Cougar News
Brea Country Hills Newsletter
A New Year, A New Look for Cougar News!
Country Hills Cougars ROAR!
*Respect* *Ownership* *Achievement* *Responsibility*
Brea Country Hills Elementary School
School Address & Phone Number
Brea, CA 92821
Phone: (714) 990-3221
Fax: (714) 990-3222
Lana Merha, Principal
Brea Country Hills Recognized as a Common Sense School!
Common Sense School Press Release
Common Sense, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids and families thrive in a world of media and technology, has recognized Brea Country Hills as a Common Sense School.
Country Hills has demonstrated its commitment to taking a whole-community approach to preparing its students to think critically and use technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate, while preparing them for the perils that exist in the online realm, such as plagiarism, loss of privacy, and cyber-bullying. With the right support, kids can take ownership of their digital lives, engage with real issues, and change their communities for the better. The recognition acknowledges our school's commitment to creating a culture of digital citizenship.
"We applaud the faculty and staff of Brea Country Hills Elementary for embracing digital citizenship as an important part of their students' education," said Liz Kline, vice president of education programs at Common Sense Education. "Country Hills deserves high praise for giving its students the foundational skills they need to compete and succeed in the 21st-century workplace and participate ethically in society at large."
Country Hills has been using Common Sense Education's innovative and research- based digital citizenship resources, which were created in collaboration with researchers from Project Zero, led by Howard Gardner at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and are grounded in the real issues students and teachers face. The resources teach students, educators, and parents tangible skills related to internet safety, protecting online reputations and personal privacy, media balance, managing online relationships, and media literacy. The free K–12 curriculum is used in classrooms across all 50 states, in more than 65,000 schools by more than 750,000 educators.
"We're honored to be recognized as a Common Sense School," said Lana Merha, Principal. "By preparing our students to use technology safely and responsibly, we are providing them an opportunity to build lifelong habits to help them succeed in a tech-driven world."
To learn more about the criteria Country Hills met to become recognized as a Common Sense School, visit https://www.commonsense.org/education/recognition-schools.
Congratulations Country Hills! ROAR!
BEST Track Meet
The Brea Elementary School Track Meet for 4th-6th graders is coming soon on Saturday, February 1st at BOHS (rain date 2/22/20). The PE team sent home permission slips and event information to those who are participating.
We still are in need of 1-2 volunteers for our school’s event - the Biathlon Pull Ups. Volunteers count pull ups on the field from 9:00am to 11:00am. If you are able to help, please email me at Lmerha@bousd.us so we can put you on the list for an official badge that will allow you on the field as a volunteer. Thank you for your support!
Mother/Daughter Cookie Decorating Class
Country Hills PTA will be hosting a Mother/ Daughter event on Wednesday, January 29th 6pm-8pm in the MPR. Come learn how to decorate Valentine’s Day themed cookies taught by Kristen owner of Grunderfully Delicious. Cost: $25 per Mom & Daughter set of 4 cookies. Each additional daughter is $10. Light refreshments will be served. Please follow this link to register:
RSVP: No later than Wednesday, January 22nd ( no walk -ups available)
Wednesday, Jan 29, 2020, 06:00 PM
Country Hills Elementary School, North Associated Road, Brea, CA, USA
PTA Meeting
There will be no PTA meeting this month as we gear up for the second half of the year. See you on February 5th at 1 pm in the MPR. Please note the meeting time has changed!
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2020, 01:00 PM
Country Hills Elementary School, North Associated Road, Brea, CA, USA
Yearbook Orders
Yearbooks are now on sale!!!!! Each yearbook will be hardbound and full of colorful memories of your year at Country Hills, the cost per book is $20.
Please click on the following link to purchase. https://www.balfour.com/student-info?smi=5459 All sales will close on 01/31/2020, so be sure to make your purchase so you don’t miss out!
Save the Date: Friday, March 6th
Country Hills Dine Out Event
Thursday, Jan 30, 2020, 03:00 PM
Chuck E. Cheese, North Rose Drive, Placentia, CA, USA
Smart Watches
Classroom instruction during school hours is our priority! Teachers have reported increasing classroom disruptions due to students sending and receiving text messages or phone calls during instruction via Smart Watches.
In an emergency, please contact the office and we will relay the information to your child in a timely manner. Thank you for your cooperation and support in this world of increasing technology!
Easy Ways to Support Our School
BoxTops: Collection sheets are available in the front office or you can print them from the Box Tops website. Please check to be sure they are not torn or expired.
AmazonSmile: Login to Amazon Smile at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/95-3747871 When you register your account, you help our PTA earn 0.05% of your qualified purchase.
Ralph’s Card: Go to www.ralphs.com, log in to your account and enter NPO #80588 under Community Rewards.
Attendance
Please come to school daily and on time! If your student will not be in school or will be coming late, please call our attendance line at 714-990-7592 and leave the requested information on the machine for our attendance office. You may also email sherry.ortiz@bousd.us Thank you.
Pets on Campus
Please be aware that pursuant to Orange County Ordinance 41.46, dogs are not to be on school grounds at any time, unless they are registered service animals. Should you choose to bring your dog when walking your child to and from school, please wait for your child off school grounds.
January
20 MLK, Jr Holiday/No School
24 Flag Ceremony
27-30 Great Kindness Challenge
29 Mother/Daughter Cookie Night
31 Teacher Prep Day/No School
February
1 BEST Track Meet @BOHS 9 am
5 PTA meeting 1 PM in MPR
7 Art Masters Assemblies
10 No School, President’s Day
11-14 Random Acts of Kindness Week.
17 No School, President’s Day
20 SSC/ELAC meeting @ 3PM
28 Donuts for Darlings 8am
28 Flag Ceremony 8:45am
*See Master Calendar on website for additional dates.