What a great week! Aside from a little inversion, the weather has allowed the kids to play outside for recess and most kids (and all the teachers) were pretty happy about that. Keeping kids cooped up inside for 8 hours is hard on everyone.

We ran the sibling lottery on Tuesday and now have a much better handle on the number of spots open to the general public for next school year. We will run the next lottery on Tuesday, February 21. That lottery will probably fill the remaining spots for now. However, during the spring and summer families may move and change their minds about returning to Bridge so additional spots may come available - just in case your friend, neighbors or other family members ask about their chances of getting a spot for next school year.

WINTER SURVEYS SENT

Please check your emails for the Winter Survey links. These were sent on Tuesday, February 7. The data from these surveys are a vital part of the improvements Bridge strives to implement to make Bridge a supportive and positive learning environment for all students. There is a different link for each grade level and a link for students who attend the special education program. The surveys are super short - less than five minutes. PLEASE take the time to complete the survey so we know what we need to fix and also know what we are doing well.

STAFF HIGHLIGHTS

This week's staff highlight features our three of our SPECIALISTS - writing (Sadie Taylor), science (Lindsey Smith) and fine arts (Madison Fisher). Please see below to read all about these amazing teachers!

Mark you calendars for the following days of NO SCHOOL

• February 20 (President's Day)
• March 9 & 10 (Parent Teacher Conferences)
• April 3 - 7 (Spring Break)
• May 26 (Teacher work day)
• May 29 (Memorial day)

Upcoming Events

• Roy City Fire Department Safety Assembly - April 19
• Classic Skate Night - May 3

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

As always, thank you for sharing your kids with us!

Lani Rounds

Principal

PLEASE be careful - the construction zone is going to continue for a very long time. They do not consult with us as to what times are best for our school. They do not consult with us as to when they should or shouldn't shut the road down to one lane. We don't get to have a crossing guard - even if the school wants to provide one. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not park across the street along the canal fence and walk across the street. It was dangerous before construction but it is EXTREMELY dangerous now. Take that extra few minutes and park in the parking lot, walk to the front doors, and get your students. You can even come a few minutes early and check them out - that's a MUCH better option than parking across the street and trying to finagle a way across the street with your kids in tow.

HISTORY - Before the first United States Congress ratified the constitution and before the election of George Washington, a process was established by the Continental Congress to ensure children of the new country would be educated. The Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set aside lands to support public education as territories and states became part of the Union. The Founding Fathers were concerned about the sporadic establishment of schools and demonstrated their commitment to an educated citizenry and maintaining a democracy as the organized system of land grants was put in place. Utah was granted school trust lands through the Utah Enabling Act and Utah Constitution, a bilateral contract between the Federal Government and the State of Utah. There are over 3.2 million acres of land held in trust for Utah’s K-12 schools that are managed by the State of Utah.

Each public school in Utah receives funds, called "Trust Land Funds" from the interest generated from the money held in trust. Schools form a committee which includes school staff and parents, to determine how to spend these funds. Bridge receives approximately $60,000 in Trustland funds. We currently use these funds to help support our P90 reading program in grades 1 - 3.

You can find our current plan on our website at :

https://www.bridgecharter.org/plans

If you would like to be part of the Trust Lands Committee please complete the form below. If we have enough interest we will conduct a "vote" using an anonymous ballot system through a survey to select the committee members. The positions require a small time commitment by attending meetings and trainings.

https://forms.gle/1DnGfS7rDcTzb8iV9

NOW HIRING FOR OPEN POSITIONS NEXT YEAR

Interested individuals should email resume to Lani@BridgeCharter.org

4th - 5th - 6th Grade Para Educators

Our para-educators work in the classrooms assisting students with computers, stations, specials, lunch and recess. Para-educators must pass a background check and have a minimum of an associate's degree or pass a para-pro Praxis test which they take through ETS.org Our para-educators work 29 - 35 hours weekly and receive paid time off and holiday pay for five holidays. Full-time employees (working 30+ hours weekly) are eligible for benefits including access to 401 K and health insurance. Salary is based on education and experience and is $15 - $18 hour.

1st Grade Teacher

Mrs. Langhaim, one of our 1st grade teachers is finishing her masters degree in special education and will be moving to special education next year. This will open a teaching position in 1st grade. We are hiring a 1st grade teacher with a professional license, a minimum of three years teaching experience, and who has completed a portion of LETRS training. Salary is based on experience and education.

