BPES Newsletter
Week of November 12th
Mark Your Calendar
Monday, November 11th - Veteran's Day (No School for Students)
Wednesday, November 13th - Progress Reports Go Home
Thursday, November 14th - Second Dauphin Island Payment Due for 5th Grade
Thursday, November 14th - 5th Grade Dauphin Island Parent Meeting 6:00 PM
Friday, November 15th - Whole School House Meeting
Friday, November 15th - Charleston Wrap Pick-Up 9:30 - 11:30 AM
Sunday, November 17th - Charleston Wrap Pick-Up 4:00 - 6:00 PM
Monday, November 18th - Charleston Wrap Pick-Up 4:00 - 6:00 PM
Monday, November 18th - Friday, November 22nd - Book Fair
Tuesday, November 19th - 2nd Grade Field Trip to American Village
Wednesday, November 20th - Thanksgiving Lunch
Thursday, November 21st - Thanksgiving Lunch
Monday, November 25th - Friday, November 29th - Thanksgiving Break; No School
Congratulations to Our Bluff Park Teacher of the Year!
Thanksgiving Lunch
Sweets for Soldiers
Mercedes Marathon
Morning Carpool
We believe it is important for children to develop good habits at an early age and to learn that school is important. Parents, please help us by having your child here on time. Every minute counts! This is a reminder that students not in their seats by 7:50 a.m will be counted tardy. Our academic schedule begins at 7:50 a.m., and therefore, we need all students and staff members ready to go at 7:50 a.m. The first bell rings at 7:40 a.m., and safety patrol is alerted that they will need to go in for the second bell at 7:45 a.m. The tardy bell(third bell) will ring at 7:50 a.m. If the “your child is now late” sign is out, you will need to park and check your child in at the front desk. For the past week, we have closely monitored carpool and from 7:00 a.m.-7:42 a.m. there is little to no line. If the line is backed up to the road, it takes approximately four minutes for the car at the turn-in to make it to the unloading location. If weather or other extenuating circumstances slow down the carpool process, we will make an exception. Also, please be sure to only drop students off at the designated area. Thank you for your support.
October Whole School House Meeting
Book Fair
Our fall Book Fair will be held in the BPES library media center November 18th-22nd. Students will come to the book fair during their library time that week. Parents are welcome to shop anytime during school hours. If you are interested in volunteering during the book fair, we would greatly appreciate it! (especially during the afternoons with the little students)
Flu Season
We are approaching flu season. Currently our school is not seeing many cases of the flu.However, we have started monitoring numbers daily. Please partner with us, as you monitor your children when they have symptoms of illness, to be sure that they do not attend school while they have fever. Common flu symptoms include:
Fever or feeling feverish/chills.(Temp of 100.0 or above)
Cough.
Sore throat.
Runny or stuffy nose.
Muscle or body aches.
Headaches.
Fatigue (tiredness)
Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults.
.
The Alabama Department of Public Health urges the general public to follow these actions to avoid getting and spreading the flu:
* Stay at home if you have a fever, and for at least 24 hours post fever without fever-reducing
* Wash your hands often
* Cover your cough and sneeze
* Clean and disinfect your environment
* Consider getting the flu vaccine
Parents, please notify the school nurse if your child has been diagnosed by a physician with the flu. You may call the Health Room at 439-2830 or email Nurse Melanie at mjourdan@hoover.k12.al.us to report any cases.
Protect Against Flu Season
The Bluff Park House Store
The House Store is now open for business! The House Store will open every Thursday morning at 7:10 a.m. until 7:35 a.m. in the cafeteria. Kindergarten friends will have a special day and time to purchase items from the store.
Students can purchase the following items:
White tube socks with the following colored stripes:
Red, green, blue, purple, black, or pink - $5.00
Baseball caps in the house colors - $5.00
Sparkly pom poms in the house colors - $4.00
Shoelaces in the following colors:
Red, red-orange, orange, yellow, green, blue, light blue, turquoise, purple, pink, magenta, hot pink, white, and black. - $3.00
Bandanas in the house colors - $2.00
All sales are final. Cash only, please.
Riding a Bike or Scooter to School
Please be sure that your child wears a helmet each day if they are riding a bike or scooter to school. This is a safety concern and is a daily requirement for students.
BPES Website
A big thanks to those who responded to our recently-administered HCS Elementary Website Survey. Your results guided several changes which we hope you will find helpful as you navigate our sites.
We have placed Calendars, Staff Listings, and Menus in more prominent locations. We have disabled pages that were not heavily utilized. We have also worked to remove dead links and adjust contrast issues.
We realize some of you are strictly on desktops; others seek out websites via mobile devices. We continuously work toward ensuring our platforms are responsive on all devices.
Please know that this will always be a work in progress and we welcome your suggestions as we enhance the ways in which we communicate with you. Attached below are videos to help you easily access the website on a desktop or a mobile device.
