DOLPHIN DIGEST 6/14/2024
Community Newsletter by Arleta School & Arleta PTA
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WELCOME TO ARLETA'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!
We’re so glad to have you as part of our school community!
This weekly newsletter is developed and sent in partnership between school administration and the PTA. If you have information you'd like shared in the newsletter, please email it to ArletaSchoolPTA@gmail.com. Keep scrolling for the latest.
INDIGENOUS LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge Portland rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla and many other Tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River. #HonorNativeLand https://youtu.be/ETOhNzBsiKA
JUNE IS PRIDE MONTH & NATIONAL CARIBBEAN AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
- June: LGBTQ Pride Month and National Caribbean American Heritage Month
- Jun 14: Last Day of School
- Jun 17: Kinder/1st Grade Ice Cream Social, 4-5pm
- Jun 19: Juneteenth
- Jun 21-Aug 4: Arleta Office Closed for Summer
- Jun 22: Foster Summer Soiree, 12-6pm
- Aug 17: SAVE THE DATE! Arleta Community Care Day - let's spruce up the grounds for back to school!
Aug 27: First Day of School for grades 1-5, changed to 8 am - 2:30 pm
Sep 25: First Early Release at 11:50 am, to occur monthly on a Wednesday
*Litter Pick Up with the Green Team every 2nd Thursday at 2:15, and 4th Thursday at 8am at the picnic tables during the school year
Updated PPS District Calendars:
English language PPS District Calendar 2024-25
PRINCIPAL MESSAGE
Happy Last Day of School! I hope it was a fun and meaningful day for every Arleta child, and also, a fun and meaningful school year. As you may recall, this past fall our staff created a school motto “I am because we are”. With a saved stash of funds we ordered a t-shirt for every student including incoming kindergartners and our staff so that next year our whole school community can show our school spirit by wearing our t-shirts on assembly days or spirit days. Thank you so much to Ms. Sides for designing our shirts, and to both our 2nd grade teachers, Ms. Maggie and Ms. Sides for bringing our motto forward for our staff to consider and adopt!
Our motto comes from an African proverb and represents our Arleta goal of focusing on relationships and cooperative learning as we strive to create meaningful connections in our classrooms and across our school community. With the goal being inclusivity and connection we feel terrible that due to an ordering glitch, not all of our shirts went to print; Etsy got nervous about the huge order placed on Ms. Sides’ site (The Sides of Teaching: Teacher Merch that Makes you Smile) and canceled our order mid-print. This was unfortunately all our size small shirts which impacts most of our kindergartners and first graders and many 2nd graders too. We’re in the process of getting that straightened out and will have shirts for every student by next fall. Our apologies to our students who didn’t get their shirt today… yours will be waiting for you next fall!
Speaking of our smallest people, I hope our incoming kindergartners and rising first graders will join us this coming Monday afternoon, June 17 at 4 pm for our annual Kindergarten/1st Grade Ice Cream Social! Thank you to our PTA for hosting this great opportunity for incoming students and families to make new connections.
A special word of appreciation for our retiring teacher, Mr. Flagel! Mr. Flagel has given so much to our Arleta community of students, staff and families over the (at least 8!) years he’s served here. It has been my honor to have experienced and been part of his role as such a loved, valued and contributing member of our Arleta School Community. Mr. Flagel cares deeply about his students and the art of teaching alike, collaborates in generous, meaningful, effective ways with families and staff, and supports student success and autonomy across the curriculum, school day, and each school year. Congratulations Mr. Flagel! You will be deeply missed and always a treasured part of Arleta’s history.
I’ll share staffing announcements and classroom placement with you through Remind by mid-August. In the meantime, have a wonderful summer! As always, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or if there is any way I can support your child or family.
Thank you for your contributions (especially your child!) to our school community and this school year.
Warmly,
Lisa
NEWS & EVENTS
NEW! CONGRATS TO OUR 5TH GRADE GRADUATES!
