Upcoming Events
Wednesday, October 4th, Walk & Roll
Tuesday, October 10th, 6pm, Parent Council Meeting
Thursday, October 12th, Walkathon
Thursday, October 13th, No School
Monday, October 16th, Picture Day
Friday, October 27th, Día de los Muertos Celebration
Administrator's Message
Greetings Village School Community!
Happy Sample Recovery Day (a little late…) Yesterday an unmanned, solar powered spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx ended its seven year long journey to the asteroid called Bennu. OSIRIS-REx was launched in September, 2016. It took two years to travel to Bennu, another three years to land, collect its sample, depart, and a final two year trek back to Earth to eject the mini-fridge sized, heat shield protected asteroid sample. This was a FOUR BILLION MILE journey!
Our fifth grade students will be interested to know that Bennu was named for the Egyptian deity, the god of the Sun, creation, and rebirth. Osiris-REx was then named with a nod to the Egyptian god of fertility, the afterlife, resurrection, and vegetation. The name is an acronym for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resources Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer.
Scientists believe that Bennu is a fragment leftover from the birth of our solar system. They believe that studying the samples provided by OSIRIS-REx will give insight into how life formed on Earth and give a snapshot of what was happening 4.5 billion years ago. Who knew that a cup of dust and pebbles could be so valuable!
That exciting news aside, we have some cool things going on here at the Village School as well! We held our Back to School night last week and all grades were well attended. Thanks to everyone who showed up for that important meeting! Also, all students should have their paperwork for the upcoming Walk-A-Thon! Check in with your student and make a plan to gather a few pledges. Walk-A-Thons are more fun when you’re walking with a purpose. Also coming up is Walk & Roll Day! Don’t miss out on an opportunity to lower your carbon footprint and make connections all at the same time!
Thanks for showing up and being a part of our beautiful school. We appreciate you!
After School Enrichment Programs Sign Up
The Village School
After School Enrichment Program
Fall Session 2023 (October 2 - December 14)
Dear Village School Families,
We are pleased to announce that the Village School will be offering a 9 week session of complimentary after-school enrichment classes beginning the week of October 2 - December 14 for grades 1 - 8. Class size is limited so please fill out the registration form as soon as possible to ensure a position. Registration forms are due no later than Thursday, September 28. Please click the following link and fill out one form for each Village School child in your family that is interested in attending the After School Enrichment Program.
Please contact Rachel Burk-Bayer bayer@eugenevillageschool.org with any questions you may have, or if you are unable to access the form on-line.
Enrichment classes offered:
Book Worm’s Club / Mercedes Cervantes - Grades 5 - 8, Thursdays, 3:05 - 4:25 (Library)
Welcoming all skilled and enthusiastic readers to the 2023-2024 Village Book Club!! With all of the joy of reading to yourself, isn’t it fun to ponder the pages with friends alike? Come join the middle school enrichment that caters to the book worm within you. We will join our forces and collectively pick a group book that we all follow together. Some chapters may be read in the club time, but mostly done at home. Alongside a week to week meeting of chapters read in the comfort of your own nooks we will have activities like:
Creating quizzes based on the characters and situations from the chosen story
Weekly chats over warm tea and snacks reviewing the chapters and diving deeper into the symbolism and foreshadowing throughout the book
Audiobook days while bracelet making and crafting
End of the semester movie based on the book read or one of our favorite books! *this would be our last class before break
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me directly:
Mercedes@eugenevillageschool.org
Ceramics / Donica Beath-Bigongiari - Grades 3- 8, Tuesdays 3 & 4, Thursdays 5 & 6, Wednesdays 7 & 8, select one day only. 3:05 - 4:30 (Spanish Room)
In the Ceramics class, students will explore hand building techniques such as pinch, coil, and slab; as well as using wooden, plaster, or paper molds, and Sgraffito. Students will have the opportunity to make pots, cups, tiles, shakers, monsters, and sculpture.
