Bridge Bulletin

Happy Groundhog Day! I know the past few days made us think spring was on the way and Punxsutawney Phil, is in agreement. Phil saw his shadow this morning, predicting, as the legend goes, we will have an early spring. Don't get too excited, Phil's predictions are only 38% accurate. The meteorologists, who are slightly more accurate, have snow in the forecast for three days next week. For skiers and outdoor winter enthusiasts, like myself, this is exciting news! For the rest of you, cuddle under a blanket with hot chocolate and wait it out for about six more weeks or, better yet, buy some crampons and go hiking. I promise, winter hiking is the BEST!

Although today (Friday) was a no school day for kids, teachers were busy gathering data and updating student's progress reports for middle of year (MOY). The MOY data will be on your child's kindergarten learning plan (KLP) or personalized learning plan (PLP) by February 8, 2024. This is sent to you via email as a Google doc. The progress report is a tab at the bottom of the KLP or PLP. A hard copy of your chid's progress report will be printed and put in the cumulative file at the end of the school year. PLEASE contact your child's teacher if you do not receive the link or need help interpreting the data!

NO FOOTBALL AT RECESS - we have had broken bones, bloody noses and bruising from TOUCH football. Unfortunately, the "touch" part turns into push, pull and tackle and injuries occur. Students can still play catch with a football but that is it. Please make sure your kids understand this.

VOLUNTEER POND - Our volunteer pond in the front vestibule is not very full. We KNOW we have many, many families that volunteer time and in-kind donations. Once your family has volunteered 30 hours or you have donated $90 of in-kind donations, PLEASE stop by the office and ask for a FROG for the volunteer pond. Write your family name on the frog and tape it on the pond. Thank you for the time and things you give to Bridge! Currently, we have Watch Me Learn tickets that can be cut out at home. If you would like to volunteer to help, please stop by the office and grab a stack.

YEARBOOK - Please see below for information to order the yearbook. The school does NOT have yearbooks to purchase - you MUST order your yearbook online. The last day to order is May 1, 2024.

STAFF HIGHLIGHTS - This week we highlight our special education teachers! Please read further below in the newsletter for information about these amazing educators!

LOTTERY OPEN - the lottery for 2024-2025 is now open. If you have a sibling you would like to enroll at Bridge for next school year, you MUST enter them in the lottery. We will run the first lottery for siblings, including incoming kindergarteners, on Monday, February 5. If your kindergarten sibling is NOT in the lottery before February 5 they will NOT have a spot in kindergarten for next school year.

We will run the lottery for the remaining open spots for K-6 on February 19. Please let your friends and family know they can find enrollment information and the lottery on our website by selecting the yellow ENROLL NOW menu option at the top of the home page.

https://www.bridgecharter.org/enroll-now

Please keep reading for more information about this past week and events for the upcoming weeks.

As always, thank you for CHOOSING Bridge and sharing your kids with us! We know you have lots of options in education and we are honored that you have made the choice to have your students attend our awesome school!

Lani Rounds

Principal

NO SCHOOL

• Monday, February 19 (President's Day)
• Thursday & Friday, March 7 and 8 (Parent Teacher Conferences)
• April 1 - 8 (Spring Break)

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Monday, February 5 : Sibling lottery draw for 2024-2025 school year
• Monday, February 19, General lottery draw for 2024-2025 school year
• Wednesday - Friday, March 6 - 8: Parent Teacher Conferences (Wednesday is a short day)
• Thursday - May 30 - Field Day (last day of school)
• June 26 - 5 pm FREE Skating at Neptune Skating in Ogden

We are SO proud of our kiddos for the growth we have seen in reading and math! For Acadience reading and math this is the schoolwide growth, as measured by the percentage of students at or above benchmark, between the beginning of year (BOY) and middle of year (MOY) tests. A growth of 5% by the end of the year is considered outstanding!

Acadience Reading Growth = 6.3%

Acadience Math Growth = 20%

The state also requires that schools meet the Utah Growth Goal (60%) for reading and math by the end of the school year. This goal is measured by the percentage of students who make "typical growth" or better. This measurement is a better measurement of how students are doing rather than growth in proficiency because it assures that even though the lowest readers are not proficient, they are making typical growth towards proficiency. The growth goal also assures our proficient learners, those who are green or blue, also make typical growth. Whereas, the proficiency only goal overlooks if the lowest readers and the highest readers are making adequate progress.

