From the Principal’s Desk |
Dear Blossom Hill Families:
The staff and I are looking forward to Conference Week kicking-off next Monday, November 2nd and the opportunity to meet with you to share information that will promote your child’s social/emotional well-being and academic achievement. Both parents and teachers bring their own expertise to the conference that is key to supporting your student. As parents, you are extremely knowledgeable about your child. You understand what motivates them: their strengths, challenges, dreams, and qualms. Teachers bring important information about learning styles, age appropriate skills, developmental milestones, peer relationships, and an understanding of where your child is on their educational journey. All classroom teachers sent home scheduling information during the window of October 19-21. If you have not done so already, please be sure to respond and schedule your conference with your child’s teacher as soon as possible. It is our heartfelt desire to build a strong home/school partnership and to support your child’s ongoing growth and success.
Also, please save the dates and join our parent community at two important meetings where we will be collecting information to plan and design for solar installation, field use, and playground/blacktop use. Your input will be used to draw-up plans that will be presented to the Trustees at the November 19th LGUSD Board meeting. If you have any questions, please contact me.
BH Facility Community Planning Meeting #1:
Monday, November 2nd, 4:00-5:30 (Zoom link below)
BH Facility Community Planning Meeting #2:
Tuesday, November 10th, 4:00 (Zoom link will be emailed to parents next week.)
In education together,
Lisa Reynolds
Principal, Blossom Hill School
Phone: 408.335.2100
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October/November
- 10/26 - 10/30 - Red Ribbon Week*
- 10/29 - School Site Council (SSC) Meeting, 2:45-3:45pm (online)
- 10/30 - Last day to drop off Box Tops 4 Education at school
- 10/30 - Last day to drop off cards for the Terraces at school
- 11/1 - Daylight Savings Time Ends
- 11/2 - BH Facilities Planning Meeting, 4pm (online)**
- 11/2 - 11/6 - Conference Week*
- 11/4 - H&SC Board Meeting, 8-9:30am (online)
- 11/4 - 11/11 - Yearbook Cover Contest Entries Due*
- 11/10 - BH Facilities Planning Meeting, 4pm (online)**
- 11/11 - Veteran's Day - No School
- 11/18 - School Picture Day*
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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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If you need a yard sign or want to send a picture of your child with their sign for our bulletin board, please email Jennifer Shapiro at [email protected]. |
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Celebrating Red Ribbon Week - October 26th -30th |
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In this unique year, Blossom Hill Elementary is encouraging families to take time to connect and talk about what it means for them to live a healthy lifestyle. Each day of Red Ribbon Week, we will post on our Blossom Hill Home & School Club website (hsc.blossomhill.org) and our Facebook page (https://facebook.com/BHHSC) about a different pillar of health and tips for getting quality sleep, reducing or managing stress, maintaining a healthy diet, getting enough exercise, and connecting with others in creative ways, which can be challenging during Covid-19. We all must be brave in these tough times, continue to make healthy choices, and be true to ourselves.
Monday's Tips: Healthy Sleep Habits
- Keep a consistent sleep schedule. Get up at the same time every day, even on weekends or during vacations.
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Set a bedtime that is early enough for you to get at least 7 hours of sleep. Kids need more sleep! (Childhood Sleep Guidelines).
- Establish a relaxing bedtime routine.
- Make your bedroom quiet and relaxing. Keep the room at a comfortable, cool temperature.
- Limit exposure to bright light in the evenings.
- Turn off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
- Don’t eat a large meal before bedtime. If you are hungry at night, eat a light, healthy snack.
- Exercise regularly and maintain a healthy diet.
- Avoid consuming caffeine in the late afternoon or evening.
- Reduce your fluid intake before bedtime.
Tuesday' Tips: Reducing and/or Managing Stress
With everything that is going on, let’s “Bee Brave” today to try something new to increase our coping skills for stress. One way to help children with stress is to model how to cope with it ourselves. We found this helpful “starfish breathing exercise” that can help reduce stress in the moment - Starfish Breathing Exercise.
Also, we found this article by the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) that provided a menu of ideas:
- Accept your needs. Recognize what your triggers are. What situations make you feel physically and mentally agitated? Once you know this, you can avoid them when it's reasonable to, and to cope when you can't.
- Manage your time. Prioritizing your activities can help you use your time well. Making a day-to-day schedule helps ensure you don't feel overwhelmed by everyday tasks and deadlines.
- Practice relaxation. Deep breathing, meditation and progressive muscle relaxation are good ways to calm yourself. Taking a break to refocus can have benefits beyond the immediate moment.
- Exercise daily. Schedule time to walk outside, bike or join a dance class, even if via Zoom in current times. Whatever you do, make sure it's fun. Daily exercise naturally produces stress-relieving hormones in your body and improves your overall physical health.
- Set aside time for yourself. Schedule something that makes you feel good. It might be reading a book, watching a movie, or taking your dog for a walk.
- Eat well. Eating unprocessed foods, like whole grains, vegetables, and fresh fruit is the foundation for a healthy body and mind. Eating well can also help stabilize your mood.
- Get enough sleep.
- Avoid alcohol and drugs. They don't actually reduce stress: in fact, they often worsen it. If you're struggling with substance abuse, educate yourself and get help.
- Talk to someone. Whether to friends, family, a counselor or a support group, airing out and talking can help.
