The Patriot Parent Newsletter
Brooklyn Park Elementary February 2020
Our Mission and Vision at BPES:
Mission: Rigorous instruction, engaging experiences, positive relationships, no exceptions.
Vision: With the collaborative support of our families, staff and community, Brooklyn Park Elementary will be a school of excellence focused on the academic and social needs of ALL students.
Mr. Walker's Message
Happy February,
What a great month that focuses on history and love.( African-American History, Presidents Day and Valentines's Day) I hope you have a great month that focuses on learning and love. Below are some updates for the month:
Third Quarter
The school year is moving quickly and we will be talking about warmer weather and summer plans soon. If you have questions about your child's report card, please reach out to your child's classroom teacher. Report Cards will be sent home on February 10th.
Safety
There are still cars dropping off students on 14th Avenue in front of the school during arrival. This is causing a safety concern with cars blocking the road and students crossing the street or in front of buses. Please use the drop-off lane in the parking lot or you may drop off your child on Marshall. Ave. ( in front of the school with the crossing guard)
Weather Related Delays or Closure
Please check AACPS website for late openings, school closing or early dismissals due to inclement weather . Please be advised that our office staff does not arrive until 45 minutes prior to school opening and they will be leaving 30 after dismissal. Our school office will be closed if schools are closed.
Celebrations
Our school continues to make significant growth with reading levels and math instruction. Please take a moment to thank your child's teacher! They do a wonderful job and work many hours to support our students.
From Huffpost Parents- Loving Yourself and Self-Care
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-self-care-is-good-parenting_l_5e189f33c5b6da971d14e80d?zkq&?ncid=newsltushpmgvoices_ParentsCHILD CARE DIVISION
1 Harry Truman Parkway Suite105 Annapolis MD 21401
Phone (410-222-7856) Fax (410-222-4478)
http://www.aacounty.org/departments/recreation-parks/child-care/
BROOKLYN PARK SCHOOL AGE CHILD CARE (SACC)
CURRENTLY HAS BEFORE-CARE OPENINGS FOR THE
2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR
Brooklyn Park AM Program
AM Program: Operates from 7:00 am – until the beginning of the school day
Fee Structure – 1st child: $165/month, Additional child, same family: $140/month. Vouchers are accepted.
Mrs. Chisholm's News!
February PBIS News
Marking Period 2 has come to an end. We have two more marking periods in the school year to learn more math, reading, science, and social studies. There are 2 more marking periods to learn about staying safe and getting along. Think about goals for your children and how you would like them to grow and learn over the next few months. Remember that a child’s education takes a village and feel free to reach out if you have any questions or are interested in volunteering.
KChisholm
Upcoming celebrations/events:
Black History Month
Healthy Heart Month
Feb. 1-Read Aloud Day-take time to read a story aloud
Feb. 3- BPES Spirit Day
Feb. 4-8 Guidance Counselor Recognition Week
Feb. 7-Wear Red for a healthy heart
Feb. 10- BPES Spirit Day
Feb. 12-Wear orange for Kindness
Feb. 14-Wear red for a healthy heart
Feb. 18- BPES Spirit Day
Feb. 20-Pet Day-Bring a picture or a stuffed animal of your pet and share with someone
Feb. 24- BPES Spirit Day
(If you are able to help with an event, please contact me at kchisholm@aacps.org or call school at 410 222 6590.)
Attendance matters.
Please bring your child to school every day! If your child is sick, please send him/ her back to school with a note. If your child is out for 3 consecutive days, he/she needs a note from a doctor.
February Attendance Percentages
Pre-k
89.73
K
93.1
1
92.83
2
92.84
3
95.6
4
94.52
5
94.18
• Key academic concepts are being covered everyday.
• Time on task on a daily basis is needed to learn coursework.
• One missed day of school = as many as three days of catch up for a student to learn all the missed information and skills.
Please bring your child to school every day! If your child is sick, please send him/ her back to school with a note. If your child is out for 3 consecutive days, he/she needs a note from a doctor.
Employee of the Month!
February’s Employee of the Month is first grade teacher, Ms. Smith!
Erin Smith is always looking to meet the diverse needs of the students in her classroom. She plans thoughtful differentiated lessons and her students make significant growth. Erin's students love and appreciate her because she has consistent structures and routines so they know what to expect. Erin shows up early and stays late to ensure all her student's needs are met. She puts in the extra time because she truly cares about her students! She is a dedicated teacher. She is a great co-worker because she is positive, supportive, and friendly.
Thanks for being a great teacher, Ms. Smith!
