Ms. Orta is proud to announce this year's Rodeo Art Winners.

3rd Place

Arya - Ms. Brown - 2nd Grade

Efran - Ms. Hillman - 5th Grade

Brennan - Ms. Hillman - 5th Grade

Adam - Ms. Hillman - 5th Grade

Mayukha - Ms. Larson - 5th Grade

Juliana - Ms. Larson - 5th Grade

Avani - Ms. Mireles 5th Grade

2nd Place

Micah - Ms. Bracken - Kinder

Ariana - Ms. Sherman - 3rd Grade

Adhithi - Ms.Jones - 4th Grade

Honoka - Ms. King - 4th Grade

Emelie - Ms. Hillman - 5th Grade

Rustam - Ms. Hillman - 5th Grade

Nahla - Ms. Larson - 5th Grade

Evey - Ms.Larson - 5th Grade

1st Place

Niharika - Ms. King - 4th Grade

HISD Campus Finalist

Monneli - Ms. Larson - 5th Grade

All Rodeo winners will receive their ribbons as soon as they arrive. Congratulations again to all participants.

Our next SDMC/BEC Meeting will take place on February 9, 2023 at 3:25 p.m. in the library.

SDMC BEC Meeting - What do all these letters mean? Every school has a Site-based Decision Making Committee. At Bush Elementary, we also call this committee BEC which stands for the Bush Excellence Committee. This committee is made up of members of the Bush Elementary learning community and includes: parents, community members, faculty, and staff. This committee meets quarterly and serves as an advisory council to the principal. Some of the functions of this committee include reviewing the annual school improvement plan and reviewing/updating dress code guidelines and other school policies.

The meetings are open to parents and the agenda and minutes are shared on the Bush website after the meeting. If parents would like to speak at the meeting on a certain topic, then the parent must contact the school secretary, Zonia Flores, at zonia.flores@houstonisd.org at least one day in advance and share the topic that will be presented. All registered parent speakers are given a 5 minute time frame to present.

Our next Prospective Parent Tour will be on February 15, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. All visitors must have a valid government issued photo I.D. to tour the campus.

Spring Picture Day is tomorrow, February 2, 2023! If you would like to purchase either a class picture or an individual photograph, you can order online at inter-state.com/order using code 75995XF.

All classes will have a class picture taken on this day and this picture can be purchased using the link above.

We have been informed by parents purchasing the class photo online that the price is stated as $15.00 and also $15.00 in the photo flyer from the vendor. However, the information page we sent attached to the flyer states $12.00 for the class photo price.

The vendor raised the price in January and did not notify us. The photo vendor, Inter-State Studio, will honor the $12.00 price since we weren't notified of the increase. If you have or will send in your child's class photo money in cash, then send $12.00. If you pay online, it will show $15.00, but the vendor states they will refund the price difference.

Students will be in dress code on this day.

Only students who have an individual picture preorder will be individually photographed on this day.

HISD runs all pre-kindergarten lotteries through their School Choice site on the HISD portal at https://www.houstonisd.org/Page/177890

Parents are able to submit applications online for their child to attend PK at Bush Elementary through February 2, 2023. Parents will be notified if their child received a place in the lottery on April 5, 2023. Then, if the space is accepted, the student needs to be tested and paperwork checked to ensure the student qualifies for pre-kindergarten. Applications are only completed online and the Bush front office does not have any part in the PK lottery application process.

The pre-kindergarten program at Bush Elementary consists of one class of 22 students. Students must qualify for the program via a variety of means such as Limited English and Economically Disadvantaged. Students must also be 4 years old on or before September 1, 2023.

Lottery priority is given to siblings of students currently enrolled at Bush Elementary. Next, the students living in our school zone will be included in the lottery. Due to the limited space in our pre-kindergarten program, we are unable to have any students out of our school zone apply. Those applications will be removed from the Bush Elementary PK lottery.

HISD is doing on-campus COVID testing for faculty, staff, and students.

Our next testing date and time:

Monday, February 6 at 9:00

Pre-registration is required.

Complete the consent process by visiting this website: www.houstonisd.org/COVIDTesting

Here’s HISD’s information.

Our goal at Houston Independent School District is to foster a caring, joyful, and challenging learning experience for every student, every day. That’s why your school is providing free COVID-19 testing to all students in partnership with the Houston Health Department Testing is completely voluntary and requires parent/guardian consent first. You can be confident our school is safe, and free COVID-19 testing adds another layer of protection to our safety strategy. Free testing puts our student’s health first, it allows us to maximize learning in school and promotes equity by ensuring every student has access to testing if they want it and if you, as their parent/guardian, provide consent.

● Who will be tested? We will offer testing to everyone who consents - all students and staff - even if they don’t have symptoms of COVID-19.

