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,
Happy Winter Break! My hope is that your family is safe and ready to celebrate the holiday season in good health. I want to thank you for your support of Emerson’s students, staff and parent community. May 2021 brings increased health and peace for all.
If you had an opportunity to visit the Emerson TownHall Meeting last week you learned we have formed an Emerson Covid Liaison Task Force that works with the City of Berkeley Health Department to address Covid cases. You will be receiving a mailing with more information about what you can expect from this team. The district has committed to transparency regarding positive cases of Covid 19 while respecting staff and students’ rights to patient and educational privacy. The district website publicly reports the number of positive Covid cases by site. These numbers are kept up to date and indicate that we have recently had a new case on campus. This case did not affect any students but we want you to know this has occurred. We wish our affected staff member a speedy recovery.
You can refer to this site to learn about reported Covid cases on the Berkeley campuses: https://www.berkeleyschools.net/coronavirus/case-dashboard/
We are proud of the good work of the Berkeley Unified School Board in the renaming of Jefferson Elementary School. This month, the school has been officially renamed Ruth Acty Elementary School. The name changed followed an intensive community process triggered by the Black Lives Movement. The new name recognizes an inspiring educator, who was the first Black teacher in Berkeley Unified School District, hired in 1943. She was assigned to teach Kindergarten at Longfellow School, where 30% of the students were Black. She went on to dedicate 50 years of her life to teaching students in Berkeley, from Kindergarten to Adult School. She retired from BUSD in 1991 when she was 78. For more information, visit this link: Ruth Acty School.
As a reward for the outstanding progress and contributions to our Heart of Emerson fundraising campaign, Coach Robinson will offer two Winter Workouts for the entire family. Please join her on Monday, December 21, and Monday, December 28 at 9:00 am for a heart-healthy workout. Join her on her regular Zoom Link here. Thankfully, we are well on the way to reaching our fundraising goal. Please consider giving to help us close the remaining fundraising gap. The link to donate is here: https://emerson.berkeleypta.org/heart-of-emerson.
When we return from Winter Break, the Gardening enrichment class will shift from Grades 3-5 to Kindergarten through 2nd grade. Please check your homeroom teacher’s schedule for the changes. We are excited for our younger students to have an opportunity to learn more about health, nutrition, and environmental science through the Gardening Program with Ms. Jeannette.
The All School Meetings have been such a joy this school year! We love promoting Rainbow Fridays, Classroom Shout Outs, and our amazing student performances. During Winter Break, we encourage your child to create submissions for our two January All School Meetings. The first meeting on Friday, January 8 will feature creative student performances of all types. Grades K-2 should email submissions to MollySalyk@berkeley.net and Grades 3-5 should email submissions to Loribarnes@berkeley.net. Submissions for the January 8 All School Meeting are due by Monday, January 4. Don’t forget to complete the parent permission form.
The Friday, January 15 All School Meeting will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. We want our meeting to include submissions from students. This could be a performance piece, 1-2 sentence video sharing why they celebrate MLK Jr, or a piece of art. If your student would like to participate, please email submissions to Ms. M at orianamelgoza@berkeley.net by Friday, January 8th. Here is a flyer with more information about the MLK Jr Assembly. We will need your parent permission form.
Happy Holidays,
Jana Holmes
Upcoming Events and Key Dates
Thursday, Dec 17: Racial Equity Discussion - Having Hard Conversations about Race, 7:00pm - 8:30pm (details below)
Friday, Dec 18: Spirit Day - Wear Your Pajamas!
Monday, Dec 21 - Friday, Jan 1: Winter Recess Break, No School
Monday, Dec 21: Coach Robinson’s Winter Workout for the entire family, 9:00am (Zoom Link here)
Monday, Dec 28: Coach Robinson’s Winter Workout for the entire family, 9:00am (Zoom Link here)
Monday, Jan 4: School Resumes
Find more dates/details: emerson.berkeleypta.org/calendar
Congratulations to December’s Shout Outs!
