DECEMBER

12/2-12/6 Holiday Market
12/10- PTO Whimsy Farm Holiday Shopping & Crafting Event

12/11- Portillo's PTO Fundraiser
12/23-12/31 Winter Break (NO SCHOOL)

JANUARY
1/1-1/3 Winter Break (NO SCHOOL)

1/6 Teacher Work Day (NO SCHOOL)

1/7 - School Resumes

1/10- PTO Epic Air Fundraiser

1/20-MLK Jr Holiday (NO SCHOOL)

1/23- PTO Volunteer Appreciation Party

1/29- Early Release 2:35 Dismissal

1/29- Beef Shack PTO Fundraiser

1/30 - PTO Bingo Night 5:30-7:00

3rd & 5th Grade Families,

Your child will come home with their CogAT scores in an envelope in their backpack on Monday, 12/9.

We appreciate our volunteers and value your time. When you are in the building for any reason, please be respectful of classroom instruction and do not make unexpected visits to your child's classroom. Thank you for helping us minimize classroom disruptions.

The fourth and fifth-grade students have been working hard over the past several weeks on their final project, "Patterns in the Universe." For this project, they selected a space science topic that piqued their curiosity, conducted research using various books and age-appropriate search engines, and created presentations to share their findings with their peers. Working in groups, the students collaborated to highlight at least five interesting facts about their chosen topics. They crafted posters, interactive displays, and models to illustrate their research, all of which are now proudly displayed in the LRC.

Our lost & found is conveniently located in the lunch room where every student has a daily opportunity to look for lost items. Please encourage your child to check for misplaced items. Don't forget to label as much as possible. We regularly donate unclaimed items at the end of each month

Be sure to send your child with appropriate outdoor clothing for recess. Students have outdoor recess daily unless the outside temperature is below 0. Don't forget to label your child's jacket, gloves, hat, etc. whenever possible.

You can email your child's teacher directly from HAC. After logging in, click on the "classes" image on the top menu. You will be able to view your child's schedule. Each of your child's teachers are listed under "teacher." If you right click on a name, you are given a "copy email address" option.

Bell Graham is committed to supporting all students in showing their BG Best: Being respectful, responsible, and safe. In the past years we have focused on extrinsic rewards with having students purchase items from our BG Shop with their earned BG coins and Bucks. This year we are moving away from this system and looking to reward students with staff, parent, and community connections. In order to do this we are seeking your help. We are looking for parents to volunteer before school or during school to play a game or build legos with students, make a craft, teach students a new skill, such as sewing or crocheting, or anything else you would like to share with our Bobcats. Please sign up today and Dr. Dieckman will be reaching out to you to schedule a date and time for you to share your talents and time with our students.

Thank you for your continued support. We could not do this without you.

BG Monthly Parent Support Raffle

*Remember that you must have a liability waiver form on file before you volunteer. You are welcome to email completed forms to Mrs. Cloy kristin.cloy@d303.org.

If you are visiting the school, for any reason, you MUST have your ID with you. Your ID needs to be scanned before you are permitted to enter the building.

If you intend on volunteering at any point this school year, the office MUST have a liability waiver form on file for you. Please do not sign up for any volunteer opportunities unless you already have a form on file for this year. This is an annual form that needs to be completed every school year. You are welcome to email completed forms to Mrs. Cloy kristin.cloy@d303.org. Field Trip volunteers will have to follow additional steps to volunteer.

• Absences should be called in by 7:45 AM
• You can leave a message 24 hours a day
• State your child’s name, their teacher's name and the reason why your child is out.
• If they are ill, please list their symptoms.

You are also welcome to email Mrs. Cloy in the main office. kristin.cloy@d303.org

Please call the office when you are 5 minutes away and we will have your child ready and waiting for you at the office. You will have to press the buzzer to come inside the vestibule to sign them out on our iPad. 331-228-2100.

The following information is being provided as a reminder of District 303's attendance procedures and how information may be recorded and shared with a student's family throughout the school year.

There has been an increase in RSV in the community. According to the CDC, the respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults. RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in children younger than 1 year of age in the United States. People infected with RSV usually show symptoms within 4 to 6 days after getting infected. Symptoms of RSV infection usually include

· Runny nose

· Decrease in appetite

· Coughing

· Sneezing

· Fever

· Wheezing

These symptoms usually appear in stages and not all at once. In very young infants with RSV, the only symptoms may be irritability, decreased activity, and breathing difficulties.

