May 6-10: Teacher Appreciation Week

Tuesday, May 7: 3rd grade FAST - Reading Testing (starting at 8:50 am until the end of the day)

Wednesday, May 8: 4th grade FAST - Reading Testing (starting at 8:50 am until the end of the day)

Thursday, May 9: 5th grade FAST - Reading Testing (starting at 8:50 am until the end of the day)

Friday, May 10: May PTA Meeting [7:45 AM]

Tuesday, May 14: 5th grade - Science Testing (starting at 8:50 am until the end of the day)

Thursday, May 16: 3rd grade FAST - Math Testing (starting at 8:50 am until the end of the day)

Saturday, May 18: End of Year Picnic [10:30 AM - 1 PM]

Tuesday, May 21: 5th grade FAST - Math testing (starting at 8:50 am until the end of the day)

Wednesday, May 22: 4th grade FAST - Math testing (starting at 8:50 am until the end of the day)

Friday, May 24: 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony [8:45 AM]

Monday, May 27: Memorial Day [No school]

Wednesday, May 29: Last day of school [Students dismissed at 12:55 PM]

School hours are 8:45 AM to 2:55 PM.

If your student arrives late, you must come into the front office to bring your student in.

Students can come on campus at 8:15 for free breakfast.

The Front Office is open from 7:30 AM until 3:30 PM.

If you need to pick up a student, you must bring your legal ID with a photo (driver's license or passport).

Families, we will be having a picnic to celebrate the end of the school year! Join us on Saturday, May 18th from 10:30 AM to 1 PM at the PE Field for food, fun, and family time. Light refreshments will be provided, but families are encouraged to bring their own food, drinks, blankets, and chairs to enjoy the day and festivities. Current and incoming students and their families are invited.

Date: Saturday, May 18, 2024

Time: 10:30 AM to 1 PM

Location: PE Field at Belcher Elementary School, 2215 Lancaster Drive, Clearwater, FL 33764

Parents, testing starts the week of May 6th. Make sure your student gets a full night's rest and eats a healthy breakfast to best prepare them for testing. Students can have breakfast at school starting at 8:15 AM. Testing starts promptly at 8:45 AM, so please ensure your children make it to school on time. Students have the whole day to finish their test. Therefore, if students are picked up early and are still in progress of completing their assessment, they will have to submit only the work that they completed thus far. Students who leave early, in the middle of testing, will NOT be able to return the next day to complete their assessment.

Tuesday, May 7: 3rd grade FAST - Reading Testing

Wednesday, May 8: 4th grade FAST - Reading Testing

Thursday, May 9: 5th grade FAST - Reading Testing

Tuesday, May 14: 5th grade - Science Testing

Thursday, May 16: 3rd grade FAST - Math Testing

Tuesday, May 21: 5th grade FAST - Math testing

Wednesday, May 22: 4th grade FAST - Math testing

The school year ends on Wednesday, May 29th. Pinellas County Schools (PCS) policy does not allow us to send medication home with students or store it for Summer Bridge.

Please arrange to come to school to pick up any unused medication, including inhalers and epinephrine devices.

Any unclaimed medications will be disposed of on Wednesday,

May 29th, 2024, at 12:00 noon without exception.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Students may not be dropped off at school prior to 8:15 AM. There is no supervision outside before 8:15 AM. Students may enter the cafeteria for breakfast or go to their classroom starting at 8:15 AM.

Students are expected to be off campus by 3:15 PM.

Please communicate any changes in your child’s dismissal process to their teacher and the front office.

If you need before or after school care, please see the Programs List attached below.

In the mornings, the Small Loop is open in the morning for drop off of non-PreK3/VPK students.

• Apply for special assignments and district application programs
• Change your address and provide two proofs of address to the school
• Link your student(s) and view report cards, schedules, grades, and attendance at https://focus.pcsb.org
• Please make sure you fill out the online forms for your student(s)
• Please complete all consent forms on Focus

Pinellas County Schools students, teachers, staff and substitutes ride PSTA buses for free. Our PCS community can take advantage of the free rides any time of day, all year long! You can ride PSTA buses and trolleys for free during winter break and all year round just by showing your Pinellas County Schools ID!

Emma and Gia showed off their smiles outside in April!

PreK3 and VPK students had a great time playing with bubbles outside for B day.