Bookbinding - Printmaking / Frederique Chateau* - Grades 5 - 8, Wednesdays, 3:15- 4:45 (6th grade classroom)
Get ready to make fabulous one of kind prints and showcase them into your own handmade books! This creative class will introduce students to several forms of printmaking, including carving and reduction techniques for block printing, stamping using found objects, monotype and cyanotype printing. Using traditional bookbinding techniques, students will design and stitch their own journal and make an accordion fold book to showcase their prints. Each class will offer a journey for the artists to experiment with new techniques and materials, explore the various elements of art and composition, and cultivate their artistic expression.
ART Seeing, Feeling and Reimagining/ Frederique Chateau* - Grades 1 & 2, Thursdays 3:15- 4:45 (6th grade classroom)
This 9-week art class offers a journey for students to cultivate their unique artistic expression through new ways of seeing and expressing the world around them. The young artists will explore the building blocks of art (shapes, lines, colors, values and textures) and a variety of techniques using different art mediums such as paint, pastels, pencils and paper collage. The beginning of class will include a quick art history introduction of a famous artist or art movement and their work. We will also have a chance to explore seasonal themes as a source of inspiration. Art can get messy and students are encouraged to dress appropriately.
MARIMBA - advanced class, INVITATION only / Chris Halaska, Thursdays 3:05-4:05
Community Service Walk a Thon!
For students, our Community Service Walk-a-thon is one of our truly fun events for grades 1 through 8. Students set realistic lap goals based on age and development. Our goal is to raise at least $12,000. Half of this will help The Village Kitchen. The other half will support the following eight organizations, which were chosen for co-sponsorship due to their commitment to community values and ecological awareness:
1st Grade: Nearby Nature
2nd Grade: Cascades Raptors Center
3rd Grade: Food for Lane County Gardens
4th Grade: NextStep Recycling
5th Grade: Walama Restoration
6th Grade: Chintimini Wildlife Rescue
7th Grade: Whole Earth Nature School
8th Grade: McKenzie RiverTrust
Students have received pledge packets, but pledging can also be done with Online Pledge System: Village.Raisely.Com. You can set up your own site, create a family team, and refer people to it via email, Text, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. It's easy to circulate this to a circle of family members or friends. We hope that each family will participate in the walk-a-thon to the best of its ability. If each family raises $50, we will achieve our goal, but don’t stop at that. The more contributions you raise, the more successful we’ll be at achieving our goal of giving back to the community and helping our school. Thank you very much for your participation!
We are looking for some parent volunteers to help out with this fantastic event! Please reach out to chrissy@eugenevillageschool.org to let us know if you're interested.
Title 1 Reading and Math Services 2023-24
Every fall, winter and spring, our Title 1 staff and classroom teachers administer
reading and math assessments to each of our students. If a student scores below
the 30th percentile, he/she may be recommended by our team to receive
instructional interventions in reading and/or math with their progress monitored.
At The Village School, all students receive up to 90 minutes of language arts and
60 minutes of math instruction each day. If your child will be receiving additional
reading or math instruction, his or her classroom teacher or the Title 1
Coordinator will notify you.
Walk & Roll
Our first Walk & Roll to School Day of the year will be happening on Wednesday, October 4th. We'll be joining children and adults worldwide in a celebration of walking and biking to school! There are so many benefits to taking alternate modes of transportation, and we're lucky to live in a fantastic city for getting around by foot or by bike. Students that walk, bike, carpool, or take the bus that morning will receive prizes, but more importantly, it's a great way to start a new routine that helps our planet!
We are looking for a couple more volunteers to help with this morning event. Please reach out if this is something that you're interested in!
Here are some routes that are recommended for walking or biking to school.
Volunteering!
As we enter October, there are many fun-filled events that are coming up at our school!
We are looking for volunteers to help make these events a success!
First up is Walk & Roll on Wednesday, October 4th! We need 2 more volunteers to help hand out prizes to our Walking & Rolling students from 7:45am - 8:45am.
Next is the Walkathon on Thursday, October 12th! This is fantastic event that we need many volunteers for. You could walk with your child's class to the South Eugene track, cheer them on, and then walk back to the Village School, or you could help us with set up/clean up.
Our Día de los Muertos Celebration is on Friday, October 27th! Please keep an eye out for communication from your class coordinators regarding food donations. We also need volunteers to help with serving food, craft tables, supervising face painting, helping set up/clean up, and creating a beautiful altar. There will be some volunteer jobs that can be done from home, as well!
