News
The Valley Campus will close tomorrow,
Wednesday, April 5th due to an illness causing
widespread sickness. Over 12% of our students
were absent today. Please take this day to get
well and if your child has been impacted by this
illness please make sure they are symptom free
before sending them back to school!
Congratulations to Brian and Anne Hollis (and big
brother Joey) on the birth of Tristan Clifford Paul
Hollis. He was born on March 31st and was 9
pounds 1 ounce.
The admission committee is excited to be
opening a second section of fifth grade at the
Valley Campus next fall. We had an unusually
large amount of qualified applicants at that level.
We will be combining specialist classrooms to
allow space for this addition and will be making
all necessary scheduling and program
adaptations over the summer.
Now that we are located so close to the Redmond
Campus, parents of Valley Campus students are
welcome to use the childcare available through
PTF. This is a free service for parents who
volunteer at school. The nursery is located next
to the fire station at 8503 208th Ave. NE. Contact
Vivian Hom ([email protected]) with
questions and to make reservations.
Facility Update
The Facility Committee recently made the
decision to install carpet in the Multipurpose
Room. Stripes will be cut in for a basketball key
and for foursquare. This work will be completed
over Spring Break.
Electrical work is being done on the bathroom
doors in preparation for the proximity card door
locks that will be installed over Spring Break.
Carpool Reminders
Teachers are on hand in the carpool line to make
sure that the students and all their limbs and
Upcoming
Events:
4/7 –
Half Day
4/10-4/14 Spring Break
4/27-4/28 Conferences
Mission Statement
The mission of The
Bear Creek School is
to provide a high
quality, Christian
liberal arts education
in a nurturing
environment that will
enable each student
to develop into the
individual God
intends.
belongings are inside the car and to help close
doors. Please remain in your car in order to
expedite the process as much as possible.
Please remember to approach the school
entrance driving west to east (coming from
Avondale). If you drive the other way you must
continue to the Kingdom Hall parking lot to turn
around and join the line waiting to make the
right turn into the entrance.
Please refrain from parking in the driveway
directly across from the entrance.
When you have friends or relatives (or dads!)
pick up your students and they are unfamiliar
with the carpool systems, please make sure you
inform them of the rules ahead of time. This will
ensure the safety of all involved.
New Grammar Curriculum
This year TBCS has adopted Shurley Grammar as part of
our Lower School Curriculum. This is a systematic
program that helps students identify the words in a
sentence, understand the function each part of speech
plays, and see how those parts relate to each other. By
focusing on these relationships students are able to
analyze sentences critically in a way that allows them to
apply that knowledge to their own writing.
According to the classical model, lower school students
are in the “grammar” stage and are able to absorb great
amounts of information. At this stage it is important to
teach students the grammar of each subject. This
would include math facts, important historical dates,
foundational scientific facts, and musical terms. In the
same way, Shurley teaches students the grammar of
writing. We now have a school-wide, common language
and teachers are seeing students make deeper
connections between grammar and other parts of the
curriculum. Their writing is improving and they are using
their new information to aide in their learning of Spanish
and Latin.
Shurley also fits in with what we know about brain
based research. There is a great deal of repetition, and
through review brain connections become stronger and
information is easier to retrieve. By using chants and
marking sentences, students are actively involved in
their learning and are having fun mastering grammar.
Learning grammar has become interesting and
enjoyable for our students. Stop by your child’s
classroom to see the Shurley Method in action. I know
you will be impressed!