Bobcat Blast

Important Safety Message: Seeing and Being Seen

Dear Bethany Families,

As the seasons change and we experience shorter daylight hours, our mornings and afternoons are becoming much darker. This change presents a challenge for student visibility and safety, especially for those who walk or bike to and from school.

Our number one priority is ensuring every student gets to and from school safely. We need your help to make sure our students are "seeing and being seen" as they travel.

Tips for Walking and Biking Safety

We ask all families to review these critical safety tips with their children and incorporate them into your daily routines immediately:

Boost Visibility: This is the most important step! Please encourage your child to wear bright or light-colored outerwear. Even better, use reflective gear such as vests, armbands, or strips on backpacks and jackets. A small flashlight can also make a huge difference.
Stick to Sidewalks: Please remind children to always walk on sidewalks. If there is no sidewalk, they should walk facing traffic.
Cross Smart: Teach and reinforce the rule to stop, look left, right, and left again before crossing any street. Cross only at designated crosswalks or intersections, and always use the assistance of our wonderful crossing guards.
No Distractions: Whether walking or waiting for the bus, please keep phones, headphones, and other distractions put away until they are safely inside the school or your home.

Reminders for Drivers

We also ask every parent, staff member, and community driver to exercise extreme caution during school travel times.

Slow Down: Reduce your speed, particularly near the school and in neighborhood areas where students might be walking.
Be Alert: Be extra vigilant for students on the sidewalks, near bus stops, and approaching crosswalks. Shadows and reduced light make it much harder to spot pedestrians and cyclists.
Stop for Buses: Always observe bus signals and stop when the red lights are flashing.

Your partnership in stressing these safety measures at home is essential to protect all our students. Thank you for taking the time to discuss visibility and caution with your children. Together, we can ensure a safe commute for everyone in the Bethany community.

With Gratitude,

Ms. Rosenquist

November

14 - PTO Movie Night

19 - Picture Retakes

24-28 - No School, Fall Break

Printable 2025-26 Yearly Calendar

Join us for a fun-filled Night featuring Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

When: Friday November 14th. Doors open at 6:00 PM, and the movie starts at 6:15 PM.
Where: Bethany Elementary Gym

This is a family event, not a drop-off event—children must be accompanied by an adult for entry. A limited selection of snacks will be available, but families are welcome to bring their own treats.
We hope to see you there!

Thank you....

Thank you to all of the families who brought in their left over Halloween candy last week. Hi5 Dental bought back unwanted Halloween candy for $1 per pound, and all the money raised went directly to our PTO! They then took the candy and donated it to other organizations.

We had 50 pounds of candy turned in = $50.00 donated to our PTO!

A Note about the salmon eggs from Ms. Lee and the Fifth Graders.

We are thrilled to announce that our most precious, highly anticipated shipment has arrived: 200 tiny, beautiful Chinook Salmon Eggs! A volunteer from the Association of Northwest Steelheaders delivered them to our classroom a few weeks ago. These eggs are nestled in their new temporary home, our special classroom incubator.

If you look closely at the picture of the eggs, you’ll see the eggs were delivered in the crucial eyed egg stage. The eggs initially looked like tiny, orange translucent beads, watch the videos to see how much they’ve changed since they were delivered. We are planning on going to Rood Bridge Park on December 16th to release them into the Tualatin River.

Information about the Salmon Eggs:

Species: spring Chinook salmon
Hatchery of Origin: Clackamas Fish Hatchery
Date eggs were spawned/fertilized at hatchery: 9/23/25

Is your family in need of food support?

At Bethany we have Weekend Food Bags that are donated to us. These bags are delivered weekly and sent home in students’ backpacks. If you would like to receive a Weekend Food Bag, please email our social worker (Ms. Dawson) at chloe_dawson@beaverton.k12.or.us. Your student will be added to our list for deliveries. We have plenty of spots available, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if this service would be helpful to your family.

There are also resources available in our community. The Beaverton Resource Center manages the Care to Share Food Pantry Network and features eight church food pantries located throughout Beaverton. Please call Care to Share at (503) 591-9025 to get connected to these resources. They can also connect you to rent & utilities assistance, health resources, and financial coaching. Other organizations that provide food pantries or pre-packed boxes include Salvation Army and Sunshine Division.

