Upcoming Events
Wednesday, April 24th, 6:00pm, Ophelia's Place Presentation on Relational Aggression
Thursday, April 25th, 6th, 7th, 8th Grade Field Trip to the Hult Center
Monday, April 29th, Volunteer Appreciation Day - Stop by for pastries and coffee!
Tuesday, April 30th, 5:30 - 6:30pm, 3rd Grade Parent Meeting
Wednesday, May 1st, 1:15 - 2:45pm, May Day Celebration (volunteer signups here)
Thursday, May 2nd, 10:15am & 6pm, 6th Grade Play
Saturday, May 4th, 5th Grade Greek Games 2023-2024Â Calendar is available here!
Quick Links
In the interest of reducing the sheer length of the Village Voice, we have replaced several repeating items with links to shortcuts:
Administrator's Message
We hope you all are getting a chance to celebrate Earth Day. A few year's back, the Village School earned the title of "Green School". Subsequently, we helped a few other school's get gain this title, and were given the title of "Premier Green School". A lot of this grew out of our dedication, going back to our original charter, to minimize our ecological footprint, recycle, reduce energy use, and implement the Village Kitchen's priorities around local organic food, vegetarian meals, and minimal waste. Moving on to the present, our latest Green School project is to install solar power in the coming months. This project has been delayed for several years, but with the recent power upgrade, funding from a prior annual giving campaign and federal incentives, we hope to make it happen soon.
On the topic of facilities updates. The Village School board of directors has asked staff to move forward with the Annual Giving Campaign project of installing the Pyramid Climber. Thanks to all who helped support the campaign! Also, our partnering organization, The Village School Foundation, has put out some bids for security fencing and the solar power project. Please share the word with anyone you know who may be interested in the work.
As the fine weather stretches on, we are reminded of several important events and volunteer opportunities:
(1) This Wednesday at 6PM Ophelia's Place is doing a presentation here on relational aggression, sponsored by Parent Council. Our staff have been doing a lot of training on redirecting aggression of various kinds and it's worthwhile for parents to learn more about how to help children navigate this topic. Please sign up for Child Care.
(2) Monday Next week is Volunteer Appreciation Day. We rely so much on Volunteers and we really want to recognize and appreciate you all for your efforts.
(3) Next week brings May Day! We are looking to sign up volunteers ready for this timeless celebration of Spring, Flowers, Music, and more.
(4) One other important growth opportunity is workshop this weekend by Nina Gallwey on the Foundations of Learning at our site. Nina's focus is on Sensory Integration, Waldorf studies, and years of experience in Waldorf's version of Special Education. Several Village School staff will be attending. There is a sliding scale (more below).
Thanks for being part of our Green School community. We look forward to seeing you at Volunteer Appreciation and May Day next week!
Sincerely,
Roz, Shannon and Andy
Parent Council Event-Ophelia's Place Presentation
Come check out this wonderful Parent Council event!
On Wednesday, 4/24 from 6:00 - 8:00pm, Ophelia's Place will be presenting a talk on Empowering parents to navigate relational aggression. This will take place in the Village School Commons. Childcare is available for children 5 years of age and up. Here is the link to sign up.
OSAS Testing
OSAS Testing has begun. Parents may submit an opt-out form at any time. Please see here for more information. Preferably the forms are submitted 30 days prior to the administration of the tests. If you have any questions please send an email to principal@eugenevillgeschool.org
2023-2024 state testing notice and opt out form (Spanish)Â
Volunteers Needed for our May Day Festival
The Village School May Day Festival is just around the corner! It will take place on Wednesday, May 1st from 1:15 - 2:45pm.
We will be needing plenty of support to make this event a success. Many volunteer opportunities are available. This is a great way to meet your 20/40 hours of volunteer hours that we ask all of our families to contribute. If you have not been able to volunteer yet, please do so for this festival, as it is the last big event of the year!
One thing that we are asking all of our families is to contribute flowers. We will need A LOT of flowers this day – for decorating the May Pole and making flower garlands. Please share the beauty of your gardens with the school, and bring flowers to the office at the beginning of the school day on May 1st! There is also a need for ivy for our flower crowns-if you have an abundance of ivy, please share it with us! Crown making will take place on Tuesday, April 30th at 3pm behind the 4th grade classroom.
