The Patriot Parent Newsletter
May 2022 Brooklyn Park Elementary School
Mr. Walker's Desk
Dear Brooklyn Park Community,
I hope our community enjoyed Mothers Day and I want to thank all the amazing women who serve the BPES Community. In this newsletter, I have some very important information to share. This includes the transportation/bus information for next year. Second, we will have a Pre-Kindergarten/Three-Year-Old Program for next year. Please contact the main office about registration for next year. This includes Pre-K and Kindergarten.
MANDATORY BUS REGISTRATION FOR 2022-23 SCHOOL YEAR
Anne Arundel County Public Schools is implementing a mandatory bus registration process for the upcoming school year. Beginning on May 4, families whose students are eligible for bus transportation, based on the student’s primary address, will receive an encrypted email from AACPS containing a secure link to the bus registration form for each student who is eligible for bus transportation. Please click on the link in the message and fill this form out as soon as possible, regardless of whether your student needs transportation or not. Families will receive a separate form for each child. Forms are student-specific and cannot be forwarded to others. Students whose families do not complete registration forms will not be eligible to ride a school bus for the entire 2022-23 school year even if they reside in the transportation zone. Please note that prekindergarten and kindergarten students, students who have IEPs that contain transportation accommodations, and students designated as homeless will automatically receive transportation. Students who take shuttles from their schools or homes directly to the Centers of Applied Technology do not need to complete a form for this purpose but must complete the bus registration form for transportation to the home school. If you do not have email access or need other assistance in this process, don't hesitate to contact the school. Please keep in mind, that if you don't register, your child won't have bus transportation for the upcoming school year.
https://busstops.aacps.org/public/BusRegistration.aspx
Mr. Walker
Lost and Found
Attendance Matters
During second marking period, Second grade had the highest attendance percentage with 88.96%. We are already halfway through the 3rd marking period! Please make sure your children are in school every day.
If your child misses school, please contact the main office or your child's teacher and let them know the reason. If your child is absent for more than 3 days, he/she will need a doctor's note when they return. You can contact the office at 410 222 6590 between 8:45-2:45, Monday-Friday.
Before & After Care
Here is a link to our website where it walks the parents through registration processes. Parents will need to create an account to sign up for the program.
Classroom News!
Pre-Kindergarten
We can not believe we are already heading into May. This year has truly flown by! Our pre-k team is 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. We are excited for our second field trip to the Maryland Science Center this month. As we close out the year, please be sure to sign up for an end of the year conference on May 26th or 27th. Thank you!
Kindergarten
It’s hard to believe that there are just 2 short months left of school! We have so much fun in store for the month of May!
We will begin May with our field trip to Downs Park, where we will learn about trees and why they are terrific! Our social studies/science units are about changes all around us. Visiting a park at this time of year allows us to examine some of those changes up close. Our students are so excited for our trip. Keep an eye out for messages regarding our field trip and please make sure your students are on time to school on May 6th.
In math we have begun our unit on measurement. Students will be learning how to compare 2 objects and decide which is the tallest, shortest, longest, lightest or heaviest. You can support your child at home by asking them to compare things while you are out walking or shopping.
Wow! Our literacy skills have grown tremendously in the past few weeks!! Learning how to stretch and tap out words during Fundations has really helped support our writing and reading. Everyone has been trying hard to sound out words on their own. You can support your child at home by asking them to teach you how to tap out words and encourage them to try on their own before offering help.
As we close out the month, please keep an eye out for information regarding our mandatory conferences. These conferences play an important role in helping your child transition into first grade. Conferences will be held May 26th and 27th, so your students will not be in school on those dates.
Our team would like to wish all of the Moms, Grandmas, Aunts, and anyone else who plays a Motherly role in a child’s life, a very Happy Mother’s Day! Please reach out to our team if you need anything!
