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Newsletter September 8 2020
9/8/2020Dear Beach Parents and Families,
Today was the first day of Soft Start for our kindergartners! A warm welcome to all our new Beach Bobcats. We’ve ordered each child and staff member in our school community a special bobcat sticker with our school motto (I matter to Beach & Beach matters to me!) and will be getting those to you soon! Somehow! Today was also Day 4 of Soft Start for our 1st-5th grade students. I hope your child and family have enjoyed a chance to talk with your child’s teacher, and that you are feeling connected with us and hopeful for a strong year of learning within the challenges we’re facing. We’re committed to that experience for your child!
We’re excited about a PPS library program called Let’s Get Reading. Starting the week of 9/14, you will be able to pick up pre-packed bags of books for your students. Each bag will contain books chosen for grades K-2 or grades 3-5 and can be swapped out every 2 weeks as long as we are distance learning. The full schedule is available on the Library website in the announcements or by clicking the "Let's Get Reading!" bag in Library at Home. Please contact Ms. Hughes at vhughes@pps.net with any questions or requests for home drop-offs. Book bags are probably where we will distribute our Beach Bobcat stickers (re, above) once they arrive!
I know you received information from PPS about school attendance, and I want to make sure you know that our top school priority is establishing positive relationships with your child and you, to ensure a sense of belonging for every student: this directly impacts strong academic achievement. The best way our staff (teachers but also our specialists, secretaries, and assistants) can connect and build relationships with your child, is if they get to connect with them via whole class and small group meetings. Following classroom schedules will be important, but we know there are so many challenges, from children’s individual preferences and needs, to the schedule itself. When/if it may become relevant, please remember the ultimate goal during distance learning is maintaining connection between family (child) and school. Again,even if your child ends up missing some days in a row, just reach out to the teacher or any staff member (please see our full list of staff and letters each staff wrote to students on our Teachers & Staff website link) so we can help determine which meetings or structures will be most workable for you/them.
If you can make time tonight, there is a Family Friendly March from Sunnyside Elementary tonight, Tuesday September 8, at 6:30. People gather at 6 to make signs. This march is posted on the Black Lives Matter calendar. We all need as much connection as possible and to connect as a Beach school community around committing to Black lives and equity is a most important way forward.
Beach Elementary has been approved as a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) site for this coming school year. This means students who are enrolled at our school automatically qualify for free meals. If students enrolled opt to request a home delivery, there will be no charge for their meals. The next meal service at Beach Elementary will be tomorrow, 9/9/20 from 3-5PM on the corner of N Concord and N Humboldt for walk up or drive thru. The Nutrition Services department will have meals available at each of the schools found through this link operating with grab and go meal services.
For families who are unable to get to the school to pick up food, we will offer meal deliveries to family homes. Deliveries are made possible by the transportation department. Meal delivery schedules are still being determined and will depend on the demand for the service. To sign up for home meal delivery, please click on the link here: Home Meal Delivery Link
In closing, we invite native Spanish speaking families to join us Friday, September 18 for Café en Español. We will share information about the services that Portland schools offer and answer your questions regarding the educational experience that your children are receiving these two weeks.
Here’s to a strong, final week of Soft Start and start to the “regular” school year next week. We’ll send another newsletter a week from this Friday (the 18th), and each Friday throughout distance learning. During regular times, we send our newsletters monthly.
Warmly,
Lisa