Qquirrh Elementary Happenings (Principal's September Newsletter)

We encourage you to visit SKYWARD often to check grades and school lunch balances. While visiting the SKYWARD Family Access site, please make sure your account information is accurate. Please update your phone numbers, email addresses, and/or emergency contacts as they change throughout the school year.

TRANSLATE SKYWARD INTO ANY LANGUAGE
Watch this short YouTube video to find out how. [Traducir SKYWARD al español. Mire este vídeo de YouTube para ver cómo.]

SAFE WALKING ROUTE UPDATE
Bromley Road, which many of our students use when walking to and from school, is currently under construction. The good news is that it should be completed in just a few days, but for now, it’s disrupting our usual safe walking route.
During this time, we kindly ask that students avoid Bromley. Instead, they should cross with the crossing guard in front of Oquirrh School, then head north on Paddington until they reach 70th South. From there, they can turn west and cross at the crosswalk light. Please take a moment to talk with your child about this temporary route so they’re familiar with the change for the next few days. Your help in keeping everyone safe is much appreciated! Thank you for your support and understanding.

SCHOOL COMMUNITY COUNCIL ELECTION, SEPTEMBER 16-19
We are excited to announce the upcoming election for our School Community Council. At Oquirrh, the council is a vital committee that is comprised of of 4 parents, 1 teacher, and the school principal, that meets four times a year to discuss some of the needs of the school. By law, there must be 2 more parent members than school staff. Our purpose is to review school data, make essential decisions about safe walking routes, allocate School Land Trust funds, and discuss other crucial school-related issues. Council member terms are 2 years, and they must re-apply for their seats at the end of the time period, so half the parent seats are up for re-election each year. Teachers are also voted by their peers and serve for 2 years as well. School community members that have students in the school may nominate themselves or others for open seats. If we have more candidates than we have open seats, we must hold an election, with members being voted on by the school community. We sent the papers home asking for nominees in the Back-to-School packets, and we have 3 candidates who wish to occupy 2 open seats; therefore, we will be holding an election September 16-19 in the main office. There will be a ballot box in the office near our visitor log. All votes must happen in person.
Election Details:
Seats Available: 2
Candidates: 3
Voting Period: September 16-19 (Monday to Thursday)
Location: Ballot box in the main office
If you are in the school, we encourage you to participate in the voting process by turning in your ballot. The results will be announced on Friday, 9/20, and the first meeting with the new council will be held on September 24th at 4:30 PM in the media center.
Meet the Candidates:
Shanna Anderson (current committee member- 7 years) I like to be on the School Community Council so that I can be involved in my child's education. I love getting to know the administration and the teachers. I love finding ways to help our school. I understand the Land Trust program and I enjoy finding ways to stretch the money we receive and help out the school in innovative ways.
Mindy Van Dyke (current member- 2 years)
Alicia Abbott (new candidate)

PTA COLOR RUN FUNDRAISER, SEPTEMBER 20, 6-7:30 PM
Oquirrh Elementary will have its first ever COLOR RUN FUNDRAISER! This will be a 1 mile walk or run (on the field behind Oquirrh Elem.) open to students and family members. Participants will have fun colorful powders thrown on them throughout the Color Run path. Please RSVP for the number of PARTICIPANTS in your family (do NOT include people attending to only watch) so we can plan how much colored powder we will need. Donation is NOT required to participate in the Color Run. REGISTER HERE! This is our main fundraiser to help us through this school year. The money raised allows our students to go on field trips, have book fairs, receive FREE school shirts (Kindergarteners), and participate in activities throughout the year! We can't do this without YOU! Classes can earn prizes as they reach average donation levels per student, and school-wide prizes will be given at the Color Run event to celebrate donations and see if we met our goal of $7,000. Donations are now open. DONATE HERE <<<share with family & friends. We encourage participants to wear white shirts and goggles/sunglasses. Hot dog dinners will be available for sale. Need more info? Info flyer HERE. Class and whole school prizes flyer HERE.

SCHOOL PICTURES ARE COMING, SEPTEMBER 26
Get your smiles ready for school pictures! Information will be coming home with your students. Make Picture Day easy by prepaying online at BellPhoto.com with Prepay Code: oquirrhefall24. Makeup date for fall pictures will be Wed., November 20.

