the Orca Splash

Hello Viewlands Families!

Thank you to all the families that attended the Viewlands Bring Your Family to School Night. We hope your child was able to show you the spaces and people that are part of their Viewlands learning experience. 68% of our Viewlands students attended this event with their families.

We are excited for Orca MOVE week focusing on the importance of physical activity and moving our bodies. The goal is to inspire healthy kids, family, and community. On Tuesday, we host the Viewlands Move-a-thon. This is a fun event. Learn more specific details below. Orcas MOVE week continues on Wednesday with the Fall Walk, Bike, and Roll to School day before school led by the Viewlands Bike Bus team. We celebrate all students that get to school by walking, biking, and rolling, as well as all students that come via shared rides, like the buses! This is a celebration of supporting the environment AND moving our bodies as a way of commuting. In PE students will continue to learn about the body systems and how to keep our bodies strong by being physically active. Finally on Friday, we will end Orca MOVE week with our weekly Friday lunch recess dance party!

The big highlight this week was Bring Your Family to School Night! We love this community event! A few other highlights from my visits in classrooms and with students this first full week include: practicing handwriting with kindergarteners and 1st graders, they were teaching me all about how to write the letters starting at the top and bumping the correct lines; hearing 4th and 5th graders share their questions and wonders as they launch into reading and learning about the structure of the government; playing rock-paper-scissors with a kindergartner; and listening to 3rd graders share with their class about traditions from their families.

Your children are bright, inquisitive, and creative thinkers. We will continue to seek ways to make every student feel known, valued, and empowered through the year.

In Partnership,

Carrie Wheeler | Viewlands Principal

The move-a-thon serves two purposes. The first is a physical activity focused 'move your body' whole school event where all students participate connected to the learning happening in PE about the different systems in our body and how we strengthen all of them. The 2nd purpose is a VEPTSA fundraiser. The fundraising part is optional. If your family is willing and able, we encourage participation. The funding raised by VEPTSA in their 3 fundraisers of the year (Move-a-thon, Give Big at Chucks, and Spring Fundraiser) supports many important things at Viewlands, including playground and lunchroom supervision hourly role, snacks for students, teacher materials for each classroom, fieldtrip costs, guest artists and assemblies, Orca Cares closet, and supplemental learning supplies. This funding from VEPTSA helps us support every student at school and supports whole child learning by creating extensions to the learning in the classrooms.

If you are not a volunteer for Move-a-thon but want to cheer on your student, you can see the move-a-thon activities from the Carkeek trail on the northwest side of the campu/playground. Only approved volunteers signed up for the move-a-thon and staff will be on site at the event.

• 3rd-5th graders participate 8:15-8:45AM
• 1st and 2nd graders participate 8:55-9:25AM
• Kindergarteners participate 9:35-10:00AM

School picture day is coming up in a few weeks!

Every student will take a picture. Pictures will be in the yearbook unless a family opted their student out of appearing in the yearbook. School pictures are also available for purchase through the O'Connor studio. They only accept online orders. You can pre-order photos now.

To Order Photos:

1. Visit the website: https://www.oconnorphotographystudio.com/

2. Click the "2026-2027 Fall Pictures Order Now" button at the top of the site.

3. Click on "Elementary"

4. Scroll down and click on "Viewlands"

5. Enter your e-mail

6. Order photos

There will be a retake day for students that were absent on picture day.

VEPTSA is coordinated a couple volunteers for picture day. O'Connor does offer free photos for the small number of volunteers needed. Volunteer sign up will be on Konstella.

It is an annual tradition to go to the Woodland Park Zoo on or near the last day of October. This has been a school tradition since Viewlands reopened in 2011 after being closed for 2 years. We do not do Halloween celebrations or costumes, instead we focus on a fun fall activity, by visiting the zoo. We love this tradition at Viewlands! A school day at the zoo is such a fun way to celebrate fall. We will do our all-school fieldtrip to the zoo on Friday, October 30th this year.

We will need volunteers for this fieldtrip. You must be an approved volunteer to chaperone a fieldtrip. Please see the volunteer approval process below if you are not yet an approved volunteer. Once approved, the approval status lasts for 2 years. If you are an approved volunteer and want to check when you need to renew, please log into the Volunteer Portal and check your renew date.

The costs for our students, staff, and some of the family chaperones is free because we are a Title 1 school. We also receive subsidies for our busses for the same reason. We cover the remainder of the costs with support from VEPTSA for the remaining chaperones costs and transportation costs (not all of the busses is covered through the subsidies that we receive based on our Title 1 status).