First Grade
We are in the home stretch! In math, we will continue working on adding and subtracting two-digit numbers. In reading, students will continue working in guided reading groups to practice the sounds and tapping strategies that your child is working on in phonics. In comprehension, students will continue to work on retelling key details, sequencing events, story maps (characters, setting, problem, solution) and main ideas and details. In writing, students are working on starting sentences with capital letters and ending a sentence with punctuation as well as making sure sentences make sense. In social studies/science we will be moving on to discussing goods and services and making inventions. Please continue to have your child practice reading at home. As always, reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions or concerns.
Second Grade
It is hard to believe that the school year is almost over. Our students are almost Third Graders. Please make sure your child is reading at home every night for at least 20 minutes. In math we will be working on arrays and partitioning rectangles into equal rows and columns. Be sure to ask your child where he/she may be able to see arrays in the real world! We are continuing to work on creating and analyzing a variety of poems in writing. For science and social studies, we will be focusing on how to be a change maker and the impact each of us have on the world. Thank you for your continued support as we finish out the school year!
Third Grade
Reading and Writing
Third graders should be reading for at least 20 minutes each day. We have just started exploring fairy tales and the elements they contain - good vs. evil, series of 3 or 7, talking animals, royalty, and magic/supernatural powers. Please encourage your child to select fairy tale e-books from Scholastic Digital Manager or the Public Library to read independently. Your child may access Scholastic Digital Manager by following this pathway: Classlink, Scholastic Digital Manager, Literacy Pro. As they read, encourage them to make a mind movie in their head, look for the fairy tale elements, and give an oral summary of the text after they have finished reading. They will also be applying these elements to write their own adaptation to a fairy tale in Writing!
MATH
This month is a big month for our Mathematicians. They will be showing what they have learned this year when they take the MCAP. Testing will start the week of May 9th. Prepare your Mathematicians by making sure that they get a good night's rest and a healthy breakfast. Attendance is so important! Please make sure your child is present each day. Students test best when they test with their classmates and not during a make-up test. Once students complete MCAP they will be learning to multiply to find the area of a rectangle as well as finding the area of a shape that is not a rectangle by adding up the areas of rectangles inside the shape. Students should be fluent with the 0s, 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 10s facts. This is such an important skill. Please ensure they are practicing daily. They can use First in Math to help them practice. Thank you for your support.
Social Studies
It's time for our Environmental Action Project! In this Environmental Action Project, students apply the 21st Century skills they have acquired throughout the year (Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity) to investigate and take action on an environmental issue. Here are a few questions we will use to guide our planning:
- How do citizens participate in their community?
- How do citizens identify and solve community problems?
- What resources and information help us to be informed?
- What environmental issues affect my community?
As we progress through this final unit, discuss these topics with your student at home and consider ways your family can cultivate a "civic-minded" mindset.
Science
This month, we'll begin a new unit on Engineering which focuses on the NASA Engineering and Design Process: ASK a question about the goal, IMAGINE a possible solution, PLAN OUT a design and draw your ideas, CREATE and construct a working model, EXPERIMENT and test, and IMPROVE and try to revise that model. We will use this process as we focus on the shape of a parachute canopy, using knowledge we've learned throughout the year as a basis for our work.
Fourth Grade
May is going to be super exciting for 4th grade! While we may have MCAP testing, we will be going on two field trips this month!! We will be exploring the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore this month. We have tons of incentives and rewards planned for 4th graders this marking period so please be sure that your child is coming to school each and every day!! 4th grade is going to be getting into geometry and hands-on equations, we are going to continue exploring the American Revolution and the road of becoming a new country. We will continue with fictional elements and we will be writing fictional narratives later this month! Please stay tuned for some awesome work from our 4th graders!
We look forward to the final two months of school with your students and are so proud of how hard that they have worked this year. As always, if you need anything please contact us!
Ms. Nauman, Mr. Sheehan, and Ms. Dacus
Fifth Grade
As we are approaching the end of the year, we are getting excited for field trips and promotion. Before this excitement can begin, students will need to complete the MCAP testing. This testing will take place on 5/9-5/12. It is imperative that students are in school and on time those days. Students should get a good nights rest as well as bring a charged laptop and headphones for testing.
