Welcome Back Wildcats!
Dear Wildcat Families,
The Wildcat Staff returned to begin preparing classrooms and work spaces for the 2024-25 school year this week. We are excited to see you on Friday for the Welcome Back Fair! This fair gives you and your child the opportunity to meet the teacher, visit the classrooms and spaces they will be in this year, check out some of our partners, get your school supplies and check in with the nurse, the office, the cafeteria and have questions answered,
The Fair runs 12-3 and is drop-in. Join us for however long you have time for. Our PTA will host both new t-shirt sales as well as a uniform clothing swap. The items in the swap are donations from families. If your child has outgrown their uniform clothes, and the clothing is in good shape (no rips or stains) please bring it to add to the tables for the swap. It is not necessary to bring anything, it is available for anyone who needs uniform clothing.
If we don’t see you Friday, we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, August 27th for the first day of school! Kindergarten families, we look forward to seeing you one day next week.
A HUGE THANK YOU!!!! To the families and community members who joined us for Community Care Day on Saturday. This amazing team weeded the flower beds, spread bark mulch, cleaned out the areas around the portables, re-lined the back playground, cleaned up the fence lines, and spruced up the school grounds to welcome our young Wildcats back to campus. There’s still more that can be done. If you have time or energy, connect with us and we can direct you to a spot to start.
Please refer to last week’s newsletter for other important information about the start of school.
Andrea, Karly, & Paige
Grade Level Colors
We have each grade level associated with a color! We have corresponding recess equipment, shirts, flags, and more to keep things organized. The grade level colors are…
Pre-K: Pink
Kinder: Purple
1st: Yellow
2nd: Orange
3rd: Green
4th: Red
5th: Blue
Our Woodlawn PTA sells t-shirts in these colors and you are not limited in your color selection to just your grade level color.
Flags & Drop Off/Pickup Doors
Speaking of grade level colors, you will notice there is a flag with your student’s grade level color stationed outside of the door or sidewalk entry that they should enter in the morning and exit in the afternoon. At pickup, your student will remain with their teacher near their door until you retrieve them.
School begins at 8am, doors open at 7:52am. School ends at 2:30pm.
K: North playground
1st: South doors by music portable (dismissal is out the back door by the playground)
2nd: North playground
3rd: Secondary door on NE 11th ave, between the main doors and the north playground
4th: Secondary door on NE 11th ave, between the main doors and the north playground
5th: Main doors near flagpole
Door Closure at 8am
Doors will close at 8am sharp this year. This means your student will need to come to the main entrance near the flagpole, ring the bell, and get a late slip from the office if they arrive after 8am.
Breakfast Will Look A Bit Different This Year!
Breakfast and lunch will be free for all PPS students this year! No forms needed! This year, there will be breakfast carts stationed at the entryways for 1st grade, and Kinder/2nd grade. 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will get breakfast from the cafeteria after entering. If your student enters the building after 8am, they will need to get breakfast from the cafeteria regardless of grade level.
Measles are on the rise and Oregon along with 35 other states and the District of Columbia are at higher risk for outbreaks due to low vaccination rates.
Oregon has seen 26 cases of measles as of August 9th. All were unvaccinated and two required hospitalization.
Now is a critical moment for all of us-- parents, students, teachers, administrators - to review our vaccine status.
Measles is a contagious viral infection that spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Nine out of 10 unimmunized people who are in contact with an infected person will catch measles. It poses a health risk to students, staff and family members who have never had measles or the measles vaccine.
ODE and OHA respect individual beliefs and individual rights to make health care choices, and recognize that some community members defer MMR vaccination because of personal, religious or medical reasons. In an outbreak, protecting the public’s health from this very serious disease is paramount.
More than two-thirds of those who have contracted measles so far in 2024 in the US have been aged 19 or younger, and they represent 95 percent of those who have been hospitalized for the disease.
Overwhelmingly, the outbreaks have been spread among unvaccinated children and adults. CDC data show 36 states and the District of Columbia now have vaccination rates below the 94 percent threshold for herd immunity, in which enough people are vaccinated to prevent wide scale spread of a disease. Oregon is one of these states that has fallen below the threshold to support herd immunity. This is why it is important for parents/caregivers/guardians, teachers, and other children who spend time around our youngest and most vulnerable children to be up-to-date with vaccinations.
New Messaging System: Remind!
The Remind platform is being used for communication with families in the 24-25 school year. Examples:
School closure messages
Emergency announcements
Late bus notifications
Woodlawn School Weekly Newsletters
Communication from teachers
Attendance notifications
Communication about events and opportunities related to Woodlawn
Remind offers options on how the messages arrive (app, text, phone call, email). that can be personalized. This is a two-way messaging system; you can message a teacher or staff member through Remind.
***If you opt out of all notifications you will be missing important information on your child's classroom, and happenings at Woodlawn!
For more information please review the FAQs for Remind by clicking the link below. There are videos and photos of how to make Remind work for your family.
PTA Updates:
Exciting PTA News! New Wildcat Logos!
This Summer the PTA held a logo contest. We had 20 different logos submitted and 39 people voted for the winners at our July PTA meeting. The winners will all receive a free item with their winning logo. The New logos are Kitty Face, submitted by 4th graders June Christopher and Graham Simonsen, Fast Cat Retro logo, submitted by parent Leah Verwey Simonsen, and Block Letter Cat, submitted by parent Charlie Parrott. Thank you to everyone who submitted a logo. Find these new logos for sale at the Welcome Back Fair this Friday.
Buy New T Shirts 8/23 at the Welcome Back Fair!
The PTA orders, sells, and maintains Woodlawn Wildcat Merchandise that can also be worn as code of color. We have Woodlawn T shirts in all class colors for sale. Your Wildcat can wear any Woodlawn T shirt to school, the class colors are used for school spirit days or field trips that happen a few times throughout the year. If you can help us sell shirts at the Merchandise table on Friday, please sign up here. We need you.
Clothing Swap, Free Code of Color Clothes 8/23
The PTA manages a clothing closet in the office where we collect gently used or new donated code of color clothing for Wildcats to use throughout the school year. On Friday at the back to school fair we have a clothing swap so you can get some gently used or donated items. Come early, they go fast. If you have Code of Color clothing to donate, please be sure they are clean, without stains or tears, and give them to the PTA volunteer at the SWAP.
We need some help managing the clothing swap. If you can help, sign up here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D49AFA828A4FEC43-50344184-volunteer
A benefit is you will get first pick for your Wildcat.
Help us with Week One Hospitality
During Week 1 our PTA Staff Appreciation Team will set up a welcome back potluck. We need your help. Sign up here to bring treats for our staff.
We will also host coffee carts and sell T-shirts during the first week. Sign up here to help us celebrate the return to school.
Other Volunteer Needs
As a PTA we also have a requirement to send volunteers twice a year to the PPS clothing closet at Marshall High School. If you can help us volunteer there on September 9th, we would be so grateful. Here is a sign up.
Contact Us, Join Us
The PTA is here to welcome you and answer your questions. Send us any questions at woodlawnschoolpta@gmail.com or find us on our Facebook Private Community Page, Facebook Public or Instagram. To join our PTA please send an email, 100 percent of the dues go to our insurance and required operating fees.
Upcoming Important Events:
- 8/23 Welcome Back Fair drop in 12-3PM
- 8/27 First Day for 1st-5th
- 8/28-8/30 Kinder Ramp Up Dates
- 9/2 No School, Labor Day
- 9/3 First Day for Kindergarten
- 9/5 Vision Screening Day
- 9/25 Early Release @ 11:50am
- 10/2 Picture Day
