Trailblazer Tribune
BRIDGE VALLEY'S NEWSLETTER
September 30, 2015
CELEBRATING A GREAT MONTH DURING BRIDGE VALLEY DAY
During Bridge Valley Day today we celebrated a wonderful first month of school! Mrs. Carter and I have been very pleased by the smooth start to the school year, and happy students and teachers are reinforcing signs that life is good inside the walls of BV.
When your children arrive home today, ask them about their Bridge Valley Day experience. In addition to the day being fun, our goal on BV Days is to grow as a school community as we focus on our core values of Respect, Responsibility, Collaboration, and Citizenship.
The day kicks off with a school-wide assembly during which we recognize a community member who has contributed to our school or community; they are then named as our Honorary Trailblazer. In addition, we recognize a student with our Trailblazer Tribute Award as the winner of the month’s Boomerang Award through the 40 Developmental Assets program. The schoolwide assembly continues with a guest presenter, and today we welcomed singer/songwriter Jonathan Sprout.
In addition to our assembly, during BV Days students partner with their “buddy classes” and participate in learning activities that build relationships, social skills, self-regulation skills, and acceptance. It’s a day of fun and learning that students and staff look forward to each month!
Kevin Cochran
Principal
BRIDGE VALLEY RANKS AS #1 PA SCHOOL IN THE 2015 SCHOLASTIC SUMMER READING CHALLENGE
Bridge Valley has reason to celebrate because its students read more than 1,570,073 minutes this summer, earning Bridge Valley Elementary School the title as the number one Pennsylvania school in the 2015 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. A total of 6,229 schools participated in this year’s Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. The school will be listed in the 2016 Scholastic Book of World Records and will receive a special personalized plaque to commemorate the students’ summer reading achievements. This summer, children from across all 50 states and 28 countries read 286,611,349 million minutes in Scholastic’s 9th annual summer reading program.
BVE FALL BOOK FAIR
MONSTER Book Fair -- Fall 2015
Calling all monster book lovers! It's time to help our students 'scare' up a good book! Volunteers will run the registers and help students navigate the balance between books, book-marks and gadgets. Please click on the link to sign up.
Come join in on the monster good fun!
** Please Note we will have evening hours on Thursday, October 8th!
Monster Book Fair: Reading Is So Much Fun, You’ll Get GOOSEBUMPS!
CELEBRATE EDUCATION WEEK 2015
October 12th – 16th
Celebrate Education Week is an opportunity to visit your child’s classroom and watch your children in action as they learn something new, participate in a curricular activity, or give a special presentation for visitors. This year, Central Bucks invites you to join us the week of October 12-16, 2015.
We invite you to come and join us, remembering that this is an “adults only” visit as small children may disrupt instruction during this time. The chart below provides target times to come and visit so that we may concentrate efforts, and accommodate parking, traffic flow, etc. If you are unable to join us on the dates and times listed or a time is not specified for your child’s particular grade level, please note that you are more than welcome to visit anytime during the week.
The schedule for Bridge Valley Celebrate Education Week is as follows:
All Central Bucks School District Volunteers
Volunteers must have their clearances on file with the CBSD Human Resources Department prior to starting volunteer work. The new Pennsylvania State mandate does allow until July 1, 2016 to obtain background checks. However, in the best interest of the safety and security of our students, we are asking volunteers to comply with submitting background checks prior to volunteering in the 2015-2016 school year.
Click here to learn more.
If you have already submitted paperwork you do not need to take any further action at this time.
This online process is ONLY for those who have not submitted clearances/certifications as of October 1, 2015.
COUNSELOR'S CORNER
Award Programs at Bridge Valley Elementary
Boomerang Award: The Boomerang Youth Recognition Award is a monthly reward that recognizes and honors the value of youth and the contributions they make in our community. It is a partnership between Central Bucks Healthier Community Team, Outback Steakhouse, and the Bucks County Herald Newspaper. The program is based on the CBHCT Forty Developmental Assets, which are positive experiences, opportunities, and personal qualities that children from many cultural backgrounds need to be responsible, successful, and caring. Each month, community members, school staff, and students cast ballots for the student they believe best represents a chosen 40-Asset. A Bridge Valley winner is chosen and recognized at our monthly assembly. Each school in the Central Bucks School District sends their student nomination to a committee of community members, and ultimately an elementary, middle, and high school student will become the Boomerang Youth Recognition Recipient. Those students have their picture taken for the Herald newspaper, receive a special award, and a gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse.
If you’d like to nominate a student for the Boomerang Award, please fill out a nomination form found in the office, our website, or email kmelberg@cbsd.org.
Honorary Trailblazer Award: This award is given to a community member that has demonstrated one of our character traits. In the past, we’ve presented this to our police chief, bus drivers, charity organizers, and others. This award enables students to see the connections between the character traits we practice every day and how adults demonstrate them in their daily lives. The winner is nominated by students, staff, or parents. Please email kmelberg@cbsd.org if you’d like to nominate a person for this award.