Summer Bridge provides engaging learning activities over the summer to prepare students for maximum success when the next school year begins. Most of all, Summer Bridge is designed to be fun for students. Students have continued to show impressive gains, with many students moving from “below proficiency” in reading, math or science to “at or near proficiency.” Most students who came to Summer Bridge already scoring “at or near proficiency” still showed promising learning gains.

Dates: June 3 - 27

Grades: Students entering kindergarten through fourth-grade

Days: Monday - Thursday
Hours: 8 AM - 2 PM

Closest Summer Bridge Locations: Eisenhower Elementary, Ponce de Leon Elementary, Plumb Elementary, Ridgecrest Elementary, and Skycrest Elementary. Summer Bridge assignments are made to your child’s current or designated school.

Transportation is available for eligible students!

In alignment with School Board policy, regular transportation is provided for eligible elementary students attending their zoned school or a designated feeder school if students live more than two miles from the school.

The school district may need to create new bus stops to accommodate students who enroll after May 1.

• If children can be accommodated at an existing bus stop, they will have transportation on Day 1.
• However, if a new stop needs to be created, transportation will be provided, but it may not be available until a few days after Summer Bridge begins.
• Schools that are 100% District Application Programs will have limited transportation areas of 2-4 miles from the schools.

Current students who live in a different county:

A Pinellas County address is required to use the Student Reservation System: https://reservation.pcsb.org. If your child currently attends a PCS school with a Special Attendance Permit (SAP), you will not be able to enroll using the Student Reservation System. For enrollment assistance, please contact Student Assignment.

Need Help Applying?

Contact Student Assignment at 727-588-6210 or StudentAssignment@pcsb.org

Have Transportation Questions?

Contact the Transportation Department at 727-587-2020.

Did you know you can pay tuition online for PK3 and VPK? Pinellas County Schools uses the service RevTrak to handle tuition payments in a secure and fast manner.

To attend VPK, all students must have a Certificate of Eligibility (voucher) from the Early Learning Coalition. Starting Jan. 1, please visit elcpinellas.org to apply for the voucher. Families must have the voucher at the time of enrollment at the school. For information about the Certificate of Eligibility, please call the Early Learning Coalition at (727) 400-4411.

Late registration is open!

Log into focus.pcsb.org and access the Student Reservation System to find out if your application was accepted.

If your child is entering VPK as a four year old in Fall 2024, they must have a Certificate of Eligibility.

Visit elcpinellas.org and complete the online application for a Certificate of Eligibility (voucher). For information, please call the Early Learning Coalition at (727) 400-4411.

2024-2025 Tuition Info

• VPK is a free, 540-hour program during the school year that is available at many elementary schools. Students attend free for three hours each day, Monday through Friday.
• VPK + 3 extends the VPK day an additional 3 hours so students attend for the full 6-hour school day. Tuition is $100 per week with a $100 non-refundable registration fee.
  
• Six sites offer free full-day programs with a Certificate of Eligibility (voucher)
  
• Families who qualify for free or reduced-price meals according to the annual Florida Income Eligibility Guidelines will qualify for free full-day VPK.
  
• PreK 3 and full-day VPK will be free for children of all full-time PCS employees at our elementary school sites. Our Employee and Community Preschool sites at Largo and Countryside high schools will offer a discount to full-time PCS employees.
  

Here is the updated calendar with the dates for enrollment: https://www.pcsb.org/cms/lib/FL01903687/Centricity/Domain/4/2023-2024-Registration-Dates.pdf

Belcher is a healthy school. Sweet treats are NOT permitted on campus for birthday celebrations. Thank you for your understanding.

Parents who would like to send snacks should call the school office or teacher to ensure the items are within the guidelines. School provided snacks must comply with the fat and sugar limits of the Pinellas County Schools Nutrition Standards and may not be Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value (soda water, water ices, chewing gum and certain candies) or consist of candy or dessert type items (cookies, cakes, cupcakes, pudding, ice cream or frozen desserts, etc.).

Every Friday, parents are invited to eat outside with their student in our recess area.

Reminders:

• Parents must bring their government issued ID with photo to be checked in at the office.
• Staff will escort parent and student to our outdoor recess lot at the front of the school.
• Students can either get lunch from the cafeteria or parents may bring lunch for their student.
• Once lunch has finish, it is the parent's responsibility to escort the child back to the front office to return to class.

No registration is needed.

The tutoring is free and will be held via Microsoft Teams. Each grade-level tutoring session will include a mini-lesson followed by time for homework help. This tutoring is available until the end of the school year.

