Bonny Slope Families,

With the oncoming of spring, there are both delights and a heaviness that we are all feeling.

The delights come with the gradual releasing of rules for our Covid protocols. We are still waiting district guidance involving masks, and a survey was sent to BSD families asking for their input. BSD staff members also were surveyed. Once decisions are made, the district will communicate the protocols moving forward. We’ll make sure to do that as well.

As you know, we’ve been able to relax our playground zones and students are now playing in areas of their choice. Lunch is still in the hallways because students are eating without masks, and the required distancing is impossible to manage with our small cafeteria tables.

The heaviness comes with our concerns about Ukraine. Mr. Hiller went to Ukraine a few years back to visit a relative working in the Peace Corps as a teacher in a local school. He fondly remembers the warmth of the people he met wherever he went. You may want some ideas on how to talk with your students about this. Our superintendent Don Grotting sent out a letter with this link on how to talk with your students about this.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support this year. We couldn’t do this without you!

Janet Maza and Jim Hiller

Guidance Lessons Through Social Emotional Learning

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions." (Casel, 2018) Mrs. Williamson (Student Success Coach) and I have the opportunity to teach 1-2 SEL lessons in each classroom per month.

Over the past few months our focus has been on lesson topics such as diversity and inclusion, developing and maintaining friendships, kindness, worry/stress, digital citizenship/safety, problem solving and emotional regulation such as identifying feelings and using calming strategies such as breathing exercises and zones of regulation. Here are some resources we have used that may be helpful to have at home as well. Please let us know if you would like a copy of these tools to use at home.

Tiffany Rodgers

School Counselor

tiffany_rodgers@beaverton.k12.or.us

We would love to provide outreach to share and collaborate with our Bonny Slope families around social emotional skills and ways to support our students at school and at home. We would like to get your feedback on what topics would be of interest/value to you. Please click this link and fill out a very brief survey that will help guide our planning.

Once we have topics of interest we will work to create and share this information. Depending on the feedback we receive, this information may be shared via our school Paw Prints, zoom meetings, or even a parent night. We look forward to hearing from you and continuing to support you and your children.

Sincerely,

Lindsey Williamson (Student Success Coach) and

Tiffany Rodgers (School Counselor)

There is just something about a-read aloud that gets me every time. The hush right before the story begins, the stillness in the audience as the students weave together the story in their mind, the curious wonder about what might happen next. This past week I got to wander into classrooms and share one of my favorite parts of being a classroom teacher with a couple of stories for Read Across America week. Even the 5th graders, as tall and worldly as they are, melt right back into being little when it is time to share a picture book.

This week our entire school read Miss Rumphius, aka, the Lupine Lady. We learned about a lady who wanted to live a life full of adventure, enjoy a home by the sea and make the world more beautiful. We saw lupines take over the halls as the week progressed and some children even got a chance to spread seeds around campus, to make the world more beautiful. The pretty flowers did make our world more beautiful this week, but the sense of community, where each child contributed to something wonderful, was the very best part.

This week we laugh as teachers and kids dressed as their hundred-year-old self. We snuggled into good books on rainy days dressed in our comfy cozy jammies, we dressed as our favorite characters, and we got to contemplate making the world a more beautiful place. Celebrating reading and coming together as our Bonny Slope community TOGETHER made this week so sweet.

Jennifer Oordt

Academic Coach

Any spots that are not filled by September 9th will be open to families who pay tuition based on our waitlist of submitted Interest Forms. Please fill out an Interest Form to start the process for PreK for 2022-2023.

https://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/departments/early-learning/pre-k

If you have any questions, feel free to call our office:

503.356.2040

The BSD 3rd Annual Community Conversations Around Race event will be held virtually on April 6, 2022 hosted by Southridge High School. Additional information and registration coming soon. Staff, students, families and community are welcome to attend. Please mark your calendars.

Please join us for the 4th Annual Special Education Parent Resource Fair via Zoom on April 6, 2022 from 6-8pm!

Parents will have an opportunity to listen to presentations from different organizations and businesses that serve children with disabilities and their families! Parents will also have an opportunity to ask questions of the presenters after their formal presentations.

The fair will include presentations from:

• Spectra Gymnastics

• Oregon ABLE Savings Plan

• Decoding Dyslexia

• Palladio Consulting

• TriMet: Ride Connection

• Disability Resource Center at PSU

and more!

To register please visit: https://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/departments/special-education/parent-resource-fair

We hope to see you there!