From the Abernethy Office

Happy Monday Abernethy

I do not know where all the time has gone! I can't believe that we only have 2 weeks until Spring Break. It seemed like just the other day I was bragging about having all these 5 day weeks ahead of us and now they seem to be just flying on by! I definitely think that the students are getting into the routine of having 5 full days of school each week.

We have a few exciting things happening between now and Spring Break, so please be sure to read through the whole Newsletter this week!

With all the yucky sicknesses going around, we are finding that we are doing a LOT of cleaning and wiping down of tables. That has caused us to go through much of our stash of Clorox and/or Lysol wipes. If you happen to see any at the store and wanted to donate a container or two, we would greatly appreciate it! If not, that is absolutely fine. Before we put in for a big order, we just wanted to see if anyone had any containers they would be willing to donate.

All students will have 2 opportunities to shop in the book fair this week! Please see the following directions to set up an e-wallet for your student to be able to shop in the bookfair! Ckick on the link to get started!

Ms. Nowak, our librarian, has set up an e-wallet if you wish to make a donation to the book fair. These donations will be used by Abernethy's 'Book Fairy' to fund books for students in need and to assist a child who may be short a $1 or so to get the book they want. Any money left over will be used to purchase books for the school library. Use the link provided if you want to make a donation. Thank you for supporting our children in becoming lifelong readers!

As I have always said, the health and safety of your students are our number 1 priority. We have monthly drills to ensure that not only our students know what to do, but that our staff knows as well. We have monthly Fire drills to practice getting out of the building in the event of a fire. Team Response Drills are to practice what the staff would do in the event of a medical emergency involving a student or staff member. Secure the perimeter Drills are to practice what we would do in the event that something outside the school was not safe and Lockdown Drills are to practice what we would do if something within the school was not safe. This month, March, we are practicing our Lockdown Drill.

Lockdown actions are initiated whenever there is an active threat against the safety of our school. This action includes “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight” and works to create a time barrier until our first responders can arrive at the scene. Practicing this drill helps to better prepare our staff and students if a threatening situation were ever to occur at our school.

I completely understand that these types of active threat drills can cause some anxiety for students, families and our staff. I only wish that we did not have to practice these drills for the reasons that we do. Please know that the staff will be working to connect with students and families in advance of the drill in an age appropriate way to help ease any anxiety and better support students who may be negatively impacted.

Thank you to all that have completed the survey! If you have not done so please fill out the PTA survey here.

Early results have indicated that teaching resources specifically funding for a full time equivalent (FTE) is critically important.

Currently, we are running the annual appeal where fundraising dollars go to the Abernethy Foundation, an affiliate foundation of the Fund for PPS for these teaching resources. If we do not meet our fundraising goal of $60,000 we will have a budget gap.

Our next community meeting on Thursday, March 21, we will be discussing how we should fill the gap if we do not raise enough during our fundraisers set aside for those teaching resources that continue to be the most important in our community. We will not have a vote at this meeting, but it will be the beginning of the discussion.

While you do not need to be a PTA member to fill out the survey, you will need to be a voting member to approve the incoming budget. To become a PTA member please click here.

We had such a fun Read Across America Day last Thursday.

Please check out our Abernethy Instagram to see some pictures!

Join us for a free community screening of the animated film Migration

We’ll have a special birdhouse decoration activity, sponsored by the 2nd grade!

Showtime is 6:15pm in the Abernethy Auditorium

All are welcome!

BYODinner (no alcohol please)

Doors open at 6pm

🍿 Free popcorn from the PTA’s Popcorn Machine! 🍿

Our biggest fundraiser of the year is coming up and we need your help! There’s three ways you can get involved:

1) Volunteer leading up, day of, or post-event (see all the volunteer opportunities here or email auction@supportabernethy.org to join the committee!)

2) Get your tickets HERE (Early bird pricing now! Prices will go April 1st)

3) Are you a small business or know someone who would be interested in donating to the auction? (Email auction@supportabernethy.org with suggestions!)

We develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across a range of disciplines. We engage with issues and ideas that have local and global significance.

As you read books with your students or have conversatoins around your home, ask your students some questions about being Knowledgable. Here are some ideas of questions that you can ask.

Questions When Reading Books

• Did the character knowledge impact their actions? How?
• How did the character’s knowledge affect other characters and/or events?
• How did the character’s curiosity help or hinder events?
• How did the character analyze and evaluate the new information they discovered?

Everyday Questions

• What is the connection between curiosity and being knowledgeable?
• Why does failure help us become more knowledgeable?
• How does being reflective increase knowledge?
• How can you become more knowledgeable?
• How does knowledge impact our actions?
• How does knowledge impact our ability to relate to people and events around us?
• What is the relationship between knowledge and curiosity?
• What is our responsibility to be knowledgeable, especially if we have Google to help us answer so many questions?

According to the National Women's History Museum, Women's History Month began as a week-long celebration in Santa Rosa, California.

In 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women planned the first "Women's History Week" in 1978 and timed it to coincide with International Women's Day. The idea spread to other local communities in the state and across the country.

In 1980, an association of women’s groups known as the National Women's History Project successfully lobbied for national recognition from President Jimmy Carter, who issued a proclamation that year recognizing the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week.

President Ronald Reagan continued the tradition until 1987 when Congress designated the entire month of March as Women’s History Month with the passage of Public Law 100-9. Since then, every president has issued annual proclamations designating the month.