For the middle of year (MOY) this is the percentage of students at Bridge making typical growth or better. As you can see, both scores well exceed the state's end of year requirement of 60%.

Acadience Reading Typical Progress - 67%

Acadience Math Typical Progress - 74%

Imagine Learning is not a state assessment, but the data is super important for Bridge to assure our kids are making adequate growth. Additionally, teachers use the data to help determine which areas students need to work on in literacy and math. For literacy, this score is measured based on K-3 growth as many of our 4+ students have already maxed out the Imagine Literacy scores and often use Imagine Reading instead. For Imagine Literacy our K-3 students should increase their score from BOY to MOY by and average of 175 points. Our K-3 students increased by an average of 173 points, just a titch shy of the middle of year goal.

Imagine Math measures growth differently. The math program uses a Quantile score to determine growth. A Quantile (Q) growth of 100 Q is considered one year's worth of growth. By the MOY students should gain approximately 50Q by the middle of the year. Our schoowldie Quantile growth at MOY is 130Q, nearly three times the expected growth!

Some classes have opted to have a Valentine's party and some classes will have a Valentine's exchange. Exchanging Valentines is optional - no child is required to bring Valentine's to school. If a child chooses to bring Valentines they can either bring one for the entire grade OR for just their class.

Every student at Bridge has been provided a large white bag to decorate and turn into a Valentine sack (kids do not make Valentine's boxes at home to bring). Please check with your child's teacher to see what they are planning for Valentine's Day at school.

Students CAN bring candy as part of their Valentine's cards. However, students are NOT allowed to open Valentine's cards at school. Instead, their Valentine's sack will be sent home with them after school where parents can oversee their candy consumption.

If you have a friend or family member interested in having their child attend Bridge, this is a terrific summary of what we do at Bridge to implement a personalized learning model for students.

Students attend small group learning for reading and math daily. Teachers use assessment data and classroom data to group students based on need. Groups are fluid meaning they change based on the skills teachers are teaching and the needs of the student.

Bridge uses Imagine Learning for adaptive literacy and math instruction. If a student has help completing the lessons, for example prompts and correct answers, the system assumes the student knows the material and it will get more challenging for the student. For this reason it is important, if the child is working on Imagine Learning at home, that parents do not provide the student with the correct answers or the instruction they are provided will not be at their level.

Students are required to complete 80 minutes of Imagine Literacy weekly at school. For math, students also need to complete 80 minutes weekly; however, the fidelity agreement is that a student passes at one lesson per week - 30 lessons by the end of the year. This program is adaptive and provides students with lessons adapted for their level.

Stations (sometimes called centers) include our small group P90 reading instruction (grades 1 - 4), HOP math, and activities designed to promote collaboration and also provide practice for the instruction learned in small group. Stations are also a time students may be working independently on the Personalized Learning Plan work with tasks aligned to their goals.

Students LOVE specials! This is the time students attend lessons and complete activities such as health, PE, fine arts, writing, Visible Learning, science, socials studies, STEM, and library. Our specialist teachers collaborate with classroom teachers to tie the activities and learning into what is happening in the classroom. Specials also provide our classroom teachers the time to analyze data, plan and prepare instruction and activities, collaborate with peers, and participate in professional learning activities.

Each student at Bridge has a KLP (kindergarten) or a PLP (grades 1-6) which identifies goals, actions steps for the goals, and progress towards the goals. Students meet twice monthly with teachers to review progress and update goals. In addition, students provide information about the Visible Learning traits to help share their knowledge about traits of a good learner. These plans are shared with parents monthly via email as a Google doc. Parents of students in grades 1-6 are invited, four times yearly, to meet with the teacher and student to review the PLP - this is like a mini parent teacher conference. Please contact your child's teacher f you are not receiving a link to the PLP or KLP.

Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC) are a little more than a month away. Our PTCs are held Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, March 6 - 8. School is released early, at 1:30, on Wednesday, March 6, and there is NO SCHOOL on Thursday or Friday, March 7 and 8.

Classroom teachers will send a link for a sign up to schedule a day/time to meet for parent teacher conferences. Parents who wish to meet with the special education teachers can email them and schedule a meeting (Chad@BridgeCharter.org and Dianne.Kesley@BridgeCharter.org).

