Collegeville Elementary School

It’s Public Schools Week, so join us in saying thank you to the dedicated Bryant teachers and staff who have given their all, day after day, to ensure our children are not only educated, but supported and loved. And our students - well, they are the why: the reason we come to work each day and the reason why we're honored to do our work. We are #PublicSchoolProud and thankful to be part of our community.

DISTRIBUTION TODAY Bryant Public Schools will host a food distribution on Friday, February 25, 4:00-5:00pm, behind Bryant Elementary. Families must have a student currently approved for free or reduced meals at Bryant to qualify. Register ⇉ https://bit.ly/FoodBoxRegistration

Based on current conditions, all Bryant Schools will be open on Friday, Feb. 25. Administrators will assess road conditions beginning at 4am. If a decision is made to cancel or delay school in the interest of safety, parents will be notified as early as possible. You may consider having a plan for child care in case of last minute school cancellation. If you do not receive a notification in the morning, schools will be open.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE TODAY (2/24): Secure your spot at bit.ly/BPSJobFair22! Have you considered joining the Bryant Schools team of educators? We invite you to our Virtual Job Fair on Tuesday, March 1 from 5-8pm. Our District offers competitive salaries and a great retirement system! Visit https://www.bryantschools.org to learn more.

Due to the forecast for inclement weather and with student and staff safety in mind, Bryant Schools will be closed for onsite instruction on Thursday, February 24. This will be AMI Day 3. Students will be expected to complete their assignments, as completed work determines attendance for AMI days. Secondary students must log in to Google Classroom to be considered present. For AMI expectations and tips, visit https://bit.ly/Bryant_AMI. 

REGISTRATION DEADLINE TOMORROW. Secure your spot at bit.ly/BPSJobFair22! Are you a certified K-12 educator interested in being part of Bryant Public Schools? Join our Virtual Job Fair on Tuesday, March 1 from 5-8pm. Our District offers competitive salaries and a great retirement system! Visit https://www.bryantschools.org to learn more.

We are so grateful for the men and women who transport our children safely to and from school each day! Thanks for recognizing this special group of individuals. If you are interested in becoming a bus driver for Bryant Public Schools, apply today at bryantschools.org/jobs.

Hello from Mrs. Edwards, your principal at Collegeville with this week’s announcements. I hope you are enjoying your 3 day weekend and remember school will be closed tomorrow (February 21) for Presidents Day. CES and our PTO are teaming up to celebrate 2-22-22 on TWOS Day! We hope you will join us! Also, on Tuesday, February 22, the district will recognize our BUS DRIVERS for Bus Driver Appreciation Day! (I realize we mentioned this on 2-2-22, but apparently, we’d been given the wrong calendar invite.) If you did not get a chance to share a note of appreciation for Mrs. Covert (Bus 118) or Mrs. Kettles (Bus 11), you have another chance! We are grateful for our bus drivers and how they help transport our students safety to and from school. A note from Coach Solomon regarding the Jump Rope for Heart Challenge: “We are SUPER excited to be bringing back our fundraiser for the American Heart Association. This event also helps us earn equipment for our P.E. program at Collegeville. Kids Heart Challenge will officially begin on Monday, February 21 at Collegeville. Our event will close on Friday, March 18 (right before Spring Break). How to set up your account: Go to heart.org/KHC or download the Kids Heart Challenge app. Search for Collegeville Elementary and set up your account. (If you already have a KHC account, you can just update your student’s profile.) Send emails/messages and ask people to donate so you can win prizes. Complete the tasks for FINN’S CHALLENGE to earn additional prizes. All donations are done online. We will NOT be accepting any cash donations. Instructions for entering check donations onto your account: If you receive a check donation, you will need to make sure that you follow these steps: Download or Log in to the Kids Heart Challenge app. Click “My Donations”. Click “Scan Check” and follow the instructions. If you have any questions, you can read out to Coach Solomon at bsolomon@bryantschools.org or on Class Dojo. Thanks for your support and help!” Wishing you a wonderful week and all good things coming your way! Remember I am always available if you need anything from me! Mrs. Edwards tKedwards@bryantschools.org

