Thank you for another fabulous week with your kids!

And that's a wrap - the last newsletter of 2022. It has been crazy fun, though I must admit, ask any educator, the last week before Christmas break is a 50/50 split between crazy and fun :)

When students return in January, our middle of the year (MOY) assessments will begin. We will give students a couple of days to settle in first, then on Thursday, January 5, Imagine Learning math and literacy assessments will begin. It is so important that students are well rested and do their best on these assessments. As a personalized learning school the assessment data is a big part of grouping students and designing instruction to help meet their needs.

Staff will also begin pulling students for Acadience reading and math assessments (used to be called DIBELS). Students in grades 1- 6 will complete a writing assessment. Grades 1 - 2 will do a written assessment while grades 3 - 6 will complete a computer-based writing assessment. Data from these assessments will be on the student's progress report which is sent home the first of February. The progress report will also have their beginning of year (BOY) scores so you can see your student's growth.

Additionally, students in grades 1, 2 and some students in grade 3 complete a diagnostic phonics screener to help us determine which reading skill they need to work on so they can be placed in the correct P90 reading group.

Some exciting changes coming in January when students return are schedule changes that will impact all grades. The schedule changes will allow more consistency with specials across the week, and for 1st grade, will allow smaller class sizes for specials. We are excited about these changes. For 3rd and 6th grades, lunch schedules will change and parents will receive an email about these changes. Contact your child's teacher if you want specifics about what their new schedule will look like.

In January, we will send out the survey for the 2023-2024 school calendar. Unlike typical districts, we allow parents to vote on our calendar. The calendar will be voted on by our school board in the January board meeting.

STAFF HIGHLIGHTS

This week's staff highlight features the 5th grade teachers. Keep reading below to see more about our fabulous 5th grade teaching team.

Mark you calendars for the following days of NO SCHOOL

• December 19 - January 1 (Christmas Break)
• January 16 (Martin Luther holiday)
• 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

• December 31 - DEADLINE for 2023-2024 current student registration
• Schoolwide assessment begins January 5
• FREE Classic Skate Night, Wednesday January 11, 5 - 8 pm
• Lottery opens for siblings and other students - January 23
• Middle of Year Progress Reports - February 3

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

I hope your holidays are safe, joyful and filled with lots and lots of wonder and snow!

Lani Rounds

Principal

We had Friends for Sight at school on Monday to conduct a schoolwide vision screening. This was set up by our school nurse, Vicki Ross. Wow! It was SO slick! They screened our entire school in less than a couple of hours. It was non-invasive, professional, and non-intrusive into the school day. With the the school nurse and the two individuals from Friends for Sight a grade level was in and out in just a matter of minutes. VERY IMPRESSIVE - I am hopeful we can use them in the future! They provide their service to schools FREE of charge.

Your gift to Friends for Sight allows us the ability to work passionately each day to save sight and change lives by providing free vision screenings, working to ensure that people of all ages and backgrounds have access to quality eye care, and disseminating information about eye safety, threats to vision, and available community resources. With a small staff of five and generous support of volunteers, we are proud that 94% of every contribution goes directly to support our programs.

https://friendsforsight.org/donate

Even our staff need a few minutes of down time. It's not wild and crazy, but does involve food and prize drawings which really, is all you need!

The school year is 180 days long. The week before winter break is about 146 days. Today was filled with tons of fun. Each grade had something planned for kids to do to kick off 16 days at home playing with friends, hanging with family, building snowmen, reading books, and doing Imagine Learning (okay, maybe the last two things are a stretch). Some grades played games, ate snacks, and watched movies while others took a more subtle approach and exchanged gifts using a "Box of Hope" theme. As we strolled from class to class it looked as if most kids were having a great time - lots of smiles and lots of parent volunteers - THANK YOU!

As you probably know, we rent our building to Christian Worship Center (CWC) for their church service on Sundays. They pay us a nice amount of rent which we use to buy treats and soda for our staff and pay for our Culligan water machine. CWC hosts carnivals and activities for the community (for which they also rent space), volunteer time at the school to do janitorial work, donate boxes and boxes of paper to the school, periodically drop off treats for our staff and provide other service for our school.

This week they surprised our staff with a Christmas gift for all 85 of us plus our contracted lunch crew! So, although they thank us every week for letting them rent our building, Bridge is truly the ones who are thankful for the relationship with CWC. So, this little blurb is to thank THEM for all they do for Bridge!

The big hit, for some, during FFVP, this week, was kumquats. Look closely at the first picture below as the student is watching his friend closely to either,

A) See if he likes it, or

B) See if he pukes or dies,

before HE actually tries the fruit (smart kid). You can tell by the last picture, "kumquats" will not be on his Christmas list this year.

Our Family Handbook states that if students choose to bring toys to school the toys cannot become a distraction to other students or student learning. The handbook continues to state that the school will NOT dedicate any resources to hunt down lost toys, fix broken toys, or help determine who, what ,when, or where toys were stolen or misplaced. Toys that are brought to school are done so at the risk to the student. The best way to ensure your child's toys stay safe is for your child to keep their toys at home.