OQUIRRH FAMILY LEARNING CENTER PRESCHOOL BEGINS SEPTEMBER 9
Children who have turned 4 as of September 1, 2024 are welcome to join our Family Learning Center Preschool. Classes will be offered for free two days a week beginning Monday, September 9. Each child must have an adult with them for each session in order to attend classes. Sign-ups for the 2024-25 school year are happening now. Contact the office (801-565-7474) to register your child.

JORDAN DISTRICT PRESCHOOL<< WE STILL HAVE ROOM!
We’re excited to offer another year of a Jordan School District Child Development Center Preschool program at our school! Families who are interested and want more information or to register should visit THIS LINK. See this FLYER for more information (also available in the office).
¡Ofrecemos preescolar! Las familias interesadas que quieran más información deben visitar jcdc.jordandistrict.org para registrarse. También tenemos folletos con más información disponibles en la oficina.

PARENTSQUARE: JORDAN SCHOOL DISTRICT'S NEW COMMUNICATIONS TOOL
ParentSquare is an awesome communication platform created to streamline home-to-school communication. Parents in ParentSquare have the ability to choose the way they prefer to receive messages, whether it's email, text, or app notifications. It also allows parents to select the frequency in which they receive messages, whether it's an instant message they get as soon as the school has sent it, or they can receive them daily at the end of the day. There are three types of messages: Posts, which come across as a news feed similar to Facebook or other social media platforms. The second type of message is direct messages. These are meant for one-to-one communication between parent and teachers. The third type are alerts. These are our traditional messages that we've sent about snow day closures or emergency situations at the school.
Parents can sign into ParentSquare at parentsquare.com, set your notification preferences, your language preferences. All of your contact data is synced from Skyward, which is nice because you complete registration for school every year and update your contact information. Then to get signed into ParentSquare, you can either download the app– there's an iOS or an Android app available through your app store. You can download the app, or if you choose not to sign into ParentSquare, you'll still receive emails and texts. However, if you do choose to sign in to ParentSquare, you'll get to select, do I want to receive an email or a text or both, and how often do I want to receive those? Questions? Listen to a short Supercast HERE (scroll down to play audio).

INFORMATION FROM MRS. ROBINSON
Our school social worker, Mrs. Robinson, has supported many students and their families for many years. As a result of her work, she has put together a list of helpful resources for parents. Her June 2024 year-end summary letter is here: ENGLISH or EN ESPAÑOL
Please see her 2023 letter at THIS LINK, and a flyer about free parenting coaching at THIS LINK. 

BULLYING PREVENTION SEMINAR RECORDING
Jordan School District recently sponsored a one hour bullying prevention seminar through the Cook Center. Several of our school staff members watched it and found it very useful. The seminar was focused on helping families understand bullying and how to support their children. A recording of the seminar is available for free at THIS LINK.

WELLNESS CENTER and IN FOCUS
Oquirrh will support our students socially and emotionally this year using In Focus curriculum. Students face unique challenges, and well-being life skills are critical during these formative years. This curriculum which focuses on well-being helps students develop the skills they need to navigate challenges and build a foundation for success.

Oquirrh opened a fully-staffed Wellness Center in August 2019! Watch a short introduction video HERE to see more about how it works. A 10-minute visit to the Wellness Center gives all students an opportunity to regroup, recharge, and proactively manage their emotions in healthy ways. We understand that learning can be hard work and sometimes the social-emotional part of a child's day can be especially challenging. A trip to the Wellness Center can provide needed support and a safe place for students to prepare to get back to work in their job as students and friends in our school community. In Focus is a curriculum we use to help our students: Learn about emotions and how to manage them; know how to set positive goals and achieve them; develop social skills, such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving; and understand how stress can affect their well-being and learn how to deal with it.

PTA
2024-25 PTA Memberships are available for $5 in the school office or by electronic membership payments. This is a great way to help support our school to help fund field trips and extra curricular activities for our students.

Thank you for your continued support. Please call us with your questions at 801-565-7474 from 8:15-3:45, Monday through Friday.

Jennifer Ludlow
Principal