Blue Ridge Family Newsletter

We are excited to be entering our second full month of school! The year so far has been focused on getting to know your amazing students, building relationships with teachers and staff, learning expectations, setting goals and creating routines for academic success. We are now primed to dive into deeper instruction at all levels. Each student will be receiving high quality instruction at grade-level, as well as additional support at their level in reading, and skill-building in reading and math where needed. As we go through the month, please feel free to ask your student what they are learning, how it's going, and about their goals for themselves. Let's make October a great month!

Tuesday, September 30- Good Dads Strong Schools Monthly Breakfast @ 7:00-7:45 am

Friday, October 3rd- Fall Picture Day

Thursday, October 9th- EARLY OUT @ 12:50 for Teacher Workday

Friday, October 10th- NO SCHOOL for Teacher Workday

Monday, October 13th- Bradford Farms Field Trips for Kindergarten & 1st Graders

Tuesday, October 14th- Bradford Farms Field Trips for 2nd & 3rd Graders

Wednesday, October 15th- Bradford Farms Field Trips for 4th & 5th Graders

Thursday, October 23rd- Fall for STEAM Festival @ 5:00-6:30

Tuesday, October 28th- Good Dads Strong Schools Monthly Breakfast @ 7:00-7:45 am

Friday, October 31st- Halloween Parade @ 9:00, Fall Parties @ 2:15 (2nd gr @ 1:30)

We are excited to join other CPS schools this year in partnering with Good Dads Columbia and participate in Good Dads Strong Schools program. Please follow this link for an overview of the organization: https://gooddads.com/columbia/

Our first monthly event in the Good Dads Strong Schools programming will be held next Tuesday, September 30 at 7:00-7:45am in the Blue Ridge cafeteria. We invite guests (while the program aims to promote interactions with students and their fathers, Blue Ridge would welcome all students to attend with any guest as we believe any opportunities for connecting students, family members and school should not be limited!) and their students to come to the cafeteria for breakfast. MFA Oil will be providing donuts, orange juice and coffee, and the event will be run and served by volunteers from the Kiwanis Club and Good Dads organization. While enjoying breakfast, students and their guest(s) will complete a family activity. At 7:45, all guests AND students will leave the building. Students are welcome to go to the front doors to wait until they open at 8:00 to reenter the building for the day. Please park in the BACK PARKING LOT (off to the right side of the building if you are looking at the front doors), walk through the blacktop playground gate, and a staff member or volunteer will be at the rear doors to let you in and send you to the cafeteria.

If you can't attend this month, we look forward to inviting you again next month on Tuesday, October 28th. IF you plan to attend on Tuesday, please feel free to send me a message to let me know so we can make sure to have enough breakfast ready for everyone who can come. Thank you!

All students will get their picture taken this Friday, October 3rd unless their guardian selected to "Opt Out" of CPS Media at the beginning of the year. They will get their picture taken even if photos have not been ordered, so you may order after picture day as well. The online directions are listed below and picture packets came home last week. Please contact the office via Seesaw at Blue Ridge Office to get an extra packet or flyer sent home with your student if needed!

You should have already received the flyer pictured below, as well as a double-sided permission form that we must fill out for every individual field trip. If the form is not completed and returned, the student may not attend the trip, so please send them back as soon as possible. Parents or guests are welcome to attend, so please see the information below about transportation and lunch plans! We believe this will be our last year of participating in this tradition, so we are hopeful that many families can join us!

Mark Your Calendar!

We know that our students, staff and families are so busy this time of year, so we will be combining our FTO (Family Teacher Organization) Fall Festival fundraiser with our science family event into one fabulously fun evening! Multiple STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) activities, demonstrations and displays will be set up in stations, hosted by staff and community organizations, for students and families to visit. We will also have some food items for sale by FTO to raise money for the Family-Teacher Organization goals. We hope to see you there!

Habit 1: Be Proactive

For the month of October, we will be focusing on one of the 7 Habits: Habit 1 Be Proactive. Students will learn that being proactive means to be in charge of themselves. This connects to emotional regulation and our wellness Wednesday strategies. It also connects to setting goals for ourselves and how to reach them through actions and attitude. To practice this skills at all ages, we will focus on "Pause and respond," a strategy for taking a moment to think before acting. Please feel free to use any of the language or strategies related to this habit at home to help support our learning at school!

Wellness Wednesday Strategy

Ms. Kirchner joins every few weeks on our Wednesday morning show to share strategies with students for mindfulness, regulation, communication, and personal growth. Please feel free to use these same strategies at home!

5-4-3-2-1 Grounding

Grounding is a technique that helps individuals reconnect with the present moment by bringing their attention to what is physically around them. It helps to shift our focus from distressing thoughts to the present, helping to calm the body and mind.

Please join our Family Teacher Organization for their second meeting of the year on October 15. The focus will be on finalizing plans for the fall fundraisers at the Fall for STEAM Festival.

Free Breakfast & Lunch for All Students This Year

BRE currently qualifies for FREE BREAKFAST AND LUNCH FOR ALL OF OUR STUDENTS. We still ask our families who may qualify to complete the Free & Reduced Lunch form to support this qualification in future years. Any funds that are in lunch accounts from past years can be used by students to purchase extras. If you would like to make changes to your account, you can reach out to our cafeteria manager, Ashley Guerrero at aguerrero@cpsk12.org.

Nutrition Services

BRE Facebook Page for Updates & Reminders

Blue Ridge Elementary Family Handbook

Columbia Public Schools Student Handbook

Family Portal Login

Get Access to the Family Portal

The Family Portal houses multiple apps and pieces of information for families. Please make sure you can get into the Portal: https://login.classlink.com/my/cpsfamilies

Can't get into the portal?!

For technical assistance accessing the CPS Families Portal, visit our FAQ page.

Your guardian ID and/or password information can also be found at the CPS Families Portal Username and Guardian Email Check.

Blue Ridge Elementary Website