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February 26th Newsletter
2/26/2021Dear Beach Families and Community,
We want to make you aware of some important and fun events coming up on our Beach Calendar!
Beach Connects! The purpose of Beach Connects is to celebrate and connect our whole Beach community (families, students, REAP, SUN, and our school-wide teaching and support staff), to come together in a fun way(s) and connect with one another.
- Special presentations of our Black History Month projects led by our Beach Black Student Union (our virtual Drawing and Dance Shows), presentation of our new Beach School Song, then breakout rooms for a variety of fun activities (games, poetry slam, storytelling and more), maybe even raffles for students in each room. Our Equity Team and staff are still planning the details, but please mark the date (it’s the Thursday after Spring Break).
- Date: April 1 in the evening (likely 6-7, but TBA)
Kindergarten Registration is happening! Please share with your neighbors or families who have children who will be 5 years old by September 1. Please register as early as possible! The more children who are registered early, thus who go on our roster and are in our official count, the more likely it is we’ll be able to staff our school for smaller class sizes.
Beach has two vibrant kindergarten programs in our kindergarten community-- our two DLI classrooms and our English Instruction classroom. We are really hoping to grow to two English Instruction classes per grade level. Both our kindergarten programs are strong, and we’re excited about expanding opportunities to learn Spanish across both programs as shared in the newsletter a few weeks ago.
The Page on our websites called “Kindergarten” is designed to help you as you register and prepare for entry. We’re planning virtual events this spring and summer for our incoming kindergarten families. A fun tradition during our Open House is that our current 4th graders take our incoming kindergartners and their families on a school tour, this year most likely a virtual tour. Please share the dates (see below) with any families you know who have incoming kindergarten-aged children. Whether children enter our immersion or our English Instruction program, we are committed and strong, and we are working to ensure children are happy, connected, and experiencing strong learning outcomes at Beach!
- Virtual Kindergarten Parent Q&A, April 9, 2-2:30 pm: Please join this relaxed, open meeting for incoming kindergarten families to ask questions of current teachers and staff about our kindergarten program and upcoming school year.
- Virtual Incoming Kindergarten Open House: Apr. 29, 3:10-4:30 Please join us for an afternoon of activities where you will be able to connect with our front office staff, librarian, the kindergarten teachers and much more including (virtual) school tours led by current 4th graders!
- Incoming Kindergarten Connect: Family Craft Night, Friday, May 14, 6 pm - each of our registered kindergartners will be invited to come pick up a special kit containing special Beach gear and supplies for our Craft night from school during the week of May 10-14, to have on hand at home for Family Craft Night. Then that night, staff will host rooms to meet and connect with students and lead a quick, fun craft activity (it involves students’ names and stickers!)
- Beach Spanish Immersion Lottery: Apply now through March 16th 2021- Please share with families who are interested in participating in the Immersion Program. PPS is hosting an additional K-5 Explore Your Options evening on Monday, March 8th from 6-8pm for families who weren’t able to join the previous event, due to the virtual platform being at capacity.
A few reminders for families
- Filling out the application for Free and Reduced lunch starting July 1, 2021helps our school even if you plan to make your child’s lunch or don’t think you’ll qualify. Please fill it out just in case your family would qualify; it’s a completely confidential process (staff are not informed of who qualifies and who doesn’t), but the percentage of families in each school that do qualify leads to important funding allocations, which can translate to additional staff.
- Two important surveys: we ask you to please fill out both the Successful Schools Survey and the Fourth Quarter Learning Choice form (technically yesterday was the last day for that one, but you should still be able to access it; email research@pps.net if not).
- Your response on the Successful Schools Survey is important because your voice and information are very important to us and it is important that all voices and perspectives across our community are represented in our school’s survey data. The survey is our annual district-wide school climate and feedback survey and provides students, families and staff the opportunity to provide feedback on their school’s climate and experiences at school. Various school and larger community teams and councils analyze, reflect on and utilize the data from this survey to discuss and set school goals. Data is shared with our staff and community each year. For more information about the Successful School Survey please visit this link.
- Your response on the Learning Choice (indicating whether you’d prefer hybrid model or continuation of CDL) Google Form is important because results will be used to determine next steps about providing Hybrid and Comprehensive Distance Learning in the 4th quarter (which begins April 13). If you haven’t received the survey in your email, search your spam folder for both “Principal Hawking” and “Fourth Quarter Learning Choice Form” and if you don’t find it that way, email research@pps.net
We look forward to hearing your feedback. Thank you for taking the time to complete these surveys.
Goodbye from Sr. Siam
Dear Beach School Community, I am sad to announce that this will be my last school year at Beach. I am retiring in June. Thank you for the trust and support that you have been offering me over these 15 years.
Sincerely,
Sr. Siam
Virtual Dance Class
Unfortunately, Mr. Domo is sick so there will not be a third video this week. We will keep you updated when he is feeling better.
Young Women of Purpose is a REAP event that focuses on building community, confidence, and self-love for female youth in the PDX area. This year's theme is Sea of Change: Find Your Constant, Shape Your Story. Embodying the idea that change is normal and every day is an opportunity to start fresh. Much like the constant flow of the ocean and navigating through turbulent and calm waters. We want everyone to walk away feeling inspired and to remember that their story is theirs to shape. On March 5th from 11 am to 1:30 pm middle and high school students will have a chance to hear from a keynote speaker before participating in a virtual vision board breakout session. Registration closes on March 3rd.
Link for registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vcOuoqjIiG9ZsOuyW4UpObIzHP26fBXYL
Many thanks.
Ms.I.
LIPI Highlights
Conversation from LIPI
Teacher: what is something you want people to know about you?
Child: I do school a lot, I clean a lot and I learned to read!
Teacher: hooray! What made learning to read happen?
Child: I read a bunch of books