January 26, 2018
Bridge Point Elementary
MRS. MEEK'S WEEKLY MESSAGE
Dear BPE Families,
LEADERSHIP. GRIT. TEAMWORK. DETERMINATION.
"no matter what happens, you just have to keep believing in yourself,
keep working hard and never give up"
-NICK FOLES
On Friday, February 2nd, we are going to have a special pep rally assembly to celebrate our BPE alum, NICK FOLES!! Nick will be leading the Philadephia Eagles to the LII Super Bowl! Foles will be the second QB from Westlake High School to start in the Super Bowl. Nick Foles and Drew Brees are only the second Super Bowl quarterback duo from the same high school (the first is the Manning brothers).
The following is from an article on Yahoo Sports on January 24, 2018…
One man coached both at Westlake: Derek Long was the defensive coordinator when Brees was in school, and the head coach when Foles broke Brees' passing records. When asked what they had in common, Long said:
"They never take the accolades on themselves," Long said. "They will always say the offensive line did a great job. That's a leadership style people can really relate to. If I know it's not all about him, I'm going to play harder. I think those teammates played harder." Westlake coaches would hand out helmet stickers for good plays through the season, and Foles promptly passed his stickers on to blockers. By the end of a season, the team would show up for a playoff game with tons of helmet stickers, and Foles had none. "It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's huge," Long said, "Those offensive linemen would have walked through fire for him. The receivers, too. There's a story from Foles' high school days in the Austin-American Statesman where Foles is quoted as saying, "I could throw the ball with my eyes closed, and they'd catch it."
BPE will celebrate former the Bobcat, Nick Foles, on Friday, February 2nd during morning assembly. Our focus will be on leadership, grit, teamwork and determination, as we get excited for the Super Bowl game on Sunday, February 4th! This will be a Westlake/Eagles spirit day at BPE, and our BPE community is encouraged to wear Westlake or Eagles spirit wear to school on Friday, February 2nd! #flyeaglesfly
All My Best,
Heather Meek
BPE NEWS
Counselor's Corner
The District's SEL Focus for the third 9 weeks is Social Awareness and Empathy and the BPE Life Skill for January has also been Empathy. Ms. Ashorn and Miss Edwards visited classrooms to reinforce these skills through the monthly counselor lesson. Students explored perspective taking through reading We're All Wonders (K-2) and The Potato Chip Champ (3-5). Students practiced using the Mood Meter and putting themselves in each character's shoes. We also discussed opportunities characters in the book could have used empathy.
After reading the book, students played a game allowing them to use their social detective/social awareness skills. They looked at pictures of young people expressing different emotions and tried to guess what they were feeling. We discussed how to read facial expressions and body language to decide how someone is feeling.
Sincerely,
Addie Edwards and Amy Ashorn
The Shelf Life: Library Updates
Read-A-Thon has begun, and students' hard work is paying off! BPE is currently in second place as the school that has raised the most money in Austin. We've raised $3,666! If we win first place, Amy's Ice Cream will serve ice cream to everyone in the school! You can keep track of our progress at the bottom of the Read-A-Thon website. Please continue encouraging your kids to read and collect donations until February 4th. Even with all the money raised so far, we still have a way to go to beat last year's record of $25,452!
Following the STEAM Day theme, today's library blog post is about Maker Club, which started this fall. Students met after school for eight weeks and worked on STEAM-related projects. They created Art Bots from pool noodles and electric toothbrushes, designed their own video games using Bloxels, invented marshmallow launchers from various craft materials, tinkered with paper circuits using LEDs and conductive tape, and built armor to battle Sphero robots. It was a wonderful experience, and I'm excited to host the Maker Club in the library again this spring. If you're interested in registering your 2nd-5th grader, please head over to Community Ed website. Registration closes on February 14th and there are a few spots left!
Sincerely,
Kate Ricter
BPE CALENDAR
DISTRICT NEWS
Social-Awareness and caring for others is the EISD SEL focus for the third nine weeks. Empathy is being able to understand and value someone else's perspective. It's having compassion for others even when they are different.
There are many ways parents can support their children in learning how to be empathic and caring. Our children are watching our behaviors and paying attention to how we are treating others. One way is to teach our children acceptance and respect is to model empathetic, caring behavior. "Take an interest in helping others through community outreach [and] bring your kids when appropriate. Get involved in programs that promote diversity" and expose your children "to a wide range of people and cultures". Talk to your kids about your involvements and let them know tolerance and acceptance are important to you. "Open and honest communication is the best jumping off point for teaching kids about tolerance and empathy."
To learn other ways on how to teach your child tolerance and empathy, read "6 Great Ways to Foster Tolerance and Empathy in Your Children".
Another article that addresses the importance of modeling empathetic behavior is "Cultivating Empathy" by Harvard Graduate School of Education, Making Caring Common Project.
FLYERS
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BRIDGE POINT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
6401 Cedar Street, Austin, Texas 78746