• 2/20 - Schools Closed for Presidents Day
• 3/3 - 1 PM Dismissal - End of Trimester
• 3/6-3/10 - 5th Grade MISA Testing (MD Integrated Science Assessment)
• 3/29, 3/30, & 3/31 - 1PM Dismissals for Parent Conferences

One of our school goals this year is to work on the students’ writing skills and the writing process. During the months of January and February, BES will be doing an optional winter writing challenge. The attached menu provides students with choices of various writing prompts. This challenge starts today and goes through the end of February (7 weeks). We are challenging students to respond to at least 7 of the 20 prompts (which is one prompt per week). The expectation is that students write at least 4 sentences for each prompt. The student should write on lined paper and attach to the packet. Students are to copy the prompt and write their response to each prompt, following the writing guidelines listed on the back of the choice menu. Students who complete at least 7 prompts will be eligible for a celebration at school. Due date to turn in packets is Monday, February 27th.

Throughout the entire month of February, we will be conducting our annual Kids Heart Challenge Fundraiser organized through the American Heart Association. Students will receive all information regarding the fundraiser during their first gym class in February. If you have any questions, please email Mr. Adelsberger at christopher.adelsberger@qacps.org

Kids Heart Challenge Website

Queen Anne’s County Public Schools (QACPS) Communications Specialist, Lanette Power-Waters, would like to invite all QACPS students, staff, family, and community members to “subscribe” to QACPS News Posts. Please go to https://www.qacps.org/ and select “Subscribe” at the top white banner or click here. You will be asked to enter your email address and a confirmation email will be sent to you.

Any questions or concerns should be directed to lanette.power-waters@qacps.org

Did you know that denim jeans can be recycled into new items? Denim can be used to make products like rugs, coasters and purses, as well as other items. We would like to help keep jeans out of our trash and not end up in landfills. We are going to start collecting used denim jeans here at Bayside. If there are any old jeans that you are planning to throw away, please send them in to school for our jeans recycling project. The jeans may be stained or ripped. There will be a collection box in the school lobby labeled Recycling Jeans Project. We will continue this project through the school year. Let’s see how many jeans we can keep out of the landfills!

• AM Parent Drop-Off- Please note the following:

1. If you are dropping your student off in the front loop, please be sure to remember to pull all the way forward around the loop in order to allow as many students to unload as possible.
2. For the safely of our students and staff, please remain in a single file line and do NOT pass other cars in the line.

• Bus Assignments- Parents are reminded that students must ride their assigned bus. Vacations, temporary work assignments, social events, riding to a friend’s home, or other foreseen events will not be approved for change in bus assignment.

• Early Dismissal Days- Please send us a note in writing if your child's transportation home will be changed on our 1 PM dismissal days. Thanks so much for your help with this!

• IF you need to pick your child up early for an appointment, we ask that you please do so NO LATER THAN 3:00PM (* or 12:00 PM on an early dismissal day). We will not be able to release students after 3:00 PM (or 12:00PM on an early dismissal day) as the office staff is preparing for regular dismissal. This will also ensure that you are able to get your child and exit the school property prior to parents lining up for regular dismissal. Please send a note with your child to let the teacher and the front office know if you need to pick up your child early for an appointment.

• Afternoon Parent Pick-Ups- Please note the following:

1. Please STOP prior to any intersections for the bus loops at BES and KIES so that they are not blocked. Please remember that the buses are pretty large vehicles and need more space than the average vehicle to safely move through a line of traffic. Blocking the intersections will only delay our dismissal as well as you receiving your child. We appreciate your patience and your assistance with this !
2. We also ask that parents please take turns entering the school driveway to allow both directions of traffic access. This will help to alleviate back-ups in either direction.

As part of the QACPS initiative to update and improve our websites, BES was the the very first elementary school's to be updated. The new website can be found here. Be sure to visit our website and hit the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page. This feature keeps parents and family members updated by pushing out a message to you anytime we have new information added to our website.

QACPS will continue to use MySchoolBucks as our online meal payment system for meals. MySchoolBucks is updated and now accepting payment for the new school year. Families may set up or add money to their account by using the following link :

https://www.myschoolbucks.com/

Parent Volunteer training must be completed each school year. You can access the online training through the link below or from the link on our website. Please note that you must have completed the training for the current school year in order to be considered as a chaperone for a field trip or to volunteer in any capacity within the school. The completion of the volunteer training also includes having your driver's license scanned by our front office staff. You may schedule an appointment to have your license scanned by contacting Mrs. Mary Jo Perticone here at school.

BES Parent Volunteer Training 2022/2023