The 'Borough Bulletin
Items of interest and updates from the Middleborough Schools
Notes from the Superintendent of Schools.....The Big Picture!
Hello to everyone and welcome to the second installment of the 'Borough Bulletin. This publication is a "newsletter" of sorts and is designed so that any interested individual can get as broad of a perspective as possible as to what is going on from PreK through Grade 12 and beyond within the Middleborough Public Schools. I hope you enjoy it!
Looking Beyond!
We are beginning the process of reaching out to as many prospective students as possible in planning for the 2019-2020 school year so the following information is for parents/guardians of next year's PreK and K students;
MIDDLEBOROUGH KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION for 2019-2020!
Children who reside in Middleborough and who will be 5 years old by September 1, 2019, are eligible to enroll in Kindergarten for the 2019-2020 school year.
Online Registration will be open January 2, 2019, through March 15, 2019 at www.middleboro.ma.us/registration.
Questions? Please call our Central Registrar at 508-946-9559, Ext 4397.
PRESCHOOL REGISTRATION AND LOTTERY INFORMATION
Applications for the 2019-2020 Preschool Lottery will be available starting January 2, 2019. Children must be 4 years old by September 1, 2019, and must not be age-eligible for Kindergarten. More information will be available on the district website after January 2nd, or by calling 508-946-2032.
Throughout the month of December, the MIddleborough Public Schools will also feature a Computer Science Week as well as a STEAM week. Science, Technology ,Engineering, Art and Math are extremely important topics of study within our school system and we will have a great deal of activities going throughout the school system.
Computer Science Week!
It has been stated that, "Computer science opens more doors for students than any other discipline in today’s world. Learning even the basics will help students in virtually any career—from architecture to zoology. Just as we teach students how to dissect a frog, or how electricity works, it’s important for every 21st century student to have a chance to design an app or an algorithm, or learn how the Internet works." (https://csedweek.org/files/policy_maker_letter.pdf)
In December, our students will engage in celebrating Computer Science Week by participating in the 'Hour of Code™' from December 3rd through the 7th . The Hour of Code is a nationwide initiative by Computer Science Education Week [csedweek.org] and Code.org [code.org] to introduce millions of students to one hour of computer science and computer programming. Our students will participate in coding activities in their computer technology classes. These activities will expose our students to opportunities to demonstrate problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity.
S.T.E.A.M. Week!
The Middleborough Public Schools is proud to celebrate STEAM Week from December 17th through the 21st. What is STEAM you ask? STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. STEAM is all around us in our everyday lives and it is one of the fastest growing occupational areas. By celebrating STEAM Week, we hope to increase students' interest and motivation to study and pursue STEAM based opportunities.
Mass CUE Participation!
As a great example of utilizing technology to further student understanding, three current 5th grade students, Charleigh, Mariana, Jasiah, from the Henry B. Burkland School, and their 4th grade classroom teacher, Mrs. Martin, along with Mrs. Bertelli, Educational Technology Support Facilitator, presented at the MassCUE annual fall technology conference on October 19th in the Student Showcase Global Education, held at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA.
Massachusetts Computer Using Educators (MassCUE), is Massachusetts’ affiliate of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). MassCUE partners with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASS) to host New England’s premiere technology-in-education conference. The conference provided educators with two days chock-full of workshops and networking opportunities.
This year, MassCUE’s annual conference had a record number of over 1,600 teachers and administrators attending each day. There were over 200 50-minute sessions where teachers shared best practices as well as some longer in-depth two-hour sessions. Also, more than 130 educational technology companies and 15 nonprofits showed off their wares and promoted the latest advances in hardware and software.
Additionally, MassCUE had two student showcases; CUEKids and Global Ed Trekkers, sharing amazing projects they have done in their classrooms. Students from over 30 different school systems across the state highlighted projects that focused on connection with global education, and they explained their high-quality projects that incorporate learning and technology.