Please contact chrissy@eugenevillageschool.org if helping out at this sweet festival is something you're interested in, or if you have any questions.
Thank you!
Volunteering
Please reach out to chrissy@eugenevillageschool.org with any questions about volunteering! We ask families to contribute 40 hours of volunteer hours per year, and single parent households to contribute 20 hours. If you would like to know how many volunteer hours you have accumulated this year, please let Chrissy know. We appreciate all of your generous contributions of time and energy to make Village School what it is!
There are a few events coming up, as well as classroom and kitchen opportunities that can help to meet these hours.
Kitchen Prep volunteer needed every other Thursday morning after drop off. Our award winning food service program relies on volunteers to make the magic happen!
May Day volunteers needed. Sign up here!
Volunteer to take children to ASEP classes on Wednesdays
Another way to contribute to our school community is by attending Parent Council Meetings! We will be holding our next meeting on Tuesday, May 14th at 6pm in the Village School Library. If you would like to attend virtually, here is the Zoom linkÂ
*Please make sure to sign in, grab a volunteer badge, and sign out at the office when you volunteer
Volunteer Appreciation Day
We love and appreciate our volunteers! Please stop by after drop off to say hello to fellow volunteers and enjoy some coffee and baked goods. Thank you for all that you do to make Village School what it is!
Spanish Class Happenings
The 4th graders celebrated National Unicorn Day with some fun crafts!
Volunteers Needed for After School Enrichment Classes
Currently the After School Enrichment Program needs someone to pick up students and deliver them to their enrichment classes after school. They still need a volunteer for Wednesdays. The time would be from 2:45 - 3:15pm, and would begin April 8 and run through May 30. Please let Chrissy know if this is something that interests you. chrissy@eugenevillageschool.org
Thank you!
Library Books Needed
There are a substantial amount of library books that are overdue from throughout the school year. Please check in with your child about their library books! The lower grade teachers have lists of what is checked out, or you can contact me. Please be on the lookout for more direct messages regarding overdue library books, if your child has them. If your family regularly checks out and returns books to the Eugene Public Library, please be careful to check labels and make sure you aren’t returning Village School books to other libraries.Â
If you believe a book has been permanently lost, we ask that you pay for a replacement or purchase a new or lightly used copy.Â
If you have questions please contact me.
Molly Bautista, VS LibrarianÂ
Kitchen News
Today was our first of two hot sauce tastings held during lunch. Students and staff were invited to sample four different varieties of fermented hot sauce from Crossroads Farm. Â
Crossroads Farm grows over 50 varieties of chili peppers, producing a line of fermented hot sauces and dried pepper powders, and other chili pepper products. You can find them at the Farmers Market selling vegetable starts along with their well known sauces. In the summer months you can follow your nose to their stand; the smell of roasting peppers lures folks from afar.
Today we sampled their no-heat habanero orange, their mildly spicy cayenne grape, their medium spicy Bulgarian carrot and their extra spicy green Thai pineapple. Students voted for their favorite variety.
 Hali'an from 3rd grade liked the green Thai pineapple sauce the best
Toña Aguilar
Guitar Donations Needed
The music program wants your old unused guitars for the middle school music classes. If you have a guitar sitting around gathering dust, we would happily accept your donation. We can make repairs. The middle school music students will appreciate your gift.
Parent Council
The next Parent Council Meeting will be on Tuesday, May 14th at 6:00pm! We will be meeting in the Village School Library. For those who would like to join us from home, here is the Zoom linkÂ
Please join us and send questions and ideas to parentcouncil@eugenevillageschool.org.
The notes from past meetings can be found here (updated).
Every Village School parent and guardian is a part of Parent Council - Parent Council Meetings are open to all parents and guardians on the 2nd Tuesday of each month.
You can also engage with Village School families on the Parent Council Facebook page, The Village Vine!
