Abernethy Elementary: 2421 SE Orange Street, Portland, Oregon 97214 phone 503-916-6190 fax 503-916-2600

CALENDAR

November-December

11/15 Picture Retakes

11/20 Burgerville Night

11/20 6:30p Holiday Shoppe Craft Night

11/21 Evening Conferences

11/20-25 Book Fair

11/25-26 Conferences

11/27-29 No School

12/3-4 Holiday Shoppe

12/18 10:45a Late Opening

12/23-1/3 Winter Break, No

School

November 12, 2013

From the desk of Heather Hull… Dear Families, We recently had two large fundraising events that were quite amazing. Thank you so much to Allison Lathrop and the SKG committee for all the time and energy they put into the Harvest Dinner. The following day, Betty and Matt’s hours of organizing paid off in a successful Art and Craft Fair. We are grateful to all the volunteers, as neither event could have happened without your support. Thank you to all of you who supported the school by attending the events. Your generosity is appreciated and makes a huge difference for our kids. You may have noticed the construction equipment on the south side of the playground. The sewer pipe is being repaired. The project is anticipated to last a week to two weeks. Most of the project will be completed before and after school hours. Hopefully the work will go smoothly and will not cause too much of an issue around the building. At the community meeting in October there were several parents who wanted more information on Common Core State Standards and the Smarter Balanced assessment. Here are some sites to help answer questions: http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/1106 http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=3380 http://www.pps.k12.or.us/files/curriculum/Parent_ELA_Resources.pdf Have a wonderful week, Heather Burgerville Night On November 20th come support our amazing School Kitchen Garden and have dinner too! Burgerville (12th & Hawthorne) will be donating 10% of net proceeds to our wonderful school kitchen garden. You can eat in the restaurant, or go through the drive-thru, any time between 5:00 - 8:00. We need 5th graders to run food out to tables during the event. Please e-mail Michelle Domenico (writetomichelle@gmail.com) if you or your child can help!

M E N U

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Monday

Bean & Cheese Burrito Chicken Pot Pie Cheese or Seasonal

Vegetable Pizza

Barbecue Chicken Drumstick with

Roasted Vegetables and Whole Wheat

Dinner Roll

Chickpea Curry with Brown Rice

* PBJ & Yogurt daily. Berry Parfaits Mon/Wed/Fri. Hummus and Pita Tues/Wed. Lunch includes one entrée, milk, unlimited fruits & vegetables.

Book Fair Dates & Times Nov. 20, 22

8:00am–9:15am 2:30pm-3:45pm

Nov. 21 and Nov. 25 8:00am – 7:30pm

Nov. 26

8:30am – 3:30pm

Abernethy Elementary: 2421 SE Orange Street, Portland, Oregon 97214 phone 503-916-6190 fax 503-916-2600

Visitor/Volunteer Sign Up Great news!!! We now have HelpCounter Visitor/Volunteer Sign up program up and running! (Thank you Sam for helping me with making this happen!) Each time you come into the school, just come to the computer at the office counter. The first time takes a couple of minutes as the system will ask for some information, but after that with just a couple of clicks of the mouse you will be signed in and a badge will print for you. There are some really nice features...the start page will list all the upcoming dates for the month that you need to be aware of. We were able to put a pop up request for volunteer help for the book fair, that each volunteer will see once! We hope to do this for other upcoming events that need support. I hope that you all enjoy the new system as much as we do...it will be amazing to see the number of hours all of you spend supporting us! Bookstore Dates There will be opportunities to hear some wonderful children's authors at A Children's Place and Powell's bookstores this month. November 18 : Jeff Kinney will be signing copies of his latest book, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck" at a ticketed event 11/18 at 6 pm at Powells at Cedar Crossing. The store is located at 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. in Beaverton. Tickets are $9.77 and can be purchased at the Cedar Crossing store only. Only 1,000 tickets are available for this signing, first-come, first-served. Ticket sales start Tuesday, November 5. Note - this is a book signing event only. November 16: Eric Kimmel presents his newest book, "Hanukkah Bear", Saturday, 11:00 am at A Children's Place. November 16: Liz Rusch presents her newest books "Electrical Wizard", "Volcano Rising" and "Eruption", Saturday, 4:00 pm at A Children's Place November 26: Roland Smith has a third book out in his popular Cryptid Hunters series, "Chupacabra". 7 pm , Powells at Cedar Crossing. Hope you can make it to one or more of these events! Reba Parker Library Media Specialist Abernethy Elementary Tues, Wed, & Thurs. 503-916-6190

