Wildcat Word
November 13, 2020
Principal Message
Southeast Guiding Coalition Update:
The Enrollment and Program Balancing process continues as Kellogg Middle School opens in 2021 while a second comprehensive middle school, Harrison Park, also opens in 2022. The Southeast guiding coalition met on Nov 12 to narrow down to one scenario to share with community next week.
The District will hold an online open house on November 19 to share information about the Southeast Guiding Coalition proposal(s) and gather your input. The open house will include background on the process, visuals to help illustrate the proposal(s), and opportunities to provide feedback.
The online open house will include a standing web page that you can visit for information throughout this process and a live Zoom meeting where you can hear from Southeast Guiding Coalition members and the District Advisory Team. We will share more information about the open house and times next week. Links to the open house web page and Zoom meeting will be sent out just before the event.
During the week of November 16th, the district will also host a number of focus groups to go through the same information. These meetings will be held in each of our supported languages. Focus groups will include BIPOC families, community partners, teachers and students.
All community members are welcome to attend the Nov 19 open house, and we especially encourage our Southeast families to attend and provide feedback.
For more information about the Enrollment and Program Balancing Program, meeting agendas, materials, minutes, and videos, please visit the Enrollment and Program Balancing website.
Melissa Schachner, Principal
Important Dates
November 17th SE Guiding Coalition- Chinese (Cantonese-language) Focus Group Meeting at 6:00 p.m.
November 17th SE Guiding Coalition- Chinese (Mandarin-language) Focus Group Meeting at 7:00 p.m.
November 18th SE Guiding Coalition- Black, Indigenous, People of Color Focus Group Meeting at 5:00 p.m.
November 18th SE Guiding Coalition Spanish-language Focus Group Meeting at 6:00pm
November 18th SE Guiding Coalition Somali-language Focus Group Meeting at 6:00pm
November 18th SE Guiding Coalition Vietnamese-language Focus Group Meeting at 6:00 p.m.
November 18th Platica para Padres 4:00pm link to join
November 18th PTA Community Gathering 6:30-8:00 link to join
November 19th SE Guiding Coalition Open House 6:00pm
November 20th Free Food Market 3:00pm
November 23rd & 24th Family-Teacher Conferences
November 23-27 NO SCHOOL- Conferences and Fall Break
November 30th Principal/PTA Chats to discuss SE boundary changes
Counselor Corner
Ms LeAnne K-4th: Parents and caregivers, if you’ve been wanting to reach me and haven’t done so yet, I’m very available during the Monday and Tuesday of parent conferences, Nov 23/24. Using the link for parent conferences here, you can find openings and schedule yourself in. I look forward to talking to you! If you need language interpretation, I will make sure I have a phone interpreter to support us. I speak fluent Spanish.
Ms. Howard 5th-8th:
Attention 8th Grade Families!
8th Grade HS Info Night, November 18, from 6pm. All HS’s will be participating. This will be a virtual event. Click here for the 8th grade info website.
Hi families, please don’t hesitate to set up a time with me during conferences. I am available and have a flexible schedule both Monday 11/23 and Tuesday 11/24. Use the link for parent conferences here. If you need language interpretation, I will make sure to have a phone interpreter to support us. Also feel free to drop by my office hours on Fridays 9:40-10:20am. Google meet code is “HowardOffice.” Looking forward to talking with you!
Opportunities for students to connect with each other:
6th drop-in Lunch Group - CODE: 6lunch - Mondays 12:30 - 1pm
7th & 8th drop-in Lunch Group - CODE: 78lunch - Tuesdays 12:30 - 1pm
5th drop-in Lunch Group - CODE: 5lunch – Thursdays 11:35 - 12:05pm
QSA Group – Email Ms. Howard for code - Fridays 2-2:30pm
Bridger Library
Check out this opportunity!
