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During this weekend of reflection and gratitude for those who served in the past and continue to serve to protect our country, I would like to pause and send out a personal thank you to all our BCHMPS families and extended families who serve(d) our country.
If you were not able to make the school's Memorial Day tribute at the May All School Community meeting, please enjoy the pictures below.

The All School Community meeting was a beautiful and moving tribute. 

A BIG reminder that when we return on Tuesday after the long weekend, the Walk-a-Thon will be taking place. If you have misplaced your sponsor sheet or need more information, please see the attached Walk-a-Thon forms.


There are still a few yearbooks left if you have not purchased yours but they are going fast! Please find yearbook order forms in the front office.


My warmest wishes for a reflective, relaxing Memorial Day weekend.

BCHMCPS this week

BCHMCPS is currently accepting applications for the few spots left Grades 2 & 3 for the 2017-2018 school year. This enrollment period will go through June 12th at 12:00 pm. At that time, if we have enough seats to fill the applications submitted we will not need a lottery and all Grade 2 & 3 students with a pending application will be enrolled. If we have more applications than seats we will hold a lottery at 2:30 pm on June 12th. Please inform family and friends who may have missed the first application period and have a rising Grade 2 or 3 student.

Well it is really feeling a bit like summer the past few days! A few reminders as we get to the warm weather. Please remember:

• Make sure that children are wearing sunscreen. We spend time outside at recess and in the garden and want to make sure that all children are protected from the sun. 

• If you choose to have your child wear flip flops, please remind them of the importance of not running in flip flops. We have more than a few injuries this week from students running in flip flops.
  
   
• Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!  Students may bring in water bottles to keep them hydrated and feeling good during the heat.

Speaking of the warm weather and enjoying this time of year- the garden is up and running with students engaged almost every day in the garden. While in the garden, students may be sampling foods from the garden. One  class was sampling dinosaur kale blossoms!

Soon we will have strawberries and if we get radishes planted soon those should also be ready before school gets out. Yummy!

BCHMCPS school psychologist Mr. Norton would like to share the information below:

Dear Parents- I have updated my website base on topics of interest that you indicated in a survey.  Please visit my website which is listed under departments on the BCHMCPS website.  If I can answer any questions please contact me.  Thank you,

Peter Norton  M.Ed., C.A.G.S.

School Psychologist

Don't forget coming up next week at BCHMCPS on Friday May 26- 9:30 is the  All School Community Meeting at the HYCC. All students MUST have a returned field trip permission slip  (sent home in April to cover all meetings at HYCC through the end of the school year). 

May 12

Thank you to everyone who has sent back the Parent Survey either by filling it out online or returning the hard copy to school. Your input is valued by BCHMCPS as look at this year and plan for next year. If you haven't returned your survey yet, please take the opportunity to fill the survey out. If you need another hard copy, please contact the office and we will send it home with your child.
Please use this link for the online survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BCHMCPS2017

This week Grade 1 teacher Andrea Burnett hosted a very special guest author (and class grandmother!).  Book author Sharon Robinson spoke to the Grade 1 classes about her books and being a book author. Ms. Robinson's recent books, "The Hero Two Doors Down" and "Promises to Keep" are about her father, well-known and beloved baseball player Jackie Robinson! What a wonderful day for BCHMCPS to have such a special guest author and school grandmother! Below is a picture of Ms. Robinson speaking to Grade 1 students.

A note from school nurse Mrs. Melley:

Spring is finally here and now we will be spending more time outdoors . Please make sure your child wears appropriate footwear for outdoor recess and gym. The flip-flops and sandals are pretty but, they are hard to run and play in. Weekends are a great time to explore all the hiking and bike paths that Cape Cod has to offer. It is important to have your child get at least 60 minutes everyday of active play.





The May Principal Coffee will happen Monday May 15th from 9-9:30 am in the cafeteria. This coffee will be an opportunity to review and hear feedback on the school year and gather suggestions for next year. All suggestions/thoughts will be brought back to the whole staff at our May 22nd staff meeting as we plan for the upcoming year.  We need your voice and feedback.

Happy Mother's Day to all those who have the awesome role of nurturing and helping children to grow and blossom. We know this role is filled not only by mothers, but also by grandmothers, great grandmothers, aunts, sisters and family friends. You play a role in children's lives that shapes and determines the future. Happy Mother's Day and thank you to all of you!

This week at BCHMCPS

Tonight is the night! We are hosting the Art/Music/Math/ Culture Night. We look forward to seeing all our families here for this fun night. As an updated reminder from last week's blog:

This  week is the national "Screen Free "Week and we are encouraging our students to find alternatives 

to using watching tv and using tech devices. To support this, BCHMCPS is  hosting and Arts/Music/Math Night on Thursday night from 6:00-7:30 pm. An informational flyer with specific music performance times was sent home the week before vacation. We look forward to seeing everyone tonight!

This is the second week of Breakfast in the Classroom, which provides FREE breakfast every morning to ALL BCHMCPS students! This is a truly  wonderful way for students to start each day and the research is so clear on the many benefits of students eating breakfast at school. Even if your child has had some breakfast before coming to school, they are encouraged to take part in the school breakfast each day. Fresh fruit is offered every day (and can be saved for a later in the day snack), along with juice, milk and a breakfast food. The breakfast menu is on the back of the lunch menu that was sent home.
I want to publicly thank district Food Services Director David Badot, the Breakfast Committee (Cafeteria Manager Diane Eames, Head Custodian Mike Giacobbi, School Nurse Anne Marie Melley and teacher Jill Kelley). This would not be possible without their work. We could not have implemented this program, as well, without the financial support of the EOS Foundation. This wonderful EOS Foundation gave us a grant of $7500 to start this program. I am so grateful to all of them and to you families for encouraging your children to enjoy breakfast in school every day!

What a great idea from the Garden Committee to get your spring garden going and support the school at the same time. Look for the Garden Committee tonight at our Arts/Music/Math Night and in the very near future at the side walkers' door after school to sell plants grown in the school garden. They have that bed full of salad plants that still need to be moved so the kids can replant it and will pot these plants and  sell them after school the same day. If you have a home garden be on the lookout! Thank you Garden Committee!

SumDogs is a web-based program that our students use to practice their math skills. They use this at school and at home. The SumDogs Program runs a regional contest for schools and students and I have some great news to share about our school's and students' performance in the SumDogs contest. The overall winner in this contest is Ms. Callahan's Grade 1 classroom. In terms of individual student performance, for the Top 10 student performance for the entire contest, 9 out 10 of the Top 10 performers are here at BCHMCPS. WOW!!

See below for the full results:

It's all over!

Sumdog's Barnstable-Dukes-Nantucket Counties Math Contest is now over! A class in your school was the overall winner in the contest!  In total, 98 students answered 16443 questions correctly. Well done to them. The overall winners are the classes which scored highest throughout the contest. The top three classes are: Position Class School Score 1st Callahan Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter School 315 2nd Mrs. Reiber's Class 2016-2017 Forestdale 185 3rd Howes Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter School 158 The daily winners are the classes which had the highest score on each day. Here are the daily winners: Day Class School Score Thursday McGuinness Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter School 89.0 Tuesday Chase Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter School 78.0 Monday Howes Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter School 33.0 Friday Callahan Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter School 141.0 The top students are the ones which answered the most questions correctly throughout the contest. The top three students are: Position Class School Score 1st Sean N Forestdale 757 2nd Julian P Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter School 638 3rd Melissa D Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter School

You'll find full leaderboards on the Sumdog website.