February Cougar Connection

2/13 - Early Release

2/13 Spirit Day - Color by Grade Level

5th Grade Wears- Red

4th Grade - Wears Orange

3rd Grade - Wears Yellow

2nd Grade Wears - Green

1st Grade Wears - Blue

Kinder Wears - Purple

2/13 - Cass Parties and VIP Dance 6-8pm

2/16 - No School Presidents Day

2/17 - PTO Meeting at 5pm in our Library

2/26 - Scholastic Book fair 3-6:30 (1 day only)

2/26-3/13 - Yearbook Sales

2/27 Favorite character day

2/27 - Early Release

2/27 Favorite character day

Weather Delays and Closure-How Will I Know?

Use this link to visit our SPS information page.

With winter here, the potential for school delays or closures due to snow and ice is a reality. SPS announces delays and closures in several different ways. Our goal is to determine by 6:30 a.m. whether school will be delayed, closed or open as usual. Remember, no news means no change. You can ensure that you will receive announcements of delays and closures in several key ways:

1. Make sure that your contact information is up to date with your student's school.
2. Follow SPS on Facebook, Instagram and X.
   
3. Sign up to receive FlashAlert alerts.
4. Check our website.

We may see inclement weather in the coming weeks. PLEASE sign up for the Flash Alert using this link.

https://www.springfield.k12.or.us/families/inclement-weather

We’re excited to share our Golden Awards Winners, celebrating classes that go above and beyond in following school expectations! Each month, classes have the opportunity to earn special Golden Awards in different areas:

🏆 Golden Xylophone (Music) – For outstanding participation and meeting all music expectations.
⚽ Golden Ball (P.E.) – For great participation and following all P.E. expectations.
🔔 Golden Whistle (Playground) – For classes that follow directions and freeze quickly when the whistle blows.
🍽️ Golden Tray (Cafeteria) – For classes demonstrating excellent cafeteria behavior.
🗑️ Golden Trashcan (Classroom) – For the cleanest classroom.
🪠 Golden Plunger (Restrooms) – For the cleanest bathroom.
🤫 Golden Quiet Sign (Breezeways) – For the quietest class while walking through the breezeways.

📔 Golden Book (Library) - For classes that follow directions and are respectful in the library

Congratulations to all of this month’s Golden Award winners! Keep up the great work, Cougars—let’s see who will take home the awards next month!

Flu season is here and we are experiencing multiple kinds of illnesses at school. Just a reminder, if your student isn't feeling well, please take their temperature at home. We have specific guideline we must follow for students experiencing sickness.

Vomiting/diarrhea- stay home for 24 hours after last episode.

Fever- stay home for 24 hours after it has subsided without medication. Fever is considered 100.4.

Please call the office at 541-744-6418 if your student will be out due to sickness. We will ask for the symptoms when you call.

Please click on the link below for more information.

LINK

Our Winter Benchmarking is nearly complete for our students. We are excited to review our data in our grade level teams and set our next goals for student learning. All students participate in our benchmarking process three times per year as well as weekly and unit assessments. We know that by reviewing these data sets it will provide our instructors with timely information about what skills are growing and which skills need more support. Our grade level teacher teams meet weekly with our administrative team and instructional coach to review, plan for next steps and celebrate growth.

If you are driving your student/s to school please make sure that they are dropped off in the lane closest to the sidewalk. Please know that you can drop off students anywhere along the sidewalk, waiting until you are in the first spot can also cause a bit of a slowdown.

Students may not be "dropped off" anywhere in the parking lot , especially behind the first row of parked cars. We have had a couple of near misses recently. If you are parking in our lot you must walk your students up to the gates. We appreciate your caution while navigating our parking lot.

If you need to exit your car in the drive through lane to help your student. Please park and walk your student in.

If you have any questions, please connect with us via email or leave me a message.

Our VIP dance is just around the corner!! This will be the third year that we have hosted this dance.

Who can attend? Yolanda students, their adult special person/s.

**Younger siblings and non elementary age siblings won't be able to attend due to the limited space within our gym.**

**Tickets will be sold after school 2/4 and 2/5 or you can send cash or checks with students

Tickets will also be available at the door. If your student rides the bus or you can't make it to the school to purchase tickets you can send the flyer that came home (looks like the one above), with a check to school and tickets can be sent home. PLEASE write students name & room # on the flyer. **

**Dress code There isn't a specific dress code. This is not a formal event, but rather a fun elementary dance with friends and adult chaperones.**

**Snacks** are available in the cafeteria area.

**STUDENTS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT CHAPERONE/IMPORTANT PERSON**

As the weather continues to be brrrr cold outside, we'd like to remind that we do have clothing resources available to families if needed. Those little bodies grow fast and if your family finds the need for assistance please reach out to our Family Resource Coordinator Brittney. brittney.cook@springifeld.k12.or.us

Next week we will be sending out a comprehensive list via the Smore platform. Brittney is a valuable resource for all kinds of needs and is happy to help locate information if she doesn't already have it at her fingertips!

We are proud to celebrate our students’ outstanding progress in math! This year, over 200 students met their math goal, for our mid year review, and the number of students performing at or above grade level on i-Ready increased by 21%. In total, 82% of students showed growth on their math diagnostic.

To recognize this incredible achievement, we hosted a schoolwide Glow Party celebration for all students. It was a fun and exciting way to honor their hard work, perseverance, and commitment to learning. Thank you PTO for supporting the cost of our decorations and the fun glowing items for our students.

Student that met their growth goal will receive a certificate as well from Rocky!

Way to glow, Yolanda students! 🌟

This month, students learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his message of kindness, fairness, and perseverance. Inspired by his life and legacy, students created meaningful artwork that reflects what they learned. Their art was proudly displayed at school for everyone to enjoy as we celebrated Dr. King’s impact and the powerful ideas he shared with the world.

All classes enjoyed walking through the different pods to see the galleries that were on display by their peers.

We are so thankful to be able to work as a team with our families to support our students. From time to time, we may need to adjust an event for various reasons, such as our recent Glow Party. We are thankful our dedicated teachers go the extra mile to be creative to find ways to celebrate our students.

We are really lucky you all, our parents, answer the call for our volunteer needs. Our Cougar Crew is a wonderful, consistent, caring team that shows up all the time along with our dedicated PTO Board. Our school community is the BEST!

Our goal is always to do the best we can for our students. If you have questions about something please feel free to reach out for clarification, we may have missed a detail or not conveyed a message as successfully as we had hoped. We may even miss sharing enough information too. This is not on purpose but because we are zooming around working with students or managing a hundred other things.

Our intention is to provide a nurturing, welcoming and great learning environment for all. We are happy to share our thinking and hear your thoughts. We love our work, we strive to keep all informed so, if ever you are curious about something please ask.

Please reach out with questions.

Kari Isham Skelton

kari.isham@springfield.k12.or.us

Principal

Manny Plascencia

Assistant Principal

manny.plascencia@springfield.k12.or.us