The fieldtrip permission forms came home in your child’s red folder with the start of school forms on Friday, September 11th. It was one of the required green forms. Every child needs this completed. If you are unsure if you turned it in, you can reach out to your child's teacher. Classroom teachers and the office team will also be reaching out to families that still need to complete the fieldtrip permission form.

More information about being a chaperone (as an approved volunteer) coming next week.

We love our volunteers! Volunteers support fieldtrips, classroom needs, the library program, school and VEPTSA events, the art program, and more! Every volunteer has to be approved. This is required and can take time. Once approved, your approved volunteer status last two years. Every two years you need to renew your volunteer status.

Please be patient. The school only has control of certain parts of the volunteer application and approval process. Seattle Public Schools has a centralized process with one volunteer coordinator. At Viewlands, Ms. Leandra, our office assistant, is the volunteer coordinator. She has to work with the centralized system. She can't speed up the process. Please be patient. At the beginning of the school year when Seattle Public Schools is processing large volumes of new families that are applying for the first time to be an approved volunteer, it can take longer.

• We encourage new to Viewlands families that want to become an approved volunteer to start the first step soon.
• If you are a previously approved returning volunteer at Viewlands or another SPS school, please log into the Volunteer Portal using your user name (e-mail) and password to check the date when you are required to renew. If you need to renew this fall, please start that process now.

1. Complete this link if you are interesting in being an approved volunteer:

https://good.samaritan.com/custom/521/organization_details/1819

• You will then click the Supervised School Volunteer (Tier 1) link (we do not have any tier 2 volunteers at Viewlands)
• At the bottom of this page, you will see a blue "Sign Up" button
• A pop up will show with either Login or New Volunteer. If you are new to volunteering you will click "New Volunteer"
• Add your User Information (your email will be your user ID and you will create a password. Please keep this information so you have it for later steps in the process.
• Add your Personal Information.
• Add your Contact Information.
• Add SPS Staff Member: This would be your child's classroom teacher name and e-mail address. If you are a new to Viewlands kindergarten parent you can enter Leandra Davidson and lddavidson@seattleschools.org
• Add the Emergency Contact Information.
• Click Submit

Fall Enrichment registration is open! Register HERE - until Oct 2. We're looking forward to some new offerings such as: Where Creatives Gather: Fairies & Dragons and a longer version of ECCA: Mini Movers Hip Hop. As well as Bricks 4 Kidz : Jurassic Land, Let’s Play Pickleball & Chess Club! Classes run after school on Tuesdays, 10/13/26-12/8/26. Scholarships are available - contact president@viewlandsptsa.org.

All School Playground Meetup - Tomorrow!

• Saturday, October 3rd - 10am-12pm, Viewlands Playground - Let’s get together, play some games and chat-it-up. Snacks provided! No drop-offs please :)

Move-A-Thon -

• Tuesday, October 6th
• The countdown to Move-A-Thon is on! This student-led fundraiser on October 6th helps provide essentials such as playground and lunch supervision, classroom supply grants, field trip opportunities, assemblies, guest artists, and more. Start collecting pledges today by finding your student's fundraising page in the Student Center HERE.
• Move-A-Thon also needs volunteer support- sign up HERE. You have to be an approved volunteer to support move-a-thon.

Walk, Bike, & Roll to School Day

• This is a bi-annual event where we enjoy active transportation and build a stronger community spirit as we make our way to school together. All students, parents, and family members are welcome to participate. Join a bike or walk/roll group around 7:15-7:20am and visit the celebration table at school between 7:30-7:55am. We also welcome students who carpool with their family or take the bus to stop by the table as well to celebrate with us as you also reduce your environmental footprint. For more details please visit Konstella event. Reach out to bikebus@viewlandsptsa.org with questions. Volunteers are needed, signup HERE.

The Family Ambassador program is still looking for parents/volunteers. Family Ambassadors spend 2 - 4 hours per month supporting classroom teachers. This is a great way to dip your toe into the PTA and get involved in the Viewlands community. Please contact face@viewlandsptsa.org for more info.

Other ways to stay connected:

Signing up for email newsletters: https://viewlandsptsa.org/about/#email-signup

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ViewlandsPTSA

Instagram: @viewlandsptsa

• October 6 -Move-a-thon (during the school day)
• October 7 -Fall Walk, Bike, and Roll to School Day (a.m. before school)
• October 8- Multilingual Family Night 5:30-7 p.m. (invite only event)
• October 22 -School Picture Day (retakes for students absent on Dec 2)
• October 30 -All School Zoo Field Trip (more info about volunteers)
• December 2 -Picture Retake/Make Up Day