Orchard Drive Family Newsletter

• March 3rd-March 7th: National School Breakfast Week! Jackson Fire Department will be here helping serve breakfast to students.
• March 3rd- March 7th: SuperAbility Awareness Week! See the flyer for dress up days!
• March 4th: Orchard Spring Pictures
• March 6th: Parent Teacher Conferences from 4PM-7PM
• March 6th: Kindergarten Enrollment Night for Incoming K Students 4PM-7PM
• March 7th: End of 3rd Quarter
• March 7th: Dental Varnish
• March 7th: Candy Bar Fundraiser Ends
• March 7th: Pizza Inn Restaurant Giveback Day Fundraiser 11 am - 9 pm
  
• March 9th: Daylight Savings Time
• March 10th-March 13th: Scholastic Book Fair
• March 11th: Parent Teacher Conferences from 4PM-7PM
• March 14th: No School
• March 17th: My Daddy's Cheesecake Fundraiser Begins
• March 21st: JR2 Princess Dance at 6PM
• March 28th: My Daddy's Cheesecake Fundraiser Ends
• March 28th: Orchard Mart at 7:45 am
• March 28th: Orchard Family BINGO and Auction Fundraiser from 5:30-8PM

As you know, we had a school closure on Friday, September 13th. According to our district calendar, our first make-up day is March 17, 2025. School will be in session on Monday, March 17th. Thank you!

Happy Spring!

Counseling is continuing to work through lesson curriculums and small group interventions! I'll include class lessons topics down below.

If you need anything from me or have any questions, concerns, clarifications, don't forget I am available both evenings during parent-teacher conferences. If you want to schedule a time to talk, please reach out!

Class Lesson Topics:

Kindergarten: feelings overview and coping skills

First Grade: making good choices unit

Second Grade: handling conflicts with I-Messages and starting a unit on being a great learner

Third Grade: taking responsibility and handling conflicts with I-Messages

Fourth Grade: advocating for yourself with assertiveness and career introduction

Respectfully,

Rachel Lasher, NCC

Please join us on February 28th from 5:30-7:00 for our Orchard Family Game Night! Bring your favorite board games to play with your family and share with others!

We will have 2 food trucks available for your family to purchase dinner: Watt's Knots and Smoke Shack BBQ.

We are looking forward to celebrating "Super-Ability" Awareness Week as a district. Please see the spirit week information for March 3rd-7th. In the classroom, we will work on the actions like making posters and murals. Please see the bolded actions for the dress up days!

See the flyer below for information on Spring Pictures on March 4th.

We will have Parent-Teacher Conferences on March 6th and March 11th from 4:00-7:00 PM. Your child's classroom teacher will send out a sign-up for your to select a time slot to meet. Please be on the lookout for emails from the classroom teacher to schedule a time to meet.

The PTO provides lunch for staff members on these dates, due to longer working hours. If you would like to contribute items to the staff meal, please see the sign-up link below.

Our Scholastic Book Fair runs from March 10th-13th in the Orchard Library during school hours. In addition, the Book Fair will be open from 4:00 PM-7:00 PM during conferences on March 11th.

Book Fair volunteers will help students select books, help students know which books they can choose from based on the amount of money they brought and help with ringing up books and making change.

Book Fair volunteers will receive a $20 Scholastic Book Fair credit toward a purchase at this Spring Book Fair. If you would like to volunteer, please sign up below.

The PTO is planning a Bingo/Auction fundraiser! The event will be on Friday, March 28th from 5:30-8:00 pm.

We will have Bingo, silent auction, and an online auction portion as well! See the flyer below for more information and to submit your pre-orders for attending this event.

If you would like to help plan and prepare for this event, please email orchardelempto@gmail.com. The committee is in the planning stages and would appreciate your help! If you would like to volunteer at the event, you can sign up here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HhNoO4QjhkAtJktRzelxmiIfULUFcFM36lz1LOz8UW4/edit?usp=sharing

We are excited for this fun event that will help raise money for Playday, student incentives, and more!

We look forward to having families join us on April 8th at 6PM for the Kindergarten Music Program!

We look forward to having families join us for the 1st grade music program on April 8th at 7PM!

