Welcome to Awbrey Park. We are so fortunate to get to work with your awesome children. Our staff is committed to providing the best educational experience possible. We strive to make the Awbrey Park community an enriching environment where your children will learn and grow. Our love of children, ongoing efforts to improve instruction, and cutting edge technology make Awbrey Park a special place. We are constantly trying to improve.

Our office is open each day from 8:00 am-4:00 pm starting August 20-31 (we will be closed each day for lunch and data entry.  We are also closed from 8:00-1:00 on August 29 for training).  If you know of anyone who has moved into the area, please have them come to school to get registered.  This is only for new students.  Once school starts, students are supervised starting at 8:00 in the cafeteria/gym. This year, elementary students will have the opportunity to eat breakfast for free.

We have some major changes to our school day.  Parents will now drop off and pick up by car through our East Parking lot and continue to the back of the school.  This will allow our car line to be much more efficient and we won’t block Spring Creek Drive! Families will not use our North Parking lot during bus pick up and drop off time which is from 7:55-8:30 and 2:45-3:15.  Families can park in the North parking before and after those times.  Once the buses enter the North parking lot, any cars already there will have to remain until all buses are gone.

Our new school hours are from 8:30-3:00.  The cafeteria and gym will open up at 8:00.  All students will meet in this area.  Teachers will pick up all students in the gym at 8:30.  Teachers will walk students directly to the classrooms.  We will have early release on Fridays.  On Fridays school will start at 8:30 and end at 1:45 so that staff can do professional development and collaboration.  We are always learning and trying to do better for our students.

Staffing

I would like to welcome some new staff members to our building or to different positions for the 2018-2019 school year:

• Kelli McGhehey is coming from Gilham and will be a new 1st grade teacher
• Katie McGuire has worked a lot in our building as a guest teacher and will also be a new 1st grade teacher
• Patrick Chesterman will now teach a blended 4/5 classroom.
• Sara Vaughn is an Educational Assistant coming to us from Camas Ridge
• Joy Zuidmuler-Goss will teach in the Learning Center
• Miki Hoy is a 1:1 EA in the Learning Center

Your child will have Lisa Chinn for PE and Stacey Yarbro for Music.  Your child will each have PE and Music twice a week for the entire year.

Class Lists will be posted, as they have in the past, on the windows outside the office on August 31 at 4:00 p.m.

Back to School Open House/Hot Dogs and Hot Rods on Tuesday, September 4.

On Tuesday, September 4^th, Open House will occur from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm. This is an opportunity to meet with teachers, see friends, and visit classrooms. Parents can also pay the suggested Technology contribution of $25.00 for Technology. We are asking for families to contribute for Technology. It is the same cost as before. The difference is that the state of Oregon has determined that schools can’t charge a fee, but instead must ask for a contribution. This helps pay for the technology apps and hardware that our students use. We also ask for 4^th and 5^th graders contribute $3 for a planner to help keep them organized and on track. We appreciate your support! Parents can also pay school lunches fees, if needed at Open House.

Hot Dogs and Hot Rods will be from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm immediately following Open House on Tuesday, September 4.

Hot Dogs and Hot Rods—what can be better than that.  This is a chance to build the Awbrey Park community.  We have brought back an old tradition of having a Fire Truck, a Police car and Hot Rods.  If you know of anyone who has a Hot Rod, we would love for them to join us.  They just need to contact the school and show up. We will be giving out trophies for Kids’ Favorite and Adults’ Favorite Hot Rods.  We will also have a dunk tank.  I am sure that I will be one of the first in the dunk tank.  Kingston, our Bulldog mascot, will also be there, but I don’t think he will be going into the dunk tank.  It will be a blast!  Come join us as we build that great Awbrey Park spirit.  As a right of passage, we have 5th graders go into the Dunk Tank.  This is a privilege that they get by being a leader of the school.  If you have a 5th grader, we would love to have them be in the Dunk Tank.  They just need to show up around 5:00 ready to get into the dunk tank.  We will have 5th graders do first come in line, first dunked.  Family members get to throw first!

First Day Of School

The first day of school on September 5 is an important day for all students. We know that your children will be excited and perhaps a bit nervous. We want to do everything that we can to get them off to a great start. Please work with your child to set up a bedtime that will be successful for them a few days before school starts. We want them rested and ready to go.

Kindergarten

We are excited that we have full-day Kindergarten. Since all of our Kinders are new to us, we want to make sure we set up the best possible situation for success. The Kinders first day of school is the same as all students on September 5. Our Kinders will be randomly assigned to classrooms. Our Kindergarten teachers will get to know your child. We want to make sure we have classes that are balanced with the same number of students who are energetic or quiet, readers or non-readers, students who are used to classroom situations and those who are not as comfortable. We will work to set up the best combinations possible. We will assign a teacher to your children on September 10. They will have that teacher for the rest of the year.  We have found it to be greatly beneficial to get to know the children before placing them in a class.

 Monday Mailer/Student Planner

Information will come home each Monday with information from your child’s class, homework, upcoming events, etc. Please send this back to school with your child each Friday.

