The Tiger Stripes

Dear Families and Community,

Historically, I have not been a big fan of making resolutions for the new year - except I do always try to eat more vegetables... 🙂 I would, however, like to make a resolution that is also a commitment to you, the Terra Linda community. At the beginning of this school year, the Terra Linda staff and I wrote a comprehensive school improvement plan aligned to our district’s strategic plan. We made our goals based on the needs of Terra Linda, as determined by recent survey and performance data. In 2024, I commit to using The Tiger Stripes to share more information about our specific goals and the ways we are working to meet them.

Please see a new section of the newsletter below related specifically to our school improvement plan that I will update regularly. We have two goals, a Safe & Thriving goal (geared toward social/emotional health of students) and an Academic goal. If detailed school improvement plans interest you, I will be holding a principal chat on Thursday, January 25th at 8:45am to talk specifically about how our SIP was developed and our progress toward our goals for this year.

We are so happy to see your students' smiling faces back in school today - we missed them! Here's hoping your winter break was restful and fulfilling. ❤️

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or joys to share! Happy New Year!!

My best,

Wendy

Our annual all ages Winter Reading Challenge at Cedar Mill and Bethany Libraries is up and running through January 15.

Participants will be eligible for prizes such as gift cards to local businesses like Piccolo Mondo Toys. Help us reach our community reading goal of 10,000 hours!

Participate any of these THREE ways:

• Download the Beanstack app and track your reading on your phone or tablet.

• Track your reading on a paper log from the library. Play BINGO and color the snowflakes as you read! Return logs to Cedar Mill or Bethany Library by January 15.

Log online using Beanstack at https://librarycedarmill.beanstack.com/reader365

Students are expected to attend the same after school enrichment club they attended before winter break unless your family has contacted Liz Sarles with a change request. If you are still hoping to make a change, this must be done as soon as possible. No changes will be permitted after Wednesday, January 10, 2024.

5th Annual Walk + Roll Art Contest

Beaverton Safe Routes to School is accepting submissions from students in grades K-8! Our theme this year is “See and Be Seen.” We can’t wait to see your art!

Contest directions:

• Draw a picture showing how you can see and be seen as you walk and roll in your neighborhood.

• Submission deadline is 1/30/24 to your teacher.

• Please use 8 ½ x 11 paper.

• Drawings, paintings, and digital art accepted.

• Use lots of colors to catch everyone’s attention.

• Limit the number of words on the page.

• Include name, grade, and school on the back of your entry.

Happy New Year!

Our PTC meeting this month will be on Wednesday, Jan 24th at 6:30pm

Zoom Link

Meeting ID: 929 416 9707

Passcode: GoTigers!

Dining for Dollars: Wednesday Jan 10th

Wednesday, January 10th, the Cedar Mill Laughing Planet has partnered with us for our next dining for dollars event! They will be donating 15% of all sales from 10:30am-8pm to Terra Linda. You do not have to present a flyer at time of purchase and gift cards are included in sales eligible for donation! They offer take out and dine-in options. Hope to see you there!

Terra Linda Merchandise - Order by February 16th!

Interested in purchasing some amazing Terra Linda Merchandise? Check out our TERRA LINDA GEAR SHOP . You can find hats, hoodies, water bottles and more!

Delivery Options:

Choose “Flat rate (certain products)” for local $7.00 delivery charge shipped to you or choose “Delivery to School” for pickup at Terra Linda Elementary School.

*If you choose to deliver to school, Please make sure to add Child's Name and Classroom Teacher.

4th Grade Fundraiser: Bingo Night and Silent Auction

We are getting ready for the 4th grade fundraiser on Friday, March 1st with a family fun Bingo night and silent auction at Terra Linda elementary!

*If any families would like to donate to the silent auction, please email: Jordan Jenkins at jordansj@gmail.com. Popular silent auction items are trips to vacation houses, game or show tickets, activity passes, date night outings, and restaurant gift cards. Any contributions are appreciated. Feel free to email Jordan if you have any questions or other ideas!

*This fundraiser helps generate funds for their 5th grade end of year party next year

Save the Dates:

Dining for Dollars-Wednesday, Jan 10th @ Laughing Planet

PTC Meeting-Wednesday, Jan 24th

Winter Scholastic Book Fair-January 30th-Feb 2nd

Movie Night-Friday Feb 2nd

Merchandise Order deadline-February 16th

Our “Safe & Thriving” goal was built because there was a drop in the percentage of students who reported feeling safe, welcome and accepted at school, as measured by the student survey administered to 4th and 5th graders. In spring of 2023, 85% of Terra Linda students reported feeling safe, welcome and accepted at school, which was a drop from 92% in 2018-2019. Hence, our Safe & Thriving goal:

The number of students who report they feel safe, welcome and accepted at school will increase from 85% in 2022-23 to 89% in 2023-24 as measured by the spring student survey.

One of the ways we are working to make sure students feel safe, welcome and accepted at school is through our Social-Emotional Learning curriculum, which is called “Kindness in the Classroom”. There are six major concepts, which all connect directly back to kindness:

Respect

Caring

Inclusiveness

Integrity

Responsibility

Courage

In the first part of the year, we focused on Respect and Caring. In 2024, we will move our attention toward Inclusiveness, which we define as including others, inviting them in and welcoming them with open arms. Teachers will teach individual lessons about inclusiveness, and our 5th grade Leadership Team will have opportunities to role play what it looks like to be inclusive on Tiger TV. We hope you’ll partner with us in talking about inclusivity if you have teachable moments with your kids at home or in the community!

January

8 - 9:00am Art Literacy Training Meeting

10 - Dining for Dollars @ Laughing Planet

15 - MLK Jr Holiday - No School

16 - Staff Development Day - No School

24 - 6:30pm PTC Meeting (Zoom)

25 - 8:45am Principal Chat in Library

3:05 OBOB Meeting

26 - Grading Day - No School

1/29-2/2 - Book Fair

Please, during drop-off and pick-up:

• Observe all stop signs.

• Please remember that the speed limit on campus is 10 miles per hour.

• Drop students off at the yellow line only. (If you let them out sooner, it is a safety issue and interferes with the flow.)

• If you require Terra Linda staff assistance with your student, please pull all the way up past the yellow line.

We are on Instagram @terralindatigers and on Facebook at Terra Linda Elementary!

Thanks to our community's generous support of our food and hygiene drive, we have been able to collect remaining items and create Terra Linda's first Food and Hygiene pantry.

We hope to sustain this pantry throughout the school year for Terra Linda families.

We will gladly continue to accept food and hygiene donations to support our families. If you have items you would like to donate, please send them to school with your students or drop them off in the office.

Any families who would like to "shop" in our pantry, please call or stop by the office.

Once again, thank you for your continued support and generosity!

We have an exciting opportunity right now to create a better learning environment for all our students, especially those with greater sensitivity to light and sound. We want to provide light covers for classrooms and have a set of noise-reducing headphones to any student who needs them. We're partnering with Beaverton Education Foundation to raise money for these items and the first $500 in donations will be DOUBLED with a match from BEF.

Please join us in supporting our Terra Linda Tigers to provide a more calming atmosphere and create a better learning environment for all. Thank you!

Creating Supportive Sensory Environments for Terra Linda Students

Flu vaccines are now available for all district students at the Merlo Station Campus School-based Health Center. See attached flyer for details.

Flu shot flyer - English

Flu shot flyer - Spanish