If you missed the last week's Ophelia's Place Presentation on Social Media, have a look a the slides and the recording!
Thank you so much to Shannon Boyd for her work on this getting these presentations together for us!
Upcoming Facilities Work
Security Fencing
The Village School Foundation is seeking bids to upgrade the fencing along 35th Avenue and to install new security gates. If you know anyone interested in this kind of work, please share the following link with them: https://www.eugenevillageschool.org/post/fence
Solar Power The Village School Foundation seeks to install 27KW of solar power and 20KWH of power storage. This project coincides with the recent completion of a power upgrade. https://www.eugenevillageschool.org/post/solar-power-upgrade
Village School Lunch Diaries
Creamy, delicious mac and cheese!
What a treat to get to have some piping hot alphabet soup! This was a first for many of our students.
Help Wanted
Grades 1-3 Main Lesson Teacher (teaches 1st grade 2024-25)
Job Description  Application
Grades 1-8 Spanish Teacher
Job Description  Application
Grades 1-3 Title I Reading Tutor
Job Description  Application
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Grades 6-8Â Math TutorÂ
Job Description  Application
Substitute Teacher & Substitute Educational Assistant
Duties: Serve as substitute teacher or substitute classroom assistant.
The Foundations of Learning Workshop
Dear Teachers and Parents of Village School,
I am very much looking forward to coming to your community to share The Foundations of Learning Workshop on April 27 and 28. This workshop is the distillation of my 23 years of working with children with learning differences in addition to my 10 years of classroom teaching, grades 1-8. This workshop is a rich overview of the neurological and
physical foundations that support healthy social/emotional and academic skills and is pertinent for parents, teachers,and child specialists (tutors, speech therapists, counselors, etc.). I was a special education teacher before I became a certified Waldorf and Waldorf Remedial teacher, so I have experience in all realms. I created and now supervise a comprehensive program for children with diverse learning styles at the Siskiyou School (Waldorf school)  in Ashland, Oregon. Â
Here is what recent participants had to say:
Thank you again for this wonderful experience. It has been life-changing and practice-changing for me. This workshop helped me to see my own neurologic patterns and to understand how I can recognize the neurologic patterns of my clients. Using the movement based exercises you taught, I have already seen profound changes in my clients' abilities to focus and to organize their brains and bodies. Looking forward to continued study and passing this knowledge along to parents and children.
                                           -Carrie Eskenazi (Speech therapist)
The whole weekend I was thinking about so many of my previous students and how much they would have benefitted from this attention to foundational needs and seeing so clearly how the work that we did do was so much harder because these sensory needs were not met. What a gift you are offering! -Katie Bertell (Dyslexic Specialist)
What a wonderful training opportunity! It was lovely to learn and reaffirm how powerful  neurodevelopmental movement is through this enriching training. I now have deeper insight into how the children I work with develop! For the past 20 plus years, I have studied child development but your training put it all together in a beautiful way. Invaluable weekend!       Christine P.  (Waldorf Teacher)Â
 I look forward to bringing this to Eugene! SPREAD THE WORD! Please contact me if you have any questions. Â
 To register, go to ohanafamilyresources.com.
Community Bulletin Board
Hult Center News
Arts Access is a ticket subsidy program at the Hult Center that provides free or subsidized tickets to community members lacking adequate access to the performing arts.
What is Arts for All?
Arts for All is a program that supports community members currently using an EBT or Oregon Trail Card. A patron can show their Oregon Trail Card/EBT and can purchase two (2) $5 tickets to many of the Hult Center’s best music, theatre and dance groups. Participation varies by event and will be clearly labeled on our website. Â
How does it work?Â
Arts For All offers $5 tickets to select Hult Presents shows. Participating shows will have information on the website. Patrons must purchase tickets in person to present their Oregon Trail Card and can then set up an account so it is noted they have purchased their allotted 2 tickets. Tickets will be on a first come, first served basis. Please note, Arts For All cannot be applied to past purchases.
Below are the events we can currently provide these tickets for:
If you have any questions, please contact the Hult Center Ticket Office at 541-682-5000 or hultcentertickets@eugene-or.gov.
