News from the Abernethy Office

Happy Monday Abernethy Community!

It has been busy around Abernethy this past week!

We had fun celebrating our classified staff, welcomed new incoming kindergarten students in our first of the year Kinder Connect event and today we hosted our 3rd grade musical as an in person event for their families to come and watch. The energy and joy around the school has been fun to be a part of. We still have many more exciting events ahead of us as well. In this newsletter you will see information about our Tour De Ladd event and Abernethy Auction. You will also see information about our Open House event for all students, families and community members!

Today we were greeted with a lot of rain! I am not sure if you experienced it, but some of our students did, and quickly needed some dry clothes. We don't do it often, but today we had an inside recess! Mixing it up every once in a while can be fun! Here are just a couple of pictures from the 2nd and 3rd grade art and game room.

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. Lockdown emergency actions save lives, and conducting such drills helps to better prepare our staff and students if a threatening situation were ever to occur at our school.

We understand that these types of active threat drills can cause some anxiety for students and staff. Please know that our teachers and staff members are working to connect with students in advance of the drill in an age appropriate way to help ease any anxiety and better support students who may be negatively impacted.

Here are some resources that can be helpful.

• 15 Ways to Help Your Child Through Crisis: Parent resource from KidsPeace

• Helping Children Cope: Offered by ready.gov, this resource provides advice for helping children cope through disasters and emergencies.

• Talking with children about terrorist attacks and school and community shootings in the news: from the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement

• Talking with children about violence: tips for parents and teachers: from the National Association of School Psychologists

• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network: this website offers guidance for trauma-informed care for children following a disaster or traumatic event and offers many resources including a Psychological First Aid training.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Our next Site Council Meeting will be March 22nd. We will meet virtually from 4:00 - 5:00pm.

Agenda items will be:

• Update on staffing
• Looking ahead at next year
• Academics
• School Climate
• Abernethy Vision and Mission Statement

We would love to see you all there!

What a fun week we had celebrating all our Classified staff members! From cards to posters and even our final day of revealing their secret person, the students and teachers had a lot of fun making our classified staff feel special!

Thank you PTA for the delicious breakfast, lunch and gifts!

I was able to be apart of Ms. Eichman's class as they celebrated our night custodian Roderic. I was also able to see whole classes come into the office to celebrate our office staff, a "surprise" for our Educational Assistant, Bethany and even got a big hug, and thank you from one of our bus drivers. Thank you to all the teachers who took on daily projects, our PTA who provided breakfast and lunch, and all of our families who showed their appreciation as well! The school could not run without the help, support and hard work of all of our classified staff members

Last week we has so much fun with our first Connect to Kindergarten event! A few of our 5th grade leaders took the incoming students and their families on a tour of a school and our Kindergarten classrooms. If you know of any incoming Kindergarten students, please let them know that we will be having another event on May 10th.

Do you want to know what is happening inside Abernethy? Do your students come home talking about things you know nothing of? Do they come home and not talk at all and you want to know more? Maybe you know a lot, but just want to see it for yourself? Well then you will need to save the date as Abernethy will be hosting an Open House!

This will be a time for you and your family to come and walk through Abernethy! You can see what is happening in your student's classroom as well as other classrooms and grade levels. You will be able to talk to the teachers, and let your students be the guide of what their day is made of all around Abernethy!

Do you have a neighbor, grandparent or friend who wants to come and see as well? Pass along the information and we will be excited to have them!

Parents are invited to join conversations about how to support diversity, equity, and inclusion at Abernethy. This parent group meets monthly and would love your participation and input as we identify our goals and mission and how we can impact our community. The next meeting is on Wednesday April 26th at 5:30. You can join us virtually with this link: We hope you will join us!

Tonight we had our first music concert in 3 years! Our amazing 3rd grade students performed "Goal" for their families. It was such a sight to see. I want to thank Ms. Devicq who put in so much hard work to help these students be so successful!

Here are the video's from the day time practice performance, where they preformed for the Kindergarten and 1st grade students.

March 1st - 1st day of Women's History Month

March 6 - 10th - Classified Appreciation Week

March 9th - Connect to Kindergarten - 6:00 - 7:00pm

March 9th - Hosford counselors visiting 5th Grade

March 12th - Day Light Savings

March 13th - 3rd Grade Music Concert @5:30pm

March 16th - PTA Community Meeting @6:30pm

March 17th - St Patrick's Day

March 22 - Abernethy Site Council @4:00pm - Virtual

March 23rd - 1st Day of Ramadan

March 27 - March 31st - Spring Break - No School

All are welcome—and childcare is provided!

The purpose of the meeting is to vote on important topics, update the community on what is happening at the school and within the PTA, provide presentations on important topics affecting our community from time-to-time, and provide an opportunity for anyone in the Abernethy community to participate and be heard. The agenda will be posted in Konstella this week.

In order to vote at a General Meeting, an individual must register as a PTA member at least 48 hours prior to the meeting. Sign up here.

Join us in the Auditorium or via view-only virtual option: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86914693605?pwd=a21lMUhRWVF1ejVRQWtiL0U2eGJJUT09

This is the last week we can accept photos for the yearbook. We’d love to get more candid group shots of all grades but we especially seem to need 1st, 4th and 5th!

Please send photos to robin.brunsworona@supportabernethy.org by Friday March 17. Include grade and teacher name (don't need student names). Photos of combined classes/grades are great, just note that in your email, thanks!

The Abernethy PTA is thrilled to announce the return of the social event of the season! Join your Abernethy friends and neighbors to help support Abernethy while having fun.

The “progressive house party” will take you on a tour of backyards and gardens, each with food, drinks, and auction items such as gift cards, wine, and homemade items.

The Main Event will be a live auction at 1600 SE Division- complete with big ticket items to bid on, classroom projects from every classroom, and of course more food and drink! Finally, end the night with an after party and a nightcap.

Reserve a babysitter soon since even though the auction benefits our kids, this party is just for the grown-ups!

Ticket information available soon. If you are interested in volunteering or donating an item, please email auction@supportabernethy.org.

Get your helmets ready for the annual Abernethy bikeathon on April 12. Please email tourdeladd@supportabernethy.org if you are able to help before or during the event.

Pledge forms coming soon, along with routes, and all the details of another memorable day of cruising ‘round the neighborhood!

The PTA is working on next year’s budget and we’d love your input! If you have ideas, concerns, or questions about how next year’s funds are being allocated, please email board@supportabernethy.org, come to the General Meetings (schedule here), and become a dues-paying PTA Member to vote on the budget (sign up here).

Art4Life is excited to open registration for our 2023 Summer Camp at Abernethy School (2421 SE Orange Ave). Register your child today for any or all of our SEVEN weeks of summertime bliss in Southeast Portland! For more information and registration materials go to Art4Life.net.