● How is the testing done? The COVID-19 testing is free, quick, and easy. Trained medical professionals will conduct testing with a short, shallow nasal swab.

● Where and when is the testing done? Our school’s testing site will be in a room or area large enough to accommodate an organized flow to testers in and out of the space. Testing will take place every two weeks. Test results will be available within 24-48 hours.

● How can I be sure that my student’s information will be protected? Sharing of information about your student will only be done for public health purposes and in accordance with applicable law and policies protecting student privacy and the security of your student’s data. We are asking you to:

● Learn more about testing at www.HoustonISD.org/COVIDTestingFAQ

● Complete the consent process by visiting this website: www.houstonisd.org/COVIDTesting

The Teacher Assistants are responsible for supervising the students in the cafeteria during lunch time. The Teacher Assistants are asking for parents' help in keeping the cafeteria calm and safe. Parents must follow these guidelines when visiting at lunch to pass out a birthday treat to their child's homeroom class and have lunch with their child.

• Only hand out the birthday treat to the students in your child’s homeroom class at the last 5 minutes of your child’s lunch.
• Birthday goodie bags are not handed out at lunch.
• Do not hand out any extra treats to any students in other class(es).
• Only take your child (no other students may go) to eat at the hallway birthday table or at the courtyard table and understand that you will not be able to eat lunch in the cafeteria.
• Do not take pictures or videos in the cafeteria during lunch.

Parents not following these guidelines directly affects student behaviors in the cafeteria.

Please make sure your child is following Bush Elementary's dress code guidelines. Bush Elementary's colors are red, navy, and white. Khaki pants, shorts, and skirts may also be worn. If a jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt are worn in the building throughout the day, then those items must follow dress code.

We're seeing many students wearing jeans with purposeful holes and/or tears and these type of jeans are not part of dress code. Only jeans that are a plain blue may be worn. Also, sweatpants or athletic pants are not part of the Bush dress code.

Please contact our Wrap Around Specialist, Maria Quevedo, if you're in need of dress code items. maria.quevedo@houstonisd.org

We are planning a big party to celebrate every student who has perfect attendance for the fourth six-week marking period! Students will be invited to this party if they are at school every day between Monday, January 9th through Friday, February 24th. Let’s see how many Bush Bobcats we will have at our party! It is so important to be at school each and every day and we want to recognize our students who come to school every day and have perfect attendance.

There are so many people that we encounter every day of our lives. Our children, parents, strangers, teachers, and community members, just to name a few.

It is important to remember to thank people in our lives that help to make a difference. It helps to make them feel appreciated.

Feeling genuinely appreciated lifts people up. At the most basic level, it makes us feel safe, which is what frees us to do our best work. It's also energizing. This will in turn help increase your own self-awareness and social awareness.

Appreciation helps people feel more positive emotions, enjoy good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build stronger relationships.

This week's activity focuses on gratitude and appreciation.

"What We Appreciate About You"

By Big Life Journal

Give someone some special "cookies" and show why they are appreciated.

The Spectacular Science Word for the week of January 30 is water cycle.

Ms. Rose would like to wish a very special birthday to:

Ahava V. who turned 11 years old on January 30 and is a fifth grader in Ms. Hillman's class.

Omobolade A. who turned 10 years old on January 31, and is a fourth grader in Ms. Munk's class.

Jameel R. who turned nine years old on February 1, and is a third grader in Ms. Mayces' class.

Anthony C. who turns 9 years old on February 1, and is a third grader in Ms. Goodwin's class.

Ari L. who turns 11 years old on February 2, and is a fifth grader in Ms. Larson's class.

Cristian C. who turns 8 years old on February 2, and is a second grader in Ms. Brown's class.

Carolina V. who turns 8 years old on February 4, and is a second grader in Ms. Pham's class.

Happy Birthday and Welcome to the Bush Birthday Book Club!

As the temperatures drop, Wrap Around is in desperate need of sweaters of all youth sizes. Please drop off gently worn and/or new youth sweaters in the donation cart in the front office.

Wrap Around thanks you in advance!

West Briar Middle School is offering campus tours for interested parents and guardians on the following dates:

February 21st at 10am

No registration is required; please check in at the front office.

How do you spell fun? B-I-N-G-O!

Bring your family and friends to the 2023 BUSH BINGO BASH on

Saturday, February 11th, 2:00-5:00pm (doors open at 1:30pm).

Join us for an afternoon of BINGO fun! Come win some fantastic prizes, like a STEM basket, Lego basket, Spa basket and much more! Also enjoy a photo booth, face painting, and delicious concessions all while raising funds for our Barbara Bush Elementary School PTO.

