Attendance
It’s extremely important for your student to be in school every day and on time for class. We start our day at 8am each morning. In the event that your student needs to miss school for any reason, please contact the Peninsula office at (503) 916-6275 to let us know.
Birthdays
We will have one special (and BIG) Birthday Party on Dia del Niño in May to celebrate everyone’s birthday. Students will be involved in planning and preparing for this special event. More information will be posted on our website as we get closer to the date. On your child’s birthday they will be acknowledged and appreciated but please save treats and special celebrations for after school events.
Breakfast and Lunch - Free for All Students
Supervised breakfast is served daily from 7:50 am – 7:55 am in the cafeteria. All students will enter the set of double doors south of the cafeteria doors (to the left if you are looking at the cafeteria doors). Students will go through the cafeteria line for breakfast then take it with them to class - or save it for snack
Classroom Expectations
We strongly believe that each student has the right to learn in a welcoming, calm, safe and supportive environment. Students have the right to a classroom where academic learning and community are at the heart of daily activity. In our classroom we'll use the Peninsula School Expectation to guide our community:
Be Safe
Be Kind
Be Brave
Be a Student
We believe that student voice is an integral part of building a strong community and plan to work collaboratively with students to build our community agreements.
Calming Moment
Students will be taught how to take a quick reset at their seat or in a special calming space in the classroom and use mindfulness strategies to reset their body and brain to get back to learning. Students can request these breaks or the teacher might suggest one if it looks like it might be helpful.
Communication
We believe that school is a partnership between the teacher, families and students. As a member of this partnership, we will be communicating with your family regularly regarding classroom academics & events, your child’s progress, learning opportunities and classroom needs.
To facilitate communication, this website will be updated regularly and the main page will function as our class newsletter. We will send regular Parent Square messages to gently nudge you to check the website so you know the latest about classroom learning and events.
Each Thursday, we will send home your child’s Peninsula Communication Folder. This folder will contain returned work and school communications. Please remove and look over student work and handouts. Send this folder back to school on Friday morning. We will collect and refill them throughout the week.
If you would like to check in or schedule a conference, you can reach me via email, Parent Square, or phone. See below for contact information.
Phones, Electronics and Toys
We follow the school policy regarding personal electronics and toys at Peninsula: students should leave these items at home. Phones and smart watches should be off and away for the duration of the day. Fidgets intended to help students focus must be part of a students education plan and/or prearranged.
Homework
Read daily.
30 minutes is appropriate, but adjust for your child and schedule
The type of text (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels, reading an ebook or a physical book) is up to you and your child.
Homework Options:
Family Games
Any app on the My.pps
We'll regularly send home extra worksheets and some may not be finished. Any unfinished work can be used as extra practice at home. Please check over your child's work, but these do not need to be returned to school.
We may send home unfinished work or project based work on occasion, but in general students will not have specific worksheets or assignments to complete at home. We will communicate any changes to this policy if needed.
Panther Paws
At Peninsula, one way we recognize students is with Panther Paws. These tickets are given when we notice students demonstrating our school and classroom values. Students can choose to bring Panther Paws home or collect them at school to be used for special privileges. Be on the lookout for these tickets and give your child lots of extra positive reinforcement when they come home.
Parent Teacher Conference
Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Monday, 11/24/25 and Tuesday, 11/25/25. Schedule signups will be shared as the date approches.
Snack
You are welcome to send your child to school with a healthy snack which students can eat at their first recess. Great snack options include: fruit or veggie, whole grain crackers, yogurt or trail mix. Please label snack containers with your student’s name. Students should not bring snack to pass out or share.
Teacher Contact Information
Ned Harkness
(503) 916-6275
Text via the Parent Square app
Email: eharkness@pps.net
Volunteering
There are lots of possible ways to help our classroom community. Here are a few ideas:
Room parent
Organizing class events & celebrations
Chaperoning on Field Trips
IMPORTANT: If there is any chance you’ll want to volunteer and/or chaperoning field trips this year, you MUST have a PPS background check on file. We highly recommend completing one early in the year, even if you are not sure about volunteering. They can take up to 2 weeks to be approved. (We have had situations where parents wanted to volunteer, but couldn’t because they didn’t have a background check on file.) To complete a background check go to: https://www.pps.net/volunteer
Water Bottles
Please send your students to school with a water bottle full of fresh water daily (no glass water bottles please). Clearly label your student’s water bottle with their first and last name.