Join us for the 4th grade music concert on April 10th at 7PM.

For this event, we'll be using the district's weapons detection system, which have been used at district sporting events. All attendees will walk through the detector upon entry. This is our first time using it at Orchard, as the system has recently become available after use at other district events. This added safety measure will help ensure the security of students, staff, and families.

To ensure a quick and smooth entry for everyone, please minimize the number of metal items you bring. While not prohibited, items like metal eyeglass cases, metal tins or containers, laptops or items with metal hinges, and metal water bottles or containers can sometimes trigger the system. The system is designed to detect weapons, but these everyday items can cause "false alerts."

If the system detects something, you may be directed to a secondary screening. Trained staff members and a school resource officer will be present to assist and answer any questions. Medical-grade metal devices will not set off the system or interfere with screening.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we implement this additional layer of security for the safety of our students, staff, and community.

We are looking forward to our 4th annual Orchard Art Show! Mrs. Demyan goes all out for this event. We hope all of our Orchard students and families can join us on April 28th from 5PM-7PM. The event is truly "Out of this World"!

Orchard Drive Elementary will have a candy bar fundraiser from February 19 - March 7. Students will earn prizes for turning in their permission slip and for the amount of chocolate boxes that they sell. The proceeds from this fundraiser will be used for student materials and incentives.

Students need to turn in the parent permission slip in order to receive the first box of chocolate to sell. Each box of chocolate has 30 candy bars that are sold for $2.00 each. Money for the box of chocolate is due on or before March 7th. If your child sells all of their candy bars, additional boxes of chocolate may be checked out. All chocolate must be paid for before additional chocolate may be checked out. Payment for subsequent boxes of chocolate will be due at time of checkout.

Please see the attached flyer and promotional video for more information regarding the fundraiser.

Please contact Allison Miller (ammiller@jr2mail.org) if you have any questions. We appreciate your support with this fundraiser!

We are excited to partner with Pizza Inn to raise money for our school! 10% of all sales from the Fruitland Pizza Inn location on Friday, March 7th from 4-8 PM will be donated back to our school.

Orchard PTO will be hosting a My Daddy's Cheesecakes fundraiser from March 17th-March 28th. The cheesecakes will be available for pickup on April 7th.

Magin Champan: President

Sarah Busch: Vice President

Megan Speith: Treasurer

Morgan Copeland: Secretary

Contact the PTO at OrchardElemPTO@gmail.com

All PTO Meetings are held in the Orchard Library at 6:30 PM. Free childcare will be provided!

September 17th - Meeting Minutes

November 19th - Meeting Minutes

February 4th - Meeting Minutes

April 22nd

We would love for you to be involved! The PTO organizes and puts on several big events for us: Book Fairs during conference weeks, Orchard Family BINGO Night and Auction, and our end of the year Play Day.

Our BINGO and Auction Night is our biggest fundraiser. This fundraiser helps us put on our Play Day at the end of the year. During our PTO Meetings, we break into sub committee meetings where we plan for these events. We would love to have you join us at these meetings!

Orchard Mart is a school store sponsored by the PTO. They sell fun items like smencils, stickers, erasers, etc. All proceeds will go towards the PTO. Orchard Mart will be open for students to purchase items from 7:45-8:15 on the second and fourth Fridays of each month. If you would like to volunteer to help run Orchard Mart, please contact orchardelempto@gmail.com. Thank you!

• Order at: www.jostens.com/ybk
• Select "Order your yearbook"
• Select "Missouri".
• Type in "Orchard Drive Elementary"
• Please submit your orders by February 1, 2025

Email Kori Demyan at kdemyan@jr2mail.org if you have any questions about the yearbook orders.

We encourage all Jackson R2 Families to complete the online School Cafe Enrollment. Click here to complete the application online. This is the application for "Free or Reduced Lunch". This will take less than 5 minutes. If you do not have an account, you can click on "need to create an account". Select the state, "MO" then type in "Jackson" and our school district will populate. You can create an account from there.

The enrollment takes less than 5 minutes. If your child qualified for Free or Reduced Lunches during the 2023-2024 school year, you will need to reapply for the 2024-2025 school year for students to continue to receive free or reduced lunches.

