From the Principal's Desk | |
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Dear Blossom Hill Families:
As this very special year draws to a close, I would like to take the opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the many dedicated members of our learning community that make our school such an inspiring and fun place to learn and blossom.
Thank you to our outstanding Home & School Club! This year, our H&SC Board members: Melissa Crow, Jennifer Shapiro, Ellen Feichtmeir, Kristin Hutchinson, Widya Junus, and Jean Choi, leave us with a legacy and responsibility to fulfill their mission of promoting positive school and community relationships that enhance the learning of all students that attend Blossom Hill. These hard-working, dedicated, and extremely capable members gave generously of their time and talents whenever and wherever they were needed ensuring our students had the tools, supplies, and enrichment activities needed to thrive.
There are no adequate words to express my gratitude to our H&SC President, Melissa Crow, for providing exemplary leadership throughout the year as we returned to a full, in-person school schedule while still experiencing a pandemic. Throughout her tenure, Melissa has been ever-present with her student-centered focus and mindful intention to share creative ideas, encourage compassion, strategically problem solve, strengthen community, and have fun. A special gift Melissa has shared with all of us is her passion for public art and leadership in spreading joy and inspiring messages for our children through the painting of the kindergarten yard, ball walls, and murals. Our community is incredibly fortunate that Melissa will continue on the H & SC Board next year as a parliamentarian.
Thank you to our School Site Council representatives: Ling Law, Meena Nathan, Francine Shore, Yamini Ghadge, Sam Cates, Julie Sheehan, Jenelle Bertucelli, Wendy Ottinger, and Fran Mastroianni. Throughout the year, this dedicated and well-informed group worked to develop and implement the Single Plan for Student Achievement, thus guiding our school-wide quest for continuous improvement. Each participant consistently brought valuable perspective and expertise to their governance role and made significant contributions to our school community.
Great gratitude also goes to our One Community Leader Jennifer Shapiro and Los Gatos Educational Foundation Captain Eric Dunstan who were ever-present to help encourage funding for programs and personnel at our school and across the district.
A big, big thank you goes to our Committee Chairs for their hard work and dedication throughout the year: Amy Gregor, Francine Shore, Ting Engelman, Michelle Avlas, Trista Bernstein, Jasleen Dhillon, Smita Jain Kanungo, Rachel Renski, Jenny Meeske, Christy Kersten, Jennifer Shapiro, Jean Choi, Ellen Feichtmeir, Szilvia Decoin, Jen Saban, Caroline Zamansky, Nicole Duke, Bonnie Pang, Rachel Pandipati, Amanda Caruso, Julie Reynolds, Tara Moseley, Missy Bottoms, Rebecca Escobar, Elke Billingsley, Brenda Chiu, Suzanne Errecart, Peter Binkley, Kathy Kwong, Cat Leitch, Kelly Scullino, Ling Law, and Meagan Stephens.
Thanks also go out to our many dedicated Project Cornerstone volunteers, Room Parents, Pottery Team, and the Staff Appreciation Committee for filling buckets, strengthening relationships, and spreading goodwill. YOU are a key component of our school’s success. The hours donated each year throughout the school are priceless.
Thank you to each of our families for supporting your children to be “ready to learn” each day. It is through the spirit of partnership that we are able to provide our students with a positive and engaging educational experience.
Thank you to our wonderful support staff. You consistently demonstrated a high degree of dedication and handled the incredible demands (and interruptions) with kindness, skill, and efficiency. A special thank you goes to Cindy Adams and Julie Sheehan for spreading light and love. We are indeed fortunate to have such caring, talented individuals work with our children each day.
Thank you to our multi-talented faculty. You worked tirelessly to provide a positive learning climate full of inspiring, thought-provoking, standards-based instruction while making it your priority to help students transition back to school and “bee”-ing together. You are among the best teachers in the profession!
A GIGANTIC THANKS goes out to our students for the joy, zest, and enthusiasm you bring to school each day. It is a gift to work with you and share in your life!
We wish our beloved fifth graders, as well as those families that are leaving us, the fondest of farewells. You will be missed.
Since this is the last Beehive for the school year, I am sending my best wishes to all for a safe and fun summer filled with lots of reading.