The Latinx KidLit Book Festival is happening virtually on December 4 and 5. The Festival celebrates Latinx authors, illustrators, and books and includes speakers, Q&A sessions, and even a kids concert! It is free and is open to everyone. Check out the details here: https://www.latinxkidlitbookfestival.com/
1:1 Tech Support is available during Tuesday conferences. If you or your student are struggling with technical issues and need support, you can sign up for a 30-minute session with Mrs. Jardine here: Bridger MyConferenceTime
Thank you for continuing to support your students with library lessons. As a reminder, library classes are not live/in-person, so there is no access code needed. To find your student’s library class, click on the student’s icon on the top left-hand side of the screen in Seesaw and choose the Library class. (You will see a stack of books icon.) Click on Activities to find the assigned activity for the week. Each class has a suggested time to access the Library class, but the activities will remain available if they are unable to do them during that time. In addition, Ms. Jamsgard will continue posting Read-alouds to student journals in Seesaw.
The Bridger library website also includes some great resources for online reading. Find us here: https://www.pps.net/domain/1035
myconferencetime.com/bridgerk8
Reading Tips
This time we have at home with our children can be a great opportunity to learn together. Why do we celebrate Veteran’s Day this week? What is the history of this holiday? What does it mean to your family? Who can you ask, or what can you read to learn more? Building your child’s background knowledge creates confidence and understanding, as well as improves literacy skills such as vocabulary, listening and critical reasoning.
H is for Honor is a great book for military vocabulary. Use this day off to build some new knowledge in your house.
Math Tips
As the nights get longer and we face increased time indoors now is a great time to play some family games. Games help students with their math fluency and strategy skills. If the game includes money have your student be the banker and practice making change. Games like Blokus help students with their spatial reasoning and strategy. At a time where students are doing so much online, games also give an opportunity for students to practice their social skills and interact face to face.
Long term social distancing requires a lot of stamina and perseverance - a weekend games night or mid-week game night can break up the time and give students something to look forward to.
Student Leaders
The Bridger Student Council met for the first time recently. We generated a lot of projects we would like to work on this year, and started talking about T-shirt ideas. This week’s meeting we will be coming up with spirit day ideas for this year! The elementary Student Council is planning on creating posters with messages of social/racial justice to post at Bridger.
Safety - Rise on COVID cases
School Climate
Hello families,
We all know that Distance Learning is challenging. I want to recognize the amazing work our families are doing, and remind you all that you are doing your best, and that is enough! I know that it can feel like a lot of pressure to make sure that your students are attending all of their lessons and completing all of their assignments. As a parent, I also know that it is easy to feel guilty, or that you’re not doing enough. Remember to be kind with yourself and give yourself and others grace during this challenging time. Bridger staff, teachers, and admin recognize all of your efforts and have nothing but gratitude for all that families are doing.
We want to support families, continue to build strong home-to-school partnerships. Here are some tips for how to support your students with distance learning, without burning yourself out or feeling the need to do it all!
Help your student understand their schedule and take some ownership- this can be done by having a visual of their schedule where they work, or bookmarking it on their chromebook.
Teach your student how to join their live lessons and manage the technology, and then take a step back. It is not necessary for families to be “in class” too. In fact, it’s important for students to experience productive struggle. They are not expected to always know the answer, and mistakes are a part of learning.
Reach out for help. Bridger staff and teachers are here for you and your students. If you or your student are struggling with technology please reach out to our office staff, or our Media Specialist- Dawn Jardine. If your student needs help with their assignments and learning, contact their teacher or join their office hours. You can find a complete list of staff emails on the Bridger Website.
Thank you and take care of yourself!
Distance Learning Tips and Tricks
Hello Bridger Community,
This week I want to focus on teachers’ office hours. Office hours are a fantastic way for students to meet with their teachers in a smaller setting and ask specific questions about assignments, what’s due, or how to do a concept that you may be struggling to teach at home. It’s also a place where you can get more information about best practices during distance learning.
Every teacher at Bridger has office hours set aside once a week that anyone in their class is welcome to join. Some students even utilize it as a time to sit down and do homework with their teachers in the same “room” as them so they can ask questions as they come up. There are a lot of unique ways to utilize off hours, but they are an invaluable tool that I don’t believe all of our students are utilizing.
You may be interested in office hours and may be asking yourself, how do I connect with my child’s teacher to figure out when office hours are and what the code is to access them?
Unfortunately, every teacher’s office hours and code to access them are different. A great way to find them is to call the main office, or email your child’s teacher telling them that you are interested in office hours. They should also be included in classroom schedules that were sent out at the beginning of the year.
This is another great tool to utilize during distance learning. As always, whatever you can do is enough, and have a fantastic weekend.