POKEMON CARDS

Specific grade levels can also BAN certain kinds of toys, for example, Pokemon cards. Please note - grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 have BANNED Pokemon cards at school. Any cards that are spied during school hours outside of a child's locker or backpack will be confiscated by an adult and returned only to a parent or guardian at the end of the school day. The school will NOT get involved in hashing out which cards belong to which student or policing Pokemon games and squabbles. If there is a dispute, the cards in dispute will be disposed of in a Poke shredder purchased exclusively for this purpose. The best way NOT to lose a beloved, multi-million dollar all powerful Pokemon card (I have been assured these cards are worth millions) is to leave it at home safely tucked away with Evie, Pikachu, Charmander and all their evolved versions.

It's that time again - when you are making your New Year's Resolution, please add the following regarding pick up and drop off before and after school.

• BE OBSERVANT
• BE PATIENT
• BE KIND

Recently I met with Police Chief Glynn and the City Manager Matt Andrews to discuss the pros and cons of painting the curb RED across the street along the canal fence. Painting the curb red would mean cars could NEVER park there - not even during after school programs like Math Night or the church carnival. Their experience with other red curbs at schools and parks have shown that parents think if they are "sitting" in the car then they aren't technically "parking" so they ignore the red curb. After a long discussion they felt a red curb would only fix our problem (parents motioning kids across the street) for the parents who actually follow the rules and won't fix it for the parents who don't bother to follow rules. They said, in their experience, red curbs have actually increased the numbers of U turns which in our location could have devastating outcomes.

So, the quandary - HOW do we keep our kids safe when some parents, such as those motioning their children to run across the street, appear to want convenience over safety? The city has visited every option. Because of the distance to the corner at 4800 S and Midland (to the north) and the slight jog in the road, we can't have a crosswalk across from the school. They can paint lines at that stop sign though they guarantee, again, based on their experience, parents and kids will not walk the few extra steps to the stop sign to cross the street. So again, the plea from me - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do NOT park along the canal fence and motion your kids to the car. While you think they are old enough and responsible enough to cross a street, when they are crossing they are focused on you - not on the traffic. Additionally, people turn off 4800 S onto Midland Dr. going too fast trying to beat the traffic heading east and kids don't see them. If you insist on parking there then PLEASE get out of your car, walk to the school, and escort your child to your car. We LOVE our kids and our families and want to avoid a tragedy.

NEXT STEPS

Chief Glynn is going to pull out all the stops and beg UDOT to let us use the back gate on 3500 W to exit, at least on Fridays, with a right turn on 3500 S only. We have been turned down at every request. Hopefully he has more pull than everyone else who have reached out.

Matt Andrews will start working on caution signs for in front of the school. They won't be blinking lights or even 20 mph signs ,but maybe those approaching north and south will see them and slow down just a bit.

Again, BE PATIENT - BE OBSERVANT - BE KIND and we can increase the safety of our kids.

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

Snow days and late starts are NOT a practice we will implement very often at Bridge. We try very hard to keep doors open so our kids can come to school and our working parents can go to work. We are not part of a district so if the news reports that a neighboring school or district has a late start or a snow day that does NOT mean that Bridge does as well. A district's decision to start late is usually because of the numbers of bussing students a district has and the safety of those students. At a charter school, parents are required to transport their own students so you get to determine what is safe for YOUR family.

If we are opening our doors late, closing our doors early, or not opening at all we will notify you via social media, email and One Call. If you do not hear from us then we are open for business.

Our students travel from Brigham to Layton and points in between. If it is bad weather at your house and you do not feel it is safe to drive then please keep your students at home and have them login and do Imagine Learning if you are able. Call the school and excuse their absence.

Alberta (Ali) Hill

Hi! I am Ali Hill and I teach 5th grade math. When I'm not at school I enjoy spending time with my family. We like to watch movies and play board games. We also like to go horseback riding and camping. I love teaching 5th grade!

Melinda Rasmussen

I'm Melinda Rasmussen and I teach fifth grade. I also love to be outside doing just about anything! My particular favorites are hiking, gardening, playing games/sports, and riding my horse. While inside, I love to read, and watch movies. Whether I'm inside or outside, I always love being with my family and friends.

Kaitlin Vigil

My name is Kaitlin Vigil and I teach 5th grade ELA. Outside of school you can find me hiking with my dogs, riding my horses and camping! I also love playing cards and board games with family and friends!

What Is Bullying?

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious lasting problems.

In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:

• An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
• Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.

Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.

Bullying has several prongs - the bully, the victim, the bystander and the upstander. Each individual plays a specific role.

Bully - a person who habitually seeks to harm or intimidate a person they perceive as vulnerable

Victim - the individual the bully harms

Bystander - someone who witnesses bullying, doesn't participate and doesn't attempt to stop it or tell anyone about it

Upstander - someone who witnesses bullying and either steps in and tells the bully to stop or tells an adult what they witnessed happening

After we return from Christmas break, Bridge will work with Stacey Archuleta, our At-Risk Programs Coordinator, and a social worker to help put together an UPSTANDER program using a FROG Squad comprised of Bridge 4th - 6th grade students. The Frog Squad will help teach kids about the importance of "See Something Say Something". This is in the early planning stages and we are super excited to get this rolling as, according to StopBulllying.gov, Upstander programs have had great success in schools across the nation.

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

Power Chess will once again rent space from Bridge for Spring 2023 for the Friday, 1:30 - 2:30 program. Registration is now open.

Power Chess Registration

Mad Science will once again rent space from Bridge for six weeks starting January 20 for the Friday after school program. Registration is now open.

Mad Science Registration

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.