BAM Bear Blast-1/5/24

Click the icon image below to view "The CLIMB", Brambleton's Weekly Academic Newsletter, to review upcoming activities and assessments in your student's classes.

• Monday, January 8: A-Day
• Tuesday, January 9: B-Day
• Wednesday, January 10: A-Day
• Thursday, January 11: B-Day
• Friday, January 12: A-Day

Preparations are already underway for the 2024-25 School Year at Brambleton Middle! Rising 7th and 8th Grade Families (current 6th and 7th Grade), please join us on Thursday, February 1st beginning at 6:30pm in the BAM Auditorium to learn about the course offerings available to your students for next year as 7th and 8th Graders. Families will begin the evening with a short presentation in the auditorium from school administrative and school counseling teams. Then, families will have the opportunity to visit the "Course Fair" in the gym at their own pace to learn about course offerings from our department leaders and teachers!

We will host our winter Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments on Wednesday, January 17th for math, and Thursday, January 18th for reading. These are diagnostic assessments that allow our teachers to target instruction to match student needs. To facilitate these assessments we will function on a Testing Schedule which means we will test in the first two hours of the school day. Please make sure that your students charge and bring their LCPS Chromebooks on these days. If you have any questions please reach out to Ms. Corrina Orr, Assistant Principal and Testing Coordinator, at corrina.orr@lcps.org

As we enter our coldest months, we typically see an increase in car traffic for arrival and dismissal. We are happy to share that we now have two School Security Officers staffed at Brambleton and can staff the crosswalk near the Indy tennis courts. Our SSO team will be supporting student safety in that crosswalk area to ensure students are crossing in groups safely and quickly. Beginning on Monday, January 8th, families will see additional cones near the Indy tennis court lot to cue attention and restrict left turns similar to the other areas of Learning Circle. Please, keep an extra attentive eye while driving at that location for the safety of our students and staff.

See the map below for details of our car line traffic pattern. We kindly remind families to work together to follow the car line flow for safety and efficiency. Please, plan your trip so that you are making only right turns while on Learning Circle and do not allow students to exit or enter cars outside of the pick-up/drop off zone. Utilize the entire drop off zone pulling all the way forward and have students ready to exit quickly. Additionally, it is important to remind everyone that arrival time is 8:00-8:25am with class beginning at 8:30am. This is our final year of our high student population and so we appreciate everyone's cooperation these last two quarters to ensure we get all our students to and from school safely and efficiently--Thank you!

Save the date to join us for a fun community event sponsored by our PTSA!

Ms. Evelyn Ceballos was nominated by the BAM administration for an LCPS Spotlighting Heroes in Education (SHINE) Recognition for November and she was chosen to be recognized by Dr. Spence and the Loudoun Education Association this week! Ms. Ceballos is our cafeteria manager and is such a bright light in our BAMily for students and staff. Here is an excerpt from her nomination: "Ms. Ceballos and her team work to create school meals that are representative of our student's family and cultural backgrounds--not to mention, DELICIOUS! She always leads with love and goes the extra mile to ensure that our large school feels small and welcoming for each and every student."

Congratulations, Ms. Ceballos!

Families, students, community members and staff can nominate a deserving BAM teacher and staff member for a SHINE recognition and we encourage you to recognize anyone that you feel goes above and beyond to make our school great for students. Thanks in advance for your support!

Click THIS LINK to read more about SHINE.

Click THIS LINK for the SHINE nomination form.

LCPS middle and high school students receive information about the dangers of opioids and other illicit drugs through health and physical education classes. Student Assistance Specialists who have mental health and substance abuse expertise provide these targeted presentations and partner with their respective schools to plan additional opportunities, including assemblies, student-led campaigns, and classroom lessons.

Makeup/Retake Day images are now viewable online.

Please visit: vosphoto.com/uc and use your student ID when prompted for the online code.

For questions regarding school pictures please email: underclass@vosphoto.com

Thank you!

Victor O'Neill Studio!

The Step Up Loudoun Youth Competition presents middle and high school students with an opportunity to identify an issue in their communities and implement a solution as they contribute to the world around them. Students will create a 5-minute team video due February 21, 2024, and then the top 20 teams will present live to judges on March 11, 2024. The Finals and Awards Ceremony will be on March 21, 2024, where the top 10 teams will be invited to present for cash prizes.

Registration for the Step Up Loudoun Youth Competition is now open. You will find information about SULYC and the link for the application at: www.loudounyouth.org under Programs: Step Up Loudoun Youth Competition.

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) Department of Teaching & Learning visited eighth-graders at Brambleton Middle School on November 1 and 2 to share information about the various special programs and academies available to rising 9th-grade students. The presentation included information about the Academies of Loudoun, the Health and Medical Sciences Academy (HAMSci) which will be new in 2024-2025, the LCPS Pre-International Baccalaureate (Pre-IB), Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp (JROTC), and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

Students interested in HAMSci, LCPS Pre-IB, and Navy JROTC can show interest in these programs starting on December 1, 2023 in Student Opportunities located in LCPSGo.

For additional information about the various LCPS Special Programs and Academies, visit https://www.lcps.org/specprog.

Click the file link below for this week's PTSA BAMgram!

Website: https://www.lcps.org/BAM
Location: 23070 Learning Circle, Ashburn, VA, USA
Phone: 703-957-4450
Twitter: @BAM_MS_Official