A Piece From The Principal's Puzzle

Dear Blossomwood Families,

As we begin our third week of school, we wanted to provide a few reminders regarding our arrival and dismissal procedures. You may have noticed multiple officials from HCS, HPD, and the City of Huntsville on our campus and surrounding streets last week observing traffic patterns and traffic flow.

• Please seat your child(ren) on the passenger side of the car so they exit your car on this side. They should not get out on the driver’s side.
• Students should be ready to exit their car with their backpacks and lunchboxes when you pull up.
  
• We ask that parents do not get out of the car to assist their students. Should your child have some special needs such as a mobility issue with the use of crutches, please use the small parking lot in front of the school.
  
• Please continue to remind your child about how he/she gets home in the afternoons, including plans should we experience heavy rain.
• Car line name cards should be visible all the way through the car line until your child gets in your car. Anyone without a name card will be required to drive to the front of the school and show identification in the office to pick up the child.These cards are available in the front office should you still need one.
• The Huntsville Police Department has asked us to remind families that they will be ticketing vehicles that do not abide by traffic laws and/or signage posted by the City of Huntsville throughout the neighborhood.
  
• Please do not bring pets on campus.

Thank you again for helping us to provide a safe and efficient car line.

Sincerely,

Bradley A. Scott, Ed.D.

Principal

August

21 - Fall Picture Day

23 - Celebrating Education Parade - Meet at 7:30 am at ASFL School (Academy of Science & Foreign Languages) on Mastin Lake Road

• See Ms. Rice, Mr. Muhammad, or Dr. Scott for more details.

26 - iReady & STAR assessment window begins

29 - 1/2 Day Students

September

1 - Labor Day (No School)

4 - Curriculum Night @ 6 pm

We are so excited about the new outdoor classroom that was moved from the former Chapman Elementary School to the Blossomwood campus. We have decided to call it "Chapman Gardens at Blossomwood" in an effort to value our history from Chapman, and we also have incorporated the old Blossomwood Elementary sign from the original Blossomwood building! As you will notice in the pictures, it all looks fantastic! Our students will have opportunities to use the new learning space throughout the year, and our goal is to have it certified as an official outdoor classroom this upcoming spring.

The portraits that will go into our school's yearbook will be taken on Thursday, August 21. A make-up date of October 16 has been arranged in case your child is absent. Please note that with all of the portrait sales, a percentage of your purchase goes back to support Blossomwood.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the school or the photographer. Again this year Greg Machen Photography in Madison will be taking the portraits. Their contact information is 256-461-0827 and gregmachenphotography.com.

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

Bus route information is available for the 2025-26 school year. Visit the school bus route map link available at huntsvillecityschools.org/bus.

Parents and guardians should log in using their student's Clever login credentials. Routes are currently frozen through August 18, 2025 - no changes to routes, stops, or stop times will occur during this period.

Please contact your child's school for assistance with your student's login credentials.

Below are a few general safety reminders and updates related to visitors and families I would like to share so your family can plan and prepare for the upcoming school year:

• Any person who comes into the school to see a child MUST be listed in PowerSchool as a contact person for that child. This includes anyone coming to eat lunch with a child or volunteer in the school. Any visitors/volunteers not associated with a student as a contact in PowerSchool must be approved through Dr. Scott. Please make sure you update your child's contacts by stopping by the school office.
  
• Please remember that ALL visitors and volunteers will need to show an ID and scan it through Raptor to enter our building. The ID will also be used to verify that the person entering the building is associated as a contact with a student. For those wondering about Raptor, it is a system that uses the visitor’s first name, last name, and date of birth that is captured with the ID scan to check only against registered sex offender databases in all 50 U.S. states.
  
• All students (K-6) and parents must walk through the weapons detection system located in the school lobby.
• Visitors will be asked to sign in on a log that indicate where their location will be while in the building. For example, "Lunchroom" if coming to eat lunch with a student. It is important for the safety of ALL people in the building, including our visitors and volunteers, for us to know your location.
• Any visitor who is eating lunch with a student, must check out at the front office at the conclusion of lunch. Visitors are not allowed to go with the class back to the classroom or out to the playground for recess time.
• While we look forward to having help at lunch, the first few of weeks of school are spent establishing routines and procedures throughout the school, especially in the cafeteria. We welcome parents to volunteer and eat lunch with us in the cafeteria starting after Labor Day, Sept. 1. * Exception: If your child has a birthday and you would like to eat lunch with them, please work it out with your child's teacher.

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.