2025 Scheduled Closures

Thurs Jan 2, 2025 – Reopen for Thursday 1/2 and Friday 1/3
Monday January 20, 2025 – Closed for MLK Jr. Day
Monday February 17, 2025 – Closed for Presidents’ Day
Monday March 24, 2025 through Friday March 28, 2025 – Closed for Spring Break
*Sunday April 6, 2025 – TOUR / OPEN HOUSE 10-11:30AM. We are at 7618 SE Duke St. Children and family members are welcome! (No pets, please.)
Friday April 11, 2025 – Closed for Professional Development (note: this is different from PPS’s Professional Development Day)
Monday May 26, 2025 – Closed for Memorial Day
Thursday June 19, 2025 – Closed for Juneteenth
Monday June 30-Friday July 4, 2025 – Closed for Summer Break
Friday August 29, 2025 – Closed for In-Service Reset Day
Monday September 1, 2025 – Closed for Labor Day
Thursday-Friday November 27-28, 2024 — Closed for Thanksgiving
Monday December 22, 2025-Friday January 2, 2026 – Closed for Winter Break

Community Building/Bonus Dates

This date should read April 19, 2024

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Tours/Open Houses. Curious about having your child come play in our space? Come visit for a tour. It’s very casual. Come for as much or as little as you like. The owner will be ready to show people around and answer questions.

  • Next Tour / Open House: Sunday August 11, 2024 from 10:30am-12pm.

OPEN TO CURRENT FAMILIES

  • We will host a Flashlight Night on Friday XXXXXXXX.  Up to ten children attend from 6-9pm, while we serve up pizza, vegetables, and glowing activities.  It’s $40 per child.  The children come ready with a change of pajamas, a toothbrush/toothpaste, and labeled flashlight.  Current families, send us a message via ProCare if you are interested in your child attending. 🙂

If It’s Snowing or Icy…

PLEASE NOTE: In general during snow storms we follow Portland Public Schools (PPS) Inclement Weather Information in terms of weather-related delayed openings and closures.

If It’s Smoky…

We’ve adopted the following guidelines using Air Quality Index (AQI) metrics as our guides. We use the AQI as gathered from IQAir, type in “97206” for the zip code, and look at the data collected at the three nearest stations (Brentwood Darlington “PurpleAir” station, anonymous; Southeast Flavel Street, “PurpleAir” station, anonymous; Portland Lane Middle School, “AirNow” station, Oregon DEQ). We use the highest reading from those stations.

  • If the AQI outside is above 100, we will stay inside, limit the use of fans, and limit the opening of exterior doors.
  • If the AQI outside is above 150 and your child is exposed to the smoke >10 minutes on your commute from home to school, please wear a head covering (a hat or scarf for their head to reduce the entrance of smoke into the building).
  • If the AQI *inside* is above 100 for more than 15 minutes and not trending better, then we will potentially close as our space is no longer representing a cleaner or safer environment than other spaces.

The General Rhythm of the Year

January tends to be cold and dark. Please continue to dress your child in layers as we still try to go outside for a few hours each day.

February starts to get lighter and brighter. Mid-month, valentines are completely optional. In the interest of minimizing disruption, we ask the following *only if your child desires to make Valentines* (again, they are optional):

  • make one for every member of the group (typically ~20 children; we can provide a list of names if desired); and
  • give them to a teacher by the morning of February 14th.

In the back of the school we create bags for each children and distribute said Valentines accordingly. We then put bags into cubbies depending on the day of the holiday and the individual children’s schedules.

We try to do Parent-Teacher conferences this month.

March has spring break; we take a week to rest and hit reset or tackle larger projects.

In April the days get noticeably longer.

May brings warmth, water play, and sunblock waivers (sunblock is considered a medication).

June, July and August tend to be a mix. In some ways it’s an easy and relaxed season: the children are settled and comfortable with the rhythm. On the other hand some of the older children can feel nervous about the upcoming idea of kindergarten. We sometimes have days of intense heat (we have air conditioning and tend to stay inside when the heat gets extreme). We sometimes have smoke (see above guidelines). We expect climatic conditions to continue to magnify; we will continue to adapt. We close for the week that contains 4th of July. We also try to honor children who are moving on from our program.

On the Friday before Labor Day, we close the school and have a work party. We deep-clean the school and hit reset on all the cubbies and labels and systems in anticipation of the new children.

September is a dynamic month. While we are a year-round school with rolling admission based on availability, we tend to have the most change the week after Labor Day. There are often many big feelings that arise as the new 2-year-olds adapt to the new space, teachers and rhythms. *If you want to get the team a treat (favorite beverages listed on our /team page), September is the month to do so.* By the end of the month, most of the children have often settled in.

October can feel lovely. All things pumpkin-y abound.

By November we re-enter mitten-mode, encouraging layers and stringing up the icicle lights on the porch.

December rounds out the calendar year. We typically close for the last 10-14 days of the month.

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