SE Guiding Coalition at this week’s meeting worked on determining which K-5 schools will feed into Kellogg Middle School next year using the Racial Equity and Social Justice lens. We came closer to agreement that Lent, Marysville and Arleta will feed into Kellogg. Next week we will be focusing on DLI programming changes and where Bridger’s Middle School will be next year. This meeting will be the final meeting for phase one of this process where the Coalition will work to finalize a recommendation to the School Board. If you would like to watch next week’s meeting, you can view it live on Dec 17 at 6 pm here. You can also always watch later at the same link.

The next steps for SEGC will start again on January 12, the Board will review, discuss the proposal, and have an opportunity to request more info from Southeast Guiding Coalition. The Board will vote on January 26. Phase two of this process begins in the spring.

All SEGC information is located at this PPS website where you can learn more and give feedback.

Our Fall Book Fair has been a success with sales allowing us to buy over 80 books for our Native American students. Books are now ready to be picked up next Thursday.

Playground News! I’m excited to announce that PPS will be installing a new playground area that includes a structure that PTA and parents have purchased. I’ll share timeline and conceptual pictures in the future when we work out more details.

Melissa Schachner, Principal

Greetings Southeast community,

Bridger Elementary's Fresh Food Market will have free food next week. Please note: the time of the market is slightly earlier to accommodate the sunset with the outdoor market and to prioritize the safety of visitors and volunteers.

When: next Friday, December 18, from 2:30-4pm

Where: in the Bridger Elementary School parking lot (next to the field) - 7910 SE Market St.

The food is available to everyone in the community; you can take food for your neighbors as well. Please see the details and safety requirements below:

• The market is walk-up
• Please bring your own bags
• Face coverings/Masks required
• Maintain at least 6 feet between yourself and others
• Please send someone to shop for you/stay home if you are experiencing any symptom of COVID-19 (cough, fever, chills, sore throat, muscle or body aches, nausea, etc.)

Contact Melany if you would like to volunteer or have any questions: melany@latnet.org or 503-502-1485.

COVID-affected financial support:

If you are COVID-affected and are looking for support with Wage Relief, Food Support, Utilities support, etc. please complete this form: https://forms.gle/NpfWWAZkF3S12Yay5.

If you are referred for these supports, someone from Latino Network will contact you to complete the intake process and you will have to provide additional paperwork for the referral to be processed fully (specifically for utilities and rental support).

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Mortgage Relief:

Here is a resource for Mortgage relief through OHSI and more information can be found here: https://www.oregonhomeownerhelp.org/how-to-apply

At the beginning of the year, office team had open a Google Meet Room each morning to help our Bridger Community. We are changing our process starting on November 30th:

The best way to contact office team is to email them and they will quickly email you back or give you a call using Remind, if requested. They can also meet you in Google Meet Room.

Suzy Hernandez shernandez@pps.net

Cheryl Robert crobert@pps.net

December 14th Covid-19 PPS Virtual Panel Discussion, 6:00-8:00 PPS YouTube Channel

December 16th Platica para Padres, 4:00-5:00- link to join

December 16th PTA Community Meeting, 6:30-8:00- link to join

December 18th Spirt Day- PJ Day

December 18th Free Food Market , 2:30-4:00

December 21st-January 1st NO SCHOOL- Winter Break

January 6th Platica para Padres, 4:00-5:00- link to join

January 11th Principal Chat, 5:00-6:00- link to join

Family and Caregiver Activities

Learning can be fun! There are nine activity sheets available in both English and Spanish, designed to provide simple, fun activities families and caregivers can use with children at home to strengthen language development in either the home language or English. We will be sharing one activity a week for families to try at home.

This week's activity is Questions about Stories.

If you would like to nominate your child for TAG, the Talented and Gifted Program, please fill out one of these TAG nomination forms by December 18, 2020. Please only use it if your child is attending Bridger. No late forms will be accepted. If you have any questions, please contact our TAG Facilitator, Jody Acevedo, at jacevedo@pps.net.

TAG Nomination Form: Chinese

TAG Nomination Form: Russian

TAG Nomination Form: Spanish

TAG Nomination Form: Vietnamese

TAG Nomination Form: Somali

TAG Nomination Form: English

Ms LeAnne K-4:

3rd and 4th graders are learning about growth mindset this week and next week. We’re learning that intelligence is developed, that our brains are malleable and we make our brains stronger and smarter through challenging work. Can your child tell you a time they recently made their brain stronger by doing something challenging? Celebrate it!

We’ve been having so much fun in our grade level lunch bunches this week! Because we do this the first full week of every month, the next lunch bunches will be the week we return to school in January. Perfect timing to see each other as a community again! Here are the dates:

3rd grade Monday Jan 4th 11-11:45 GM code: 3msleanne

1st grade Tuesday Jan 5th 11-11:30 GM code: 1msleanne

2nd grade Wednesday Jan 6th 11:30-12 GM code: 2msleanne

4th grade Thursday Jan 7th 11-11:45 GM code: 4msleanne

Kinder Friday Jan 8th 11-11:30 GM code: kmsleanne

Ms. Howard 5-8th Grades

Attention 8th Grade Families!