Bryant Public Schools will host a food distribution on Wednesday, February 16, 4:00-5:00pm, behind Bryant Elementary. Families must have a student currently approved for free or reduced meals in the Bryant School District to qualify. Register ⇉ https://bit.ly/FoodBoxRegistration

Mayor Allen Scott has proclaimed Saturday, February 12 as #212 Bryant Hornet Day in the city of Bryant. Wear your Bryant Blue and Hornet gear with pride tomorrow! City of Bryant 212 Day Proclamation: https://www.facebook.com/BryantCityHall/videos/478807727103745

ALL students will be dismissed early on Thursday, Feb. 10. Secondary schools (Bryant High, Bryant Junior High, Bryant Middle, and Bethel Middle) will hold virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences from 2-7:30pm. Teachers will contact parents to set up a Zoom or phone conference time.

Bryant Public Schools will host a food distribution TODAY, Tuesday, Feb 8, 4:00-5:00pm, behind Bryant Elementary. Families must have a student currently approved for free or reduced meals in the Bryant School District to qualify. Register ⇉ https://bit.ly/FoodBoxRegistration

Are you a certified teacher (K-12) interested in being part of Bryant Public Schools? We invite you to #TeachBryant! Join our Virtual Job Fair on Tuesday, March 1 from 5-8pm. Visit with school administrators through scheduled Zoom sessions. Secure your spot by registering at bit.ly/BPSJobFair22 by February 24. Additional information is available at bryantschools.org/page/jobs.

MASKS REQUIRED for the week of February 7-11, 2022. Details here ⇉ https://bryantschools.org/page/mask-status.

Bryant Schools will be closed to onsite instruction on Friday, February 4. This will be AMI Day 2. Students will be expected to complete their assignments, as completed work determines attendance for AMI days. For AMI expectations and tips, visit https://bit.ly/Bryant_AMI.

Dear Future Bethel Parents! (Parents of CES 5th graders:) Welcome to Bethel Middle School! We are so excited that your child will be coming to our wonderful school for the 2022-2023 school year. Lots of really exciting and new things are going to be happening for your child and we want to be sure you are informed about the choices that they will have. One of the choices that your child can make for next year is being a part of the Bethel Beginning Band. These classes are offered inside the school curriculum and meet each day for 40 minutes. Each instrument has it’s own class that will be specific to that instrument or in some cases, two instruments. There are two concerts per year, as well as a traveling concert to the elementary schools and a solo and ensemble contest that takes place during the school day during their band class. There are no after school requirements other than the two concerts. Each sixth grade student is required to take either band, choir or general music. Lots of great options with wonderful educators. What does Band offer to your child? 1. The chance to learn to play an instrument in a safe environment. 2. A lifetime of music learning. 3. The opportunity to make new and lasting friendships. 4. Upper level thinking skills. 5. Work Ethic. 6. Learning teamwork skills which will carry over into other areas of their lives. 7. Fun! 8. Responsibility. 9. Time management. 10. The chance to learn a skill that can actually help pay for their college expenses when the time comes. 11. Increased academic performance. There are many more benefits to learning to read and perform music. There is much research which indicates that this is an area of learning that enhances all other areas of learning. Learning to read music involves the skills used in reading words as well as math skills and abstract thinking skills. The list just goes on and on as to the benefits to our overall sense of well being when we are involved in music, especially at a young age. How do you sign your child up? Due to Covid guidelines, we will not be able to do our beginning band sign up nights like we have in the past. The band staff as well as our school district are not comfortable with the students all coming in and trying out all the instruments. It could possibly put a child or a staff member in harm’s way, and we would never want this to happen. So, we have devised another way to get your child on the instrument best suited to them. The elementary music teachers will be showing the students a video during music class for them that allows them to hear all the different instruments. The students will then take a music aptitude test. The students will put their first, second and third choices of instruments on these tests and they will be given to me before I leave. The fifth grade teachers and music teachers at each elementary school will help the band directors decide where to place each child based on the child’s preferences. We assigned instruments this way for the last two years due to the pandemic and it has been extremely successful. We did not have to move any beginning students to a different instrument and every student was assigned to their first or second choice. It has been a wonderful year for our beginning band classes, despite the things that Covid has placed upon us. If your child is interested in percussion class, this will be done by Mr. Jordan Van Dyke our percussion instructor and he will be conducting the auditions at the elementary school and more information will be coming on this soon. If you have any questions, please email me at sgordey@bryantschools.org. I will be happy to answer any question you might have - I know this is new territory for most of our parents. Once your child has been placed in a class, some time in April, they will be notified by letters delivered to the elementary schools. There will be information there on how to get an instrument. Our students at Bethel Middle School are absolutely the best and we know your child will love it here. It’s a great day to be a Bethel Hornet!!! Sotonya Gordey sgordey@bryantschools.org Gregory Gordey ggordey@bryantschools.org Jordan VanDyke jvandyke@bryantschools.org “Where words fail, music speaks.” Hans Christian Andersen https://www.theledger.com/article/LK/20130803/News/608086413/LL https://www.musicforall.org/who-we-are/advocacy/why-music-why-band https://nafme.org/20-important-benefits-of-music-in-our-schools/ https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/07/benefits-band-class

