The Life of a Charger

We respectfully acknowledge that we live, learn, and work on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Coast Salish peoples—including the Duwamish and Suquamish Tribes—in Bellevue, Washington, and honor their enduring connection to this land.

Thank you for your dedication to our students and families, especially this week as many of you planned for our first annual open house in lieu of a traditional sit-and-get Curriculum Night. The event was a success! I see the time and energy it took to create a meaningful event and experience for our families and your students. So, thank you to all who made the event so special.

From support staff, to GSAs, office staff, nurses, custodians, teachers, specialists and everyone in between - you all make a difference and I'm lucky to work alongside you! 🧡

Whatever brings you joy, take a moment this weekend to reset and recharge by doing something that makes you smile. October is here...we made it through September! Cheers! ✨🪩

With Sparkles and Glitter, From Your Forever Fan 💫,

Erin 🐈

Archived Charger Canters:
25-26 Charger Canter (Web view)

10/13 Maryann Tatterson

10/13 Robyn Wells

10/19 Jiping Wan

10/23 Connie Kramer

10/25 June Lee

Did we miss your birthday? Please email: cherrycrestattendance@bsd405.org

Weekly Kitchen Duty Sign-Up Sheet:

In the morning :

Unload the dishwasher and tidy up table from the night before

Afterschool:

Wipe the tables and counter with cleanser, start the dishwasher, check and clean the microwaves

10/6 – 10/10 Kathy & Bon

10/13 – 10/17 Mercy and Stephen

Kelsi and Melissa, you ladies are the dream team! Thank you for all of your guidance as we dig into our i-Ready data, helping 2nd Grade gain additional information through Bridge the Gap screeners and UFLI placement tests, as well as planning interventions to support our students. Thank you for your willingness to join us - it lightens the lift! ❤ Christina

Thank you Cert Staff for scheduling your observations on the calendar!! This has been incredibly helpful. Observations are well underway. Thank you for your partnership.~ Erin

Charger cheers From Mykela Fantone:

This Charger Cheer goes to Melissa Sinisi for getting me outside for a walk, making sure I go home at a reasonable time, and always being a listening ear with brilliant ideas. Appreciate you so much!

This Charger Cheer goes to Mandy Sin and Christina Hanson for always sharing their fave book recs with me and listening to all of mine!

This Charger Cheer goes to Susie Sung and Whitney Hemker for being just as excited as I am about Second Step's Tier Two Executive Functioning lessons. I'm so excited to learn about them alongside you both!

This Charger Cheer goes to June Lee for checking in on me. It really meant a lot <3

This Charger Cheer goes to Erin Stedman for ALL OF THE THINGS! Cherry Crest is unbelievably lucky to have a leader with such heart and empathy coupled with your willingness to lean into hard conversations and the messiness that trying new things comes with. I learn so much from you every day (and laugh a lot too)!

This Charger Cheer goes to Sabreena Awad for being a thought partner and teammate on all of the teams. The work would be so much harder and much less fun without you!

This Charger Cheer goes to Aimee Eggink for your beautiful art displays for Curriculum Night - They truly lit up the school with color and joy! And for being immediately down to try something new for a student who needs some extra support in Art. Thank you!

This Charger Cheer goes to Sarah Buckley for welcoming a new student (very last minute!) with such warmth and joy. I know he felt supported and a part of your classroom community from the moment he walked in your door.

This Charger Cheer goes to Kathy Bessler and Connie Kramer for being superheroes each and every day. Thank you so much for ALL you are doing. You're constantly going above and beyond and I truly don't know what Cherry Crest (or I!!!) would do without you!!

This Charger Cheer goes to Erlinda Iniguez for your words of affirmation! I value your opinion and insight and appreciate you sharing them with me.

This Charger Cheer goes to Pam Lawlor and Megan Chapin for the beautiful Cherry Crest decal sweatshirt! I'm so excited to wear it next week!

Cheers to our wonderful alumni student volunteers who supported our curriculum night open house acting as greeters! They did a beautiful job welcoming families, answering questions, and showing families where to go in the building. ~ Erin

Charger Cheers to all of you who helped one of our former student transit to Odle Middle School! ~ Kathy Bessler

See note from parent:

“I can't thank you and Ms. Stedman and Ms. Mykela and all the GSA's and Lupita and all Colias's teachers enough for all you have done for our family and for Colias.

He is having a great time at Odle this past month and is confident and wonderfully prepared for middle school.

Thank you so much for taking such good care of him these past 6 years. We couldn't have done it without all of you.

Sincerely,

Sandra Durst-Featherly

Send your Charger Cheers to Erin each week by Thursday to add to an upcoming Friday Charger Canter. A little cheer goes along way! 🧡

• Duplicate Holiday Survey link: Microsoft Forms
• Holidays and Cultural Resources (curated by REIT): October (Web view)
• District Cultural Calendar: https://www.bsd405.org/about-us/calendar

❤️It was wonderful to connect with families at the Open House. All were invited to write a greeting in their home language on a notecard and many students and families participated. It was beautiful! (See photos below)

📝If you see me in your classroom checking in with students and jotting down notes, I am noting skills that I see students can do at this point in the year utilizing the WIDA Can Do Descriptors:

• I will share these with teachers when we meet to connect about language supports. They can be helpful tools for planning, conferences, and report cards

• WIDA Can-Do Descriptors help to:
• Better understand what students at different levels of language proficiency can do with language
• Better understand the process of language development
• Collaborate around scaffolding that students need to engage in content-area learning and develop language at the same time
• Differentiate instruction and classroom assessment for language
• Progress monitor throughout the year
• Interpret ACCESS test scores

⭐MLL Cherry Crest Roster: Cherry Crest MLL Roster 2025

🤝Reach out to connect about language supports!