We will head outside to recess as much as possible during the winter months. Children tend to warm up fast on the playground and then shed all of their gear. Please label your child's clothing items, like hats, gloves, coats, etc. If you would like to stop by and check out our lost and found, please call to schedule an appointment (573) 243-9555.

Please see the link below for more information on enrolling in After School Kids Club, Full Day Kids Club opportunities, and more!

https://www.ezchildtrack.com/JR2kidsclub/parent

Jackson R-2 is proud to offer a FREE summer school program for students entering kindergarten through fourth grades in the fall of 2025. The program is designed to provide educational enrichment activities that expand upon what was taught during the school year. Our summer school dates will be May 27-June 17, a total of 16 days, for incoming kindergarten through fourth-grade students. We will host summer school at East, North, Orchard, South, and West Lane Elementary buildings.

Please see the list below for summer school attendance areas:

• East Elementary: Any students that attend East Elementary will attend East Elementary Summer School.

• Orchard Elementary: Any students that attend Orchard Elementary will attend Orchard Summer School.

• North Elementary: Any students that attend North Elementary will attend North Elementary Summer School.

• South Elementary: Any students that attend South Elementary will attend South Elementary Summer School.

• West Lane Elementary: Any students that attend West Lane Elementary will attend West Lane Summer School.

We encourage all students to attend for a rewarding experience. Each grade level will have its own special activities!

Our incoming kindergarten through fourth-grade students will be served breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is $1.85 and lunch is $3.00. Parents may drop students off no earlier than 7:30 in the mornings. Incoming kindergarten through fourth-grade classes attend 8:00 a.m. - 3:10 p.m. the full 16 days for Summer School.

Programs are also available for incoming fifth and sixth-grade students. You may call Jackson Middle School 243-9543 for information.

Summer School Kids' Club program will be available for those families that need additional childcare following the summer school day (May 27-June 17, 3:10 pm-5:45 pm). The fee for SSKC program is $110 and covers the full 16 days of Summer School. Your child's summer school teacher will walk your child down to the cafeteria every day after summer school. SSKC is available for all Jackson R-2 Summer School Elementary Buildings as well as Jackson Middle School.

If you are interested in additional child care that follows the summer school program, we will be hosting July Camp Kids' Club at Orchard Elementary, June 23-August 1, 2025 (closed July 4). We will be updating our website https://www.jacksonr2schools.com/parents/kids_club with additional information in the following weeks. July Camp Kids' Club enrollment will be open April 1, 2025.

Dates for Jackson R-2 Summer Program Opportunities:

• School Year Ends: May 16

• Full Day Kids' Club Program: May 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 for a fee of $30 per day at Orchard Elementary. See Kids' Club website for more information.

• FREE Summer School: May 27-June 17

• July Camp Kids' Club: June 23-August 1 (closed July 4)

• 25-26 School Year Starts: August 18, 2025

Student enrollment for our summer school programs will be available sometime during the month of March. If you have any questions, please reach out to your child's building principal.

We look forward to seeing your child at summer school!

Dr. Jessica Maxwell, Associate Superintendent

Our Kindergarten Enrollment Night allows parents the time to complete the paperwork necessary to enroll their child in kindergarten for the upcoming school year! If your child is already enrolled in the Jackson Early Childhood Program, you will not need to attend the Kindergarten Enrollment night as already have the necessary information for your child to enroll.

Students are welcome to come to the building during Enrollment Night; however, there is not a special program for the children at this event. In August, we put on the Kamp Kindergarten event. During this event, parents and incoming kindergarten students spend the evening working through different stations to familiarize themselves with our building and staff members. Kamp Kindergarten will be held on August 4th from 6-7:30.

Attention all families of students heading to JMS for the 25-26 school year-- this event is for you! Students are welcome to attend the event, but not required. The event will provide families with information on JMS.

Email: czirges@jr2mail.org
Website: https://odes.jacksonr2schools.com/
Location: 1402 Orchard Dr, Jackson, MO 63755, USA
Phone: (573) 243-9555
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orcharddriveelementary