Sitton Standard- April Edition

I hope you all had quality time together over Spring Break! At school, it is the time of year when we see just how much our students have grown and can do independently! This week we spent reviewing school wide expectations at recess, in the hallway, on the bus and in the cafeteria! Students also jumped right back into their academics and are busy with new projects and topics! Thank you to everyone who attended the Math Carnival in March, it was a huge success and such a great showcase of our young mathematicians!

Also in March, our educators selected focal students for the remainder of the year. These are students who are just on the cusp of reaching grade level in reading or math who need an additional push to end the year strong and make big academic gains! We meet weekly during staff meeting or our Friday data meeting to review their progress, celebrate their successes and create targeted re-teach plans. This system is built on the idea of targeted universalism, meaning that when we zero in and focus on the needs of a few, this learning can benefit everyone in the class! We have seen this to be true in many ways. This week, teachers will be communicating with families if your child is a focal student and what you can do to help accelerate their learning at home. We appreciate your partnership and look forward to a productive and joyful Spring!

Sitton Google Calendar Linked Here!

PPS Updated Calendar Linked Here

Updated Family Events Flier Linked Here

Community Coffee at FirstDoor PDX this month is on April 18!

April

• 4/3 SUN Forms sent home
• 4/5 No School- Grading Day
• 4/5 1:30-3:30 First Friday Community Food Pantry
• 4/12 PTA Movie Night and SUN Forms Due
• 4/22 SUN Spring Term Starts
• 4/30 Día del Niño Celebration

May

• 5/2 Spring Arts Night** with performances for grades 3&4
• 5/6-5/10 Educator Appreciation Week
• 5/6-5/10 State Testing Grades 3-5 English Language Arts
• 5/13-5/17 State Testing Grades 3-5 Math
• 5/20-5/25 State Testing Grade 5 Science
• 5/27 No School- Memorial Day

June

• 6/3-6/7 Spring Spirit Week
• 6/7 PTA Carnival@ 2:30
• 6/12: Field Day
• 6/14: 5th Grade Continuation ceremony and Kinder celebrations with performances for grades K & 5

****Event Includes Dinner

As you may have heard in the news recently, Portland Public Schools is facing significant budget cuts for next school year and beyond. Operating costs have risen significantly without a comparable increase in revenue and one-time pandemic relief funds (ESSR) are also ending this year. At the same time, enrollment has declined across the city resulting with roughly $30 million in cuts. The board has determined 15 million is being cut from central office operations and another 15 million is being reduced directly from schools for the 24-25 school year.

I shared in the March Sitton Standard how these budget cuts will impact Sitton's class size, namely that we will have single sections of English in 4th and 5th grade with about 30 students in those classes. We will continue to be able to offer all of our student supports including our Counselor, Social Worker, School Psychologist and all of our Special Educators and Paraprofessionals. However, we have also lost funding for a number of our Educational Assistants and our newly hired Community Agent. These cuts will no doubt impact our programming, but we are committed to utilizing the resources in our community such as parent volunteers and fundraising to make sure we can continue to offer a robust learning experience for the children in our neighborhood!

As such, the PTA is on a mission to raise nearly $30,000 to cover the cost of field trips next year. As part of our True North, every grade level attends at least three field experiences over the course of the year connected to core learning in reading and math. These experiences do so much to extent learning, ignite curiosity, and expose our students to the many gifts in our region. In the past, we have used school funding to pay for these experiences. However, as most of our budget was used this year to cover the cost of maintaining staff where we could, we will need the help of our whole community to be sure we can continue to offer a robust field work program! You can help by joining the PTA, donating directly, offering fundraising ideas, or beginning to volunteer using the sign up link below. We appreciate your support and look forward to another year of learning and exploration!

There is no better volunteer than a parent. You are your child's first and best teacher, and by volunteering you show your student how important school is to you. There are plenty of ways to help out, both big and small. Click on our SignUp link to see the many possibilities this spring and sign up! Questions may be sent to mwhipps@pps.net or stop by the office. Thank you!

We, the members of Sitton Elementary School’s Student Council, have been busy stretching our brains and connecting what we learn in school with our experiences at home and in our communities. In January we began participating in Community 101, a program of the Oregon Community Foundation that involves students through service, leadership and charitable giving. Our student council also uses the United Nations Global Goals as our umbrella framework for selecting our Community 101 focus area. This year students have chosen to support Global Goal #8 and the critical issue of decent work and economic growth within families of Sitton students and those within North Portland, Oregon. In particular, we would like to see an increase in social and financial resources used to strengthen the economic vitality of North Portland, Oregon's Black, Indigenous and communities of color.

We have the opportunity to distribute $5,000 to Oregon nonprofits that help address this critical issue within our community. To support this process we have begun learning about local nonprofits such as VOZ, Albina Vision Trust, REAP, African Youth and Community Organization, Latino Network, PCUN and St. John's Neighborhood Association who are already working hard to address the root causes and impacts that contribute to a lack of intergenerational wealth and economic vitality among People of Color. These organizations have also been invited to apply for our mini grants. If you or anyone you know are connected to these organizations, please encourage them to apply for our mini grants of $500 - $2,500. Grant applications are due May 1st and funding is generously provided by the PGE Foundation.

