April 1 - 5 - Spring Break NO SCHOOL
April 8 - School Board Meeting 6 PM
April 9 - PTA Meeting 3:30 PM
April 11 - PTA Movie Night, Blue Fox Drive-in 5 PM
April 15 - Purple up Day - Wear purple to celebrate the Military Child
April 18 - 3rd Grade Field Trip - Mount Baker Theater
April 18 - CHE Kindergarten Orientation 5 PM
April 24 - Kindergarten Fire Station Field Trip (Duarte/Beukes)
April 25 - Kindergarten Fire Station Field Trip (Voelker/Willoughby)
April 25 - 28 - Elementary Art Walk 5 PM
April 26 - Spring Carnival 5:30 - 7:30 PM
April 29 - School Board Meeting 6 PM
Polite Reminders:
- There is no supervision before 8:30 am, please do not drop your student/s off before this time.
- We have a new sign in and out system at CHE - please remember your ID ( Drivers License or Military ID). The office are happy to help assist you with using the new system.
Dear Crescent Harbor Families:
April is a busy month! The days get longer and we find ourselves outside more, playing sports, going to the park, walking the trails, or working in the yard. Springtime really is an exciting time to shake out the cobwebs and approach things with renewed courage.
Speaking of courage, that is our character trait for the month. Courage involves making good choices, even when we are afraid or feel unable. Courage, or bravery, involves taking a (safe) risk to try something new, or to try something again. For your student, they might show courage by trying a new sport, learning a musical instrument, learning to ride a bike, or trying some school work that has been hard for them in the past. As parents, you can support your child by introducing them to new experiences that they have the ability to succeed in, and by talking up the importance of being brave. Celebrate their successes and support them in their failures, encouraging them to try again.
April is also the Month of the MIlitary Child. At CHE, where more than 65% of our students are military dependents, we know the challenges that military children face. Just like their parents who sacrifice to defend our American freedoms, military children endure long separations from a parent, frequent moves, and live far from extended family. Our military children show courage every day as they overcome these challenges. They come to school eager to learn, they make new friends, and they share stories of the different places they have lived. Look in this newsletter and in upcoming ParentSquare messages for events to celebrate our military children throughout the month.
April is also Autism Awareness Month. 1 in 36 children in the US have been identified as living with autism. If you want to talk about courage, think about a student with autism. While every child is different, children with autism often struggle to filter out distracting sounds, have difficulty reading body language and social cues, and can become overwhelmed by frequent transitions and unexpected changes. Can you imagine coming to school every day with these struggles? That is a brave choice! Our staff and students do an outstanding job at accommodating students with a range of neurodivergent needs, and the acceptance that their peers demonstrate helps all students feel welcome at school.
Thank you for your continued support of Crescent Harbor and your child’s education!
Sincerely,
Bill Weinsheimer
"We want to hear from you! It is important to keep families, staff and the community informed while promoting the mission, achievements, and progress of Oak Harbor Public Schools. Please participate in this brief survey to help us evaluate and improve district communications with families.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1Hvble4DO4LIIxAkOuqbWMjEWDJJnVT05qrEiFU0pxIeU-Q/viewform
April is Stress Awareness Month
Identifying Signs of Stress in Your Children and Teens
Young people experience stress from a variety of sources. Some stress can be positive but too much stress is overwhelming. Tuning into emotional or behavioral cues is important in identifying potential problems.
Young people, like adults, experience stress. It can come from a variety of sources including:
Doing well in school;
Making and sustaining friendships;
Managing perceived expectations from their parents, teachers or coaches; or
Dealing with upheaval resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some stress can be positive in that it provides the energy to tackle a big test, presentation or sports event. Too much stress, however, can create unnecessary hardship and challenge. Adults can sometimes be unaware when their children or teens are experiencing overwhelming feelings of stress. Tuning into emotional or behavioral cues is important in identifying potential problems and working with your young person to provide guidance and support to successfully work through difficult times.
Here are some tips from the American Psychological Association (APA) on ways to recognize possible signs of stress:
Watch for negative changes in behavior: For children, stress can manifest itself through changes in behavior. Common changes can include acting irritable or moody, withdrawing from activities that used to give them pleasure, routinely expressing worries, complaining more than usual about school, crying, displaying surprising fearful reactions, clinging to a parent or teacher, sleeping too much or too little or eating too much or too little.
Understand that “feeling sick” may be caused by stress: If a child makes excessive trips to the school nurse or complains of frequent stomach aches or headaches (when they have been given a clean bill of health by their physician) or if these complaints increase in certain situations (e.g., before a big test) that child may be experiencing significant stress.
