How would our community change if every child grew to meet their full potential? How could elementary school parent groups (e.g. PTSAs, PTAs, PTOs), Bellingham Public Schools and the Bellingham Public Schools Foundation work together to better realize this vision? These are the questions being explored through a new collaboration between elementary school parent groups…
Julie van Wijk, principal at Cordata Elementary School “I learned about France in fourth grade, in Social Studies, and I came home and told my mom, “I’m going to be French teacher!” And that’s what I did. I went to the University of Texas at Austin and majored in French language and literature. I originally…
Written in collaboration with Leora Watson, Western Washington University Allied Arts of Whatcom County partners with Bellingham Public Schools to bring the experience of art to children in elementary schools throughout Bellingham. The Allied Arts Education Project (AAEP) was started in 2002 with a mission to expand quality arts learning opportunities for students in Whatcom…
The following interview with school board directors Camille Diaz Hackler and Kelly Bashaw was published in the Fall 2019 edition of InsideSchools, the community newsletter of Bellingham Public Schools. Why have a race and equity policy? Camille Diaz Hackler: I think the majority of people don’t think about race and equity because they don’t have…
Even if “nothing” is the default answer to, “what did you do in school today?” elementary families now have snapshots from their students’ day thanks to Seesaw, a digital student portfolio available to all elementary schools. Families who sign up can see their student’s work and the communication between their student and teacher, both online…
Elementary school librarians created the You’ll Enjoy These Incredible Books! (YETI) Books competition to challenge students to read books from a variety of genres and to work together as a team. A year in the making. Each year school librarians from across the Pacific Northwest nominate the best, recently published novels for middle grader readers…
Whatcom Museum partners with Bellingham Public Schools on a variety of programming supporting arts in education. During the winter/spring exhibition of Images of Resilience: Chicano Art and its Mexican Roots at the Whatcom Museum’s Lightcatcher building, nearly 400 Bellingham Public Schools students participated in the “Art FUNdamentals” program. The program was a three-part educational series which included a pre-tour visit to classrooms,…
How does your garden grow? In Bellingham schools, it grows and flourishes with the constant and passionate involvement of Common Threads Farm, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching kids where food comes from, how to grow it, and how to become a healthy eater. In Bellingham Public Schools, 13 of our 14 elementary schools and two of our middle…
A tenet of The Bellingham Promise is “all children should be loved.” At the end of last school year, we asked staff members to tell their students they love them, catch it on video and send it to us. Our hearts are full seeing the responses from staff all over the district. Please take a…
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