School Digital Citizenship
K-5 Family Tips for Internet Safety. Click HERE for tips on how to help boost kids' safety, privacy, and security when using the internet.
From the Counselor
This last month, we spent time learning about bullying and how it is different from a conflict. We also talked about the power of being a bystander and helping someone out who is feeling left out of being made fun of. I gave all the teachers home links that were put in their newsletters. This will reinforce the topics discussed in guidance over the last month.
For the next couple of months, students in Guidance will be learning about the Zones of Regulation. The students will be associating their emotions and feelings to a color (described below). We will learn how to move from the red zone to the green zone by utilizing calm down strategies that we have been learning. Some of the strategies have been; deep breathing, relaxation, journaling, walking away, drawing.
Some common language:
What zone are you in?
What will help you move to the green zone?
What calm down strategy helps you the most
THE FOUR ZONES:
The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions. A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, however one has more control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.
The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.
The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.
Spanish with Senora Gaines
Hola mi familia de Bluff Park. This week, my Kindergarten amigos watched Bebe Tiburon (baby shark), Halloween edition from ‘Super Simple Espanol’. It was fun to learn different names for costumes (disfraces) in Spanish. We also read ‘Monarca va a Mihoacan’, a story about a Monarch butterfly that migrates to Mihoacan, Mexico. My 1st and 2nd grade amigos also watched the Bebe Tiburon video as well as created a ‘guagua de pan’, which is a sweet bread eaten in Ecuador on Dia de los Muertos. Guagua means ‘baby’ in Quechua, the Incan language. My 3rd, 4th and 5th grade amigos created Calacas after learning a little about Jose Posada, the original artist that created ‘La Catrina’, a skeleton decoration used throughout Mexico for Dia de los Muertos.
Again, if you are interested in Dia de los Muertos, there is a festival this weekend (Saturday, Nov 2nd) at Pepper Place from 5-11 p.m. Cost of a ticket is $5- $10 and more information about it can be found at https://bhamdayofthedead.com/ .
Always feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at mgaines@hoover.k12.al.us
Gracias for all you do,
Profesora Melany Gaines
Connect with PTO
Check out our newly updated PTO website at https://bpespto.weebly.com for information on ways to get involved, this semester’s calendar of events, teacher fun fact sheets, details on this year’s initiatives, board meeting minutes, and more. Additionally, join our Facebook page — search “BPES PTO” — to stay in the loop and get regular updates on school and PTO activities.
If you have questions about PTO or have an area in which you’d like to get involved, feel free to reach out to bluffparkpto@gmail.com.
Charleston Wrap Update and Pick-Up
Thank you to everyone who sold items for our largest fundraiser! We surpassed previous sales and are very grateful for your support! Prizes from CW will be given to your child after delivery. PTO prizes for families who sold 15+ items will be in the next few weeks!
If you sold packet sales, please make note of picking up your box of items at one of these times by the lower gym doors.
- 11/15 9:30-11:30 am - Charleston Wrap Pick-Up
- 11/17 4-6 pm - Charleston Wrap Pick-Up
- 11/18 4-6 pm - Charleston Wrap Pick-Up
PTO November Newsletter
Bluff Park Elementary School
Website: https://www.hoovercityschools.net/bluffpark
Location: 569 Park Avenue, Hoover, AL, USA
Phone: 205 439 2800
Facebook: facebook.com/bluffparkelem
Twitter: @BluffParkElem
Equal Educational Opportunities
(Notice of Nondiscrimination for all Mass-Distributed Publications/Mass Communications)
Updated 2018
EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
(Board policy, 6.6) No student will be unlawfully excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in any program or activity offered or sponsored by the Board on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, disability, creed, national origin, sex, immigrant or migrant status, non-English speaking ability, or homeless status. All career and technical education opportunities are offered to all students regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, or disability. The district also provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups.
Mrs. Claire Jones-Moore, IDEA Coordinator
Mrs. Anna Whitney, Section 504 Coordinator
Dr. Debra Walker Smith, Title I Coordinator
Dr. Autumm Jeter, Title II Coordinator
Dr. Debra Walker Smith, Title III Coordinator
Dr. Tera Simmons, Title IX Coordinator
Hoover City Schools
2810 Metropolitan Way
Hoover, AL 35243
(205) 439-1000
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
(Board policy, 5.14.1) The Board is an equal opportunity employer. Personnel actions and decisions will be made without regard to factors or considerations prohibited by federal or state law (as such laws may from time to time be amended), including but not limited to race, gender, age, disability, national origin, citizenship, and religious preference. Subject to the limitations set forth in 4.6.2, the general complaint (grievance) policy (4.6.1) may be used to present any complaint alleging unlawful discrimination or harassment. Inquiries regarding compliance and complaint procedures can be directed to:
Mary Veal, Equal Opportunity Employment Coordinator
Hoover City Schools
2810 Metropolitan Way
Hoover, AL 35243
(205) 439-1000