With love,
Lisa Reynolds
Principal, Blossom Hill Elementary
Phone: 408.335.2100
[email protected]
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From the Home & School Club President 2021-2022 | |
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Thank you, Blossom Hill, for a tremendous year. I have absolutely loved serving alongside each of you in my role with the Home & School Club. About a year ago, I found a pin in a beachside specialty store that said, “It takes a hive to thrive.” This catchphrase has guided my approach to building upon our unique culture and sense of community. The Home & School Club accomplished great things this year because our incredible families came together and contributed in small and simple ways. I cannot express enough gratitude for each parent, student, and staff member who supported the Home & School Club this year. I am in awe of people’s willingness to contribute, to serve, to lift each other up, and to be a source of joy. Together, with Principal Lisa Reynolds, the staff, and LGEF, the Home & School Club:
- Restored regular campus events, including: Fun Fridays, Pottery, Library, Mileage Club, Parades, Music Concerts, Heritage Night, Math Night, Science Fair, Garden Club, the Swarm, Family Picnic, Honeybee Power, Bike Rodeos, Book Fair, Staff Appreciation, Fifth Grade Celebration, and more.
- Reignited a culture of volunteerism. Blossom Hill welcomed adult volunteers back to campus before many other schools in the district. I estimate 60% of our students had a parent volunteer in the classroom, library, or other campus event at least once this year.
- Fostered a culture of giving by donating to the One Community LG Campaign, the Hive fundraisers, voting in favor of Measure B, and by participating in several charity drives, including the One Warm Coat Drive, the Charity Drive for the Diocese of Monterey’s Hispanic Ministries, and the LGUSD hygiene kit project.
- Enhanced facilities by engaging mural artist Morgan Bricca to create a series of four unique art installments on the wall ball courts, kindergarten playground, friendship garden, and western playground wall.
- Reestablished a campus culture of empathy, kindness, and inclusion through Project Cornerstone, kindness challenges, service projects, and assemblies.
- Reconnected our students with important community initiatives like Safe Routes to School, Honeybee Power, and Red Ribbon Week.
- Helped parents build friendships through community events, including The Hive, Men’s Poker Night, Mom’s Nights at Athleta and Home by Ling Interiors, the Ugly Sweater Party, H&SC General Member Meetings, the Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day Hangouts, Family Science Night, the Swarm Family Picnic, and the Fifth Grade Celebration.
- Enhanced community partnerships with LGEF and LGUSD district staff.
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Captured memories of this tremendous year in the yearbook. (Special thanks to our yearbook committee, Kathy Kwong, Ting Engelman, and Meagan Stephens – you captured so many memories of this special place and time.)
It truly does take a hive to thrive. I am endlessly grateful for the talented parents who support our learning community with their time. Thank you to Jennifer Shapiro, Kristin Hutchinson, Ellen Feitchmeir, Nika Esfahani, Widya Junus, and Jean Choi for serving on the board this year. I am excited to pass the gavel to the talented Kristin Hutchinson, 2022-23 H&SC President, and to welcome Ebru Yulker, Jane Panatopoulos, and Trista Bernstein to the H&SC Board. You are all rockstars. Thank you to our committee chairs and event leaders, including: Amy Gregor, Francine Shore, Ting Engelman, Michelle Avlas, Trista and Josh Bernstein, Jasleen Dhillon, Smita Jain Kanungo, Rachel Renski, Jenny Meeske, Christy Kersten, Jennifer Shapiro, Jean Choi, Ellen Feichtmeir, Szilvia Decoin, Jen Saban, Caroline Zamansky, Nicole Duke, Bonnie Pang, Rachel Pandipati, Amanda Caruso, Julie Reynolds, Tara Moseley, Missy Bottoms, Rebecca Escobar, Elke Billingsley, Brenda Chiu, Suzanne Errecart, Peter Binkley, Kathy Kwong, Cat Leitch, Kelly Scullino, Ling Law, and Meagan Stephens. Special thanks and acknowledgement to Jennifer Shapiro, Jean Choi, Ting Engelman, Christy Kersten, Elke Billingsley, Brenda Chiu, and Ling Law, who are moving on to Fisher Middle School with their youngest children. You are all a force for good and have had an unparalleled and underappreciated impact on our learning community. Thank you to Mr. Agustin, Mr. Sal and Mr. Balthazar for helping us with things big and small. We appreciate your patience and generosity. Finally, thank you to Lisa Reynolds, Julie Sheehan, and Cindy Adams for an incredible partnership that truly makes this learning community as strong as it is.
Enjoy these last moments of the school year.
Have a great summer,
Melissa Crow
H&SC President 2021-22
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June 2022
- 6/2 - Last Day of School - Minimum Day
- 6/2 - 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony, 8:30am (BH Courtyard)*
- 6/3 - COVID Vaccine Clinic, 9am-1pm (Fisher Middle School)*
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*Scroll down for more details on these events.
