From the Principal's Desk |
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Dear Blossom Hill Families:
As we close the year of 2020 and reflect on all the blessings, challenges, and novel experiences in our lives, the staff and I want to thank you for your ongoing support, kindness, and generous contributions to our learning community. Our school is a very special place due to your efforts and commitment to education.
We send our best wishes to you and your family for a holiday season filled with love, health, and a prosperous New Year.
In education together,
Lisa Reynolds
Principal, Blossom Hill School
Phone: 408.335.2100
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December/January
- 12/2 - 1/6 - Blossom Hill Photo Scavenger Hunt Challenge*
- 12/16 - Community Book Study, 5:30-6:30pm (online)*
- 12/17 - Deadline for kindness messages for the Terraces*
- 12/18 - 1/3 - Winter Break - No School
- 1/7 - Special LGUSD Board Meeting, 4-6pm (online)
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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 - 4 pm
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Need some good news? Each week, check out the Wednesday morning announcements (found in your child's Google Classroom). Enjoy Mrs. Adams' special Blossom Hill song, fifth graders leading the Pledge and telling the "buzz" at Blossom Hill, important messages from Mrs. Reynolds, and funny jokes from our custodial staff. The Blossom Hill Good News will put a smile on your face. |
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"Bee" Safe with Blossom Hill Masks! |
All students will be receiving a Blossom Hill mask at their next materials pick up courtesy of the Home & School Club. Please be sure to write your child's name and classroom number on the label inside the mask, as all masks do look alike. Let's all "bee" safe and "bee" healthy.
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Kindness Art Project and Terraces Holiday Outreach |
As a spark to kindle kindness and empathy, we are sending home a “Kindness Art Project” kit to each student at your next student supply pick up days. The kit is a brown paper bag with a length of string, ribbons and stickers. The premise is simple:
- Fix the string up somewhere near your child's work space.
- Each time your child does something kind for someone, tie a small piece of the ribbon to the string.
- When someone else does something nice for your child, tie on a different colored piece!
Your child can decorate it as much as he/she likes and share with his/her teacher and classmates!
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As an extension of our Kindness Challenge, we invite you to help us spread kindness and cheer during these difficult times. This holiday season is especially hard for many seniors who may be living alone or unable to see family due to COVID 19. We need your help to make cards, letters, drawings or anything special and personal for our friends at the Terraces. Please place your messages of kindness in the box in front of the office by Thursday, December 17th at 4pm. Don't forget to tie a ribbon on your string for your act of kindness. |
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Tech Support for Families |
Chromebook Maintenance & Troubleshooting
Here are some things you can do to assure that your Chromebook will provide the best performance possible:
Location:
- Sit close to your home router for best WiFi connectivity.
- Lagging and freezing usually indicate a problem with your internet connection. Move to an area with a more stable connection to see if this helps.
- Check the speed of your Internet connection
Exterior of the Chromebook
- Make sure nothing is covering the microphone or camera such as a piece of tape or paper.
- The Microphone is a small hole located on the top of your screen, next to your camera.
- Removing any stickers on or around your camera may help as well.
During the School Week
- Restart your chromebook daily.
- This means turn the Chromebook off and back on at least once every 24 hours. This can help ensure your cache is cleared on a regular basis and can ensure configuration updates are kept up to date.
- Regularly close unneeded tabs, applications, and extensions.
- These actions can take more bandwidth or power demand and it is very common for these to cause issues during video conferencing. It is best to only keep tabs open that are needed, especially while in a video conference. Most software players are constantly working to improve the efficiency of their programs and therefore previously needed extensions may not be needed any longer. These no longer needed extensions running in the background can slow down your system and impact overall device performance.
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Thank You Dante the Magician |
Thank you to Dante the Magician and his amazing assistant Maria for a mezmorizing magic show. More than 300 students, families, and staff members were treated to Dante's juggling and mind reading skills, as well his ability to split his furry friend Willy into three pieces. (Don't worry. Willy came out of it just fine.) Thank you to the Home & School Club for funding this special show to kick off our winter break.
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Hybrid Learning Support Aides/Health Screeners Needed!
