Blog Posts

Updates 9/27/24

9/27/2024

Picture Day on October 1st
Picture Day for our On Campus program is scheduled for Tuesday 10/1. Our photographer, Alexis Shaeffer has had 4 kids attend Harvest Ridge. She is a local, natural light, photographer who loves to capture genuine smiles!
Order forms were sent home Thursday. Please print the order form above if you did not get one. Thanks!

Yearbook Photos
Have any great pictures from this school year? Our Yearbook team would love to see them! Please share any photos that you have of classroom events, field trips, after school clubs, sports, or anything else school related to help provide content for the 2024/25 yearbook.
Click here to share photos for the yearbook.

Board Meetings 101 on Tuesday 10/8
Ever wonder what happens at our board meetings? Interested in how you can get involved with the school? Come check out Board Meetings 101 to get a rundown of the role of the board and how our board meetings support out school! This meeting is intended to give explainers on the typical things that our board of directors discuss at meetings and show how anyone can participate. Our goal is to get more people interested in attending our meetings, as well as getting people interested when we have board member openings.
Board Meetings 101 will be held on Tuesday 10/8 at 5:30 pm on our campus. See you there!

Save the Date: Harvest Festival on Thursday 10/24
This year's Harvest Festival will be on Thursday 10/24. The Harvest Festival includes Carnival Games, Face Painting, Costumes, Crafts, and so much more!
This event takes a lot of parent volunteers to make happen. If you're interested in helping out with the Harvest Festival, please reach out to our PTO by emailing [email protected].

Mobile Library On Campus on Monday 9/30
The Placer County Library will be bringing their mobile service to our campus on Monday 9/30. Students will have the opportunity to visit the library during the school day to check out materials. Students will need a library card in order to check out books. Please complete an application to receive a card (link here). Once you receive your card, you can leave the "keychain tab" card with your teacher so that your student can check out materials whenever the library is on campus!

Venmo Payments Reminder
Just a reminder that all payments being made for PTO sponsored school events need to include the Student's Name, Student's Grade, and the Event.
Ex: Suzy Q, 5th Grade, Overnight Field Trip
This helps ensure that the money going to the PTO Venmo is being applied to the right student for the right purpose. Thank you!

Volunteer/Chaperone Paperwork
Parent Volunteers must meet the following requirements before they can volunteer with students:

All volunteers must be fingerprinted and receive background clearance;
All volunteers must have a Tuberculosis (“TB”) Risk Assessment signed off by a health care professional or a negative TB test on file with the school; and
Parent drivers for field trips must have a Parent Driver Packet on file with the school EACH YEAR. Parent Driver forms are destroyed at the end of each school year, and must be resubmitted the following year.

Parents who wish to volunteer must complete all items listed below:

Chaperone Agreement (note: This must be completed each year)
Live Scan Fingerprinting (note: This only needs to be completed once)
Parent Driver Application (note: This must be completed each year)
TB Risk Assessment

Updates 9/20/24

9/20/2024

Picture Day on October 1st
Picture Day for our On Campus program is scheduled for Tuesday 10/1. Our photographer, Alexis Shaeffer has had 4 kids attend Harvest Ridge. She is a local, natural light, photographer who loves to capture genuine smiles!
Order forms will be going home next week!

Pick Up - Update
Last week, we sent out reminders for our Drop Off and Pick Up procedures. I wanted to say Thank You for all of your efforts in making sure that students can be picked up and dropped off on our campus safely. There was a noticeable difference this week with how smoothly our parking lot was running.
One thing that has been brought to our attention is the "tension" building on Old State Hwy for the cars that are trying to enter the parking lot. From what we understand, families coming from Taylor Rd onto Old State Hwy have been lining up, waiting to get in the lot. Families coming from I-80 onto Old State Hwy, have then been "cutting off the line" that is coming from Taylor Rd. This has led to cars not letting each other in, and has caused some backups on Old State Hwy.
This is obviously an area that our staff can't monitor, so we are relying on our families to be able to work together to be able to enter the lot. We would recommend that if you are coming in from the I-80 side, and if you see a line of cars coming in from Taylor trying to enter campus, you go down to the end of Old State Hwy and make a U-turn to then enter the line of cars.
We understand that everyone wants to be able to pick up their children from school as soon as possible but remember that on a bad day, we can get every kid off campus in less than 10 minutes. Taking the little extra time to make sure we are entering safely and not blocking traffic makes a huge difference.
Thank you!

