Inside this issue:

PTO, Share a Coat 3-5

Car Free Community 6

Nutcracker 6, 7

Classroom Clips 8-11

Halloween Events 12

BC Monthly Calendar

13,

14

BVSD 15-

19

Bear Creek Elementary

2500 Table Mesa Drive

Boulder, CO 80305

Kent Cruger, Principal

October 21, 2016

Bear Tracks

BC At-A-Glance 2

Technology is being used

throughout Bear Creek as students

do research, make robots move, find

appropriate literature to read, and

even take over the classroom

projector so they can show others

their math work. As we incorporate

technology, we are trying to teach

safety (upper left) and use

technology in ways that are active

and collaborative. Thank you parents

for your donations to PTO, allowing

us to get so many devices in the

hands of students!

BEAR CREEK CALENDAR

Wednesday, Oct. 26

PTO Coffee 8:40-9:40

Monday, Oct.31

Halloween Parades @ 8:50

Wednesday, Nov. 2

Picture Re-Take Day

Wednesday, Nov. 9

Open House Tour @ 9:30

Friday, Nov. 11

NO SCHOOL– Veterans Day

Monday, Nov. 14

Garden Committee @ 8:45

Tuesday, Nov. 15

PTO Meeting @ 1:30

Friday, Nov. 18

Y Kids Night In

Report Cards Go Home

Monday. Nov. 21 - Friday, Nov. 25

THANKSGIVING BREAK

LOST and FOUND

The lost and found is located at the end of the

hallway by the gym between the inside and

outside doors.

The October Thrive Update newsletter

Green Star School Letter

Halloween Parade Note:

We request all parents who want to view the parade and take

photos to please go to the gym on Monday, not the classrooms.

The parade will begin with Kindergarten at 8:50 am. Most class-

room parties will follow.

To stay safe this Halloween:

-Walk with friends or a family member

-Make your rounds at twilight

-If out after dark, stay on well-lighted streets

-Don’t eat candy that is not properly packaged

Also, please note Bear Creek’s Policy regarding Toy Weapons:

Toy Weapons may not be brought to school. This includes but is

not limited to water pistols, rubber knives, swords, guns, darts,

war and self-defense toys, etc. Students are not allowed to have

toy weapons as part of their costume.

Open Enrollment Open Houses

BVSD open enrollment begins Monday,

November 7, 2016 and closes on Friday,

January 9, 2017. Bear Creek will be having

two Open House Tours; November 9 and

December 9 @ 9:30. All tours will last

about 45 minutes with a Question & Answer time to follow. To

register please call the office @ 720.561.3500 .

Share - A - Coat Drive

KEEP EVERYONE WARM!

It’s time again for donating those

too-small, somewhat-worn, but

still-warm coats to the annual Share-A-Coat

program. Other items such as hats, gloves,

sweaters, mittens, snow-boots, etc. will also be

accepted for donation.

Each year the Boulder Valley Rotary Club, with

cleaning services donated by Art Cleaners in

Boulder, collects coats from many of our local

schools, cleans them and distributes them to

families and children who are in need of them.

A box has been provided at our school, so please

send coats you are no longer using to school with

your student. Both children and adult size coats

are needed! The Boulder Valley Rotary Volun-

teers will pick up the coats from our school and

deliver them to the cleaners. The collection boxes

are in the foyer and pick up dates are scheduled

for November 3, 17 and December 1.

Thank you Bear Creek Community for sharing your gently used bikes to be refurbished for needy families in our community. You filled up the truck!!!

Share - A - Bike Drive

The staff of Bear

Creek wish to thank

all the volunteers

that fed us dinner on

Parent/Teacher

Conference nights

for the past 2 weeks.

You fed our bodies

and strengthened

our resolve.

We feel loved!

This year, we are so happy to be partnering with

BVSD's Trip Tracker program, which rewards

students for walking, biking, carpooling or riding the

RTD to school.

Students will earn Trip Tracker Dollars that they

can spend like cash at local Boulder businesses like

Glacier Ice Cream, Gateway fun Park and Play It

Again Sports. You can start counting walk, bike,

bus, carpool trips on the first day of school. If you

would like to register for the program, here's

the LINK.

You can check out the Trip Tracker Website for

more program information.

Here is the Trip Tracker Calendar.