At Bridge, instead of having a "maturation night" for 5th grade students which other schools typically do, we opt to provide parents the information so they can determine how much they want to share with their child and at which age they want to share it. For many girls, by the time they are in 5th grade they have already started menstruation and it is a little too late for a lesson on maturation. We believe parents can best determine what students should know about maturation and puberty, and when a child should know it.

Our maturation committee met and reviewed information from different sources. They determined, and our Board approved, to use the maturation information provided by Provo School District. The maturation information includes videos and packets for girls and boys that you can download and share with your child.

This is the link to the MATURATION information.

Social Emotional Learning resources for families and students to promote a stronger sense of self identity, mental health, and create a safer school environment. Our Visible Learning Traits (flexibility, determination, reflection, taking initiative, thoroughness, and enthusiasm) tie into Social Emotional Learning at Bridge!

LINK TO VIDEOS

It is time to start the job of finding the right junior high for your 6th grader for next school year. If you plan to have your student attend their neighborhood district school, please call the school to find out when registration begins. If you are interested in a charter school experience, most have lotteries that are open now and are available to schedule a tour. Here are some of the local junior high charter schools:

• Venture Academy (includes high school) - Farr West - venturelearning.org
• Utah Military Academy (includes high school) - Riverdale - utahmilitaryacademy.org
• Quest Academy - West Haven - questac.org
• DaVinci Academy (includes high school)- Ogden - davinciacademy.org
• Ogden Prep Academy - Ogden - ogdenprep.org
• Mountain Heights Academy (includes high school) - Online - mountainheightsacademy.org
• Utah Virtual Academy (includes high school) - Online - utva.k12.com

This week's fresh fruit and vegetable program brought our kiddos Asian pears, Seckel pears, Sugar Bee apples, and baby brussel sprouts. Which snack was your child's favorite?

We are super grateful to have this program at Bridge.This program is designed to give kids the opportunity to try fresh fruits and vegetables that they may otherwise not have an opportunity to try.

Mrs Kelsey is so excited to be at Bridge this year. She drives all the way from Box Elder County to come to our school. She has lived all over the world. She likes to relax, read and hot tubbing with a cold drink.

Mrs. Kelsey has taught K-6 Special Education Classes, and Junior High School Math, in a functional skill and in a Behavior Classroom. Mrs. Kelsey also taught adults at a United States Embassy while her husband was in the Navy. Mrs. Kelsey likes Bridge because she gets to do some of everything and her days at Bridge are never boring.

Mrs. Kelsey has been married for 30 years and has 3 daughters. One has been a SPED para in Bridge this year. She has loved working with her Daughter.

Over his 13 year career in education, Chad McBride’s favorite thing is watching the transformation of students from “hating” academic work to their becoming excited and independent learners. While he has not received any formal awards, he greatly appreciates occasional recognition from his students, including pictures, notes, high-fives and the high school student who once blurted out, “Mr. McBride is the only teacher that I’ve had who I haven’t punched in the face!” As a writer and a father of four children, Mr. McBride has published a few children's stories. His writing style has been described as "Shakespeare meets the Brothers Grimm." He is pleased to have the opportunity to work with the fantastic scholars at Bridge Elementary.

Each week students attend a Visible Learning class where they learn about traits of a good learner. Next week students will learn about Enthusiasm "Putting my whole heart into everything I do."

I Will....

• Be an "energy giver".
• Smile.
• Encourage others.
• Treat every job as important.
• Not be discouraged by failure.

By using these visible learning traits each day students will become lifelong learners who are set up for success. Please use this same verbiage at home and recognize when your student is using this trait.

Although we have had the visitor check in system since the beginning of September, some parents seem to have not received the information. When you visit Bridge to volunteer or have a meeting with your child's teacher, including a PLP meeting or an IEP meeting during school hours, you MUST bring a valid state ID and scan it into our check in system. The system will complete a background check to ensure the individual is allowed to be on the campus of an elementary school. If the the individual does not pass the background check the child's teacher can come to the office for the meeting. This is just one more step in protecting the safety of all our students.