Save the Date: Harvest Festival on Thursday 10/24
This year's Harvest Festival will be on Thursday 10/24. The Harvest Festival includes Carnival Games, Face Painting, Costumes, Crafts, and so much more!
This event takes a lot of parent volunteers to make happen. If you're interested in helping out with the Harvest Festival, please reach out to our PTO by emailing [email protected].

Mobile Library On Campus on Monday 9/30
The Placer County Library will be bringing their mobile service to our campus on Monday 9/30. Students will have the opportunity to visit the library during the school day to check out materials. Students will need a library card in order to check out books. Please complete an application to receive a card (link here). Once you receive your card, you can leave the "keychain tab" card with your teacher so that your student can check out materials whenever the library is on campus!

Venmo Payments Reminder
Just a reminder that all payments being made for PTO sponsored school events need to include the Student's Name, Student's Grade, and the Event.
Ex: Suzy Q, 5th Grade, Overnight Field Trip
This helps ensure that the money going to the PTO Venmo is being applied to the right student for the right purpose. Thank you!

Volunteer/Chaperone Paperwork
Parent Volunteers must meet the following requirements before they can volunteer with students:

All volunteers must be fingerprinted and receive background clearance;
All volunteers must have a Tuberculosis (“TB”) Risk Assessment signed off by a health care professional or a negative TB test on file with the school; and
Parent drivers for field trips must have a Parent Driver Packet on file with the school EACH YEAR. Parent Driver forms are destroyed at the end of each school year, and must be resubmitted the following year.

Parents who wish to volunteer must complete all items listed below:

Chaperone Agreement (note: This must be completed each year)
Live Scan Fingerprinting (note: This only needs to be completed once)
Parent Driver Application (note: This must be completed each year)
TB Risk Assessment

Updates 9/13/24

9/15/2024

September Key To Success - Confidence
Our motto for this school year is "Unlock Your Potential with Keys to Success." Every month we will be emphasizing a character attribute that we want our students to focus on as a key to success.
In September, we are focused on Confidence. We have discussed and provided examples of what it means to be confident during our morning announcements. Today was a fantastic example, as the entire school got to watch our students delivering their Student Council election speeches. It takes a lot of confidence to deliver a speech in front of the school!
Thank you for your support at home in teaching your students about confidence!

Pick Up - Update
Earlier this week, we sent out reminders for our Drop Off and Pick Up procedures. I wanted to say Thank You for all of your efforts in making sure that students can be picked up and dropped off on our campus safely. There was a noticeable difference this week with how smoothly our parking lot was running.
One thing that has been brought to our attention is the "tension" building on Old State Hwy for the cars that are trying to enter the parking lot. From what we understand, families coming from Taylor Rd onto Old State Hwy have been lining up, waiting to get in the lot. Families coming from I-80 onto Old State Hwy, have then been "cutting off the line" that is coming from Taylor Rd. This has led to cars not letting each other in, and has caused some backups on Old State Hwy.
This is obviously an area that our staff can't monitor, so we are relying on our families to be able to work together to be able to enter the lot. We would recommend that if you are coming in from the I-80 side, and if you see a line of cars coming in from Taylor trying to enter campus, you go down to the end of Old State Hwy and make a U-turn to then enter the line of cars.
We understand that everyone wants to be able to pick up their children from school as soon as possible but remember that on a bad day, we can get every kid off campus in less than 10 minutes. Taking the little extra time to make sure we are entering safely and not blocking traffic makes a huge difference.
Thank you!

Save the Date: Harvest Festival on Thursday 10/24
This year's Harvest Festival will be on Thursday 10/24. The Harvest Festival includes Carnival Games, Face Painting, Costumes, Crafts, and so much more!
This event takes a lot of parent volunteers to make happen. If you're interested in helping out with the Harvest Festival, please reach out to our PTO by emailing [email protected].

Mobile Library On Campus on Monday 9/16
The Placer County Library will be bringing their mobile service to our campus on Monday 9/16. Students will have the opportunity to visit the library during the school day to check out materials. Students will need a library card in order to check out books. Please complete an application to receive a card (link here). Once you receive your card, you can leave the "keychain tab" card with your teacher so that your student can check out materials whenever the library is on campus!

Venmo Payments Reminder
Just a reminder that all payments being made for PTO sponsored school events need to include the Student's Name, Student's Grade, and the Event.
Ex: Suzy Q, 5th Grade, Overnight Field Trip
This helps ensure that the money going to the PTO Venmo is being applied to the right student for the right purpose. Thank you!

