September 26th, 2025

Can you believe it's already the end of September? We've had a fantastic start to the school year!

This past month, we have successfully launched into our core reading and math instruction. Your students are already working hard, learning key foundational skills, and building stamina.

As we move into October, we'll continue to build on this strong foundation. Thank you for your continued support at home!

Announcements:

Kindergarten starts full days next week starting 9/29! They will now be released at 2:30 M, T, Th, F and at 12:30pm on Wednesdays.
We will start our classroom attendance challenges next week! For every school day that a class has no more than 1 student absent and/or 1 student tardy, they will earn a point. The class with the most points by the end of the month will earn a privilege. This month's privilege is an extra fun recess with popsicles, games, sidewalk chalk, and a bubble dance party.
Middle School students will start earning points towards the end of the year Campout next week! Middle School students can be awarded points by any Dorena Staff member for going above and beyond to be safe, respectful, and responsible. Students need to earn at least 167 points a week to be on track to earn the campout by the end of the year.
We are looking for pumpkin donations for our Dorena students for 10/31, if anyone has a lead on about 120 pumpkins that could be donated to our school, we would greatly appreciate it!

We had our first emergency drills this week and it went really well! We practice a sequence of all of our safety drills.

We start with Lockdown- we practice this drill so that we are prepared in case of an intruder or dangerous situation.
Second we practice our Earthquake drill- this helps allevaite the anxiety or fear with being prepared if an Earthquake were ever to occur.
Third we practice our

PE expectations:

PE is a state required standard, each student is required to participate in Physical Education elementary 120 minutes per week and middle school 145 minutes per week per state mandates.
Students need to wear or bring active shoe wear, this does not include, sandals, crocs, heels, or rain boots. Students can wear those choices to school but must bring an extra pair of tennis shoes to change into, this helps prevent injuries.

SVA Basketball Sign up are coming up!

Every Friday we show our Panther Pride by wearing a Dorena shirt or black and yellow/gold! We also are allowed to wear hats every Friday for a quarter or 3 Panther Pride tickets.
Check out a School Handbook for information regarding our policies!

Character Traits

We wanted to share an important initiative at our school focused on helping our students build the essential life skills of Self-Management. These are key social-emotional learning (SEL) skills that will not only help your child be successful in school but also as they grow and navigate life.

Our Focus: SEL Skills for Success

Each month, we focus on a specific character trait that is a core component of Self-Management. These character traits are grouped into four main SEL skill areas:

Emotion Regulation/Impulse Control
Social Skills
Responsibility
Organization & Time Management

We believe that as students demonstrate success and progress of these skills, they earn the privilege of becoming a Self-Manager (and eventually a Student Leader in middle school).

Self-Manager/Student Leader Privileges

Students who consistently demonstrate these skills throughout the week earn special privileges, such as:

Having special helper jobs in the classroom.
Earning more independent transitions to places like recess, P.E., or the library.

Even better, at the end of each month, all students who have earned the status of Self-Manager (or Student Leader) for three out of the four weeks will be rewarded with a fun "Donuts and Dodgeball" celebration!

This Month's Focus: Emotion Regulation/Impulse Control

Our character trait focus for this month is Emotion Regulation/Impulse Control. This is an incredibly important skill for all students!

Our learning targets for the students are:

"I can recognize when I'm feeling upset and use my words or tools to calm down/regulate."
"I can pause and think before I speak or act, even when I am excited or upset, and make an appropriate choice."

We encourage you to use these "I Can" statements at home to reinforce the skills we are working on at school!

Breakdown of the Self-Management Skills

Over the course of the year, we will be focusing on all the "I Can" statements that make up a successful Self-Manager. Here is a brief look at the skills we cover in each area:

Skill Area	"I Can" Statements (Learning Targets)
	Emotion Regulation/Impulse Control	I can recognize when I’m feeling upset and use my words or tools to calm down/regulate. I can pause and think before I speak or act, even when I am excited or upset, and make an appropriate choice.
	Social Skills	I can be a whole body listener when others are speaking. I can attempt to problem solve or get help from an adult. I can work cooperatively with others.
	Responsibility	I can ask for help when I need it. I can be safe, respectful, and responsible in all areas of our school. I can follow directions the first time. I can take care of all our school spaces and materials.
	Organization & Time Management	I can stay focused on a task with breaks if needed. I can complete my work. I can keep my school materials and personal items organized in my backpack and/or desk.

Week 9/29-10/3 Character Trait: Emotion Regulation/Impulse Control
Kindergarten starts Full days!

Early Release for all 12:30pm

Sticker Store
Panther Pride & Hat Day!

Bus Evacuation Drills