Save the Date! Come and drink wine and get crafty! We need you, whether you're an old pro with a glue gun or a novice, come and help make gifts for the Abernethy Holiday Shoppe. We will meeting at Waverly Heights Church (3300 SE Woodward) at 6:30 on November 20th. Come after you've been to Burgerville. It is a long-standing tradition at Abernethy to host a Kid's Holiday Shoppeeach December. For two days we set up a small store full of inexpensive items with costs ranging from 5 cents to 2 dollars. It is a chance for students to purchase modest gifts for their parents, siblings, grandparents, pets - whoever is significant in their lives. To make this event continue to happen for a student body including over 500 students, we really need help! There are several ways you can support the Kid's Holiday Shoppe: Help Make Gifts—Are you crafty? Why not make small, low cost craft items? You can do this one in your own home when you have “free time”. Come to the Craft Night Event—This year we'll meet up the evening of November 20th. We provide the arts and crafts supplies, you provide an enthusiasm for repetitive production work. Creative AND social! Organizing and Set-up—prior to the event we have to inventory items, price items, send notices home with kids, set up the tables—whew! Retail Help—the days of the Holiday Shoppe we need folks to help children navigate the shopping experience—be prepared to sell them merchandise and help with basic math! (We encourage kids to do their own math, but volunteers have been known to sneak calculators in...) Merchandise Donation—Perhaps you have tons of leftover party favors, or dozens of something you no longer need but someone else might like. Sorry—we can’t accept used items. Coordination—A few of us have been coordinating the Holiday Shoppe for several years and our children are approaching graduation. We’d like to train folks who are interested in taking over this very rewarding experience. The Holiday Shoppe is a very special event and many parents report that this is their very favorite volunteer opportunity all year. Come Join Us! To volunteer, contact Shonda LaBorde at trotinet64@msn.com Interested in the Craft Night? email Karen Lenore at acmesw@hotmail.com. Thank You - Michelle Domenico, Shonda LaBorde & Karen Lenore

Abernethy Elementary: 2421 SE Orange Street, Portland, Oregon 97214 phone 503-916-6190 fax 503-916-2600

Abernethy School Kitchen Garden (SKG): Garden Curriculum: As we wrap up the end of the term I wanted to share what our students have been learning about in Garden Class this fall:

• Kindergarteners have explored where and how plants grow (below, on, and above the ground) and have learned the six basic parts of flowering plants (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds). We are working on a tree unit by learning the parts of trees and how these parts help the trees grow, studying the seasonal changes of trees, and understanding how trees are helpful to animals (including us!). We have tasted cherry tomatoes, watermelon, cauliflower, apples, and lots of plants in the garden such as kale, fennel, and mint. We planted garlic in pots along the fence and noticed that the sprouted garlic is taller than our hands!

• First graders reviewed the six basic parts of flowering plants (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds) and learned about the functions of these plant parts. This week we finished a three-week unit on earthworms where we studied how the worms move, what they eat, and their importance in the garden by observing small jars of earthworms as they ate and processed veggie scraps. We noticed that our jars were eventually filled with dark soil, or ‘black gold’, thanks to our earthworms. This week we released our worms back into the garden. First graders have tasted cherry tomatoes, watermelon, cauliflower, apples, and lots of plants in the garden such as kale, nasturtiums, celery, fennel, and mint. Next up- we will study soil!

• Second graders have been learning about seasons- our celebrations, our calendar, and the way our garden changes. We have played leaf-match games and apple math games. We have tasted roasted pumpkin seeds, watermelon, cauliflower, and three types of apples. We will continue our exploration of seasons before embarking on a unit on the water cycle this winter.

• Third graders learned about the plant parts we eat by drawing and measuring edible flowers, dissecting squash, and counting, and measuring seeds. We’ve played the plant part relay game and have tasted tomatoes, watermelon, cauliflower, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, pinto bean dip with corn chips, and three types of apples, along with many tasty plants in the garden. We are wrapping up a unit on compost by writing hypotheses and exploring Nature’s Compost vs. our compost bins while witnessing the amazing process of decomposition.

• Fourth graders studied plant families and both native and non-native plants. We studied Nature artist, Andy Goldsworthy, and worked in small groups to plan and build Goldsworthy-inspired ‘Earthworks’ in the garden and schoolyard with all-natural materials. Fourth graders have tasted tomatoes, watermelon, cauliflower, and lots of tasty plants in the garden. Next week we will learn all about apples!

• Fifth graders also studied plant families and learned common characteristics to help us identify plants. We are currently wrapping up our Family Food Stories unit by turning our family interviews into stories and sharing recipes with the class. These stories and recipes will be typed and compiled into class books. It has been amazing to observe the students refining their writing skills and also being proud to share their family food traditions with the class. Fifth graders have tasted cherry tomatoes, watermelon with mint and salt, pickled cauliflower (made in class!), cauliflower popcorn, roasted pumpkin seeds, and next week will learn all about apples!

Happy Fall! Cheers, Djamila Moore, skg.djamila@gmail.com

Oregon Battle of the Books Update If your child has registered to participate in Abernethy’s Battle of the Books but is not on a team yet, there will be a meeting for these students Thursday, November 14 in the library during lunch recess, 11:45 – 12:05. If teams still need an extra member, they should also attend this meeting. Students will also be receiving this information during their library rotation this week. Reba Parker Library Media Specialist