before leaving home every morning
People with the following symptoms may have COVID-19:
Fever or chills
Cough, Sore throat, Congestion or runny nose
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue, Head, muscle or body aches
New loss of taste or smell
Nausea or vomiting, Diarrhea
Notify the school if your student is ill (please share symptoms and date of onset)
Seek COVID-19 testing and report the results to the school.
Vaccinations and Booster Shot
Village School and OHA encourage everyone eligible to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and / or get a booster, if applicable.
While breakthrough infections in vaccinated people may occur, current vaccines help protect against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to Omicron infection.
We are one school community of 226 students in grades K-8. Let us continue to marshall our efforts and extend the patience, grace and kindness needed to support one another during this pandemic. Every day as we walk the hallways, teach our children, and speak to parents and guardians we experience the special devotion and joy that comes from this school community. We are all dedicated to making a safe place where each child feels a sense of belonging.
Warmly
Shannon, Sue, Bob and Andy
Traffic Safety
Parents and Guardians we need your help on an important safety issue.
During Drop off and Pick up on E. 35th Ave, you are required to do the following.
Approach the school from Donald Street. This reduces two way traffic on 35th Ave.
Use Drop-Off zone for Drop off only. (At the curb near the stairs leading to the school)
Always park in the correct direction and on the correct side of the street.
Do not park on the wrong side of the street. Do not stop cars in the middle of the street.
Have children exit on Curb Side of car, not the street side
Please say your “goodbyes” before you stop and avoid lingering
Children walking through a knot of automobiles is dangerous. Thank you for your attention to this critical safety issue.
Village School Health and Safety Committee Updates
Booster Shots required by February 14 for Staff and Volunteers
All staff, unless they already have an approved exemption on file, are required to have a booster shot by February 14. Staff that do not have their booster by February 14 will be required to get tested weekly via OHA/Willamette Toxicology. Even if staff have their two vaccinations, but not a booster shot they will be required to submit test results weekly.
All volunteers must also have a booster shot by February 14. There are no medical or religious exemptions for volunteers. They must be up-to-date with their vaccinations – meaning they must have a booster.
Volunteers in Classrooms
When a volunteer has completed and signed the Covid protocol packet/contract teachers may consider scheduling one of the qualified volunteers to assist.
Only one qualified volunteer at a time may assist a teacher for indoor activities.
The number of qualified volunteers that may assist on a field trip is limited to three.
WANTED: Kitchen Volunteers
We need a cadre of reliable volunteers in the kitchen to help clean tables. If you can commit to one or more days each week from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm contact Toña in the Kitchen as soon as possible: taguilar@eugenevillageschool.org.
Mixing Cohorts at Recess
We are pausing the plan for mixing lower grades cohorts for outdoor recess. We will revisit this at a later date.
Grades 5 and 6 will be able to use any zone at their lunch recess. These grades will continue to use assigned zones during the morning recess.
Reading Buddies
Will continue to take place outside or in the Commons and not in classrooms.
Buddy pairs must maintain 3 ft or more distance, and of course wear masks.
Test to Stay
We aren’t implementing the Test to Stay program at this time. With the advent of Omicron we want to be extra safe. Plus with the new 6 ft spacing setup for meals and snacks, we should expect to see fewer students cited as close contacts for quarantine. We will revisit the possibility of implementing Test to Stay after the Omicron surge has passed.
Monthly LGBTQ+ and Allies Gathering!
Sarah Maxwell and her family will be "hosting" a monthly gathering at Tugman park, the first Sunday morning of each month at 10:00 am, at the picnic tables on the Hillyard side of the park. The meetings are open to all LGBTQ families & allies, with the simple mission of just building community.
There is no need to RSVP or commit to bringing anything. Since Village School is continuing to mask outdoors for playtime, our group will be doing the same. Students of all ages and their families are welcome and encouraged to join in! The dates of the gatherings will be Sunday, 10:00 am on Feb 6, Mar 6, April 3, May 1, and June 5.
A Message From Maestra Sarah
During the last few weeks the elementary grade students have been learning about weather in Spanish. We sang a version of the traditional rain nursery rhyme song and three of the classes wrote their own weather themed song a la “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring.”
¡Qué llueva!
¡Qué llueva!
La bruja está en la cueva.
Los pajaritos cantan,
Las nubes se levantan
¡Qué sí! ¡Qué no!
