Step into an American preschool classroom today and you are likely to be bombarded with what we educators call a print-rich environment, every surface festooned with alphabet charts, bar graphs, word walls, instructional posters, classroom rules, calendars, schedules, and motivational platitudes—few of which a 4-year-old can “decode,” the contemporary word for what used to be known as reading.

So our first day at Burton 4H Camp is in the books. Other than the weather not being as warm as we would have liked, it has been a phenomenal day. The programming and classes that our students have been able to be a part of have been amazing (as you have probably seen if you have been on Facebook or Instagram).

What is your bucket list of sporting events? I wrote a similar post to this almost ten years ago. For me personally, this week is the best in all of sports (even better than SEC football!). You have the conclusion of my absolute favorite sporting event that really does drive us all mad - March Madness (how's your bracket look!?) combined with the beauty and pageantry that is The Masters, combined with opening day of Major League Baseball....and just for fun, both the NBA and NHL are in the final weeks of their regular seasons making both of them somewhat interesting. I would like to list my personal "bucket list" of 10 items that I would like to experience in my lifetime.

Nurse Adams recently approached me about an idea to incorporate to have a week of school in which we specifically focus on living healthier lifestyles. I thought it was a great idea and asked her to further develop this. I am excited to share with you her thoughts and ideas for our students.

It is almost the time of the year where we send out re-enrollment packets and once again ask our parents to sign their child back up for another school year at BBS.  Over the years, I have had many conversations with parents about how the entire "re-enrollment process" is just cumbersome. Why do we ask families to fill out forms each year and make them mentally decide to come back? Most of the time the information that is asked hasn't changed from the previous year, and our retention rate averages about 96% each year, which shows that the majority of our families intend on having their child graduate from Brainerd Baptist School.

For those who have been around Brainerd Baptist School any length of time, you know that we are really big on offering many different ways for our students to learn. Gardening, STEM, Coding, Cooking and many other classes we offer proves this point.  We know that children can learn in many different ways, and we beleive that there is often a high value to offering multiple ways for students to learn.
 

Our Parent Support Organization came up with a fun, innovative way to help raise funds for our 2017-2018 school year.  The Spartan Warrior Race (our Fall Fundraiser) was exciting for our students and proved to be a very successful event for our school.  Because of the additional money raised, thanks to our supportive families, we are going to be able to purchase some additional items for our school.
 

I began typing this post while sitting in the family room at St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis. I was watching two Brainerd Baptist School teachers work with one of our students who has been fighting cancer the last 2+ years. Hayden is what I have affectionately termed a "grandstudent".