The calendar for the school year can be accessed on our website using the link below:

https://www.bridgecharter.org/2023-2024-calendar

We LOVE parent and grand parent volunteers at school! If you would like to volunteer, please check with your child's teachers. If you want to volunteer but aren't excited about coming into the school, we have LOTS of opportunity for outside volunteer work including:

• Cutting Watch Me Learn tickets (stop by the office).
• Pulling weeds in the rock areas and park strips (we have all the area in front of the school and up 4800 S along the school fence).
• Sorting construction paper into like colors (stop by the office).
• Using rakes and shovels to redistribute the gravel from the bottom of the retention area in front of the school to the top area to cover the black landscape screen.
• Parking lot duty before and after school (just check in at the office, put on a yellow vest and talk to Travis in the crosswalk for instructions).

Once your family has volunteered 30 hours they can stop by the front office and ask for a VOLUNTEER FROG. There is no formal tracking program - just track the hours yourself. Then, write your family's name on the frog and tape the frog on our volunteer pond in the front foyer.

If you want to volunteer but do not have the time, you can donate $90 to cover the 30 hours. If you choose to donate, complete the volunteer form. You can donate in the office or by using our DONATE icon on the home page of our website.

Volunteering or donating is OPTIONAL and is not required to be a student or a parent of a student at Bridge Elementary.

Absences MUST be excused within 24 hours of the absence. You can do this by leaving a message on the Attendance line at school (801)499-5180 or by using the Excuse Absence online form. You can find this on our website by clicking on the Excuse Absence icon or using the link below:

EXCUSE ABSENCE

Weber Human Services SMR is available for 24/7 crisis support and short-term stabilization. To request help or make a referral, dial 988. Weber Human Service's works with families to improve functioning, develop and maintain healthy communication, and enhance ability to cope with future crisis.

Bridge Elementary is committed to maintaining a school climate that is safe, welcoming, and free of harassment and discrimination. The School prohibits all forms of harassment, and it does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, creed, religion, age, marital status, or disability.

We encourage anyone who believes they (or someone else) have been subjected to harassment or discrimination at the School to file a complaint with the School’s Principal, Lani Rounds. The School will promptly investigate and resolve all such complaints in accordance with School policy.

If you would like to learn more about how the School handles complaints of harassment or discrimination, please review the School’s Notice of Nondiscrimination, Civil Rights Policy, and Bullying and Hazing Policy on the School’s website at https://www.bridgecharter.org/policies-procedures

Title I was initially passed in 1965 under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). It is the largest federal assistance program for public schools. These supplemental funds provide students the opportunity to receive a fair, equitable and high-quality education to help close achievement gaps.

Bridge Elementary receives our Title I funding based on the percentage of students that qualify for free or reduced lunch. For this reason we encourage ALL families to apply for Free/Reduced lunch through Aspire to ensure every single student receives the services needed, including access to free or reduced meals if appropriate.

Title I provides avenues for parent input and participation. We do this through our surveys and the link to the form on our website which allows parents to submit questions and suggestions.

You can find more information about Title I as well as a form to ask questions or provide suggestions regarding Title I, on our website at:

https://www.bridgecharter.org/school-events

The mission of Bridge Elementary is to provide students with a personalized learning experience and empower them to take personal ownership and accountability for their own academic performance.

Email: info@bridgecharter.org
Website: bridgecharter.org
Location: 4824 Midland Drive, Roy, UT
Phone: (801)499-5180
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BridgeCharter

Principal - Lani Rounds - Lani@BridgeCharter.org

Assistant Principal - Sara Tucker - Sara@BridgeCharter.org

Student Support - Stacey Archuleta - Stacey@BridgeCharter.org

• Morning Supervision and BASE
• Behavior Support and Bullying
• 504 Plans

Lead Secretary - Lalani Williams - Lwilliams@BridgeCharter.org

• Aspire
• Lottery
• Registration

Social Worker - Chelsea Silverwood - Chelsea@BridgeCharter.org

School Nurse - Vicki Ross - Vicki@bridgecharter.org

Special Education

Dianne Kelsey SpED Teacher - Dianne.Kelsey@BridgeCharter.org

Chad McBride SpED Teacher - Chad@BridgeCharter.org

Julie Christensen SpED Director - Julie@BridgeCharter.org

ELL Coordinator - Nichol Lloyd - Nichol@BridgeCharter.org

Meal Issues - Jodi Jensen - Jodi@BridgeCharter.org

Classroom Teachers - see website - https://www.bridgecharter.org/teachers

• Daily activities for your child
• Student progress
• Questions about student schedule or issues in the classroom