These past two weeks have definitely not been what we would have predicted, but we are more than grateful to you for your support in helping your child be successful and flexible during this time. As we look ahead to this next week, we are hoping for a consistent school week, and we have many things planned.

First off, we did not get to participate in the week's Read Across America events as planned so we are going to repeat it. Please follow the dress up days and encourage your child to be caught reading at school. In addition, our Read-a-Thon kicks off on Monday! It's not too late to get pledges either per minute read, or a flat rate. Please help your child keep track of every minute read on the reading log provided. If you need a new one, please let us know and we'd be happy to get that for you. The more minutes read, the more contributions to help fund our One School, One Book event that's coming up.

In addition to our Literacy Events, we are focusing on our safety practices. One of the safety drills that we practice is a Secure/Lockout and a Lockdown drill. We will participate in these drills on Tuesday, March 7th. A "Secure" drill means that there may be a threat in the general area, so students and staff remain inside the building with all exterior doors locked, not letting anyone on or off campus. If the situation's risk were to increase, we would move to a "Lockdown." During this time there might be a bigger threat on campus and students would be secured in their classroom and would remain until given the "all clear." We are intentional to practice these drills in order to ensure all know what our response would be and also practice to identify any areas we might need to improve. If you have any questions about these safety drills, please let me know, or you are also welcome to visit the "I Love You Guys" Foundation site which outlines safety protocols.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message and as always, we are here to serve you and your children. We appreciate you choosing to send your students to school with us each day!

Sincerely,

Corinne Johnsen

Principal, River Mill Elementary

johnsenc@estacada.k12.or.us

In order to help you all know what the week looks like, we will list it out clearly for you each week. REID days for are invited students and will change each week. Students are invited to REID days for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's to extend or challenge a student, and other times it might be to provide extra help on a particular skill. On those days, our doors open at 7:50 and dismissal is at 10:00am. If you have questions about this week's schedule, please let. us know!

• Monday, March 6th, Regular School Day - Read-a-thon Begins!
• Tuesday, March 7th, Regular School Day
• Wednesday, March 8th: Regular School Day
• Thursday, March 9th: Regular School Day
• Friday, March 10th: REID Day, by invite only

A look ahead:

• March 16th - Bingo Night & Silent Auction, 6:00pm
• March 17th - REID Day
• March 24th - No School, Grade Day
• March 27th - 31st - No School, Spring Break
• April 3rd & 4th - No School, Student Led Conferences

You should have received a packet and envelope introducing our first Read-a-thon! It works very similarly to the jog-a-thon, except with reading. The actual event itself will not begin until March 6th, but now is the time to collect pledges. Students can ask people to give them a flat rate pledge or a pledge per minute read! All donations will be collected after the completion of the read-a-thon.

Funds raised will directly help pay for our One School, One Book event that we will hold a little bit later this year. Classes will have the opportunity to earn a popcorn party for classes with the highest participation, highest earnings, and most minutes read. We can't wait to see the amazing amounts of reading that our students will do. If you have any questions, let us know!

Are you interested in supporting our students? We are seeking a paraeducator to join our team. Check out this link for more information and let us know if you have any questions.

A tradition unlike any other! This year, we will be holding the 35th annual River Mill Sports Challenge!

The sports challenge is a competition for all 5th grade students where 4 teams compete in a series of 10 games and relays that emphasize teamwork, sportsmanship, cooperation, and collaboration. Two teams will compete on Monday March 20th and two more teams will compete on Tuesday March 21st. These semi-final competitions will take place at 6 PM in the River Mill Elementary School gym.

The winners of each night compete against each other during the school day on Thursday March 23rd to be crowned Sports Challenge champions. One team will also earn the title of Best Sportsmanship. The recipients of the Sportsmanship Award get an opportunity to compete against a team of teachers during the last week of the school year.

We welcome and encourage parents to come and attend to support their students! We are also planning to hold an alumni competition each night in this milestone year. On Monday, we hope to host and honor the 8th grade students who missed out on their opportunity to compete in Sports Challenge in 2020. On Tuesday, we hope to host teams of adults who competed back when the competition was held at Eagle Creek Elementary. We hope to see you there!

Who: All 5th Grade Students

Where: River Mill Elementary Gym

When: Monday & Tuesday, March 20 & 21, @ 6:00 p.m. and

Thursday, March 23, @ 8:00 a.m. (Championship)

¡Una tradición como ninguna otra! Este año, ¡tendremos el 35to Reto Deportivo anual de River Mill!

El reto deportivo es una competencia para todos los estudiantes de 5to grado donde 4 equipos compiten en una serie de 10 juegos y relevos que enfatizan el trabajo en equipo, el espíritu deportivo, la cooperación y la colaboración. Dos equipos competirán el lunes 20 de marzo y otros dos equipos competirán el martes 21 de marzo. Estas competiciones semifinales tendrán lugar a las 6 PM en el gimnasio de la escuela primaria River Mill.

Los ganadores de cada noche competirán uno contra otro durante el día escolar el jueves 23 de marzo para ser coronados campeones del Reto Deportivo. Un equipo también ganará el título de Mejor Deportividad. Los ganadores del Premio a la Deportividad tendrán la oportunidad de competir contra un equipo de maestros durante la última semana del año escolar.

Invitamos y animamos a los padres a que asistan y apoyen a sus estudiantes. También estamos planeando celebrar una competición de alumnado cada noche de este año que marca un hito. El lunes, esperamos recibir y honrar a los estudiantes de 8vo grado que perdieron la oportunidad de competir en el Reto Deportivo en 2020. El martes, esperamos recibir equipos de adultos que compitieron cuando la competencia se llevó a cabo en la Primaria Eagle Creek. ¡Esperamos verlos allí!

Quién: Todos los estudiantes de quinto grado

Donde: Gimnasio de la Primaria River Mill

Cuando: Lunes y Martes, Marzo 20 & 21, @ 6:00 p.m. y

Jueves, 23 de marzo, a las 8:00 a.m. (Campeonato)

Each month we choose to focus on one of our Standards of Excellence. Through this, we teach our students what it means to display these characteristics. Then we recognize members of our school community for exemplifying the trait. All of these help us to reach our school district's long term mission of equipping our students with the knowledge and skills necessary to be resourceful and successful.

My School Bucks is an online payment service that provides parents the ability to securely pay for meals, monitor student cafeteria purchases, and receive email notifications for low account balances.

Please note: currently, a convenience fee of $2.75 will be applied for each transaction.

All transactions are processed and applied to students' accounts nightly.

To enroll, please click the link below and have your student's ID number handy.

My School Bucks can be accessed via the link below: https://login.myschoolbucks.com/users/register/getsignup.action?login_hint=&clientID=schoolbucks

Every Student. Every Day. Whatever It Takes!

Principal Corinne Johnsen

Go Timbers!

Email: johnsenc@estacada.k12.or.us
Website: www.rmes.estacada.k12.or.us
Location: 850 North Broadway Street, Estacada, OR, USA
Phone: 503-630-8517
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiverMillElem
Twitter: @RMTimbers