BPMS PARENT NEWSLETTER
January 2021
MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL
Happy New Year BPMS Families!
I hope your students were able to relax and recharge over the break and they had a good first week getting back into the groove of virtual learning.
Many of us await reopening answers as February and the third marking period draw closer and hopefully those answers come soon as the Board of Education is set to hold a special reopening meeting this Friday, January 14th. For now, what will move forward is the updated AACPS middle school schedule set to begin on Tuesday, February 2nd. The schedule is linked below and answers about Wednesday Flex time and more will be answered before February 2nd. Stay tuned . . .
A big shout out to our PTA president, Stacey Arthur, and parent, Josh Putterman, for designing a fantastic t-shirt to uplift spirits and commemorate this virtual/hybrid year of 20/21. Information about purchasing t-shirts and sweatshirts can be found below. Be sure to check them out and many thanks to both of you!
Take care and stay safe!
Mrs. Shakan
#BPMSStrong
#NoMatterTheDistance
#BelieveEducateEmpower
IMPORTANT DATES
IMPORTANT INFO
- Academic Week January 19-22. Students can schedule time during teacher office hours.
- End of 2nd marking period is January 28th and 29th, 2 hour early dismissal days.
- Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri school hours: 8:30am-2:50pm
- Wed school hours: 8:30am-10:35am
- Note Encore schedule change this year: 8th grade attends 1st & 2nd periods, 7th grade remains the same during 3rd and 4th, 6th grade attends 5th and 6th periods.
PARENT PORTAL
Directions for registering for and accessing your Parent Portal account are found on the AACPS Student-Parent Portal Webpage and are also linked below. If you are creating an account for the first time, please call the school at 410-636-2967 to get the user ID and access code for your child. (This is not the same code they use for instruction daily).
We hope you find Parent Portal to be a user friendly tool for monitoring progress as we approach mid-marking period and throughout the school year.
A message from the School Counseling Department…
Happy New Year and welcome back! We know now, more than ever, times are tough, days are long and that your child may be struggling. If your student is withdrawn from school, friends, or family, sleeping all day or hardly at all, expressing hopelessness, or more irritable or angry than usual, these may be signs of depression. The Student Services team here at BPMS cares about you. We have resources to help your child. Please read this article to find out more about symptoms of teen depression if you are concerned about your child. http://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/parents-guide-to-teen-depression.htm
Please visit http://www.aacps.org/crisisresources for mental health resources or reach out to your student's school counselor, school psychologist or school social worker for extra support. You are not alone in this and we are here to help you.
Contact your grade level School Counselor with any questions or concerns:
Ms. Falzarine 6th Grade – afalzarine@aacps.org GV (301) 892-6569
Mrs. Santiago- Fecht 7th Grade – bsantiagofecht@aacps.org GV (786) 322-6121
Mrs. Grandy 8th Grade – tgrandy@aacps.org GV (302) 314-3874
Danielle Saad School Social Worker – dsaad@aacps.org Phone (301) 531-4018
Pop-up Food Pantry
Sponsored by Child Hunger Outreach Program
Friday January 22 from 4-6pm at Brooklyn Park Middle School
Bagged food available to everyone in the community for pick up. Please wear a mask.
Parent Kudos for BPMS Staff
BPMS Updates
The recent week-long cancellation of clubs to instead offer Office Hours was a beneficial use of time for many students. Thus, we have decided to permanently build this time into our virtual school schedule. Instead of one, we will offer two weeks during the marking period with one happening halfway and the second at the end of the marking period. These weeks will be titled, ‘Academic Weeks.’
Students will be expected to turn in all work for the second half of the marking period by the end of Academic Week 2, January 22nd.
Additionally, updates were made to all syllabi and each individual syllabus can be found at this link: https://sites.google.com/aacps.org/thehive/the-hive#h.3vcbwh75gw5q.
Details: Teachers shall assign a minimum grade of 55% to assignments or assessments for which the student made a good faith effort, as determined by the teacher, to meet the basic requirements. If a student does no work on an assignment or assessment, the teacher shall assign a failing grade of 50%.
iReady Math Homework Scale
- Students are expected to work on their Math i-Ready for a minimum of 10 minutes per night to a maximum of 15 minutes per night.
- To earn full credit for their weekly math homework, students are expected to work a minimum of 50 minutes on their Math i-Ready.
NEW CLUBS STARTED OCTOBER 9TH
2020-2021 BPMS Yearbook
NEWS FROM THE BPMS LIBRARY T. A. L. E.
The most awesome icon on your student's ClassLink page is the one for Mackinvia!
MackinVia is an online collection of eBooks, eAudiobooks, databases, and more! Students simply login to ClassLink, click on [MackinVIA] and suddenly, students have access to over 1,700 digital resources for their academic needs or personal interests.
Learn more about it (and how to login) on the Library T.A.L.E. website. Remember: reading 20 minutes a day at home will expose your learner to 1.8 million words per year.
BPMS PTA
BPMS Virtual Learning Spiritwear
We are pleased to announce and offer the ability to purchase BPMS Virtual Learning Spiritwear. Students, Parents/Guardians, Teachers and Staff have the ability to purchase and wear BPMS STRONG BEES Virtual Learning from any distance shirts and hoodies.
Congrats 2020-2021 BPMS PTA Executive Board!
Thank you for volunteering your time for our Bees.
President - Stacey Arthur
Vice Pres - Heather Watkins
Secretary - Kyle Curran
Treasurer - Shantel Dillon
Thanks to all who volunteered for our 2020-2021 PTA.
PTA News:
- Join us for our virtual PTA Meeting on January 7th, 2021 at 6:30pm. Meeting details linked below.
- Support us by becoming a member (form link below)
- Even if not a member, follow us on Facebook @ Brooklyn Park Middle School PTA for important upcoming dates/info
Brooklyn Park Middle School's GroupRaise Meal at IHOP
Commit to Eat in support of Brooklyn Park Middle School at IHOP on January 18th from 4:00pm to 9:00pm at 8112 Ritchie Highway, Pasadena.
When purchasing please mention support BPMS!
Passcode: bees
SCHEDULES
RESOURCES
Attendance Note
Tutoring Available
Parents/Guardians who have students that are struggling with classes - Tutoring is available check it out:
School Psychology Virtual Office
Please feel free to visit the School Psychology Virtual Office for a variety of information and resources for our BPMS students, parents, and staff! If anyone finds that their student is really struggling and could use a check-in, my contact information is here too!