Principal Kate Barker
Dear Cherry Park Community,

It has been an honor to be a part of the Cherry Park community. Cherry Park is a place where students succeed at high levels and where families are involved. It is a place where we nurture our children and provide a safe learning environment. We try our best each day to provide a perfect setting for children to grow and bloom. Thank you for sharing your children. They are truly a gift to us.

One of our goals at Cherry Park Elementary is to serve and nurture all our students. We are committed to making every year an exceptional experience for all students. Our teachers work together tirelessly in order to impact their practice in ways that would lead to better results for student learning. Our goal is for teachers to engage in collective inquiry to identify essential student learning, create lesson plans, develop assessments, analyze scores and set achievement goals. Our focus is to ensure that our students receive the best instruction from an action-oriented team of teachers.

Your child's elementary school years are a special time in his or her life. During this time children undergo important developmental changes. It is also a time when children become more autonomous and they transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." It is my belief that parents are the first teachers of their children and they play a central role in their child's education. I invite you to participate in open, honest and continuous communication with your child's teachers to ensure a successful home-school partnership. I encourage you to tell our teachers about your child's needs throughout the year so that he or she has "THE BEST" educational experience.

There are several ways to keep "In the Know." For the latest announcements please make sure you check the school website on a regular basis. Please take time to read our bi-monthly newsletter, The Charger Chatter, as well as the PTA newsletter. Please check your child's Wednesday folder each week for important updates. Of course you are always welcome to call or email if you have questions.

As principal, it is important for me that my staff, parents and students become partners in this journey that we have embarked upon. It is essential that all of us come to school every day happy and ready to give it our best. A positive attitude will enable us to become problem solvers in a fun, nurturing environment.

The passion and dedication of our PTA has continually impacted our school. Our PTA is an amazing group of people who commit to focus their time, talents, energies and resources for our children's education and welfare. For the community, our PTA sponsors movie, BINGO, ice cream, and craft nights, to name a few activities. For the school, they support quality education by returning money from PTA sponsored fund raisers directly to the school for supplemental curriculum materials, field trips, music and PE equipment, special school programs, sports scholarships and much more. I encourage you to become an active serving member of our PTA.

Warmly,

Kate Barker

Stay up-to-date on all the fun events our PTA is planning for our kids this year! You can also get involved by attending the meetings or volunteering!

Registration for kindergarten (2013) will begin the first week in April.

CONNECT TO KINDERGARTEN EVENT: Connect To Kindergarten (formally known as Kindergarten Round-up) is scheduled on April 23. This is a time for you and your child to learn about kindergarten at Cherry Park. There will be two sessions that your family can choose to attend. The first session is 9:30-11:00 AM and the second session will be 6:00-7:30 PM. You can choose which sessions works best for your family's schedule.

Some of the topics will include:

*Registration
*Transportation and bus stops
*Introduction to our staff
*Curriculum that will be covered
*Behavior expectations
*How to prepare your child for school
*Tour of the building
*And... much, much more!

Current Kindergarteners Starting At Cherry Park:

We will look forward to meeting both you and your child. Cherry Park is excited to welcome your child to our school. You may be wondering how do I register my child? It is easy and our friendly office staff is ready to help. Please come to our office sometime between 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Our address is: 1930 SE 104th Portland, OR 97216.

We have a packet of information that will need to be filled out. You can either take the information and fill it out at home and return it when it is convenient for you, or you may fill out the information at our school.

Please bring the following when you register your child:

This document contains lots of important information about our school and its policies. Please read!

Student of the Month

Teachers will nominate two students from their class each month who are demonstrating that month’s life skill.
Students will receive a certificate at the monthly Spirit Assembly. Individual photos of students will be displayed in the hallway for the following month.

Charger Cards

Great schools have many volunteers! We need your help! Please click the link below to learn how you can get involved:

http://www.ddouglas.k12.or.us/en/node/3204

Would you like to check your child’s lunch account balance? This year it's easier than ever!

The staff of Cherry Park School believes that homework extends the time available for formal learning, promotes student self-discipline and responsibility, helps students learn how to manage time, and provides a link between home and school.