Yesterday we wrapped up the donation portion of the Book Exchange. This amazing community donate 1,686 books!! Thank you to everyone who donated, and thank you for donating such high-quality, high-interest books. 

Next week, Bell students will have an opportunity to select books to take home (each student, including Pre-K, will be able to take home three books). For our in-person students, teachers have selected time slots to bring their class to the book exchange. For our Pre-K students, we will bring the books to the Pre-k teachers to distribute to their students. 

For our remote families, please come by the school on Wednesday, 4/28 during the following times to select books:

• K - 2nd grade: 11am - 1:30pm
• 3rd - 5th grade: 1:30pm - 3:30pm

Note: If you are unable to make the time slot for the specified grade, please come by anytime between 11am and 3:30pm.

We need a few volunteers to stand outside and help the students select books, make sure they sanitize their hands, wipe down the tables, etc. Please sign-up here to help out!

Visit our Book Exchange page for more information. Thank you, Jennifer Venters, for organizing this wonderful event!

We will be celebrating our annual Teacher & Staff Appreciation WeekMay 3rd-7th. This year's theme is: 

You're a star. Thank you for lighting up the learning path!

Below is the schedule for the week along with suggested ways to contribute. Help us shower our teachers and staff with the appreciation they deserve.

1. Sign up to donate fresh fruit, staff lounge supplies, coffee cards, etc.
   
   
2. Purchase an item(s) from your teacher's Amazon wish list for "Wishlist Wednesday." If your teacher does not have a wish list, consider purchasing an item for another staff member. Note: Each teacher and staff member is assigned to a group (the group number is in the wish list document). Please consider sending a gift to everyone in the same group, as we want to ensure ALL staff members are shown appreciation. Also, we just got the approval to add wish lists for Pre-K staff members, so we will be adding those as we receive them.
   
   
3. Send your teacher a thank you card on Friday, May 7th for "Fan Mail Friday." Send in a poem, art work, etc. Get creative! You can also check out the Bell Staff Favorites List for some ideas (we continue to update this with more info as we gather it).
   
   

Thank you, Tennile Jones, for organizing this wonderful event.

The feedback from our first live, virtual field-trip with Pacific Science Center has been very positive. We had a blast learning about chemical reactions! We hope your student(s) was able to attend. Below are some educational extension activities for some hands-on learning.  

• In our Radical Reactions program, we learned that bubbles can capture gas released by a chemical reaction. Engineer some of your own bubbles in Bubble Blast (K-2nd grade) (3rd-5th grade) (6th-8th grade).
  
  
• We also learned about two special types of matter- acids and bases. Experiment with more acids and bases at home with Purple Produce pH Indicator (K-2nd grade) (3rd-5th grade) (6th-8th grade).
  
  
• Want to try out being a chemist? Try your hand at being a Materials Scientist in Material World (K-2nd grade) (3rd-5th grade) (6th-8th grade), or learn how Art Conservators use chemistry to preserve paintings in Polished Pennies.

our next virtual field trip is on May 11th (the Zoom link will be provided in the Bulldog Blast the week prior). Visit our Virtual Enrichment page to learn more.  

Walk to school week is May 10th - 14th this year. And while it may look a bit different, it will still be tons of fun! Each morning and afternoon during Walk to School Week, students and their families are encouraged to walk to and from school each day. We realize that this is not feasible for all families, but if your student is participating in in-person learning and you're able to participate, we'd love to see you walking! 

On Friday, May 14th, we will have police officers on campus to greet our students and help us hand out small prizes to wrap up the week.

As with all of our events, we need volunteers to make it possible. This is a super fun and easy volunteer opportunity that only takes 30 minutes each morning. Volunteers will be handing out prizes to each student as they enter the building. We also need a volunteer each day to be our school mascot -- the Bell Bulldog (preferably someone taller)! Sign up today to volunteer! 

You must be a LWSD approved volunteer. Questions? Email Christi Zemke at communityevents@agbellptsa.org

Thank you, Christi Zemke, for organizing this wonderful event!

There are many ways to get involved right now! We hope you will sign-up to help out. 

• Sign-up to help out with the Book Exchange
• Sign-up to help out with Staff Appreciation Week 
• Sign-up to help out with Walk to School Week 
• Participate in Wishlist Wednesday and Fan Mail Friday during Staff Appreciation Week.
• Join our community clean-up event on April 24th. Visit our Earth Day page for info.
• Support Bell's Pantry Pack program
• Consider joining next year's executive board.

For in-person volunteering, you must be an approved volunteer through Lake Washington School District (LWSD). Click here to apply if you are not currently an approved volunteer.

Thank you to our Nominating Committee (Christi Zemke, Jennifer Venters, and Gretchen Dalquist) for reaching out to our community to find nominees for next year’s board. Here is the list of nominees for the 2021-2022 school year.

President – Brena Gattuccio

Co-President – OPEN

Co-Treasurer – Lakshmi Kuduganti 

Co-Treasurer – Leslie Victor

Secretary – Jennifer Venters

VP of Fundraising – Jane Helbig

Co-VP of Community Events - Randee Jez

Co-VP of Community Events - Debby Willsey

VP of Student Enrichment - OPEN

We still have a few open positions we would love to fill. Please reach out to the nominating committee at nominations@agbellptsa.org if you're interested. Elections will be held during our last PTSA meeting of the year on Thursday, May 6, 2021. A Zoom link for the meeting will be provided in the Bulldog Blast the week prior.

Executive Board - Job Descriptions

• President/ Co-President - job description
• VP Community Events - job description
• VP Student Enrichment - job description
• VP Fundraising - job description
• Treasurer - job description
• Secretary - job description

Only one week remains in the 67^th legislative session and there is still much left to do. Read the full WSPTA's Legislative Report for Week 14 for more details.

Keep up with the bills and committee hearings related to WSPTA member-generated legislative priorities and long-term positions by utilizing the WSPTA Bill Status Report.

Click here to find out who your legislators are. Your voice matters! 

Next week is the last week to submit an entry for the yearbook cover contest. The deadline is May 1st. 

• Theme: "Oh, the Places We've Been" 
• Deadline: May 1st
• How to Enter: Create art for the yearbook cover that represents the theme. Take a photo of it (or scan it) and email it to yearbook@agbellptsa.org (include the student's name, grade, and teacher).

And don't forget to order your yearbook on TreeRing and please continue uploading photos!

• Get Involved: Volunteer your time, attend PTSA meetings, donate funds (see below)
• Direct Donations: It costs the PTSA approx $40K per year to fund our programs. We rely on donations from our community to make our work possible. 
• Corporate Matching: Please check with your employer to see if they offer matching. Corporate matching has a substantial impact on our annual budget.
• 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
• Purchase Spirit Wear: We have a new vendor and tons of options!
• Dine Outs: Join our dine out events, where a percentage of orders is donated to Bell PTSA

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Alexander Graham Bell PTSA

11212 NE 112th St

Kirkland, WA 98033