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CTUIR Fisheries Program Visits 3rd and 4th Graders at Washington Elementary

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Third and fourth grade students at Washington Elementary School experienced some exciting hands-on learning with a visit from CTUIR Fisheries in mid-April.

Representatives from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation program brought young and adult lamprey and Coho salmon for the students to see and touch. Students learned that lampreys have been living on Earth for 400 million years.

Shaun Montgomery, Assistant Project Manager for Umatilla Hatchery Satellite Facilities, said it’s effective when children learn through interactive experiences. He said 500,000 Coho salmon are released each year through the program. “We want young people to learn about the salmon recovery program the tribes are doing and how important it is to the environment and to the tribe’s first foods,” Montgomery said.

Due to the COVID pandemic, third and fourth graders missed out on the annual field trip to visit the fisheries site. Shawndine Jones, Walk to Language Teacher at Washington, said the school appreciates the staff from the program visiting the school for those students who missed out a few years ago. “Thanks to the CTUIR Fisheries staff, students enjoyed this hands-on experience and learning about the importance of salmon and lamprey,” Jones said.

Washington Elementary thanks these visitors for sharing their time and knowledge:

Aaron Jackson
Kanim Moses-Conner
Jerrid Weaskus
Shaun Montgomery

 

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Sherwood Starts Hot Breakfast in the Cafeteria Again

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Students at Sherwood Heights Elementary recently started eating breakfast in the cafeteria. This may not sound like a big deal, but it’s a welcome change for the school.

At the start of the 2024-25 school year, the school had a program called Breakfast After the Bell, which was mandated due to the high percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Due to the school’s large student population, it was impossible to fit all students in the cafeteria in the morning to eat breakfast at the same time. So, the school had to offer cold/to-go style breakfasts that students ate in the classroom. Breakfast was served after the first bell, so students didn’t start eating until 8:00 AM.

The school recently revised the breakfast protocol, serving breakfast earlier, starting at 7:30 AM and having students arrive at staggered times between 7:30 and 8:00. This way, they are able to accommodate all students who want to eat in the cafeteria.

TJ Presley, Sherwood Principal, said the recent change allows the school to provide hot breakfast options to students, and all food is served on a tray and eaten in the cafeteria. Presley said this has helped in other ways around campus, such as less mess in the classroom, less waste of food because students are choosing what they want to eat, less garbage , and less interference with instructional minutes during the school day.

“We are also hopeful that the hot meals will improve our attendance and on-time arrivals for the start of the school day,” Presley said.

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Sherwood Spurs are on their way to success!

 

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PELC Celebrates March Madness with Books

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College basketball teams and their fans across America were consumed by the March Madness basketball tournaments last month. But the Pendleton Early Learning Center was busy with its own March Madness!

For the fourth year in a row, the school staged its March Madness Book Battle, a competition to promote the love of books, reading and fun. The program is organized in much the same way as the big basketball competitions. First, the kindergarten teachers choose the Sweet Sixteen – 16 books they want to compete. Each classroom reads the books, then votes on which ones they like best, whittling down the 16 books to the Elite Eight.

Students in classrooms read the books again until they are down to the Final Four. Eventually, the competition comes down to two contenders. This year, they were Mortimer by Robert Munsch, about a boy who won’t be quiet and go to sleep, and Frankie by Mary Sullivan, about a new puppy who has to share with the dog already living in a house.

On the morning of Monday, April 7th, all classes read the two books for a final time and chose their champion. Then they waited for all the votes from all the classrooms to come in.

Teacher Rachele Johnson said the kids love getting to read two stories every single day, and reading the books repeatedly helps the students learn about intonation and punctuation. In the case of the Mortimer book, students were able to sing the song and thump their feet like the characters in the book.

“As teachers, we love to see their excitement about reading, and we get to read picture books that might not normally fit the themes we are doing,” Johnson said. Plus, teachers mix in math related to counting the votes and concepts like having your own opinion no matter what the group thinks, and having your favorite book.

So, who was the school’s March Madness Champion? It was Frankie by quite a lot of votes. It’s hard to compete with a story about a cute puppy.

