Bethel Springs Elementary School

Garnet Valley remains a destination school district for families throughout the country due in part to the push for personalized learning and cutting-edge instructional technologies. Join us at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, January 15, 2019, for an interactive presentation and discussion led by Mr. Samuel Mormando, Director of Technology, Innovation, and Online Learning. Topics will include Garnet Valley’s work to personalize learning for all students, new classroom technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence), AR (augmented reality) & VR (virtual reality), and new educational programs including eSchool@GarnetValley and blended learning options now offered at the high school.

Science Olympiad:

There are still a few openings for the Winter Session of the Science Olympiad Club. This is a fee based club. The first meeting of Science Olympiad will be on Thursday, January 10th. To register please click the following link to MySchoolBucks:

https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/login/getmain?requestAction=home

Helping Hands:

Helping Hands Club is full and no longer accepting registrations for the Winter session.

Look for information in next week's announcements about this school-wide observance.

The following 4th and 5th grade students will participate in the National Geographic Bee!

Saanvi Singh

Sricharan Ilyanambi

Shreeya Ilyanambi

Neil Kodapully

Ethan Su

Tushar Mogadala

Advik Jasti

Jason Chamberlain

Nandana Padmaraj

Wesley Lim

Srijan Roy Choudhury

Zachary Baldino

Shreya Bose

Lucas McKitty

Jake Schwartz

Anvitha Vallabhaneni

Charlie Czerwinski

Sristi Tripathy

Janani Muniswamy

Saketh Are

Dyuti Krothapalli

Braeden Bisch

This is how the Bee proceeds:

1. We have a preliminary competition involving all participants. This will take place at BSES on Thursday, January 17th at 3:30 P.M. The field will be narrowed to 10 finalists.

2. The Final Competition will involve the 10 finalists and will take place at BSES during the school day on Friday, January 25th at 9:00 AM. One winner will be determined.

3. Our school level winner must take an online test that will be scored by National Geographic. This must be completed and sent by Friday, February 1st. If the student achieves the necessary score on this test, he/she will go on to compete at the state level. The state level winner will go on to the National Bee in Washington, D.C

Good luck to all of our contestants!

The Bethel Springs Elementary Spelling Bee will be held on Friday, February 1st from 9:00-11:00 AM. Participants from third, fourth and fifth grade will be competing. Two winners will go on to compete at the county level on Saturday, February 23, 2019. We wish all of our participants the best of luck! The following students will participate in the bee:

Angela Pan

Nitya Gulati

Neil Kodappully

Anika Bhat

Niranjan Ghanekar

Shruti Sridhar

Saharsh Narasingolu

Cole Sundberg

Tushar Mogadala

Rachel Hicks

Anika Arunachalam

Jositha Gudipati

Aadit Gupta

Sristi Tripathy

Sanjana Bhattacharjee

Cory Chen

Brady Pham

Evan Su

Jonathan Pan

Shreeya Ilayanambi

Srijan Roy Choudhury

Anna King

Dyuti Krothapali

Zelia Mardjoko

Ethan Su

Nicholas Nedbalski

Anvitha Vallabhaneni

Charlie Czerwinski

Nandana Padmaraj

Sakaeth Are

Sricharan Ilayanambi

Shreya Bose

Saanvi Singh

Braeden Bisch

Ashley Danehower

Mia Lacy

Riti Ramesh

Jonathan Song

Gabriella Chirinos

Kruthika Annapareddy

Caleb Prabhu

Aria Jayaprakash

Katelyn Hauske

Kaitlyn Baman

Aneesha Chennareddy

Save the Date (and BOOKS!) for Bethel Springs’ Book Swap: The BSES Reading Department is teaming up with the HSA to host a book swap at school in February. This is a great opportunity for students to trade in some books that they have already read and pick out some new books that interest them! Be on the lookout for specific information about this swap after the holidays. In the meantime, kindly set aside your children’s gently used books from their favorite authors and/or series so they can swap them out in February for a new favorite read!

Sponsored by First Grade and The Helping Hands Club at BSES!

Cleaning out drawers and closets to make way for new items received over the holidays? Receive extras of gifts that you could donate? Please consider giving to Cradles to Crayons, an organization that supports children an families in the Philadelphia area.

The collection will take place throughout the month of January . Please put donations in bags/boxes.

Thanks, in advance, for your support!

What Cradles to Crayons Will Accept:

• Clothing (youth sizes 0–14/16 and adult sizes small)

• New socks & underwear

• New pajamas (except 0-24 months will be accepted in like-new condition)

• Shoes, boots, sneakers, and sandals (infant/child sizes 0–13 and adult sizes 1–9)

• Heavy coats, lightweight jackets, winter hats, gloves/mittens

• Baby supplies (baby carriers, diaper bags, tubs, etc.)

• Baby hygiene (infant washcloths, towels, shampoo, lotion, wipes, etc.)

• Infant bedding (bassinet and crib only)

• Diapers

• Baby equipment, especially strollers and car seats less than five years old

What Cradles to Crayons CANNOT Accept: In the interest of the health/safety of the families we serve and in consideration of the limited space they may have access to, we cannot accept the following:

• Furniture and household goods/items

• Cribs of any kind (due to recalls)

• Car seats and other infant safety items more than five years old

• Over-sized plastic play structures and backyard toys

• Stuffed animals

• Used sports safety equipment (helmets, shin guards, etc.)

• Bicycles or ride-on toys

• Any toy larger than 2′ x 2′ (must be small enough to fit into a carry-on suitcase)

• DVDs/CDs/VHS tapes/computer games

• Violent toys/games

• Electronics

• Books and clothing with family related/holiday messaging (“I Love Mommy,” “Daddy’s Little Girl” “Santa’s Little Helper” etc.)