To Parents of 2nd through 5th graders: If your student is: academically successful, shows scores at or above the mean on assessments like the NWEA, is motivated to learn, and shows creativity in how he/or she approaches tasks and finds solutions; he or she may need to be evaluated for gifted services. Students who require gifted education often think about topics in different ways from their peers, make connections their peers do not, and learn differently from their peers. They may have deep interests in topics that are not usual for their age. They may have a large vocabulary compared to students of their own age and may get frustrated with their peers because they don't think about things in the same way or learn as quickly as they do. They may find school frustrating because they have to wait on others to move forward or do not find material challenging enough to stay interested. Students identified as gifted require services from a gifted certified teacher to support academic growth, social emotional needs, and provide enrichment and extensions beyond the grade level classroom. If you feel your child should be evaluated, please complete the referral form found online on the GT website. For information about GT: https://www.bryantschools.org/page/gifted-program If you have specific questions, please email Charlotte Calhoun at ccalhoun@bryantschools.org. To refer your child, please complete this form: Parent/Guardian Gifted Evaluation Referral Form- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScl2XOSW4f_feeiLO7p286xZFitqEK2p-Ml7lpUMzdmmbCBxw/viewform Deadline is February 25th.

Due to the forecast for inclement weather and with student and staff safety in mind, all Bryant schools and offices will be closed Thursday, February 3. The day will be considered an Alternative Method of Instruction (AMI) Day. Students will be expected to complete their assignments, as completed work determines attendance for AMI days. For AMI expectations and tips, visit https://bit.ly/Bryant_AMI. We will continue to monitor weather and road conditions. A decision will be made on Thursday regarding Friday’s school day. Stay safe and warm!

ALL students will be dismissed early on Thursday, Feb. 10. Secondary schools (Bryant High, Bryant Junior High, Bryant Middle, and Bethel Middle) will hold virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences from 2-7:30pm. Teachers will contact parents to set up a Zoom or phone conference time.

Watching the weather this week? We are, too. ❄️ 🌨 In case of school closure or delayed opening, we will make the announcement as early as possible through the following channels: • Bryant Public Schools app • Social media (Facebook and Twitter) • Emails to parents and staff • Phone calls and text messages to parents • Bryant website (bryantschools.org) The Bryant Public Schools app sends you push notifications, so be sure you have the app on your phone. More information about inclement weather procedures can be found here: https://bit.ly/3410P6Z