 

Karen Demianew

Congratulations, Karen Demianew

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CONGRATULATIONS to Karen Demianew!!! She is the CTE Career Guidance Counselor of the year for the State of Oregon.Karen Demianew Karen Demianew

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Bus Routes 13 & 16 on April 10, 2025

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This morning, during bus route pick up and delivery, the driver of route 13 suffered a medical emergency. The driver was able to pull over safely, and Emergency Medical Services were contacted. Students were kept safe on the bus; a replacement driver was able to transport students to their schools. In a separate incident, route 16 was in an accident. The bus was rear-ended by a car. No student injuries occurred, and the students were safely moved to two different buses to transport them to their schools. We are grateful to the First Student drivers for keeping our students safe during these unfortunate events.

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McKay Students Artwork for District Art Show

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Students at McKay Creek Elementary have been creating artwork for the Pendleton School District Art Show in May 2025.

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Community Read-In at the PELC

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In early March, the Pendleton Early Learning Center celebrated its annual Community Read-In. More than 90 volunteers came to the school to read with the Kindergarten students. Volunteers included students from Sunridge Middle School, parents, grandparents, ALTRUSA members, law enforcement officers, and more!

 

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District Recommends New Sunridge Middle School Principal

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The Pendleton School District School Board will be asked at their next board meeting to approve the recommendation to hire Angie Horton to be the new principal of Sunridge Middle School, effective July 1st, 2025.

Horton is currently a principal in the Warrenton Hammond School District.  Horton has held Principal, Vice Principal, Behavior Support Classroom Teacher, and a 3rd Grade teacher positions in her district.  Before her time in Warrenton, she was a Child Treatment Specialist at the Grande Ronde Child Care Centre in La Grande.

Mrs. Horton attended Wallowa High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and business administration in 2001 from Eastern Oregon University, a master’s degree in Special Education in 2019 from Western Governor’s University, and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Western Governor’s University in 2022.

Mrs. Horton will officially take over as principal on July 1st.  She is replacing Principal, Piper Kelm, who is retiring effective June 30th.

Angie Horton

PHS CTE Thomas Feller

CTE Spotlight – Thomas Feller

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Pendleton High School
2025 CTE Month Spotlight

Meet Thomas Feller, Senior at Pendleton High School
He is taking classes in Robotics.

What do you enjoy about your CTE classes at PHS?
I enjoy the teacher and the tech. I’ve learned a lot from this pathway. I learned how to run 3D printers here, and now I run my own printer and print things for myself and my friends/family.

How are CTE classes making a difference in your education?
They are furthering my knowledge in this field. I knew a decent amount of things, but these CTE classes have helped me a lot.

Would you like to share anything else about CTE at PHS?
I would encourage new students to take CTE classes. They are great hands-on classes and teach you a lot of things about modern technology. These classes are my favorite ones in my schedule.

PHS CTE Thomas Feller

CTE AJ Nez

CTE Spotlight – AJ Nez

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Pendleton High School
2025 CTE Month Spotlight

Meet AJ Nez, Senior at Pendleton High School
She is taking classes in the Digital and Media Arts Pathway.

What do you enjoy about your CTE classes at PHS?
I enjoy being able to express my creativity in my work and being able to be my most authentic self.

How are CTE classes making a difference in your education?
I get to have a break from all my schoolwork to work on art. It is stress relieving so I’m not so foggy minded.

Would you like to share anything else about CTE at PHS?
PHS art classes have been my absolute favorite. Before high school, I felt I hadn’t been able to learn much about art and I felt put in a box. But now, I have learned so much in art class, and I get to use my creativity. I got to learn photography and work with Adobe software, which has definitely broadened my ability by a ton, and I discovered yet another medium I enjoy.

CTE AJ Nez

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Pendleton School District
107 NW 10th Street, Pendleton, OR 97801
Phone:  541.276.6711  Fax:  541.278.3208

The Pendleton School District assures that no person shall on the grounds of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability or income as provided by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related authorities, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any Pendleton School District sponsored program or activity.

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