March 18, 2015 Volume XI, Issue V DATES TO REMEMBER March 20 Student of the Month Breakfast 7:45 am March 20 School Spirit Sports Day March 25 Late Start — 10:30 am Skate Night March 27 School Spirit Pajama Day March 31 Concert Grades 1 & 2 6:30 pm March 31 Last day to collect for Pennies for Patients! FROM THE PRINCIPAL Dear Family and Friends of Orchard Center Elementary, Thank you to our West Valley voters for your support in passing the 2015 replacement maintenance and operations and technology levies. This is exciting news for each and every learner in West Valley as your supportive votes will allow us to continue to provide strong programs for learners in our district and specifically Orchard Center. Thank you for your support! This month students in 3rd grade will be taking the state SBAC assessment. Testing has already begun for our 3rd grade learners and will continue through the month of May for grades 4 and 5. Teachers will be notifying you of the dates of testing in their classroom and I know they shared information at conferences. Please make sure that your child gets plenty of sleep the night before the test and has a good breakfast that morning. Please also avoid scheduling appointments during this time and, as always, please try to schedule vacations around our school holidays. Making up these assessments can be quite challenging for us. Thanks in advance for your help! April 1 Late Start — 10:30 am Spring will also officially arrive this month, which brings with it many interesting weather patterns. Thank you for making sure your children are dressed appropriately for the weather. Let’s hope that the month of March goes out like a lamb. April 2 Fifth graders go to CMS 9:30 — 11:00 am Enjoy the upcoming warmer weather and as always, thank you for sharing your children with us! April 3 Student of the Month Pennies for Patients Assembly & Basketball Game - 1:00 pm Sincerely, April 6 - 12 SPRING BREAK NO SCHOOL April 13 School Resumes Barb Knauss Principal Demeetrius Rogers Kindergarten Brooklyn Peterson Kindergarten Mrs. Collins Ethan Cates-Shelton Kindergarten Mrs. Wolfe Kaden Quenzer 1st Grade Logan Ensor 1st/2nd Grade Ms. Trask Mrs. Miller Ciorsdan Donaghy 2nd Grade Mrs. Andres Ms. Claire Bus Rider of the Month Orchard Center Elementary Student of the Month Trey Bohr 2nd Grade Mrs. Lamberson “FAIRNESS” Basheer Glover Bus 17 Ms. Carmen Jensen January 2015 Willow Mclaughlin 3rd Grade Ms. Craze Annika Lund 5th Grade Dylan Cowger 3rd Grade Ms. Owens Ms. Williams Mariya Balabanova 5th Grade Mr. Howell Natalie Abbott 4th Grade Karley Ingram 4th Grade Mr. Maloney Mrs. Kivett Cherokee Monnin 3rd/4th Grade Mrs. Cebriak Layden Moore Kindergarten Mrs. Collins Yorick Lewis Kindergarten Jacarie Webb 1st Grade Mrs. Wolfe Ms. Trask Ella McQuaig 1st/2nd Grade Mrs. Miller Jacquelyn Bohr Kindergarten Rex Van Hees 2nd Grade Ms. Claire Mrs. Andres Bus Rider of the Month Orchard Center Elementary Student of the Month Cailin Blasier 2nd Grade Mrs. Lamberson “HONESTY” February 2015 Dani Smith Bus 28 Mr. Pat Lewis Jersey Dorian 3rd Grade Ms. Craze Jadalee Blount 5th Grade Ms. Owens Ryan Berry 5th Grade Kicea Lopes 4th Grade Mr. Howell Mr. Maloney Airiann Terpko 4th Grade Shayde Day 3rd/4th Grade Mrs. Kivett Mrs. Cebriak Madison Babcock 3rd Grade Ms. Williams PTG NEWS The PTG Candy Bar Fundraiser was a huge success thanks to all the support from our parents and OC Community. We raised over $3,000! There will not be a PTG Meeting during the month of March. The next PTG Meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 14th at 5:30 pm in the OC Library. Please consider joining the Orchard Center Parent Teacher Group. We will be discussing the needs of the PTG and new ideas for the 2015-16 school year at the April Meeting. We will be holding elections for next year’s officers at the May meeting. If you have any questions in regards to joining the PTG, please contact Heather Hansen at [email protected]. HELP US BRING JAN BRETT TO O.C. Help us bring author, Jan Brett, to Orchard Center! Jan Brett is an American illustrator and writer of children's picture books. She is known for colorful, detailed depictions of a wide variety of animals and human cultures from Scandinavia to Africa. Her best-known titles include The Mitten, The Hat, and Gingerbread Friends. Helping us is simple! 