Bates Family Newsletter

As we head into the long weekend, we want to remind our families that there is no school on Monday due to Indigenous Peoples Day! See you on Tuesday, October 14th.

Thank you for your continued support, and we hope you have a wonderful weekend,

Ms. Smith, Mr. Mac, and Mr. Lister

Remember, if your student is signed up for after school clubs, they start on Tuesday, October 15th! All students who applied for clubs were accepted, and we're pleased to report that over 70 students will be in attendance.

Reminders:

• If you're picking up your student(s), please wait for them out front at 3:30. Please do not ring the doorbell. Teachers will walk students outside for dismissal.
• Bus students will be dismissed at 4:00.
• Clubs running on Tuesdays: Student Voice, Girls on the Run, Kickball/Whiffle Ball, Croteching
• Clubs running on Thursdays: Salem Sound Outdoor Education, Girls on the Run, Newspaper

Our Beacons of the Week — These students were good friends this week, made safe and responsible choices, and showed personal growth! Our theme is anti-bullying. We want students to know that the prescription to less bullying = more kindness + more inclusivity!

Beacons of the Week:

Monster Mash coming soon on Friday, October 18th, is one of Bates' most beloved events, and we need your help to make it a night to remember! There are so many ways to get involved and help create a magical, spooky experience for the kids. Whether you can assist with setup, run an activity, donate supplies, or provide baked goods, there's a spot for everyone to pitch in and make this event spectacular! SIGN UP TO HELP OUT HERE!

Monster Mash this year will be from 5-7pm with games, raffles, spooky fun + trunk or treat from 5-6pm. More details coming soon!

If you want to join PTO, now is the time! Please feel free to reach out to the Bates PTO at batesschoolpto@gmail.com if you're interested or if you want to find our more about the following open positions:

Events Coordinator

Spirit Coordinator

Hospitality Coordinator

And the winner is Grace Moutafis! We can't wait to see what you'll name the lane!

Submitted by Ms. Amanda, School Adjustment Counselor

This week we kicked off bullying prevention month at Bates, but rest assured we are working on bullying prevention every day, all year.

Bullying is a serious challenge that led to impactful legislation to protect children from harm caused by bullying. It is legally defined as:

1. Intentionally hurtful behavior (hurting others on the inside or outside on purpose)

2. The behavior is repeated and targeted (it happens over and over and the goal is to strip the person of power in some way)

3. The behavior is one-way (meaning it’s not going back and forth with one person saying something mean and another person responding in a mean way) and the person has not been able to make it stop.

We are so grateful for policies that promote kindness and safety in schools. And with any policy, there are often unintended consequences. We have found with our much needed bullying prevention work, an unintended consequence is that “bullying” becomes a “catch all” word for all social challenges. This is likely because social challenges are complicated and rarely “black and white”.

If your child asserts they are being bullied it can be useful to refrain from being overly reactive and calling it bullying right away. We get it. We love our kids and want them to be safe. However, reinforcing a limited and potentially false narrative can pose difficulty in effectively solving the problem.

Consider talking through the definition above with your child and try to use questions like this to get a complete picture:

“If the other person were here right now, what do you think they might say about this situation?”

Sometimes kids will end up sharing more relevant information about a situation. If they are unable to do this, at the very least we are encouraging perspective taking! And all of this can go a long way in building social skills.

Finally, if you or your child is “not sure” if something is bullying or not, the best advice is to talk to a staff person and say just that:

“I have a problem and I don’t know if it’s bullying, but either way it feels like a problem, could you help me?”

Together, we can promote a culture of kindness and prevent bullying at school and beyond.

The school menus are posted on the SPS website. Find them here.

Our goal is to keep our chronic absence rate under 19.5% this year. We're also looking for under 11% for the month of October. This week, our chronic attendance rate was 19.9%...up from last week. Shout out to PreK and grade 5 again this week!

If you need any assistance with getting your student to school, please reach out to Rosalyn Guevara, Family Engagement Facilitator at rguevara@salemk12.org.

Yesterday, members of the PreK and Kindergarten teams, our Site Council representative, Kate Carmody, and Ms. Smith met with the head of buildings and grounds and an architect to start planning our new PreK/K playground! We expect this playground to be completed in time for the start of the 25/26 school year. More details will follow. So cool, right?

If your student wasn't here on picture day or needs a re-take, please mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 19th.

October

• October 14th - No School, Indigenous People's Day
• October 18th - Limo ride to school for the Name the Lane winner + Monster Mash (5-7pm) + Trunk or Treat (5-6pm)
• October 22nd - Celtics Spirit Day
• October 23rd - 1/2 Day, PTO Enrichment (Anti-bullying assembly)
• October 31st - 1/2 Day - Happy Halloween! (Black and orange spirit day - no costumes, please)

November

• November 5th - No School (Election Day)
• November 11th - No School (Veteran's Day)
• November 12th - PTO Meeting, 6:30, Library
• November 13th - End of Trimester 1
• November 19th - School Site Council Meeting, 7:45am + School Picture Retakes
• November 20th - Polished Dental
• November 27th - Report Cards Published + Crazy Sock Spirit Day! + 1/2 Day!
• November 28th - No School, Happy Thanksgiving!
• November 29th - No School

Did you know you can earn money for our school just by scanning your grocery receipts? All you need to do is download the Boxtops app, and scan those receipts! Don't want to scan? No worries, you can always send receipts into school with your student in an envelope marked, "PTO Boxtops".

Our Bates spirit rock is available for weekly rentals. Celebrate your student's birthday or other accomplishments by painting a message on our rock. Please click here to rent the rock!

Bates Elementary School, in partnership with our families and community, will provide all students with a culturally responsive, student – centered, and equitable learning experience that celebrates our students’ diverse backgrounds, creative pursuits, and their academic, social, emotional success.

School Hours:

Regular school hours:

Monday through Friday: 7:45am to 1:50pm

Early Release (Grades 1-5) at 11:15am

PK at 11am

Kindergarten at 11:10am