MLL Facilitator - Kelsi Baldwin

baldwink@bsd405.org

✨We're officially in our SIP Era.✨ The team met to begin drafting the 2025-2026 Student Improvement Plan that is due for feedback on October 13th.

2025.9.29 (Web view)

The team met this week to finalize the updates for the ICS Flowchart and our Emergency Plan. You can expect new copies of these in your mailbox soon. 2025.9.29 (Web view)

✅Reminders:

- Don't forget to work with your students and families to personalize your emergency backpacks. This could be collecting family photos, adding small games or coloring activities, or even adding a few fidgets or weighted stuffies to help with sensory needs and to help students calm down.

- You will receive an email about our upcoming Earthquake drill. Please look out for this and details retlated to our drill on Thursday, 10/16 at 2 PM.

The drill OneNote for all staff is available to you using this link - Drills + Safety (Web view)

• Celebrations should encapsulate all fall celebrations, not isolating just one
• We do not believe in taking away celebrations, but again, do want to include other holidays/celebrations into our learning spaces for students so that all students feel seen and celebrated.
• It is never our intention to exclude students from school whose families do not believe in celebrating Halloween for religious or cultural reasons. If you know this is the case for a student in your room, please let Erin know, and we can determine a plan. And knowing this is feedback for our current REIL as we consider alternatives year to year.
• Wearing costumes on Halloween is OK, but optional (with the same guidelines as always: No weapons, masks, gore, or cultural appropriation)
• Staff can have choice in when they celebrate fall: 10/31 is a Friday this year (10/31 is Halloween, while 11/1 is the start of Dia de los Muertos, and Diwali will begin earlier this year on 10/20)
• You are in charge of your own celebrations and messaging out expectations to your families. Room Parents are not managed this year by PTSA. Feel free to reach out to your families should you want a Room Parent to support celebration planning.
• Food is not preferred. If you do include food, please follow district guidelines and consult with our school nurses prior to planning. There is a food form that is required by policy, and all families should be notified ahead of time, especially students with life-threatening allergies.

There will be a book celebration for students who prefer an alternative to parties happening on Halloween day (Friday, 10/31 at 1:30 pm). More details to come!

Join Mykela, Erin, and office staff in dressing up as TY 90s Beanie Babies! A cozy choice and easy costume to remove during our alternative celebration.

See photo for inspo. 😍

• Tue, Oct 7 @6:00 pm, PTSA General Meeting in the school cafeteria
• Fri, Oct 17 @6:00pm, Outdoor Movie Night Fundraiser
• Sept 29-Oct 17th, Giving Month

Did you miss the October Principal Coffee online this morning? Not to worry! The recording is linked below.

October Coffee

Join us on Wednesday, October 8, from 4–6 p.m. in the Rainier Room at the Wilburton Instructional Service Center (12241 Main St, Bellevue, WA 98005) to learn more about the work of the Bellevue School District Sustainability Committee.

This is a great opportunity for staff and community members to:

· Explore the district’s sustainability initiatives

· Engage in conversations about environmental stewardship

· Learn how to get involved — the committee will be adding new members this year!

No RSVP required — just bring your curiosity and passion for a greener future.

Showing up for school has a huge impact on a student’s academic success. Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students get to school every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and on the job.

Strive for Five!

· Attend 5 days every week

· No more than 5 (excused or unexcused absences) per semester

Did You Know?

· Frequent absences can be a sign that a student is losing interest in school, struggling with schoolwork, dealing with a bully or facing some other difficulty.

· By 6th grade, absences, whether excused or unexcused, are one of three signs that a student is more likely to drop out of high school and not graduate.

· By 9th grade, attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th grade test scores.

· Missing 10%, or 2 days a month, over the course of the school year, whether excused or unexcused, can affect a student’s academic success.

What Can You Do?

Make school attendance a priority by:

· Talking about the importance of showing up to school every day

· Helping your children maintain daily routines, such as finishing homework and getting a good night’s sleep.

· Trying not to schedule dental and non-urgent related medical appointments during the school day.

· Keeping your student healthy. If you are concerned about a contagious illness, call your school or health care provider.

· Making sure they have asked teachers for resources and materials to make up for the missed learning time in the classroom if they had to stay home because they were too sick for school.

Community Updates will now also be on the Smore Platform. Each family update will be linked at the end of every Charger Canter (formerly Charger News). Click below to read and please share with families as you are able to!

Cherry Crest Staff Notebook (Web view)

Pages to refer to:

Staff Roster + Phone List (Web view)

CC Building Map 2025-26 (Web view)

Charger Handbook 2025-2026 (work in progress) (Web view)

Arrival and Dismissal (Web view)

Daily Bell Schedule (Web view)

Specialist Schedule (Web view)

Charger PBIS (Web view)

25-26 Charger Canter (Web view)

Leadership Teams (Web view)

Drills + Safety (Web view)

Assemblies (Web view)

ITCL Updates (Web view)

🔑We lost our keys (that oddly resemble the Eras Tour Stage) at Cherry Crest! 🔐

Find them to unlock your prize. Find the lock to unlock your gift. 🎤💃🪩