A Piece From The Principal's Puzzle

February

24 - BES Spirit Day at Steak Out (11am to 9 pm)

26 - Spring Pictures

March

2 - 6 - Read Across America Week (See graphic below)

13 - Last Day of the Grading Period & 1/2 Day Students

16-20 - Spring Break (NO SCHOOL)

26 - Kite Day during P.E. Classes

28 - Greenpower Race

We had an excellent Black History program last Friday with individual students and student groups sharing what they have learned about some of the famous Black Americans that we have been studying recently. Our program also included special performances by many students, including our sixth grade choir and band. Everyone had a fun time, and we hope you enjoy some of the pictures below from our celebration!

Special thanks to the Tuskegee Airmen Motorcycle Club for visiting our sixth graders!

You don’t just want your child to learn. You want your child to want to learn! Motivation drives students to put in effort, persevere and achieve goals.

To motivate your elementary schooler to put effort into learning:

· Stay engaged.

• When families are involved in education, kids do better in school. Talk about school, monitor schoolwork and communicate with the teacher regularly.

· Have a positive outlook.

• Say that you believe your child can succeed in school. And if your student struggles, work with the teacher to find solutions.

· Promote independence.

• Give your child age-appropriate freedoms—choosing between two places to read, or whether to do math before or after dinner, for example.

· Correct mistakes in positive ways.

• “You spelled everything right except these two words! I bet you can learn them with practice” is more motivating than “You seem to struggle with spelling.”

· Give specific compliments.

• It’s better to say, “Your report is written so neatly. I can tell that you really took your time” instead of “Nice handwriting.”

· Add more to learning.

• Let school lessons spark your imagination. Visit educational websites with your child. Take a trip to the state capital, plant a window garden or calculate distances between points on map together.

Reprinted with permission from the February 2025 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2025 The Parent Institute®, a division of PaperClip Media, Inc.

As you are probably aware, the flu is really making an impact in our community right now. Our school nurses have shared a guide that may help your family to avoid catching the flu. Please see below for the link to the guides.

Don't forget ALL students at Blossomwood are welcome to a FREE breakfast and lunch from our cafeteria.

• If your child would like a breakfast, please remind them to come directly to the cafeteria upon arrival. We serve breakfast from 7:30 to 7:50 am which allows students to be in their classroom ready to learn at 8:00 am.
• If you have questions about your child’s lunch account, please email our cafeteria manager Mirtha Petty at mirtha.petty@hsv-k12.org.

If you would like to volunteer and become more involved at Blossomwood, please reach out to our parent coordinator, Ms. Chelsea Clay. She will be glad to help find a role just for you! In fact, part of her role as parent coordinator includes establishing a parent advisory committee, hosting parent events, leading parent trainings, building relationships with all parents in our school, and acting as a liaison between the parent community and the school.

Email - Chelsea.Clay@hsv-k12.org

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.