School News

Last week our students and staff participated in the Great Kindness Challenge!  We scheduled our week to have a different daily focus on kindness.

On Monday, we focused on being kind to ourselves.  We practiced mindfulness during our morning messages and made sure we were drinking enough water, eating healthy and taking breaks when needed.  Each Monday, during announcements, we start our week with a mindfulness activity.  We use this free resource from Kira Wiley.

On Tuesday, we focused on being kind to living things.  The Mobile Dairy Classroom, sponsored by the Dairy Council of CA, came to visit our site.  All of us got to join together at grade level assemblies outside on the playground.  We learned about the various aspects of dairy cows and healthy eating.  All of us were able to see the gorgeous cow and her young calf, whose name was Olaf.

On Wednesday, our focus was on being kind to others.  All of our 5th grade students gave up their own personal recess time to go support our TK/K and 1-4 grade students on the playground.  The 5th grade students helped run our "Kindness  Activity Tables," where students could create cards and pictures to give to others.  Some of the 5th graders read books about kindness, and others played or led games with students.

On Thursday, we wore shirts which have positive messages and images, or bright colorful shirts, in an effort to spread kindness and positivity to all those in our community.  

On Friday, we focused on being kind to our family and others in our neighborhood community.  Students made commitments to do something kind for their family over the weekend.  Here is a resource families can use to also participate in acts of kindness.

GKC Family Edition English

GKC Family Edition Spanish

In our Bobcat Den, which is open during morning recess, students created art activities to share with the school.

Throughout the week, students created chalk art messages and drawings, as well as artwork spreading a message of kindness.

While students enjoyed participating in various activities during the week, our staff was treated to a “duty free” yard duty, which was covered by district office staff!  We appreciated these gifts of kindness and time given from our DO staff.  Students also brought small kindness gifts for their teachers and staff.

While we enjoyed having this week of focus on kindness, we will continue doing kind things for others throughout the rest of this school year.  We hope you will join us in our committment to spread kindness and joy throughout our community!  Go Bobcats!  Share your hearts!  Always...

Do you have a child who will be in TK (Transitional Kindergarten) or Kindergarten next school year?  If so, please join us for our TK/Kinder Open Enrollment (Virtual) Presentation on Thursday, January 27, 2022 from 3:45-4:45 PM to learn more about our TK/Kinder program here at Blackford.

Please note:  We will host an in-person tour at a later date.

Please complete this Sign Up Form if you plan to attend.  Thank you!

Zoom Link

Please grab your coffee, tea, juice, or smoothie and join us for our "Coffee with the Principals" on Friday, January 7, 2022 via Zoom from 9:00-10:00 AM.

Please note this meeting will be very informal.  There will be no formal presenters.  Our agenda will consist of the principals talking about what has been happening around the school and in classrooms, and there will be the opportunity for community members to share ideas and ask questions.

Zoom link has been sent out via SeeSaw. 

Our school garden is coming back to life...literally and figuratively!  This is in thanks to our lead garden parent, Deb Nin, who has a passion for gardening and has volunteered to help revive our school garden.  She has been working hard to determine the needs of the garden in order to begin the process towards improving our school garden.  Deb has also been busy encouraging and recruiting other parents, who also enjoy gardening, to get involved.  Together this group of parents, dedicated to helping revive our school garden, have been working to prepare our school garden for new seedlings and plants.  For example, on a bright sunny Saturday morning in November, members of our garden group and the school community came out to help move a delivery of donated soil into the garden beds.  They also helped prepare the beds for planting, as well as started planting some seeds.  We would also like to thank the Judge-Tate family for their generous donation of garden soil which helped to improve the conditions for planting in our garden beds. 

Here are some photos from our garden work day in November.

We would also like to acknowledge Tony Kienitz, our district master gardener, who has been working hard behind the scenes to upkeep our garden.  We appreciate all the work he has done to maintain our garden throughout the seasons.  We will continue to work with Tony as we improve our garden, and appreciate his expertise and guidance for determining next steps.

We are looking forward to achieving several goals we have set for our garden space.  One of our goals is to open our school garden during lunch recess so students can come explore or work in the garden either watering, pulling weeds, or doing other maintenance type activities.  Another goal is to have each student add a piece of artwork into our garden hardscape.  This is in an effort to give our students more ownership and increase attachment to the space.  It is also to beautify the space.  A third goal will be for every class to be able to get out into the garden to do garden/life lab lessons, observations, science experiments, writing, and/or math.  Lastly, it is our hope the garden will become a place of respite and renewal for our students and staff to enjoy and soak in the beauty of life and nature.  Here's to new beginnings…

If you enjoy gardening, and would like to get involved in helping improve our school garden, please feel free to contact us in the front office or reach out to the PTA.