• Used bathing suits

• Used underwear, socks, or pajamas

• Used hygiene or feeding products or bottles

• Baby food

• Used arts and crafts/school supplies

Parents,

Please exercise safety and courtesy when picking up students at the end of the day from the car line at the gym and when picking up students from after school activities. Please wait patiently for your turn and stay in the line until the car in front of you has loaded and moved on. Thank you for your help!

Mr. Piasecki and Mrs. Allen

Many parents/guardians have asked that we create a directory for elementary school families in Garnet Valley. If you do not want your information (phone number and email address) listed in the directory please click this link and opt out. Otherwise, it will be included. Thank you.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5DTGp4d7FXHoWcl_wGAmoGfOcTv-vcK9oZlhyzgQVcJ_CWA/viewform

The cold temperatures are here for a while to come! Please make sure that children dress warmly--winter coats, gloves, hats, scarves. When weather permits, we like to make sure that students can get outside for recess. Please know that students who are not dressed for the weather will not be permitted to go outside for recess. A half hour is a long time to be outside in the cold when not warmly dressed! Thank you for your help!

For your convenient reference, the weekly announcements will be archived on the school website. Simply go the Bethel Springs page on the district website (garnetvalleyschools.com) and go to "Our School" and to the "Announcements" drop-down. Click on the particular weekly announcements you wish to view. Thanks!

The 2018-2019 calendar is linked on our website.

https://bses.garnetvalleyschools.com/calendar

The link for the calendar "School Calendar" is in the drop-down menu under "Our School" on the Bethel Springs website.

The Bethel Springs HSA wishes everyone a happy new year!. Thank you so much for everything you have done already this year to support the HSA’s mission to improve the educational experience for all of the students. Looking forward to many more fun activities to continue reaching our goals in the new year!!

Details for Upcoming Events:

BoxTop Winter Collection - Check out the new submission FORM that came home this past week for the next BoxTop Collection ending January 7th. So when you're at Grandma's house over the holidays, be sure to check out the pantry for any BoxTops you can nab! The class that submits the most BoxTops wins an Indoor Recess Prize Pack!!

Cradles to Crayons Collection: The BSES Helping Hands Club and the First Grade Classes are collecting for Cradles to Crayons Philadelphia ​starting in January. Check out the FLYER or HSA Website for more details on what items can and cannot be accepted!

Upcoming Dates:

January 2 School Resumes after Winter Break

January 2 New Realities of Parenting Meeting - 7pm at CES

January 7 BoxTop Winter Collection Forms DUE

January 8 Grade 4 Orchestra Concert
January 9 Grade 4 Band Concert

For the most up to date information check the HSA Website: BSES HSA

Follow us on social media-

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

Instagram: @bethel_springs_hsa

Twitter: @bseshsa1

This year our Art and Literature Fling will focus on Greece! Each week in our announcements we will include a fact about this fascinating culture that stretches back thousands of years and has had such incredible influence on the world. PLEASE SHARE THE WEEKLY FACT WITH THE KIDS! In May, around the time of our Art and Literature Fling, there will be an electronic quiz on the weekly facts sent home for families to complete. All families achieving a perfect score will have their names put in a prize basket raffle to be drawn at the conclusion of the Art and Literature Fling on Wednesday, May 28th (you'll have to be present to win)!

1) The Traditional New Year’s Carols: Kalanta

Sung also in the days leading up to Christmas, kalanta is the native word for Greek carols. From New Year’s Eve morning, children of the neighborhood go from house to house and ask permission to sing the kalanta, or carols, accompanied by a triangle. This is meant to bring good wishes for the new year ahead.

2) Kali Hera (Good Hands)

On New Year’s Day, another tradition is to exchange gifts as the Greeks believe that you are more likely to have a prosperous year ahead if you receive gifts on the first day of the year. The day also coincides with the Agios Vasilis (the Greek equivalent of Saint Nicolas) celebrations, so it is customary for adults to give gifts of money to their children or their youngest relatives.

3) Agios Vasilis

Agios Vasilis (or Saint Basil), is one of the most important New Year’s figures in all of Greece, as he is considered one of the forefathers of the Greek Orthodox Church and a beacon of hope to those in poverty. Therefore, Greeks honor him by making donations to charities and by setting an extra place at their table. They also exchange gifts to celebrate the occasion.

GREEK FACT FROM 9-10-18

https://www.smore.com/zjy34

GREEK FACT FROM 9-17-18

https://www.smore.com/09v4y

GREEK FACT FROM 9-24-18

https://www.smore.com/h1y3c

GREEK FACT FROM 10-1-18

https://www.smore.com/zyp73

GREEK FACT FROM 10-8-18

https://www.smore.com/urazs

GREEK FACT FROM 10-15-18

https://www.smore.com/b7vf4

GREEK FACT FROM 10-22-18

https://www.smore.com/3wyfh

GREEK FACT FROM 10-29-18

https://www.smore.com/0g3e1

GREEK FACT FROM 11-5-18

https://www.smore.com/1gbay

GREEK FACT FROM 11-12-18

https://www.smore.com/605vb

GREEK FACT FROM 11-21-18

https://www.smore.com/dhpv7

GREEK FACT FROM 11-26-18

https://www.smore.com/pymx3

GREEK FACT FROM 12-3-18

https://www.smore.com/ebk03

GREEK FACT FROM 12-10-18

https://www.smore.com/ped0y

GREEK FACT FROM 12-17-18

https://www.smore.com/w8mhn

January 2 Students return to school

January 8 Grade 4 Orchestra Concert 7PM GVHS

January 9 Grade 4 Band Concert 7PM GVHS

"Learning and fun all in one."