A Piece From The Principal's Puzzle

October

16 - Report Cards Sent Home with Wednesday/Blossomwood Folders

16 - Make-up & Class Pictures

25 - Book Character Parade (Dress up like your favorite book character)

As part of our Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program, we recognize students that demonstrate our P.A.W.S behavior as well as the character word of the month. The character word for September was "cooperation," and according to their teachers, the following students displayed this in and out of the classrooms.

Kindergarten - Leo Pignataro

1st Grade - Ethon Bradford

2nd Grade - Sakiya Cunningham

3rd Grade - Catherine Mayo

4th Grade - A'aliyah Athey & Adaurus Wright

5th Grade - Ayana Thomas & Zoey Ferguson

6th Grade - Gianni Martin

As your family considers how it uses time at home, one area that drains a significant amount of time is the watching of TV shows or movies. According to recent data, children spend an average of three (3) hours watching TV each day. This is definitely easy to do with the ease of accessibility accompanied by the ability to "binge watch" TV shows using streaming services.

• How much time does your child watch TV each day?

• Does your child watch more TV on certain days?

• How much time does your child spend reading each day in comparison to how much they watch TV?

Digital devices are an important part of our world, and they can be appealing to children for educational or informal purposes such as gaming. To assist families with striking a healthy balance, it is recommended that families create a media plan for their family using a few questions:

• What devices do I want my child to have access to?

• Where will devices be allowed and where will they be off-limits?

• How much time will my child be allowed to use them?

• Will the same rules apply during weekends and school breaks?

• What content is appropriate for my child to access?

• How will I maintain consistency?

• What consequences will there be for misusing devices?

• What example am I setting through my own use of technology?

Source: Ways Parents Can Manage Kids' Technology Use, QuickTip Brochure, The Parent Institute.

We had 59 students that chose to participate in the holiday learning challenge during Fall Break.

• Each student that completed the challenge during Fall Break received a coupon for a certificate to Dodge's Convenient Store for a free food prize!
• In addition, the students received tickets for a special drawing for completing the challenge of reading for 20 minutes for at least five days, practicing math for 20 minutes for at least five days, and/or writing about a family event from the break.
• The prizes for the drawing included: two passes for a FREE hour of jumping at FLOW, three passes for 30 minutes of FREE jumping at Altitude, 2 wireless headphones, wireless speakers with LED lights, a large container of Sour Punch Twists, and several gift cards to Yogurt Mountain!

We will have another holiday learning challenge for Thanksgiving Break, Christmas Break, and Spring Break. Our goal will remain the same with us encouraging students to develop the habit of learning and reading on a daily basis.

Thank you to the Huntsville Fire Department for visiting Blossomwood Elementary last week! They did an excellent job of listening to our students, sharing what it is like to be a firefighter, and showing the students the fire truck! #Community

Congratulations to all of the students that met their AR-Accelerated Reader goals for the first nine weeks grading period! They earned the opportunity to enjoy last Friday's AR-Accelerated Reader Party! Special thanks to Ms. Fuller for providing a great party filled with a lot of fun games and activities!

The main function of the house system is to develop a sense of identity or belonging and to celebrate achievements. Schools with a structure or system like this cite the positive impact it has on the educational experience and school culture. Students report how it helps them form friendships and closer bonds with peers, and teachers share that students seem to enjoy seeing a connection with students in other classrooms as well as other grade levels. As a school, we also believe our new House System supports our school mission statement and vision.

During the first week of school or upon enrollment, all of our students and staff have the opportunity to digitally "spin" the wheel to randomly sort each student into one of four groups or houses — Emerald, Garnet, Onyx, or Sapphire.

Our House System is designed to:

1. Create school-wide community by creating opportunities for students to connect to staff and students in other classes and grades that share their house. Older students become natural leaders by mentoring and supporting younger students. Mentoring also extends to teachers and school staff members who are also assigned to a house.
2. Create a culture of belonging as students are recognized for accomplishments both academically as well as their choices related to behavior.
3. Emphasize building character through a reward system that goes beyond earning a piece of candy for doing something good. Each individual achievement adds to the collective house/group, making the reward hopefully more meaningful and social.
   
4. Provide opportunities to praise and accentuate positives for both individual students and collective groups of students.