Blossom Hill Elementary has counselors available help support students. Their information can be found at LGUSD Student Wellness Supports webpage. Whether it’s the lunchtime Buddy Ambassador Program, reaching out to your child’s teacher, or finding a mental health therapist for your child or yourself as a parent, there is help out there. “Bee Brave” and reach out. We are here to help you connect to the resources you may need to cope with today’s stressors.
Please see casalg.org for additional lists of local resources, including the 24-hour county crisis line for parents or teens (1-855-278-4204).
Wednesday's Tips: Maintaining a Healthy Diet
This Red Ribbon Week is inspiring us to "Bee Healthy." Today let's focus is on maintaining a healthy diet. We have found a few new recipes to get the whole family involved:
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Team Nutrition Cooks! - Team Nutrition Cooks! is a series of cooking-based nutrition activities for children ages 8 to 12 years old. These activities can spark children’s interest in trying new foods and help empower them with skills for independence. Cooking can also help kids become more interested in making healthy food choices that can help build and support good eating habits throughout their lifetime.
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A new smoothie recipe from CASSY: Making Healthy Smoothies (CASSY is a Silicon Valley nonprofit agency that partners with local schools to support students' social and emotional well-being through crisis intervention, ongoing counseling, and proactive mental health education.)
Please don't forget there are resources in our community to help provide balanced meals for families, such as the Nutrition Plan Meal Service found LGUSD Food Services webpage. Complimentary breakfast and lunch services have been extended through December 31, 2020. Drive thru service is offered at R.J. Fisher Middle School. The hours for pick-up is Monday through Friday, 8:00am -9:00am for breakfast and 12:00pm - 1:30pm for lunch. All meals are free to those 18 and under regardless of income.
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Hello Blossom Hill Bees! Even though we won't be celebrating the Harvest Festival in person this year, that won't stop us from enjoying the season. We are challenging our students to design a new game for next year's event. Submit your idea to the Harvest Festival organizers and one game will be chosen to be played at next year's Harvest Festival! Since we will miss having our traditional Cake Walk, we decided to host a "virtual" Harvest Baking Showcase. We don't want to miss our students' confectionery creations. You can get all the information about both of these activities and more on our website: https://bhharvestfestival2020.org.
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The Terraces
Halloween Outreach
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Although we are not able to hold our Halloween Parade to the Terraces, we want to let the residents know we are still thinking of them and missing them. We will be collecting hand made Halloween or fall themed cards and pictures to be delivered to the Terraces by the Harvest Festival Committee on October 30th. Please bring your beautiful cards and pictures to your next drop off/pick up day, or drop them off at the office anytime before this Friday, the 30th. |
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Save the Date!
Picture Day is Wednesday, November 18th!
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Generations School Photography will be on campus on Wednesday, November 18th for Picture Day. Individual pictures will be taken (no class photos at this time), so students have been scheduled for their pictures by last name so that families need only make one trip. Picture Day will be quick and easy. More details will be sent out later in the month.
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Superheroes Appreciation - November 2nd-6th |
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Faster than the speed of your broadband!
More powerful than a face mask!
Able to reach growing minds with a single click!
Look! Up on your screen!
It’s a Google classroom master.
It’s a Zoom star.
It’s the Blossom Hill teachers and staff!
Yes, it's the Blossom Hill staff – amazing professionals from out of this world who came to school with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal instructors. The Blossom Hill Staff – defenders of learning opportunities. Champions of growth mindsets. Valiant, courageous fighters against the forces of the summer slide. They are disguised as mild mannered, everyday people. But to our students, they’re Superheroes!
Fall Conference Week is November 2-6, 2020. The H&SC is excited to continue our long-standing tradition of hosting daily lunches for our “Superhero” staff during conference week. This is a great opportunity to show gratitude and support to all members of the Blossom Hill Staff. As with everything, Conference Week Lunches will be done a little differently this year. Instead of potluck style, we will deliver fully catered box lunches and treats throughout the week. Instead of decorating the Staff Lounge, Staff and teachers will receive a box with desk decorations and tokens of appreciation.
Support the Superheroes at school daily by making cash donations for catering and other expenses.
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Please contact Kristin Hutchinson if you have any questions at [email protected]. Thank you for showing our amazing teachers and staff how much we appreciate them!
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Do you love the scientific method? Do you enjoy experiments? Do you have website hosting expertise? The Blossom Hill Home & School Club is looking for adult volunteers to help carry out a Virtual Science Fair in February or March 2021. We need people who can:
- Create informative videos and ads to promote science fair
- Identify the best web host for science fair project slides and videos
- Evaluate projects after submission
- And much more!
If you are interested in helping out, contact Science Fair co-chairs Nicole Duke and Melissa Crow at [email protected].
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The Blossom Hill Home & School Club is looking for parents to spearhead activities that will get our kids offline and help them connect in appropriate and distanced ways. Games and activities could include augmented reality games, exercise challenges, service projects, “front window” art projects, or community scavenger hunts. Interested parents should email the Home & School Club at [email protected].
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Community Sponsor Spotlight |
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The Home & School would like to thank this week's Spotlight Community Sponsor, Kumon Math & Reading Center. We appreciate Kumon's continued support of our Home & School Club. If you would like to become a Community Sponsor, please contact Jennifer Shapiro at [email protected].
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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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