Please let me know which volunteer positions interest you! If you have not filled out a volunteer packet yet, please swing by the office to pick one up. Reach out with any questions:
514-345-7285
We ask families to contribute 40 hours of volunteer hours per year, and single parent households to contribute 20 hours. There are so many ways to meet these hours, while getting to make connections with other families, and helping to make Village School the incredible community that it is. We could not do this without you!
Another way to contribute to our school community is by attending Parent Council Meetings! We will be holding our next meeting on Tuesday, October 10th at 6pm in the Village School Library. Every parent and guardian's voice is valued in decisions about what Parent Council funds are used for, events that are held and collaborations with departments and teachers at the Village School!
Don't forget to sign in and out at the office when you volunteer, as well as to sign up for HelpCounter and report your hours so we can see the amazing contributions from our Village School Families
Carpooling
Carpool Connection! Join a virtual meeting to meet other families for shared walking, biking or driving trips to school.
Wednesday, Sept 27th, 7:00-7:20pm
Pre-registration required - click here to register
This meeting will provide an opportunity to connect with other families around carpooling as well as walking or biking together. Participants will join breakout rooms with families from their region or school to connect and share contact information. You will be able to talk directly with other families who may live nearby or on your route to school. Register now and you will be sent details about joining the meeting. Translation services will be provided upon advance request by contacting Sarah Mazze at mazze_s@4j.lane.edu or 541-516-0887
How to keep children safe during
Drop off and pick up at
The Village School
*We require students in grades K-3 to be walked to their classroom door by a parent or guardian. Parking is available on 35th ave, Glen Oak Dr, Knob Hill Ln, and Donald St.
If you’d like to drop off your 4th-8th grade student please follow these guidelines:
1. Approach the school from Donald Street. This reduces two way traffic on 35th Ave.
2. Use Drop-Off zone for Drop off only. (At the curb near the stairs leading to the school)
3. Always park in the correct direction and on the correct side of the street.
4. Do not park on the wrong side of the street. Do not stop cars in the middle of the street.
5. Have children exit on Curb side of car, not the street side.
6. Please say your “goodbyes” before you stop, and avoid lingering.
The Village Kitchen
A new year means new students and families joining our school community. Volunteering in the kitchen is a great way for parents to get to know other parents and learn more about our school. It also means getting a delicious lunch! Last week we welcomed Amanda who enjoyed slicing cucumbers and potatoes from Upriver Farm. She stayed to serve lunch to students then sat down for her own lunch.
On Friday, Ted Purdy from the Food for Lane County's Youth Farm dropped off a truck load of basil for us to process for the winter! Teachers said they could smell the basil down the halls and across the Commons as parent volunteer, Jacqueline, worked on preserving the summer bounty. Thank you Ted and Jacqueline.
The Youth Farm is currently selling many storage crops in bulk to the community. We highly recommend their produce. Check out what they have available at: https://farmstand.foodforlanecounty.org/
We are working on the October menus right now! They will be posted to our website later this week and paper copies will be available in the office.
Warmly,
Toña Aguilar
September Menus
September Breakfast and Lunch Menus are now available to view below! You are also welcome to pick up a paper copy in the office.
Free and Reduced Lunch
Please Check and See If You Qualify!
The new free and reduced lunch income requirements have been significantly expanded so please apply, even if you think you may not qualify! Families of four earning up to $90,000 qualify for free meals.
If you have not yet done so, take a moment to complete the Free and Reduced Lunch Application. (the site is up and running)
Our school’s Title I funding is based on the number of qualified households we have, so it is crucial that everyone see if they qualify.
If you received a direct certification letter from the school district that lists your student(s) eligibility, please turn that into the office instead of the free and reduced lunch application.
Contact Tristin in the office for details at office@eugenevillageschool.org
How to Pay for Meals
Please log in to the LunchTime School Payment Portal to pay for school meals and to check your balance at https://www.schoolpaymentportal.com/Login.aspx
Below is a QR code to use to access the handy phone app.
The Village School Math Night
Math games for all ages including parents! Prizes! Pizza! Wednesday, November 8, 6:00-8:00 p.m. Sponsored by Title 1 and Mathnasium of Eugene
Please let us know if you would like to volunteer for this fun event!
