Meet and Greet Night
If you ordered a supply kit in the spring they will be waiting for you here at school that night. If you are purchasing your own supplies, a list of supplies for grades K-5 can be found linked here. Please note kindergarten students will bring their supplies with them to their orientation day (information for the kinder orientation day is shared below).
If your family needs help with supplies, please see the section below from the SHARE center and they would be more than happy to help!
Kindergarten Information
Linked here is a special edition kindergarten newsletter that has detailed information about each day of the Ramp Up, as well as special no-school days for kindergarten. If you have any questions after looking it over, please feel free to reach out to our main office (contact information at the bottom of this newsletter)
First Day of School
School begins at 7:55 am and information about drop off and pick up can be found below. Our school day ends at 2:15 pm, with the exception of early release Wednesdays (starting on September 4th) when school is dismissed at 1:15 pm. Please note, that the first day of school will not be an early release.
Arrival/Dismissal
As a part of our annual safety and security review, our district elementary team has been thoughtfully considering how to make our elementary arrival and dismissal times as safe as possible. One major safety concern for our buildings is the entry of parents into the building for drop off in the mornings. Allowing parents to enter the building without background checks or scheduled volunteer times, creates a large breach in our building security measures. As such, we are going to continue to keep our arrival (and dismissal) procedures the same as last year. Parents will be allowed to drop off their students at the main entrance doors in the morning and all teachers will walk students out of the building at the end of the day. This will still provide parents with the opportunity to check in with teachers at pick up if needed, and will also help us to very closely monitor who is in our buildings at all times.
For more details regarding drop off and pick up locations please see the slide deck linked here. If you need assistance with translation for the slide deck, please call Ursula Pinto at (503) 825-5087.
Volunteers and parent helpers will still be welcome in our schools during pre-scheduled volunteer times with our PAC or our classroom teachers. Additionally, parents are encouraged to attend our Meet and Greet open house on August 27th from 4-6 pm to visit classrooms and see the building. We will also host a Back to School Night on Thursday, September 26st from 5:30-7:00 pm, and conferences in late October and early May. It is important to us that we balance both student safety and parent involvement in our school community, and we believe this plan will allow us to do both. Additional information about volunteering can be found below.
Elementary Cell Phone Expectations
As we start the school year we would like to share a quick reminder about our elementary school cell phone expectations, which are also outlined in the Ridges Parent Handbook Addendum linked here.
Cell phones at the elementary level need to be away "Door to Door." Students with cell phones will need to put them away in their backpack prior to entering the school building, and they will need to remain away in backpacks until students leave the building at the end of the school day.
Smart watches are allowed at school, as long as they are not used as a cellular device. If students are using watches to call or text at school, they will be asked to put their watch in their backpack for the remainder of the day.
If students are not following the cell phone or smartwatch policies, they will receive a warning and reminder to put them away in their backpack. If future incidents occur, the phone/watches will be collected and stored in the office or with the teacher until the end of the day. Parents may be asked to come pick up watches/phones if there are incidences beyond that point.
As a reminder for all personal devices, the school is not responsible for lost, broken, or stolen devices. If families are concerned about these items, we encourage them to keep personal devices at home.
We appreciate your help in ensuring that our students have a school environment that is free of distractions and supportive of learning!
Free Meals Application
School Calendars
SHARE Center -- Back-to-School Supplies and Resources
The SHARE Center is here for all of your back-to-school needs! We have lots of clothing, shoes, backpacks and school supplies -- all ages and sizes!! Click on the link here to learn more about the resources they provide.
For an appointment at the SHARE Center, please contact:
Amy Gillett at agillett@sherwood.k12.or.us or Ursula Pinto at upinto@sherwood.k12.or.us
You are also welcome to call the SHARE center at (503)825-5087
Transportation
Become a Ridges Site Council Member
Once names are collected, a formal site council member vote will be held in September to confirm our final team members.
Ridges PAC
The Ridges PAC meets on the first Tuesday of each month from 7-8:30 pm in the Ridges Community Room. They would love to have any and all parents attend!
Volunteers
Ridges Volunteers will also need to sign up in the HelpCounter System. That information can be found below.
Help-Counter Volunteer Information
Our Ridges Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) is creating an updated email list for school information and other ways to support our school. If you are looking to volunteer at Ridges this year, please sign up using the link shared here. If you are new to the Ridges you will need to create a new login. Past volunteers can use their old sign in. (Please note that this link does not work well on your phone so you will need to use another device).
ALL parents will need to fill out their information again as the system gets updated each fall. The registration will ask some questions about volunteer preferences, please still answer the questions and select all activities you might be interested in learning more about!
Early Release Wednesdays
As mentioned above, starting September 4th, each Wednesday will be an early release. All Sherwood schools release one hour early on these days. Early release Wednesdays provide our staff with an important opportunity to collaborate, review student data, and create plans for continued strong instruction throughout the year. We are very grateful for this valuable time, and throughout the year we will be sharing updates of things teachers are working on during their Wednesday collaboration time.
Miranda M. Johnson
Email: mmjohnson@sherwood.k12.or.us
Website: https://re.sherwood.k12.or.us/
Location: 21472 Southwest Copper Terrace, Sherwood, OR, USA
Phone: 503-825-5700