Family Newsletter 9/11/17

Bella Mente Charter
Sep 11, 2017
9 min read

Dear Parents,

"I am a huge believer in giving back and helping out in the community and the world. Think globally, act locally I suppose. I believe that the measure of a person's life is the affect they have on others." -Steve Nash

Today we remember the tragic events that took place on September 11, 2001. Patriot Day is held in memory of over 3000 people who died during terrorist attacks in New York, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in the United States. This event was the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States. We want to take this time to thank our Law Enforcement, Fire Fighters and Military for your courage and sacrifice. For ways to thank a First Responder, visit Ways to Thank a First Responder.

This is a great time to consider the ways we at Bella Mente contribute and give back to our community. A service minded attitude is something we encourage in our staff, students and families. You may wonder how you can become involved in your local community, so we have provided a list of ideas below:

1. Helping Other Kids

Kitchen Table Project: Every kid seems to have a closet full of outgrown sports gear. Your little athletes can gather up those bats, balls, sticks, and cleats and donate the pile to Sports Gift. This nonprofit has provided more than 250,000 pieces of sports equipment to underprivileged children around the world. “This is a great way for your kids to truly affect the life of another child who is less fortunate,” says Linda Cohen, author of 1,000 Mitzvahs. Or you can challenge your kid to do a few extra chores and then reward his hard work by purchasing a TisBest charity gift card for him. The card works just like a gift card, but instead of using it to buy stuff, the recipient (in this case, your kid) uses it to support a charity of his choice. All your child has to do is go to the TisBest website, plug in his card code, and pick his charity organizations. TisBest has more than 250 to choose from, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Children’s Defense Fund, and Reach Out and Read.

Out in the Community: Brighten the day of a child who is coping with a serious illness, consider visiting your local Ronald McDonald House. Some allow families to hang out and cook meals, host a movie night, and more. (Call first to find out.) Another option: Help your kids plan a Cookies for Kids’ Cancer bake sale at school or in the neighborhood to help raise money for pediatric cancer research. Or hold an informal stuffed animal drive and collect dolls and toys to give to your local hospital or police department. These are used to comfort children who’ve been injured in a car accident or other traumatic experience.

2. Taking Care of the Planet

Kitchen Table Project: Eco-awareness is a great jumping-off point for introducing kids to the power of social action. One place to start: Recycling. Create drop-off boxes for expired batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and other harder-to-recycle-but-still-recyclable items to place in local shops and community centers, Cohen suggests. Once you get the okay from shop owners to set up your recycling boxes, make a list of the spots where you’ve placed them. Then, choose a day each month (the last Saturday, for example) when your family picks up the boxes that you’ve scattered across town and delivers them to the appropriate recycling center.

Out in the Community: Pick up litter. Yes, it may be obvious — and it’s certainly not glamorous — but litterbugs are still on the loose. If there’s trash in your local park, take before and after photos of your clean-up efforts and send them along with an essay about your work to Wilderness Project. Or next time you’re at a playground, encourage your kids to pick up five bits of trash before they play. “It’s a habit that will help them become stewards in their neighborhood,” says Friedman. “It’s a simple but powerful lesson that appeals to kids of all ages.”

3. Cooking Up Fun

Kitchen Table Project: Sometimes it’s not what you cook but how you present it. Decorate paper lunch bags and drop them off at your local Meals on Wheels. Or have your kids decorate a food collection bin for your kitchen. After shopping, they can put one or two nonperishables into the box when you get home. Deliver it to your local food pantry when it’s full.

Out in the Community: Contact a soup kitchen to see if they offer any family-friendly volunteer opportunities. Most sites like these are best for kids ages 12 and up, but some welcome younger children who want to set or decorate tables. Or you could sign up to deliver food from Meals on Wheels and take kids of any age along. If you can’t find an organization near you that allows children to do hands-on helping, consider baking treats and bringing them to your local heroes who work the night shift at the fire station, police station, or hospital.

