Centennial Blue Jays

Email: deb.jolda@springfield.k12.or.us
Website: centennial.springfield.k12.or.us
Location: 1315 Aspen Street, Springfield, OR, USA
Phone: 541-744-6383
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CentennialBlueJays

Greetings, Blue Jay Families!

I'm so thankful for all of our amazing students and families! It's been fun to see so many families come through for conferences and the Book Fair. Thank you for making a difference in your child's life!

We were really happy to reintroduce the Parent-Student-Teacher compacts this year, in which your kiddos are agreeing to a code of conduct. Remember, we are all trying to learn the Blue Jay Way! It's very important to us to positively reward students for making good choices and being safe, respectful, responsible and kind.

• Students earn Hoorays and Blue Jay Bucks that can be used to purchase items from the Student Store.
• We also have drawings every week when I personally congratulate students for their efforts, and we post photos on the Principal Board.
• Super Students are named monthly in each classroom and get a special ceremony.

Positive behavior supports work!

Don Hakala, Principal

P.S. Thank you for supporting our teachers with their "wish lists" during the Book Fair! And thanks for all of your support for the PTO with your blue bag donations!

Dec 1: No School, Conferences, Book Fair continues 8-12

Dec 5: PTO Meeting, 6 p.m.

Dec 7: Walking School Bus - discontinued (see later note)

Dec 8: Early release: 12:30 - Sweater Day

Dec 15: Class parties

Dec 18 - Jan 2: Winter Break

Jan 8 - 11: 4th Grade Swim Lessons at Willamalane

Positive Student Behavior: In the month of November Centennial students spent extra time focusing on growing problem-solving skills.

• Classrooms reviewed different strategies for managing conflicts and staff members recognized the use of problem solving skills with special Blue Jay Bucks.
• Students are also building positive relationships with students from other grade levels. Each classroom has a buddy classroom in another grade. The classes get together to do a variety of activities like buddy reading, shared craft time, or playing learning games. This is an excellent opportunity for our older students to be positive role models and mentors to students in the younger grades.

Kinder Alphabet Parade: Also in November, we had our annual Kinder Alphabet Parade. Kinders got to march through the school wearing their letters and sharing what they knew about the alphabet.

Family Resources: At Centennial, we understand that families often need extra help at times, and our community is here for you. This year, we want to give big thanks to our community supporters: the Springfield Emblem Club, Springfield Lions Club - 36R Oregon, One Hope Lane County / Kairos Ministries and Oregon Ducks football for their generous holiday family support and Springfield Elks, St Alice Catholic Church and Genesis Community Church - Springfield, OR for their year-round care and support for our amazing Centennial families! What a fantastic community we have!

This month, our students will be zooming in on how important it is to be grateful. Gratitude is about focusing on what's good in our lives and being thankful for the things we have. Gratitude is pausing to appreciate what we often take for granted: a place to live, food, clean water, friends, family, even computer access. An attitude of gratitude helps build stronger relationships and fosters a positive mindset. Best of all, it's contagious!

Here are some ideas for fostering an attitude of gratitude with kids:

• Model it: Let your kids see you showing your appreciation.
• Share three good things each day at dinner.
• Start a thankful jar and encourage your kids to add to it every day.
• Even if someone has a bad day, encourage them to find one good thing that happened that day.

Families, if you haven't filled this out yet and could use some help this holiday season or in general, please do! We encourage you to share your name so that we can reach out to you.

As we head into cooler, wetter months, the potential for school delays or closures due to snow and ice becomes a reality. The quickest way to get information is by using district sources. The goal is to determine by 6:30 a.m. whether school will be delayed, closed or open as usual. SPS announces delays and closures in several different ways:

1. Make sure that your contact information is up to date with your student's school.
2. Follow SPS on Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter).
3. Sign up to receive FlashAlert alerts.
4. Check the district website.

You can find more detailed information here. Please be aware that any delay or closure goes for the entire district.

Route 2 bus riders: Please be aware that Route 2 (Ms Deb's bus) DOES have alternate snow routes that might be employed if the weather calls for them. These routes can change each year, depending on ridership. Please check these routes to see what you will need to do in case of inclement weather! And please know that your children's safety is of the utmost importance to us. The decision to send your child to school in bad weather is always yours!

Unfortunately, our walking school bus on Thursdays has been discontinued due to lack of participation. If you are interested in leading the group and restarting it, please talk to Ms Deb in the office. Perhaps with more promotion we can get it restarted. Or perhaps we can look at a different route. If you have thoughts, please chime in on this survey.

If your students are walkers, please consider taking a few moments to answer a few questions.

Families, if you don't hear anything else we say, please understand that the single best thing you can do for your child is to encourage them to read.

• Please set a goal of at least 20 minutes per day reading.
• Reading TO them at an early age and WITH them later, in their home language or not, helps them to fall in love with books.
• Find a way to engage them. Whether it's in print or audio, graphic novel or chapter book, dragons or sports or trains, reading is without a doubt the most important skill your child can learn.
• Not only is reading a gateway to learning, but reading is relaxing, it improves focus and concentration skills, improves critical thinking skills.

Winter Break is a fabulous time to read! OBOB battles start in January, so teams need to kick it into gear on those books. OBOB books are available to check out from our school library and the Springfield Library. (By the way, do your kiddos have their library card yet?)

Winter Break is a GREAT TIME to read those OBOB books! There is still time to form a team if your student hasn't already. OBOB is a great program for students who love to read, and it also inspires kids to read things they wouldn't normally read. There are 16 books chosen each year, and teams compete to answer questions from the books. The books are always really good. Read more about how it works here! The winning team from our school will go on to compete in the regional tournament.

Families: Please contact our fabulous librarian, Madi Hodgin, if you're interested in coaching a team. She will help you with tips and resources!

Our families have been doing a great job this year calling to let us know if their student will be out for the day. We also want to remind everyone of the importance of being on time. Being a few minutes late can be embarrassing to a kiddo, as well as disruptive to the class. Some classes have morning meetings, for example, to set the tone for the day. Students who are chronically late may be missing out on important instruction or information. Thank you for caring!

• Willamalane: Check out their Winter Break camps.
  
• Eugene Science Center: Winter Break camps.
• Wordcrafters: Find out about their Fantastic Fiction contest and their Write Club for Youth for students 9 and up.

Families, we encourage all of you to take part in this fantastic, free resource from our partners at the Riverview Center for Growth! The classes are 8 weeks long, online, and are no charge for any parent, guardian or caregiver. All children are different, and families today have more challenges than ever to help their kids be successful. The folks at Riverview can help. Check it out!

Student LTD bus passes are available for free from the office upon request. If your student had a pass last year, it should have automatically renewed this year. Questions? Ask Ms. Deb!

Centennial has an outstanding PTO! We really appreciate all they do to support our staff and students at CES! We would love to have you participate with this group. Meetings are generally held on the first Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. Child care is always available, and they offer a light meal. You can visit their new website at www.cespto.org.

How to support our school:

• You can always get blue bags from the school office. This is an easy way to support the PTO through donations of bottles and cans. Just bring the bag to the Springfield Bottle Drop Redemption Center, scan the PTO bar code, and toss your bag.
• Watch for upcoming fundraisers, and in the meantime, volunteer!

CALL US - 541-744-6383. We are always happy to help!