Ridgeline eNews
March 21, 2024
RIDGELINE CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
Full calendar: http://www.ridgeline.org/calendar
Thursday 3/21 Gender 101: TransPonder 5-7 pm
Monday 3/25 Spring Break starts
Monday 4/1 No school - planning day
Tuesday 4/2 Classes resume
Tuesday 4/2 Deadline for Student Marketplace registration
Wednesday 4/3 Equity Committee 7 pm
Saturday 4/6 Outdoor Work Party at Ridgeline 10-12 pm
Sunday 4/7 Outdoor Work Party at Ridgeline 12-2 pm
Tuesday 4/9 Fundraising meeting 9 am
Be sure to check the full calendar at https://www.ridgeline.org as some dates may change. Please note that Ridgeline’s calendar differs slightly from 4J elementary and middle school calendars.
NEW NEWS
Ridgeline Equity Committee Event - TONIGHT March 21 from 5-7 pm via Zoom
The Ridgeline Equity Committee is putting on an event for students, families, and staff around Gender 101 with TransPonder on March 21st from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM on Zoom (see flyer below). You can register for the event here and read more about what we will cover below. Students ten and older are welcome to join.
Gender 101: VarieTea Transgender Education Awareness Services
This training was designed to share foundational knowledge around gender and all that goes along. This VarieTEA pack of gender 101 will include the following;
- Terminology & definitions
- Do’s & Don'ts
- Inclusive language
- Gender Expression & Gender Identity
- Strategies for Creating a more inclusive environment
- Pronouns & the importance of respecting them
Lost & Found - the mountain is overflowing!
Ridgeline Board of Directors - Seeking Board Members
Hello!
Do you want to give back to your community? Are you energized to work on a variety of diverse projects? Do you enjoy working collaboratively within a group? If so, consider joining the Ridgeline Montessori Board of Directors! We are a diverse group of thoughtful, inquisitive community members who enjoy serving the Ridgeline community. Prior experience is not required.
We will have several openings on the Board going into next school year. I would like to personally invite interested community members to join our meetings (virtually or in person), or to meet one-on-one. I can share information about Board responsibilities and insights about how we support the public Montessori education that allows our children to thrive. If you are curious about Board work, please get in touch via email at april-kay.williams@ridgeline.org
Warmly,
April-Kay Williams, Board President, parent, Ridgeline Equity Committee member
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Volunteer Thank Yous
This week we want to say thank you to the amazing Classroom Organizers who have served as wonderful ‘room parents’ this year. We are grateful for the superb e-mail communication you provide to families, and the excellent classroom volunteer coordination you make happen!
Shout out to the following rockstars:
Shannon Harty
Lauren Masak
Heather Conrad
Jenny Noyce
Megan Thompson
Jennifer Weaver
Rachael McEachern
Amanda Kreiger
Amanda Bedortha
Nancy Willcox-Trent
We’ve got a few more months to go and we want you to know we appreciate ALL you do.
Volunteer Opportunities - sign ups still available for April 6, 7, and April 14
Spring Outdoor work parties will be held on April 6 & 7 to weed, prune, and clean up the Ridgeline property. Click on this link to sign up and help on Saturday, April 6 from 10 am - noon, or on Sunday, April 7 from noon - 2 pm. Snacks will be provided!
You can also sign up to help at the Mulch To the Moon work party, on Sunday, April 14, from 10 am - 2 pm. Snacks will be provided! We are going to have an absolute mountain of mulch delivered and hope to mulch all of the Amazon Drive-facing beds on the property so it looks beautiful for the Student Marketplace event. Ridgeline has four wheelbarrows, several shovels, many buckets, some rakes, and a few pairs of gloves. BYO gloves, shovels, and rakes if you have ones that you like and prefer to work with. Our hope is to have enough volunteer help to lay down new mulch throughout the school grounds. Sign up here!
We hope to get 3 great work crews together for each of these dates and accomplish a lot. If you can only come for 1 hour, please still sign up!