Trip Tracker

The Nutcracker Ballet

Did you know that Bear Creek students Zachariah Nagle (Fritz),

Maya Elron (Mouse) and Cara Wang (Mouse) will perform in the

2016 Boulder Ballet production of the Nutcracker? Last year

about 8000 people watched the Nutcracker shows at Macky

Auditorium. This year live music by the Boulder Philharmonic, a

cast of over 80 wonderful local dancers, and beautiful sets, cos-

tumes and choreography will provide an unforgettable experience

for the whole family. Once again, Bear Creek is helping to pro

mote the arts, and you can even help the school financially by

buying your tickets through the school. Boulder Ballet/Boulder Phil will donate 20% of the ticket price to Bear Creek

if you buy your tickets using the school promotion ticket order which is available in the office. You’ll be paying the

same price e as if you buy your tickets directly from the ticket office. Zach was interviewed for his role as Fritz, and

it is being promoted by Boulder Ballet and the podcast producer.

https://www.acast.com/overthetopcycling/boulderballetsthenutcrackerserieswithzachariahnagle-?autoplay?autoplay

Car Free Community

Cruger Cup

If your child walked, biked, scootered, took public transportation, car-pooled, etc., to school every day that they attended school last year as you probably know, he/she has earned the right to bring home the CRUGER CUP for one week this year. If your child is one of the students who made it last year, stop by the office and talk to Carolyn and she can sign you up for a week to take the Cup home. We have 2 Cruger Cups this year so each child should get their own week.

Much like the Stanley Cup, the Cruger Cup has gone many places and has many stories to tell. We know that some people have even eaten their morning cereal out of the Cruger Cup (although we highly recommend a serious cleaning process before you do this) and we know it's been to top of at least on 14er! Don't forget to take a picture with the cup and send it to us.

Bear Creek Physical Education 2016-2017 Important Dates TUMBLING GYMNASTICS OBSTACLE COURSE UNIT, December 6th-through December 16th.PLEASE NOTE! That the gym will need to be blocked out for before and after school activities, because of tumbling mats, gymnastics and obstacle course equipment on the floor. No Intramurals or Jump Rope club during this time.

Art News

The art room is looking for plastic caps and lids that

will be used in an upcoming art project. Please save

and drop off in the bin on the foyer table marked

“lids”. Thanks in advance!

Library News

Thank you to all who attended our book fair and made it such a huge success. We earned $3,994.79 in Scholastic credit (50% of sales). We will use these funds to expand and update the library and classroom book and makerspace collections. A special thank you goes out to all of the volunteers who helped set-up, close up, and run the book fair: Jeanne Kaufman, Courtney Williams, Michelle Wellington, Maria Nondorf, Maya Key, Camila Weise, Gwen Grasse, Denise Walker and Narisa Wild. Without your help the book fair would not have been possible.

In accordance with the BVSD policy on distribution/posting of non-curricular material-Bear Tracks will print

curricular items about our school. Many outside opportunities available, (i.e. Science Matters, second language

programs, parenting workshops, community sports, non-profit organizations, etc.) may be posted on the hall

bulletin board with prior approval of the Principal, but may not be included in Bear Tracks. Be sure to check

the Parent’s Board in the school for information regarding outside opportunities. All articles can be submitted

to Carolyn Walker at carolyn.walker@bvsd.org.

Additional information about Bear Creek can be found on the website at

http://www.bvsd.org/schools/bearcreek/ .

Submission Deadline Publication Date

Nov. 3 Nov. 4

Nov. 17 Nov. 18

Dec. 8 Dec. 9

By Diana Rodriguez

Medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH

When you hit the gym for a run, a swim, or a weightlifting session,

you can feel the effects of your workout throughout your body.

Your legs may be tired and your arms may be sore, but you've

also worked other important muscles that you may not even feel

— like your heart.

Any time you exercise and raise your heart rate, you're helping

yourself get healthier. Different types of exercise help your heart

in different ways: Aerobic exercise makes you sweat and breathe

harder as your heart rate starts to climb, while strength-training

exercises, such as lifting free weights, using weight machines, or

even taking a yoga or Pilates class, may not make you perspire

as much, but have their own important benefits.

While both types of exercise are important for heart health, aero-

bic exercise does more to strengthen your heart and reduce the

risk of heart disease.