Technology

At Awbrey Park Elementary, we are a technology immersion school.  Technology is used to support learning and to enhance instruction. It is a general policy that all technology is to be used in a responsible, ethical, and legal manner.

Our students have access to more than , 475 iPads, iPad minis, and iPod touches. Our 3-5 graders will be issued their own iPad to do their reading instruction and independent work. K-2 will also be using iPads and iPad minis. Prior to device usage, students are required to review technology expectations including the treatment of equipment and proper usage of the iPad minis and laptops. All technology is used only for educational purposes. Each student will be expected to sign an Awbrey Park Technology Contract in order to use the technology available at our school. To keep up with ongoing maintenance of our computers, to replace our aging technology and to purchase school-wide subscriptions to multiple educational software programs, we ask for a $25.00 Technology Contribution from each student. These subscriptions can also be used at home. Kindergarten Contributions also go towards the purchase of classroom supplies.

AVID

We are an AVID school. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. We are prepping your child for college and career preparedness. We know our students need to be ready after high school. Students graduating need to be ready for college, junior college, technical school, apprenticeships, or other trainings. To get them ready, we have implemented AVID strategies throughout our curriculum. At the core of AVID is that all students can be successful when they are held to high expectations and properly supported. AVID is used in all of the middle and high schools in Eugene. We are only one of four elementary schools in our district implementing this under a grant. It has been exciting to prepare our students for the future

PTO

Our PTO is a great organization that gives guidance to our school. The focus is to support the efforts of our staff, and enhance the educational experience of our students. It is a positive and efficient group that really makes a difference at Awbrey Park. We meet once a month, usually the first Monday of the month. Our meeting time is typically one hour. The PTO works with the school to put on many great events and makes Awbrey Park a fun place to be. Stop by their table at Open House or the Hot Dogs and Hot Rods to fill out a Volunteer Interest Form.

The Jog-A-thon will be on Thursday, October 5

This is another awesome event supported by the PTO.  It is one of our two major fundraising effort for the year.  Thanks to you last year, we raised over $8,500 to pay for field trip transportation and scholarships.  Our goal this year is to continue to support field trip experiences for every student at Awbrey Park.  This activity also promotes healthy living.

Calendar

To view all upcoming events and special schedules, please visit the Awbrey Park website and view the school calendar http://awbreypark.4j.lane.edu/calendar.

Meal Costs:

K-5 Hot Lunch is $2.90

Breakfast is free to all students in elementary schools in the Eugene School district.

Please remember that all meal plans may be purchased through our school cafeteria or online. All checks must be made out to 4J Nutrition Services or paid in cash in the cafeteria. If you wish to pay online you may go to www.4j.lane.edu, select departments, select nutrition services, then select the prices & payment link for the school meals online. Once on the payment page select the MealTime Online link. At that point you may just simply type in your student’s ID number and follow the online directions if you already have an account or click create a new profile if you need to set up a new account. If you are unsure of your students ID number you may type in 999999 and your student’s name and school. FYI: there is a service fee attached to online payments of 6%.

If your student(s) was a part of the free or reduced lunch program last year, you must complete a new form in order to have the same status this year. The Free and Reduced lunch forms will be mailed out in a packet with the district calendar to your homes if you qualified for Free or Reduced Meals last year. If you need a new form, please go to the 4J web site at http://www.4j.lane.edu/nutrition. Please remember that if you do not get this form completed at the start of the school year, your student(s) will return to full price status by October 2nd. Please remember that the district has 10 days from the date of receiving your application to process before the reduced status can apply.

SMART Readers

Start Making A Reader Today (SMART) is a wonderful program that helps Kinders and 1^st Graders learn to love to read. We are looking for more SMART Readers to help make a difference at Awbrey Park. SMART readers volunteer 2 hours a day, one or two days a week. They undergo a background check and are trained to work with kids through the program. It is hugely rewarding and can really impact a child’s life. Please contact the office if you are interested. If you have any family members (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.), please let them know of this opportunity.

Transportation Information

You can go to the 4J website to find out about busing.

Htt:://www.4j.lane.edu/transportation/

1. Click “Find My Bus Stop”
2. Enter your address

If you need busing to an address different than your home address, make sure it is in our busing boundaries and fill out a form. For transportation questions, contact the Transportation Department at 541-790-7474.

After School Club

The After School program is an educationally enhancing extra curricular program that has been at Awbrey Park for 16 years. It is a fee-based program. They can be contacted at 541-554-2890 or at

lori@theafterschoolclubeugene.com

http://theafterschoolclubeugene.com

They strive to provide fun, exciting, and creative before and after school activities that are developmentally appropriate for children K-5. Each week they schedule daily art, crafts, games, etc. They also include music appreciation, drama and cultural exploration. They include a daily 15-20 minutes of homework or reading time. The program starts immediately after school with a nutritious snack, and runs until 6:00 pm.

It also has the Early Morning program starting at 7:00am. They provide relaxed quiet activities, a variety of craft projects, quiet play choices and a chance to finish homework. Breakfast is available through the school’s food service program.

It is an honor to work with your kids. The partnership of parents/staff/students is so important to us. Working together, I believe we will have a great year.

Best wishes,