Bobcat Blast

Dear Bethany Families,

I want to start by recognizing the talents and beautiful performance of our BETHANY CHOIR 🎶 yesterday at the Washington Square Mall. I was filled with pride as I listened to their angelic voices and saw how many families and staff came to support. 💓 Even random shoppers stopped to enjoy the performance! A big THANK YOU to our music teacher, Mr. Smith and choir assistant (and ELD teacher), Mrs. Decker for their hard work in teaching and guiding the students in just 6 short weeks! See photos below.

Please take a moment to read the latest parking lot information below. I appreciate everyone working together on improving our attendance issues. It takes a village. We got this!! 🙂

With appreciation,

Toni

As promised, I am sharing our data for student tardiness. We haven’t YET seen the amount of improvement we had hoped for. I understand there are many factors that contribute to students being late to school. Some are within the school’s control, and some are not. We recognize the challenges that our parking lot presents. Below you will find a table of the issues and ways that everyone can help to make things smoother in the morning. Please know that the last thing I want is for people to start their day off angry, stressed, and frustrated. All that we ask is for people to do their best to get their children here on time as often as possible while maintaining the calm, positive, and joyful vibe at Bethany. 😀 Aim to arrive between 7:30-7:35 am and that should give you enough of a buffer for any parking lot back-ups.

Let’s see if any of the suggestions below are helpful. We appreciate your efforts to help alleviate the bottleneck!

.

Orange X’s: places you could park if you want to drive and then walk your child to the building.

Pink lines: alternate routes to enter the school to reduce the number of cars on our parking lot.

December

• 13 - Option School Applications Due
• 20 - Winter Sing, 8:15am
• 21-31, Winter Break, No School

January

• 1-3 Winter Break, No School
  
• 6 - School Resumes
• 8 - PTO Meeting on Zoom, 7:00pm
• 17 - Staff Development, No School
• 20 - Holiday, No School
• 27 - Grading Day No School
• 31 - School Family Event, TBD

Click on the Link Below for the full school year calendar

Students may only select one Option school on their application. They should give careful consideration to their choice of school. Once an application has been submitted, no changes will be allowed. We strongly encourage online applications.

Online Registration Link

Applications must be received online or in the Learning Options office no later than Friday, December 13 at 3:00 p.m. PST.

Many parents have asked about the school Winter Sing-a-Long on December 20th and if families are invited. The short answer is YES. The more detailed explanation is that there will not be room for hundreds of parents. The Drama Club students will be doing most of the "performing". Mrs. George invited those families to come for sure.

All students will be singing together, and we will be recording the program to send to families on Parent Square, so no one will miss out! If your child has been talking about this at home and really wants you to come, then please do. If you do decide to come you will need to check in as a visitor, so please plan to come a little early.

.

As is our tradition for participating in giving initiatives, Bethany Elementary Library Media Center is participating in Cedar Mill Community library Winter Reading Challenge where they have a community goal of 5000 reading hours. Last year we logged the most hours of reading in the month of December for an elementary school.

The students will receive a paper reading log this week and they can color in or write the minutes they read through the month of December. All reading counts, even being read to! The log has to be returned to the class teacher / school library when students return from winter break.

Each log that is turned in is eligible to be chosen for prizes from local businesses.

The class with the most reading hours will get donuts sponsored by the school library!

-------------------------------------------------------

OBOB Battle

All students in grades 3 to 5 who are participating in OBOB will be attending a Mock Battle tomorrow afternoon. If your child is registered with a team, please make sure they are in school so they can learn about the battle process.

The WCCLS Student Library cards were mailed to all new Bethany Elementary students in November. 78 students would have received their cards.

Visit the Cedar Mill and Bethany community libraries for books, media, Storytime, games, craft kits, fun programs for kids, OBOB practice battles and a wide selection of books in many world languages.

Shop now for Bethany spirit wear during our holiday sale! Choose from hundreds of designs and garments, all with home delivery guaranteed by December 23rd!

Enjoy a limited-time savings of 25% sitewide with great gifts for the entire family! In addition, all orders over $75 will receive free shipping. Shop Now!

As we enter the rainy season, our playground often becomes muddy. While we can ask students to avoid the grass, it only takes one misstep for them to end up covered in mud.

We've already had to reach out to several families to bring in fresh clothes. We're suggesting that all parents pack an extra set of clothes in their child's backpack to save everyone a trip. You might think it’s not needed, but trust us, it happens across all grades.

Example: We have had 5 students who fell in the mud today .... within an hour. 😀

During the year we will have different outside organizations offer classes after school at Bethany. We will put a link to their fliers in the Bobcat Blast. You can also find them on the Bethany website. (Click on the Bethany Drop-Down). After School Classes

We want to thank all of our parents who have signed up in the new volunteer system. If you still need to sign-up please use the link below.

Volunteer Information and Application

You will not find a school supply list for Bethany. Rather than every family having to do their own shopping, we collect money for supplies. We began this a few years ago and it has worked well. This year we are asking for a donation of $35.00 per student.

These donations are flexible, and confidential--only the office knows who donates and how much.

We understand that some families are not able to afford the cost of supplies. All children will receive the same supplies, regardless if they are able to contribute towards the cost. Some families may be in the position to make an extra donation towards helping others. If you would like to help by giving extra money, please click on the "Donations" tab that appears on your child's grade level page.

Instructions for Online Payment System

Bethany Elementary

Email: BTHY-Communications@beaverton.k12.or.us

• School Office Hours: 7:15am - 3:30pm

School Hours: 7:45am - 2:20pm

Phone: 503-356-2030

Attendance Line: Call the school number and push 1 when prompted for Attendance
Website: https://bethany.beaverton.k12.or.us/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethanyBSD

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethanyelementarybsd/