Bardmoor Bullhorn A Message from Our Principal:

I first want to start by thanking you for all that you have done to help Bardmoor follow the nutritional guidelines Pi-nellas County schools has enacted. The teachers have select-ed the two days that they want to have parties that consist of non-nutritional food items and it will be Winter Holiday and End of the Year. Individual teachers will be sending out information about the parties for their class.

I want to thank all of the families that participated in the Great American Teach-In. We had many speakers, many of which were parents or family members, come and share their job or hobby with the students. The students loved learning about many different opportunities for their future.

It is very important for your child to continue reading and practicing math over the Thanksgiving break. Your child can do STMath, Ticket to Read, Istation or just read independent-ly over the break. Included in this newsletter is a log that you can sign to show the hard work that the students have done over the break. There will be a reward for working over the break! I hope that everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving break.

Dates to Remember

Winter Break December 22 to January 5. School starts back on TUESDAY, January 6. Winter Concert Dec. 9th 6:30 pm Ticket required for entrance. 8900 Greenbriar Rd. Seminole, Fl. 33777 727-547-7824 Leigh Owens, Principal Shirley Garrett, Assistant Principal Teri Wurster Secretary/Bookkeeper Michael A. Grego, PCS Superintendent Ward Kennedy, Region 3 Superintendent

Pinellas County Schools’ homepage

http://pcsb.org/

The Mission of Bardmoor Elementary is to educate and prepare each student for further education, career and life.

Pinellas County School Board is an equal opportunity institution for education and employment.

Website: http://www.bardmoor-es.pinellas.k12.fl.us

December 2014

he Character Word of the

Month or December is

KINDNESS

Kindness is the act or the state of being

kind and marked by charitable behavior,

marked by mild disposition, pleasantness,

tenderness and concern for others. It is a

recognized value in many cultures and

religions.

Encourage Your Child to Act Kindly Toward Others.

Most of us want our children to grow up to be kind and

caring people. Here’s a simple way you can help.

With your child, make a list of all the children in his/her

class. Each morning ask your child to choose a different

name from the list. Talk about a specific way she could

show kindness to that student during the day.

Find a way to remind your child of this promise during the

day. You might put a note inside her lunch box. Or you

might put a small sticker somewhere she will see it and

remember.

After school, talk about what your child did. You may

want to write these acts of kindness in a special journal.

As an adult, remember, it is less stressful to be kind

especially when the kindness comes back your way!

This Holiday Teach the True ‘Gift of Giving’

The true ‘gift of giving’ during the holiday season comes

from the heart, not the pocketbook. Parents can teach

children this lesson by encouraging them to give of them-

selves.

Here are some ways children might share with others

now, and throughout the coming year.

Create greeting cards with inexpensive art sup-

plies.

Bake cookies or brownies as gifts.

Help grandparents or other elderly people clean or

decorate their homes.

Address greeting cards or write letters for physi-

cally disabled people.

Place a drawing or picture in an inexpensive frame

as a gift for a special person.

Read a story to someone, especially an elderly

person.

Enjoy your holiday

Just a reminder our Title I Parent Information Station has

been updated. We have secured resources in both English and

Spanish. We welcome you to stop in and not only view the

pamphlets but the Parent Connection magazines. In addi-

tion ,you will find our Title 1 parent notebook that includes

items such as our approved Parent Involvement Plan and our

current School Improvement plan. Please stop in and see what

this area has to offer for you and your family. As you meet

with teachers in conferences, if you have not already complet-

ed your Parent + Student + Teacher Compact, please have your

child’s teacher review it with you.

Connect for Success

Kindergarten and First grade parents,

Title I still has 20 laptops available for home use. In order

to be considered, you need to contact Jan Ottinger or

classroom teacher to receive reservation paperwork. Then

attend training and complete responsibility/liability paper-

work.

Third to fifth graders who have not received a laptop are eligible to apply for the remain-ing laptops as well. Brighthouse has a pro-motion that can provide Internet access for

$9.95/month (other fees may apply). You do NOT have to have our laptop to apply. Title I -If you have any questions, you can contact the front of-fice at 547-7824 or email Jan Ottinger at ot-tingerj@pcsb.org .

Need help getting on any of the websites? Visit the dis-

trict's Beyond the Classroom and follow links http://

pcsb.org/Page/691 or visit Bardmoor’s Media Homepage

http://destiny.pinellas.k12.fl.us/common/servlet/

presenthomeform.do?l2m=Home&tm=Home&l2m=Home

Third grade will be traveling to the Science Center of Pinellas County the first week of December! On Tues-day, December 9th, Mr. Beatty and Mrs. Vance’s clas-ses will be going. Wednesday, December 10th, Mrs. Maphet’s, Ms. Karteron’s and Mrs. Connolly’s classes will be enjoying the Science Center. Finally, on Thursday, December 12th, Mrs. Tinnerello and Mrs. Robbins’ classes will have this wonderful opportuni-ty. They will be learning through the two labs- “Defining a Drop” and “Energy of Light.” Be sure to have your student discuss this trip and what they

learned!

From our Media Center:

Thank you so much for supporting our Fall Book Fair. We

earned $940.00 which will be used to purchase Library

books for our Media Center. Many, many thanks!

O

R

N

E

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COUNSELOR’S

A Big Bardmoor Thank

You!

Thank you Bardmoor Bulldogs and families! Thanks to your kindness during the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF event, we surpassed the donation goal set by the PMAC students (Principal’s Multicultural Advisory Committee). Bardmoor collected $711.94 for UNICEF! That money will be used to help children around the world get medicine, food, clean water, materials to start schools, and other necessities. Way to go! Together we can make a difference.

Winter Concert

This is a reminder that the Fourth & Fifth Grade Com-bined Chorus Winter Concert will take place on Tues-day, December 9, 2014, at 6:30 PM in the Bardmoor Café. All student performers will need to be in the mu-sic room at 6:00 PM. We will use a ticket system for

this concert. Each child performer will be allowed TWO tickets to the concert. The child performer will NOT need a ticket. The tickets will be at the door waiting for parents as they arrive. THERE WILL BE NO COST FOR THE TICKETS. Faculty members will be standing at the cafeteria doors, ready to take your tickets. Only ticketed people will be allowed into the concert. Space is limited to ONLY those with tickets.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation.***

Congratulations to the Fifth Grade Chorus on their outstanding performance at the Veteran’s Day Patriotic Community Concert held at Osceola High School on Tuesday, November 11, 2014. Miss Triffon would like to thank the parents of the Fifth Grade Chorus and Instrument Players for their support, and asks that all parent surveys be returned to her ASAP.

SAFETY PATROL NEWS

Congratulations to the following fifth grader for being selected as the Safety Patrol of the Month: NOVEMBER

– Amelia Wilcox (from Mr. Ateek’s homeroom)

She will have the honor of wearing the Gold Badges for the next month.

Bardmoor STEM Academies

The 4th and 5th Grade STEM Academies

have been very busy this November. The stu-

dents have been following directions and

solving spatial-relationship problems as they

arise while building some difficult robotic

machines. Students started with a basic car,

tackled using two motors and gears with the

three-wheel car, and attempted to conquer

the tower crane. It was not always the easiest

for the student engineers to complete, but the

students used teamwork and problem-

solving skills to persevere.

When they weren't busy building, the stu-

dents were exploring entrepreneurship

through Junior Achievement. Students dis-

cussed important traits entrepreneurs need to

be the most successful. They also explored

how entrepreneurs use resources found in

their region. Students brainstormed personal

interests and resources they have to possibly

practice being a young entrepreneur.

We have been awarded a grant from Florida

Agriculture in the Classroom to fund our

garden this school year. We will be focusing

on developing a Florida native plants and

flowers section to our prospering garden.

With the food we have already grown this

year and what we will be harvesting in the

spring, we will be focusing on healthy eating

choices and habits.

You can explore museums... for free! Each Saturday, the Morean Art Center in St. Petersburg has free art exploration experiences for fami-lies with children ages 5 to 10 with open art stations and take home projects with instructors on hand to assist. Or you can DillyDally with Dali at the Dali Museum on Saturdays between 11:45 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Children can discover the creative world of Dali through games, puzzles, and arts and crafts activities which educate and encourage family interaction. The activities are held in the 1st floor Education Classroom under the guidance of the family programs coordinator. You should also spend time exploring the museum's unique gift shop and the ground surrounding the museum, which include a fun labyrinth to discover and a wish tree.

FREE Physicals and Immunizations

St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital is offering FREE Well Child/School Physicals and Im-munizations Thursday, December 11 from 3 pm to 7 pm at Hispanic Outreach Center 612 Franklin Street Clearwater, FL 727-445-9734 ext 202. Appointments PREFERRED,

walk-ins accepted until 5 pm.

Thank you to the following individuals and companies that par-ticipated in our Great American Teach In. The students loved learning about all that the future has to offer.

Candice Perkins

Dru Rabin – Rock It Out Music School

Jeremy Davis – MMA Fighter

Joellyn Wilshire

Sarah Gecan – Straz Center

Everett Vance – Military

John Gluck – Certified Firearm Instructor

Crystal Morris

Francheska Nunez – US Coast Guard

Yernon Yates – Wildlife Rescue

Great Explorations

Saddle Up Riding Farm

Seminole Fire Station

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Twiss Trucking

Beckus Antiques Refurbishers

Leigh Owens

Tampa Bay Times Reporter

Dr. Andrew Gross

Astro Skate

Captain Nikko

Big 3 Records

5th Grade is in Motion!

Science: 5th grade is beginning our Physical Science unit focused on Energy and Motion. Students are in the classrooms and in the science lab exploring forces, mo-tion, friction, and gravity with hands-on activities. We will be touring the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport in January to see some physical science careers in action.

Math: We will be wrapping up our work with multiply-ing and dividing decimals to start FRACTIONS! In De-cember, students will begin adding and subtracting frac-tions with unlike denominators. While cooking Thanksgiv-ing dinner or holiday treats, show your students recipes with fractions and discuss what those amounts mean. Helping your student to make a real-life connection to math concepts can help him/her in school work and life.

English Language Arts: In reading, our students are exploring fantasy and realistic elements in fiction stories. The students are focused on traditional story elements (setting, characters and plot), story themes, visual inter-pretations (illustrations and pictures), text structures and author's purpose. Do you have an opinionated child? Perfect! Because in writing, we will be working on writing opinion pieces that support our point of view on a topic and a piece of literature.

- Upcoming Events: We will be having a Family Movie in the School Night on January 14 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. We will be watching "The Wizard of Oz" to celebrate our completion of the book as part of our ELA unit. More information will come home with your student as we get closer to the event.

How can you make the best of your breaks from school? Get out and do something! Here are some free or inexpensive activities you can do with your student and family.

- The public library is a wonderful resource for you and your child. Early library visits can lay the foundation for a lifelong love of reading. Explore the children's library to-gether and give your child a little independence on choosing and checking out books. You can get a library card for free with a valid Florida driver's license or a cur-rent utility bill, vehicle registration, or voter's registration.

- Walk through the lights at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. The Holiday Lights will be on display from Nov. 28 to Dec. 31 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. It is free for children under 13. A $4 donation is recommended for those over 14. Check out flbg.org for more information.

- Take a hike. Florida 'winters' can be a weather roller coaster, so why not take advantage of those nice days to hike through one of the parks and reserves in Pinellas County. Weedon Island and Booker Creek preserves are free for visitors to explore. Your student can act as tour guide if you venture to Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. Let them show you what they learned on their recent field trip. Admission to Boyd Hill is $3 and they offer a tram service around the park.