The Patriot Newsletter
Brooklyn Park Elementary May 2019
Our Mission and Vision at BPES:
Vision: Brooklyn Park Elementary will be a place of excellence; in which we believe all students can succeed. We believe all students will achieve their full potential in their academic, creative, and moral development with the support of parents, staff members, and the community.
A Note from Principal Walker
Dear BPES Community,
The month of May always brings a refreshing feeling of renewal and opportunity. Although the pollen is high and the weather can be volatile, May is an exciting month. Below are some updates for the month of May.
Student Dress and Safety
I am strongly recommending that students wear closed toe shoes. (tennis shoes or regular shoes) I know slides and flip-flops are comfortable, but wearing open toe shoes is a safety concern for recess and physical education classes. Also, as the weather gets warmer, I am asking students to dress comfortable, but refrain from wearing tank tops.
Attendance
I know the difficulty of being a working parent. I also understand the stress of having to take time off from work because of a sick child, yet our attendance rate at BPES is too low. Each day our students are involved in high rigor and exciting lessons. It is imperative that our students attend school daily and are on time. When students miss instruction, they may fall behind on key skills and learning opportunities. Please continue to send your child to school and on time.
Fieldtrips
Fieldtrips are a wonderful way for our students to learn new opportunities, also they are a great way for parent and community involvement. Just a reminder, that all adults must have a background check before chaperoning a fieldtrip.
Summer Camps
I understand the financial commitment of sending children to summer camp, yet there are other advantages to consider. I have attached a link. https://www.idtech.com/blog/benefits-of-summer-camp-infographic,
I hope you enjoy the month of May…
Your Principal
May Important Dates!
May 2 Spring Chorus Concert 6:00 p.m. at the Chesapeake Arts Center
May 7 Picture Day!
May 7 Art Show at Annapolis Mall 7:00 p.m.
May 10 Muffins with Mom
May 21-24 Book Fair
May 22 Book Fair Family Night at BPES 5:00-7:00 p.m.
May 28 3rd-5th Grade Band and Strings Instrumental Music Concert 6:00 p.m. at the Chesapeake Arts Center. Students will be required to wear their Brooklyn Park Superpower Music T-Shirt and blue jeans.
May 27 Memorial Day! School Closed
May 31 Talent Show at BPES 6:00 p.m.
Looking Ahead:
June 5 Donuts with Dad
June 7 Field Day
PTA Happenings!
May 10 ChuckECheese 3:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.
May 14 PTA Meeting 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
May 17 Bowling (more information to come)
May 21 Brusters 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Mrs. Chisholm's Corner:
May PBIS News
We are in the final stretch of this school year! The last seven weeks are just as important as the first 7, and we have a lot of fun activities planned. Look for Muffins with Moms, Donuts with Dads, Field Day, and Kona Ice, just to name a few. Grade levels have planned field trips and organized opportunities for student recognition and rewards. Stay tuned to Dojo for announcements and spirit days.
K. Chisholm
Attendance Matters.
Please bring your child to school every day!
March Attendance Percentages
Pre-k
95.9%
K
95.8%
1
94.7%
2
93.3%
3
94.9%
4
96.5%
5
93.6%
Some students with perfect attendance for the third marking period are:
Reed, Cassia, Stacie, Tavon, Cristopher, Osmond, Jonathan, Zoey, Symone, Adriahna, Paige, Abigail, Ingrid, Kyler, Jaden, Anthony, Alexus, Emma, Dreyva, Brian, Mikal, Ramiro, Nathan, Mia, Estefany, Allan, Amilyah, Presley, Olivia, Olivia, Jason, Valeria, Genesis, Ayden, Aurora, Celine, Ashley, Jaylynn, Julia, John, Keily, Melody, Hamidou, Madison, Abeer, Brayden, Devaughn, Kalece, Katie, Lucas, Nevaeh, Ednar, Chloe, Anthony, Earl, Lily, Isai, Dania, Sara, Dominick, Seleny, Michelle, Tobias, Alayna, Marlon, Cecelia, Aidan, Daniela, Joseph, Reese, Ryan, Juan, Jazell, Brooke, Natalie, Dylan, Emanuel, Melvin, Abdiel, Amayah, Jacob, Mackenzie, Elizabeth, Brinsy, Fabian, Noah, Alijah, Ava, Jeylah, Matthew, Jermaine, Malcolm, Scott
Students in grades 3-5 will be participating in PARCC testing this month. PARCC testing time can impact our entire school family and it is important for everyone to know how to help. This is an important test for our students, school and community. The school results are published in the paper and AACPS uses these results to help allocate resources. There are some things you can do to help us.