Volunteer/Chaperone Paperwork
Parent Volunteers must meet the following requirements before they can volunteer with students:

All volunteers must be fingerprinted and receive background clearance;
All volunteers must have a Tuberculosis (“TB”) Risk Assessment signed off by a health care professional or a negative TB test on file with the school; and
Parent drivers for field trips must have a Parent Driver Packet on file with the school EACH YEAR. Parent Driver forms are destroyed at the end of each school year, and must be resubmitted the following year.

Parents who wish to volunteer must complete all items listed below:

Chaperone Agreement (note: This must be completed each year)
Live Scan Fingerprinting (note: This only needs to be completed once)
Parent Driver Application (note: This must be completed each year)
TB Risk Assessment

Supply Lists
Check out the Supply Lists for our classes:

Kindergarten - Ms. Staton
1st/2nd Grade - Mrs. Feickert
3rd/4th Grade - Mrs. Wallgren
5th/6th Grade - Mrs. Sardella
7th/8th Grade - Mrs. Silski

Updates 8/30/24

8/30/2024

Data Confirmation
If you have not already done so, please log into your Aeries Parent Portal to complete the data confirmation process for the 2024-25 school year. Take a moment to ensure that your contact information is up to date, INCLUDING YOUR CURRENT EMAIL, allowing us to make sure that we have the best information in Aeries & Parent Square to reach out with. Please have this completed no later than September 6th.
Note: We've gotten a lot of feedback that the Aeries App has been hit or miss when trying to complete Data Confirmation. Please try to complete this on a computer instead of your smartphone. Also, ensure you're using the Parent Portal Link (above) or you can follow the link by going to our Website, clicking on the "Parents" tab, and then clicking on the Aeries link.

Treetop Ropes Course Field Trip on 9/13
Come and join us at the Treetop Adventure Park for a fun day of climbing, soaring, and team building!
Where: Treetop Adventure Park - 725 Granlibakken Rd., Tahoe City, CA
When: Friday, September 13th
Who: All students and parents too!
What: Ropes course/zip line fun! Spend the morning climbing and soaring through the trees from 9:00 am-12:00 pm. The exact start and end times will be slightly staggered by grade level. Parents are welcome to join in the fun! Bring a lunch to picnic afterward. K-4 will be done by 12:00, but you are welcome to stay and play. Parents are responsible for transporting and supervising their children. The cost for the K-4 session is $35 for students, $45 for adults.
Students in grades 5-8 will participate in team-building activities from 9:30-11:30 pm. They will return for a picnic lunch and then soar through the trees from 12:30-3:30. The exact start and end times will be slightly staggered by grade level. Parents are welcome to participate in the ropes course portion. The cost for the afternoon session is $45 for both students and adults. Please note that any student age 7 or younger will need to have a parent participating with them on the ropes course.
How: Complete this waiver (one needed per family) and bring your payment (cash or check made out to HRCCS- No Venmo!) To your teachers when we return from IS on 9/3. We will accept the waivers and payment through Thursday 9/5. We will also send home waivers on 9/3 as well in case you don't want to print one up.
Why: Because it's a super fun way to start off the school year!

No School/Campus Closed on 9/2
There will be no school and our campus will be closed on Monday, 9/2, in observance of Labor Day.

Orientation Video
Thank you for such a fun Orientation Day! It was great seeing all of our students back on campus again.
In case there were family members that weren't able to attend, here is a link to the Orientation Video that we shared with all of our classes.

On-Campus Instruction Beginning 9/3
We will return from Independent Study to our On Campus Instruction starting Tuesday, September 3rd. Our gates open at 8:00 am and our school day will start at 8:15. If you are planning on walking your student to class on the first day, please plan on arriving early to try and find parking. Our parking lot is small, so you may need to find a space in Downtown Newcastle and then walk to our campus.
Kindergarten students are released at 1:00 pm, and 1st-8th grade students are released at 2:30pm. Please have your last name placard visible on the dash of your car so that we can bring your students to you. Do not get out of your car, and use the two lanes to pull forward as much as you can.

PTO Meet & Greet on September 4th
Welcome back to school! Come and join the PTO for a morning meet and greet on Wednesday, September 4th at 8:15 am. If you are new to our campus, or have been with us and are looking to get involved, this is a great way to come meet other On Campus Families and see what the PTO has to offer!
We'll have a regular PTO meeting after school on September 4th as well, so come join us as we go through the PTO meeting agenda and discuss ways to help fundraise for our On Campus Program this year!
Back to School Night on 9/5
Our back-to-school night will start at 6:30 pm on September 5th. All parents are encouraged to attend to hear directly from the teachers about the latest, as well as what to expect, for this school year. Teachers will have two separate sessions in case you have multiple students with different teachers. The first session will go from 6:30 - 7:00 pm, and the second session will go from 7:05 - 7:35 pm.
Back-to-school night is set up for parents only, so please do not bring your students. This allows the parents and teachers to focus on the information being presented without distractions.