According to CUSD 303 absence guidelines, students must be 24 hours fever free prior to returning back to school. A fever is a temperature of 100 degrees F or greater. Students with a persistent, productive cough must remain home as well. Masking remains optional for all students.

There are steps you can take to help prevent the spread of RSV. Specifically, if you have cold-like symptoms you should

· Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your upper shirt sleeve, not your hands

· Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds

· Avoid close contact, such as kissing, shaking hands, and sharing cups and eating utensils, with others

· Clean frequently touched surfaces such as doorknobs and mobile devices

ALL MEDICATION, including any and all over the counter medications, vitamins and cough drops need a doctor’s authorization/order to be administered here at school. You can find the form(s) on the district website.

Thank you for teaming with us to keep our students healthy and in school!

REMINDER!

Please turn in your required health forms to the Health Office!

Kindergarten- Physical, Vision, Dental, Health survey

2nd Grade- Dental

3rd Grade- Updated Health Survey

All of the forms are linked here for your convenience or you can go to the District Website and find them in the parent section under Forms.

Remember to pack extra clothes if you do not want your child to wear school issued clothes in the event their clothes get soiled. Please send a spare in your child's backpack.

Thank you,

LeeAnna Anzaldi, RN, BSN, PEL-CSN

Kerisa Martini Espinosa, RN

Support small business while supporting BG PTO! Join us on Tuesday, December 10th from 4:30-6:30p for a Shop & Craft event! While the kids are crafting and letter writing, take the time to browse The Whimsy Farm for some holiday surprises (or just a sweet treat!). Proceeds will support future BG PTO events. We hope to see you there! Candy Store & Kids Party Room

Join us for our last restaurant fundraiser of 2024! Come to Portillo’s at 1020 S. Randall Rd in Elgin on Wednesday, December 11 between 5-8 PM for some Chicago-style dogs, beef, fries and shakes (and who can forget their Chopped Salad!). AND THE BEST PART is that there is an ONLINE CODE! Use PORTILLOS33 before checkout in the “Apply Offer” field. 20% of sales support Bell Graham PTO and future BG events! Make sure to show the flyer or digital version to the cashier when ordering in-person!

SHOUT OUTS

Did your kiddo make an awesome play at their baseball game? Did they win an event in gymnastics? Is it their birthday? Do you just want to make a random day special for them? Send them a SHOUT OUT!! For $10 you can have 5 pictures along with a message displayed on the TV screen outside of the LRC for an entire day. After making your purchase in the Square Store, please send an email to Alicia Flint at aliciafulgencioflint@yahoo.com with your pictures, message and date to be displayed. Pictures MUST be sent 7 days prior to the desired display date or we cannot guarantee your message will be loaded in time. SHOUT OUTS PAYMENT

STAY CONNECTED

Check out these great ways to stay connected and find out more information on the PTO!

Bell Graham PTO Webpage

Bell Graham PTO Facebook page

Bell Graham Monthly Calendar

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Any questions or comments? Please email the PTO at bgeblast@gmail.com. All comments or questions will be discussed at our monthly Board meetings and responded to accordingly.

• 1 lunch with a loved one per student per school year for bday (1 TOTAL, not 1 with grandma, 1 with aunt, 1 with mom )
• ONLY bring food for your child and/or yourself. No sharing food/treats with friends at the lunch table.
• Stay for lunch ONLY, recess is not included
• Bring your ID for check in. No ID, no entry
• You do not need to give advance notice, but are welcome to email the office the day of to speed along the check in process.

Click here to see what time your child eats lunch.

We are happy to report that we will have a therapy dogs visiting us again this year. Please reach out to Dr. Dieckman or Julianna Harmon if you have any questions.

We use a Visor Tag System. Each family has received a car tag that has the family last name and the class codes of students in the family. The use of this visor tag expedites our car rider line tremendously as staff members are able to get students ready for their cars as the cars pull up! Please display the tag on your passenger side visor, or passenger side window, so that it is visible to the BG staff as you pull through the pick-up line.

If you need additional visor tags, please email Mrs. Kirincich.

Mrs. Amy Klueppel - Principal

Website: bellgraham.d303.org
Location: 4N505 Fox Mill Blvd St. Charles, IL 60175
Phone: 331-228-2100
Facebook: facebook.com/BellGrahamElementary
Twitter: @BellGrahamD303

• District 303 Safety and Security site
• ALICE Family Letters