Additionally, we have been supporting our school with planning Spirit Week, the naming of our newish Falcon Mascot, updating the Spirit box with new fun prizes for students who raise the bar above our schools core values and in honor of Earth Day we will be conducting another whole school waste audit during lunch on April 19th! As a result of our waste audit data collection process we have convinced our school’s administration and custodial team to no longer dump unused milk into the trash. This small change has diverted approximately 515 gallons of milk from going to the landfill this school year and is part of our commitment towards zero waste and zero hunger at school. Finally, we are looking into adding an elementary cultural navigator from African Youth and Community Organization and a Latino Network SUN Site to be housed at Sitton Elementary before the start of the 24-25 school year as part of our commitment to advancing youth leadership within our community.

We invite all families of Student Council members to save the date; Friday, June 7th, for our annual Student Council celebration. Official invites will be sent home in mid-May! Go Falcons!

THANK YOU to everyone who supported us this year during our recent fundraisers!

Our Scholastic book fair brought in over $3,230 in new books to be added to our school library - and also means lots of you have lots of brand new books at home!

And our Read-A-Fun brought in $3,535 in pledges (twice our goal amount!) with Sitton students putting in over 51,374 minutes of reading! That's a lot of reading!

Great work everyone! It's incredible to see what amazing things happen when we work together!

Our goal is to stay above 90% attendance for the whole year, and we improved about .5% this month. In the next few weeks and months let's make sure we help each other get to school everyday on time! If you need support in helping get your child to school everyday please reach out to Jane Strugatsky via email jstrugatsky@pps.net or phone 503-758-4862

Children have begun spring work and lessons in the Edible Garden. We are planting, tending, harvesting and learning about plants, habitats, soil ecology, measuring, etc. We encourage you to walk through the garden with your child before or after school! Questions may be sent to sittongardenclub@gmail.com.

Our Interdisciplinary Art program has been full of special guests and fun projects connected to our classroom learning! When we create art that connects to what we are doing in literacy and math, there are so many opportunities to deepen our learning and approach it from new perspectives! We are also fortunate to take lots of field trips that connect to our artwork and our classroom activities. Here is a peek of what we have been up to lately. This is just a sample of the trips and visitors we have been lucky enough to feature. Reach out to kcondron@pps.net if you want to know more or have suggestions for the future!

• Kindergarteners studying The Farm (non-DLI) and Writers Tell Many Stories (DLI) got to learn to draw and paint farm animals, and also got to meet Clifton and Christine Bruno, who told stories about salmon and Indigenous traditional foods!

• First graders studying Creature Features (non-DLI) and Plants and Animals Grow and Change (DLI) worked with artist Kitana Connelly! Kitana taught all about Orca and the Indigenous belief that all beings are connected. Students got to create Orca artwork with Kitana and connect this learning with a trip to see the Orca exhibit at OMSI!

• Second graders studying the Civil Rights movement (non-DLI) and Our Government at Work (DLI) created Black Excellence collages inspired by artists Jen White Johnson and Reuben “Broobs” Marquez! In May they will take a field trip to see the musical “She Persisted” in connection with this learning!

• Kindergarten, first, and second grade students are currently learning about Neurodiversity and artist Jen White Johnson. They are creating neurographic art using a variety of neon materials. Through this project we are learning how all of our brains work and create differently, and that all brains have things that are easy for them and hard for them. As a student said this week, ¨All brains are beautiful!¨

• Third graders studying Space (non-DLI) and Technology (DLI) learned about artist Betye Saar, who made boxes that featured many space and machinery symbols, tied in with deeper themes of asserting her identity. Third graders are creating beautiful assemblage boxes inspired by Ms. Saar´s work! Students took a field trip to the planetarium at OMSI in connection with this learning!

• Fourth graders studying Extreme Settings (non-DLI) and Technology (DLI) worked with David Loitz from Mr. David´s School of Film to learn new technology and create stop-motion movies that take place in extreme settings, from forests to volcanoes to the moon!

• Fifth graders studying Indigenous culture (non-DLI) and Natural Resources (DLI) learned about photographers Josue Rivas and Intisar Abioto, and they are working with Jennifer Starkey (Columbia Slough Watershed Council) and Renee Heister (Blue Moon Camera Shop) to plant native plants and make portraits of each other! Our project is called “I Belong Here”, and we have done native plant and portrait field trips at Pier Park, Whitaker Ponds, and Kelley Point Park! We have been working hard on curating photos to be part of our art show at Family Arts Night. Students also got to see photography by Carrie Mae Weems, Richard Brown, and more on a field trip to the Portland Art Museum’s Black Artists of Oregon exhibit.

• ***SAVE THE DATE! Family Arts Night is coming up on Thursday, May 2, from 5:00-7:00 pm. Each grade will have artwork above on display, 3rd and 4th grade will have music performances, and dinner will be provided. There will be opportunities to make simple artwork, and also to help raise funds for next year´s field trips! We hope to see you there!***

If you would like to volunteer to help with Family Arts Night, please sign up here!

We are fundraising for future field trips at the St. John’s Bizarre on May 11. Stop by and see us!

If you have change of plans for your student during the day, you can communicate in the following ways:

• Calling the main office

• Using remind or email to connect with the teacher ahead of time.

If we do not have communication from a parent or guardian regarding a change of plans, we cannot change the go-home plan for a student. When possible, please let us know in advance.

We will make every effort to get your student quickly should they need to leave early for an appointment. We know your time is valuable! Please be aware that during dismissal (2:00-2:15) the front office is quite busy and we may not be able to get students as quickly as during other times of the day. Thank you for your patience and understanding.