Beverly Cleary School

The sun came out MULTIPLE days this week! I don’t know about you, but that vitamin D sure does make a difference!

This week, our staff had the opportunity to engage in reminders and tips from the SpEd department during our staff meeting time- shout out to them for making it happen! The Deliberate Optimism book club also got to meet again this week, and I was bummed to miss it due to district meetings. Thanks, Ms. Dahl, for facilitating the time together. Friday, we had our first ever K-5 think tank! We have so many topics to uncover and so little time. I'm excited to continue this time in collaboration- we have such wonderful professionals with great ideas on our team! This week, we also cracked the “google chat” code. We made the decision to close it due to off-task and sometimes inappropriate google chat groups/conversations. Surprisingly (or not), this was not just a concern with middle school students, and families from all grade levels expressed interest in having it removed. This Friday was also Mr. Zehr’s last day at BCS. We thank him for his time here filling in as assistant principal and are excited for his next role as the Buckman principal for the remainder of the school year. Next week, Mr. Bivens returns to serve as assistant principal for the foreseeable future!

This week, we also began dialing in plans for teams and schedules for the 24-25 school year. One slight change for next year is the start and end times for all K-8 schools. Next year, we are adjusting the start and end times as a school to meet new contractual agreements as well as student instructional minutes. All K-8s will be starting and ending at the same time to ensure time for collaboration as well as support bussing needs. K-5 student schedules will be from 8:45-3:15, and 6-8 will be from 8:45 to 3:30 PM. We hope by giving you this information now, you will have ample time to plan and anticipate the plan.

The next couple of weeks will be busy ones! Be sure to take a look at the upcoming dates section for more. Coffee Talk, Neurodiversity Week (and celebration), Dances, the Science Fair, the Blind Onion fundraiser-- it's all happening before we break for Spring Break! One event that is not listed as it’s not technically school sponsored is the St. Patrick’s Day Parade that technically begins in our very own parking lot. Click here to read an article interviewing Coach Steve, the founder of this wonderful community parade. I have the fortune of knowing both him and his kids through my husband (we actually lived in Phoenix with one of his sons, and I am good friends with the other son’s wife). I’m hoping to make it to this year's event, and I am excited at the idea of seeing some of you there!

While the weather is looking like it might turn gloomy again this weekend, I hope you can scheme up Spring Break plans, read a good book, bake some cookies, or even take a rainy walk- enjoy the weekend in whatever way you choose to spend it!

• Mar. 15
• Coffee Talk, 9am in the Cafeteria
• Middle School Dance at 6-8 PM
• Mar. 18-22
• Neurodiversity Week
• Mar. 20
• MS Science Fair, 6:00 PM in the gym
• Mar. 21
• Neurodiversity Week Family Night
• Mar. 25
• Spring Break - Enjoy & relax!
• April 1-4
• Spirit Week!

Please welcome our newest BCS team member, Jessica Young. She joins us from Beaumont Middle School as the newest member of the night custodial crew. If you see her in the hallways, don't hesitate to introduce yourself, we are excited to have her at our school!

On Sat. Feb. 24, we held our school's Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) competition. We had 18 3rd-5th grade teams battle and four middle school teams compete to find out who knew the most about their 16 preselected books. Coordinators Joelle Lyons and Laura Schwab masterfully organized the day of battles. Many volunteers were required to moderate, keep score, and time the battles. We are so grateful for the many hands that were pitched in to make this a great day of celebrating reading.

In the end The Book Beardies won for the elementary team battles, and The 59 Year Old Wombats from the San Diego Zoo and a 92 Year Old Chicken from the San Francisco Zoo won for the middle school. Normally, both of these teams would go on to represent our school when they compete this weekend (MS) and next (elementary) in regional battles with other schools' winners, but the MS team (I'm not writing that again!) is unable to attend, so our school will be represented by the Letter Leopards team. Good luck!

On Monday, Apr. 15 our kinders, 1st and 2nd graders will have the special opportunity to meet and learn from children's author, Dane Lu. She lives in Portland and has just published her second picture book, Laolao's Dumplings. Please consider purchasing a signed copy of either or both of her books through our community partner, Green Bean Books, through this link by Mon. Apr. 1, 2024. When finishing your order, select Beverly Cleary School under "Calculate Shipping Cost." The signed copies of Dane Lu's books will be delivered to your student's classroom by the day after her visit. (Your purchase of one of her books directly supports this opportunity to have an author share her writing process with our students.)

If you have back copies of National Geographic Kids magazine that your family no longer needs, we'd love to use them to study nonfiction text features. These are high-level and engaging tools for our younger students to use in our Library lessons.

Finally, if you are interested in volunteering in the Library or you have a family member who would like to help us shelve books or check in books on Friday mornings, we would love your help. Shelving books is a great way to tune out on a podcast and help our Library in a huge way.Contact our Librarians, Nancy Gilkey (ngilkey@pps.net) and Whitney Palfreyman (wpalfreyman@pps.net) if interested or just want to know more. Thanks for considering!

Class listings and registration information are on our website. We have new classes this term, like electronic music and an expanded drama class, and the return of the usual favorites in music, movement, art, robotics and more, which will include new projects for returning students.

Scholarships available: Just let a school counselor or the after-school program know you need one.

https://beverlyclearyschoolptamembershiptoolkit.com/enrichments

For questions or to get the contact information for an after-school provider, please contact Claire Cain Miller at afterschool@beverlyclearyschool.org (parent volunteer.)