“Aerobic exercise provides the best reduction of cardiovascular

risk and has been studied extensively for its effects," says Alfred

Bove, MD, PhD, professor emeritus at the Temple University

School of Medicine and past president of the American College of

Cardiology. “Regular aerobic exercise reduces risk of sudden

death from heart disease, improves outcomes from heart surgery,

and lowers overall risk of heart disease."

Aerobic exercise is any type of physical activity that increases

your heart rate — think of exercises like running, brisk walking,

biking, and swimming.

Beyond Aerobic Exercise

Is aerobic exercise and an increased heart rate all you need for a

healthy heart and to prevent heart disease? Not necessarily.

To get the greatest benefits for your heart, it's a good idea to in-

corporate strength training into your exercise routine.

First of all, strength training offers benefits for health and well-

being. "Resistance exercise provides benefits such as better bone

strength, better balance, and some improvements in aerobic ca-

pacity," says Dr. Bove. Strength training helps you stay leaner,

and maintaining a healthy body weight is crucial for a healthy

heart and to prevent heart disease.

Strength training may also have more benefits than once thought.

Studies are now showing that strength training may directly im-

prove cardiovascular health, helping to strengthen the heart. One

small study conducted by researchers at the West Virginia Univer-

sity School of Medicine found that including weightlifting in an

exercise routine helped to lower LDL, or bad, cholesterol levels by

as much as 5 percent. The American Heart Association now rec-

ommends strength training as another form of exercise to help

prevent heart disease and as a part of cardiac rehabilitation for

those who have had a heart attack.

Healthy Heart Exercise: How and When to Work Out

For a healthy heart, you should work out for about two and a half

hours per week at a moderate intensity. For a greater challenge,

you can opt instead for 75 minutes per week at a vigorous pace.

Keep in mind that you don't have to work out so hard that you're

sweating profusely or gasping for breath in order to help prevent

heart disease. "High-intensity exercise is not needed to improve

heart disease risk," says Bove. While high-intensity exercise im-

proves overall conditioning and lowers heart risk, exercise at a

more moderate intensity will still help to prevent heart disease and

strengthen a healthy heart. Not sure when you can fit in an hour

or even 30 minutes at a time to exercise? You don't have to.

You can get the same heart-healthy benefits by breaking

up your workout into short sessions — 10 minutes here, 15

minutes there.

As you exercise to tone your belly, legs, and arms, you're also getting your heart in better shape. And

aerobic exercise isn't the only form of fitness that offers heart benefits.

Student Council News October Spirit Day

Friday, October 28th: Hawaiian Day. Dress in your favorite and school-appropriate tropical gear!

Calling all student pumpkin artists to participate in the Great Pumpkin Contest! -Pumpkins must be smaller than the size of basketball. -Only decorated pumpkins, no carved pumpkins! -Drop pumpkins off at the library at 8:15 am on Tuesday, October 25th. -Winners will be announced on Thursday, October 27th. -Take home pumpkins on Friday, October 28th.

Categories: Best in Show K-2, Best in Show 3-5, Scariest, Smallest, Most Unique, Silliest, Most Elaborate, Coolest, Strangest, Funniest, Cutest, Most Colorful, Most Creative

UNICEF Fundraiser Goal: $525 (1 dollar more than last year!)

UNICEF is an organization that raises money to help kids all over the world. Some of the things they do: -7 cents provides 50 kids with safe water for a day. -$2 buys 1 liter of therapeutic milk. -$19 buys three mosquito nets to protect kids from malaria. -$257 provides an emergency classroom kit for 40 kids. -$500 buys a water pump for a whole community.

How can you help?

Your 3-5 student will bring home an orange box to take with you while trick-or-treating to ask for donations. Return the

Fairview High School Presents

Trick or Treat Street

Bear Creek Community,

Every year Fairview High School Student Council hosts Trick or Treat Street -- a fun, safe event that is open and free to the community. Different clubs and sports from Fairview sponsor rooms inside the school, which they decorate and have fun activities and games for under the under 12 crowd. We encourage kids to dress up and go from room to room to play games and get candy. This year the event is on Wednesday, October

26th from 5-7pm.

https://docs.google.com/a/bvsd.org/drawings/d/1Frr4FpnIg6hBZhJe9eSSnS2tueazu4AcQwu7ExN9rvQ/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you, Katie Boselli, senior at Fairview High School

Bear Creek Candy Collection

From Tuesday, November 1st thru Friday, November 4th , the

office will be collecting your leftover Halloween candy. Bear

Creek will then donate the candy to a worthy cause.

