The Hawk's Nest
Hansen Community Newsletter
April, 2025
A Note from Mrs. Jones
Grateful!
As we get closer to the end of the school year, I want to take a moment to say how much I have LOVED my first year of being the principal at Hansen! I am looking forward to many more years together, and I am so proud of the hard work our students have done this year. I LOVE being a HAWK! I am deeply grateful to all of our families for partnering with us and entrusting your children to us each day- we take our jobs very seriously and love watching our kids make progress every day.
We are working hard to solidify a master schedule and place our students in their classrooms for next year. It looks like almost all of our staff members are scheduled to return. We are slated to have 16 general education classrooms next year, and we are working now to solidify what the configuration at each grade level will look like.
I will be working over the course of the next month to assign teachers to classrooms for next year. Once that information is finalized, I will let you know who is teaching in each of the classrooms. While I won't be able to share student class placement until later in the summer (due to fluctuating enrollment through the summer), I am excited to go into the summer with many of the details sorted out for next year.
Testing
The month of May has a lot of important academic testing. Please make every effort to have students at school on testing days. Their results are so much better when they take the assessment at the same time as their classmates. All assessments will occur in the morning, so being on-time and well-rested is very important for all of our students.
Assessment Schedule:
May 6th: MAP Reading 1st-5th Grades
May 7th: MAP Reading Kindergarten
May 8th: MAP Math 1st-5th Grades
May 14th: MAP Math Kindergarten
May 14th-15th: SBA for ELA 3rd-5th Grades
May 20th-21st: SBA for Math 3rd-5th Grades
May 27th-28th: Science Test for 5th Grade
Announcements
STEAM Night!
We have an incredible evening of family activities involving Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math coming up in May! This event is not one to miss! On Thursday, May 22nd, all Hansen students and families are invited to join us at 5:30PM in the cafeteria for a free dinner! Stay for a fun night of exploring robots, wildlife, and hands-on science. We have community partners and organizations from all over Thurston County joining us to share their expertise with the Hansen community. It's going to be an amazing night! Don't miss out!
If you would like to share your own STEAM career, organization, or other connection, please reach out to Ms. Hattie by May 9th. [email protected]
Field Day!
Field Day 2025 is coming soon! This year we will celebrate field day on Friday, May 30th. We will need a lot of volunteers to help make this day special for our kids. All volunteers will need to be cleared through the OSD background check.
Linked here is where you can fill out the background check form. Please don't wait too long- it typically takes a few days to get the background checks cleared.If you are background checked, please use this
sign-up Genius to pick a slot where you can help at Field Day. Field Day is a long-standing tradition at Hansen, and it is going to be such a fun time to celebrate our 2024-25 school year! Join us!
School Snacks
The school day is long, and kids tend to need a snack once a day. We are looking to help provide snacks to classrooms as much as possible. If you are able, please consider donating snacks to our school. We will distribute them to classrooms as needed. We are specifically looking for:
Goldfish crackers
Pretzels
Smart Pop popcorn
5th Grade Celebration!
All current 5th grade families! Mark your calendar for Friday, June 13th. We invite ALL families to join us as we celebrate our 5th grade students completing their years as elementary school students. We will have some fun, active, creative, and celebratory games for the kids as part of their celebration. Additionally, we will have a certificate ceremony that we would really love families to attend and support your 5th grader. Please plan to attend the ceremony on June 13th at 2pm.
If you are still interested in helping plan, attend, and help facilitate the activity time during the school day on June 13th, it's not too late! Reach out to Ms. Minder via email or parent square.
[email protected]
Yearbooks are for sale!
It's time to buy your yearbook! Presale pricing ends at the end of the month.
Hardcover: $20
Softcover: $15
Purchase your yearbook using this link.
New Kindergarten Open House
We are hosting an Open House for our incoming Kindergarten students on Thursday, May 8th at 6pm. If you or anyone you know has a student who will be 5 years old by September 1st, 2025, please join us! We will spend some time talking about some important kindergarten skills, take a short tour of the school, visit classrooms, and play on the playground. Spread the word!