Hello, Emerson Community! We want to celebrate and congratulate our December Shout Out Students! Please check out this Flipgrid to see special video shout outs from your teachers: https://flipgrid.com/+decembershoutouts
Equity Corner - Tonight!
Having Hard Conversations about Race: The Practice
We've almost made it to the end of 2020, a year filled with so much hardship that it can be hard to put it into perspective. Many of us made commitments this year to stand up to injustice, speak out against racism, and work towards a world we dream about for our kids.
The Emerson community is committed to making our world more equitable and simple conversations with our communities can make a big difference. Join us tonight - Thurs. the 17th at 7pm as Ms. Pam leads us through "Having Hard Conversations about Race: the practice." Justice starts with all of us caring enough to stand up for what's right and showing our children how to be thoughtful citizens of the world.
Watch out for a Remind announcement this afternoon with the Zoom link!
Contact Viv (Ace, 4th) with questions: vivwhite@gmail.com 415-279-2932
Stay tuned for a Racial Equity Circle invitation for the Spring.
Check Out Coach Robinson’s New PE Website
The website is full of health and fitness tips and includes links to videos. Bookmark it and check back often - it’s a work-in-progress and more material is being added. Let's stay healthy together!
We're looking for Spring Enrichment Recommendations...
In this era of zoom learning, we are looking for recommendations for fun and engaging after school enrichment classes that other Emerson students might enjoy. We're collecting a list to share with Emerson families along with the Spring 2021 BUSD catalog of online enrichment classes.
Please send ideas and recommendations to: emersonenrichment@gmail.com.
Thanks!
Thank you from the Heart of Emerson
In only one month, the Heart of Emerson is at 85% of our dollar goal of $110,000! Thank you to teachers and staff, families, and each student. The support is inspiring and puts us in good shape for next year.
Please donate if you haven’t already. We are so close to our dollar goal, and participation counts, too!
More Heart of Emerson updates can be found here.
Another way to help: choose Emerson Elementary PTA as your Amazon Smile donation charity, and 0.5% of your purchase amount will be donated to Emerson. You must have an Amazon account, and use the smile.amazon.com link EACH time for the purchase to count towards Emerson. Click on this link to choose Emerson as your Amazon Smile charity.
Yearbook Planning
We still don’t have volunteers to help with the 2020/21 Emerson Yearbook. Is anyone interested in pulling something together? Perhaps a 5th grade parent who would like to assemble an abbreviated version for the graduating students, or anyone with ideas and bandwidth? We are happy to give you access to our existing yearbook platform, especially while there's plenty of time. Drop a note to Michelle (mfalise@gmail.com).
Support Emerson PTA - BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!
The Emerson Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) brings together parents/guardians, teachers/staff and friends of Emerson to work for a positive school experience for all children at our school. As a member, you can vote on programming and spending decisions. Parents, guardians, extended family members or friends of all Emerson students are invited. Please renew membership every year. Please sign up ONLINE at https://emerson.berkeleypta.org/pta-membership. A donation of $10/person is suggested but NOT required. For questions, contact cluetters09@gmail.com.
ZOOM FRIENDLY RULE REMINDERS
Be prepared for class by wearing clothes, putting away toys and ready to participate
Be aware of your surroundings- remember your teacher and class can see behind you. Try to find a quiet place to join the Zoom meeting.
Mute yourself when you enter the meeting use the microphone bottom and wait for the teacher to call on you to unmute.
Raise your hand and wait for the teacher to call on you- take turns and practice being patient.
Be respectful- contribute to class positively and be a Zoom leader by participating responsibly.
Find Emerson Online
Website: emerson.berkeleypta.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. Typically, it is distributed each Thursday in students' Look Folders and posted online at emerson.berkeleypta.org. During Distance Learning, it is only posted on the website.
If you have a news item or announcement to include in the BearFacts News, please send an email to emersonschoolnews@gmail.com. Please keep your message brief and include all the pertinent details including dates, times, locations and contact information. The deadline is each Monday at 6 p.m.
Copyright © 2020. Emerson Elementary PTA. All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
2800 Forest Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94705