The High School Lottery Window has been extended until Friday December 18th: Students from across Portland Public Schools can apply to lottery slots at our three focus options high schools – Benson, Jefferson, and Metropolitan Learning Center (MLC). Application and other information.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions or if you need help applying.

Continue to check the PPS 8th grade page here for high school information and virtual events!

This and next week in 5th grade classrooms we continue to talk about perspective-taking. Ask your student what they think makes their point of view different than others.

Opportunities for students to connect with each other:

6th drop-in Lunch Group - CODE: 6lunch - Mon. 12:30 - 1pm

7th/8th drop-in Lunch Group - CODE: 78lunch - Tues 12:30 - 1pm

5th drop-in Lunch Group - CODE: 5lunch – Thurs 11:35 - 12:05pm

Student Council – CODE: bridgerstudentcouncil - Fri. 1:10-1:55pm

QSA Group – Email Ms. Howard for code - Fridays 2-2:30pm

Ms. Howard can be reached at 971-378-0470 or rhoward@pps.net

Counselor Website: https://sites.google.com/pps.net/bridger-k-8-counseling/home

Grounding Moment (Break Option)

What is a grounding moment?

A grounding moment is a break option that can be used to help calm your mind by having you focus on the present moment.

How to take this grounding moment

This grounding moment starts with a big breath in, and a big breath out. Then, pause and focus on the following:

5: Name five things you notice (see, hear, smell, taste, feel)

4: Take four slow, deep breaths

3: List three things you are grateful for

2: List two things you are looking forward to

1: Say one positive self-talk statement

(example: “I can do hard things.”)

Quick tips for having a grounding moment

• Pausing for a grounding moment is a strategy you can use when you notice your worries and anxieties are trying to take over your thoughts. This strategy helps bring you back to the present moment and can keep negative thoughts from taking over.

• Practice using this tool when you are calm. This will make it easier to use when you really need it.

Remember!

It can take time and practice to become comfortable with taking mindful breaks. There are different types of 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Moments, find the one that works for you and your student.

Hello Bridger families,

Today I wanted to share with you a website that may be helpful to you since winter break is right around the corner. That website is:

https://www.weareteachers.com/

It is a website designed and made by teachers to help students outside the classroom. Within the website you can find giveaways, teaching guides, even free resources. Though this website is aimed at teachers, distance learning has made things so unique that now the classroom is in the home, so there may be a few tools that you find useful throughout this website.

As always, whatever you can do is enough, and have a fantastic weekend.

Take care

Most teens use some form of social media and have a profile on a social networking site. Many visit these sites every day.

There are plenty of good things about social media — but also many risks and things kids and teens should avoid. They don't always make good choices when they post something to a site, and this can lead to problems.

So it's important to talk with your kids about how to use social media wisely.

Click here for more resources: Teaching Kids to Be Smart About Social Media

Please join us for our upcoming PTA Gathering on Zoom this Wednesday 12/16 from 6:30-8:00pm. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3239315086

We are thrilled to say we have given over $10,000 in support to families during this difficult time. We have exhausted the funds that we allotted for this emergency support and starting in January, will move to providing targeted support around specific needs like winter clothing.

The Nutrition Services department will be providing extra meals each service day to help keep our students with access to food as we head into the winter break. Each service day through December 16, we will be providing 3 days worth of meals for each child. On Friday, December 18, we will provide each child with a food box that will contain enough food for 7 days. We will not be serving or delivering meals on Monday, Dec 21 through Friday, January 1. Meal services will resume Monday, January 4.

Thank you for sharing updates with your school community. Please feel free to visit our website where you can find resources such as our menu to help guide families with what we plan to serve for each day and enrichment activities, or contact us at nutritionservices@pps.net with any questions and requests for home meal delivery.

Whitney Ellersick, Senior Director, Nutrition Services, wellersi@pps.net

Centralized Call Center available for families to support all technology needs.

Web: pps.net/student

Email: support@pps.net

Call: 503-916-3375

English: 503-916-3375

Español: 503-916-3582

中文：503-916-3585

Tiếng Việt: 503-916-3584

Soomaali: 503-916-3586

Русский: 503-916-3583

Champions is offering Winter Break Camp at Creston Elementary. We will follow all COVID protocols by OHA and CDC. This is a designated Oregon Essential Child Care site and is licensed. ERDC is accepted. We have tons of fun plans including canvas painting, arts and crafts, and science experiments, all while social distancing. We have limited pod sizes and are taking enrollments now on discoverchampions.com or by contacting Family Support at 1-800-246-2154 and they can help walk you through the process. We will be open December 21st-23rd and December 28th-30th from 7:30-5:30pm for a $150 weekly cost. If you are interested in care or have additional questions, please contact Stephanie Balke at sbalke@discoverchampions.com or call 503-915-3063