Village School Fundraising
Shop locally or online and raise funds for Village School with your
back-to-school shopping, and throughout the year!
We encourage everyone to use the following fundraising programs that help local vendors and bring fundraising dollars to our school. Even if you have registered before, please take a moment to make sure your accounts are updated with current credit/debit card information.
eScrip – Market of Choice
eScrip is a program that earns a percentage of your purchases for local retailers such as Market of Choice. eScrip has an online mall and dining program as well. To register:
Log onto www.eScrip.com
Create an account
Register debit & credit cards. Site is secured.
Enter Our Group I.D. 9130886 (If you do a search by name, enter "The Village School") Shop at eScrip merchants [Market of Choice], online mall, and local dining.
Use the cards that you registered in eScrip for all your purchases.
Be sure to update your cards in your eScrip account when they change numbers.
Sequential BioFuels
Sequential BioFuels, located at 18th and Chambers and at 86714 McVay Hwy (just off 30th ave and Interstate-5), will donate 5 cents per gallon of fuel if you mention The Village School at the time of purchase.
Fred Meyer Community Rewards
Earn the Village School rewards when you shop at Fred Meyer. Go to: https://www.fredmeyer.com/i/community/community-rewards, establish an account or login to your existing account. Go to "MyAccount". Under the Community Rewards tab, click "edit", and when prompted, enter either 80855 or Village School. Click the entry tab next to Village School and "save". Once this is set, your purchases made with your Fred Meyer rewards or card will create donations to The Village School.
Amazon.com
Go to https://eugenevillageschool.org/support-us. By clicking this link and accessing Amazon.com, you can earn The Village School up to 15% of your purchase through Amazon.com. Bookmark the initial link, attach it to your browser and let this be your link to Amazon.com.
Office Depot/Office Max
Give 5% back to the Village School when purchasing school supplies! Simply make a purchase of qualifying school supplies, provide your school ID at checkout and your designated school will receive 5% back in credits for FREE supplies! The Village School ID number: 70115184
Village School Lunch Diaries
The most comforting mac & cheese with crispy, roasted green beans and delightfully sweet plums.
Many students and staff look forward to stacked enchilada day! It's wonderful paired with protein packed quinoa, greens and some bright citrus.
Help Wanted
Substitute Teacher & Substitute Educational Assistant
Duties: Serve as substitute teacher or substitute classroom assistant.
Qualifications: Experience working with groups of children. Knowledge of Waldorf curriculum a plus.
Teachers require Valid Oregon Teaching License:
[Main lesson (K-8), Movement/PE, Spanish, Music, Handwork]
Instructional Assistant (BA and fingerprint background check required) Willingness to get CPR training Background check required Complete Covid vaccination records Salary Range: $26 per hour for Teachers, $18 - $20 per hour for Assistants
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Benefits include our healthy lunch service, PERS coverage.
Parent Council
The next Parent Council Meeting will be on October 10th at 6:00pm! We will be meeting at the Village School Library.
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 - 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!
LTD Bus Passes
Free LTD Transit Pass!
All students in 4J schools can get a student pass to ride Lane Transit District (LTD) buses for free. Student transit passes can be used to travel anywhere within the LTD service area. Student passes can be used at any time—after school, on weekends and during school breaks, as well as to get to and from school each day.
To get a free LTD student transit pass, available as a tap card or Umo smartphone app, guardians/parents can make the request for elementary students; middle and high school students can request their own passes at the front office or at high school registration events. Passes are valid from September 1 of the current school year to September 30 of the following year and can be renewed by the school each year for ongoing free service.
Community Bulletin Board
Eugene - Springfield Youth Orchestra String Academy
Registration is now open!
Oregon Children's Choir
Sing with the Oregon Children’s Choir!
The Oregon Children’s Choir welcomes 1st-12th graders to join one of our fun and inspiring choirs for the 2023-2024 school year! Develop new singing techniques, learn new songs and make new friends. Choirs meet once per week after-school and perform four concerts per year. Scholarships and sibling discounts available. Registration and information at www.oregonchildrenschoir.org.