Reminders
Staff Appreciation week!
May 5th-9th is Hansen Staff Appreciation week! Our HCC has put together a wonderful week of celebrating our amazing staff here at Hansen.
To sign up to donate for Staff Appreciation, please click here.
To sign up to help with setup/clean up throughout the week, please click here.
Library Books!
As we near the end of the school year, it is time to look hard and find any library books that are missing. Mrs. Moore, our librarian will be contacting families regularly if your student has any missing books. There are three ways to handle a missing library book or fine:
1. Pay the fine
2. Find the book (hopefully cheaper) and make a trade
3. Look around and find a book to donate to the library
If you have any questions regarding library books, please email our librarian at [email protected]
Music Concerts
We have some music concerts coming up that will be so fun to attend!
5th Grade Band
Capital High School
Wednesday, May 21st @ 6pm
5th Grade Orchestra Rehearsal
Thurgood Marshall Middle School
Wednesday, June 4th @ 5:30pm
Kindergarten Music Concert
Hansen Elementary School
Friday, June 6th @ 9am
1st Grade Music Concert
Hansen Elementary School
Friday, June 6th @ 10:30am
4th Annual All OSD Band Bash
Ingersoll Stadium (@ OHS)
Wednesday, June 11th @ 7pm
5th Grade final Orchestra Concert
Capital High School
Thursday, June 12th @ 6pm
Parent Square
At this point, we hope you all have received email notifications to sign up for Parent Square. This is the platform that our school will use for school communications. If you do not sign up for Parent Square, you will continue to receive notifications based upon your Skyward preferences.
However, please sign up. This platform is amazing. It will allow you to keep track of all school communications and it will allow you to update your Skyward information with ease.
Here is a link to sign up for Parent Square.
Here is a link to learn more about Parent Square through the district website.
Financial Assistance Available
he Olympia School District Education Foundation provides support to families in need. With their support, we can help with:
- Rent and utility bills
- Clothing and shoes
- Eye exams and prescription glasses for students
- Transportation
- School Supplies
- School-related expenses
- Internet through Xfinity
- And so much more...
We can also provide grocery vouchers to Ralph’s or Bayview grocery stores and gas vouchers to help with transportation. Contact Family Liaison Lakia Hollis if you have questions. [email protected]
HCC/HAP News
Monthly Meeting
Please join us every month for the HCC and HAP parent meetings. You will see a reminder in each month's newsletter about the meeting date and time.
- Date: Tuesday, May 13th
- Schedule:
- HCC @6PM
- Principal's Report @6:45PM
- HAP @7PM
Both HCC and HAP will hear the monthly principal's report at 6:45pm. Please consider joining HCC and/or HAP. This is an excellent way for all community members to be a part of the wonderful things going on at Hansen!
Visit the Hansen HCC website here or email [email protected] to find out more information.
*If you cannot attend in person, please click here for either meeting to attend virtually
HAP email list
If you’d like to receive emails from the HAP Leadership Team regarding upcoming HAP events, donation and volunteer opportunities, please sign up by filling out our Google Form. We hope you will join us for the HAP parent meeting this month where we will be voting on our HAP Handbook during the meeting. Come at 6:45 to hear the principal's report and stay for the 7pm meeting.
For questions regarding HAP or how to be a part of the HAP lottery this spring, email [email protected] anytime!
Important Upcoming Dates
MAY: many testing dates- please refer to above schedule
May 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th: Early Release Wednesdays; Dismissal @ 1:50pm
May 8th: New Kindergarten Open House
May 13th: HCC/HAP meetings 6pm & 7pm; Dinner @ 5:30pm
May 15th: Author's Night 6pm @ Hansen
May 21st: 5th Grade Band 6pm @ CHS
May 22nd: Hansen STEAM night & FREE dinner @ 5:30pm
May 23rd - May 26th: NO SCHOOL MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
May 27th: School Resumes
May 30th: Field Day!