February Important Dates
February 5th Pre-K Application Begins-By Appointment Only (410) 222-6590
Please Visit AACPS Website for Pre-K Registration/Application Information. Thank you.
10 Progress Report/Report Card distribution
12 Two-hour early dismissal for students
14 Happy Valentine's Day!
17 Presidents Day! School Closed
Our doors open at 8:25 a.m. for breakfast for all students, and school begins at 8:50. If your child comes to school by 8:45, he/she will never be marked tardy.
Physical Education News!
In January, all students participated in a nutrition unit where they learned the importance of eating healthy and well-balanced meals and getting at least 60 minutes of exercise a day. They also participated in a basketball skills unit to improve their dribbling, passing and receiving, and shooting skills. Students in grades 3-5 also worked on offensive and defensive strategies and applied them to small-sided games.
In February, all students will participate in a jumping/jump rope unit. The will practice their hopping, jumping, and leaping skills by working with hoops, short ropes, and long ropes. Students in grades 2-5 will select their best jump rope skills and combine them into a short, long, or partner rope routine.
BPES will once again be partnering with the American Heart Association in the Kids Heart Challenge (formerly known as Jump Rope for Heart). Students will learn ways to keep their heart healthy, while helping the AHA collect donations to fight heart disease and stroke and save lives. The event will take place February 18th-24th during regular physical education classes and all donations are due by Monday February 24th. A packet will be going home with additional information on how to register and participate in this wonderful program.
PTA Happenings!
February 21 Family Movie Night in BPES Cafeteria 6:00 p.m.
Penny Wars!! Congratulations to Ms. Alvarado's Class, they had the most pennies in their jar.
A Big Thank you to all of you! The PTA is now able to purchase 2 more Chromebooks for the students.
Band and Strings Winter Concert
Thank you parents for another wonderful Winter Concert Season! Ms. Hess and I are so fortunate to be a part of a community that supports the arts. Keep practicing and we will see you at the Spring Concert!
Classroom News!
Pre-Kindergarten
Happy February, families! This month, we are moving into a new theme; The Earth, Our Home. We will learn about the places on Earth that animals live, how weather changes through the year, and how we can take care of our Earth. Please keep checking your child’s folder for important information regarding in school field trip opportunities to go along with this theme! We will be introducing the letters; Tt, Ss, Rr, and Zz. In math, we will be focusing on addition up to 5. We loved the student participation with the shape books. We will continue to send home fun “homework” opportunities. With Valentine’s day approaching, please keep an eye out for information regarding card exchanges. We appreciate your continued support!
Kindergarten
We can not believe it is February already! We have a busy month filled with fun activities and celebrations, including the 100th Day and Valentine's Day. Students will explore topics such as animal habitats, plants and where/how humans get our food. In math students will count sets and write numerals to 20, as well as explore more than, less than and equal to. In reading, we will continue to practice sight words, identifying initial and final sounds in words and using a variety of reading strategies during our small reading groups.
We will be going on a field trip in March to the Science Center. Permission slips will come home later this month. If you have not filled out a background check to chaperone, now is a good time to do so. Information on how to complete a background check can be found on the AACPS website. As always, please let us know how we can support you and your child!
First Grade
Welcome to Marking Period 3! In February we will go on our first field trip to see Pout Pout Fish on stage! In math, your child will begin to explore geometry concepts. They will focus on defining attributes of shapes, they will explore how to compose new shapes, and they will partition shapes into equal shares. Students will also continue to develop strategies to add two two-digit numbers. In writing, students will begin opinion writing and understand how to give reasons to support their opinions. In social studies and science, students will explore how communication has changed over time, and how sound influences communication. Students will continue reading books on their instructional level and answering verbal and written comprehension questions about the texts. Please make sure you practice reading and asking questions at home. Make it fun! Challenge your child to see how many words/phrases they can read around the grocery store as you shop. The more practice students get with sounding out words and seeing how reading can be done all around them, the more confident they will be as a reader. Try a similar game with identifying shapes and partitioning shapes--for example, look at a pizza and figure out different ways to divide it so it is fair for everyone eating it! We will be celebrating our 100th day of school this month--time flies! We look forward to continuing to support your child's success. As always, please reach out with any questions!
Second Grade
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As we move into the third marking period we are changing the units of study that we are focusing on in our curriculum. We were focusing on being good economists. Now we are going to move on to changing the world, by seeing through the eyes of others.