Volunteer/Chaperone Paperwork
Parent Volunteers must meet the following requirements before they can volunteer with students:

All volunteers must be fingerprinted and receive background clearance;
All volunteers must have a Tuberculosis (“TB”) Risk Assessment signed off by a health care professional or a negative TB test on file with the school; and
Parent drivers for field trips must have a Parent Driver Packet on file with the school EACH YEAR. Parent Driver forms are destroyed at the end of each school year, and must be resubmitted the following year.

Parents who wish to volunteer must complete all items listed below:

Chaperone Agreement (note: This must be completed each year)
Live Scan Fingerprinting (note: This only needs to be completed once)
Parent Driver Application (note: This must be completed each year)
TB Risk Assessment

Traffic Delays on Old State Hwy (Update!)
PG&E has been doing roadwork on Old State Hwy near the Post Office and is expected to continue through the first week of September. In order to reduce the impact on traffic delays, the roadwork isn't supposed to begin until after 8:30 am each morning. The afternoons, however, will be a little trickier, as the crews won't be able to stop and both Harvest Ridge and Newcastle Elementary School release at 2:30.
In order to avoid delays, we highly recommend using Taylor Road to access Old State Hwy.
Supply Lists
Check out the Supply Lists for our classes:

Kindergarten - Ms. Staton
1st/2nd Grade - Mrs. Feickert
3rd/4th Grade - Mrs. Wallgren
5th/6th Grade - Mrs. Sardella
7th/8th Grade - Mrs. Silski

Cross Country
We have coaches! Monica & Elliot Coupe are returning to coach for the Fall 2024 season.
Cross Country is available for all 4th-8th grade students. Click here to sign up!

Updates 5/24/24

5/24/2024

Hello Harvest Ridge Families,
I don't know how it happened so quickly, but we have found ourselves looking ahead at the last week of the school year. I wanted to take a second to say Thank You for such an incredible year. From watching our Hybrid Program look forward and honor tradition, to our Home Study program truly come alive at their new campus, there were truly so many things to celebrate.
I hope you all have Summers filled with whatever combination of "eventful" or "rest" that you need, and we look forward to seeing you in August!
Sincerely,
Rick Ornelas
Monday May 27th - Campus Closed for Memorial Day
There will be no school and our campuses will be closed on Monday, May 27th in observance of Memorial Day.
Enjoy the day with your loved ones, and don’t forget to think about those who served and sacrificed. Happy Memorial Day!

Fall Enrichment Sessions - Sign Up Now!
Come check out & Sign Up for our Fall Enrichment sessions!
Our returning families get first access to sign up for our Fall Enrichment sessions. We are starting off with Hansel & Gretel the Musical, Kinder Create Birds, Sewing, and Create Class Paper Art.

Placer High School Volleyball Camp
Come check out the Placer High School Volleyball camp June 24th-27th! Camp is open for all incoming 4th-9th grade students.
The camp will emphasize individual fundamental skill development as well game strategies, teamwork and practice organization. Each camper will receive a camp t-shirt.
For more information on how to register, click here.

May 17th, 2024

5/17/2024

Monday May 27th - Campus Closed for Memorial Day
There will be no school and our campuses will be closed on Monday, May 27th in observance of Memorial Day.
Enjoy the day with your loved ones, and don’t forget to think about those who served and sacrificed. Happy Memorial Day!

Art Gala on May 23rd!
Come and join us for our Art Gala at our Main Campus on May 23rd! There will be Food, Fun, and lots of Art!

Placer County Library Summer Reading Program

Placer High School Volleyball Camp
Come check out the Placer High School Volleyball camp June 24th-27th! Camp is open for all incoming 4th-9th grade students.
The camp will emphasize individual fundamental skill development as well game strategies, teamwork and practice organization. Each camper will receive a camp t-shirt.
For more information on how to register, click here.

PNC Nature Camps

Updates 5/10/24

5/10/2024

Art Week May 13th - May 16th
Next week will be Art Week for our On Campus Program. Students will be working on different art projects all week long! It takes many hands to make Art Week happen, so please contact your classroom teacher to ask for ways to get involved!

Art Gala on May 23rd!
Come and join us for our Art Gala at our Main Campus on May 23rd! There will be Food, Fun, and lots of Art!