1. 2. 3. 4. Go to: http://app.wizehive.com/webform/jb2015 Enter a first name and email address. (Have more than one? Enter them too!) Select Spokane Valley in the drop down menu. Select Orchard Center and enter zip as 99212. That’s it! Please spread the word to your family and friends. The more votes the better our chances! Currently, OC is in 54th place. Thank you for helping us get to #1! PENNIES FOR PATIENTS March is a very exciting month at Orchard Center. For the 10th year, we will join almost 30,000 schools nationwide in Pennies for Patients. Between March 9th and March 31st, our students and staff will collect their coins and dollars to help patients with blood cancers. Our efforts will help local kids with cancer and fund research around the world to find cures. Last year O.C. raised $3,519. 35! That was well over our goal of $2000. For each dollar donated, students will have the opportunity to win prizes in a drawing at our assembly on April 3rd. There will also be school-wide incentives for each $500 goal the school meets. This is a great opportunity for our kids to learn the value of making a difference and to have some fun while doing it! So, check under couch cushions, in the car, in backpacks, on the sidewalk and in your family's junk drawer! Thanks for fighting cancer...one penny at a time! Page 4 Orchard Center Elementary DR. SEUSS READ ACROSS AMERICA! In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, OC held it’s annual Read Across America program on Friday, February 27th at 8:00 am. Moms and Dads came to school to read books with their children and enjoy Muffins for Moms and Donuts for Dads! It was a great turnout with Dr. Seuss and Waldo making guest appearances! Here’s a Reading Pledge that you can recite with your child as a great reminder to read, read, read! WE PLEDGE TO READ! We promise to read Each day and each night. We know it’s the key To growing up right. Each book that we read Puts smarts in our heads ‘Cause brains grow more thoughts The more they are fed. We’ll read to ourselves. We’ll read to a crowd It makes no difference If silent or loud. So we take this oath To make reading our way Of feeding our brains What they need every day. We’ll read at our desks. At home and at school, On a bean bag or bed, By the fire or pool. MS. WILLIAMS’ CLASS HAS A WHALE OF A TIME! Ms. Williams’ class (under the direction of Mrs. Henriksen) recently learned about informational writing. Informational text is the kind of writing we find in encyclopedias, magazines such as National Geographic, or books on sharks. There may be captions, illustrations, and diagrams. An informational book may have a table of contents or a glossary. Students spent two weeks’ time learning about all these features so they would be prepared to do research on whales. We focused on five kinds of whales: the gray whale, humpbacks, blue whales, orcas, and belugas. Did you know that some whales have a plate called ‘baleen’? Baleen acts like a strainer and filters out the krill, plankton or fish that baleen whales eat. Most of the large whales are baleen whales. The smaller whales are the ‘toothed’ whales, such as orcas and belugas. These whales may feed on fish, crustaceans, or seals. The big whales have two blowholes; the smaller, toothed whales have one. Did you know that gray whales may travel up to 12,000 miles a year in their migration to and from their feeding grounds? Amazing! Your child conducted research on his/her particular whale. They had to find out four things: what does it look like, what does it eat, where does it live, and interesting facts. They then presented this information on an information “cube” (see pictures) and displayed them in the hall. Be sure to ask your ‘whale expert’ about his or her whale!
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