October 2019
Early Release and Non-Student Days
In October, there are three early release days. Early release days occur on Wednesdays. Students are dismissed at 2:42 PM. The October days are listed below:
• October 9th, 16th and 30th
On October 11th, we also have one non-student day. This day is set aside annually for teachers and staff members to work through a variety of different topics. This year, we will be focused on writing our school improvement plan. Teachers will also be working to get reading intervention plans ironed out for the remainder of the year.
Elementary Conferences October 22nd – 25th
This year, we will begin using Skyward Family Access to schedule conferences online.
Conference week will be held Tuesday, October 22nd through the 25th. Students will be dismissed at 12:15 PM. Lunch will be served on all conference days. Monday, October 21st is a regular school day with dismissal at 3:32 PM.
In order for the online scheduling process to work smoothly and give families with more than one child a chance to schedule conferences back-to-back, please follow the sign-up schedule below:
October 7th and 8th: Open to families with more than one child
October 9th – 18th: Open to ALL families
To facilitate the scheduling process, we have a couple of documents you might find helpful. Click here to access a step-by-step guide for online scheduling. You can also watch a short video by clicking on this link. Please contact the main office if you need support with scheduling conferences.
Celebrate Socktober through the month of October!
This month, we are once again collecting socks for Community Youth Services. Items they are looking for this year include adult-sized socks, new underwear, hats, scarves, gloves, and mittens. If you would like to help us with this cause, please send items to school any time during the month of October. We will have collection boxes located throughout the school and will show students where to put things. Thank you for your help with this.
Emergency Drills
Every year, our school is required to practice a variety of emergency drills. In order to help families know when these drills are happening and be informed about how information is being communicated to students, I will provide a brief update in the newsletter each month regarding the drill that is happening and the date it occurs.
In October, we are going to practice a fire drill (October 17th at 10:17 AM). When a fire drill happens, I put the alarm in test mode (so first responders to not arrive) and pull the fire alarm at a specified time. Early in the year, I will tell kids when I am pulling the alarm and teachers will practice how to evacuate the building ahead of time. When the fire alarm goes off, kids line up at the exterior door of their classroom and leave immediately. All students (except preschool) line up on the field behind the school. Preschool lines up in the turnaround at the front of the school. We ask students to stand in really quiet lines while the adults go through the process of taking attendance and making sure we have everyone accounted for. I time the event from start to finish. We are typically able to evacuate the building in just under 5 minutes.
We are going to go through an intruder drill in November. I will write about intruder (lockdown) drills in the November newsletter.
Lost and Found
Are you missing kids clothing at home? We sure have a lot of lost clothes here at school. The racks are over-flowing. We will have all of the clothes set out for people to see during conference week.
Please help us by writing your child’s name on all removable clothing. If there is a name, we will return it to your child and not place it in lost and found.
Upcoming Events
October 4th PTA Movie Night @ 6:15 PM
October 8th PTA Meeting @ 6:30 PM
October 9th Early Release @ 2:42 PM
October 9th Walk and Roll @ 8:25 PM
October 11th No School-Teacher In-service Day
October 16th Early Release @ 2:42 PM
October 17th Earthquake Drill @ 11:17 AM
October 17th EL/Title I Family Night @ 6:30 PM
October 22nd – 25th Conference Week-Dismissal @ 12:15 PM
October 24th Roosevelt Equity Council @ 6:00 PM
October 30th Early Release @ 2:42 PM
November 1st PTA Movie Night @ 6:15 PM
November 2nd PTA Live and Silent Auction @ 5:00 PM
LIBRARY NEWS
Welcome to the new school year! Our new and improved library is off to a great start!
All classrooms have now had their first library classes. We started off the year talking about book care. Please help your child find a safe spot at home for their library book away from younger siblings and pets. Also please remind them to read their book with clean hands and keep food and liquids away from their books. Also, reminding kids to keep lids tight on water bottles in backpacks saves a lot of books.
Did your child participate in the Timberland Regional Library’s Summer Reading Program? If so, send in their certificate of completion (still available at the library if you didn’t get it) which will be their entry into Roosevelt’s Summer Reading Celebration. This event will happen Friday, Oct. 18. We will have treats, talk books, and generally have a good time. Certificates must be into the office no later than Oct. 4, to allow our nurse to screen for allergies.
The Scholastic Book Fair is coming! Conference week, Oct. 22-25th (Tuesday-Friday) we will hold our annual Book Fair. The fair will be open from 12:30-4:00. Your teacher will give you a raffle ticket at your conference that you can bring to the fair and enter to win a free basket of books. All profits from the Book Fair support our library. Hope to see you there!
Roosevelt PTA
Welcome Back Ravens
We hope you’ve had a great start to the 2019-2020 school year. We had a record-breaking attendance at our September PTA Meeting and we’re so excited that so many parents are getting involved! Would you like to Volunteer with the PTA and you’re just not sure what you’d like to help with? Please contact Ashley Otheim. We are always looking for Parent Volunteers and can help you find the perfect fit!
We hope to see you at our October Meeting on October 8th from 6:30-7:30pm in the Roosevelt Library. FREE Childcare will be provided.