The Henry B. Burkland School students presented on their 4th grade class’ experience of participating in a SafariLIVE session, which is an interactive broadcast, hosted by expert safari guides taking you along on a safari drive in the Greater Kruger National Park in South Africa. During the drive they encountered a variety of animals, plant life and insects in their natural habitat, such as elephants, cheetahs, hippos, termite mounds, and so much more!
Along with presenting on their topic, they had an opportunity to speak to an audience of approximately 200 educators about their virtual field trip, an opportunity to meet students from other school districts and learn about their projects, and to be interviewed by the MassCUE broadcasting team https://youtu.be/PsGxl0d91hc (recording of the interview).
The students are to be commended for their preparation and hard work developing their interesting and informative presentation. They represented our Middleborough Public Schools extremely well, and are recognized to be among Burkland’s Best.
In Closing....
There are a great deal of assorted activities scheduled for December at each school so please take advantage of these opportunities to celebrate our students, faculty and staff!
Many of these are noted below but the district's website is also an excellent source of updated information for our school system!
Please also note that I value your input with regard to this publication or anything else that involves the Middleborough Public Schools. Please feel free to contact me via email at blynch@middleboro.k12.ma.us or by phone at 508-946-2000 or follow me on Twitter @MPS_Supt
From my home to yours, I wish you and your families all the best for the upcoming Holidays and the New Year!
Please watch for 'Borough Bulletin #3 in early January of 2019!
MECC is Making Every Child Count....Please Note Important 2018-2019 Registration Information!
MECC kicked off the month of November with Parent-Teacher Conferences and our annual Scholastic Book Fair. Students visited the book fair during the week with their classroom and volunteers were there to assist students with picking out a book and making a purchase. In addition, our PTA made sure every student received at least one book. A huge thank you goes out to all of our parent volunteers who assisted our students at the book fair.
In the spirit of Massachusetts Literacy Month, our school engaged in a school-wide Drop Everything and Read and Pajama Day. Students carried a book everywhere they went and when the announcement was made Warm Up to a Good Book for 10-15 minutes, the students did just that. Students and staff also wore pajamas on this special day.
A Reading Bingo Board went home with our kindergarten and preschool students. The goal of this is to engage families and students in various fun reading activities, such as reading a book by flashlight or in a fort. Students are asked to identify characters and the setting or retell the story to the best of their ability to name a few. The Reading Bingo Boards are due Tuesday, December 18th.
As Thanksgiving approached, our students have been learning about Pilgrim and Wampanoag life. Students were engaged in hands-on activities and experienced 17th Century games and artifacts. A couple of Pilgrims visited our school and taught our students about Pilgrim life and shared clothing, games and various kitchen tools with them.
MECC PTA Meetings are the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00 PM in our cafeteria. They have been very busy planning events for our school and the next big event will be Cookies with Santa on Saturday, December 8th from 11:00-1:00 PM. We hope to see many MECC families in attendance.
On behalf of MECC’s faculty and staff, we wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season. Thank you for giving us the gift of your children each day, as they always make us laugh and smile. Happy Holidays!
MIDDLEBOROUGH KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION for 2019-2020!
Children who reside in Middleborough and who will be 5 years old by September 1, 2019, are eligible to enroll in Kindergarten for the 2019-2020 school year.
Online Registration will be open January 2, 2019, through March 15, 2019 at www.middleboro.ma.us/registration.
Questions? Please call our Central Registrar at 508-946-9559, Ext 4397.
Applications for the 2019-2020 Preschool Lottery will be available starting January 2, 2019. Children must be 4 years old by September 1, 2019, and must not be age-eligible for Kindergarten. More information will be available on the district website after January 2nd, or by calling 508-946-2032.
The Mary K. Goode Messenger
The Mary K. Goode Messenger
During the month of November we continued to focus on our path to creating an environment where all students are respectful, responsible, and ready to learn. We began the month with an ABC’s of Middleboro safety drill for all of our classes. These drills continue to be an important part of keeping everyone safe in case of an emergency in our school. Our grade 5 students had a visit from our local friends at Soule Homestead, where they learned the importance of composting. In grade 3 our students, teachers, and chaperones braved the rain and chilly temperatures on their visit to Plimoth Plantation. Our students shared some exciting stories from their experiences. Grade 1 celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with the annual MKG Thanksgiving Day Parade. Big Ryan visited the grade 4 classrooms sharing his enthusiasm for storytelling. We were really thrilled to have Dr. Gates and Mrs. Lyons conduct learning walks of some of our classrooms during literacy. We always enjoy sharing the power of learning. We ended the month with the PTA’s annual Holiday Extravaganza!!!! Thank you to all of our volunteers as well as families and friends her donated items for the various events. We couldn’t do it without you!!!!
Upcoming December events at MKG:
Dec. 3 – Dec. 7 Computer Science – Hour of Code
All of our computer classes will be celebrating the Hour of Code with activities that enhance our coding skills. Writing code tells the computer what to do.
Report Cards will be going home with students on Dec. 7.
Dec. 10 – Dec. 14 Town Meetings will be held each morning.
Dec. 17 – Dec. 21 STEAM Week – All classes have selected a day and an activity to celebrate STEAM Week
The Burkland Bulletin
The month of November was a busy one at HBB and we are looking forward to December. Here are some of our favorite highlights from the month and the things were are looking forward to as we enter December.
One of our favorite traditions is our first grade Character Parade. All our students pick a character from their favorite book and come to school dressed like that character. Parents and students throughout the school come out an enjoy the parade as our students have a chance to celebrate reading! The costumes were great and thank you to the grade 1 team for organizing this fun event!
BOXTOPS!
We collect BOXTOPS twice per year and we have turned this fundraiser into a fun contest between classes to see who can raise the most. The winning classes receive a trophy and the overall winner gets their name engraved on a plaque! Thank you to everyone who sent in their BOXTOPS. We raised $876!!! The winning classes for each grade were
Grade 1 – Mrs. Trottier
Grade 2 - Mrs. McLaughlin
Grade 3 - Ms. Procknik
Grade 4 - Mrs. Cooley
Grade 5 - Mrs. Beird
Mrs. Procknik’s class was also the overall winner!!!
Mixed Specials for Grade 5!
In an effort to better prepare our kids for Middle School, we started mixed groupings for specials. Traditionally 5th graders go to Special (PE, Art, Music, Computers) with the same class or group of kids they are with all day. We have been exploring ways to better prepare students for Middle School and we felt this was a great way to get our kids experience in dealing with mixed groupings. Not only will this give us an opportunity to teach some important skills, it will also give the kids a chance to be with different kids for a portion of the day AND it will give us the chance to build Chorus into the school day!
As our kids learned of their new groups there was a mixture of anxiety, excitement and disappointment. This change has really given us a great chance to talk to our kids about what things will be like in Middle School as they transition to multiple classes and deal with mixed groupings more often. This isn't the only step taken this year to prepare our students for grade 6 and moving forward we will continue to work to ensure our kids have ALL the skills needed to succeed in life beyond HBB!
STEM WEEK!
The week before the holiday break (Dec 17-21) is STEAM week throughout the district and we have TONS of fun stuff planned here at HBB! The week will be anchored by Jay Mankita and his traveling Maker Spaces thanks to our amazing PTA! We also have an expert in Robotics coming with his robots and design challenges set up for our kids everyday.....just to name a few of the many activities planned for the week. We are really looking forward to spending the week celebrating STEAM and developing our future scientists!
Family Night Out
Tuesday December 11th will be a great night to visit us here at HBB as you can get some shopping done and have some fun while you're at it. In addition to our Family Book Fair we will have a "Lil' Shoppers Shoppe" where kids can buy gifts for those special people in their lives. We will also have a station set up where parents can buy some of our extremely popular Burkland's BEST winter gear. Lastly, everyone can have some fun with Book Bingo and coloring! We hope you consider joining us!
St. Vincent de Paul Giving Tree
Every year we collect new pairs of socks of all sizes as well as new toothbrushes and toothpaste for the St. Vincent de Paul Giving Tree Program which provides assistance to local families. We have made a sizable donation every year and we hope this year will be one of our biggest! Please consider donating to this wonderful organization, your support will be greatly appreciated!
Nichols News!
1. "Beauty & the Beast" - The NMS Music Department is excited to present Disney's Beauty and the Beast. After months of diligent preparation, Mrs. Young and her students are excited for opening night. It's a "tale as old as time" and we are excited for all tose that come to see the show to "be our guest." Opening night is Friday, December 7th at 7PM. The show wraps up on Saturday, December 8th with a matinee show at 3:00PM and and evening show at 7:00PM. Tickets are $5.00 at the door. All are welcome!!
2. The winter sports season schedule kicks off the first week of December. In addition to our traditional boys and girls basketball teams, our NMS students have the opportunity to compete with the high school in wrestling and swimming & diving. We are excited for a great season.
3. The student council sponsored their annual "No Shave November" contest. Students have voted online for their favorite faculty facial hair. Voting wraps up the first week of December. The winning faculty member gets to donate the proceeds of the contest to the charity of their choice.
4. Tuesday, December 18th, will be "Tiger Tuesday Celebrates the Holidays." This holiday season NMS will celebrate the season by sponsoring a Holiday Door Decorating Contest. The contest will be judged by a panel of local celebrity judges, with the top 3 homeroom's winning prizes.
Middleborough High School Happenings
Although November is a short month, Middleborough High School has been very active in the areas of academics, athletics, extra-curricular activities and the arts.
Academically, the National Honor Society students hosted their “Study Crunch” session where students were able to receive support while studying for their mid-semester exams which were held on November 7th and 8th. The Science Café took place at Battistini’s Bakery on November 8th. November 9th was the 21st Century Learning Workshop Experience. All students at MHS were able to choose workshops of interest to them and experience a day of professional development learning. Workshops were run by teachers, staff and outside mentors and saw MHS alumni returning to pay it forward with their employment experiences. Finally, we were able to recognize 43 students who were named John & Abigail Adams Scholars earning them free tuition at a Massachusetts state college or university.
The fall sports season finished strong! We hosted the Boston Bruins “Be Fit Performance” program, held the winter sports meeting and travelled to Carver for the annual Thanksgiving football game, bringing home the trophy once again. The Powder Puff game and bonfire kicked off spirit week at Battis Field followed by the Pep Rally on Tuesday before leaving for the Thanksgiving break. The soccer teams held their season end gathering at MHS on November 29th.
The Fall Show “Our Town” was performed by members of our theatre program with performances the weekend of November 9th and 10th. In addition, our band performed in the Veterans Day parade, the Christmas parade and at the Thanksgiving Day game in Carver. An Open House was held at MHS for the Class of 2023 who will be coming to MHS next fall. This Open House gave parents and students an opportunity to ask questions and learn about the opportunities that will be available when they become Sachems at MHS!
Looking ahead, there are many events in December. Key Club will be hosting their annual “Eat to Heat” dinner on December 5th to raise money for families in need of heating assistance this winter. That same evening will be the Fall Sports Banquet for all of our fall sports teams and their families. Progress Reports will be distributed December 10th in time for Parent-Teacher Conferences that evening. The annual Winter Concert will be Wednesday, December 12th at 7:00pm and the following Wednesday, December 19th, will be the Student Council’s Annual Holiday Party with the families from the Conway House. Members of the MHS Concert Choir and Sachem Singers will be caroling at local nursing homes and for residents at Oak Point. Guidance will be administering the ASVAB exam this month to those students interested in the military.