1. Reach out to your child’s teacher if you would like to send in a snack or plan a fun, hands on craft.
2. Send your child to school ON TIME every day.
3. Make sure your child gets a good night sleep and has a healthy breakfast.
4. Stay positive. Remember that the students are working hard to do their best on the test.
5. If you have a younger child, have him or her make or say something positive to encourage the older students to do their best.
Testing will begin on May 15th.
Teacher of the Month
The teacher of the month is Ms. Moraniec. Ms. Moraniec is one of our special education teachers. She has been a very valuable addition to the BPES family this year and she demonstrates that All means All in everything that she does. Her colleagues have said:
“…has so much patience. She is flexible and a helpful team player.”
“… goes above and beyond for her students, ALWAYS! She modifies work, coteaches, brings great ideas and is always engaging.”
“… builds positive relationships with both students and staff. She plans lessons that are engaging and meet the needs for her students. Also, she is always willing to support fellow teammates with scheduling or providing coverage when needed.”
Ms. Moraniec supports students by starting where they are and holding them accountable to high standards. She demonstrates teaching through modeling in the cultural arts classrooms. We are thankful that she is a part of our family.
Classroom News!
Pre-Kindergarten
We can not believe we are wrapping up the end of the year. This year has truly flown by!
Mrs. Patti and I are beyond impressed with how much our students have grown this year! We truly appreciate how supportive you are in helping them navigate their first year at school and constantly supporting us. As we head into May, we have already covered all 26 letters. We will be reviewing and focusing on letter sounds, building words, and handwriting. Our final theme will be "Technology in Our World". We will focus on how technology changes our lives, what life was like 100 years ago, transportation and where our food comes from. In math, we will be focusing on subtracting and reviewing past math topics. Please be sure to sign up for an end of the year conference on May 20th or 21st. Thank you!
Kindergarten
Kindergarten students have their outdoor field trip this month on Friday, May 10th. We will extend on our environmental literacy lessons to learn about trees and what nature does for us. K students are writing opinions. Ask your child a would you rather question, and see if they can respond with an opinion and a reason why! We will have our final parent conferences with ALL parents at the end of the month (May 20th-21st). We are looking forward to meeting with all families and discussing their child's progress throughout the school year.
First Grade
Shared Reading: First graders will engage in the enhanced shared reading curriculum starting in the fourth quarter. Our classroom received new big books to be read as a classroom community to practice important reading skills with the teacher’s assistance. Please ask your child about the new books we have in our classroom and what we are learning during shared reading!
Science/Social Studies: Students are learning about overcoming challenges through: • Making “choice” decisions regarding wants, needs, goods, and services • Understanding how “invention” may solve challenges
Mathematics:
Measurement
Before measuring with standard units such as inches and centimeters, it is helpful for children to first practice measuring with non-standard units, any same-sized units that are repeated. Child will learn through exploration to line up objects when measuring and understand why they should be no gaps or overlaps.
Time
Your child will learn that the short hand shows the hour and is called the hour hand and the long hand shows the minutes and is called the minute hand. It is important for your child to see the hour hand half way between two hours is half passed the hour, and therefore is 30 minutes.
Second Grade
We have had a great start into the fourth and final marking period! In math we will be adding and subtracting with and without regrouping to 1,000, telling time to the nearest five minutes, and reading and representing data on a variety of graphs. Your child will continue to be instructed on his/her Fountas and Pinnell reading level. Spring F&P testing will begin soon. We are looking forward to seeing how much each child has progressed over the year! In writing we are focusing on all different kinds of poems. Be sure to ask your child which ones they have already learned! In science and social studies we will be discussing how to stay healthy and how to help change the world. Please make sure your child is completing his/her math and reading homework every week.