Volunteering
Volunteers are an integral part of the Ridgeline Community. Families pledge to complete 40 hours of volunteer time per school year. There are a myriad of volunteer opportunities throughout the year. Volunteers serve on committees, make materials at home, do grounds work, act as crossing guards, help in classrooms, chaperone field trips and much more. To help us get to know you better and your areas of interest, please fill out the Volunteer Interest form here.
To fully participate in most volunteer opportunities, volunteers are background checked. In addition to the background check, volunteers need to complete the volunteer code of conduct. After that, they will be issued a green badge with their name on it and notified that they are ready to go! Visit our website for more information on volunteering.
Track it Forward
Ridgeline uses Track it Forward for volunteer sign-ups and to log your volunteer hours. If you are new to Ridgeline or have not yet created an account, please do so! Last year we had a lot of folks forget to log their hours. Volunteer hour reporting is important for us to show support for Ridgeline when applying for grants and for reporting to our sponsoring district.
If you are a first-time Track It Forward user and have not set up an account you will need to create an account first. If you already have an account, skip to step two.
1. Go to https://www.trackitforward.com/user
-Select sign in
-Create your account
2. Go to the app store on your device and search for Track It Forward
-Download the app
-Log In
You are all set!
CONTINUING NEWS
Student Marketplace - sign your student vendor up before April 2
The 2024 Student Marketplace will be on Saturday, April 27, from 10 am - 12:30 pm at Ridgeline. If you have not experienced this amazing community event before, you are in for a treat!
Marketplace is a student-inspired arts and crafts fair. Students sign up, either individually or as a group, and make handmade arts and crafts to sell (note: no food can be sold by students). Student vendors get to set their prices and donation amount. A minimum of 20% profit donation to Ridgeline is required to participate, but students can choose to donate more, up to 100%. Students and families please sign up here by April 2 to participate. All proposals will be considered approved UNLESS you hear otherwise from me within 2 business days.
This event started as a handful of students selling magic sand on the playground to add whatever they could to help purchase our school and has grown exponentially every year since. In 2023, we had 109 student vendors selling handmade crafts and raised over $2,200 in one day. We are hoping to have even more engagement with our community and our student vendors this year since we have moved this to a spring event. All donations go to the school wide fundraising effort.
This year, we are asking as many families as possible to bring/supply their own tables and chairs, making the overall set-up and tear down more efficient. Ridgeline does have 26 tables to loan and we encourage students who need to borrow a school table, to sign up and share this display space with a friend.
If you are interested in participating, but do not have the means to get supplies, please contact me and we will try to find a way to get supplies for your student. Families can also utilize community resources to get supplies, such as MECCA or Facebook buy nothing groups. This event is open to all grades K-8. More information to come soon, but if you have any questions you can email me, Heather Hickcox, parent volunteer/marketplace coordinator, at sweetladyh@gmail.com.
S-N-A-C-K-S are needed
RIDGELINE COMMITTEES & ORGANIZATIONS
Equity Committee - April 3 at 7pm, Come Check It Out!
The Ridgeline Equity Committee will meet virtually on Wednesday, April 3, from 7pm - 8:30pm. We invite you to consider joining this Committee to help us provide an equitable, inclusive and accessible environment at Ridgeline. We still need four more members. If you can't commit to being on the committee, or meetings are not your thing, keep an eye out for our upcoming Equity Experience Survey. Guests are always welcome to attend a meeting or bring public comment. We hope you will join us on Wednesday night.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Join us for Collaborative Problem Solving Parenting Classes
We’re hosting a new series of Spring class events, and we’d love to see you there. We are excited to provide classes that have a specific focus for Spanish language speakers, parents or caregivers who are working with DHS and parents of children that have autism or IDD.
Register soon because space is limited.
We hope you’re able to join us!
Ophelia's Place - New Seasonal Activities
Ophelia's Place invites the community to check out their exciting new seasonal calendar of activities. To view the detailed schedule, please check the attached PDFs. Additionally, you can explore their website for more information. Ophelia’s place believes in the power of coming together and learning.