A Piece From The Principal's Puzzle

October

23 - Parent Outreach Meetings (see information below)

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

November

8 - Veterans' Day Breakfast @ 9 am

11 - Veterans' Day (NO SCHOOL)

13 - Progress Reports Sent Home

25 - 29 - Thanksgiving Holidays (NO SCHOOL)

December

2- 13 - ACAP Summative Practice

• i-Ready Mid-Year (MOVED TO JANUARY 2024)

17 - PTA Meeting (Grades K, 1, & 2 performing) at Blossomwood Cafeteria

20 - Holiday Parties & End of Semester

Dear Blossomwood Families,

We have had a strong first nine weeks! Please help us to continue to emphasize a few fundamental elements at both school and home that increase our rate of success. These include, but are not limited to:

• At lease 8 hours of sleep each night.
• Reading for 20 minutes each night.

• Asking questions and listening to our children about their day at school.
• Encouraging students to push through frustration, especially when learning something new. This is a difficult one for our students as we have become a society that expects quick results for everything. Stamina takes practice and time to build.
• Celebrating successes regardless of the size!

As always, thank you for all that you do at home to help make Blossomwood a great place for student learning!

Bradley A. Scott, Ed.D.

Principal

I am proud to share that we have started a new partnership with The Caring Link. The primary work of The Caring Link centers on establishing and maintaining care closets within local schools such as Blossomwood. The care closets provide teachers and staff with immediate access to essential items that their students may need; such as clothing, coats, shoes, school supplies, toiletries, and food/snacks. Together we want to ensure that each child’s basic needs are met so that our students have the confidence and self-assurance to reach their full potential. Note: Care closets are not used to address dress code violations.

Lastly, our wonderful PTA has been instrumental in establishing this partnership, and the PTA will be helping to monitor and restock the care closet once a week. This is so exciting for our students!

* If you are interested in helping with the care closet at Blossomwood, please reach out to our PTA.

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.