4. Making and Creating

Kitchen Table Project: Help your child harness her creativity by making care kits for the homeless. After decorating small paper grocery bags or shoe boxes, fill them with warm socks, lip balm, a water bottle, and granola. Your kids can include a drawing or warm greeting.

Out in the Community: Do a crafts session with residents of your town’s elderly care home. Little kids can make candy wreaths by gluing sweets onto cardboard rings or decorate tea tins to make coin-holders, Cohen suggests. Have the older ones bring a few blank sketch pads and colored pencils or paints so thatthey and the senior residents can do some interactive art projects. They might draw portraits of each other, doodle cartoons to make each other laugh, or paint pictures for each other’s bedroom walls.

5. Cuddling Up to Furry Friends

Kitchen Table Project: Kids and animals are a natural fit. Call your local animal shelter to see if they’d like homemade cat toys or dog biscuits. When you get the green light, set aside a weekend morning to crank a few out. To make a cat toy, you’ll need new baby-size socks, cotton balls, dried catnip, and nontoxic permanent fabric markers. Start by adding 1 Tbsp of catnip to the toe. Stuff the rest of the foot with cotton balls. Then tightly knot the ankle of the sock. Decorate with fabric markers. To bake dog biscuits, preheat the oven to 350°F. Next, mix together 1/2 cup of cornmeal, 6 Tbsp of oil, 2 cups of whole-wheat flour, and 2/3 cup of water or broth. Roll out to 1/4" thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters and place on a cookie sheet. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool and store in a tightly sealed container. Deliver to some happy pooches!

Out in the Community: Older children (around age 12) may be able to help a local humane society by walking dogs. If your kids are little, think simple. Try making backyard treats for the hungry little birds in your neighborhood. Just collect pinecones, coat them in peanut butter, and roll them in birdseed. Then go the extra mile and give one to each of your neighbors. Makes a great gift!

Whats Happening At Bella Mente

Did you know that average age children get their first smart phone is now ten?

That’s incredibly young to be constantly connected to the internet; to worry about documenting every moment to share with friends and followers; to have unlimited access to games designed to be addictive; and to be accessible 24/7 to data miners and marketers who don’t have your best interests at heart. And of course, if ten is the average, that means many six, seven, and eight-year-olds now have their own phones as well.

As young children see their friends getting phones, they naturally want one too. And parents, sometimes against our better judgement, often give in because we don’t want our children to be socially isolated from their peers.

That’s why I’m so excited about the Wait Until 8th Pledge. The pledge was started by a group of parents in Texas who decided to use peer pressure and group momentum for good. They committed together to not get their children smart phones until at least 8th grade. Now the pledge is spreading across the country, and thousands of families have signed on.

I signed for my 8-year-old daughter, and I hope you will too. Here’s how it works:

You pledge not to get your child a smart until 8th grade. A pledge becomes "active" once 10 or more families from a grade at a school sign. They made the pledge this way so you don't have to worry about, "what if I’m the only parent that signs this in my kid's grade?" Having the pledge kick in at 10 signers takes some of that pressure off while encouraging others to join in.

Will you join me in pledging to wait until 8th? As the pledge’s founder Brooke Shannon says, “Childhood is too short to waste on a smartphone. Let’s let kids be kids a little longer!”

Click Here To Take The Pledge

Adopt A Classroom

In light of the unimaginable events happening in Texas, lower elementary has decided to adopt 5 classrooms in need. We are eagerly awaiting contact information from 3 of the 5 classrooms and should receive this within the next few days. As for the other two classrooms, one is located in Houston, and the other is located in Humble. Our Houston classroom is a pre-K class, and our Humble classroom is a 3rd grade class. We are asking our lovely community to come together and donate whatever supplies we can to these classrooms in need. Next week in class, students will be writing letters to each classroom. A popular supply donation is an Amazon gift card, as this allows teachers to order things online, since they may not currently have the ability to drive from store to store.

