Monday, February 20 is a holiday for all students. We look forward to seeing all our Bush Bobcats on February 21st at 7:30 a.m.

The Children at Risk foundation released their latest rankings over the weekend and Bush Elementary continues to rate as an A+ school! It's always nice to see the hard work of the teachers and students being acknowledged! Way to go, Bush Elementary!!!

We're seeing some very unsafe and dangerous behaviors by parents during morning arrival.

• Parents walking through the small parking lot and then between the cars in the active carpool lane.
• Parents stopping their car on Westerloch Drive to let out their child in an active lane of traffic.
• Parents not using the sidewalks and crosswalks to get to school.

The carpool lane and Westerloch Drive are very busy in the morning. Please be a good role model for your child and all others watching you by taking a few extra minutes to be safe.

Congratulations to our outstanding K-2 Name that Book team! The students participated in a demanding tournament and came in Second Place! They missed only one question out of twenty-five. We're so proud of these great readers and with how well they collaborated as a team. Thank you to Ms. Miller and Ms. Bianci for being their coaches and working with the students every week after school. Thank you to the following students and their parents for working hard to make the team a success: Hridya J. Vedya S., Veera V., Aimon T., Emily W., Matthew Y., Aditya P.

State law in Texas requires that students in grades pre-kindergarten through four must be assigned to a class with an enrollment of 22 students per teacher. This law does not apply to physical education or fine arts classes but does apply to other elementary school classes. At the beginning of the school year, each school district in Texas is required to review its class size enrollment to determine whether there are classes in the district that do not meet the requirements of this law, Texas Education (TEC) Code §25.112 If the review indicates that any class for grades PK-4 exceeds the allowable class size limit of 22 students per class (22:1), the district must submit a request for exception under TEC §25.112(d). An exception request must be approved by the school district’s board of trustees.

Our school has applied for an exception to the requirements of TEC §25.112 for the following classes: Castaneda 23, Tang 23, Baldwin 26, C. Pham 24, Carlin 23, Hodge 26, J. Brown 24, Sheth 25, Baber 23, Jones 26, Garza 23, King 27, Rodriguez 23.

While we make every effort to comply with the law, however factors beyond our control may impact our maintaining the class size limit. This exception is requested for our campus due to the reasons

indicated below: Facilities and funding limitations preventing our adding an additional class.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is back! Students are encouraged to wear their “Go Texan” Western clothes to school on Friday, February 24th in support of its return. Please make sure students leave their horses, spurs, and lassos at home!

Parents will be invited to come watch their child participate in Go Texan Day activities on Friday, February 24, during their child's enrichment time shown below.

5th Grade 7:45 - 8:35

PK/K 8:35 - 9:25

1st Grade/Pusparani, Martins, Phillips 9:30 - 10:20

2nd Grade 10:30 - 11:20

3rd Grade 12:40 - 1:30

4th Grade 1:40 - 2:30

Parents must bring a government issued photo identification to enter the building. Please be advised there will be a lot of parents attending and we only have three check in stations to process security checks, also parking will be difficult on this day. Do not park in in any red painted curb areas in the carpool or bus lanes. You are highly encouraged to arrive early to clear our security check in process.

Bush Elementary is sharing this information about the district and your child’s campus with you as part of its obligations under the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA). Federal Report Cards for the State, the district, and each of the district’s campuses are now available by visiting the following locations:

· For the TEA Level report, click HERE.

· For the District-Level report, click HERE.

· For the Campus-Level report: Click HERE.

Information on these report cards includes:

Part (i): General Description of the Texas State Accountability System

(I) the minimum number of students that the State determines are necessary to be included in each of the subgroups of students for use in the accountability system;

(II) the long-term goals and measurements of interim progress for all students and for each of the subgroups of students;

(III) the indicators used to meaningfully differentiate all public schools in the State;

(IV) the State’s system for meaningfully differentiating all public schools in the State, including

(aa) the specific weight of the indicators in such differentiation;

(bb) the methodology by which the State differentiates all such schools;

(cc) the methodology by which the State differentiates a school as consistently underperforming for any subgroup of students; and

(dd) the methodology by which the State identifies a school for comprehensive support and improvement;

(V) the number and names of all public schools in the State identified by the State for comprehensive support and improvement or implementing targeted support and improvement plans;

(VI) the exit criteria established by the State, including the length of years established.

Part (ii): Student Achievement by Proficiency Level

This section provides information on student achievement on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) performance for mathematics, reading/ELA, and science by grade level and proficiency level for the 2021-22 school year. These results include all students tested, regardless of whether they were in the accountability subset.

Part (iii)(I): Academic Growth

This section provides information on students’ academic growth for mathematics and reading/ELA for public elementary schools and secondary schools without a graduation rate, for the 2021-22 school year. These results include all students tested, regardless of whether they were in the accountability subset.

Part (iii)(II): Graduation Rate

This section provides information on high school graduation rates for the class of 2021.

Part (iv): English Language Proficiency

This section provides information on the number and percentage of English learners achieving English language proficiency based on the 2022 Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) data.