Our 5th graders and their families were treated to a party Thursday night with food, karaoke, crafts and games, followed by a sweet promotion Friday morning and a whole-school clap out as their exited the Arleta doors for the last time Friday afternoon. We are so proud of this class - for their resiliency, hard work and community spirit - and we wish them all the best as they head off to middle school!
NEW! MESSAGE OF GRATITUDE FROM OUTGOING PTA PRESIDENT, CARRIE BOWERS
Dear Arleta Community,
I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the Arleta Community for allowing me to serve so many years on the Board of our amazing PTA. I started as Vice-President back in 2019, served as Co-President the following two years, then I was lucky enough to be elected President the past two. I am so grateful to have worked with such talented, compassionate and caring individuals on the board, as well as in the general membership of the Arleta PTA. It has been such a fulfilling experience and I have learned so much about the school and the outstanding community supporting Arleta. Although I am not allowed to serve another term as President (due to Oregon PTA rules,) I will still be active on the PTA as the Fundraising Chair for the 24-25 school year. I am so excited for the new faces we have joining the team next year and know they will continue to grow our PTA to be even better than we are already. Thank you again for letting me be a part of something so wonderful!
Best,
Carrie Bowers
Arleta PTA President 2023-2024
NEW! ICE CREAM SOCIAL FOR INCOMING KINDERS & 1ST GRADERS - JUNE 17
The PTA is hosting an ice cream social for families with incoming kinders and rising first graders on Monday, June 17th from 4-5pm on the Arleta playground. This is a great way for new students to meeting future friends and for parents to connect. Please help spread the word!
NEW! RAINBOW RECESS TO CELEBRATE PRIDE MONTH
Last week, the QSA and BIPOC affinity group hosted Rainbow Recess to celebrate Pride month! Affinity group students helped with crafts and reading books from our new Rainbow Library. Thank you to Ms. Aud and Ms. Blei for leading these special groups!
NEW! THANK YOU SAFETY PATROL!
Thank you to our might group of safety patrols and adult volunteers for guarding the intersections around Arleta every morning this year! And a huge thanks to Ms. Vidmar to leading this effort to improve safety and bring on Arleta students to help. Safety patrollers from across the district were rewarded with a field trip to Oaks Parks and it was a very fun day!
NEW! NOTES FROM THE ARLETA SCHOOL GARDEN
Hello Arleta Families,
I just wanted to share a few photographs from our field trips and let you know about some related events happening over the summer. This year, most all our younger grades had opportunities to work in the school garden at least once. We adored helping them explore and take ownership of their potatoes, onions, flowers and peas. Many of your kids shared stories of their gardens at home but equally as many were newer to the experience, some even planting things in a garden for the first time.
Our 2nd, 4th and 5th graders had the opportunity to visit the Multnomah County Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden as a walking field trip. We arranged these in effort to get our students engaged with garden education as a field study experience. This year we partnered up with the OSU Extension Service Master Gardener program to try out their pilot program and offer feedback to aid in future development. We hope Arleta students continue to have access to this program for years to come.
Summer Events:
Sunday, July 21st and
Saturday, August 10th
10am-1pm
The Master Gardeners Association would like to invite the community to come visit the site for their planned open garden tours. Bring family and friends, have a picnic on location in the Green Thumb Community Orchard, have your kids show you around! The site is just south of Duke on 57th Ave, very accessible from our neighborhood, just west of Brentwood Park and Lane Middle School.
For more information check out www.multnomahmastergardeners.org
Or email: demogarden@multnomahmastergardeners.org
Also, two lucky groups spent some time over at Black Futures Farm, grazing on unusual vegetables!
This is an amazing organization to get to know. https://blackfutures.farm
They would like to extend an invitation to the Arleta community to come check out their ongoing volunteer events, typically on weekends.
For info contact: https://blackfutures.farm/join-us
Black Futures Farm is a Program of the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition
“Our mission is to heal the connection between Black people and the land, and we achieve this by cultivating a healthy place for the Black community to gather in joy. Starting in May and ending in October, every Sunday is Black Sunday, a day for Black-identified folks to gather, celebrate, learn, and grow together.