**See details above "From the Principal's Desk"
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IMPORTANT SCHOOL CONTACT INFORMATION |
Office:
408-335-2100
Attendance:
408-335-2145
Office Hours:
7:30 am - 3:30 pm
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If you ordered a yard sign, they may be picked up from the front office during office hours. | |
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A Special Thank You
This year has been incredible! As a school, we have been given the opportunity to “get back to normal” in many ways, thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of Melissa Crow, Jennifer Shapiro, and Jean Choi and their dedication to our students and school community. The energy and enthusiasm they have given, to create moments of joy and occasions for engagement, is remarkable and unmatched. As a parent, and a member of our Home and School Club Board, I have seen first hand the amount of time and effort these women have spent, working to brighten school days, support curriculum, and offer our children opportunities that enhance their school experience. They have supported every school program and event you have been a part of and have lead daily, and behind the scenes, in ways you may not even realize. This year would have looked so much differently without their wholehearted enthusiasm, leadership, and commitment. If you see them in these last days of the year, please take a moment to say, “Thank You” for making this school year one to remember!
Kristin Hutchinson
Blossom Hill H&SC President 2022/23
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Yearbook "Hive" Five
"Hive" Five to the yearbook committee, including co-chairs Kathy Kwong, Ting Engelman and Meagan Stephens, for helping us preserve precious memories in this year's Blossom Hill yearbook. We are grateful for your work in managing the yearbook cover contest, formatting pages, managing our Treering account and for supplementing with additional pictures when needed. Thank you for securing yearbook coverage for all of our events. Your creativity and organization skills helped produce a beautiful yearbook.
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Fun Fridays & Garden Club "Hive" Fives
The Home and School Club was proud to bring back a new, outdoor version of “Fun Fridays,” where the students had access to community building crafts, open-ended games, service opportunities (e.g., making cards for the Terraces), learning about culture (i.e., Persian New Year activities), and a shady place for every person to “bee accepted" as they are. Fun Fridays served between 50-130 students during at each of the 16 recesses this was made available. Thank you to all the Funvisor parent and grandparent volunteers, including Dana Green, Michelle Avlas, Galit Goldenthal, Amanda Caruso, Rajvi Shah, Tina Coghlan, Brooke Whitebread, Kati Reaugh, Melissa Rofer, Suzanne Errecart, Lisa Tabinski, Roxana Niktab, Hamsa Subramanian, Smita Kanungo, Jane Fainer, Missy Bottoms, Shaonan Tian, Annie Lee, Chris Borrelli, Prachi Deshmukh, and Jennifer Borrelli.
Also, thank you to Susan Gilmour, Sushma Honnavara-Prasad, and Fargol Givkey, for consistently offering the lunchtime Garden Club. The garden activities were offered once or twice a week from October through May - from filling bird feeders, planting new plants, and watering, the students had access to multi-sensory activities and a welcoming way to “hang out” at recess. We hope to “grow” this pilot program next year so please look for sign up information this fall!
Thank you to Mrs. Lisa Reynolds, yard duty staff and the facilities/maintenance staff for supporting these alternative, recess programs.
Amy Gregor
Fun Fridays and Garden Club Chair
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Library Volunteer "Hive" Five
Thank you to our many wonderful volunteers who worked weekly in the library this school year. Volunteers checked in returned books, reshelved the books, checked out new books, and helped students discover new books. These important jobs freed up Mrs. Grespan to read aloud to our students each library class and to work with students individually to find appropriate reading material. This teamwork between our volunteers and Mrs. Grespan is a great example of how it takes a hive to thrive. Many, many thanks to: Ibet Allan, Jessica Arya, Michelle Avlas, Meghan Bakota, Shelly Bamberger, Trista Bernstein, Erica Bettcher, Missy Bottoms, Daniela Brito, Natalia Burtis, Mia Carlisle, Susan Carter Anderson, Amanda Caruso, Mary Cassidy, Sam Cates, Jean Choi, Melissa Crow, Tova Davis, Szilvia Decoin, Nicole Duke, DeeDee Dunstan, Carrie Endweiss, Ting Engelman, Suzanne Errecart, Rebecca Escobar, Britany Evans, Jane Fainer, Steve Fainer, Ellen Feichtmeir, Cortney Frantz, Kataneh Friberg, Sandy Fu, Lavanya Gandluru, Galit Goldenthal, Michael Gomez, Dana Green, Amy Gregor, Doug Gregor, Janhavi Gudal, Carrie Helwick, Sam Huo, Kristin Hutchinson, Yi Ju, Dan Kelly, Tolou Khorshid, Ki Lee, Cat Leitch, Wenchun Li, Ying Liang, Hyejin Lim, Xiomara Malave, Sonya Margolis, Ivona Miric, Ayse Okuyucu, Rachel Pandipati, Danielle Peake, Kerry Perkins, Kate Petrunya, Larry Ping, Hamsa Raghuvir, Saradha Rama, Saradha Raman, Chitra Ramaswamy, Yanfan Ren, Julie Reynolds, Jennifer Saban, Davina Sambath, Kristin Schueler, Kelly Scullino, Rajvi Shah, Aki Shikano, Myungeun Shin, Francine Shore, Susie Sommerstad, Michele Stefan, Lloyd Thyen, Xuandao Tran , Libby Trevathan, Libby Trevathan, Nidhi Vashisht, Cindy Wang, Carrie Wei, Rachel Wellington, Kristen Willerer, Jodie Wodrich, Yiyan Wu, Fiona Xu, Naree Yoon, and Caroline Zamansky. I am very pleased that superstar Nicole Duke will be the Library Volunteer Coordinator for the 2022-2023 school year. She will be amazing. And a very special thank you to Amy Grespan for "bee"-ing the source of our joy. I greatly value her friendship and the immense patience and empathy that she shares with our children each and every day. Thank you Amy for everything. You are the best!
