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
Tuesday, October 17th, 5:30PM Board meeting, Library
Friday, October 27th, Día de los Muertos Celebration
Administrator's Message
Greetings Village School Community!
The damp chill in the morning air, the smell of wood smoke and dirt and mushrooms, the extra nine minutes of snooze under a warm blanket, and the threads of steam wafting from a warm mug all sing the song of fall’s arrival!
With the fall comes Walking & Rolling to school! This Wednesday is the big day! Hop on a foot train with folks in your neighborhood or drive in and park at a nearby landmark and hoof it up the hill. Walk & Roll is a great way to get some exercise, to model values to our students, to lower your carbon footprint, and to gather with community members. See below for more Walk & Roll information…
Also upcoming this fall is the Walk-A-Thon! Check in with your student to see what they might need to get a few pledges for a great cause. We recently decided on a really cool prize for the top earning class as well! It’s going to be super cool and your student will want a part!
Interesting fact from the last week: last Friday the NASA astronaut Frank Rubio returned to Earth after setting a record for the first American to ever spend longer than a year in space. He was originally scheduled to return in March but the spacecraft that was meant to bring him and two Russian cosmonauts back home was damaged by a meteoroid or space junk, extending their stay until last week. Rubio used the time to conduct more experiments on bacteria, microgravity, and, his favorite, watching a tomato plant grow.
Stay warm and dry and remember to take some time to enjoy watching things (probably not tomato plants) grow!
Roz, Shannon, and Andy
Community Service Walk a Thon!
We have a special announcement from our students re: the Community Service Walk-a-Thon that is coming up on October 12th. 4th and 5th grade students helped us produce the message. This was sent out via robocall on Friday evening.
The other bit of news is that we are announcing the prize for the class with the highest walk-a-thon earnings, a class set of (8) Rainbow Lit Hoops and all fruit Otter Pops for each student. Consistent with the walk-a-thon's goals, the prize is intended to encourage students to exercise, develop balance and coordination skills, help our kitchen and environmental education community, and enjoy themselves in the process. The picture on the right, from the 2018 Talent Show, illustrates the effects that the hoops create in a dark space.
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
If you haven't tried it yet, pledging can also be done in person or with our 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. Here is a link to our volunteer signup sheet.
Walk & Roll
Our first Walk & Roll to School Day of the year will be happening this 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!
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! Meet your volunteer hours with one or all of these events!
The Walkathon is on Thursday, October 12th! This is a 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. We are especially in need of 1st grade, 4th grade, & 5th grade parent volunteers, as well as volunteers for setup and cleanup! Please sign up at this link.
Picture Day is on Monday, October 16th! We are looking for a small number of volunteers to help with this. Volunteers will receive a free basic photography package. You can sign up at this link.
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! Here is the link to sign up.
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
Picture Day
The Village School Picture Day is coming up! This year it will take place on Monday, October 16th. See below for ordering details.
*If you are signed up to volunteer for picture day, you will receive a free basic photography package.
6th Grade Helpers
Marie and Hazelynn spent their community service time helping us with our recycling and sorting the Lost & Found!
8th Grade Fundraising
Here's a great opportunity to eat pizza together and raise money for the 8th grade class trip! Please share far and wide and add it to your calendars. Hurray for easy dinner after Halloween!
Library News
Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) is starting soon. OBOB is a state-wide, voluntary reading program in which students form teams of four, read from a set of 16 books, then participate in "battles" where they answer trivia questions about the books. OBOB will be an extracurricular activity taking place outside of school hours. This may be different than some grades had in the past. Be on the lookout for OBOB sign up sheets that students who want to participate bring home. Students may form their own team or sign up and I will place them on a team. I also need at least one parent for each team to be their coach. This involves hosting a meeting, (usually once a week or once every 2 weeks) helping the children decide what books to read, and helping them practice answering questions. If you are interested in coaching, please provide your name and contact information on the OBOB sign up sheet. For more information, you can see the OBOB website or contact me.
Molly Bautista, VS Librarian
Updates on 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. DO NOT park where the curb is painted yellow. This is a no park zone.
3. Use Dropoff and Pickupzone for Dropoff & Pickup only. (There is a sign indicating where this is)
4. Always park in the correct direction and on the correct side of the street.
5. Do not park on the wrong side of the street. Do not stop cars in the middle of the street.
6. Have children exit on Curb side of car, not the street side.
7. Please say your “goodbyes” before you stop, and avoid lingering.
The Village Kitchen
A chilly October day is perfect for chili and cornbread muffins!
Our service window has been adorned of late by beautiful dahlias from family gardens. Thank you to Opal for bringing us flowers this week!
This Friday afternoon (Oct 6th) a small group of kitchen volunteers will be heading out to King Estate to glean apples from their organic orchard. Due to labor costs they did not hire folks to harvest this season, and they don't want to waste so much good fruit. If you are interested in joining us on the glean please email Toña at taguilar@eugenevillageschool.org
October Menus
October 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 Village Kitchen's extra delicious pesto pasta!
Scrumptious tofu sushi bowls!
Comforting chili!
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!
Beginning Strings – for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders! This class is postponed until Oct. 10th - we need a few more signups! Tell your friends about this great opportunity!
Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras (ESYO) offers your children a chance to learn the violin, viola, or cello – and they provide the instrument to take home! Accessible, affordable classes are held right here at the Village School. Classes meet twice a week before school, Tuesday and Thursday from 7:35-8:20 in the music room.
Scholarships for program fees and instrument rentals for any family that qualifies for federal assistance. We also have scholarships for private lessons!
There are so many benefits! Students gain self-confidence, discipline, cooperation, and the sheer joy of making music together. They perform for their schools, and twice a year, the strings students from different classes come together to play their concerts and show what they’ve learned to family and friends.
It’s a unique and wonderful experience – find out more here: https://esyorchestras.org/programs/string-academy-i/ or 541-484-0473.
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.