BY STATE LAW, ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN TO ATTEND BINGO BASH.

Pre-purchase your tickets on our brand new website and receive bonus tickets!

www.bbepto.com

Package #1: Buy 10 tickets/ get 1 ticket free!

Package #2: Buy 20 tickets/ get 3 tickets free!

$1/ticket: Tickets can be used to buy bingo cards ($2/card), food & drinks (1-5 tickets), and other entertainment (2-4 tickets)

The PTO needs your help to make BINGO Bash a success, and your assistance is greatly appreciated! Please sign up HERE to help with set-up, greeting, BINGO card sales, concessions, and clean-up – you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy all BINGO Bash has to offer either before or after your volunteer shift!

We are beginning our preparations to fill positions for the 2023-2024 BBE PTO Board, and our first step is to put together a Nominating Committee whose function will be to review eligible nominee applications and prepare a slate of nominees for next year’s PTO Board. The Nominating Committee is composed of General Members of the PTO, PTO Board members, and BBE administration. Members of the Nominating Committee are not barred from being nominees themselves, though they are required to recuse themselves from any discussion and voting for any positions for which they are nominees.

If you would like to join the Nominating Committee, please fill out this form on or before February 8th. Thank you for your interest!

School Store On the Go will Resume this week, Friday, January 20th. We will be combining the grades so the students have more opportunities to participate. See below for the schedule.

Prices range from $0.10- $5. Please help teach your child how to be responsible with their money and to also be kind to students who did not bring money.

2/3 - 1st Grade, Kinder, and Pre-K

2/10 - 4th and 5th Grades

2/17 - 2nd and 3rd Grades

3/3 - 1st Grade, Kinder, and Pre-K

Join us at the Nature Center!

Planting in the Garden - Friday, February 3rd, 3 - 4pm

Join us to plant in the tire garden area. We'll be getting our hands dirty! Students are encouraged to bring garden gloves if they have them. We'll also spend some time making a nature themed Valentine craft. All students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian for the duration of the event. Parents will need to pick up their child after school and enter the Nature Center through the track gate.

Rainbow Rock Garden (Part 2) - Friday, March 3rd, 3 - 4pm

Join us as we build our second rainbow rock garden in the Nature Center. Students will be spray painting rocks and assembling them around the bird bath in the garden. It is recommended that students change out of their uniform and into "painting" clothes prior to arrival. All students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian for the duration of the event. Parents will need to pick up their child after school and enter the Nature Center through the track gate.

If you are interested in either of the events above, please sign up here.

Bobcat Families, order your 2022-2023 Yearbook now and enjoy the memories of this year at BBE. Please visit the BBE PTO website to purchase your yearbook at a discount of $30. On March 11th, the price will increase to $35, and yearbook sales will close on March 24th, so don’t delay!

Do you have a graduating 5th grader? Give them a shout-out in the yearbook! Dedications are $20 for 175 characters or less. Order on the website at www.bbepto.com by March 3rd. Log into the site, select the “My Account” menu, and choose “My Dashboard” from the drop down. (Dedications are available for 5th graders only.)

Join the Birthday Book Club and make your student’s birthday extra special! Your student will receive a personal birthday greeting from Ms. Rose during the morning announcements, and have their name printed in the weekly Paw Prints newsletter, in a book for the library, AND on the electronic marquee during the week of their birthday.

We would love for families to send in any photos that are school-related, such as photos you snapped at the Let’s Glow Wild Party on Friday, Pajama Day, Astros day, or any grade-specific event/project that we can include in the yearbook!

Please send no more than 3 photos to bushptoyearbook@gmail.com and label the pictures with your child's grade.

First Fridays and Second Saturdays with PTO will return next month! Our bi-monthly social hours will resume on Friday, February 3rd and on Saturday, February 11th.

We hope to see you then!

First Friday: February 3rd at 8:30 AM @ Minuti Coffee, 1275 Eldridge Parkway, Suite 200

Second Saturday: February 11th at 2:00PM @ BINGO Bash!, Bush Elementary School

Subscribe to the PTO Events Calendar through iCal or Google

For any questions related to PTO please contact Amy Gnau, presidentbbepto@gmail.com

22-23 Faculty and Staff

COUNSELOR

Jewell Quinonez

(P) 281-368-2150 (ext: 275212)

Jewell.Quinonez@houstonisd.org

Click here to visit the BBE Counselor Corner

FOR RESOURCES AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH -

Wraparound - Maria Quevedo

(P) 281-368-2150 (ext. 275105)

maria.quevedo@houstonisd.org

FOR ATTENDANCE -

Registrar - Adriana Rosales

(P) 281-368-2150 (ext. 275104)

arosale3@houstonisd.org