The calendar for next school year is now approved. You can access it on our website using the link below:

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

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.

Each week students attend a Visible Learning class where they learn about traits of a good learner. Next week's Visible Learning class students will learn about Initiative. Initiative means, "Recognizing what needs to be done before I am asked to do it."

• I will do what is right before I am told.
• I will not put off until later what I can do now.
• I will do my part for the team.
• I will be a part of the solution rather than the problem.
• I will look for ways to help others.

By internalizing visible learning traits students will become lifelong learners who are set up for success. You can find all of our Visible Learning traits on our website at:

https://www.bridgecharter.org/character-first

We are starting the planning for our Field Day blowout! This is the funnest day of the school year and includes bounce houses, games, prizes, entertainment, food, fun, face painting, yearbook signing and more.

We are looking for donations for our game booths. Students play games and win prizes. These are not elaborate prizes. We are looking for simple things like you get at Zurchers, pick up in packs at the Dollar Store, or buy from Oriental Trading. We also need tons and tons and tons of cans of soda for the ring toss. Please drop your donations off in the office and remember to enter your donations (converted to hours) into our volunteer tracker so your family can be place into our Frog Pond in the front foyer.

https://www.bridgecharter.org/volunteer-opportunities

Amazon makes it SUPER easy to donate to Bridge through their Amazon Smile program. When you purchase from Amazon using the Amazon Smile link and select Bridge Elementary as your designated school, Amazon sends us a check every quarter. So far, Amazon has sent us $800 since the school opened its doors. The link is on our website for Amazon Smile. Bridge Elementary may show with a Kaysville address as that is our accounting address. Start shopping today.

School Website: https://www.bridgecharter.org/donate

Amazon Smile

Sadie Taylor

Hi! I’m Sadie Taylor and I teach writing. I love watching our bullfrogs become more confident authors. When I am not at school I love spending time with my family. We enjoy watching movies, going to baseball games and going on trips.

Lindsey Smith

My name is Lindsey Smith and I am the Science Specialist. Science is the greatest!! I am very lucky to have a job teaching the best subject ever. I love getting my students excited about learning. It is so fun teaching students cool, new concepts and seeing their "lightbulb" go on. I am an Ogden native, born-and-raised. I graduated from Bonneville High School and Weber State University. In my free time I enjoy reading, spending time with my loved ones, going to the symphony, spending too much money on cute clothes, and sleeping.

Madison Fisher

Madison, the Fine Arts Specialist! When I'm not teaching art, I'm at home working on art of my own, such as drawing, painting anything I can get my hands on, singing and a little bit of photography! I also enjoy shopping, watching movies, and spending time with my family. I am pretty blessed to have a father who is a professional artist and having him as my example throughout my my life. And that example has led my life to be centered all around creativity, and imagination. And I like to use those two things in everything I do and say. Teaching Art has definitely put the two things into perspective for me, and without them I wouldn't be the teacher I am today. Not only has teaching art to kids helped me be a better teacher, but also a better student, just like the kids. Each activity I plan and create for the children, I learn new things as well. It really helps me grow and understand the subject more and more. I love children, and their funny personalities. I'm a true believer that laughter is the best medicine, and kids can bring that out of me 100%

The yearbook can now be ordered, online. Orders are not taken at the school. Yearbooks will not be available at the school for sale. The cost is $15. You can also find the order information on our website at: https://www.bridgecharter.org/school-events

Code = BridgeES

Pre Pay code = BridgeYB23

Link to Order: YEARBOOK ORDER

Lunch payments can be made online or in the front office using cash or check. Payments made in the front office are posted immediately in Aspire. Online payments are not immediately updated in Aspire.

When payments are made online we must complete several steps to get the payments moved to Aspire. We do this every Monday and Wednesday. After we run the online report it takes another day for the money to post to your student's Aspire account. Please allow 3 - 5 days from the day you make the online payment to the day the information posts in Aspire.

The link to make payments online is found on our website by selecting the MEALS icon.

https://www.bridgecharter.org/lunch

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).
• 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)

After you have volunteered please enter your hours in our volunteer form on our website:

https://www.bridgecharter.org/volunteer-opportunities

Once your family has logged 30 volunteer hours they will have a frog put into our Volunteer Pond in the 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.