Happy to be an Otter!

Our AJJ Wee Otters are fortunate to come to school each day at a beautiful site full of wonderful resources and caring staff and parents. The 2012-13 year has been very successful. We have maintained an enrollment of around 60 students. Our Cal Fresh grant has offered healthy opportunities for students and families. The Umpqua Bank grant has helped us purchase supplies and new technologies such as iPads for each classroom. Also, the grant we received from Target is making our field trip to Erth's Dinosaur Petting Zoo at HSU possible. 

We are also working towards welcoming our future Otters and their families. Our Community Transition Team has been active the past several years. We have had health fairs, family fun days, puppet shows, etc... inviting children ages 0-5 to join our K/1 Otters in fun, educational activities. 

This year we have also started a weekly Mini Otter Play Time. Every Friday starting at 10:30 we meet in room 2 for a craft, snack, and play. The CTT committee is also planning to incorporate some of the 0-5 events into this play time as well. Those events will include movement activities such as dance, yoga, and basic ball skills. When the weather gets nicer, Mini Otters will be able to explore the K/1 playground and the garden area. This is a great way for our future Otters to build social-emotional skills while they and their parents build lasting relationships and become familiar with what it means to a part of the Wee Otter family. All children ages 0-5 are invited to attend Mini Otter Play Time. Flyers and notices will be posted regarding specific CTT events. 

Little Otters are going on a Pumkin Walk!

Room 1 Otters, 

along with our local 0-5 kids and families 

are going on a pumpkin walk.

Join us in Room 1

Friday, October 19th @ 9:00 am

we will walk to the nearby Humboldt Redwoods Park

or

tiny Otters may choose to meet at the park

Pumpkins, 

donated by John from Camp Grant Ranch, 

will be hidden amongst the trees

for children to find and claim as their own. 

Each student will get to take their pumpkin home.

Come get together will friends, 

make new friends, 

& enjoy the beautiful surroundings 

that our WeeOtters are so fortunate to have access to.

See you Friday!

Wee Otters got Cal Fresh!

The students and families at Agnes J Johnson School are excited about a new grant that we received from Cal Fresh. The funds from this grant are offered for a one year year period, but the benefits will carry out over the years to come. We will be able to offer our Wee Otters hands on opportunities to learn about health and nutrition, provide fresh snacks daily to each student, and three free, healthy meals to all AJJ families throughout the year.

The AJJ garden program will be receiving a makeover, creating a more sustainable, useful garden that will be used to provide healthy snacks to students, as well as experience they will be able to take with them. The garden will have an upgraded watering system, making it more maintainable, even during off-school seasons. We will also be purchasing the supplies to create a compost system that the students will be responsible for running, organic fertilizers, and a new refrigerator to keep our harvests fresh for snacks. 

Students will have opportunities to visit nearby farms, farmer markets, and grocery stores. The grant money will cover the most expensive aspect of such field trips, transportation. These experiences will give students a first hand sense of what goes into the foods they eat, where they come from, and how they get there. It will help them make more educated choices as to what they eat. 

The grant is also funding the hands that will run this new educational focus. We have been able to hire a healthy snack coordinator who not only purchases the daily snacks, but educates students about healthy eating and lifestyle choices. We are also able to pay our gardening teacher to work with the students in the garden, teaching them about the plant life involved, and the processes required to grow a healthy garden. The grant is also paying for a Cal Fresh Liaison who will be available to connect qualifying families to the Cal Fresh food program as well as plan the three family dinners.

We are extremely grateful for this opportunity and are looking forward to the continuous rewards for our families. Our first family dinner will be coming in October. We hope to see many of our WeeOtters their for a fun evening of visiting and sharing healthy foods.

Welcome Back To School!

We are excited to begin the 2012-13 school year!

Thank you to all the parents, staff, and work crews who have put a great deal of effort into improving our curb appeal and organizing our space to prepare for a great beginning to a new year.

We welcome all Wee Otter families to come see the work that has been done, mingle with staff and families and meet our new Superintendent / principal on Wednesday, August 15th.

Room 1 will be open to new Wee Otters at 10:00am.
    Come meet Mrs. Rovai & see your classroom.

Boosters meet at 11:00am. Come say hello and let's put faces with names.

Lunch will be provided from 12:00-2:00