Placer County Library Summer Reading Program

PNC Nature Camps

Updates 5/3/24

5/3/2024

2024 Rotary Teacher & Student of the Year
Congratulations to our 2024 Rotary Teacher & Student of the year recipients: Chris Wallgren and Chloe!
Mr. Wallgren is our RSP teacher and works with students that have very specific needs and goals. He makes all students feel like a priority and makes learning fun! Chris works with students on both the Home Study and On Campus programs and is vital to our school community as a whole. Thank you Mr. Wallgren for all that you do to make Harvest Ridge a special place!
Chloe was with our Home Study program last school year and came to our On Campus program this school year. She immediately became involved in Student Council and her positive attitude & kindness have made her a friend to everyone on campus (including out staff too!). Chloe has a positive impact on everyone that she comes in contact with and has made a lasting impact on our school as she moves onto high school next year. Thank you Chloe for being such an amazing presence!

Come for the PTO Meeting...
We will have our last PTO meeting of the school year on Monday at 2:45. Come and help plan our end of the school year events and start planning for the 2024/25 school year!

...And stay for the LCAP Community Meeting!
Right after the PTO meeting we will have an LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan) Community Meeting. We will review the purpose of the LCAP and discuss goals as we prepare the next cycle of the LCAP for 2024-2027. We would love your feedback!

Paint Night on 5/7 Canceled
Unfortunately, Paint Night has been canceled. Thank you to all of those who signed up and worked on planning the event!

Updates 4/12/24

4/15/2024

LCAP Parent/Staff/Community Survey, 2023-2024
Thank you for your support of our school. Harvest Ridge strives to continuously engage parents, students, employees, and the community to monitor the progress of our goals to improve student achievement and school services.
The Board and school leadership are committed to ensuring our resources are used to meet the needs of all students. Our Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) addresses the school’s vision for student learning, outlines actions and annual goals, and demonstrates how the school’s budget supports those goals.
As an involved school partner, you are invited to share your input and suggestions to help us evaluate our offerings and inform decision making for our LCAP for the upcoming school year.
The survey is organized into three categories representing the over-arching goals and areas of feedback for our school: Providing high quality instruction, providing a positive school culture, and Facilities/Parent Input/Enrichment. Please share your thoughts about current conditions at our school and make suggestions for improvement.
This survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. All responses are confidential. The survey will be open through Friday, April 19, 2024.
Please click here to access the survey.

Yearbook Custom Pages
Hello families. We are busy putting the final touches on the yearbook. Thanks to all of you who have contributed pictures and helped make the book special. With Treering, families may customize pages at the beginning of the book for FREE. This is a really cool way to solidify the years' memories for your children. These pages need to be completed by April 28th. Please see the flyer for more information. Thanks!

2nd/3rd Tier Improvement Committee Meeting
Come and join us! We'll be meeting on Monday April 22nd at 2:45 at our main campus.
Those who have been on our main campus know that our 2nd & 3rd tier surfaces need a lot of love. We're ready to get things moving to get those spaces improved for our students to use! Come join us and lend your expertise in construction, grant writing, and engineering to help us advise our board of directors with planning on improving these areas.
If you are interested in joining this committee, or need more information, please email Rick Ornelas at [email protected]

Save the Date - Paint Night! Paint Night on 5/7
Paint Night at Crooked Lane will be May 7th from 5:30-7pm with Amiee who is an HR parent. We will be painting an ocean landscape. It is beginner level for anyone 8 years and older! The cost is $30 per person.
Come join us!
Click here to RSVP

Yearbook Photos Needed
Our yearbook team needs your help! Please share photos that you've taken of your students, afterschool clubs, sports, etc. to help provide content for this year's yearbook.
Click here to share photos for the yearbook.

Updates 3/22/24

3/22/2024

2nd/3rd Tier Improvement Committee
Those who have been on our main campus know that our 2nd & 3rd tier surfaces need a lot of love. We're ready to get things moving to get those spaces improved for our students to use! Come join us and lend your expertise in construction, grant writing, and engineering to help us advise our board of directors with planning on improving these areas. If you are interested in joining this committee, please email Rick Ornelas at [email protected]

Spring Break 3/25 - 4/1
Our campuses will be closed for Spring Break 3/25-4/1. We will resume school on Tuesday, 4/2.

Save the Date - Paint Night!
Mark your calendars! Our PTO will be hosting a Paint Night at Crooked Lane on May 7th. More details to come!

Yearbook Photos Needed
Our yearbook team needs your help! Please share photos that you've taken of your students, afterschool clubs, sports, etc. to help provide content for this year's yearbook.
Click here to share photos for the yearbook.

Save the Date - Bingo Night!