Bridlemile Friday Flyer

3/9: Daylight savings, set clocks ahead one hour

3/12: Kindergarten Connect 9:00am-10:00am Cafeteria

3/19: Early Release- School Day ends at 11:50am

3/24-28: SPRING BREAK!

4/4: Grading day, No students at school

4/7: Teacher Professional Development/Planning day, No students at school

Students are celebrating National Read Across America Day!

Beagles, get ready to show off your creativity and spirit! To lead us into spring break in a couple weeks, we are hosting a schoolwide spirit week with the following themes:

💙 Monday: Pajama Day

💙 Tuesday: Wear your Favorite Color

💙 Wednesday: Sports Day

💙 Thursday: What do you want to be when you grow up?

💙 Friday: Bridlemile Gear or Bridlemile Colors Blue and Yellow

Families with incoming kindergarteners for Fall 2025, you are cordially invited!! Bridlemile's Connect to Kindergarten event will be held on Wednesday March 12th from 9:00am-10:00am in the Cafeteria. Bring your incoming kinder!!

We will have a presentation about our program, curriculum, and the registration process and your student will take part in a fun activity in a kindergarten classroom.

If you know of any other families with incoming kinders, please help spread the word!

Click Here for More Kindergarten Connect Information

Friday, April 4th and Monday April 7th are NO SCHOOL days for Teacher Grading Day and Planning Day. Quarter 3 Report Cards are coming soon! If you’re planning to take your Beagles out of school, these would be great days to do so since they won’t miss school.

Thank you to Ms.McBride and Ms. Hales’ families for hosting First Friday breakfast for staff. It is such a highlight for everyone and deeply appreciated.

Ask your child about our fire drill practice today. Students did a great job practicing our evacuation procedure. All schools are required to instruct students on emergency procedures for fires, earthquakes and safety threats. Our staff have conversations with students about why and how we practice safety drills and make space to hear and talk through questions and concerns. I also give students notice about our practice drill on the intercom before we begin.

We practice fire drills every month and additional safety drills throughout the year.

We will once again practice our lockdown drill routine this month as we did in September. We scheduled Bridlemile’s upcoming drill for Wednesday, March 19 at 8:30am. Our staff will review protocol with students, have an age-appropriate discussion about the reasons for the drill, and discuss expectations for what happens before, during, and after the drill. Information for how to discuss the drill is linked here. At Grade K-2, our counselors are teaching lessons from our Sammy and Friends curriculum which focuses on drills education using a trauma informed lens.

The window for single subject acceleration in math is now open and will remain open until March 31st. Single subject acceleration allows students to skip a year of mathematics instruction and take math next year at a level one grade above their homeroom level. To be approved by the district TAG office for SSA, a student must demonstrate that they have mastered most or all of the standards for the grade to be skipped and possess the social/behavioral maturity to be successful in a classroom with older students.

Students applying for SSA will take a pencil and paper assessment designed to assess their proficiency with the skills learned during the year they are attempting to skip.

Two important notes for families considering SSA for their student:

1. At the 5th grade level, students enrolled in the SSA program will receive their math instruction online from a district level instructor. This means that they will meet with their teacher briefly a few times a week, and then complete most of their work asynchronously. This means that students need to be able to self-manage their workload and successfully show their learning in a digital format.

2. This is the last year in which students will be able to apply for SSA in the spring of 5th grade. The district has made a change to the SSA program, which means that after this year it will not be possible to accelerate and skip 6th grade math. For families of current 4th grade students, this spring will be the last opportunity to apply for SSA-M. Compacted Math and other acceleration options at the Middle School level will remain in place in future years.

Families interested in applying for SSA can find more information and the application link on the district page: https://www.pps.net/Page/2886

We had a blast jumping rope over the past few weeks! It was great to see everyone working hard, persevering and learning to jump rope as efficiently as possible. Heart rates were definitely up, up, up!!

