September 2024 Newsletter

What a great first day!

I want to wish all our new and returning Jackson Silvers a great big Welcome Back! I am very excited about the 2024-25 school year with all of you. This is going to be an amazing school year!

Communication between school to home is very important and I want to highlight two new platforms you can use:

• Parent Square is our new communication tool for schools and parents. Please make sure that you have downloaded and signed into the Parent Square app.

• Versatrans My Stop is our transportation department's app for bus route tracking and information. The Versatrans My Stop application provides you with an estimated time of arrival for your student's school bus.

As a reminder, the newsletters created in Smore can be translated to your language by clicking on the tool at the top of the screen.

Arrival:

• Arrival will be the same as in our 2023-24 school year. Parents that wish to drop off their children may do so by parking in the lot on Charles Ave and walking to the front entrance, or temporarily parking in front of the school on Federal Ave for children to walk up to school. All students arriving by car or foot will enter campus by the side gate on the south side of the office, and enter the building through the main playground entrance. Student arrival begins at 8:55 a.m.
• Students arriving by bus will be dropped off in the bus loop and enter the gym directly.
• All students can elect to eat breakfast in the cafeteria or line up directly in the gym.

Dismissal:

• Dismissal begins at 3:30 p.m. Parents that are picking up their children may park in the parking lot on Charles Ave, or temporarily in front of the school on Federal Ave. Other street parking may be available, please note parking limitations from street signs.
• We ask that Jackson parents be respectful of our neighbors and not park for any length in a way that blocks any access to our neighbors driveways. This includes stopping while you wait in your car. We aim to be good neighbors to our community, and they are good neighbors to us!
• 3rd - 5th graders being picked up will exit the via the gate on the south side of the main office, next to the portables. Kindergarteners will be dismissed out the main entrance doors. First and second grade students will be dismissed out the northeast entrance that is close to the front yard trees. The new fence in place will be used later when we adapt to a new bussing schedule.
• All students riding the bus will be dismissed to the gym at 3:30 p.m., then boarded onto their bus. Use the Versatrans My Stop app to track your child's bus ride home!
• If you need to change a child's go-home plan, please call the office 30 minutes before dismissal.

Due to the Community Eligibility Provision program we are once again able to offer free breakfast to all students at Jackson. We will be serving breakfast in our cafeteria every morning. Students arriving late to school can get a bagged breakfast until the first lunch period. All students will be able to get a healthy and nutritious lunch as well.

Sept 6 - LIF (Learning Improvement Friday) 2:15 p.m. Release

Sept 9 - First Day of Kindergarten

Sept 10 - School Board Meeting, CRC Board Room, 4:30 p.m.

Sept 13 - LIF (Learning Improvement Friday) 2:15 p.m. Release

Sept 19 - PTA Meeting in the cafeteria, 5:30 p.m.

Sept 20 - LIF (Learning Improvement Friday) 2:15 p.m. Release

Sept 27 - PTA Spirit Day: Tropical Day

Sept 27 - PTA Cherrydale Fundraiser Begins

Sept 27 - PTA Back to School BBQ & Car Wash, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

Sept 27 - LIF (Learning Improvement Friday) 2:15 p.m. Release

A message from the PTA Executive Board

Welcome back Jackson Families, and a big welcome to all of our ECEAP and Kindergarten students!! This is going to be another fun-filled year packed full of events and fundraisers! First up, we have again partnered up with Cherrydale Fundraisers and will kickoff our first fundraiser on September 27th. On September 27th, we also have our first Spirit Day of the year - Tropical Day, and our big Back to School BBQ! Sport your best tropical attire all day at school and continue the beachy theme from 5:30-7:00pm at the school field for our BBQ, Cake Walk and Car Wash! Spirit Wear will be on sale as well. We hope you’ll join us for a free hot dog dinner, and stop by the bus loop to grab a car wash from our 5th graders! Bring your picnic blanket or camping chairs, and stay a while!

Save the date for our first PTA meeting of the year: Thursday, September 19th 5:30-6:30pm in the Jackson Cafeteria. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to share your voice, ideas, and suggestions! We want to hear from YOU! Stay in the know, and keep connected with your student’s school activities. Can’t wait to see you all there! We are pleased to introduce our new Jackson PTA website and hope you’ll check it out to see the latest on our PTA: https://jacksonelementary.givebacks.com/

Here’s to a great year, Jackson Silvers!

-Sarah, Melissa, Teri, Erin, Amy, and Jackie

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacksonElemPTA

Reflections submissions are due November 8th!

This year’s theme is Accepting Imperfections. Email us at jacksonptareflections@gmail.com for more info or check out our website: https://jacksonelementary.givebacks.com/w/reflections

National PTA Reflections: Explore the Arts and Express Yourself!

Reflections is a National PTA arts recognition program that helps students pre-K through grade 12:

• Explore their own thoughts, feelings, and ideas
• Develop their artistic literacy (by describing how their art relates to a theme)
• Increase confidence
• Find a love for learning that will help them become more successful not only in school but in life

Students create original works of art in response to a theme. The 2024-2025 there is "Accepting Imperfection." The deadline for turning in artwork to Jackson PTA is November 8, 2024.

Students may enter in one or more of the available arts categories. Finalists from local PTAs will move on to their council PTA, where student works will be displayed at the district Community Resource Center. Finalists from councils will advance to the state round. Washington State PTA finalists who receive an "Outstanding Interpretation" award will advance to the National PTA round.

Entries Due: November 8, 2024

We are looking for art docent volunteers for this year. Please contact Holly Valluzzi at Havalluzzi@gmail.com to learn more.

Set up Shop to Give through Givebacks to earn donations for PTA through https://www.givebacks.com/home and collect Box Tops for Education by downloading the app, selecting Jackson as your school, and scanning your receipts through www.boxtops4education.com

Visit our website to join through our online store: https://jacksonelementary.givebacks.com/