Other supply needs:

Pencils

Erases

Notebooks

Paper

Craft supplies

Scissors

Drawing utensils

Backpacks

Lunchboxes

Folders

For these teachers, many of their students have lost their homes as well. If you are willing and able to donate supplies for those children, please see the list below:

Toothbrush

Socks

Shoes

T-shirts

Pants

Jacket

Hairbrush

Toys

**New items are preferred**Please bring all donations within the next two weeks, to Ms.Jessica’s classroom in Rm.214. We will contact you all on the grade levels of the other 3 classrooms as soon as we know. Thank you so much. “The worst of mother nature often brings out the best in human nature.”

A Note From Our Art Teacher, Ms. Armijo!

I want to make sure my students have the materials they need to succeed, so I just created a request for my classroom at DonorsChoose.org: We Need Paper like Mona Lisa Needs a Smile!.

Give to my classroom by September 15 and your donation will be doubled thanks to DonorsChoose.org. Just enter the code LIFTOFF on the payment page and you'll be matched dollar for dollar (up to $50).

If you chip in to help my students, you'll get awesome photos and our heartfelt thanks.

Here is the Amazon wishlist:

http://a.co/38juCZz

Reminders:

School Hours:

Monday-Thursday

Primary 9:00-2:45

Lower 8:25- 2:55

Upper 8:15-3:10

Adol 8:15- 3:10

Friday:

Primary 9:00-11:45

Lower 8:25-11:55

Upper 8:15-12:10

Adol 8:15-3:10

Front Office Hours: 8am-4pm Monday-Friday

If you have yet to visit our year round forms page, we highly encourage you to visit the link and view all of the attachments. Information regarding bell schedule, supply lists, uniforms, donations, and more can be found at Forms and Downloads

Registration:

Please make sure that your registration forms have been completed and submitted to the front office. Registration is mandatory.

Uniforms:

Uniforms can be ordered via our webstore. All uniform orders that are placed in August will be received by the end of September. Orders will be processed every 2 months starting September.

Free and Reduced Lunch Applications:

Applications were processed. You will receive an approval or a denial letter within 10 school days via email. Fees on orderlunches.com will be updated accordingly.

Lunch Orders:

https://topnotchcatering.orderlunches.com/access.php

School Code: BMC1

Create an account. Once an account is created then you will need to assign a teacher to your student.

Mr. Hank's Corner

You are invited to join the Health Wellness Committee for the first meeting of the year, September 27th at 3:30 pm in the MPR. Help shape the health and wellness of BMMA. Learn about the Local School Wellness Policy, Potluck lists, and review healthier snacks for your child. Teachers, staff, parents, and students are welcome to attend. RSVP to Hank Stelzl, Health and Wellness Coordinator at hstelzl@bellamentecharter.org.

I am still adding names to the list of interested volunteers for both garden and nutrition lab lessons. Please email if interested as I will send an email out by the end of this week so we can begin having your help “Growing Young Minds.” Also, if you need to register as a volunteer see Ms. Brandy at the front office for the paperwork.

For more information on The Bella Garden Project check out our website for needs, other links, and further information. https://www.bellamentecharter.org/program

Upcoming Events

Please click on the link below to see details about upcoming events at Bella Mente:

School Calendar of Events

PTO Events

Friday September 15 –PTO FAMILY FUN FRIDAYS! Beach Get Together 1-3pm - Oceanside Beach, south side of the pier by playground. Come mingle with some BMMA friends and families. All are welcome.

RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/148081635777694/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22:%2229%22,%22ref_notif_type%22:%22plan_user_associated%22,%22action_history%22:%22null%22%7D&ref=notif&notif_t=plan_user_associated&notif_id=1504477450062930

STAR Education

STAR Education's NOVA enrichment classes will start September 18th. This session's classes include:

Mondays: Introduction to Minecraft (3:15-4:15, 1st grade and up)

Fridays: RockSTAR (12:15-1:15, 1st grade and up)

Sewing (12:15-1:15, open to all ages)

To register: