School News
Please join us for our second ELAC Meeting of the year this Friday, Nov. 18th at 8:30 AM in the Multi-Use building. Coffee and refreshments will be served. See agenda attached.
THE SAN JOSE POLICE DEPARTMENT
CRIME PREVENTION UNIT AND
BLACKFORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
present a workshop on the topic of Child Safety.
The workshops will be offered in Spanish and English.
Please see the attached fliers regarding each workshop being offered.
November 15th: Presentation in Spanish starting at 8:30 AM in person
November 16th Presentation in English via ZOOM starting at 6 PM
 |
 Blackford Elementary PTA |
Our October days have been filled with a lot of fun engaging activities for our Bobcats!
From the SJSU Women's Basketball Team visiting our BAWSI Girls program,
students learning how to play hockey during PE Prep,
visiting the PTA Pumpkin Patch and every student getting a pumpkin to take home,
BAWSI Rollers for our County OI class,
our new school librarian visiting classrooms,
Living Classroom garden lessons for TK-1st grade,
Student Council Schoolwide Door Decorating Contest,
Lights On Campbell Care event with Castlemont,
a Halloween Costume Parade with parents/family members present to join in the fun,
el dia de los muertos altar created in the spirit of love,
the month of October has been memorable, and
we are grateful for the opportunities
provided for our students!
We are so appreciative of how our community pulled together to help make sure we didn't lose our PTA. Last Friday, we were able to elect a new PTA Board for 22-23.
Congratulations to our new PTA Board:
This year our students are getting to experience "Innovation Time" with three inrcredible educators and Innovation Specialists:
Jason Pittman, Megan Delaye and Jonathan Natividad.
Every other week, each K-5 class meets with our Innovation Specialists to investigate science and engineering concepts, as well as visit our school garden and create student portfolios demonstrating their work, projects and experiences via SeeSaw. During this time our classroom teachers are provided planning time as a grade level team in order to review student progress towards meeting standards, respond to data, and plan for instruction.
Some examples of what our students are experiencing during this time are as follows:
-How do scientists and engineers work together? The Tinker Studio: Making Faces
-Create a catapult with curated materials
-Share ideas about what scientists do and where they work.
Scientists ask questions and solve problems.
-Design and Build things that roll.
Gallery walk-test things that roll/what do you see that is innovative?
-Matter Mysteries - Anchor Phenomenon: Bottles and Balloons. Use the Bottles and Balloons demonstration to practice making observations and observing patterns. Use sentence frames to explain that one mixture has a no reaction, but the other causes the balloon to inflate.
-Intro Matter Mysteries - testing conductivity
-What are the expectations in the garden? Respect Achievement Responsibility
-Plants are Amazing: think about what kinds of plants we will see as we walk around Blackford and go to the garden. In pairs, students find a plant they like and describe it using their senses.
We are happy to report our students are responding very positively to this new program. We are so appreciative of the hard work our Innovation Team puts forth to prepare and teach every other week.
Later this year we look forward to hosting grade level parent/family tours of our Innovation Rooms, as well as a schoowide STEAM Night. Students will also begin posting their learning to SeeSaw for parents/guardians to view. We encourage parents/guardians to please make sure they are signed up to receive and view their child's SeeSaw posts.
The Blackford community joins with the families, students and staff of Castlemont School, as we share in their sadness and grief. Our hearts also go out to the family of Jacob Villanueva. May the memory of Jacob live on in all those who loved him and called him friend.
In an effort to make sure every single student is safe when they come to school or leave at the end of the day, we need everyone to make sure they follow the rules of the road, whether that road is in our school parking lot, on Willow Street or on Leigh Ave.
If you enter the Blackford school parking lot, please make sure you drive no more than 10 miles per hour. Please make sure you park in a parking stall and walk your child safely to class or to the front of the school.
We want to also remind parents/care givers to not park along the painted curb. This lane is meant to be a pick up/drop off lane. When people park against the painted curb and get out of their vehicle, it creates unsafe conditions for others.
On Leigh Ave. we have witnessed many vehicles making illegal U-turns, double parking, and/or having their child get out in between vehicles to run across the street. This is so dangerous and unsettling for us as school staff. Students have been seen running across Leigh Ave. as well who have almost been hit by moving vehicles. This is extremely dangerous since there are many vehicles on Leigh Ave. who go quite fast.
While we strive for safety throughout the school day in an effort to keep every single student safe, we need additional support for the morning drop off and after school pick up and that is where parents and family members can give that extra support. Please be extra careful when driving and walking in the school parking lot. Please do not double park on Leigh Ave. or let students out of the car in an area where they need to cross over traffic. I know together we can make a difference. Thank you for making sure all our students and families are safe.
On Friday, September 16th, we will be having our first ELAC (English Language Advisory Committee) Meeting of the 22-23 school year. The meeting will be held in person in our Multi-Use room, which is located in front of the school towards Leigh Ave. The meeting will be held from 8:30-10:00 AM.
Please see the attached invitation and agenda for more specifics.
ELAC Meeting #1 Invitation (English/Spanish)
ELAC Meeting #1 Agenda (English/Spanish)
Please note, the image chosen for this article relates to our school theme for the year, which is "Unity in Community." Having parents join our ELAC meetings increases our unity and builds our community. We hope you'll be able to attend, and we look forward to seeing you! We value your participation and partnership.