Batty Friday in Grade 1

Things got a bit batty in Grade 1 classrooms today! Students have studied bats all week- they have researched bats, written about bats and, I am sure, dreamed about bats when they closed their eyes at night. As a culminating project, their classrooms were transformed into bat caves today. See some of the fun students had today while learning so much.

Veterans' Day is just around the corner and we at BCHMCPS would like to honor our veterans. Today your child will be bringing home a flyer with information about a new event at BCHMCPS that will honor and remember our veterans. We are asking families to identify a veteran that your family knows, fill out the bottom part of the flyer with the name of this veteran and return this to the school. Children will be writing the name of this veteran on a twist tie label that will be attached to a flag. These flags will then be "planted" in the front green in a flag garden honoring our veterans. There will also be a banner thanking veterans.
Thank you to the PTO for purchasing the flags and ties to support this activity and thank all of you for your support in honoring those who sacrificed for our country.

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What a busy and fun week we had last week! We started with Wednesday night's Literacy Night with over 101 of our students enjoying a night filled with a book author, books, and reading activities with their families. A huge success! Thank you to all of you who made the night so special and a really big thank you to Reading Specialist Kelly White and the teachers who volunteered their time to be here that evening.

Book author Martha Szchock speaks to families at Literacy Night

On Friday night the PTO hosted a fun-filled Halloween party for the BCHMCPS students. See below for some pictures of the festivities.

Reminder- tomorrow's scheduled lockdown drill has been postponed. I will let you know as soon as we have a new date.









Congratulations to the last two week's October raffle winners:
October 9-Joe Dontanio
October 10-Patrick Destano
October 11-Heather Pastor
October 12-Jennifer Lynch
October 13-Brittany Zimmerman
October 14-Adilson Rubio
October 15-Bryan Hughes
October 16-EJ Boulhack
October 17-Lamar Anderson
October 18-Brittany Zimmerman
October 19-Josiane Piva
October 20-Jason Norell
October 21-Patrick DeStefano

A gentle reminder for morning and afternoon walker drop off and pick up to please make sure to always park in the designated parking spaces in the parking lot and walk your child/ren to the door. For the safety and security of your child, please make sure that you always stay with your child if you arrive before the 8:40 drop off time. Thank you!





District informational fliers will now be posted on the district and school website and will no longer be sent home in paper form in backpacks. Please make sure to check the district and school website often for these informational fliers.

Coming up at BCHMCPS!

Principal's "Second Cup of Coffee"  
October meeting

On Monday October 17th we will welcome Lieutenant Mark Cabral from 9-9:30 to speak about his role at our school and school safety and security. Please join us for Lt. Cabral's presentation. 

This Wednesday from 5:30 - 7:00 is Literacy Night!! There will be a presentation by children's book author Martha Zschock in the gym followed by three literacy stations that families will rotate through. These stations will include games, make it yourself reading resources and a read aloud. Please bring the whole family to enjoy this fun night and don't forget your tote bag because we have lots of high quality children's books for you to take home and keep. Thank you Reading Specialist Kelly White for planning this family and literacy-centered night.

 

Garden clean up 

On Saturday October 22nd from 2-4 the Garden Committee will be cleaning and closing up the garden for the winter season and needs your help. Working in the garden has proven health benefits, both physically and mentally. A great way to feel better and help the school at the same time! 

BCHMCPS NEEDS YOU!!

Join the Enrichment Cluster Fun!

Clusters meet Fridays from 9:15 – 10:15 on these dates:

January 20 & 27; February 3, 10 & 17; March 3

The Cluster Celebration is Friday, March 10 at our All-School Community Meeting.

Love Legos? How about Origami, Puppetry, Fiber Arts, Inventions, Mosaics….

These are just a few ideas for our 18^th annual Enrichment Clusters. And we need you, your ideas, your energy. You can lead your own cluster or help out with an existing one. It’s a great way to be part of the BCHMCPS Community!

If you can help, please email Carol Panasci, Enrichment Teacher, at:

panasci_carol@barnstable.k12.ma.us

This could be the most fun you’ll ever have in school!

This week at BCHMCPS

Today we hosted the first annual "Take Your Parent to Lunch" Day. It was so much fun! I need to send a big thank you to the fabulous lunch staff who worked so hard to make this run so smoothly. In addition to parents we had aunts and uncles and grandparents!

Thank you Mary Curley, Diane Eames and Dawn McLean!