¡Qué llueva chaparrón!
Debajo de la cama,
Con agua y jabón.
-tradicional
The 1st grade song about stormy weather:
¡Tormenta, tormenta!
El caballo está en el granero.
Los peces rojos nadan, los gatitos ronronean.
¡Qué sí! ¡Qué no!
Qué’l rajo borra el brujón
con energía y un ciclón.
The second grade song about snowy weather:
¡Qué nieve!
¡Qué nieve!
El zorro está en la cueva.
Los caballitos bailan,
Las nubes se inventan.
¡Qué sí!
¡Qué no!
¡Qué nieve un culebrón!
¡Con un lobo de champiñón!
The third grade song about sunny weather:
¡El sol, el sol!
La ardilla come girasol.
Todas las flores abren.
Los murciélagos se esconden.
¡Qué sí!
¡Qué no!
¡Qué baja el so!
Con criaturas del bosque…¡Ol!
-Maestra Sarah
Village School Kitchen
Every school day we are blessed with student helpers who contribute in various ways to ensuring our program runs smoothly. Eighth grade helpers bring in the compost, napkins and dirty dishes from the kindergarten classroom, a few children from grades 5-8 assist by washing and sanitizing the cafeteria tables after their classes eat and a dynamic duo from various grades help in the afternoons with important tasks such as drawing up the menu board for the next day, putting clean dishes away and preparing fruit for our yummy breakfasts.
Thank you 8th grade students Brianna and Maeve for your helping cleaning tables last week.
We are in full swing citrus season and will be celebrating with our own Citrus Celebration at lunch this Friday! Students will have the opportunity to sample a variety of citrus from kumquats to cara caras and grapefruit to blood oranges, we will fill everyone up with Vitamin C!
We are in need of one more parent volunteer on Wednesdays from 11:30-12:30 to help during lunch service. Please let me know if you can help our school in this way!
Warmly,
Toña
The Village School Eugene, Oregon w - 541-345-7285 c - 541-510-8604 taguilar@eugenevillageschool.org
January Menus
We are in the process of working with a nutritionist to provide the total carbohydrate and dietary fiber counts for our breakfast and lunch entrees. We have posted what we have so far on our website and will continue to update the online menus. If you would like a printed copy, click on the link on the website menu or ask Becky for one in the main office. It is our goal at the Village School to support the health and needs of all of our students.
If you have any questions, please contact the administration.
Library News
Class Library Visits and Student Book Choice
We are making the transition from me visiting classes with a cart of books to whole class visits to the library. I am very excited for students to have more books available to them. As a reminder, our library honors student choice in book selection. The library's mission is to provide a wide range of current materials relevant to the school’s curriculum and readers’ interest. We encourage an active learning environment that supports critical thinking, curiosity, creativity, and diversity, with the goal of establishing a lifelong appreciation of reading and literature.
To meet this goal, the library has a wide range of books that appeal to different ages and interests, including early readers, picture books, graphic novels, chapter books, nonfiction, and teen fiction. Student choice in book selection for check out is honored with the understanding that parents reserve the final decision on what their child is reading. An exception is the “Young Adult” section which is restricted to grades 5-8 and contains books with more mature themes and/or language. I highly encourage parents to know their child’s class library visit schedule and check in with their child that day about what they checked out from the library. If you have concerns about what your child is choosing from the library, I am happy to discuss concerns with you and/or recommend alternative books.
OBOB Update
OBOB groups from third, fourth, and fifth grade have been meeting with me at school. The groups will continue to meet with me and practice answering battle questions. This year the school battles will be run differently, and will take place during the school day instead of an after school event as in years past. The winning team will be decided in early March, and will represent the Village School in a virtual regional tournament (date TBD). For more information you can visit the OBOB website or contact me.
Molly Bautista, VS Librarian
February Parent Council Meeting
Please join us 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
LTD Passes Available!
The Village School has worked with 4j and LTD to make touchpasses available 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!
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.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Book Study
The Parent Council is sponsoring a book study of the text The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and the New York Times.
The project which led to the book, sought to reframe the United States history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the U.S. historical narrative.
The first on-line Zoom meeting to discuss the book will be sometime in January. More information will be forthcoming. Please consider acquiring a copy of the book. We have six loaner copies made possible by a grant from the Parent Council available in the office.