PTA Auction
The Raven’s Revelry PTA Auction Fundraiser
Saturday, November 2nd, 5-9pm, Olympia Ballroom
• Special thanks to our auction sponsors - Capital Heating & Cooling, South Sound Vasectomy, Olympia Plumbing Technology, The Wheeler-Rauscher Family, The Reck Family and Petsmart. Additional sponsorship opportunities are still available!
• Tickets are going quickly and are available online here for $40.
• If you would like to donate an item or sponsor our event, please download our donation form here and send it back to Roosevelt PTA 1417 San Francisco Ave, Olympia WA, 98506.
• Grade-level gift basket donations are needed by October 18th - details came home in Blue Folders and boxes and envelopes are set up in each classroom to collect donations. Ask auction co-chairs if you have any questions.
• Volunteers needed! Contact auction co-chairs Brian ([email protected]) or Terry ([email protected]) if you're interested in learning more.
o We are looking for volunteers to help with final event planning and preparation, especially on Saturday-Sunday Oct. 26-27, and Friday, November 1st.
o We also need a few more volunteers to help with event setup, check in, and running the auction itself.
Movie Night
Join us at PTA Family Movie Night on Friday, October 4, 2019 to see "Kiki's Delivery Service." Doors open at 6:15 and the movie begins at 6:30. This free event is sponsored by the PTA. Bring cushions or blankets to sit on and enjoy free popcorn! Children must be accompanied by an adult throughout the movie. Please confirm that this movie is appropriate for your child. There are many good resources including Common Sense Media. Questions? Contact Roosevelt PTA President.
Staff Appreciation
If you have ever wondered what the perfect gift to show appreciation and thanks to your favorite hard-working Roosevelt staff member(s) would be, we have you covered! We have asked the staff to fill out a form of their "favorite things" and we have uploaded them onto our PTA website. You can find them here! There is also a binder of all the staff favorite sheets in the office. Just ask Kathy and she will be more than happy to show you!
Also, most of you know that during conference week we like to take care of our staff by feeding them a couple of different meals. Well, this upcoming conference week, we have hired a coffee truck to come provide our wonderful educators and staff with FREE coffee! Just one more thing we are able to provide with all of our fundraising! The coffee truck will be open for anyone dropping off students as well, however, it will only be free for school staff members. This local business was kind enough to give us a discounted rate for the morning so please support them if you can. Salted Road Coffee will be at the school Tuesday, October 22nd, from 8:00-9:30 a.m. Please contact Chrystal Schmidtke with any questions.
Walk N Roll
We’re excited for another year of Walk N Roll! We’re looking for volunteers!! We need a Parent to lead the walkers from Bigelow Park this year. We also need 1-3 volunteer to help greet walkers and coordinate snacks and prizes on Walk N Roll mornings. Interested in helping? Please contact Casey Wilson.
October is Walk to School Month!
The City of Olympia in partnership with Intercity Transit and the Olympia School District proclaimed October as Walk to School Month! Students who walk to school benefit from physical activity, and come to school more ready to learn.
Join us on October 9, for Roosevelt’s first Walk N Roll to School Day of the year and celebrate International Walk to School Day with students all around the world!
Choose from two meeting locations:
• 8:35 A.M at Bigelow Park
• 8:35 A.M. at Olympia Little Theater
Go to one of the meeting locations and walk or roll to school with your friends.
If you live too far to walk from home, don’t worry, you can drive to one of the meet-up locations, park, and walk along with us.
We can’t wait to see you there!
Roosevelt is Walking N Rolling to school all year long! Save the dates.
Oct. 9 International Walk to School Day, Nov. 13, Dec. 11, Jan. 8, Feb. 12, March 11, April 1, May 13 National Bike to School Day, June 10
Spirit Wear
We are excited to bring back Spirit wear this year! We currently have an order open and it will stay open until October 14th. You can order online here. When items are ready, they are delivered to the school, and PTA Volunteers deliver the items to your student! Watch for a flyer in Blue Folders as well! Questions? Contact
PTA Garden
Hello families! You have probably noticed the large, bare square of space in the front of the school and wondered to yourself, “What is happening there?”. That area has been the Roosevelt Time Garden, which we are gearing up to rebuild now that construction is done! A community member is taking the lead on creating a new, beautiful garden complete with benches and pathways. We will be having a planting party in late October, date TBD. Currently we are seeking people to help with planting or with hardscape equipment and experience.
Please contact Maggie Sinclair if interested in getting involved.
Yearbook
We're always looking for photos for the yearbook! If you are volunteering in a classroom event, or all school event, please consider checking a camera out from Kathy Chavez at the office and snapping some photos! Please make sure to let Kathy know what you are photographing and who the teacher is. Once you're done, just turn the camera back into Kathy and she will upload any approved photos taken! Thank you for your help in making the yearbook great! Online sales will be available next month! More information to come.
Questions? Contact Aniysa Zuchowski
Let's Get Social!
Are you on social media? We are!
While social media is sometimes annoying at best, it can also be a great tool for communities to share information. This year, we aim to use it as such, so watch for more information coming your way from the Roosevelt Elementary School - Olympia, WA facebook page. We have some fun "Around the School" series planned and an exciting historical discovery to share later in the year. The stories of Roosevelt are ready to be told, so make sure to follow along.
In addition, our PTA has an additional Facebook page, Roosevelt Elementary PTA, and that's where you'll find additional details of our events, and possibly even a parenting joke - or two. We're in this together, so let's stay connected.