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,

After three years of abbreviated family events, we are thrilled to bring back the popular Family Art Night! This fun event is a time for families to come together to enjoy creative hands-on activities that celebrate the arts. Big Smile to our talented Art Teacher, Ms. Ames, who partnered with dedicated parents, Ms. Michelle Falise and Ms. Ariel Clute, to plan this event. To be safe, we will spread out between the Multi-Purpose Room and the Library. Please stay and supervise your children during this event, which is meant to be enjoyed as a community. Family Art Night is TOMORROW, Friday, March 24 from 6:00- 7:30 pm. Parent volunteers are still needed to help run art activities (sign up here). Come dressed ready to make a mess. Please eat ahead of time: food will not be served.

This spring we will be recruiting members for the PTA. A hallmark of a strong school community is a healthy partnership between the staff and parents, which in turn supports student programs, events, and academics. With the help of the PTA, Emerson is able to enhance its academic and social programs, offering a comprehensive plan. We are proud to offer art and physical education classes for all K- 5 students. Student studies are enhanced through the purchase of math and reading computer software programs, which are district approved, but funded by the PTA. Students and parent volunteers also enjoy memorable and educational field trips. We demonstrate our commitment to equity through our staff and parent workshops, which have proven to build a strong community that promotes inclusion for all. To keep our school strong, we need more parents to get involved. Would you consider joining us? Stay tuned for more information regarding the 2023- 2024 PTA Board.

Due to the storm this week, the 5th Grade students’ field trip has been rescheduled to May. We are happy to resume this Emerson tradition when the weather clears. Big Shout out to Ms. Campbell Lewis and Ms. Weddle for pivoting and securing a new field trip date so quickly. We appreciate the student and parent’s flexibility as we respond to the challenges we face due to this intense winter season.

Thank you for your support,

Jana Holmes

UPCOMING EVENTS AND KEY DATES

Friday, March 24: Last day to turn in Read-A-Thon Reading Logs

Friday, March 24: Family Art Night, 6-7:30pm, at Emerson. Note: food will not be served.

Thursday, March 30: Equity Circle, 6-8:15pm, at Emerson

Thursday, March 30: BUSD Middle School Open House (times may vary by site)

Monday, April 3 - Friday, April 7: Spring Recess (No School)

Thursday, April 13: Equity Circle, 6-8:15pm, at Emerson

Wednesday, April 26: PTA Association Meeting #3 evening - Board Election (Zoom, in-person TBD)

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.

PTA UPDATE

HEART OF EMERSON

We did it! We are the Heart of Emerson! To celebrate and commemorate our community’s generosity, the PTA gifts every Emerson student and staff a Heart of Emerson T-shirt designed by Michelle Falise. Thank you to Stephanie Boys and Elizabeth Valley for your fundraising work and our Heart of Emerson shirts (with every student’s name on it).

SPECIAL EVENTS

Family Art Night - is TOMORROW! March 24 from 6-7:30pm we will all create art thanks to Emerson’s art teacher Lucy Ames and many volunteers led by Ariel Clute, visual artist and parent of twins, Daza and Fermina.

We still need caregiver volunteers to help run art activities! Please sign up to help, especially if you’re an Art Night veteran. This will be the first Art Night for our younger grades! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080444abad2fa5f94-volunteer#/

Please eat ahead of time, as food will not be served.

Math Festival - Thank you to the volunteers for helping with this PTA-sponsored event on Thursday March 16. This is one the STEAM events the PTA supports with the initiative of Principal Holmes.

Black Oratorical Festival - We are so proud of Emerson fourth graders Soleyana Derebe and Hasset Wube for representing Emerson at the Black Oratorical Festival on Monday March 20 at Oxford Elementary. Here is a picture of all our participants:

The Spring Equity Circle continues! By the time you read this, only two of the six sessions have occurred, so there’s still time to join by signing up here. Childcare and food provided. Questions, access requests: equity@emersonelementary.org

JOIN THE PTA

The Emerson PTA Board is a group of volunteers who meet monthly to support the Emerson community through fundraising, events, and programs. Consider joining us to collaborate on building an inclusive culture and modeling service for our Emerson students. Fill out the Board Interest Form HERE!

SPRING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

We also need volunteers for three upcoming events. Please reach out to the committee chair if you are able to help!

Spring Service Day - a day of community service (TBD- possibly Earth Day April 22)

Contact: Ariel Clute, cluteariel@gmail.com

Moveathon - May 6

Contact: Elise Kneram, kneram.elise@gmail.com

Tech Talk Series - Digital citizenship, games, online best practices with kids!

Contact: Matt Small, smaulio@gmail.com

READ-A-THON

Read-a-Thon Reading Logs Due Tomorrow!

Thank you, Emerson students, for participating in this year’s Read-a-Thon. Don’t forget to use the Reading Log to record your minutes - adults, don't forget to initial! Please turn in your reading log to your classroom teacher by TOMORROW (Friday), March 24th, to be eligible for the prizes.

Questions: contact Ms. Jeannie at jeanniewang@berkeley.net or Ashleigh Kanat at ashleigh.kanat@gmail.com. We’ll announce prize winners during the April All-School Meeting.

FAMILY ART NIGHT

I hope that you are planning to come to Family Art Night!

This Friday, 6-7:30pm, volunteer sign-up HERE

In case you didn't know, the whole family is invited, and everyone can make some art!

We will have clay. We will be painting with fun scraping techniques. We'll make some cool laminated bookmarks using washi tape. We will be doing my favorite thing-- gel plate printing (also known as gelli printing). You won't want to miss all the fun!

In addition, we are creating two walls inspired by Yayoi Kusama. Kusama is an amazing artist, still working in her 90s. Here is a presentation with a couple of short videos I'm showing Emerson's artists this week. If you are curious, take a look! We will be covering the white walls with thousands and thousands of dot stickers. At the end of each art class this week, we started putting up dots, but we'll have many more to put up on Friday night. (And there will be some great photo ops too!)

Here's what it looked like very early in the process:

Images of Emerson students placing colorful circular stickers on large posters hung in the hallway.

I hope you will join us for the fun!

Ms. Ames

ART CORNER

4th Grade Paintbrush Art

Before creating these observational drawings of paint brushes, the artists honed their observation skills by doing what is called a "blind contour" --- they were not allowed to look at their paper, but instead had to look closely at the brush or other objects they were drawing and then let their pens follow the same journey that their eyes took.

With the brushes, they could look at both the brush and the paper. ;-) After drawing these in pencil, they traced with a sharpie and added some cross hatching and pencil rubbing to create a more 3-dimensional effect. Finally, they added watercolor paint.

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.