We also offer a variety of ways to access our freshly grown produce, depending on the season. In the past, we have offered a small CSA, sales at farmers markets, pop-ups, you-pick, and donation/delivery options. We have ongoing volunteer opportunities, partnerships, and projects at the farm, where all people can come to share food, knowledge, culture, and experiences.”
~Adinah D'Andrea
Arleta parent & Garden Coordinator
NEW! ARLETA COMMUNITY CARE DAY IS SATURDAY, AUGUST 17
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! ARLETA COMMUNITY CARE DAY is Saturday, August 17th!
As we jump into summer take a minute, if you can, to get this community day on the schedule! Community Care Day is when we come together to give the school grounds much needed love and tend to the landscape clean up. The more hands the lighter the work! There will be many tasks that include pruning, weeding, shrub removal, and chip mulching. We usually rent a large yard debris dumpster and start in the cooler hours of the morning. We’ll have manual tools and wheelbarrows available at the school, but often people prefer to bring their own gas-powered tools. Last year we accomplished so much together in a day- let’s keep it up!
Questions? Contact: ArletaSchoolPTA@gmail.com
ARLETA PTA IS LAUNCHING NEW COMMUNICATION TOOL
Konstella is a new communication tool built for school groups that the Arleta PTA will start using for our school. Other local schools that use it rave about it! We hope it will make it easier to keep families informed about school activities and allow them to communicate directly with each other and groups that they join.
Download the Konstella app today! The app is available for iOS (iphones) and Android. Once downloaded, click Register, enter the invitation code FH3W5B, then tap Join in the email you get. There isn't much content available yet, but once we fully roll it out in the Fall you'll already be signed up!
NEW! RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY TO TEACH PARENTS HOW TO TALK ABOUT RACE WITH WHITE CHILDREN
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been evaluating the best ways for teaching parents how to talk about race with White children. They are looking for parents with white children from age 5 to 7 to participate in the program. In addition to learning strategies for talking to their kids about race, participants would receive 5 (free) storybooks and $150 for participating. You can do everything for this study at home and all interactions with you and your child will occur via Zoom. The full study will involve:
- Three 15-minute surveys for you that ask about how you think about diversity, your comfort addressing inclusive behavior and diversity with your child, and some basic information about yourself
- Three 30-minute video calls between your child and a member of the research team asking your child how they think about different people and their thoughts on inclusive behavior
- Completing a 35-minute training on raising inclusive children.
- Reading 5 storybooks with your child and reporting on your discussions while reading
With this information in mind, if you are interested in participating in the study, please complete the following eligibility survey. We will be in touch if you are eligible for the study and we have space for you in the study. Click here to fill out the eligibility survey. If you have any further questions, please reach out to our study team at: parentsandkids@psych.wisc.edu
PICNIC HIGHLIGHTS AND GRATITUDE
Arleta Community,
Arleta knows how to party!! Thanks to all that showed up strong for Arleta's End-of-Year Picnic yesterday. Along with bubbles, there was plenty of silliness and good times floating through the air. Events such as these are not possible without all the generous donations and support from this community. A big shout out to all the volunteers from set up to clean up, I am more in awe every year of what serious rock stars we have when it comes to getting things done. Thank you!
On a personal note, the picnic was the last event as Arleta PTA Event Coordinator. The goal from the start was to help facilitate wonderful school memories for our kids during this time in their life that is elementary school. The amount of amazing memories I get to walk away with is something truly special as well. I want to thank every child at Arleta for those memories. The pure joy that comes from helping a kid pick out a temporary tattoo, chatting them up in a bouncy house line, or watching as they put it all out there for a karaoke song is inspiring. It has been a reminder too, of how short the time at Arleta is. Your kids are amazing!
A heartfelt thank you to Grace Kim and Jillian Sevick with whom I have had the absolute honor of collaborating with. Total event legends! To all the PTA board, you are so supportive and all of you have completely shattered my stereotype of what it is to be on the PTA. Thank you!
