**Enroll in BSD:** We are currently enrolling students for the **2023-2024 and 2024-2025** school years.
**Enroll in BSD:** We are currently enrolling students for the **2023-2024 and 2024-2025** school years.
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Happy Holidays Charger Family!

From all of the staff at Cherry Crest Elementary, we wish you and your families a safe, healthy and restful winter break.  We are incredibly grateful for all the ways that students and families participate in education.  Your dedication and commitment to learning is noted and, unlike our jumping photo, YOU HAVE NAILED IT!

We pray you are able to rest and recharge this holiday season and we look forward to a new start when school resumes on Tuesday January 3rd, 2023.

Dusty Steere – Principal
Kjell Mattson – Dean of Students/administrative intern
Erin Stedman – Assistant Principal (on maternity leave through February)


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, students read over 205,000 minutes with families generously providing funds to support instructional assistants, field trips and other PTSA-sponsored programs.  Learn more about Read-a-thon on our Cherry Crest PTSA website here.  Thank you for your support.


Last Call to Check the Lost and Found.   The Lost and Found is overflowing with jackets, lunchboxes and other items.  Unclaimed items will be donated to charity on December 16th.  Please check the rack located outside our main entrance.


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 idea, 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


Book Collection for Used Book Fair. Do you have any gently used kids books that you’d like others in the Cherry Crest community to enjoy? Please consider donating them to the First Cherry Crest Used Book Fundraiser!

  • Dec 5-16 & Jan 3-18  Collection boxes are out at each grade flex area. Please encourage your kids to drop off gently used books they no longer need. Parents are welcome to drop off a large pile of books.
  • Jan 20  Used Book Fundraiser at the Cafeteria

Sign up for Variety Show tryouts. As you get ready for Winter break, find your friends to form a group and sign up for the Variety Show Tryouts, happening on Tues, March 14 from 2:45-5PM and Wed, March 15, from 12:45-3pm. We’re looking forward to seeing your fun group acts!


District News: Open Transfer & Choice Schools.The Open Transfer and Choice Schools/Program application period for the 2023-24 school year is open from December 5, 2022, to January 13, 2023.   Please review the Open Transfer and Choice Schools & Programs webpages and the frequently asked questions for each to learn more about the application process and programs offered.

Important notes about Open Transfer and Choice School Applications.

  • Open Transfer – the time when students can request to attend a school other than their home attendance area school.
    • If your child is already attending Cherry Crest on Open Transfer, it is not necessary to re-apply.
    • If you have a sibling at one of our neighborhood schools and you would like to have them join Cherry Crest, now is the time to apply through Open Transfer.
    • 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.
    • Fall enrollment for students living in the Cherry Crest attendance area will open in early March.  Additional details will be shared as the date approaches.
  • 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 are once again using an online application process.  Additional details and applications are available on the district website: https://bsd405.org/departments/student-placement/open-enrollment/


BSD announces changes to enrollment & begins planning for the shifts.  Our district is making plans to stay ahead of changing demographics in our city. This early planning will allow the board to hear community input. While we expect change, we know that thinking now will allow us to act in the best interests of students, rather than needing an immediate reaction.

BSD recently released its Demographic and Enrollment Study, which addresses enrollment, demographic trends in our community, and what the district can expect in the years to come. BSD’s demographic consultant shares more about housing growth and cost, birth rates in the area, historical enrollment, and other factors that explain the past and predict the future of enrollment levels.

Learn about the key findings of the study and next steps to address declining enrollment.


Reporting Safety Concerns. Bullying and safety concerns can always be reported to any staff member at school.  The Elementary Level Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying Incident Reporting Form is available to all families in the office. Finally, Bellevue School District also utilizes an anonymous reporting tool called SafeSchools Alert through which anyone can make a verbal or written report of harassment, intimidation or bullying. Information on how to submit a report via any of these methods is available on the district website at www.bsd405.org/help/report.


Cherry Crest Elementary prepares all students to become life-long learners through inquiry, collaboration, and discovery.  Each student will feel a sense of belonging in our Comm(UNITY) while learning social-emotional and academic skills to be successful in an ever-changing and diverse society. 

The Bellevue School District acknowledges that we learn, work, live and gather on the Indigenous Land of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the Duwamish and Snoqualmie Tribes. We thank these caretakers of this land, who have lived and continue to live here, since time immemorial.