November 2014 Paw Prints

Paw Prints mark your calendars November 19 November 20 November 24-28 December 5 December 6 December 11 December 12 December 16

Midterm Progress Reports Walk to School Day Thanksgiving Holidays: No School Geography Bee Santa’s Breakfast: 8AM 90th Birthday Celebration: Details TBA Walk to School Day & Jingle Bell Run Robotics Truck

Winter Holidays

2014-2015 PTO Officers Georgia Pearson President Marivee Jerome Vice President

December 22, 2014 - January 4 January 5: First Day of 2nd Semester

Bluff Park is excited to invite students to be a part of the Crazy 8s Math Club.

Crazy 8s is a math club unlike any before it. It’s a collection of novel, highoctane math activities that will appeal to a wide range of kids. The club includes hands-on activities to show that math is fun and recreational.

The club’s goal is to get kids to bond as a group of friends and to feel like math is a fun, regular part of their lives. So, it’s key to meet weekly.

Grads K-2 & 3-5 meet 1 hour each week for 8 weeks. Crazy 8s Math Club will meet after school on Tuesdays for students in grades K-2 and on Wednesdays for grades 3-5. Our first meetings were September 30 and October 1 in the library immediately after school until 3:45PM. The club is FREE! Kids only need to bring a snack and a drink.

Space is limited in the Crazy 8s Math Club. Crazy 8s is designed for no more than 20 kids. I will take the first 20 K-2 & 3-5 students that return their form to me. I am very excited about this opportunity for our students!

Tricia Shanlever, Math Coach

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Mandy Black Vice President Sharon Pierson Treasurer Leslie Black Secretary Michel O’Brien Historian

Michelle Grant Parliamentarian Anna Hart Fundraising Chair Karyn McRee Head Room Mom Ann Welborn K-2nd Teacher Rep Tricia Shanlever 3rd-5th Teacher Rep

from the

I’m reminded every day what outstanding teachers, staff, parents, students and community make up Bluff Park Elementary. Everyone works extremely hard to make sure that your child receives the best education possible. The outdoor classroom is a one example.

Many schools have started this kind of project, but after a couple of years it goes away.

The outdoor classroom at Bluff Park is six years old and gets better every year. This is due to the hard work of everyone that makes up our school community. I can’t wait to see it when it’s ten yeard old.

principal

Speaking of years, this is Bluf Park School’s 90th birthday! Plans for a party are being made. My first experience with Bluff Park was 36 years ago. Even as a brand new teacher I knew that Bluff Park was a very special place. The history of Bluff Park area is well worth reading. Even 90 years ago, the school was the major center of the community as it still is today.

Midterm progress reports will be coming out November 19, and I encourage you to take a look. Use this opportunity to praise them and to choose areas to work on. All students have strengths as well as areas that need stregthening. Make a plan with your child on how they can make and exceed the standard expectations. The coming start of the holiday and basketball seasons means there will be many distractions that can impact your child’s schoolwork. Establishing a family calendar and schedule can help everyone stay on track and focused. If you have any questions about what is going on in the classroom or need some ideas, please contact your child’s teacher with your questions.

The data from the Aspire ACT test that our current fourth and fifth graders took last spring arrived became available last month, and you should have received a copy of your child’s scores. This new test provides parents with a great deal more information than the old ARMT test did. This is a nationally-normed test that lets you see how your child is performing in a national setting. It also identifies if they are on track to be college and career ready when they graduate high school. Please remember this is the first time our students have taken this test. Over time and with more data from the testing, the information will become more accurate.

I know that you are aware of the health concerns that are taking place in our nation. The Hoover City School System takes these concerns very seriously and keeps up-to-date on the current information and procedures. Our school nurse, Melanie Jourdan, RN, does an outstanding job in monitoring the health of all the students and staff. Please remember that it is our procedure that a student must be fever -free for 24 hours before returning to school

David Fancher

Please do not be surprised if this note from me is a little soggy… We seem to have been playing in the rain a good bit lately! Our shenanigans started with a very successful (as always) fall outdoor cleanup on September 6th. We planted beautiful flowers, picked up loads of trash, pressure washed, painted and added cool new signage to the outdoor classroom. If you haven’t been out there lately, please stop by and see how beautiful it is! Our cleanup ended with a very timely downpour that sent everyone home a little cooler.

from the

president

Our next rain dance came during the open house/outdoor classroom social on October 2nd. While the precious children were leading their parents through their classrooms and were chatting with the teachers, we saw the rain coming. But we pushed on and welcomed everyone to the second annual outdoor classroom social, with one eye on the event, one eye on the rainclouds and huge smiles on our faces. We were so excited to eat pizza and ice-cream, view the fantastic jack-o-lanterns, and socialize as we learned about worms, chickens and honey bees. Then the rains came and we had to hightail it to the cafeteria! Wet! Wet! Wet as we could get! It was fun though, wasn’t it? We don’t get to play in the rain as much as we used to. Thank you to everyone who made this open house/outdoor classroom event successful, even through the rain! I know it was crazy, but it was fun-crazy with your help!

Our indoor activities have gone extremely well this year as well. You and your children blew wrapping paper sales out of the park. We don’t have exact numbers yet, but it looks like the school made around $22,000 that will go to teachers’ continuing education and supplies. Thank you all for supporting this fantastic fundraiser! Thank you especially to Anna Hart who coordinated the entire project. We appreciate it so very much!

We also raised about $300.00 during our Chick-Fil-A spirit night and $200.00 at our Tip Top Grill event and had a bunch of fun visiting with one another in the process. There’s nothing like getting to know each other better over some fried food. Thank you all for supporting these events.

Our first walk to school day was successful as well as duty free lunch! Thank you to Holly Hilton for organizing the walk and Karyn McRee for heading up duty free lunch! Y’all are so wonderful!

The holidays are coming up and Breakfast with Santa is just around the corner on December 6th. I know the kids have already begun practicing their songs. I can’t wait to hear them all together!

Georgia Pearson

es Pole at Shad e h t t a u o Y See ying for our Cliff Park pra ol nity and scho u m m o c , y r t coun

ul DeMarco PTO with Pa 1,000 for $ g in t n e s re p ject a special pro

Walk to School Day!!

Kindergarten field trip to the Publix bakery