Finally, Beaverton School District is relaunching our Feed My Body, Feed My Brain campaign. Money will be raised for grocery store gift cards to be distributed among BSD schools prior to winter break. More information (including a donation page) will be sent out by the district soon. If you are looking for ways to help families in our community, please consider donating to this campaign or directly to a local food bank.

Bethany is here for all of our families and will be posting more resources as we get them.

Get ready to go "Into the Unknown"! The Westview High School Theater Department invites you to their spectacular production of Frozen the Play! ❄️

Join them on Saturday, November 22nd, with performances at 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM.

👑 Make your experience even more magical! Before the performance, kids are invited to their exclusive Frozen-themed Tea Party.

Starting at 10:00 AM in the Westview Teachers’ Lounge, the event includes:

Snacks and hot chocolate
Fun, themed activities
An opportunity to take a photo with the cast!

Ticket Information:

Tea Party & Play: $25

Play Performance Only: $5

A few weeks ago Bethany was honored with a Community Partnership Award for our work with Jumbo's Pickleball last year.

Bethany was featured at the award ceremony that was attended by the mayor of Beaverton, Lacy Beatty, BSD school board members, school and district leadership, and many other community stakeholders. Proud to be a Bobcat!

Check out our Pickleball Video

Are you looking for Bethany Spirit Wear? The PTO works with the following company to run a Bethany Store. (See the flyer below for information on their Holiday Sale

🎁 Holiday Sale Details:

Sale Dates: November 3rd – December 10th
Guaranteed Delivery by December 23rd
20% Off Sitewide
Friday Flash Sales

PTO Meeting Minutes

If you weren’t able to attend, we’ve attached the meeting minutes so you can catch up on what was shared.

Past Minutes:

BSPTO Meeting Minutes. November 5

BSPTO Meeting Minutes, October 8th

BSPTO Meeting Minutes, September 10

When students arrive on time, they ease into the school day with a natural transition that helps them settle in, connect with classmates, and get ready to learn. But when students are frequently late, they can miss out on this important time, which may make it harder to focus and build strong relationships with peers.

Being on time every day helps students build lifelong habits of punctuality, shows them that their learning and friendships are important to you, and keeps classroom interruptions to a minimum—benefiting everyone.

Did you know? Missing just 15 minutes of school twice a week adds up to nearly 3 full days of missed learning each year!

Let’s work together to make every minute count!

Morning arrival time and afternoon dismissal are the busiest times of the day at Bethany. SAFETY is our first priority, followed by providing a warm and welcoming start to everyone's day.

To that end, we would like to ask people to AVOID the need to use the crosswalk whenever possible. We understand there are some special cases, but in general, here are some helpful alternatives:

Drop off and pick up your child at the curb. We provide curbside door service to help your child in and out of the passenger side of your vehicle and staff to support the transition inside if needed.
If you really want to park and walk your child to the door, please use the lower parking lot and then walk along the sidewalk in front of the school, then we don't need to stop traffic twice for parents coming and going each way.
Use off-campus parking in the cul-de-sac on Ashland Ave or on NW 178th Ave and then walk in along the sidewalk. Older students can meet their parents near the those locations to avoid the parking lot chaos altogether at dismissal time.

We really appreciate your help with keeping traffic moving smoothly and helping to keep everyone safe. If you have any questions or need help working out a solution for your specific situation, please don't hesitate to reach out to the office. 💛

We ride every Wednesday, Rain or Shine, and you're always welcome to join in on the fun. Join us at the beginning or anywhere on the route.

We’re also looking for parent volunteers to help organize—whether it’s weekly or just once a month, your support makes a big difference!

Let’s keep rolling together! 💙

We love having families involved at school, and volunteering is a great way to connect and support our students and staff. To help keep everyone safe, all volunteers need to complete an application through our district’s volunteer system, Raptor, and pass an Oregon criminal background check. Once you're approved, you'll get a confirmation email.

Update: If you were in the system last year, you are still approved.

Volunteer Information and Application

Thanks so much for your support—we couldn’t do it without you!

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