Bridger Creative Science News

BCSS Community,

I want to take a moment to emphasize my commitment to all of our students and the values that guide our work—our SPAACE values of self-awareness, purpose, agency, adaptability, collaboration, and empathy. Inclusion and diversity are at the core of what we do, and we are dedicated to making sure every student feels seen, valued, and empowered.

A big shout-out to our Librarian, Laura Axon, our Instructional Coach, Jennifer Mayo, and our MidLevel Archivists for welcoming Superintendent Armstrong, the PPS Archivist, and other special guests for the unboxing of our Year 2000 time capsule! This is just the beginning—we have more time capsule events coming up, and we can’t wait to share them with you.

Thank you all for the work you do every day to make BCSS a great place for our students.

Tarehna

February is Black History Month

Bridger Creative Science Post Office February 3- February 14th

Winter SUN February 3 - March 21

February 4 Mid Level Students Early Released at 3:15

Please add this to our smore!

• Proposed 2025-2026 Calendar

  We know that the community is always deeply invested in our annual district calendar. This is a draft of the calendar for the 2025-26 school year. We would appreciate your feedback as we finalize it. Please use this form to provide us with your input. Thanks for lending your voice to this important effort!

  Proposed 2024-2025 School Calendar

• Feedback Form

The Post Office is Coming Soon!

It's that time of year again! The second annual Bridger Creative Science Post Office (15th year in this building!) will be open for business starting Monday, February 3rd and run through Friday, February 14th.

Here’s how it works:

1. Buy a student-designed postcard (10¢), envelope (3¢) or Valentine (10¢) and a BCSS stamp

(2 ¢ and required for delivery 😉).

1. After you have written your letter, address it to anyone at our school (write the person’s name and classroom number). You can also send mail to kids and adults at other PPS schools (name, school, grade level required).

2. Then put it in the BCSS mailbox any time during the day. We make deliveries daily in the afternoon. (Valentine’s Day Deliveries Guaranteed!)

Important postal information:

• You can send letters to anyone within Portland Public Schools! (Write the person’s first and last name,

grade level and the school name on the letter if sending to another PPS school.)

• You can purchase your class Valentines at the post office.

• You can send ALL of your Valentines through the post office.

• We GUARANTEE VALENTINE’S DAY DELIVERIES

• Adults are encouraged to write to their children and send Valentines, cards, and postcards.

• You and your family can send PACKAGES through the post office too!

All funds support Justina of Zambia through Children International. Thanks to our community support, Justina is now attending school and receiving school supplies and clothes. She and her family also receive medical care and support with basic living needs, such as mosquito nets and pots for boiling water.

In addition to our indoor school post office, the outdoor post office is open at the beginning of the school day and after school to allow families to participate (located at the backdoor of Room 10 close to the Library Doors Entrance).

Postal Hours for Outdoor Post Office:

8:30-9:30 am

3:15 to 3:45ish pm.

Thank you for joining in the fun!

2nd Grade Team

aschmidt@pps.net

Hi Families,

SUN Winter term starts Monday Feb.3. We are excited to have students back! Classes end at 4:30 and pick up will be in the main school entrance.

Currently we still have some space available for our 3rd- 5th grade students in the Tuesday KidoKinetics sports class, Monday/ Wednesday Studio art class and a few spots for Thursday Coding with Kids class.

Please email me at marisol@latnet.org if your student would like to participate in any of those classes!

Dear PPS Middle Grades families,

PPS is moving to a new Standards-Based Grading System for all 28 middle schools. The purpose is to provide clearer and more meaningful feedback to students. Some of our middle schools are already using this approach, and research supports its benefits. Our K-5 schools have also made progress in this direction with their report cards.

We invite you to visit our middle grades Standards-Based Grading website at pps.net/sbg. There, you can find updates, resources, timelines, materials, and FAQs.

There will be three family and community engagement events in person and virtually at the Prophet Education Center (501 N. Dixon St.) in the PPS Boardroom. We invite all who have current middle grades students or students entering into the middle grades to these presentations where we will provide updates as well as listen to feedback and answer questions.

Family and Community engagement (Virtual and in person)

February 13, 2025 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

March 13, 2025 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

May 8, 2025 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

We believe grades are an important way to communicate with students and families. This new system will make it clearer what students need to do to meet academic expectations.

If you have any questions, please contact Richard Smith at rsmith5@pps.net. Check the website often for updates. We look forward to working with you during this exciting transition.

The Montavilla Neighborhood Association in conjunction with the other District 3 neighborhoods is helping make people aware of a survey Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Coalition is conducting. They want to help define the community priorities and share the results with the newly elected District 3 members of City Council. We are trying to reach out to as many people in the community as possible.

The survey is open to anyone who lives and/or works in any of the 19 neighborhoods of District 3 and will end Jan. 31st.

I attached a PDF flyer with the survey information and link that can be emailed to your members. I could not find an email address for your PTA organization. If you could send it to me I will also contact them. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Click here to take Survey

Thank you,

Colleen Howard

Montavilla Neighborhood Association

Hello,

I am a nurse at the Oregon Burn Center. I am excited to share we are hosting a regional safety fair to kick off National Burn Awareness Week. We invite you to join us at the Portland Expo Center on February 2nd, 2025 for this family friendly, free event! We are partnering with regional agencies to educate the community on in home safety. With visits from special characters, face painting and emergency vehicles on site, we are sure to have entertainment for the kids. It takes multiple agencies to care for burn patients in our region and we are hosting a chili cookoff to bring our partners together for some healthy rivalry. Being the only burn center between Seattle and Sacramento, we serve our state and beyond! This annual event will be a great way to celebrate the teamwork we use to care for anyone experiencing burn injury and bring burn awareness to the public. Any proceeds raised will go to the Oregon Burn Center Foundation for future outreach and prevention efforts.

If you have any questions about this event, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We hope to see you there!

Erin Duggan, BSN, RN

Oregon Burn Center

eduggan@lhs.org

Hi!

Ridwell has extended an invitation for us to bring up to 50 BCSS community members (staff students parents etc) to tour the Ridwell factory if we can sign up another 10 families by Feb 28th. I think a school trip would be awesome especially to get the kids excited about lifelong reduce, reuse, recycle!

Can you please help spread the word?

Thanks!

Anne

Here is the new info just for us!
URL: https://get.ridwell.com/bcss