Tiger Tales #18

"The art of teaching is assisting discovery." - Mark Van Doren

This past Wednesday during our professional development time as a staff, teachers learned about thinking routines, which come from Harvard's Graduate School of Education: Project Zero. Thinking routines are designed to help "deepen thinking and to help make that thinking 'visible.'" During this professional development, teachers had the opportunity to think about how these thinking routines can be modified and when they can be used to encourage student discourse and deepen thinking on a topic. This learning continues to build on staff's previous work with Accountable Talk, with the goal of increasing student engagement through critical thinking and discourse!

Harvard's Project Zero

Child Mind Institute (support for families who are struggling with behavior management)

Parenting series:

From their website: Adults caring for children often have questions about how to set clear expectations and manage behavior effectively. Especially when children exhibit challenging behaviors, adults want to know exactly how to address these situations with strategies that promote positive behavior, good social-emotional development and increased self-esteem.

The Child Mind Institute’s Behavioral and Emotional Skills Training (BEST)℠ provides this preparation for parents and caregivers. Informed by the most up-to-date research, clinicians provide caregivers with a structured and interactive training experience aimed at the teaching and immediate application of practical techniques for effective behavior management. To learn more about these series of classes, click here.

A big congratulations to our fantastic Medina robotics teams! Both teams will be going to the First Lego League (FLL) semi-finals this weekend to compete. At the December qualifier tournament, the Robo Tigers won for Best Innovation Project and they were also a Robot Performance Award Finalist, competing against 27 other teams, most of which also included middle school students. Thank you to parents Jeetu Mirchandani and Sakshi Thawani for their leadership of this team.

Grade 4 Robo Tigers Team:
1. Kiaan Mirchandani
2. Remy Bi
3. Rachel Ma
4. Belinda Xiao

Grade 4 & 5 Touchdown Tigers Team:

1. Arjun Doshi

2. Nicholas Xiang

3. Jayden Qin

4. Kyle Kim

5. Chris Li

We also have a second Medina team, the Touchdown Tigers, led by parent volunteer Deepa Doshi, who are going to the semifinals as well this weekend. A big thank you to those parent leaders, as these teams could not flourish without the time and leadership of these parent volunteers.

This is just another example of the wonderful and creative ways our parent community supports our students. THANK YOU.

If you would like to become involved in the PTA or learn more via their newsletter, The Byte, please click here.

This week, we were lucky enough to have members of the Bellevue Police Department join us for our evening Pastries with Principals event. Officer Daly and Detective Elliot guided us and families from both Medina Elementary and Clyde Hill Elementary on how to help protect our children online! If you were not able to make it, a copy of the presentation has been attached to the newsletter email. We also want to extend a huge, "Thank you!" to Sarah Kermgard, our MHAT Counselor, for helping plan this event with us!

Join us on Friday, January 31st from 5:00 -7:00 pm for an exciting journey around the globe!

This is a wonderful event when we celebrate the many nationalities represented at Medina. You can be involved in a variety of ways. We would love to have as many people as possible host a table showcasing their country.

Some ideas for a culture table could include some of the following:

• Providing traditional snacks
• Having a game, activity, etc. people can participate in
• Displaying items, clothing, musical instruments, photos, etc. from a country of origin

Participation in a vibrant fashion show is also a possibility.

Please join our celebration of culture! To learn more, please click on the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdP5KuKIVoj0cxYcNV6awYLACuJO6LKgdM8EmBx1B4c-KRk5A/viewform

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., our school had an assembly honoring his life and work during the Civil Rights Movement. Students learned about his life and accomplishments, as well as listened to a piece of his “I Have a Dream” speech. Finally, students learned that we do not have school on Monday, January 20 so that we can think about his legacy and serve our communities in our own ways! As you go into the long weekend, take some time to chat with your child about Dr. King and his important work to bring fundamental human rights to all people.

As we ring in an exciting new year, we're filled with hope, energy, and anticipation for all that's ahead. The Bellevue School District is ready to make 2025 a year to remember, packed with learning, growth and plenty of fun! We start off the year with celebrations that acknowledge our global community and vibrant cultural traditions.

The following dates are based on the Common Religious and Public Holidays Calendar published by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Some religious holidays dates may vary because they are based on lunar cycles and moon sightings. This calendar doesn't include all holidays observed by members of the BSD community, and individuals may observe the same religion in different ways.

January 1 – January 31: Americans of Chinese Descent History Month

January 1 – January 31: School Board Recognition Month

January 1: Shogatsu

January 6: Día de los Reyes or Three Kings Day

January 7: Orthodox Christmas

January 20: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 27: International Holocaust Remembrance Day

January 29: Lunar New Year

At Medina, we will have several assemblies with our entire student community gathered to recognize important events happening this month:

• On Friday, January 17 we will honor the legacy of MLK Jr. To learn more and to discuss as a family this inspirational individual who led our nation in the fight against racial segregation, you can click here.

• On Friday, January 24 we will be recognizing Lunar New Year and 2025 The Year of the Snake. This year Lunar New Year falls on January 29 and this begins the 16-day Spring Festival. Bellevue Square will be having a Lunar New Year celebration on January 25, so to learn about Chinese New Year, Korean Seollal, and Vietnamese Tết, click here.

We are looking forward to a wonderful month ahead!

A big thank you to parent Salim Hemdani for organizing and being the chair for this wonderful opportunity for our Medina students! Each Wednesday students have been excitedly getting ready afterschool for a fun-filled afternoon on the mountain. It is wonderful to hear their stories on Thursdays after they are back, albeit a bit more tired, from their wonderful outdoor outing. This opportunity would not be possible without our fabulous parent volunteers, thank you all!

Our district is facing significant budget deficits, and it will take multiple years to restore our financial stability. We need to reduce spending by $16 million for the 2025-26 school year. Please bring your ideas and thoughts! Over the next couple of months, we invite you to share your ideas and perspectives to help us reduce spending and increase revenue. To begin, we will host three community listening sessions in January:

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

4:00 – 5:30 p.m.

In-person at Odle Middle School

502 143rd Ave NE, Bellevue, 98007

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Online via Microsoft Teams (link will be posted when available)

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

In-person at Wilburton Instructional Service Center (WISC), Building 1, Rainier Room

12241 Main Street, Bellevue, 98005

January:

20: NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King Jr Day

24: Lunar New Year Assembly for students

31: 5:00 - 7:00 PM World Culture Night

February:

11: School Board Visit to Medina

17 - 23: Mid-winter holiday

24: School resumes

Due to the power outage and some canceled days of school, the school calendar has been altered. For your planning, the Updated 2024-2025 School Year Calendar is posted here. The three emergency make-up days have been converted to school days.