Happy Holidays Charger Family!
From all of the staff at Cherry Crest Elementary, we wish you and your families a wonderful winter vacation. May you find time to recharge and celebrate with family and friends this holiday season. We look forward to welcoming students and families back to school in 2020!
Dusty Steere – Principal
Erin Stedman – Assistant Principal
*Photo inspired by our own awkard holiday family photos from the 80s and 90s.
Thank you to Cherry Crest Read-a-thon Participants! Thank you to all students and families who participated in the Cherry Crest PTSA Read-a-thon! With your generous support we met and exceeded our fundraising goal. Altogether, the students raised funds to support field trips, teacher aides, and other PTSA-sponsored programs, and read over 194,000 minutes. Also, this year we had a record-setting 64% overall student participation across the school! I’m thrilled to see students so excited about reading and to have such a large portion of our community participate in the Read-a-thon! Thank you!
Cherry Crest 50th Anniversary highlighted in Bridle Trails Life Magazine. All of the color and camaraderie of our recent Walkathon is on full display in the most recent edition of the Bridle Trails Life Magazine. Click here to view the article and photos.
Coaches Need for Spring Girls on the Run Program. Girls on the Run is an after-school empowerment program teaching 3rd-5th grade girls life skills around handling bullying, friendships, managing emotions, making intentional decisions, goal-setting, and positive body image. Lessons incorporate non-competitive running and walking.
We need volunteers for our Girls on the Run program to offer this opportunity in the spring to all interested girls at Cherry Crest!
When: Twice a week for 90 minutes from March 2 to May 18 after school
Where: Cherry Crest School
Who: Adult and Teen Community members to be coaches or practice partners
Volunteer Registrations are due January 17, 2020. Teams end the season by participating in a celebratory 5K on Sunday, May 17 at Renton Memorial Stadium!
Questions or interested? Contact Erin Stedman at [email protected].
Buzz Bowl is Back! Buzz Bowl is a buzzer game of multiple choice and short answer questions for 5th-8th graders. Teams challenge each other to buzz faster and answer the questions. Whether the child is a beginner, intermediate, or a whiz, it offers fun and a challenge to everyone. Buzz Bowl will be held at Odle Middle School on January 25, 2020 from 8:30 am-2:30 pm. Learn more and register for Buzz Bowl.
Computer Science and Coding resource for families. Students in nearly every classroom participated in Hour of Code Activities last week. Families interested in ideas for CS/Coding activities at home can check out this website.
- Games
- Books
- Free coding programs
- Robots
- Other interactive toys and tools
https://sites.google.com/view/familycsresources/home
Winter Break Tips and Activities. While the winter break is a great time to relax and recharge, it is also a two-week break from the daily educational demands of school. Here are some tips to make sure your child will be ready to go when school resumes in January.
• Try to keep a consistent schedule. Don’t stay up too late because it will make for a very difficult adjustment period when it is time to head back to Cherry Crest.
• Find time to stay active. Regular exercise is good for the body and the mind. Walking the dog, going on a hike, skiing, or ice skating are all great ways to stay active.
• Read a good book or two.
• Write in a journal. This a great way to practice writing skills while also keeping an account of all the fun and excitement experienced over break.
• Visit some of the museums that the greater Seattle area has to offer.
• If you exchange presents, consider giving gifts that promote learning. Books are always an excellent gift ideas but also consider science experiment kits or making a pen-pal kit (a plastic container with colorful pens, paper, envelopes, and decorative postage stamps).
20 Fun Learning Activities for the Holiday Break
http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2014/12/holiday-learning-fun
District News: Open Enrollment & Choice Schools. Open Enrollment is a period of time each year when Bellevue School District RESIDENT students may apply to attend a school other than their neighborhood school. All students in the Bellevue School District are guaranteed a spot at their neighborhood school. If you are interested in learning about the process, please read on.
Open Enrollment Timeline. This year, Open Enrollment applications will be accepted from Monday, December 8, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. through Friday, January 24, 2020 at 4:30 p.m.
Choice Schools and Programs Timeline. Choice Schools and Programs Applications will be accepted between Monday, January 6, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. through Friday, January 31, 2020 at 4:30 p.m.
As a reminder, the definitions of these two processes are:
- Open Enrollment – the time when students can request to attend a school other than their home attendance area school. Click here to see a list of schools and their open enrollment status. All applicants will be placed in a lottery. Transfers will be approved or denied based on projected enrollment numbers for the building and grade level at both the neighborhood and requested school in addition to projected staffing levels and building capacity at the requested school.
- Choice Schools and Programs Applications – the time when students can apply for our choice schools – Big Picture (6th grade entry), International (6th grade entry), Jing Mei – Mandarin dual language (Kindergarten entry), Puesta del Sol – Spanish immersion (Kindergarten entry), Spanish Dual Language Program (Kindergarten entry). Acceptance is generally by lottery.
We will once again be using an online application process. A paper applicant information form will be available at all schools for families who do not have internet access. These forms will be manually keyed into the online tool by the Student Placement Office. Additional details and applications are available on the district website: https://bsd405.org/departments/student-placement/open-enrollment/