The Brightwood Bark - Our latest PTA news for you

Volume 5.2| September 2022

Your Brightwood PTA Monthly News & Updates

Presidents Message:

Dear Parents,

Congratulations Brightwood Family! It has been a month since we started school and kudos to the teachers, staff, parents, and students for doing such a great job adjusting back to school.

As we move into September, our first in-person events will take place after 2 years! The first in-person PTA meeting will take place this Wednesday, September 14th in the cafetorium at 6:30pm. Everyone is welcome to come!

The Book Fair is BACK! The dates will be September 26th-30th. Let’s develop our lifelong readers while raising the needed funds for our school! The book fair helps provide much needed books for our school library and Project RED. We need volunteers for the Book Fair! If you are a fully cleared volunteer and would like to support the book fair, click HERE.

Book Fair Hours:

Monday, 9/26-Friday, 9/30

9am-3pm Mon, Tues, Th and Friday

9am-1:30pm Wednesday

We are excited to kick off our Brightwood Fun Run on 10/04/2022. Our goal is to raise $50,000 for afterschool enrichment and intervention and to strengthen our school community.

Our school has always relied on fundraising to provide exceptional opportunities to enhance student learning and we need YOUR HELP registering your student(s) and sharing with friends and family. We are hoping to receive corporate donations from employers this year, so if you have any ideas, please share. The event will take place on Friday, October 14th. We will also need volunteers for this as well.

Last but not least, if you have not done so already, please sign up to join the Brightwood PTA. For as little as $10.00 a person, you will be joining a community that encourages student achievement and enriches the learning environment at Brightwood. We believe in building partnerships between our families and our school. We believe together we can help our children be successful. We know that children learn more and have better lives when everyone in the school community works together to share ideas and feedback as we work on projects to benefit all the students at Brightwood. Please join the PTA and show your support!

Thank you for your time. Go Bengals!

Sincerely,

Duly Wong

Brightwood PTA President

2022-2023

PTA Announcements and Reminders

Parker Anderson Enrichment Classes- Registration now open!

We are extremely excited to announce that Brightwood will be offering after school enrichment classes open to all Brightwood 1st-8th grade students starting the week of September 26th. Thanks to the generosity of our fabulous Brightwood PTA, the classes will be free of cost for our students!

Each class will be limited to 20 Brightwood students. If more than 20 students register, a lottery will be conducted randomly choosing the 20 participants. Families will be notified if selected or not the week before classes begin. Families will need to sign a commitment form for their child to be officially enrolled in the class.

Registration opens 9/11/22. Registration closes 9/15/22 at 3:00pm

Registration Links Below:

1st - 3rd Grade Offerings

LEGO Masters Registration Form

STEAMlab: Inventor's Workshop Registration Form (1st-3rd) FALL 2022

4th-5th Grade Offerings

TechKidz: Coding Wizards Registration Form

Marine Biology Registration Form (4th-5th) FALL 2022

6th-8th Grade Offerings

Marine Biology Registration Form

Tech Kidz: Minecraft! Registration Form (6th-8th) FALL 2022

Say Cheese! Picture Days (Lifetouch is BACK!

9/13/22 K - 6th Grades

9/14/22 7th & 8th Grades

Non-uniform Day. Students must still be in dress code.

Click HERE to view AUSD Dress Code Board Policy.

Minimum Day, Friday 9/16/22

Parent Conference Week: Sept. 19th - Sept. 23rd (Minimum Days)

Parents have a choice of in-person or zoom conferences. If you opt for an in person conference, you MUST bring a valid government issued identification (ex. Driver’s license, California ID, Passport) to enter campus.

Brightwood Fun Run 10/14/22

We are excited to kick off our Brightwood Fun Run on 10/04/2022. Our goal is to raise $50,000 for afterschool enrichment and intervention and to strengthen our school community.

Our school has always relied on fundraising to provide exceptional opportunities to enhance student learning and we need YOUR HELP registering your student(s) and sharing with friends and family.

Mark your calendars for the Brightwood Fun Run fundraiser kicking off soon!

Key dates to remember:

● REGISTRATION OPENS - 09/20/2022

● Brightwood Fun Run Kick Off - 10/04/2022

● Event Day - 10/14/2022

We are grateful for our Brightwood Elementary family! Thank you for your support this year. Please go to bit.ly/brightwoodfunrun for more information.

Fall Book fair is Back!!

Book fairs are back at Brightwood and our fall book fair is from Sept. 26- 30. We will need volunteers to assist our little shoppers as well as help with setup and breakdown. Only cleared volunteers can sign up to help. For more information regarding the fair and how to volunteer, please go to: https://bit.ly/brightwoodbookfair

Book Fair Hours:

Monday, 9/26-Friday, 9/30

9am-3pm Mon, Tues, Th and Friday

9am-1:30pm Wednesday

We need volunteers for the Book Fair! If you are a fully cleared volunteer and would like to support the book fair, click HERE.

