Dorena School Family

  May 11th, 2026 We are kicking things into high gear, this month we will wrap up all of our end of year testing and assessments. Please help us prepare kiddos for these tests by helping them to get plenty of sleep, and to school on time each day so that they don't miss testing time.  Announcements: Welcome all incoming Kindergartners, we will have Kindergarten Open House on Friday 5/15, at 5pm. Come meet the teacher, get a tour, learn about kindergarten at Dorena, and stay afterwards for our Family Night event. Our last family night of the year is Friday 5/15, 5:30-7pm! Come just us as we celebrate you and our students for all of the hard work and partnership this school year. The theme is happy and proud, we will have a big project we have been working on for months displayed, and lots of activities to just have fun. Dinner is on us!  5th grade goes to outdoor school this week! Please ensure they arrive at school on time each day so that they don't miss the bus over to ...

  May 4th, 2026 We are already in the month of May! We have only about 6 weeks remaining and it is going to go fast! We  have lots of assessments to get through, lots of learning, and so we also have lots of fun planned to celebrate our students for their hard work!  Announcements: We want to thank all of our certified teachers for all of their tremendous hard work for kids! This is teacher appreciation week!  It's MAY testing month! We have State Assessments, District Wide assessments, and benchmarking assessments. Lots of work for our students so that we can see how much growth they have made! Please help us with this testing by ensuring kids get to bed early and are at school everyday so that they can do their best and show what they know.  Energy drinks are not allowed to be consumed by students at school. If a student brings an energy drink to school we will ask that student to put it away and if it has been opened the student will be asked to throw it away...

  April 23rd, 2026 Thank you to all of our families for joining us for family conferences!  Announcements: We received a grant from the Cottage Grove Rotary club to implement a week of music! 4/27-5/1 our K-8th classes with receive 4 days of music lessons and a performance with each class on Friday 5/1. We invite families to come us in the gym! See times below. K/1- 1:10-1:40pm                             2nd/3rd -11:30-12:15pm                                4th/5th 12:15-1:00pm                               MS 1:40-2:25pm  We have been invited to CGHS for a Career Field day on 4/30. We will bus down to the high school where our students will get to see different businesses and programs in our community and at t...

  April 17th, 2026 The Spring Push: Learning & Fun! We are entering a high-energy season filled with: Assessments & Testing: Measuring all the incredible growth we’ve seen this year. Final Academic Standards: Reaching our last big learning milestones. Celebrations: Rewarding the students' hard work with some well-earned fun! A Friendly Reminder: With so much happening at school, keeping steady h ome and sleep routines is more important than ever. Students are most successful when they arrive well-rested and ready to dive in! Announcements: We have family-teacher conferences NEXT WEEK, so please ensure you have secured your spot to meet with your student's teacher. We will have early release BOTH Wed 4/22 AND 4/23. NO School Friday 4/24  There will NOT be Theater on Thursday, due to conferences.  We have one more week in our attendance challenge! 4th/5th is really rocking it and any class could win. The winning class will get to have a pool party on 4/27 at th...

  April 3rd, 2026 We had a full week despite a short week after spring break. Getting back into the routine (especially the bed time routine) and practices of school! After spring break can be fast and furious as the year starts to wind down, academics continue to ramp up and so does the fun!  Announcements: We have a FULL day of school this Wednesday 4/8/26, NO EARLY RELEASE, NO STEAM CLUB.  HUGE Shoutout the the Bentson family and Ollie for painting and planting our Dorena Planter in front of the school! It looks great!  We invite our families to come help us celebrate our work as a school. We have earned an award for our high levels of academic achievement, collaborative culture, and focus on learning. This award will be presented at the School Board meeting 4/6 at 5:30pm. If you or your student would like to have an opportunity to speak at the board meeting to share your positive experience just let us know so that we can plan for it. Thanks! Check this out! In a...

  March 20th, 2026 The alarm is muted, the backpack is tossed,  My sense of "due dates" is officially lost.  No pencils, no papers, no bus at the gate,  Just snacks and the couch—and a nap starting late. The math is forgotten, the essays can wait,   I’m diving headfirst into Spring Break! Announcements: Spring break has been extended by one day! WE will not return to school until Tuesday March 31st.  Just a heads up, we have identified cases of head lice within our school community. While head lice is an unfortunate common part of school life, staying proactive helps keep all our students comfortable and ready to learn. It would be so helpful if you could take a quick peek at your child's scalp, especially behind the ears and at the neck. If you do find lice, please begin treatment and let us know how we can support. Thank you!  We have upped the reward for our next attendance challenge which will include March and April. The class with the most p...