We’re now beginning to sharpen our striking skills!! Students will be focusing on the development of fundamental movement skills to strike balls and other objects using hands, paddles, rackets, hockey sticks and bats. After some work on the fundamentals the younger kids will have fun playing Striker Ball, Gates and Gatekeepers, Beach Ball Volleyball and Home Run Derby. For the older kids we introduce net games such as volleyball, pickleball and badminton, as well as modified versions of floor hockey and baseball. Let’s get ready to practice and play!!

We’d like to thank our students for all of their hard work so far this year. We’re impressed by their efforts to learn, and it’s paying off. Have an active and safe spring break everyone!!

Coach Glenn and Coach Ash

Third Grade has started diving into the Weird!, Dare! Tough! Series. These three books tell the story of how to stop bullying in schools. The story centers around an ongoing case of bullying from three third graders' perspectives. From the student being targeted by bullying in Weird! The second student shares her experience as a bystander to bullying in Dare! And in Tough!, the third student speaks from the point of view of someone initiating bullying. We are having great conversations about perspective-taking and how to become upstanders!

Fourth Graders are learning the difference between their ‘inner-critic’ and their ‘inner-coach’ voices and how thoughts affect feelings and behavior.

Click on the link here to get a glimpse into some of the work they are doing.

Over the past month, we've been exploring the growth mindset in K-2 classrooms, focusing on the power of perseverance and learning from challenges.

In Kindergarten and 1st grade, we met the “Magical Yet”—the part of us that keeps trying, practicing, and believing in ourselves, even when we can’t do something yet.

In 2nd grade, we started reading Your Fantastic Elastic Brain and took a closer look at different parts of the brain, labeling them and learning about their functions. We discovered that:

• The hippocampus is like the library of our brain, storing and retrieving memories.

• The amygdala is our emotional control center, helping us process feelings.

• The prefrontal cortex helps us plan, make decisions, and solve problems.

Across all grade levels, we’re exploring how our brain is more like plastic than cement—it can grow, change and adapt!

The next time your child says “I can’t do this,” remind them to add “yet” and talk about the power of practice and persistence!

Interested in a volunteer spot? We are looking for a lunch line volunteer to support food service. It would be an hour, from 10:30am-11:30am, most likely helping serve food or help the line. You would check in with Ms. Shannon, our Nutrition Lead. Volunteers will need to have all PPS volunteer information completed. Schedules change and we understand: if you sign up and can no longer make it, please let Bridlemile office know. Please sign up at:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4FABA828A0FAC34-51591454-lunch#/

This week’s PTA Newsletter includes details about:

• Freaky Friday T-Shirts, Tickets and Wristband Pre-orders Now Available (due by 3/20)
• Bridlemile Basketball Jersey Donations (3/10 - 3/12)
• Ida B. Wells Parents Night Out for K-5 (Tonight, 3/7)
• Saturday Academy’s Days Off STEAM Program (Grades K-5)

Read the newsletter here.

An evening full of bouncy houses, carnival games, food to purchase and sweet treats!

Opportunity to win Beagle Bucks = Prizes!!

**Pre-Order t-shirts, wristbands & tickets by Thursday, March 20th **

T-Shirts

$15 for kids T-shirts

Wristbands

$20 for unlimited play on most carnival games and outdoor attractions

($25 for a wristband after 3/20)

*a few activities and treats require tickets

Tickets

$5 for 20 tickets

($10 for 20 tickets after 3/20)

No wristband No problem, tickets can be used for all games & activities

Order here: **Freaky Friday 2025** OR SCAN THE QR CODE

for ordering support & questions e-mail: freakyfriday@bridlemileschool.org

Items will be delivered to students April 14th or 15th

Please donate your Bridlemile basketball jerseys! Monday March 10th - Wednesday March 12th

a box will be available outside of the gym for your kids to drop off their jerseys. No shorts please. If you miss this opportunity, we are planning to collect them again at future school events. Jerseys will be made available in the fall next year.

For questions email mariah.fairben@gmail.com

Questions, comments or feedback about this newsletter? Email us at

Bridlemile-Office@pps.net.