College and University Spirit Day, 9/30

College/University Spirit Day is on Friday, September 30th. Represent the college you would like to attend, your parents alma mater, or a campus you have visited and fell in love with!

AUSD Food & Wellness Fair - 11/1/2022

FNS is excited to announce that we will be holding our 18th Annual Food & Wellness Fair on Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at Monterey Highlands School. There will be two sessions, click HERE for details. Call the Brightwood Main office if you’re interested in signing up. Deadline to sign up is 10/7/22

Youth Fair November 2022

This year's Youth Fair is on November 10, 2022. We will post more information as the date gets closer. In the meantime, please save the date!

Youth Fair 2022

2022-2023 Important Brightwood Dates

Click HERE to view all of Brightwood’s important dates including planned spirit days! Check out the October Calendar attached

Non District Fun Activities

Click HERE to view approved for distribution flyers for non-district sponsored activities.

Brightwood Yearbook school year 2022-2023

We’re very excited to announce that we are trying to bring back the Brightwood Yearbook this year. Last year was a success. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a school-wide yearbook and we can't do this project without your help. We are asking for help with submitting photos that we can use for the yearbook. If we have an event, such as Spirit Day, we ask that you email us a photo if you'd like to be featured in the yearbook. You can easily submit the photo* by emailing us at:

BrightwoodSchoolYearbook@gmail.com

Please label each email accordingly. ie. Subject: Crazy Hair Day. When submitting photos please keep it to a minimum. We do not need several photos of the same child in different poses. Pick your best and send it our way! *note: all photos submitted are not guaranteed to make the yearbook

We need YOU! Join the Brightwood Team!

We are looking for community members who are interested in joining the Brightwood team. We are in great need of classified noon duty staff. Filling these positions would assist us in keeping students safe during unstructured time. Like many industries, we are facing a labor shortage in some positions and would appreciate you spreading the word to those who may be interested. Details of available positions and the online application can be found at www.EdJoin.org.

Don’t Forget! Bell Schedule

To address overcrowding and long lines during lunch on short Wednesdays and minimum days the school day will end 30 minutes earlier with a grab and go lunch students eat at home. Please see attached updated bell schedule.

Executive Board led by new president, Duly Wong and the rest of our 2022-2023 Board members.

Important Meetings

PTA Board Meeting

Our next PTA Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 14 6:30 PM

IN PERSON

Join us for Brightwood's first in-person PTA meeting in more than 2 years! The meeting will be held in the Brightwood cafetorium.

Zooming with the Principal

Please join us next month for Zooming with the principal to talk all things Brightwood!

Stay tuned for information for October's meeting

COMMUNICATION

Volunteer Information: bit.ly/Brightwoodvolunteer

Suggestion box: http://bit.ly/PTASuggestion

Our website: http://www.brightwoodpta.com

EASY WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT BRIGHTWOOD

ALL YEAR LONG

1. Amazon Smile

Do you shop on Amazon.com? You can support Brightwood by shopping through https://smile.amazon.com instead. Just log in, choose Brightwood Elementary School PTA as your charity of choice and then shop as you normally would. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Brightwood Elementary PTA.

2. Box Tops

Help Brightwood earn Box Tops! Collect them throughout the year and drop them off in the Box Tops collection box at the Brightwood front office. Monies raised directly support our school.

3. Ralphs

You can now donate to Brightwood PTA every time you shop swipe your Ralphs Rewards card! This program does not cost you a penny. Up to 4% of your purchases will be donated to Brightwood PTA. You must first follow the steps below to connect your Ralphs rewards card to Brightwood PTA.

Start by going to the Ralphs website: www.ralphs.com
Click on either “sign in” (if you have a log–in password) or “create an account” on the right. If you’re creating an account, follow the steps on the website. You’ll need your email, a password and your zip code. You can apply for a Ralph’s card if you don’t have one yet, or use your Ralphs card number or telephone number linked to your card.
When you see the confirmation page, make sure to check the box that says “I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions”. From there, you will be notified by email that your account has been created. Go to your email and click the link in the email sent by Ralphs. (If you don’t see an email from Ralphs, check your spam folder.)
Now you can log in with your Ralphs online account using the email and password you just created. After you log in, you’ll see a page with My Account. At the top of list is “Account Settings”. Click on this tab and then the “Community Rewards” tab. Select the “Edit Community Contribution Program Information”. On the next page, enter “Brightwood Elementary School PTA” or our nonprofit number “93885” into the first field, then click “search”. Select “Brightwood Elementary School PTA” in the list then click “save changes”.

Your Ralphs Rewards card is now connected to Brightwood PTA. And you’re all finished! Encourage your family & friends to sign up too.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Frequently Asked Questions

Brightwood Elementary PTA | Email: BrightwoodElementaryPTA@gmail.com

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