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We are working towards opening for in-person instruction. In order to support our schools and staff members, we are hiring additional staff to act as in-class aides to facilitate the “Rooming and Zooming” model, and to provide on-campus support. While we know many would be happy to volunteer their support, to ensure adequate training and provide consistency, we will be hiring the assistants. These positions will begin when in-person instruction classes begin. The details and how to apply are listed in the job posting. |
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Sessions begin December 16th
5:30-6:30pm
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LGUSD is inviting the community to join in the conversation about equity, inclusion and race led by our Equity Action Team and Epoch Education. We are reading The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Pick up a copy of the book and get reading. We look forward to learning together.
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Thank you 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders for submitting your entries for the yearbook contest! We collected nearly 100 beautiful drawings!
We are proud to announce our online Art Gallery to showcase ALL the creative drawings to reflect the spirit of this year’s theme – ‘Let The Kind Bees Zoom to Success!’
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Enjoy!
Buy the Yearbook and Upload your school photos, please visit TreeRing.
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12 Days of Bee-ing Celebration |
Day 1 - 12/1 -
Bee Festive - decorative snowflakes
Day 2 - 12/2 -
Bee Healthy - BHES face masks
Day 3 - 12/3 -
Bee Memorable - digital recipe book
Day 4 - 12/4 -
Bee Warm - hot chocolate bar
Day 5 - 12/7 -
Bee Sharp - snowflake pencils
Day 6 - 12/8 -
Bee Bright - holiday simmer pot kit
Day 7 - 12/9 -
Bee Generous - donation made to Second Harvest
Day 8 - 12/10 -
Bee Merry - honeybee cookie
Day 9 - 12/11 -
Bee Joyful - kudoboard
Day 10 - 12/14 -
Bee Flexible - wrapping paper
Day 11 - 12/15 -
Bee Sweet - treat filled santas
Day 12 - 12/16 -
Bee Sparkling - sparkling cider
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For the past 11 days, the Staff Appreciation Committee and the "Bee-lieve Brigade" has been hosting the "12 Days of Bee-ing Celebration" for our amazing teachers and staff. If you have been to school lately, you may have noticed the snowflakes decorating the entry and office, making the space a bit more festive for this holiday season. Each day starting with Tuesday 12/1 there was a themed day and a new surprise for our deserving staff!
Each day they found the surprise located in their school mailbox, email, or a designated space in the office, where each day was highlighted. It is our sincere hope that this countdown has lifted spirits and brought in the holiday cheer we could all use extra helpings of these days.
Many thanks to Blossom Hill families who helped spread cheer by making snowflakes for the office, contributing holiday recipes for our online recipe exchange, and by adding to well wishes the winter kudoboard.
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Thank you to our Book Fair Committee Co-Chairs, Francine Shore and Ting Engelman, as well as our wonderful librarian, Amy Grespan, for a terrific Hicklebee's Book Fair. Parents were able to shop Hicklebee's amazing selection while students participated in many fun events, including Mrs. Reynolds' PJ Story Time and our two raffles. The proceeds will allow Mrs. Grespan to continue to purchase new books for our school library. Thank you to everyone for supporting this event.
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Hicklebee's Book Fair -
Find Buzzy Bee Winners
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Thank you to all the students who searched the Hicklebee's Blossom Hill Book Fair categories to find our mascot, Buzzy Bee. (He was hiding in the Chapter Book section.)
Congrations to the raffle winners:
Zoe W. - Mr. Bolin's class
Jack S. - Mr. Bolin's class
Nadia T. - Mrs. Ottinger's class
(The winners will each receive a BH sweatshirt.)
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Project Cornerstone
Lesson #3 - Sebastian's Roller Skates
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Theme: Keep Going—Another Try Might Change Everything
Social and Emotional Learning Message
(Self-Awareness)
This book shows how perseverance and hard work can bring about great leaps of confidence and skill. Shy Sebastian gains confidence while practicing a new activity: roller skating! His newly developed confidence empowers him to speak up and participate more fully in other areas of his life.
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The goals for this lesson are:
- Students will reflect upon and identify the support students receive from their peers, family, and community.
- Students will understand that as they persevere through something difficult, they gain confidence.
- Students will provide support to their peers, family, and community.
The following questions go along with the Cornerstone video:
Pause 1:
1. What do you notice about Sebastian’s thoughts? (Dark colors, lots of thoughts, they are hidden, they don’t stand out, they are jumbled and messy.)