We understand that math is very different now from the way we learned as children. Be on the lookout for the math newsletters that are sent home at the beginning of each topic. These newsletters provide information for you as parents to better help you understand what you child is doing in class. Feel free to send your child’s teacher any questions you have via class dojo if you have signed up or send in a note with your child to school. We are all here to work together in helping our children grow and blossom into responsible and independent life- long learners.
The reading homework Choice boards will be changing again for the start of the third quarter on January 24th. They will be changing at the beginning of each new marking period. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
~ The Second Grade Team
Third Grade
We have reached the halfway point of 3rd grade!!!
Math: Your child will be developing a solid understanding of the connection between multiplication and division. The major representation used will be square tiles (to form arrays), visual representations (to show equal groups), and number lines (to show forward jumps and backward as they relate to multiplication and division). Students will use factors and products 1-100 in standard basic facts and fact families. Please continue to complete homework and practice multiplication facts!
Reading: This quarter, your child will read fiction and non-fiction texts. Your child visits the media center each week and has the opportunity to select books of their choice to read for enjoyment and practice the reading skills they are learning during their Guided Reading lessons. Some skills that you can help your child with at home are as follows: ask them questions about what they read, have them look for text clues to help them figure out unknown words, summarize what they read by identifying the story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution, events), and describe characters using character traits.
Social Studies: In Marking Period 3, students will be learning about the economy. The culminating project for this unit of study will be to create either a good or service. Students will be learning about needs and wants, budgets, and how choices are made as consumers.
Writing: Students will be writing opinion pieces this quarter. They will learn to appeal to the audience and provide reasons to support their opinion. At this point in third grade, students should be starting a sentence with a capital letter and ending the sentence with correct punctuation, a period or question mark.
Fourth Grade
February is filled with cold weather, snow and learning too!! Be sure to always send your child to school with a winter jacket, hat, and gloves - when the temperature allows it we will be going outside for much needed fresh air, so it is imperative that they have cold weather attire. If you need any assistance in this matter, please contact your child's teacher or Mrs. Selznick and we will ensure that they are provided!
As we move into the third marking period our theme of the quarter will be Critical Thinking. Think about ways to incorporate this skill in every day life by encouraging your child to be a critical thinker and solving problems that may arise.
In Language Arts we will be analyzing texts, looking through the texts through characters point of views, studying theme, main idea & mood, inferring skills, and learning lessons from events and experiences. Please be sure that your child is reading every day and discussing what they are reading with you. Feel free to ask your child's teacher for questions to ask your child about what they are reading.
In Writing, we will be formulating and supporting opinions. Encourage your child to give their opinions and SUPPORT them with solid reasons. We will be working really hard this marking period having good strong opinions.
In Math, we will be back to Fractions. We will add, subtract and multiply fractions and whole numbers. We will also work on Decimals and Angle Measurement. If you have not yet sent in a protractor with your child this is the marking period where they will need it. It is also very important that your child be doing their homework as practice and asking questions as needed.
Our hopes as a team will be to plan some upcoming field trips - so stay tuned for that information. Thank you for all you do in supporting your learner!
Ms. Nauman, Mrs. Bonaparte and Ms. Phelps.
Fifth Grade
With the beginning of the third marking period, we are refining our math skills. Please continue to review the basic multiplication facts with your child. In class they are multiplying and dividing multi-digit numbers. By the end of fifth grade, the students need to be able to use the standard algorithm to solve multiplication and division. We are continuing our study of the formation of a new nation in Social Studies. We will be learning about the Revolutionary War this month.
Mrs. Wells News!
Brooklyn Park Public Library
1 East 11th Ave., Brooklyn Park, MD 21225
Onsite service to assist parents in achieving or maintaining economic self-support and self-sufficiency.
Wednesdays 9:00-5:00- P.M. Referral & Linkage Services Community Outreach
4th Wednesdays at the Library 12:00-1:30 Free Lunch
For information, please call Takiya Green, MSW Casework Specialist (410) 421-8481.
Offers:
Financial Assistance with Court Ordered Evictions
Utility Assistance
1st Month's Rent
Life Sustaining Prescriptions
Burial Assistance
Food Stamps
Benefits (Temporary Cash Assistance)
Referral & Linkage Services for Food, Furniture, Clothing, Substance Abuse Disorder & Shelter
BP Public Library Cafe':
Wednesdays 12:00-1:30 PM Free Lunch
February 26: Maryland Coalition of Families
March 25: Energy Assistance Programs-Fuel Fund & Community Action Agency
April 25: Arundel Community Development Services
May 27: 2nd Annual Community Resource Fair Cookout
June 22: RCDC/H20 Recovery Center Community Outreach
July 22: Brooklyn Park Plaza Community Outreach