March is Women's History Month. It's not only an opportunity to celebrate the women who have made an impact on our history, culture, and society, it's also an opportunity for us to educate ourselves and our children about women being largely underrepresented in many facets of life (e.g., politics, workplace, science, sports, journalism, etc.). While much progress has been made, there is still a long ways to go.

Visit our Women's History Month page for some resources and reading materials to help educate our students about these inequalities and the continued work toward social justice and gender equality.

Do you have any suggested resources? If so, we'd love to hear about them. Email feedback@agbellptsa.org

One of the areas of educational enrichment that Bell PTSA supports and funds is the Arts. We do this in a number of ways. Here are a few examples:

• Bell PTSA funds the the Art With Mrs. Lustgarten Program. 
• Bell PTSA provide art supplies and funding to the school to support the Deep Space Sparkle Art Curriculum. 
• Bell PTSA recently purchased a number of multicultural art supplies 
• Additionally, the PTSA has recently reorganized the art closet at Bell (I wish we would have taken before photos) and created art kits for all 36 Deep Space Sparkle Projects. This included doing all the prep work for all 3 lessons across all grades and classrooms (e.g., cutting paper, procuring items, etc.). This way teachers can go in and grab the art kit and all the prep work is done for them. It was an immense amount of work (we started last year), but we are confident it will pay off and make it easier for teachers to do the lessons. We've included a few images of the closet, the art kits, and the multi-cultural supplies we recently purchased. We love this work and we love supporting our students and teachers!

Thank you to everyone who has completed the fund allocation survey. If you have not completed it, we ask that you please take a moment to do so. It takes approx 3 minutes (7 questions). Deadline to complete is March 9th.

The annual cost to run Bell PTSA is substantially less this year due to remote learning. We are interested in feedback from both faculty and Bell families on how to best allocate funds to bring the most value to our school.

*The survey can be translated to another language by right clicking and selecting "translate to..."

We have received feedback from the Bell community (via the fund allocation survey above) that virtual field trips are of interest. At the beginning of the year, the general message we were receiving from the community was to reduce screen time; therefore, the PTSA opted to not organize virtual events. However, based on this recent feedback, we are currently in talks with the Pacific Science Center to schedule a few virtual field trips. More to follow soon! 

Do you have any recommendations for virtual field trips you would like the PTSA to organize? If so, we'd love to hear about it. Email us at feedback@agbellptsa.org.

Nearly 300 rocks have been decorated and dropped off in Bell's Friendship Rock Garden. Thanks to Tennile Jones, all the rocks have been coated with a UV protectant so they will last for years to come. While this started off as a Valentine's Day event, it has turned into a permanent rock garden at Bell. We just love what this community has created. Feel free to add rocks at anytime. We left a box of paint markers next to the garden, so anyone can easily find a rock at Bell and decorate it right there.

Our new spirit wear store is up and running! Historically, we only sold spirit wear 1-2 times per year. We have recently changed vendors and now have spirit wear available throughout the entire school year. For each purchase, 10% is donated to Bell PTSA. It's a simple way to support our school while also showing your school spirit!

current offer: Save up to 30% with code MARCH21

Washington State's Legislative Session just wrapped up week seven. Unfortunately, SB 5386 and SJR 8204 (allowing 55 percent of voters to authorize school district bonds, as opposed to the current 60% requirement) and HB 1404 (requiring universal screening procedures for students and placement in programs for highly capable students) both died in fiscal committee. However, a number of other bills which have a direct impact on our students (e.g., school funding, early learning/child care, gun restrictions, behavioral health, lead in water, graduation requirements, etc.) have passed their chamber or have moved to the rules committee. We encourage you to read the full report, WSPTA Legislative report for week 7, and contact your legislators to share your story and what's important to you. 

None of the work the PTSA does is possible without people giving their time and resources. Our hope is to work together to improve the level of engagement and volunteerism at Bell Elementary.

In an effort to improve volunteerism, we created this volunteer interest form where you can simply select your areas of interest and we will reach out as we begin planning events/programs that align with your interests. It's a simple 3-question form and will only take 2-3 minutes to complete. We hope you will take a few minutes to complete this form and support our efforts to improve the level of volunteerism at Bell. 

All volunteers must be approved through Lake Washington School District. Please complete the volunteer application if you have not already done so.

In our last newsletter, we shared some fact about Bell's aging library (e.g., average publication date of books is 2004 and only 10% of the collection promotes diversity, inclusion, and equity). The PTSA continues to provide grants each year and the school provides funding as well. However, these funding sources do not meet the need and there is still much improvement to be made. If you'd like to help in the effort, please consider purchasing some books from Mr. Marino's Amazon Wishlist (select the gift registry address, so the books ship direct to Bell). And don't forget to complete the survey mentioned above (additional funds from the PTSA to support this effort is listed as a funding option).

Calling all students! Help create our cover for this year’s Yearbook! This year’s theme is, "Oh, the Places We've Been." What does that look like to you? Create your artistic vision, take a photo of it (or scan it) and email it to yearbook@agbellptsa.org. All entries are due by March 15th.

The winner will receive a free yearbook and other entries may be featured in the yearbook as well. Good luck! If you have questions or need art supplies, please email yearbook@agbellptsa.org.

Make sure to order your yearbook on TreeRing and please continue uploading photos!

We know there is a lot of information coming our way from the district, school, and PTSA. We have compiled all the key information from each source on our Family Resource page on the new PTSA website. Similarly, all key dates referenced in Brian Story's newsletter (which came out earlier today) have also been added to the calendar on our website. We hope this is helpful to families. 

Thank you to everyone who attended our PTSA meeting on 2/25. It was a very informative and worthwhile meeting. For those of you who were unable to attend, below is a link to the presentation and the meeting minutes. Our next meeting is on May 6th at 7pm via Zoom.

• Minutes
• Presentation

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как перевести информационный бюллетень
如何翻译时事通讯
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• Get Involved: volunteer your time, contribute to our programs, attend PTSA meetings. There are many ways YOU can make a difference in your community.
• Purchase Spirit Wear
• Direct Donations 
• Corporate Matching- An easy way to double your donation!
• Amazon Smiles - Select "A G Bell PTSA" as your charity and shop via AmazonSmiles 
• Fred Meyer Rewards - Link your Fred Meyer Rewards card to AG Bell PTSA

With the launch of Bell PTSA's new website, we now send our newsletter direct from our website, as opposed to going through the school registrar. Please make sure to register on our new site so your information is up to date! 

Alexander Graham Bell PTSA

11212 NE 112th St

Kirkland, WA 98033