Part (v): School Quality or Student Success (SQSS)

This section provides information on school quality or student success, which is college, career and military readiness (CCMR) for high schools and average performance rate of the three STAAR performance levels of all students, regardless of whether they were in the accountability subset, for elementary and secondary schools without a graduation rate.

Part (vi): Goal Meeting Status

This section provides information on the progress of all students and each student group toward meeting the long-term goals or interim objectives on STAAR academic performance, federal graduation rate, and English learners’ language proficiency.

Part (vii): STAAR Participation

This section provides the percentage of students assessed and not assessed on STAAR for mathematics, reading/ELA, and science.

Part (viii): Civil Rights Data

Part (viii)(I): The section provides information from the 2017-18 Civil Right Data Collection (CRDC) surveys, submitted by school districts to the Office for Civil Rights, on measures of school quality, climate, and safety, including counts of in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, school related arrests, referrals to law enforcement, chronic absenteeism (including both excused and unexcused absences), incidences of violence, including bullying and harassment.

Part (viii)(II): This section provides information from the 2017-18 Civil Right Data Collection (CRDC) surveys, submitted by school districts to the Office for Civil Rights, on the number of students enrolled in preschool programs and accelerated coursework to earn postsecondary credit while still in high school.

Part (ix): Teacher Quality Data

This section provides information on the professional qualifications of teachers, including information disaggregated by high- and low-poverty schools on the number and percentage of (I) inexperienced teacher, principals, and other school leaders; (II) teachers teaching with emergency or provisional credentials; and (III) teachers who are not teaching in the subject or field for which the teacher is certified or licensed.

Part (x): Per-pupil Expenditure

This section provides information on the per-pupil expenditures of federal, state, and local funds, including actual personnel expenditures and actual non-personnel expenditures, disaggregated by source of funds, for each school district and campus for the preceding fiscal year. To be updated by June 30th, 2023. Part (xi): STAAR Alternate 2 Participation This section provides information on the number and percentage of students with the most-significant cognitive disabilities who take STAAR Alternate 2, by grade and subject for the 2021-22 school year.

Part (xii): Statewide National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

This section provides results on the state academic assessments in reading and mathematics in grades 4 and 8 of the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, compared to the national average of such results.

Part (xiii): Cohort Rate of Graduates Enrolled in Postsecondary Education

This section provides information on the cohort rate at which students who graduated from high school in the 2019-20 school year enrolled in the 2020-21 academic year in (I) programs of public postsecondary education in Texas; (II) programs of private postsecondary education in Texas; and (III) programs of postsecondary education outside Texas.

Part (xiv): Additional Information – Chronic Absenteeism

This section provides information on the Chronic Absenteeism per EDFacts definition: percent of unduplicated number of K – 12 students enrolled in a school for at least 10 days and absent for 10% or more days during the 2020-21 school year.

If you have difficulty accessing the information from the website, hard copies of the reports are available at the district or campus office. If you have questions about the information, please contact Insert contact information.

The Teacher Assistants are responsible for supervising the students in the cafeteria during lunch time. The Teacher Assistants are asking for parents' help in keeping the cafeteria calm and safe. Parents must follow these guidelines when visiting at lunch to pass out a birthday treat to their child's homeroom class and have lunch with their child.

• Only hand out the birthday treat to the students in your child’s homeroom class at the last 5 minutes of your child’s lunch.
• Birthday goodie bags are not handed out at lunch.
• Do not hand out any extra treats to any students in other class(es).
• Only take your child (no other students may go) to eat at the hallway birthday table or at the courtyard table and understand that you will not be able to eat lunch in the cafeteria.
• Do not take pictures or videos in the cafeteria during lunch.

Parents not following these guidelines directly affects student behaviors in the cafeteria.

Please make sure your child is following Bush Elementary's dress code guidelines. Bush Elementary's colors are red, navy, and white. Khaki pants, shorts, and skirts may also be worn. If a jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt are worn in the building throughout the day, then those items must follow dress code.

We're seeing many students wearing jeans with purposeful holes and/or tears and these type of jeans are not part of dress code. Only jeans that are a plain blue may be worn. Also, sweatpants or athletic pants are not part of the Bush dress code.

Please contact our Wrap Around Specialist, Maria Quevedo, if you're in need of dress code items. maria.quevedo@houstonisd.org

We are planning a big party to celebrate every student who has perfect attendance for the fourth six-week marking period! Students will be invited to this party if they are at school every day between Monday, January 9th through Friday, February 24th. Let’s see how many Bush Bobcats we will have at our party! It is so important to be at school each and every day and we want to recognize our students who come to school every day and have perfect attendance.

Relationship skills are critical to success in life and work. Having the ability to establish and maintain healthy relationships, communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, resist peer pressure, and collaborate are essential in all human interaction. These skills are fundamental to success in school and in work.

There isn't a perfect equation to success in life, but there is a way to understand the connection of WHAT we learn to the world around us. Math may not have been your favorite subject growing up, and for some it can be really hard to make a significant relationship with this subject. As the years go by and math became more complex, we may start to tell ourselves that we just aren't good at something.

