If you are the parent of a new Beverly Cleary School student, please join our community email list.  You'll get updates and newsletters about our school, and when September arrives, you'll be able to hit the ground running.

Your volunteer help is needed to get Beverly Cleary School ready for the upcoming school year.  On Community Care Day, volunteers will join together to enhance and beautify Portland Public Schools grounds.  It's a terrific community builder and a chance to reaquaint with your fellow parents and students.  Please join us!

When:    SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2009 FROM 9 AM TO NOON
Where:   On both the Hollyrood and Fernwood campuses

We will spread mulch and bark chips, trim bushes, edge grass, clean up litter and complete a number of other tasks to make the school more welcoming for incoming students and the communities around them.

Please bring your own garden gloves and any of the following: rake, hoe, shovel, wheelbarrow, electric or manual hedge trimmer, weed whackers, weeding tools, pruners, etc.  Please make sure your tools are labeled!  Water and snacks will be provided, but bring your own if you can.

Here are the supply lists for the upcoming school year.

Our First Annual Beverly Cleary School PTA Rummage Sale was a big success!  First, thanks to the organizing committee of Katherine Muller, Jenny Shea, Susan Crabtree and Barbara Smith-Warner, to the awesome volunteers who spent many hours setting up and selling, for the approximately 75 famililes who donated items and for those of you who went shopping on Friday. The total sale brought in approximately $3300.00, plus many books were donated to the teachers along with some other supplies needed for the school.

We already have volunteers lined up for next year, for probably the same time of year in order to get free building space. We'll give you more notice next year when you can start your spring/summer cleaning.

Next year's calendar has been completed and there are some key changes.  You can download this update from PPS or simply keep up to date by looking at our website's calendar. 

Let’s keep biking, rolling, and walking this summer! Check out the latest Safer Routes News, full of free activities for you and your family.

In this issue:
• Bring the whole family to Sunday Parkways this summer!
• Free Ready Rider Workshops for your young cyclists
• Providence Bridge Pedal free for youth 15 and under!
• How to Report a School Safety Problem
• Are You Smarter Than Your 5th Grader?

Read the newsletter online, plus check out the online calendar full of resources to keep you and yours safe and active this summer.  There are dates and locations for $5 bicycle helmet sales, $5 booster seat sales, and free bike safety trainings.

The Children's Investment Fund, which has funded our SUN program for the last five years, has chosen not to renew funding at Beverly Cleary School for the next five years, despite a great application and strong record of involvement. Please join us for a meeting to discuss the possible future of the SUN program. We will discuss the current funding situation, possibilities for advocacy, possibilities for other funding sources, how Campfire might fit in and any other issues you would like to address. It is very important that our parent community be a part of this decision making process.  The meeting is on Monday, June 8th from 5:30 to 6:30 pm in the cafeteria.

The PTA Clothing Closet is seeking gently used clothing donations.  They have had a 22% increase in usage this year, and in April they had an average of 45 students per day visit.  They are running low on clothes and could use more donations.  As you are doing your spring cleaning and clearing out some clothes from your closets (infant to adult sizes), please consider donating to the PTA Clothing Closet.  At Hollyrood you can drop clothes in the blue bin (labeled clothing closet) in the lobby and in Fernwood you can find a collection site in the Main Office.  Rosanne will direct you to the location.

Let’s face it…you can’t make art without art supplies! The Arts Committee is currently taking monetary donations for art supplies to be used next year.  The collected funds will allow the teachers to take advantage of bulk pricing over the summer, and be better stocked once the school year begins.  The money will help purchase items such as paper and paint to be shared across the grades.
 
Checks can be made out to Beverly Cleary School with “Art Supplies” written on the memo line. Thanks for supporting the creativity in our kids!