We, the community of St. Ignatius School, in the tradition of Mother Marie Rose and St. Ignatius of Loyola, provide a faith-centered Catholic education guiding God’s children toward building a just and compassionate world.
Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
Thanksgiving Mass: Thank you for your generosity during our Thanksgiving food drives for Our Giving Table and St. Vincent DePaul. Our students enjoyed sharing what they are thankful for at our Thanksgiving Mass last week led by our Kindergarten and 5th grade students!
PEACE- As we head into the second week of Advent focused on peace, it’s a great time to help our families learn what we’ve been up to in assisting students with developing social-emotional skills. Last year, our Learning Support Committee of teachers developed a school-wide problem-solving model to help students strengthen their skills. After a year of piloting and creating supporting materials, we’re excited to introduce the PEACE Problem Solving Model across all grades. PEACE guides students to recognize their feelings, use calming strategies, understand what happened, communicate clearly, and find solutions. Check out the program in this ***informative newsletter*** from our school psychologist, Mrs. Chambers. Be sure to ask your student about PEACE and how it works!
Monday Mass: Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation, is on Monday, December 8th. We will have a school Mass at 9:30 AM led by our staff specialists. Since Monday is a Mass day, no special dress passes may be used. Students must be in uniform for Mass. As always, parents are encouraged and welcome to attend. We look forward to celebrating our Heavenly Mother Mary with you on Monday!
Star Testing: This week and next, we are in our second round of Renaissance Star standardized testing. We are so incredibly proud of the tremendous growth many of our students are showing in reading and math. We are grateful for our families supporting their students’ schoolwork and study habits on the home front. Our students have been working hard learning and growing this first trimester!
Feast of St. Nicholas: Students left out their shoes for the Feast of St. Nicholas today! Santa’s elves made a quick trip through the school to leave a small treat for all of our students including a prayer card of St. Nicholas, chocolate coins, stickers, candy cane, and an orange. St. Nicholas was known for his secret generosity. May we find ways to be generous with our time and talents throughout the busy Advent season.
Serving, Learning, & Growing: The students have been busy learning about Advent along with plenty of academics. Our preschoolers made their family photo posters to celebrate their families. Our kindergarteners made beautiful glittery angels and their own nativity scenes. In first grade, the students travel with bells on their shoes and their sparkling Christmas trees are adorning the hallway. Our second grade class of singing elves on their hallway bulletin board is simply adorable. Our third graders are busy learning multiplication. Our fourth graders created Advent wreaths with their hands on their hallway bulletin board. The fifth graders are studying idioms and learning to multiply with decimals. The sixth graders studied warm and cool colors in art class designing beautiful waves of color. The seventh graders adorned their hallway board with reflective poems written on ornament shapes. The eighth graders assembled this week’s Transition Projects lunches and helped the kindergartners write letters to Santa. The University of Portland nursing students taught a lesson on the digestive system to our middle school classes in their last week with us for the term. Our students continue to strive for excellence in all they do!
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Giving Tuesday Update: Thank you to the many families that contributed to our Giving Tuesday event on December 2nd. So far we have raised $83,590, just over half-way to our milestone goal and from being able to install a new scoreboard over the winter break! It’s not too late to donate to this project. Please tell your friends and family to donate to **Under One Roof** as every dollar makes a difference! Earn one fairshare hour for posting this link to your social media: Under One Roof
Join us in keeping Dillon Hall thriving for generations to come.
Grandparents and Special Friends Day: We invite all of our Grandparents & Special Friends to watch the final rehearsal for our Christmas Program*.* Guests may arrive at 9:30 AM for the 10:00 AM performance on Thursday, December 18. **Our Grandparents and Special Friends may enjoy sweet treats with coffee, tea, or water before, during, or after the Christmas Program performance. Then our special guests may take a tour of our school and see their students' classrooms. We need volunteers to donate reception items. If you are willing and able to help out, please sign up through Track it Forward to bring in a dozen store bought cookies or other needed reception items Please drop off cookies, sweet treats, other reception items by Wednesday, Dec. 17. Coffee will need to be delivered the morning of Dec. 18. **Earn a fairshare hour and treat our guests to delicious desserts!
All students need to be in uniform at school on Thursday, December 18 for our Grandparents and Special Friends Day;** no special dress passes may be used on that day. For our evening performance for all families and friends on Thursday, December 18, students may wear dressy, school appropriate clothing with no jeans, shorts, or leggings as pants. Shoulders must have sleeves and clothing length must nearly reach the top of the knee.
Aspire, Believe, Celebrate: Our school auction will take place on Saturday, April 18, 2026. Our school auction will continue to be called Aspire, Believe, Celebrate. Our theme reflects our school’s mission in that we Aspire to develop students committed to building a just and compassionate world for all. Believe in our students’ gifts and talents. Celebrate our students’ accomplishments along the way. We need to solicit sponsors and procure items. If you know of a business willing to sponsor our auction or donate an item, please use this linked form. **Family procurement** may be submitted anytime on or before Friday, March 6th. You may directly donate your $50 procurement requirement or ask for the procurement to be charged to your FACTS account. If you plan to donate an item with a value of $50 or higher, then please consider choosing an item from the following categories: restaurants, activities, hotel or AirBnB stays, backyard BBQ, entertaining, or gardening items.
Christmas Stocking Stuffer of a Special Dress Pass Booklet: We will offer families the opportunity to purchase a special dress pass Christmas themed booklet for your students. Each booklet contains five special dress passes that students can use during the month of January! Limit one booklet per student. Submit your order here:https://forms.gle/vcKWeteAvgadE9bNA
You may select to pay by check or through your FACTS account. Checks must be received in the office by Tuesday, December 16. Booklets will be sent home in sealed envelopes on Thursday, December 18.
Advent: If you are seeking some meaningful ways to celebrate Advent as a family, look no further than our St. Ignatius Church Advent Calendar with suggestions for each day of Advent. Together, we can build a just and compassionate world for all throughout Advent and the Christmas season.
1st Sunday of Advent Calendar.pdf
Thank you to the MANY families that are putting together a Christmas bag for a student at the Community Transitional School!
Please have your bag under the Christmas tree in the school main hall no later than Tuesday afternoon, December 9th. Bags will be delivered to the school on Wednesday!
The sandwich making and driver schedule is posted through the end of the school year. Sign up today to help: https://tinyurl.com/schoolwideservicesignup
Help to fill our pantry!!! Purchase bars or lunch size bags of chips and send in to the office. You can also take a look at our wish list: https://tinyurl.com/TRANSPROWISHLIST
Thank you for your ongoing support of this school wide outreach!
In the event of an emergency or weather closure the FlashAlert system delivers information to subscribers in realtime. Subscribers receive emails and “push notifications” through a free phone app. There is no cost to our families to subscribe. Click to sign up or to check that your information is current: https://www.flashalert.net/id/ignatius
St. Ignatius closures will always be listed on local news broadcasts, school social media, and an email will be sent.
The following days in December are Christmas special dress! Friday, December 12 Friday, December 19
Students can wear their favorite holiday sweatshirts, sweaters, socks, earrings, hats, etc. Jeans are OK (without visible rips, tears and holes), no pajama pants.
The winter uniform exchange will take place the first week in January after Christmas break.