September 5th, 2025

What a great start to the new school year! Our classrooms are buzzing with energy, full of excited students ready to learn and achieve amazing things. We're so glad to have everyone back.

These first few weeks have been focused on setting a strong foundation for success. We're busy assessing students' skills, teaching and reviewing school expectations, and practicing our daily routines. This groundwork ensures we can all have a smooth and productive year.

Thank you to all the families who were able to join us for our Open House. It was wonderful to see so many of you connect with teachers and other families. Your support makes a huge difference, and we're looking forward to an incredible year of learning and growth together!

Announcements:

Kindergarteners start school on Monday 9/8/25 with a half day schedule released at 12:30pm every day until September 26th. Kindergartners will start a full day schedule on 9/29/25.
Preschoolers start school on Wednesday 9/10/25!
Be sure to make sure your student's registration is up to date in our system including emergency contacts.
We will use class dojo for our main mode of communication as a school and for each classroom. If you have not signed up yet please do so.
In case you missed our Middle School Open House presentation PLEASE take some time to review it HERE.
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!

PBIS At Dorena

PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, it is our school wide system for creating a sage and positive environment where all students can learn and succeed. The system focuses on teaching, modeling, and rewarding appropriate behavior.
At Dorena this looks like:

Clear Expectations- simple rules for Being Safe, Respectful, and Responsible that are applied throughout the school, such as in the classroom, in the hallways, cafeteria, and on the bus.
Teaching- we spend the first few weeks of school and after each break actively teaching and practicing these expectations.
Positive reinforcement- Students are recognized and rewarded for following the rules with:

Panther Pride Tickets- tickets that can be used to buy stickers from Mrs. Pixton or their classroom teachers, exchange for small prizes or treats from the student store or classroom stores, buy gifts for their family members at our Holiday Store in December, or put towards a classroom drawing (pulled every other week) to earn a prize.
Good News Referrals- Students who go above and beyond demonstrating expectations can receive a Good News Referral from a staff member or school volunteer. Once a week, these referrals are entered into a drawing where the winner gets to play Plinko for a special prize or priviledge (including lunch with the principal 🤩). For our Middle school students, one Good News Referral is worth 30 points towards their end-of-the-year Campout!
At the end of each month we celebrate all of our students who have shown significant growth in following school expectations or are models in following school expectations with a school wide celebration such as a School Dance party, Movie and popcorn in the Gym, Field Day, Staff Vs Student Basketball game, and more.

This system allows for us to know which students might benefit from "some" support to more "intensive" support with their behavior so we can ensure that every child feels supported to make good choices.

Week 9/8-9/12
Kindergarteners 1st day of school, release at 12:30pm

Full day for 1st-8th grades

Early Release for all 12:30pm

Preschool Begins!

Panther Pride & Hat Day!

Panther Pride Drawing!