Bushy Bear Tales

Julia Bialeski, Principal
Keith West, Assistant Principal

Email: julia_bialeski@hcpss.org
Website: http://bpes.hcpss.org
Location: 14601 Carrs Mill Road, Woodbine, MD, United States
Phone: (410) 313-5500
Twitter: @hcpss_bpes

BPES Community,

Our first quarter comes to a close this Friday! It is so hard to believe that we are already finished with our first marking period! As I reflect on the past few weeks, what strikes me most is the great deal of commitment our teachers have shown in implementing lessons in their classrooms that provide opportunities for our children to grow socially, emotionally, and academically. On Monday, November 11, you will receive your child's first quarter report card. Prior to that, I encourage you to explore the information and resources available here. By understanding how your child's academic areas and learning behaviors are evaluated and reported, you will be able to glean a wealth of information from his or her report card.

Also on November 11, parents will have the opportunity to begin signing up for our fall parent/teacher conferences. These conferences will give you the opportunity to hear about your child's progress in the area of English/Language Arts (ELA). Parents will use HCPSS Connect to access teachers' availability on Monday, November 25 through Wednesday, November 27. When you log in, you will be able to view the schedule for your child's ELA teacher. Conferences will be 15 minutes in length in order to provide time for all parents to meet with their child's teacher within the HCPSS fall conference window. When scheduling conferences for multiple children, please note that there is no transition time built in to staff schedules. Therefore, please do not schedule back-to-back conferences. This will allow you to get from one conference to your next conference and still have your full 15 minutes with each teacher.

Related arts teachers, special educators, and related service providers will also be available to meet with parents who are interested in discussing their child's progress in that area. Please contact these individuals directly to schedule a mutually convenient time on November 25, 26, or 27. Students participating in the Gifted and Talented Math program may also schedule a time with Mrs. Jensen or Mrs. Murphy during our conference window if they feel that it is needed.

For students in our preschool and pre-k programs, the RECC teachers (Ms. Roseann, Ms. Ashley, Ms. Alison, and Ms. Dawn) will be sending home conference scheduling information this week by email and in your child's backpack. Conference scheduling will NOT be done using HCPSS Connect for our RECC families.

We understand that many families travel for the Thanksgiving holiday during our fall conference week. However, we request that if you will be out of town, you wait until the week of December 9 to schedule an opportunity for a conference with your child's ELA teacher. This is in compliance with the teachers' negotiated agreement.

Our staff looks forward to sharing the wonderful growth your children have demonstrated this fall through report cards and our upcoming conferences!

Fondly,

Julia Bialeski, Principal

Keith West, Assistant Principal

Upcoming Important Dates

October

31 - Halloween parade (2:30-3:00) and classroom parties (3:00-3:30)

November

1 - 3 hour early dismissal for students/End of 1st Marking Period

7 - PTA Conference Call - 7:00pm

11- PTA FFN - FIT Night - 6:45pm

14 - Student fall portrait retakes

18-22 - American Education Week

22 - Spirit Day: Jersey Day

25 - 3 hour early dismissal for students/Parent Teacher Conferences

26 - 3 hour early dismissal for students/Parent Teacher Conferences

27 - No school for students/Parent Teacher Conferences

28-29 - No school for students

We look forward to enjoying a safe Halloween celebration tomorrow, with our community parade from 2:30-3:00 (please note that the time for the parade was listed incorrectly in Monday's Halloween email). This parade will be cancelled in the event of rain tomorrow afternoon. We will do our best to communicate with you as soon as possible if we determine that we need to cancel. In the event of rain, we will provide the children with the opportunity for an indoor parade so that they may enjoy one another's costumes, and classroom parties will continue as planned! Due to fire code and safety and security concerns, we will not be able to accommodate parent visitors if we have an indoor parade. We thank you for understanding.

Parents and community members who are attending our Halloween parade are asked to comply with all staff directions and remain behind the cones as the children go by. While we understand the desire for pictures of your child, please remain in the designated viewing area in order to ensure that students are safe.

Following the parade, the children and teachers will proceed back to individual classrooms for a brief celebration and treat before we prepare for dismissal. Due to safety and space limitations, we are only able to accommodate the parent visitors identified by room parents for these celebrations.

If you prefer your child participate in our alternative fall-themed activity tomorrow afternoon, please contact Mrs. Bialeski directly at julia_bialeski@hcpss.org.

Thanks to our amazing PTA coordinator, Mrs. Gina Lease, and the entire BPES community, last week's Bushy Bear Dash raised over $14,500 for our students! Congratulations to the 4th grade students, who raised the most money by grade! They will receive a special treat courtesy of our PTA.

This week, students were treated to a performance on our afternoon announcements! These talented fourth and fifth grade orchestra students prepared and performed a beautiful folk song.

As a means to promote safety on our school buses, we are asking that all parents of bus riders please remind their children to sit properly in the seats on the bus. We have been receiving reports from onlookers and drivers in the community about students standing and/or facing the rear of the bus. This can cause harm in the event that the buses need to stop due to traffic and road issues. We appreciate your help and support as we wish our students to have a safe ride to and from school.

FFN Fit Night
Monday, November 11th, 6:45-8:30pm

One of the PTA's goals this year is to build community and create new opportunities for families to connect.

Please join us on Monday, November 11th, 6:45-8:30pm. We will be working out with 39 Minute Workout & Wellness! Bring your water bottles and towels for our second FFN of the year!

RSVP for your family at: https://forms.gle/wKhFsEeNQCCYe7of8

Bushy Park Family...IT'S TIME TO SWEAT

Join us for a full-body strength and fitness circuit for all ages and abilities!!

Whether you are a gym-rat or haven't cracked the door of a gym since the first time scrunchy socks were cool, this workout will be a blast.

You can workout right next to your child and show them what mom and dad have going for them.

A little healthy competition and fitness fun with your kids is the perfect way to enjoy an evening.

We'll start out with a 10 minute warm-up, then teach some of the basics for the workout.

Then we'll break into 6 stations that will include body weight exercises, cardio, and core work.


This is being run by Bushy Park parents, David and Abby Beares, who have had 3 kids go through Bushy Park, and are also the owners of 39 Minute Workout with David in Ellicott City for the last 10 years.

You can feel comfortable knowing that our primary clientele are women in their 30's-60's and we work with all abilities.

So don't be intimidated! We'll make this safe and fun for all levels.

It would REALLY help if you'd RSVP for the event so we know how much gear we need that night. So do me a favor click the sign up link (and head-count):
https://forms.gle/wKhFsEeNQCCYe7of8

If you have any questions or concerns before the night of the event, feel free to call me directly at 410-935-0967.

David Bears

FFN Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) Night

Wednesday, December 4th, 6:45-8:30pm

Are you in medicine? Could you present about anatomy or blood?
Are you in technology? Could you present about code or online security?
Are you an engineer? Can you present about how you solve problems?
Are you a mathematician? Can you present how math is used in everyday life?

We're looking for unique, kid-friendly, interactive presentations that can be done over the course of our STEM Family Night for small groups. Our STEM Family Fun Night (FFN) is Wednesday, December 4th from 6:45-8:30pm. We are looking for a diverse range of topics. Please email bpesptapres@gmail.com with interest.

We've already got Glenelg High's Robotiators coming to show us their newest invention!