October 19, 2022

BearFacts News - 10.20.22

October 19, 2022

Si tiene alguna duda sobre esta nota debido a la traduccion,
por favor comuniquese con Rafael Friedmann via email: rfriedmann@aol.com

Message from the Principal

Dear Emerson Families,

Can you believe it's the time of the year when we start thinking about next year’s enrollment? For the first time in three years, we will offer in-person incoming Kindergarten tours! This is an exciting time for new families to consider becoming a part of our wonderful community. We are asking our current K-5 parents to volunteer as tour guides. We’re offering tours on Thursday mornings from November through January. Tour guides are equipped with a script and tour information ahead of time. This newsletter includes more details below, and we hope you will consider this a fun way to get involved and support our school.

Parent/teacher conferences are next week (Oct 24- Oct 27). If you do not yet have an appointment scheduled with your child’s teacher, please email them directly as soon as possible. When you arrive at the school for your conference, please knock or ring the doorbell and then sign in and receive your visitor pass. After 4:00, parents can enter through the blacktop gates (Kids World checkout) and meet teachers in their classrooms. On conference days, we will have a shortened day schedule with students in Kindergarten released at 12:30 pm each day and Grades 1-5 at 1:10 pm. There will not be any PTA after-school classes, but Kids World will be in session.

Students participated in the California Great Shake Out Earthquake Drill on Thursday morning. This is a time when students learn to prepare and be safe during an earthquake. We follow this drill with a fire drill evacuation to the blacktop. The Emerson Safety Committee meets periodically throughout the year to make sure we are ready for emergencies. Each teacher has a safety backpack in their room that is equipped with supplies. We also have a storage shed on the blacktop that contains materials for triage, safety, and community support in times of emergency. This fall I attended a Disaster Training Preparedness session at the district office with a member of our Site Leadership Team. We are doing our best to keep safety at the forefront at Emerson.

We look forward to celebrating Halloween on Monday, October 31. Parents are welcome to join us for our march in the community at 12:45pm. Please enter through the blacktop gate and line up with your student’s class. Again, we ask that you refrain from sending your child in costumes that are scary, including weapons or depicting another person’s culture.

Thank you for your support,

Jana Holmes

Upcoming Events and Key Dates

Friday, October 21: Hearing Screening (Grades K, 2, & 5)

Saturday, October 22: Cal Football Parking Fundraiser - 2nd Grade hosts (more info here)

Sunday, October 23: Decorate the Ofrenda at the Emerson Library, 9am

October 24-27: Parent Teacher Conferences (Special Minimum Day Schedule)

Friday, October 28: No School

Saturday, October 29: Cal Football Parking Fundraiser - 1st Grade hosts

Monday, October 31: Halloween March after Lunch/Recess (Parents welcome)

Saturday, November 19: Cal Football Parking Fundraiser - All Grades host

Saturday, November 25: Cal Football Parking Fundraiser - Kindergarten hosts

Add the Emerson Google Calendar to yours!

Note to Readers: BearFacts articles and calendar items are based on submissions from the community and reviewed and edited under the PTA communication policy. Inclusion of an item in BearFacts by itself does not indicate sponsorship or endorsement by the PTA, Emerson school staff, or BUSD.

Volunteer Kindergarten Tour Guides Needed

Share your love of Emerson with prospective Kindergarten families - be a tour guide! Tours will take place Thursdays from 8:15 am to ~ 9:45 am, November 10 - January 26.
If you are new to the role and would like to buddy up with an experienced tour guide for your first tour, we’ll be glad to make that happen. We’ll also provide you with talking points, answers to FAQs, and other information to make the job easy and fun.
Sign up here to be a tour guide.
Can't make the early morning hour? No problem! We need volunteers to staff the Emerson table at the BUSD Kinder Fair on Saturday, December 3 and Kinder Information night on Thursday, January 19 in the Emerson Library at 7pm.
Sign up to help here to staff an Emerson table.
Please email Eleanor Hollander with questions: Eleanor.Hollander@gmail.com.

ART CORNER - 2nd Grade Birds & Birdhouses

The young artists learned about warm and cool colors. The warm colors are reds, oranges, and yellows-- think of sunshine, lava, and fire. Cool colors are blues, greens, and violets -- think of water and the colors that are made with blue. Although birds in nature would prefer to be camouflaged, for art we want more contrast. “Contrast” means different-- we wanted our birds to pop. So the artists created cool birds and warm houses, or warm birds with cool colored houses.

Lucy Ames, Art Teacher (she/her)
Emerson School: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons

Dia de los Muertos Community Event at Berkeley High School

BUSD is partnering with BAHIA, Inc., Latinos Unidos de Berkeley, and many other community organizations on October 29 to host Día de los Muertos: Sacred Footprints, a community event held from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Berkeley High School. This community event is free & open to all.

BUSD will share student poetry and information about district services and will recognize Latinx staff. There will be an ofrenda (altar) and art exhibition, children’s activities, a Lowrider car show, Mariachi & performances, raffles, bike repair and tune-ups, arts and crafts vendors, a food pantry, and flu vaccines. Visit the Bahia website for the event schedule and how to participate in the community ofrenda & raffle.

Decorate the Ofrenda at Emerson Library

Join us as we build and decorate our yearly community Ofrenda in the Emerson Library on October 23, 2022 at 9:00am. Bring your student to work on crafts in the back garden that can be added to the Ofrenda as well as worksheets and discussion about the meaning and significance of this important holiday in Mexican culture.

Flyer for the event

This event is open to our entire community!

Find Emerson Online

Website: https://emersonelementary.org/

Remind: Text @7f6hb to 81010; or go to www.remind.com/join/7f6hb

Facebook: www.facebook.com/emersonpta (or follow @emersonPTA)

About BearFacts News:
BearFacts News is a weekly publication created by parent volunteers and posted online at emersonelementary.org.

BearFacts articles and calendar items are based on submissions from the community and reviewed and edited under the PTA communication policy. Inclusion of an item in BearFacts by itself does not indicate sponsorship or endorsement by the PTA, Emerson school staff, or BUSD.

If you have a news item or announcement to include in the BearFacts News, please send an email to bearfacts@emersonelementary.org. Please keep your message brief and include all the pertinent details including dates, times, locations and contact information. Send images as an e-mail attachment and include alt-text. The deadline is each Monday at 6 p.m.