Be aware of how your child or teen interacts with others: Sometimes a child or teen may seem like his or her usual self at home but be acting out in unusual ways in other settings.
Listen and translate: Because children are often not familiar with the word stress and its meaning, they may express feelings of distress through other words such as “worried,” “confused,” “annoyed,” and “angry.” It is important for parents to listen for these words and statements and try to figure out why your child or teen is saying them.
Seek support: Psychologists have special training to help people identify problems and develop effective strategies to resolve overwhelming feelings of stress.
Parents, children and teens do not need to tackle overwhelming stress on their own. If a parent is concerned that his or her child or teen is experiencing significant symptoms of stress on a regular basis, including but not limited to those described above, it can be helpful to work with a licensed mental health professional, such as a psychologist.
Access the full article: https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/children
Thank you,
Jen Wutzke RN, BSN (she/her)
School Nurse
Crescent Harbor Elementary School is excited to announce that Mr. Riffel will be starting up our Spring Deployment Support Groups for all grade levels the week of April 8th. The group is aimed to offer support for students within military families who have at least one active duty parent who is currently deployed, getting ready to deploy, or who has recently returned from deployment. Students will meet once a week during lunch for 8 weeks and will have the opportunity to share feelings and learn some coping strategies. This is such an amazing way for our students to get to know each other, find commonalities, and make new friends! If you have any questions please feel free to contact Mr. Riffel at 360-279-5656 or jriffel@ohsd.net.
Happy April!
First, we love to thank our amazing science center and class picture day volunteers! You make all of this possible!
We have lots coming up this month! Please save the date for our upcoming events and please note, we do need lots of volunteers for spring carnival!
9th: PTA Meeting 3:30pm in the library. Kids are welcome!
11th: Blue Fox night-Doors open at 5pm movie is TBD!
18th: Kinder Orientation 5-6:30pm
26th: Spring Carnival 5:30-7:30 Please sign up if you can volunteer and help us pull off our first ever Spring carnival! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4EA5AE2CA7FAC25-47914549-spring
Yearbooks are on sale NOW! If you purchase by April 18th, you have the option of adding 2 FREE personalized pages to your students yearbooks.
All orders must be placed by May 10th. We will not be purchasing extra yearbooks to sell after the deadline date, so please be sure to grab yours early!
Order them here: https://www.treering.com/purchase?PassCode=1016668146681000
We are also looking forward to next years PTA board as our current PTA board members will be off on their next adventure. PTA supports and hosts all major events throughout the year. We truly hope once we go, we can have another board in place. Please reach out to us if you’re interested, as we’d like to help train a new group before the end of the school year.
As always thank you for your support!
Mrs. Nienhuis - 1st Grade Teacher
- I grew up on a large dairy farm.
- I have two children, Grant (10th Grade) and Anika (8th Grade) who attend OHPS.
- My family enjoys going camping and boating in the summer.
Mrs. Voelker - Kindergarten Teacher
- I lived in Texas for 10 Years.
- I have 3 grandkids.
- I like to paint with watercolor.
Mrs. Coleman - 2nd Grade Teacher
- I have double-jointed thumbs.
- I used to volunteer at hospitals and work at children's parties as Disney Princesses!
- I do not do activities where objects are strapped to my feet (skiing, rollerblading, etc...)
Mr. Rawson - Music Teacher
- I am originally from the little SW Colorado town of Cortez. It is located between the San Juan Mountains of Colorado and the Canyon Lands Desert of Utah.
- I enjoy hiking in the Cascades and around the West Beach area of Whidbey Island. I also enjoy kayaking, skiing and love to fly my two-string kite on the beach. It is my dream some day to visit Italy, Greece & France.
My hobbies include:
Playing lots of music in several groups: Herding Kats, A-Town Big Band, Skagit Brass Quintet, Camano-Junction Dance Band and the Bethany Covenant Praise Team. I also play in other various capacities either with musicals, sometimes with the Skagit Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Skagit Valley Chorale, or other musical groups.
Mrs. Vera - Office Assistant, Communications
- I was born in Derby, United Kingdom. Derby is located in the East Midlands, Derby is most famous for being the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, & the home of the Rolls Royce Engineering Company founded in 1907.
- I have visited 5 continents and 30 Countries so far. Traveling is my favorite thing to do. My favorite countries include; Fiji, Croatia, Japan, Hungary, and Austria.
- I'm a massive foodie. I enjoy trying new cuisines from different cultures when traveling, and any opportunity to eat out and not cook makes me happy. The only food I dislike is peanut butter.