Bucket Filler Award: Have You Filled a Bucket Today? is a book written by Carol McCloud. The premise of the story is that when you do something nice for someone, you fill up their bucket with happiness. Students nominate other students by filling in a “Bucket Filler” slip. One child is chosen weekly and that child is announced on the Friday announcements and receives a special bucket award. This award is a great reinforcement for children to see how rewarding it can be to show kindness.
Blazer Bonus Award: Blazer Bonus slips are given to students by staff members for demonstrating one or more of our character traits (respect, responsibility, collaboration, and citizenship). One slip from each grade level is chosen weekly and that student is announced as the winner on Friday announcements. The student chosen comes to the guidance office to have their picture taken and to choose a prize from the treasure box. You can view all the Blazer Bonus winners’ pictures on the bulletin board outside the guidance office.
AWARD WINNERS AT BRIDGE VALLEY ELEMENTARY
The September Boomerang Winner for Asset #26 Caring was Evan Mollick from Mrs. Jaeger’s fifth grade class. Evan was nominated by his Uncle Mark for the loving care he gave to his grandmother through her battle with cancer. Evan touched his family’s hearts through his love, kindness, and passion. He’s truly an inspiration!
The Honorary Trailblazer Award was presented to the Bridge Valley River Blazers. They participated in the Bucks County Dragon Boat Festival at Core Creek on September 19, 2015. The festival was a fundraiser for the Bucks County Housing Group and the theme was “Paddle Out Hunger”. The team members were Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Mr. Controy, Mr. and Mrs. VanReed, Mrs. Rice, Ms. Melberger, Mrs. Jones and her daughter Arianwen, Mr. and Mrs. McLaughlin, Mrs. Adinolfi, Mr. and Mrs. Jaeger, Mr. and Mrs. Howley, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Tate, Mrs. Joyce, Mr. Taylor, Mr. VanZant, and Ms. Tymchy. The team won the Honorary Trailblazer award for being role models of citizenship, teamwork, and resiliency. They came in first place in their third race and an overall fifth place out of twenty teams.
Boomerang Winner
Honorary Trail Blazer Award
VETERANS DAY ASSEMBLY
ROXY READERS
Roxy Reader
Roxy Reader
~ BRIDGE VALLEY FALL FESTIVAL ~
Dear Bridge Valley Families,
Our planning is in full swing for the BVE ANNUAL FALL FEST. We are again looking forward to another fun filled day where all of our students and families can get together for a great day of fun. Each year this family and budget friendly event would not be possible without your generous help and donations. Fall Fest is not a fundraiser, but simply a day where we can all celebrate the great community we are a part of at Bridge Valley. Fall Fest gets better and better every year and we hope 2015 is no exception!!
Please plan to join us for FALL FEST on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17TH from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Come for an hour or stay all day!
Admission is ONLY $5.00 per child (Adults free) and includes loot bag, unlimited games and prizes, temp tattoos, color hairspray, face painting, a small pumpkin with all decorating supplies and of course, music all day long from DJ Ed Z. We will also have our fabulous Bake Sale, the hugely popular Cake Walk, Sand Art and the annual Scarecrow Contest. Please consider helping us out in some way. Your time or donations are very much appreciated!
****PLEASE NOTE…if you have a Middle/High Schooler in need of Volunteer Hours, they can also bake for our Bake Sale and receive hours for community service. VOLUNTEER/COMMUNITY SERVICE LETTERS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PICKUP ON THE DAY OF FALL FEST AT THE VOLUNTEER CHECK IN.****
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER FOR A SHIFT AT FALL FEST
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR BAKE SALE, CAKE WALK OR COLD DRINK SALE
PLEASE CLICK HERE IF YOU WILL BE ENTERING A SCARECROW IN THE CONTEST
Questions? Please contact Kerry Eron at fruity@comcast.net
BRIDGE VALLEY PARENT BOOK CLUB
Fed Up - Free screening at Lenape Middle School
TURN MARKERS INTO ENERGY!
UPDATED HOME & SCHOOL EVENTS CALENDAR COMING!
Please look in this week’s Thursday folder for an updated BV Home and School events calendar. This new calendar printed on GREEN paper should replace the calendar that was sent home in the September 10th Thursday folder. It includes additional events and some revised dates.
KID STUFF BOOKS
KidStuff is Finished!
It’s time to button up KIdStuff! We need a group to get together to add up all the monies raised and send back all of the un-claimed books. Super simple -- lickity split.
Friday October 2nd from noon - 3pm.
VOLUNTEERING AT BVE!!!
BVE values the time our BVE community members give to the school and the children, be it classroom time or school wide events. To learn more about the many committees or to join a committee, please visit the Committee Page under Parent/Students/Home and School/Committees or BVE Committees.
FUNDRAISING (PASSIVE)
Please register your Giant Rewards Card for free money for our school. Look for the form in your Back To School packet.