To join a session, simply click the appropriate grade level/content area link listed below:

Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd Grade

Meeting Time: Tuesdays from 4:00pm – 5:00pm

Meeting Link: https://shorturl.at/dlIMR

3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade

Meeting Time: Wednesdays from 4:00pm – 5:00pm

Meeting Link: https://shorturl.at/dlIMR

Volunteers make a daily difference in students' lives and are the reason field trips, Great American Teach In, PTA, and so many other programs are possible.

Please Log Your Hours by 5/24

The final day to log volunteer hours for the 2023-2024 school year is Friday, May 24, 2024. Please go to focus.pcsb.org and log any hours that you have not yet entered for this school year. These logs are essential to showcasing our community and volunteer involvement and for auditing purposes.

School Store Volunteers

School Store is a year-long behavior incentives program that rewards students for exceptional behavior by allowing them to trade tickets for small items. We need Level 2 volunteers to escort students to and from class and help them trade in tickets for behavior rewards. We are looking for at least 1 volunteer for each morning slot, and 2 volunteers for every Friday slot. Only Level 2 volunteers are able to volunteer for School Store.

Sign up for a volunteer slot here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084AA9A72EA0F4C25-47628241-school

Spring Cleaning

Our Front Office accepts donations of new or gently used clothing and plastic bags to stock our supply of extra clothes for students in need.

Reactivate Your Account

To volunteer in any capacity, you must have an active volunteer account. The process of registering takes ~5-15 minutes and is very simple. To register, click this link: https://asd.pcsb.org/schoolwiresforms/volunteer/

Existing volunteers must reactivate after every summer to ensure their information is correct. Please use a desktop computer or a laptop, not a mobile device.

Link: https://focus.pcsb.org/volunteer/

Volunteer Focus Log-in Information:

Please use your assigned v.account and password.

Example: Login: v.smitha (usually last name, first initial, not case sensitive)

Password: Smith1973 (last name with the first letter capitalized, 4 digit birth year)

Interested in becoming a Level 2 Volunteer?

This is an optional additional level of background screening that is required when volunteering in a situation where you may be unsupervised with students such as field trip chaperones who are driving, overnight field trips, etc. View the locations and hours of our approved fingerprinting vendors, then follow up with our Family & Community Liaison at lamontj@pcsb.org 7–10 days after fingerprinting to verify your status.

Entering Volunteer Hours:

Every volunteer is asked to record ALL their volunteer hours in the Focus Volunteer System. EVERY hour counts whether you are in the classroom, helping at a special event, working on a project from home or participating in our PTA! These hours are reported twice a year and show the level of community support at our school.

Your help is needed! Just 30 minutes a week can make a difference in a child's life. Listen, encourage, be a friend to a child at a school closest to where you live or work. The Lunch Pals mentorship program pairs students with PCS volunteers who meet for 30 minutes once a week during the student’s lunch. Through one-on-one interaction and attention, this program encourages students to be more communicative, practice good behavior, and invest in their learning by having an additional adult to chat regularly with. Programs like Lunch Pals are not possible without empathetic, supportive adult volunteers. Mentors must be registered volunteers. If you are interested in being a mentor, please email lamontj@pcsb.org or call (727) 538-7437 ext. 2001.

Mentors must attend a 1 hour long workshop.

PTA will be selling t-shirts, hoodies, and other merchandise at the front of the school every Wednesday mornings. Payments can be made with cash or check.

PTA needs parents to keep our school running. PTA supports teachers, students, families, and staff throughout the school year with a variety of activities. You can become a member by simply placing $5 (or a check payable to Belcher Elementary PTA) in an envelope along with your name, your child/children's and their teacher's name(s). Bring it to school or simply send it in with your child. Visit https://www.pcsb.org/domain/1501 for more information.

SAC is a team representing various segments of the community: Parents, teachers, students, administrators, support staff, business and community partners. The SAC is responsible for strategic planning for the School Improvement Plan (SIP) and working jointly with the principal and staff after analyzing relevant data. The SAC helps determine goals within the plan and how best to achieve those measurable goals.

If you are interested in joining, please email lamontj@pcsb.org

Our School Store is a year-long behavior rewards program where teachers distribute tickets to students for demonstrating exceptional behavior in class. Students exchange the tickets for small toys or other items.

We are seeking small toys, books, packaged snack items such as bulk items of snack-sized chips, and other kid friendly items that students can shop for at our school store. Any donations can be turned in at the front office.