Barrington Middle School
BMS Connected learning Newsletter 5.21.2018 The BMS Learning Community is Respectful, Responsible, and Ready to Succeed! Upcoming Events: (Note: Please review the dates as dates are subjected to change due to a number of factors from one newsletter to the next).
Looking Ahead:
Note from Dr. Anderson One of my favorites events each year is our One Amazing Night celebration. This event provides our greater community an opportunity to experience all things BMS! From 5:00pm - 7:00pm on Thursday, May 24, 2018 families will be able to play badminton, race in a giant obstacle course, listen to our amazing student performance groups (band and chorus), see work samples from our talented students in our Academic Showcase, see live demonstrations in our STEAM Studio, enjoy some food from food trucks, and much, much, more. If you are in the neighborhood on Thursday, please stop by! Please note that this event is not a drop off event. All students need to be supervised by an adult. Finally, please check your email from our PTO regarding volunteers. I know we are in need of some more volunteers. BMS Spotlight on Learning This week we would like to shine our BMS Spotlight on our School Counselors, Jaimie Poirier, Krystal Sleboda, Sandy McCauley; School Counselor secretaries, Kathy Bulman and Kelly Nelson; and our BMS Technology department, Ms. Trahan for their assistance and help with the implementation of our state assessment. It truly is a team effort to ensure technology is working properly, paperwork is organized, and all students are scheduled to be assessed and/or participate in makeups. Great work team! We would also like to shine our BMS Spotlight on Mrs. Bulk. Over the past several months, Mrs. Bulk worked incredibly hard on bringing the entire spring assessment calendar together. Due to her organization, calm demeanor, and her availability, assessments went off without a hitch. Great work Mrs. Bulk! BMS News you can Use BMS Building Update: The new building construction is well underway. To help with communication, each week I have been releasing the BMS Building Project Blog. You can access the blog by visiting the BMS Building Project Homepage or the direct link to the BMS Building Project Blog. In addition, each Tuesday morning we will have a student volunteer give updates to our student body during morning announcements. BMS Cluster Experience and Program Preference Forms: A few weeks ago, I emailed our BMS Cluster Experience and Program Preference forms to our families. We ask that families complete the form by Friday, May 25, 2018 as we will be using the information you provide to begin the scheduling process for the 2018 - 2019 academic school year. Please know that we understand the excitement that can build around the cluster assignment process. For a middle school student, cluster assignments can be a big deal! Throughout the summer months we work hard to ensure each cluster is balanced by gender, needs, and abilities. We do take into consideration cluster experience preferences from families, but due to the above mentioned considerations, not all preferences will/can be fulfilled. (Note: typically only 60% of preferences are fulfilled.) Once a child is assigned to a cluster, there will be no changes made to cluster assignments. Rising 6th Grade Cluster/Program Preference Form Rising 7th Grade Cluster/Program Preference Form Rising 8th Grade Program Preference Form 7th Grade Pathways Day: Our annual Pathways Day for our 7th graders will be taking place on Friday, May 25th. On this day, students will hear from a diverse panel of volunteers about their experiences in many different pathways. This year we will hear about military, college, and technical career education pathways. Along with the panel presentation, students will be hearing from the Rhode Island College Planning Center, a non-profit that offers assistance in planning and paying for college to many students and families across the state. The focus of this day is to offer students knowledge about educational journeys towards careers and hear about what skills they can focus on building in middle school and high school that will help them prepare for their future goals. Hopefully the day will help build conversation at home about your student’s interests and plans for the future. Middle School Clothing Drive: Recently a friend of mine who teaches in North Providence at Ricci Middle School asked for my help with a project. Seeing many of her students come in wearing the same clothes each day or missing school because they don’t have clean clothes to wear, she opened a “closet” where students can “shop” for shoes and clothes that they need. Currently, the items in the closet are only coming from some friends of hers who have middle school aged/sized children, which isn’t nearly enough supply for the demand. I know, for many, this is the time of year when we go through all of the drawers and closets and weed out the clothes that are too small or aren't being worn anymore to make room for new items. I am hoping that, if you are pruning your closets, you keep my friend’s project in mind. Please bring any clothes that you are getting rid of over the next few weeks into school and deliver them to room 210 (Mrs. Nary) or leave them in the office. The students who shop in the closet at school are so incredibly grateful for the donations. Thank you for your help and please let me know if there’s anything that you need in order to make the donation process easier. Sincerely, Stephanie Nary Red Cluster Teacher Barrington Police Department Anonymous Tip Line: The Barrington Police Department has set up an anonymous tip line at 401-437-3933. Chief Lacrosse welcomes students, parents, and community members to use the line if they would like to remain anonymous and have something to report. BMS Robotics Boot Camp! Our Barrington High School Robotics Team will be running a 4 week BMS Robotics Boot Camp for our BMS Students beginning Monday, May 21, 2018. This will be a unique opportunity to get our BMS students reacquainted with competitive robotics. Although we do have some BHS parent volunteers, we would love to have some BMS parent volunteers as well to help monitor the sessions. Sign up online at https://bit.ly/2KCG82j In addition, it is important to note that BMS does have a BMS Robotics Team, however, we were unable to participate over the past couple of years because we did not have a coach. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in being a BMS Robotics Boot Camp parent volunteer or be our BMS Robotics coach, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. One Amazing Night!
Teachable Moment Allied Art Classes: Occasionally I am asked about allied art experiences and how students are assigned to their allied art classes. All students experience either a 3 day allied art experience or a 6 day allied art allied art experience for each trimester. Students scheduled into 3 day experiences also have Band/Chorus, or literacy/numeracy services. Students in 6 day experiences do not have band/chorus, or literacy/numeracy services. After each trimester, students will be scheduled into another experience. Our goal is to ensure students do not repeat an experience in a year. For our 6th and 7th grade students, our computer scheduling system randomly schedules them into their allied art experience each trimester. For our 8th grade students, we have shifted towards students identifying their top 3 allied art preferences by completing a form. It is our goal to ensure each 8th grade student gets one out of their 3 allied art experience throughout their 8th grade year. Each trimester, 8th grade schedules are manually scheduled. This allows to purposefully schedule students into their self identified experience. Note: Allied art experiences include Art, Business, Digital Literacy, Family and Consumer Sciences, Music, STEAM Studio, and Woodshop. Barrington Middle School Parent Newsletter
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