Friday Flyer Sep 19 2003

Bennett Friday Flyer
4-4-03
A bi-monthly newsletter of the Bennett Elementary School PTSA 2.3.22

Welcome to Bennett Elementary everyone! Although summer seems to have flown by, it is fun to see everyone's smiling face back at school. The PTSA is planning lots of wonderful events for this school year. If you attended our Welcome Tea on the first day of school, you probably signed up to be a classroom or PTSA volunteer. Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers for getting the fall events underway and for signing up for this year’s committees. Bennett Elementary is very lucky to have so many enthusiastic volunteers! All of our children will benefit from your involvement.

Our first all-school event is the annual Walk-a-thon. This year's theme is "Walk the Dog". Your children should have received their packets and should be busy gathering donations from family and friends. We encourage you to support your children in this event with their pledges and also we invite you to come to the Walk-a-thon. You will be amazed about the amount of fun and excitement the event creates. We will be serving dinner until 6:00 so you can make a family dinner out of it.

Bennett students are invited to the Skate King Social on October 15th. Permission slips will be going home the week before. Please make arrangements for your child to have adult supervision. If you work or are new to Bennett, you may want to buddy up with another classmate to trade watching your kids for the afternoon.

The PTSA is hosting a Multicultural Potluck Dinner on October 24th. You will enjoy many international dishes and a special presentation of student performances. Bennett is blessed with a diverse student population. This event provides each student and family the opportunity to share their heritage with their fellow classmates. Bring your favorite family dish and a big appetite!

The PTSA would like to welcome the new and returning teachers to Bennett. While we await the return of our principals Kellea Taylor and Michelle Carroll, we have the pleasure of supervision from retired principal Horst Momber. We hope the first weeks of school have been as fun for the teachers and staff as it has been for the students.

The PTSA has an announcement board located across from the office. Please take a minute to glance at the notices if you happen to be in the building. We encourage all Bennett families to attend the PTSA General Meetings and we welcome your suggestions and ideas! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of the PTSA Executive Committee by phone or email. You will also find our website interesting for additional information at www.bennettelementary.org. Our Friday Flyer newsletter comes out every other Friday. If you would like to submit columns, please email thefridayflyer@yahoo.com.

Thank you again to all of Bennett's amazing teachers, staff and volunteers. The students of Bennett are the beneficiaries of your good works!

The auction is coming up soon! Saturday, November 8th is the date to

save for the Bennett Auction, at the Glendale Country Club in Bellevue.  The theme this year is The Great Pacific Northwest!  So, start thinking

about those Classroom Baskets, Classroom Keepsakes, Family Baskets and Staff Contributions! We hope to see you all there.  More information will be coming home with students on September 26th.

Initiative 728, also known as the class size reduction initiative, generated an additional $3 million dollars in revenue for the Bellevue School District during the 2002-03 school year. The District used these funds to continue support elementary school class size reduction. They provided 30 additional teachers distributed across our sixteen elementary schools and 4.8 elementary specialists to provide art, music and physical education instruction to these additional classes. Before I-728, the district-wide average K-5 elementary class size was 25 students. In 2002-03, the district-wide K-5 average class size was 21 students.

In addition to teachers and specialist for class size reduction, I-728 funds were used to support some of the supplemental days for certificated staff at all educational levels. These supplemental days are used by staff to participate in staff development related to use of new curriculum and assessments, engage in Lesson Study for the improvement of instruction, hold parent-teacher conferences and complete activities necessary to obtain National Board Certification.

With an increase of less than $100,000 in these funds for the 2003-04 school year, the District intends to continue the same support for class size reduction and professional development.

A new district e-mail communication tool is now available to you—designed to “keep you in the loop”!

What is the service? Beginning September 2003, Bellevue School District is proud to announce that important school district information can now be received at home via computer. In addition to the information you already access via the district’s website, you can now be alerted to community-wide events, receive announcements regarding curriculum and student services, and track the progress we are making towards reaching all of our achievement goals.

Who can register to receive this service? Anyone interested in receiving these updates…staff, students, parents, and members of the greater Bellevue community. We encourage everyone to register—especially folks who live in the district but have no children and those who commute in for work. We want to keep everyone informed about the critical work we are pursuing with National and International Standards for student success.

How can we register? Registration is simple—just access the site and enter an e-mail address you wish for us to use!

ASK -- Answers for Special Kids

A parent resource, ASK (Answers for Special Kids) is available to provide support to parents of children with special needs.  Families with children who have developmental disabilities or special health care needs face unique challenges, and often have many questions.  Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Washington’s ASK Resource Line is a toll free state-wide line that parents can call for state and local resource information for children of all ages with developmental disabilities or special health care needs.

ASK Resource Line staff maintain an up-to-date database of state and local providers throughout Washington State who can answer questions about child development, where to seek evaluation services, where to get treatment, medical financing, recreational opportunities, parent support groups and other information for children with special needs.  ASK Referral Specialists are bilingual in Spanish, and have access to interpretive services for 50 additional languages.  Contacts are: 1-800-322-2588 or www.hmhbwa.org.

We are extremely fortunate to have Bennett Foreign Language Program (BFLP) offer language instruction at Bennett. Classes offered this year include Basic- and Introductory-level Spanish, French, Japanese, and American Sign Language (ASL). Our foreign language classes are taught by experienced teachers whose first language are those they instruct! This program is a terrific way for your child to get early exposure to a different language (and even learn perfect pronunciation that high school learners may never achieve!).

This popular program fills up quickly so please register as soon as possible. Information and registration materials are available on the Bennett web site at http://www.bennettelementary.org or by the parent information board located in the hallway across from the Bennett office. For current class space information, please call Terry Morrison at 641-9352 or Susan Joy at 865-8337.

Bennett PTSA kicks off the 2002-2003 Reflections Program in September. We are excited to bring you this year’s program and look forward to celebrating the creative work of our fabulous Bennett students.

The Reflections Program is a National PTA arts recognition program that challenges students to create art that supports a specific theme. This year’s theme is “I am really happy when...” Students are invited to submit creative work in the areas of Literature, Musical Composition, Photography, and Visual Arts for the National competition. The Washington State competition includes these additional categories: Film/Video, and Dance Choreography.

Reflections is a great way for kids to express themselves. Last year, two Bennett students were successful at the state level. Visual Art Workshops will be available to help students get started with their projects after school Wednesday, September 24^th and Wednesday, October 8^th in the Art Room. A schedule, official rules, entry forms, and guidelines have been sent home with each child.

You join a community of parents, teachers, and others who share your concerns about children.

You add your voice to the largest child advocacy organization in the state and nation.

Enroll now!! Stop at the Kiosk, by the office, and pick up your PTSA enrollment form.

Turn your form into Mrs. Richards in the office. Let’s have a super year of member involvement and meaningful programs!

Student Picture Day is coming up on October 3rd, with re-takes on November 14th. Information and order forms will be coming very soon.

The Bennett Elementary PTSA’s mission is to enrich the educational programs of our school, foster a love of learning and generate a sense of community, through family involvement.

3. To continue to contribute to the improvement of Bennett’s literacy, science, math and technology programs.

To better meet the needs of individuals in the Bennett community through social concerns outreach and partnership with staff.

We are still in need of parent volunteers to help with attendance. If you can help one morning a week for about half an hour, please call Lila Hamai at (425)562-4007.

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