2. Does Sebastian have the confidence to share his thoughts? How do you know? (He is not making eye contact, he is looking at the floor, he says “fine.”)
3. Why do think he is not sharing his thoughts? (Scared, shy, etc.)
4. Tell students to pay attention to Sebastian’s thoughts in the illustrations as we read the rest of the story.
Pause 2:
1. How did Sebastian feel after he tried to skate? (He’s not good, skating isn’t for him.)
2. What is a way Sebastian could have used his personal power to change how he was feeling? (Positive self-talk, “I can’t skate…yet,” he could’ve kept trying.)
Pause 3:
1. Why was Sebastian sad? (He is not as good as other skaters, he got a little discouraged.)
2. How did Sebastian respond the next day? What did he do? (He returned to the park, he kept trying, he skated slowly, he put one foot in front of the other.)
Pause 4:
1. What do you notice about Sebastian’s thoughts now? (Bright colors, lots of thoughts, they stand out.)
2. Does Sebastian have the confidence to share his thoughts? How do you know? (He is looking at the neighbor speaking to him.)
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Save the Date - The Science Fair is Going Virtual! |
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Be sure to have your student attend library time the week of January 4 - 8, 2021 to learn more about the Virtual Science Fair. The Parent Info Night will be held January 28 via Zoom. More information to follow. |
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Lending Library Temporarily Closed |
Due to the new "Stay at Home" orders, our On Your Honor Lending Library will be closed through the holiday break. We look forward to it reopening when we return to school in January. Thank you to Francine Shore and Amy Grespan for setting up this wonderful resource.
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Blossom Hill Photo Scavenger Hunt Challenge - Update |
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The new "Stay at Home" order does allow for exercising outdoors, and we know this is important for our physical and mental health. To foster our community connections and exercise our bodies, please enjoy our Photo Scavenger Hunt Challenge while you and your family are out on a walk or bike or scooter ride. Please remember to "bee" safe - wear a mask and keep your minimum six feet of distance. The new submission deadline will be Wednesday, January 6th.
Have your parents email your pictures to [email protected] by 9 pm on January 6th. Make sure you include only your first name and teacher for identifying information. Families only need to include one submission - just include the first name and teacher of each child who wants to be entered in the prize drawing. Photos may be shared in the Beehive, Wednesday morning announcement and/or yearbook.
Completed entries will be included in a prize drawing. Entries that have completed the bonus section will be included in a drawing for a special grand prize. Winners will be announced in the morning announcements and Beehive on January 6th Please note, to encourage Covid-19 recommendations, we will only accept entries with pictures of children in the same household. Masks and distancing should be used during this activity.
Take a picture of you and your family…
- Wearing Blossom Hill Spirit Wear at home
- Next to the “Hicklebees Bookfair” or “Bee Kinder” sign in front of Blossom Hill
- Next to your favorite spot at Blossom Hill Park
- In front of the Billy Jones Wildcat RailRoad Station
- In front of your favorite Los Gatos sweet shop
- In front of the Los Gatos library with a book
- In front of the Los Gatos 9/11 Memorial
- Next to the Los Gatos High School cat
BONUS - Take a picture of you and your family…
- Outside the original Forbes Mill building
- In front of a light display at Vasona park (either day or night)
- In your email submission, tell us one new fact you have learned about our town during your hunt.
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LGS Recreation Opportunities |
Looking for holiday camps, Clubhouse registration, or other enrichment and athletics offerings for your children or for yourself? Check out LGS Recreation's Winter/Spring Recreation Guide. There are many opportunities available for all ages across many different areas of interest. |
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No Cost Giving at Amazon Smile |
Thank you to all the families who have shopped using Amazon Smile and selected the Blossom Hill Home & School Club as their charity. This past quarter, the H&SC received $299.68 through this wonderfully generous program. To date, we have received $4175.65. Best of all, No Cost Giving is easy! Visit smile.amazon.com, designate Blossom Hill Home & School Club as your charitable organization, and shop away! Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the Blossom Hill H&SC.
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A friendly reminder, if you donate to One Community LG before the year's end, you can take advantage of the tax deduction on your 2020 taxes. |
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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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Blossom Hill Home & School Club
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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,
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