Bushy Bear Tales
Volume 5- November 10, 2017
Bushy Park Elementary
Terri Via, Assistant Principal
Email: molly_ketterer@hcpss.org
Website: bpes.hcpss.org
Location: 14601 Carrs Mill Road, Glenwood, MD, United States
Phone: (410) 313-5500
Twitter: @hcpss_bpes
From Mrs. Ketterer:
- 13 American Education Week Nov. 13-17
- 14 2nd Grade Fire Safety House / PTA Meeting @ 7:00 p.m. in the Media Center
- 15 1st Grade Field Trip to the Maryland Science Center
- 16 Leo Club Meeting
- 16 3rd Grade Field Trip to UMD Girls' Basketball Game / K Field Trip to Library
- 17 SPIRIT DAY: Neon Day
- 20 Early Dismissal: Parent /Teacher Conferences
- 21 Early Dismissal: Parent /Teacher Conferences
- 29 Photo Retake Day
- 30 Family Fit Night
December
- 1 PTA Cultural Arts Author Visit: Jennifer O'Connell
- 6 Ident-a-Kid
- 12 PTA Meeting @ 7:00 p.m. in the Media Center
- 20 1st Grade Gingerbread House Making
- 22 Pajama Day
Bear Hug Winners - November 3rd
- Kindergarten- Irene Lee, Trey Stup
- 1st Grade- Sophia Hwu, Maria Vilar
- 2nd Grade- Ethan Duong, Helen Kang
- 3rd Grade- Cate Walsh
- 4th Grade- Elijah Kim, Russell McIntyre
- 5th Grade- Ahmad Abulseoud, Kenley Marshall
Bear Hug Winners - November 10th
Schedule Your Parent-Teacher Conference
Our Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held in less than two weeks November 20th-November 22nd. Students will have a 3-hour Early Dismissal at 12:47 p.m. both Monday and Tuesday of that week, and will not have school on Wednesday in order to allow teachers to meet with every family during the conference time. Please see the notice below regarding how to access Synergy to schedule the perfect conference time for you with your child’s Homeroom or Block Teacher!
Parent-Teacher Conferences Sign-Up Opens Friday, November 10th @ 9:00 a.m.
We are continuing to use Synergy Conference Management to schedule parent-teacher conferences. It provides a simple user interface and easy navigation. Starting at 9:00 AM on Friday, November 10th, parents can log into HCPSS Connect to view and select a conference time slot provided by the teacher.
Fall conferences will be scheduled for RECC & Prekindergarten homerooms, Language Arts teachers for grades K – 4, and Block Teachers for grade 5. Each teacher has 30 conference slot times available.
Parents can register for conferences online through Friday, November 17th at 9:00 PM. If you experience any issues, please submit your issue using the Help feature on the HCPSS Connect page at http://www.hcpss.org/connect.
AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK is Next Week: November 13-17
November 13-17 is American Education Week and is the designated week when parents are invited to visit their child’s school and to observe them at work.
Grade level teams at Bushy Park have selected special focus days for your attendance. The purpose of focus days is to reduce the amount of instructional distractions during the week.
You are welcome to visit on any day that best meets your schedule, but please notify the teacher if you plan to come on a day other than the focus day. We look forward to you visiting your child’s classroom so that you can see them at their daily job of learning. Extra parking will be available in our bus lanes from 9:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
SPECIAL FOCUS DAYS FOR AMERCIAN EDUCATION WEEK
Monday, November 13
Kindergarten / 1st Grade / 3rd Grade / 5th Grade
Tuesday, November 14
RECC / Pre-Kindergarten
4th Grade
Thursday, November 16
2nd Grade
GT CORNER- 2nd CEU Archaeology Field Trip
Our Bushy Park 2nd grade archaeologists recently had the opportunity to participate in an authentic archaeology dig at the Patapsco Female Institute (PFI) in Ellicott City on October 19th. Students have been studying all about how archaeologists do their work in the GT Curriculum Extension Unit called “Archaeologists Really Dig It!”
At the dig site, students learned all about PFI which was a girls’ school that operated on the hill above Ellicott City in the 1800s. They got to excavate in the dirt to look for artifacts from the 1800s using real archaeology tools. The students used their best detective skills to analyze and reconstruct artifacts from the school.
We had a great afternoon and we want to thank our archaeologist friends at PFI, Mr. Jacob, Miss Karen, and Miss Emily, for leading us on a great adventure!
HCPSS educators conduct mini-lessons to help students and families understand today’s mathematics concepts being taught in classrooms.
PTA Cultural Arts Event: Author Jennifer O'Connell Visits December 1st
Keep an eye out for book order forms coming soon. We need 2 weeks to get the books ordered, so forms will be due on Thursday, November 16th
Jennifer O’Connell writes and illustrates picture books. Her titles include Ten Timid Ghosts, a New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today and Amazon bestseller.
Jennifer’s nonfiction book, The Eye of the Whale – A Rescue Story, tells the true tale of a whale entanglement rescue and the humpback’s extraordinary behavior toward the divers who freed her. The book received the 2014 Green Earth Book Award, a Moonbeam Gold Award and was named a Maryland Blue Crab Honor Book, among other honors. To research the book, Jennifer traveled to San Francisco, were she interviewed crew members and rode the rescue boat, Superfish, out into the Pacific Ocean to the area where the rescue took place. This experience fueled her inspiration as she created the images and words of this remarkable story.
Jennifer is a graduate of The University of the Arts, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She and her husband, Kevin, have two grown children and live in Bethesda, Maryland.
For more information, please visit www.JenniferOConnellArt.com.
FAMILY FIT NIGHT Coming on November 30th from 6:00-8:00 p.m.
YOUNG AUTHOR'S CONTEST OPPORTUNITY
HCPSS Redistricting Information: UPDATE
Howard County Public School System Interim Superintendent Dr. Michael J. Martirano presented his recommendations to relieve overcrowding in elementary and high schools, open new Elementary School #42 and align feeder patterns in middle schools at a meeting with the Board of Education on Tuesday, October 3, 2017.
The proposal takes into consideration the 2017 Feasibility Study, two plans submitted by the Attendance Area Committee and input received from the community, and offers innovative solutions that combine programmatic expansion with redistricting to reduce overcapacity and address feeder pattern inconsistencies.
The full article can be found at: http://www.hcpss.org/news-posts/2017/10/interim-superintendent-presents-proposed-recommendations-to-address-school-overcrowding/
More information, including the report given to the Board of Education and a one-page document that details the recommendations, is available on the HCPSS website at http://www.hcpss.org/school-planning.
Below, you will find a list of important dates over the next two months after the Superintendent makes his recommendations to the Board of Education.
Board of Education Public Hearings and Work Sessions
- Thursday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m. - Public Hearing I
- Wednesday, Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m. - Work Session I
- Thursday, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m. - Work Session II
- Tuesday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. - Public Hearing II
- Thursday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m. - Work Session III
- Tuesday, Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m. - Work Session IV
Approval of Attendance Area Adjustment Plan
- Thursday, Nov. 16, 7:30 p.m. - Approval