Math is a skill and in order to have a growth mindset in our abilities, it helps to recognize its importance in our everyday life.

"Math is All Around Us"

By Big Life Journal

This week's printable focuses on the relationship with Math and how we can really see it as something that is really all around us.

The Spectacular Science Word for the week of February 13 is erosion.

Ms. Rose would like to wish a very special birthday to:

Benita P. who turns 7 years old on February 19 and is a first grader in Ms. Brown's class.

Happy Birthday and Welcome to the Bush Birthday Book Club!

As the temperatures drop, Wrap Around is in desperate need of sweaters of all youth sizes. Please drop off gently worn and/or new youth sweaters in the donation cart in the front office.

Wrap Around thanks you in advance!

West Briar Middle School is offering campus tours for interested parents and guardians on the following dates:

February 21st at 10am

No registration is required; please check in at the front office.

The PTO is looking for helpers for next school year, and we need YOU! Nominations for the 2023-2024 BBE PTO Board are now open.

The PTO Board consists of over 20 different roles, all with a focus on maintaining and enhancing the quality of education at Bush Elementary. We welcome working and non-working parents and guardians from all different grade levels and backgrounds.

We encourage you to find a position which sounds interesting to you, and one in which you feel you can contribute your unique talents and skills towards the betterment of our school.

Please view the list of PTO Board positions and job descriptions, and then fill out this form to nominate yourself or someone else for a position on next school year’s PTO Board.

Please email presidentbbepto@gmail.com with any questions.

Purchase a plain white t-shirt, which is needed for ALL STUDENTS for Art class. The students will be working in class on tie-dying the shirts for Field Day.

Shirts purchased through the PTO website will be delivered directly to the Art classroom.

The deadline to purchase through the PTO is March 1st.

The School Store is open for students to shop on Fridays and some select Thursdays.

We offer pens, pencils, erasers, fidgets and more. Prices range from $0.10- $4. Please send money with your student on the correct week if they would like to shop. See below for the schedule.

2/17 - 2nd and 3rd Grades

3/3 - 1st Grade, Kinder, and Pre-K

3/24 - 4th and 5th Grades

3/30* - 2nd and 3rd Grades (THURSDAY)

4/6* - 1st Grade, Kinder, and Pre-K (THURSDAY)

Be sure to follow @bbepto on Facebook or Instagram for the latest updates when we get new stock!

Please contact mybushstore@gmail.com with any questions about the School Store.

Bobcat Families, order your 2022-2023 Yearbook now and enjoy the memories of this year at BBE. Please visit the BBE PTO website to purchase your yearbook at a discount of $30. On March 11th, the price will increase to $35, and yearbook sales will close on March 24th, so don’t delay!

Do you have a graduating 5th grader? Give them a shout-out in the yearbook! Dedications are $20 for 175 characters or less. Order on the website at www.bbepto.com by March 3rd. Log into the site, select the “My Account” menu, and choose “My Dashboard” from the drop down. (Dedications are available for 5th graders only.)

We would love for families to send in any photos that are school-related, such as photos you snapped at the Let’s Glow Wild Party on Friday, Pajama Day, Astros day, or any grade-specific event/project that we can include in the yearbook!

Please send no more than 3 photos to bushptoyearbook@gmail.com and label the pictures with your child's grade.

Planting in the Garden - Friday, February 24th, 3 - 4pm (RESCHEDULED DUE TO WEATHER)

Join us to plant in the tire garden area. We'll be getting our hands dirty! Students are encouraged to bring garden gloves if they have them. We'll also spend some time making a nature themed Valentine craft. All students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian for the duration of the event. Parents will need to pick up their child after school and enter the Nature Center through the track gate.

Rainbow Rock Garden (Part 2) - Friday, March 3rd, 3 - 4pm

Join us as we build our second rainbow rock garden in the Nature Center. Students will be spray painting rocks and assembling them around the bird bath in the garden. It is recommended that students change out of their uniform and into "painting" clothes prior to arrival. All students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian for the duration of the event. Parents will need to pick up their child after school and enter the Nature Center through the track gate.

If you are interested in attending these events, please sign up here.

Join the Birthday Book Club and make your student’s birthday extra special! Your student will receive a personal birthday greeting from Ms. Rose during the morning announcements, and have their name printed in the weekly Paw Prints newsletter, in a book for the library, AND on the electronic marquee during the week of their birthday.

22-23 Faculty and Staff

COUNSELOR

Jewell Quinonez

(P) 281-368-2150 (ext: 275212)

Jewell.Quinonez@houstonisd.org

Click here to visit the BBE Counselor Corner

FOR RESOURCES AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH -

Wraparound - Maria Quevedo

(P) 281-368-2150 (ext. 275105)

maria.quevedo@houstonisd.org

FOR ATTENDANCE -

Registrar - Adriana Rosales

(P) 281-368-2150 (ext. 275104)

arosale3@houstonisd.org