Third Grade
Reading: Happy spring! In the month of May, third graders will continue to read a variety of texts that are both literary and informational. Please encourage your child to select books from the media center each week to read at home so that they can apply the reading skills they are learning at school: summarizing, identifying the lesson learned, using text features to help them better understand what they are reading, and using text clues to help them figure out unfamiliar words.
Math: The 4th quarter is underway in 3rd grade! We will be discussing multiplication strategies involving area. We will also be moving to Geometry and looking at different attributes of shapes. Please continue to practice multiplication facts and complete homework on a weekly basis. Math homework is a review of what is covered in the classroom.
Writing: Students use a variety of fiction writing techniques and apply them to their writing by adapting a popular fairy tale to meet their interests.
Science: Students are now called engineers! They will be creating a simple design of an object, a parachute, that meets several criteria such as shape, material and length of suspension string.
Fourth Grade
Reading- This month, students will be reading and analyzing a variety of historical fiction, realistic fiction, and informational texts. It is imperative your child reads for twenty minutes every night. After reading, they should be discussing what they read.
Math- This month, your child will be participating in a unit: Hands-On Equations. This is an exposure to foundational algebraic reasoning. All instruction occurs in the classroom using unique manipulatives from the program. Consider asking your child about his/her experience with Hands-On Equations.
This month is PARCC! Please make sure your child gets a good night sleep and eats breakfast in the morning whether at home or in school. Please encourage your child to do their best. We are very excited to see your child show all their freshly learned knowledge!
Fifth Grade
Fifth grade will have a busy month. We have started to prepare for promotion in June. The students have worked on their memory speeches. Mr. Weiss, Mrs. Puglia and Mr. Walker will choose one student to read their memories for each grade level (K - 5) that they have completed here at BPES. That is always a touching emotional part of the ceremony for both teachers, parents and the students. The students voted on the theme "Reaching for the Stars." So all of our publications and decorations will focus on that theme.
This is a time of stress and excitement for our students, your children. They are excited about moving on to middle school at the same time they are frightened by this important transition. Please remind your child that they are expected to continue to follow school rules and continue to produce their best work in class. There is still another report card for the 4th marking period and students need to maintain their grades and attendance.
Media
Hello Brooklyn Park Families! May is an exciting time in the library. During Media class, Intermediate students will be learning about news and social media literacy, and primary students will be continuing to refine their library skills by learning to effectively navigate our online catalog. In other exciting news, we will be holding our spring Scholastic Book Fair from Monday, May 20th through Friday, May 24th! Please join us for Family Book Fair Night on Wednesday, May 22nd from 5-7 pm. All the money you spend at the book fair allows us to purchase new books, games, and teaching materials for students to use in the library.
As we near the end of the year, please help your children search for any lost or overdue library books. Our final end-of-year due date for all library books is June 3rd. I will be sending out lost book notices at the end of the month, and please remember that you can always contact me if you have any questions concerning your child's library account. In lieu of payment for lost books, I am happy to accept new or like-new donated picture books or Legos. Happy reading! -Ms. Kolodziej
Art
The County-Wide Art Show is coming! Brooklyn Park Elementary school will be represented at the Anne Arundel County Art Show at the Annapolis Mall. There will be several BPES student artworks on display from May 1st-May 14th. There will be a reception to celebrate the artists on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. in front of Crate & Barrel. I hope to see you there!
Ms. Perkins
Global Language Summer Center
Who: Rising 4th-6th graders
Where: Old Mill Middle School North
When: Monday-Thursday, July 15-25 8:30-3:30
Cost: $300.00 Deposit is due May 17th
Please call (410) 222-5424 for more information.
El Campo del Bosque
Who: Rising 1st-5th Graders
Where: Arlington Echo
When: Monday-Thursday, August 5-8 8:30-3:30
Cost: $300.00
Please call (410) 222-5424 for more information.