If you weren't able to join us this time, we look forward to seeing you next time around! Pictured below are some pictures from today's lunch.

On Tuesday the Barnstable Fire Department came to BCHMCPS to teach our Grade 2 & 3 students about fire safety. Lieutenant John Cosmo led the training helping students to recognize how to prevent fire accidents and to always keep safety in mind. Below is a picture of Mrs. McGuinness' class with the fire house (along with friend Smokey the Bear).

Next Wednesday from 5:30-7:00 pm  is Literacy Night and we are so excited about the plans for this fun night! Reading Specialist Kelly White has been working hard to put together a night filled with fun and giveaways!!
We will have an author visit along with three different stations to enjoy and rotate through after:

• Library read aloud with free book shopping (bring your tote bag)
• Technology station to introduce you to all the reading programs your family can access at home
• Fun reading strategies and games 

As mentioned above, in addition to the stations to enjoy with your children, we are offering a large book give away! In making room for our new reading book series, we are cleaning out the shelves of the former reading series. Along with the series, is a LARGE number of leveled book readers, big books and assorted story books. We would love for our families to take home as many as they would like  to keep. We will have some bags available but if you want to bring tote bags, we encourage you to share in these books to add to your home library collection. 

Nurse’s Notes

The weather is getting cooler and it’s a great time to go out and have fun. At school we try to go outside everyday so please remember to have your child wear a jacket, socks and closed toed shoes.

During the next few months I will be doing vision and hearing screenings on your child. First grade is the only grade required to have their height & weight checked. Please make sure if your child wears glasses that they bring them in to school and wear them. If your child had trouble with either the vision or hearing screening I will call you and, sent a referral notice home. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the screenings please call Mrs. Melley at 508 790-6495.

It is not too late to sign your child up for Polished Dental. The first date for the dentist to come to our school is October 31^st. I encourage you to sign up for this wonderful program. Did you know that tooth decay is the most common childhood disease, affecting five times more children than Asthma? The good news is that with regular check-ups we can prevent this disease. Some of the services provided by Polished Dental are: dental exams, dental cleanings, sealants (as needed), fluoride varnish application and oral health education. 

To all of our Jewish families and friends, wishes for a very blessed Yom Kippur.

 

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October is in full swing and the school garden is still going strong! This morning on the way in, I spied Grade 1 teacher Mrs. Burnett and her son Ben in the garden collecting greens for the Grade 1 caterpillars. While in the garden Ben also picked a great carrot that he told his mom that he woud like to cook for dinner. In the picture below you can see Ben and his mom and, if you look carefully, one of the pumpkins growing in the garden.

Next Wednesday we will be hosting the "Take Your Parent to Lunch" day. Both our lunch program workers and the district's food service department are putting much planning into this lunch event accommodate those  who wish to attend,  Please remember that you must sign up through food services ahead of time to be part of this fun event. In addition to enjoying a school lunch, the garden committee will be setting up a garden "testing table" with samples from the school garden.

The PTO has started drawing names for the October raffle! It is still not too late to buy a ticket, support the PTO and have a chance at winning great prizes every day in October.
Congratulations to this week's winners:
Saturday-Amy Fajardo
Sunday- Greg Stone
Monday-Robert Saben
Tuesday-Ryan Dangelo
Wednesday-Mario Mariani
Thursday- Sheila Kukstis donated back to winner Nate Lutke
Friday-Brain Cobb

The Discovery Imagination (DI) program will be back at BCHMCPS soon! Thank you to Mrs. Gino who has volunteered to run a DI group. We are still looking for any parent volunteers who may want to run an additional group. It would be great to have multiple groups so more students can be part of this great enrichment activity. If you need more information about DI or how to volunteer to run a group, please see the two attachments to this email.


Today's Community Meeting was such an inspiration. This month's meeting focused on how everyone at BCHMCPS contributes to making a difference. The poem read by a student ambassador said it all:                                                                            

One seed can start a garden
One moment can change a life
One conversation,
Can start a friendship
One step can start a journey
One word can say so much
One smile can brighten a day
One small act of kindness,
Can mean everything to someone
One person can make a difference,
And that person can be YOU!

Reminders:

• No school Monday for Columbus Day
• The PTO Halloween Party is coming up on October 21st
• BOKS starts Tuesday October 11th at 8 am. You must have received a confirmation letter for your child to participate in BOKS.  Please enter though the front door starting at 7:55 and walk your child to the gym.