Can't wait to party with you all next year,
Leslie Nordella
Proud Arleta parent (Ezra Vasby) and community member
SPRING EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS
Spring is always a busy time at Arleta, with lots of fun activities planned. From the Dolphin Dash, field trips and the school play, to the book fair, field day and end of year picnic - we hope you and your student(s) were able to make some wonderful school memories taking part in everything Arleta has to offer! Special thanks to Ms. Street and Ms. Guzman in the Library for hosting our Spring Book Fair, and Ms. Williams for hosting Field Day. And of course the volunteers who help run these events - we can't make these happen without you!
Check out the video below of Principal Hawking getting dunked by a student at Field Day! Core memory right there 😄
MR. FLAGEL IS PLAYING A FAMILY FRIENDLY SHOW - CHECK IT OUT!
Over the past couple of years they've SOLD-OUT every one of their shows. So, if you or you and your family would like to see them grab your tickets ASAP on their website HERE. They've already sold over half the tickets and the show is still two months out!
DOLPHIN DASH T-SHIRTS ARRIVE FOR STUDENTS & STAFF
The 2024 Dolphin Dash shirts have arrived and were distributed to students and staff. This year's design was by Oliver in 5th grade - great job Oliver! And special thanks to Like Dat Apparel, a local custom printing company on Foster, for doing such a great job on the shirts!
PICK UP YOUR MEDICATION FROM THE HEALTH ROOM
A MESSAGE FROM THE HEALTH ROOM:
If you have medication checked into the health room please make sure to pick it up before or on the last day of school. All leftover medication will be disposed of. Please call the office with any questions, 503-916-6330.
SUMMER RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS & FAMILIES
While there is no SUN Summer term at Arleta, there are still free summer activities offered by Portland Parks & Recreation:
Free Lunch + Play at Mt. Scott Park (SE 72nd Avenue and SE Ramona St.) from 12 - 1:30pm, and at Essex Park (SE 76th Ave and Center St) 11:30-1:00pm Monday, June 24 to Friday, August 16.
The Nutrition Services department is very proud to partner with Portland Parks and Recreation to provide free lunches to all children in our community ages 1-18 at select parks throughout the city. Portland Parks and Recreation's Free Lunch + Play is open to all (no registration or enrollment necessary) and our team will be making lunches for children to enjoy in the park (grab and go meals are no longer permissible). This service will be offered Monday through Friday, June 26 through August 9 (except July 4 and 5).
See all locations & get more info here: https://www.portland.gov/parks/arts-culture/summer-free-all/free-lunch
Portland Parks & Recreation Free Summer Cultural Events
https://www.portland.gov/parks/arts-culture/summer-free-all/cultural-events
Portland Parks & Recreation Free TeenForce Pass (ages 10-20 years)
https://www.portland.gov/parks/arts-culture/summer-free-alhttps://www.portland.gov/parks/teenforce/teenforce-pass
Free SUN Summer Youth Drop-In Program for all PPS rising middle schoolers at Lane Middle School on Monday-Thursday, 9 am- 3pm, July 8-August 1. Breakfast, lunch, and activities provided. No registration is required. Click on the link below - Lane SUN Summer Program - for more information and to sign up.
BOTTLEDROP REMINDER
As you're preparing for graduation parties and summer BBQs, please help turn your BottleDrop dollars into Arleta School PTA grant dollars, staff appreciation, free school events, affinity club support, and so much more. There are two ways to participate (both of which are completely FREE to you!): you can pick up a PTA blue bag from the main office or school events or donate funds from your individual BottleDrop account.
EARLY KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION PROGRAM
The Early Kindergarten Transition (EKT) is a three-week summer program to help you and your child have a great start to school.
Students meet every morning.
Parents/caregivers meet twice a week
Child care for siblings available during parent/caregiver sessions.