Jennifer Shapiro
Library Volunteer Coordinator 2019-2022
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Problem of the Month
Congratulations to the winners of the
May Problem of the Month:
Grades TK/K-1 - Karson G. in Mrs. Witter's class
Grades 2-3 - Sahil W. in Mrs. DiSessa's class
Grades 4-5 - Carter D. in Mrs. Roshinski's class
(All winners will receive a $10 gift certificate to Amazon!)
Way to be great problem solvers Honeybees! Thank you to all of the students who participated in the Problem of the Month this school year. See you next year!
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Kudos for Christy Kersten
Please take a moment to say "Thank You" to our very own Christy Kersten who has led the Pottery Program at Blossom Hill for many years as a volunteer. She has given so much of her time and talent to our kiddos, teaching them about creativity through hand made sculpture, inviting them to use their imaginations with color and texture, and encouraging them to explore their individuality with design and form. Our Pottery Program would not exist without her dedication and leadership and we can’t thank her enough for her “Bee-ing Amazing”!
Please take, and upload, a photo of your child with their favorite pottery projects so that we can show Mrs. Kersten the joy her efforts have brought to the lives of our school community. The Kudoboard can be accessed through this link.
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LGUSD Summer
Academic Program
There is still space available in the LGUSD Summer Academic Program. This program is being offered at no cost to our students and will be taught by our teachers. Our program will run from June 13 through July 8 (excluding July 4), Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. This program offers your child an opportunity for extended learning opportunities in reading, writing, and math. We will also offer daily art classes with our esteemed art teacher, Ms. Anderson. Space is limited, so please sign up today by contacting Sophia Lalin at [email protected].
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Summer Construction Projects
Just after school ends, our schools will be undergoing construction projects to enhance the outdoor classroom spaces and complete deferred maintenance projects.
The following work is scheduled at various sites for this summer:
- Solar Installations at all five sites
- Outdoor classroom improvements at all elementary sites including: grass, turf, concrete, seating, planting, trees removed, trees pruned and replanted, resilient surfaces installed
- Painting
- Asphalt repairs and resealing
- Playground improvements
- Electrical improvements
The major construction is anticipated to be completed by mid August. In addition, sites with special projects will require the work to be finished through the fall. We are very excited to begin these projects and will look forward to sharing photos and progress throughout the summer.
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LGS Recreation Summer Fun is Here! | |
Get ready for a Summer of Fun while learning and playing from one of the best summer programs in the Bay Area! Different from the traditional summer school, LGS Recreation’s fee-based Summer Fun Academy is open to all students 1st-8th grade. The program provides students the opportunity to strengthen their academics and to get outside and play during the summer months through a wide range of challenging, engaging, and fun programs! The program begins June 13th. Learn more today by clicking here. | |
Blossom Hill Vision Statement
(Abilities and skills we expect our students to acquire and take-out into the world)
All students will have the necessary skills to become enthusiastic, life-long learners and productive, empathetic, respectful members of society.
Blossom Hill Mission Statement
(What we need to do as a school community to ensure this happens)
The Blossom Hill School community takes pride in providing an enriched standards-based curriculum in a safe, nurturing environment. We strive to appreciate an awareness of students’ developmental needs to help them progress towards independence.
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Blossom Hill Elementary School
16400 Blossom Hill Road, Los Gatos, CA 95032
Phone: 408-335-2100 | Fax: 408-356-0887
Attendance Line: 408-335-2145
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*The Beehive newsletter is approved by Principal Lisa Reynolds and the H&SC Board and is written exclusively to provide the Blossom Hill community with pertinent, weekly school information. Articles, information, calendars, etc. may not be duplicated or re-printed in any manner without the permission of the Home & School Club or the Blossom Hill school administration. | |
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Submissions can be made to The Beehive editor, Jennifer Shapiro,
at [email protected].
Thank you Blossom Hill Honeybees for reading the Beehive.
It has been an honor to be your Beehive editor. Happy summer! JLS
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