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!

 

Sherwood Heights Elementary has a new Principal and new Assistant Principal for the 2024-25 school year. Principal TJ Presley was previously the Assistant Principal. The school’s new Assistant Principal is Faith Lindley. They are focusing on these goals this year:

1. Building safety
2. Engaging learning environment
3. Academic growth

Presley said staff and student safety has always been a priority, but this year, in addition to the standard monthly drills for fire and lockdowns, the staff is emphasizing active supervision. This means adults have high awareness and move around when supervising students inside the building and on the playground. “We have 450 students in our school to monitor so we want people to say something if they see something unsafe so we can address it,” Presley said.

Goal number two is geared toward developing a fun, positive atmosphere where academic and social emotional growth are happening daily. Presley said Sherwood has a great staff to work with. The school’s leadership team, including himself, Lindley, Lisa Roberts, Child Development Specialist, and Taylor Wilson, Behavior Specialist, collaborate to develop a positive school climate.

To further academic growth this year, the school added 10 minutes of extra time to reading and math skills. In addition to Sherwood’s strong teachers and 17 dedicated paraprofessionals, other adults are supporting learning. Volunteers from Altrusa of Pendleton are at Sherwood every week to help students with literacy, students from Eastern Oregon University are providing support in classrooms and some students from Pendleton High School are volunteering in second grade. “Growth is happening,” Presley said.

Head Secretary Amy Kline said Sherwood’s new administrative team is great to work with and supportive of the staff. Every new school year, Kline said, “it’s always fun to see the kids grow into a new grade.” Rhonda Daggett, the school’s Assistant Secretary, said the start of the year has gone smoothly, and she looks forward to seeing the students who struggle realize success throughout the year.

Here’s to a great year, Sherwood Spurs!

To read more about Sherwood Heights Elementary, visit their website at https://ses.pendleton.k12.or.us/ or find them on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Some fourth graders at Sherwood Elementary spent some time in November learning about Veterans Day. In teacher Hailey Kendrick’s class, student groups were assigned a piece of reading on a branch of the U.S. Military. After reading the information and identifying the main idea and supporting details of the text, students had the opportunity to share their learning with each other by presenting the information they learned as a group.

Kendrick said students enjoyed learning about the different branches of the military and that while some were familiar with a few of the branches, almost all were excited about learning something new. “Additionally, many students were proud to share about family members and important people in their lives who are Veterans. They were able to feel a deeper connection and admiration for them through learning more about how they served our country,” Kendrick said.

Then, the students completed a craft honoring the American flag. Kendrick said the students really liked learning more about the American flag and its history and persevering through a fun yet challenging art project depicting the flag.

What does Kendrick hope her fourth graders take away from the Veterans Day lessons? “I hope students have an even deeper sense of respect for the people who serve our country and protect the freedoms we enjoy every single day. I also hope they are walking away with an understanding that the American flag is a figure that represents these freedoms and liberties, which is why we do certain things like standing for the national anthem, taking hats off when the American flag enters an arena or stadium and saluting the flag if they are comfortable,” she said.

Jacey Dirisu, another fourth grade teacher at Sherwood, also worked with her students to explore Veterans Day. Her students read an informational passage about one of the six military branches of their choosing (they worked on the U.S. Army as a whole class, for example) and then identified the main idea and supporting details from the text. After that, groups made a poster to represent what they learned and gave a mini-presentation to the rest of the class.

Dirisu said her students mainly loved making the posters because they were able to use their creativity and teamwork skills and that most of them put a lot of effort into this project.

What is one thing Dirisu hopes her students take away from this project? “I hope my students took away from this activity how important each branch of the military is in keeping our country safe.”