Free breakfast and lunch, books, and school supplies
For questions, email Kindergarten@pps.net
Check it out: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Io9qAwy_Hnrks4Q5ObsL2dOcP8TcA4I6AdGSQNJGu4Q/edit#slide=id.g11528bb660e_0_34
Incoming kindergarten students must be enrolled in kindergarten at Arleta in order to apply for EKT.
THANK YOU LITTER CLEAN UP VOLUNTEERS - SEEKING NEW LEAD NEXT YEAR
Thank you to all Litter Clean Up Volunteers! Your help does not go unnoticed and we appreciate you taking time out of your day to keep our school grounds beautiful!
Interested in leading Litter Clean up next year? This is an easy, low key way to make a consistent and noticeable difference at the school. Currently, clean ups occur 2 times a month and last about 30-45 min. Help is available and you could customize the dates and times to fit your schedule! Please contact Tracy at tehulla@gmail.com if interested!
UPDATED! YEARBOOKS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED ON THURSDAY
SUPPORT MS. BIDNEY'S DONORSCHOOSE PROJECT
Mr. Cooke's Donorschoose project was funded in record time, now let's help Ms. Bidney's project get funded! Ms. Bidney is requesting support for a new DonorsChoose project: "Books, Pencils, and other Stuff - Help me give my students books, pencils, pencil sharpeners, hooks for headphones, and pretty paper."
Check out the project here:: https://www.donorschoose.org/donors/search.html?school=88261
NEW! FAMILY-FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD CLEAN-UP - JUNE 22
Join us for a Solve Litter Pick Up on Saturday, June 22 between 9 and 11am, just ahead of the Summer Soirée. Kids are welcome! Grabbers, trash bags, gloves and vests will be distributed in front of Tango Berretin (63rd and Foster). Registration is not required, but more info is here.
SUN NEWS & RESOURCES
UPDATED HOURS FOR SUN CLOTHING CLOSET AND FOOD PANTRY
The SUN Clothing Closet and Food Pantry is open Tuesdays, 12:45pm-7:15pm; Wednesdays, 1:30pm-7:30pm; and Fridays, 10:00am-5:00pm. Email kylie.halland@portlandoregon.gov or raina.bilbrew@portlandoregon.gov to check other availability.
EASY WAYS TO SUPPORT ARLETA PTA
JOIN THE PTA FOR FREE
We'd love to invite everyone in the Arleta community to become a PTA member for free! Joining the PTA is a great way to connect with others, support projects and programs that support our students, and amplifies your voice in issues that impact our school.
Signing up only takes a couple minutes - https://arletapta.memberhub.com/store (one free membership per household, additional memberships are $10)
ARLETA SPIRIT WEAR AVAILABLE ONLINE 24/7
Get your Arleta spirit wear! Shop online 24/7 and have your items shipped to your home anytime! There are t-shirts, hoodies, tanks, mugs, and more. Check out the online store here: https://arletaschool.threadless.com/
PTA IS COLLECTING BOTTLES & CANS
ARLETA YARD SIGNS AVAILABLE!
LINK YOUR FRED MEYER REWARDS CARD TO SUPPORT ARLETA
Arleta PTA participates in the Fred Meyer Community Rewards
By linking your Fred Meyer Rewards card to the Arleta PTA and scanning your rewards card when you shop, a percentage of your purchase goes to the PTA. Sign up here. (And you'll still get your cash back rewards!)
PPS & COMMUNITY RESOURCES
COMMUNITY FLYERS
- City of Portland 311 Non-Emergency Hotline
COMMUNITY PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS
Preschool Programs:
Multnomah Early Childhood Program Peer Preschool Classes
(Spanish) (Vietnamese) (Chinese) (Russian) (Somali) (Korean) (Arabic) (Persian)Portland Parks Preschool 2024-25
STAY CONNECTED
Email: ArletaSchoolPTA@gmail.com
Website: arletapta.org
Location: 5109 SE 66th Avenue
Phone: 503-916-6330
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArletaElementaryK5