December 18, 2009 
Beaumont Middle School Newsletter
A PTA Publication
Upcoming Events

December 21-
January 3
Winter Break

January 12
Principal's Chat
6:30pm/library

February 6
UnAuction
7-10pm

Beaumont Music:
beaumontmusic.net



Dear Beaumont Families,
 
We are hosting our first Principal's Chat on at January 12th at 6:30pm in the library. All families are welcome. Holly Vaughn-Edmonds will be joining us to talk about school/home communication, the culture of middle school, opportunities for volunteering and any other ideas and suggestions. Our goal is to have Beaumont be a place where every student is successful academically and socially. Please mark your calendar and join us, we want every voice to be heard.
 
Wishing you a wonderful holiday,                                   
Elizabeth Casson-Taylor
Beaumont Principal  

TAG Meeting on High School Redesign
Friday, December 18th 10:30 am
 
PPS has scheduled to meet with parents of TAG students to discuss the High School Redesign. The meeting will be held at PPS headquarters near the Rose Garden at 501 N. Dixon Street in Conference Room L1 of the Blanchard Building.
auction
UnAuction Around the Corner
February 6, 2010

The key fundraising event of the year is less than two months away- the UnAuction! Last year's event kick started the fundraising that brought back almost a full staff position for this year. Join us again! February 6th we'll gather at the historic Coleman-Scott house to raise funds and have fun. Ticket information is available in the Beaumont office or by clicking on the site listed above. Tickets are $50 per person, with only 85 to be sold. You can also purchase a ticket for a special staff member at a reduced price.

Just a few hearty volunteers are needed to carry out this event:
Ticketing: Maintain attendance list, monitor payments and email account.
Hostessing/Décor: Nametags, supplies for donations, coordinate floral displays, assist the night of the event. If you are interested in helping, contact Teresa Osborne, teamosborne@comcast.net

And Foundation thanks go out to:
*Susan Rosene for coordinating the Barnes & Noble event.
*Charles Kelley, Craig Dodge, Kim Dodge, Doug Wicks, Titia Quinton, Tom Nilan and Doug Decker for the phone-a-thon follow up to the donation letters sent out. Remember you can still send in an end of the year, tax deductible donation. Make checks out to "Beaumont Foundation" and send to the school, or donate online at thinkschools.org.
Scholastic Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair was a huge success this year! We raised $2359 for the Library to use to purchase books! The PTA would like to thank everyone who helped make this happen!
WINTER BREAK CO-ED FUTSAL
December 22, 28 & 29

What:   Competitive Indoor Soccer with
            Official Futsal Rules
Where: Beaumont Middle School New Gym
When:  December 22nd, 28th, 29th

3 sessiob4ns:  Ages 08-10 - 9:00-10:30
                  Ages 10-12 - 10:45-12:15
                  Ages 12-14 - 12:30-2:00

Cost: $10 for one session of play ($25 for all three sessions!) Competitive players can play a higher age bracket.

Sign up: Just drop in, or you can register early with Sue
Coffman in the Sun Community School. Cash or check payment only.

Questions: Call Sue @ 503-916-5615

Note: Soccer sessions will be run by a group of fun, soccer loving dads. A great indoor activity for your kids!
All funds benefit the Beaumont PTA.
COUNSELING CORNER

Backstage Pass Field Trips Well Attended
We'd like to offer a huge thanks to parents and staff who supported the three backstage pass field trips for our students! During the last week, we've taken 56 eighth graders to see a movie and lunch at Lloyd Center, 74 seventh graders to Skate World, and 92 sixth graders to Hollywood Bowl. These trips require financial support from parents, flexibility from our staff, and a positive and respectful behavior from our students. Cheers to all parties, and to the chaperones who helped out driving and shepherding our students!!!
 
If your child has pulled his/her grades to passing upon receiving the progress report, it is possible to apply until January 7th for their backstage pass. We encourage their commitment to improving grades. Petitions are in the main office and are turned into me when all teachers and the librarian have signed off.
 
Students never need to reapply if they do not receive a D on their report card OR they never receive a referral. It is very likely that most of our BSP students will hold them for all three years!
 
Girls Night Out
Forty three girls attended our annual Girls Night Out on Tuesday evening. It was an awesome blending of grades 6-8 and of many different groups of girls who did not know each other - one of the main reasons we hold this event yearly.  Eight chaperones joined Sylvia Jackson doing manicures and Lauren Paulk from the Volunteers of America in break out sessions promoting healthy relationships. We also actively chased each other down the halls in the annual freeze tag game. 
 
If anyone is interested in helping plan a Boys Night Out, please contact me. We'd like to hold one later this winter or early spring.
 
Texting, Safely
It has become commonplace that most students have a cell phone, and that many students text as part of their daily conversations. A few years ago parents often needed help negotiating MySpace and other social networking sites - as we've become more comfortable monitoring our children online, it is "the norm" that parents have their child's password, and their computer in a common room at home (instead of the child's room which is harder to monitor).  This allows for monitoring of respectful language and content between their child and others whom they may or may not know.
 
More recently, we've received numerous phone calls from parents who, in scrolling through messages, were very concerned about sexual content, or pictures "sexting", or just plain mean messages. When we talk about sexual harassment or bullying in classroom presentations, we include cell phone and internet manners/safety. However, I feel very strongly that parents should be carefully monitoring their child's text messages, and having conversations about what is healthy, and what is not. It is so easy to download very disturbing words or pictures!  I like to give the example of a toothpaste container - once the toothpaste is squeezed out, it's very hard to put back in...once your child is repeatedly exposed to inappropriate content or pictures, it's hard to figure out what's really normal.
 
Monitor texting! Have a conversation with your child about how you expect them to talk to others, and what to do if something is sent that he/she is uncomfortable with. We're just taking "stranger danger" talks to a different level.
 
Also, we will sponsor a parent session, "Cybersafety" on Wednesday, January 20 to cover similar issues. All are welcome!
SCRIP UPDATE
Happy Holidays from the Beaumont Scrip Team!
 
Scrip profits are now over $2500!
We are on target for our goal of $6000 for the year.
 
Thank you Beaumont families and faculty for your continued support!
 
Our next scrip order will be Monday, January 4th.
Orders due in the school office by 4pm.
 
Order forms available in the school office or email us.
Questions and comments are very welcome.
 
Beaumont Scrip
beaumontscrip@gmail.com
Anyone can contribute to Beaumont
with eScrip.

eScrip is an easy way to raise money for our school. You simply register your Safeway Club card and your debit/credit card with eScrip, and any time you shop with participating merchants, a percentage of your purchase goes to Beaumont. You can even shop online at the eScrip Mall where you will find stores like Eddie Bauer, American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble and Target. Just log on to www.escrip.com and go to "sign up." Beaumont's Group ID# is 8560974. Register your Safeway card and/or your debit card, it's that easy!
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Kathy Madore
Beaumont PTA