If you have not already sent in your child's baby picture and current pictures, please do so immediately so we may include them in the presentation. Promotion will be held on 6/23 at 10 am at the Chesapeake Art Center.
Field trips will be held on the following dates:
Maryland Zoo 5/23
Drownproofing:
- Mr. Murray 6/13
- Ms. Mundaca 6/14
- Mrs. Richmond 6/15
Chaperones for the zoo must have completed their background check online.
Chaperones for drownproofing must complete the background check and fingerprinting.
Reading
Students are currently looking at different multiple medias and compare or contrasting two or more characters or events. This quarter, students will focus on identifying their opinion and supporting it with text evidence. Students must have 45 minutes a week on i-ready reading.
Math
In math, students will begin to wrap up volume of regular and irregular prisms. Students will then move into coordinate grids. Students will build on their knowledge of numerical patterns to discover that when two rules are used to create two numerical patterns, a relationship exists between corresponding terms. At the beginning of the unit, students will gain familiarity with the rules of the coordinate plane, how to plot, and identify ordered pairs. Students will then use this knowledge to represent relationships on the coordinate plane. These concepts will be addressed more fully in middle school. It is important that students know their math facts and are working on i-ready daily. Students are required to have 45 minutes a week on i-ready.
Social Studies
The focus in Social studies will be centered around the constitutional congress and the American government. Emphasis is placed on creating a government that is by, for, and with the people. At the end of Theme 4, students will participate in a Simulated Congressional Hearing to demonstrate their knowledge of The Constitution, the provisions set forth in the documents, and how it outlines our government today.
Science
In this unit, students will be completing the engineering design process as they design and test water filter prototypes. They will then create a prototype to desalinate water. These engineering design challenges build on knowledge they learned in Unit 1.
ESOL
Students will receive their WIDA scores during the month of May. Parents will be notified of their child's scores which will determine their program eligibility for the 2022-23 school year.
Tracy Burke, P.E.
Physical Education News:
In April, students participated in a volleyball skills unit. They worked with balloons and beachballs to practice serving underhand and volleying with a partner. Older students were able to participate in small-sided volleyball games using our nets. In May, students will be practicing their throwing and catching skills through a variety of fun games and activities including Magic Club for the older students where they will be able to "level up" after completing various catching challenges.
Field Day News:
Due to our growing BPES family, we will be hosting 2 field days this year for staff and students only. Students in grades 3-5 will have field day on Friday June 10 and students in grades pre-k-2 will have field day on Friday June 17. Students should wear sneakers, athletic clothing, their house color, and sunblock. Please send them with a water bottle with their name on it. More information will be shared as the event gets closer, but please go ahead and save the date!
Kelly Nolan, Media
Hello families! I'm excited to announce that our IN-PERSON book fair is scheduled for May 16-May 20. Students will be able to shop with cash, check, or ewallet during their scheduled media time that week. There is also a FAMILY NIGHT on May 17 from 5-7, where families can enjoy snacks and beverages, fun activities, and of course, shop! More information will be sent home soon. Please reach out at knnolan@aacps.org or on Dojo if you have any questions.
Water Bottles
Carolina Montenegro, Bilingual Facilitator
Crisis Response System
Laura E. Wells, LCSW-C School Social Worker
(410) 222-6590.
Title I News
Here is our Schoolwide Title I letter that was sent home with students earlier in the school year.
Here is our School Wide Title I Plan for you to view. The plan is also located on our school website.
After you have viewed the Title I Plan, you are able to leave feedback.
The feedback will be used to help us improve our Title I Plan in the future.
Thank you!
Brooklyn Park Elementary
Connect, Engage and Discover
Email: erwalker@aacps.org
Website: https://www.aacps.org/Page/4088
Location: 200 14th Avenue, Baltimore, MD, USA
Phone: 410-222-6590
Twitter: @BParkElemAACPS