Email: julia_bialeski@hcpss.org
Website: bpes.hcpss.org
Location: 14601 Carrs Mill Road, Glenwood, MD, USA
Phone: 410-313-5500
Twitter: @hcpss_bpes

Happy 2020!

We hope that your family enjoyed a restful winter break and are off to a wonderful start to the 2020 year.

This month at Bushy Park, we will celebrate Maryland Reading Month. Our reading committee, headed by reading specialist Laura Smith, has planned a variety of fun activities for students to celebrate reading both in and out of school. Earlier this week, we sent home a flier with each student detailing our Lego Reading Challenge. Students can earn a homework pass for every 500 minutes they read during the month. In addition, all of our students can track our school's progress toward our school-wide goal of 350,000 minutes read in January in the front hallway display case. At the end of the month, if we meet our goal, Mr. West and I will reward our students with a silly surprise!

We also look forward to seeing the amazing reading-themed decorated doors and bulletin boards that have already begun to be put together this week for each classroom! Thank you to the volunteers who have worked so hard on these fun displays.

January 17 will be our Read and Relax at the Park Day, when each team looks forward to hosting parents as guest readers for our students. Students are also invited to wear their pajamas on this day.

Finally, on January 24, we will enjoy Dress Like a Book Character Day, where students are invited to dress as a favorite book character or wear a reading-themed shirt!

We look forward to these fun activities to celebrate Maryland Reading Month.

In addition to the events we have planned, the PTA is collecting used children's books during the month of January.

Please bring your book donations to any of the following PTA events:

BINGO!
Friday, January 10th at 6:30pm

Family Story-time & Snacks
Monday, January 13th at 7pm

International Night
Thursday, January 23rd at 6pm

Can't make it to any of the events? No problem. Drop-off your book donations in the plastic bins in the front lobby.

Finally, with reading on the mind, we would love to encourage families of students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades to join us for our Family Book Club during the month of February. Please see below for further information on this great opportunity to engage with your children while discussing a great book. I look forward to reading the book with you all!

Fondly,

Julia Bialeski, Principal

Keith West, Assistant Principal

Upcoming January Dates:

1/10 - PTA Bingo Night, 6:30pm

1/13 - PTA Storytime & Snacks, 7:00pm

1/17 - Read & Relax in the Park Day

1/20 - Schools & Offices Closed

1/23 - PTA International Night, 6:00pm

1/24 - Last day of 2nd marking period

1/27 - Schools Closed for Students

1/28 - Winter Concert, 6:00pm

1/29 - Winter Concert, 6:00pm SNOW DATE

We are excited to announce that our BPES community donated $584.65 to Grassroots for our very first year during December's Change Matters campaign! BPES will actually cover 6 hours of crisis services during the Buy A Day of Service program for Grassroots. Our school will be featured on their Crisis Center door on Thursday, January 16 from 2:00pm-8:00pm for our Buy a Day of Service.

Thank you to the students, staff, and families who so generously supported this fundraiser. We are proud to be of service to our community through your generosity!

Though recent temperatures have been quite inconsistent, we know that the winter weather will be here to stay sooner or later! Our students are given the opportunity for outdoor recess throughout the winter as long as the "feels like" temperature is 25 degrees or warmer. Please ensure that your child comes to school with appropriate outerwear for the weather so that he or she is able to comfortably enjoy outdoor recess.

We are excited to celebrate the grade level winners of the Young Author’s Contest! A special thanks to the staff who took time out of their busy schedules to read our entries and cast a vote. Thank you to Linda Jensen, Alison Stumpfl, Marsha Pickett, Eileen Griffin, Pam Hovis, Cheryl Follmer, Beth Bengermino, Amanda Bauer, and Tammy Hampshire.

Congratulations to the winners!

1st Grade Short Story - Ferdi Tong

2nd Grade Short Story - Amelia Miller

2nd grade poem - Nadia Mouchantaf

3rd grade short story - Teagan George

3rd grade Poem - Sophie Makhlouf

4th grade short story - Lamiah Ahmad

4th Grade poem - Hailey Xu

5th grade Short Story - Sam Wilmeth

5th grade poem - Aayah Mohsini

We are especially excited to recognize 4th grader Lamiah Ahmad, whose short story was the first place winner for Howard County! Her story will now advance to the state level Young Author's Contest. Congratulations, Lamiah!

In the month of December, the Bushy Park Elementary School Leo Club in Glenwood, MD put up "the Giving Tree". The Giving Tree is a tree that is set up in the front foyer of the school that students can put things on, like hats, gloves, scarves, earmuffs, and mittens. Boots are also placed under the tree. Thanks to the students, staff and community, the tree was completely over-filled with items throughout December. The Leo Club worked in collaboration with People Who Need People, who helped to deliver the donated items to Lake Elkhorn Middle School in Columbia.

-Written by Max Beares and Blake Levin, Leo Club President and Vice President

Our 4th and 5th grade musicians are hard at work preparing for a spectacular concert! Our winter concert will be presented on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 (Snow date of January 29). The concert will be at Bushy Park Elementary School.

4th grade students in band, orchestra, and chorus should arrive and be ready for warm up at 6:15 pm. The 4th grade concert will begin at 6:30 pm and conclude by 7:15 pm.

5th grade students in band, orchestra, and chorus should arrive and be ready for warm up at 7:15 pm. The 5th grade concert will begin at 7:30 pm and conclude by 8:15 pm.

Parents of musicians, please look for more detailed information from your child’s performing arts teacher.