October 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2 3 4 5

Official Pupil Count Day

International Walk to School

Day

6

Intramurals

Begin

7 Bear Tracks

Jump Rope Begins

Flu Clinic

3:00-4:00

8

9 10

Columbus Day

NO SCHOOL

11

PTO Meeting @ 1:30

Parent/Teacher Conferences

3:00-7:00

12 13

Parent/Teacher Conferences

3:00-7:00

14

Green Star Assemblies

Share-A-Bike

8:00 AM

15

16 17

Garden

Committee @ 8:45

18 19

Parent/Teacher Conferences

3:00-7:00

20 21

Bulow-Kindergarten Conferences

Bear Tracks

22

23/30 24/31

Halloween

Parades @8:50

25 26 27 28 29

B O O K F A I R B O O K F A I R B O O K F A I R

November 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

Picture Re-Take Day

3 4

End of Trimester

Bear Tracks

5

6 7 8

9

Open Enrollment Tour @ 9:30

10 11

NO SCHOOL

Veterans Day

12

13 14

Garden Committee

@ 8:45

15

PTO @ 1:30

16 17 18

Bear Tracks

Y Kids Night In

Report Cards Go Home

19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

Thanksgiving Break

BVSD is working to improve air quality in our schools

Last year, BVSD began a long term initiative to collect indoor air quality data across the district to identify where we can make changes to improve it. Recognizing the proven role of good indoor air quality for student performance and health, BVSD hopes this work will have significant benefits for students and staff. There are a couple of ways parents are asked get involved and help with this effort:

Provide information about reasons for absenteeism

In addition to collecting data from school sites, we want to understand how air quality may be affecting student health and absenteeism. Beginning this school year, when parents call in to report a health-related absence from school, they will be asked to identify the nature of the illness. Learn more.

Join the District-wide Air Quality Team The district is creating an Indoor Air Quality Team to work with us on this initiative. The team will include BVSD princi-pals, teachers, parents and community members. Once convened, the team will determine meeting times and sched-ule. Applications are due September 9. Follow these links for more information and the application.

For more information about the air quality initiative, go to: bvsd.org/airquality.

Student accident insurance 2016-2017

Low-cost student accident insurance is again being offered by Markel this year. They have changed their enrollment method from

paper to electronic and will not be providing print outs to schools to distribute to students. Attached is a PDF of their enrollment

information. This information is also available on the district website at

http://www.bvsd.org/employees/AthleticsActivities/Athletic%20Insurance%20Information/Forms/AllItems.aspx.

Healthy Kids Initiative

Another possible option for parents whose students need health insurance is the Boulder County Healthy Kids Initiative which

helps families enroll in Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) and Medicaid. CHP+ and Medicaid are free and low-cost health insurance

plans that provide dental, medical, prescription, mental health, and vision benefits. There are no monthly premiums, and co-pays

range from $0 - $15 depending on family income. CHP+ has higher income eligibility limits than many public assistance programs,

so many working families can qualify. Assets are not considered when determining eligibility for these programs. Some families

who have not previously qualified may be able to qualify now due to new income guidelines.

Eligibility specialists are available to serve families at all BVSD schools. Call 720-515-1454 today to talk with a specialist or to make

an appointment!

More information is available on the district website at http://www.bvsd.org/healthykids. A link to this page is on the front page of

the district site: Go to www.bvsd.org and click the Healthy Kids Initiative logo at the bottom of the page.

NONDISCRIMINATION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

In compliance with Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, Colorado law and Board of Education Policy AC (Nondiscrimination/Equal Opportunity), Boulder Valley School District does not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, religion, ancestry, need for special education services, age, marital status, genetic

information, or physical characteristics in admissions, access to, treatment, or employment in educational programs or activities which it operates. Complaint procedures have been established for students, parents, employees and members of the public. The following person has been identified as the compliance officer

for the district:

Superintendent, Boulder Valley School District6500 Arapahoe Rd.

Boulder, CO 80301 720.561.5114 Superintendent@bvsd.org