Wildcat Newsletter

Celebrate the Arts Night was amazing. Having all of our young Wildcats on stage to perform was a delight to watch. We had a PPS photographer on hand and she captured some of the fun! Check out Beth’s flikr album here. We had many families participate in the mural brainstorming session. The muralist, Arcadia Trueheart, was onhand to speak with students and families. They provided materials at themed stations and we captured many of the designs and ideas. The next step has begun; student representatives in grades 2-5 attended their first drafting session of our new mural with Arcadia on Tuesday and focused on patterns in nature. This group of students will have two more sessions with the muralist before Arcadia takes all of their ideas and begins to design the panels.

The mural is a project being funded by our own Run for Woodlawn. The mural will be created on wood panels that are 2.5’ x 5’ and will be placed about 15 feet high on the walls in the gym. We hope to have the panels mounted in time for Family Fest in May.

National School Counseling Week 2025 (#NSCW25) is Feb. 3-7, 2025, to focus public attention on the unique contribution of school counselors within U.S. school systems. The theme is: School Counseling: Helping Students Thrive. National School Counseling Week, presented by ASCA, highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career.

We are so lucky to have Mrs. Marquis as our school counselor, she does such a great job supporting our students! We appreciate your work with our Wildcats, you Mrs. Marquis!

Join us for our first Connect to Kindergarten event as we start to welcome families who will begin at Woodlawn for the 2025-26 school year. Even if you’ve been a Wildcat for years, we’d love to see you if you have an incoming Kindergartener. This evening event is for families to learn about Woodlawn and about Kindergarten. We look forward to meeting new Wildcats on Thursday, February 20th from 6-7:30PM. You’ll hear about the kindergarten program, meet some of the staff who will work with your child and be able to ask questions about the kindergarten day at Woodlawn.

Did you stop by the salmon tank at Celebrate the Arts Night? A few of the eggs have hatched!! While these first few alevin are staying tucked amongst the eggs, we know there’ll soon be many bouncing alevin to watch. Ask your child about the changes they have observed in the tank. If you’re in the building, take a look for yourself.

We asked and you answered! Thank you for completing the childcare survey. Based on the responses received, our YMCA child care partners will begin offering before school care for students. Stay tuned for registration info in next week’s newsletter!

Register for YMCA Spring Break Care here: https://operations.daxko.com/Online/5155/ProgramsV2/OfferingLocations.mvc/program_locations?program_id=CMP44167&filter=H4sIAAAAAAAEAG1SwW7DIAz9lcnnVCK0aTWuO0_aobeqQpQ4GWoCFZBVUdV_HyRNQrdKHMDPfn5-5gbCcVMBu0FrSgQGFmvlvBVeGc2NlJ11_IT-iqghA-eF9SGLElqsCF2RYp_njBJGSEBRlwmWkz1ds-I9HLhnIIXH2tieq9IB013TZNAYOTZKYqaq0Cpdc99fMEQPx-xZVIwDoxkoLZuuRK60kF79IH-0ULGsEo3DFzlTyyWlFH30IHTFchLhVYvcCl1PCspAvQRusxGEkHw1nD2JLqRGvMLugeukrP_mkTFyARyTodUs4WJNbUU7RA7w8fm12eTbXUw-Y381NjoG7hKr3k4WxRmWaSsh0Qfc2w7TYWYgnaBINYdtDuta8Jw-4dt_-O5p-esB_7uzxb5ZwuMHqFYFFkrC3zKR7zASDxWBVYsW48yi8minImna6JUzRs9bbHG0iozXTis_vu-_bGigLeQCAAA1

Today we began allowing all of our Wildcats the opportunity to be independent at walking to class on their own. Say your goodbyes and give big hugs at the doors. Safety is our priority and this helps us better monitor adults in our building.

Has it been difficult to make connections with other families and add emergency contacts? Are you available to be an emergency contact? Being an emergency contact means that you can be called when we have a student that is not able to be picked up from school. Let us know and we can help. Here’s some more information: The Importance of Emergency Contact Information | Colorín Colorado

Superintendent Armstrong has launched her Literacy Campaign and there’s a fun family challenge! The Golden Key Quest kicks off on Saturday, February 15th. Visit the three local book spaces and search for golden keys among the pages of books. Link to letter

We love volunteers to support our classrooms for events & field trips. Many regular volunteers are coming to an expiration date of their background check this Spring. An email will come in advance of the expiration date (Trying to be proactive, unfortunately, will not work. Please wait for the email and take action accordingly). In order to assist in classroom or field trip activities you must have a current background check with PPS. We look forward to your participation with school activities and thank you for understanding our need for safe schools.

February 7th is Movie Night

Our Movie Night is this Friday, February 7th from 5:30-7:30pm in the auditorium, and we need volunteers to make it a hit!

We’re looking for volunteers to:

• Set up before the show

• Sell concessions (because snacks = happiness)

• Clean up afterward (because no one likes a popcorn-covered auditorium)

The feature film? Sonic 3! And just like Sonic, we need you to sign up fast! Click the link below to volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D49AFA828A4FEC43-54541412-movie

February 11th is our General PTA meeting

Join us in the auditorium at 6 PM. Dinner and Childcare provided.

Sign up to help us set up for the meeting here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D49AFA828A4FEC43-ptageneral

February 12th STAFF TREATS FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

Help us celebrate our awesome Woodlawn staff and send them some love this Valentine's day! Sign-up to bring cookies, chocolates, or fruit on February 12th. We'll get it all set up in the staff resilience room complete with special valentine notes from students. We appreciate your help!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040D4AABAD2BA3FA7-54606338-staff#/

Jazz Night Child Care Deadline 2/14!

Don’t forget to RSVP for Jazz Night. It’s FREE and RSVPs help us plan for food/drink. Jazz Night is Friday, February 28 at Village Ballroom! This FREE community building event celebrates Black music, culture and the history of our neighborhood.

Offsite childcare will be hosted by Woodlawn staff. Entertainment will feature a live performance of their own as well as crafts, games and food! Childcare is open to Woodlawn families, attending Jazz Night, with kids aged 5-11. Pre-registration is required by Friday February 14. Please RSVP to attend Jazz Night AND secure your spot at childcare. https://woodlawnwildcats.org/jazznight

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors!

Gold

Schaeffer Specialized Lubricants

Bricks & Minifigs Portland

Laurel's Listings

Silver

Red Yarn Productions

Eyestrong Pediatric Eye Care

Neil Kelly

Bronze

Five Stride Skate Shop

The Tyler Family

Kiss Coffee

In Kind

The Village Ballroom

Keep and eye out for volunteer info coming soon!