We are excited to celebrate with our first PTA raffle of the season tomorrow! When you join the Bells Mill PTA, you're automatically entered to win official spiritwear and other branded gear to show off your school pride.

In addition to joining the PTA, there’s even more ways to show your school spirit with some fun competition:

If 100% of your student’s class joins the PTA, every student (and their teacher!) will receive a custom Bells Mill Squishy Cube! (Limited to the first class only)

If 270 families join the PTA by November 6, 2026 - the entire school will celebrate with a popsicle party!

If you haven’t signed up, today is the day! tinyurl.com/BearsPTA. Winners will be announced later this week.

Back-to-School Picnic — Wednesday, September 2 | 5:30–7:30 PM
Join the Bells Mill community for the PTA’s Back-to-School Picnic. Bring a blanket or lawn chairs and enjoy a DJ, face painting, concessions, spirit wear sales, and information from after-school enrichment providers.

Admission: Free and limited to Bells Mill families. Please register everyone in your party so we have an accurate attendance count. Children must be accompanied by an adult; this is not a drop-off event.

There’s still a few openings for after-school enrichment programs in the Fall. For Grades 3-5, spaces are available for Online Dungeons & Dragons - D&D engages the use of Critical Thinking and Logic; Math and Probabilities; Creativity; and Social and Language Skills! Other classes with openings include STEM LEGO, and Pottery.

⚠️ Important: All programs are run by outside providers (not the school or PTA). Please contact the vendor directly with any questions about schedules, supervision, or safety.

For more information on enrichment programs and to register, please go to the Enrichment Hub on the PTA Website or via Kiddo, our enrichment platform.

There’s many ways to volunteer your time at Bells Mill - this year, parents can sign up to volunteer directly with the school, in addition to volunteering in support of the PTA. If you have some free time on a one-off or regular basis, there is something for everyone, and we need parents like you to support!

Please register your interest in volunteering using the links below; and expect to hear back from either Mrs. Tilkens, our Vice Principal or a member of the PTA with more information on next steps. Please also bookmark the Volunteer Page on our PTA website; new volunteer opportunities are added regularly for parents to sign up!

This year, the PTA will provide regular summaries of relevant MCCPTA and MCPS initiatives to help keep Bells Mill families informed about important updates and information in Montgomery County.

Share Your Perspective on Screen Time in Schools

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) invites parents, educators, students, and child development experts to participate in a virtual public listening session on screen time and digital device use in K–12 classrooms.

Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Time: 7:00–8:30 p.m. EDT
Location: Zoom
Register: NTIA Zoom Registration

Participants will have an opportunity to share their experiences and perspectives on screen-based instruction, excessive screen time, and classroom device use. Approximately three minutes will be allotted to each speaker. The session will be recorded and posted online. Participants under age 18 should avoid sharing personally identifying information during registration or the session.

Additional information is available in the Federal Register notice. Questions may be directed to [email protected].

MCPS is seeking your input as it works to develop the 2027-2028 AND 2028-2029 school calendar. Please complete this survey by September 20 to share your input.

Your feedback is critical to the process. MCPS will consider educational interests, operational needs, mandated school closures by state law, compliance with minimum instructional days and credit hour requirements, inclement weather and other emergencies, staff professional days and early release days, and assessment schedules aligned to MCPS Board Policy IDA, School Year Calendar.

Great Falls Youth Choir - The Great Falls Youth Choir is a new extracurricular choir that will rehearse weekly as a group and perform concerts for the public. Join to spend more time with friends, practice singing, get experience performing, and to have fun! Each rehearsal, we will play musical games and practice singing both popular and classical songs.
The choir operates in three Blocks. Block A runs from September 14th - November 20th, Block B runs January 4th - March 19th, and Block C runs April 5th - June 10th.

Each Block will rehearse weekly on Monday nights and perform one concert for the public. Musicians may choose to participate in one, two, or all three Blocks. If interested, please send an email to [email protected] and if you are interested in signing up for Block A, the deadline is September 14. Visit our website for more information.