Take care
SUN Program
LAST CHANCE FOR THIS SURVEY!
The Holiday Season is approaching quickly, and most holiday gift resources fill up by mid-November. If you would like to be included in the work that the Bridger SUN Community School does with holiday gift resources, please complete this survey so that we can begin connecting families with resources.*Please note, that not all resources are guaranteed and we will do our best to meet the needs of Bridger families.: https://forms.gle/YEcCgza8EcHvuA7y6
-Market is WALK-UP.
-Please bring your own bags.
-Facecoverings/Masks required.
-Maintain at least 6 ft. between yourself and others.
-Please send someone to shop for you/stay home if you are experiencing any symptom of COVID-19 (cough, fever, chills, sore throat, muscle or body aches, nausea, etc.).
Contact Melany if you would like to volunteer or have any questions: melany@latnet.org or 503-502-1485.
PTA
Please join us for this week’s PTA gathering, Wednesday 11/18, 6:30-8:00pm on zoom by clicking this link!
We will get community updates, focus on learning more about the SE Coalition proposal that will be announced this week, and will prioritize talking in smaller affinity groups. All content will be in Spanish and English. ALL ARE WELCOME.
November Meal Services
Due to Veteran’s Day falling on a meal service day and the upcoming fall break for conferences and Thanksgiving, the Nutrition Services department will be providing extra meals each day to help keep our students with access to food. Each service day through November 20, we will be providing 3 days worth of meals for each child. We will not be serving or delivering meals on Wednesday, Nov 11, Monday, Nov 23, and Wednesday, Nov 25. More updates about our services in December will be provided later. Thank you for sharing updates with your school community. Home meal delivery sign ups will remain open this week. Please feel free to visit our website or contact us at nutritionservices@pps.net with any questions.
Whitney Ellersick, Senior Director, Nutrition Services, wellersi@pps.net
Distance Learning Resources
Technology Assistance
Web: pps.net/student
Email: support@pps.net
Call: 503-916-3375
English: 503-916-3375
Español: 503-916-3582
中文:503-916-3585
Tiếng Việt: 503-916-3584
Soomaali: 503-916-3586
Русский: 503-916-3583
Champions Childcare Still has Spots Available
Your Champions program is here and ready to play a supporting role in your child’s school day! Along with offering distance learning support, we will be incorporating multiple group class meetings to re-introduce our learning community, and be providing our Champions project-based units that will incorporate academic skills and social emotional learning. Program is available from 7:30-5:30pm Monday-Friday for only $250/week. Interested in enrolling your child? Sign up here: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/e9c1f402768548329e2aab25cfa1dff4
We are really wanting to reach as many families as we can that might need Champions distance learning supports! The State Subsidy for families was raised by 201% and many are coming to Champions for FREE!!
We are open at LENT and have room!! We are open 7:30 – 5:30pm.
Kinder families are welcome and encouraged to join – we have several in our programs.
Check out the flyer below for more information.
We here at Champions look forward to providing you and your family support.
Stephanie Balke
Field Coach
(503)915-3063
NAYA Resources
Art Camp Opportunity
Lyft Codes Available for Free Rides
Thanks to our generous friends at Lyft, The Fund for Portland Public Schools is making available $20-25 in Lyft ride credits to PPS families. In keeping with the guidance set out by the Oregon Governor, we kindly ask that these rides credits are used only to address critical and essential needs. Lyft Code Request Form.
Robyn Faraone, School Partnerships Manager, rfaraone@pps.net
Black Youth Crisis Recovery Group
Two PPS educators have launched a new support group: The Black Youth Crisis Recovery Group. The purpose of this group is to provide a safe affinity space for Black students to process and unpack trauma and grief resulting from police brutality, opposition to the BLM movement, seeing fellow Black people lose their lives without consequence, the pandemic, etc. The group is intended for any Black/African American-identifying K-12 PPS student.
Maurice Phillips and Jonicia Shelton, the group facilitators, have created this introductory video as well as this Facilitator Interest Form, for any Black parents or guardians who might be interested in helping facilitate the group.
If you are interested in having your student(s) join the group, please email Maurice or Jonicia directly at mphilli1@pps.net or jshelton@pps.net. If you have questions about the group, please email SES teacher Jeremy Thomas at jthomas@pps.net.