October 25, 2009
Dear BCS Parents,
I recently sat down with a group of new parents and talked about their experiences with BCS thus far and discussed any concerns they had with the transition from a traditional school to one that is more in line with positive deviance. Positive deviance can be defined as doing things differently to reach positive outcomes. The hardest thing for a parent it seems is to let go and allow their children to be more independent and take ownership in their daily schedule. This is hard for anyone that has children!
The traditional classroom in America creates an environment where the teachers and parents make many of the decisions for the students in and out of the classroom. These decisions could be as simple as where the students sit, whom they play with, or how they will spend their time. While some decisions are important for the teacher or parent to make, there are many opportunities we can take advantage of and allow the children to learn about problem solving and independence.
Do you remember when you were a child growing up in different times? Neighborhood baseball games and bike rides highlighted the summer! These games did not involve parents or umpires telling us what to do and how to do it. We discovered how to solve arguments on our own and how to compromise when two sides didn’t see eye to eye. We learned about consensus and understood that if we couldn’t agree on something, the end result may be that the game was over. No one wanted to go home early so we learned to work together even if we didn’t like the people we were working with.
These skills are more important than ever in today’s world as we face many challenges across the globe. BCS understands that in order to equip our students with the essential skills to be problem solvers, the students themselves need to take ownership in their decisions. This is important for parents to not only understand, but to join us in giving each student at BCS the power of independence. This may look like a simple decision to take a choice hour class of their choice or to allow the student to create a plan of action themselves on making sure homework is turned in on time. Remember, even though this is very difficult for the adult, it is a process that will ultimately make your child a confident and motivated person!
Enjoy the week!
Adam
WEEK AT A GLANCE – OCTOBER 26 – OCTOBER 30, 2009
(Disclaimer: Please check all your calendars and bcsonline.info in case we missed something)
Monday, October 26
6:45AM – 7th & 8th grade girls basketball practice
3:15PM – Conference sign-up sheets posted for 3/4 & 5/6
4 PM – Boys soccer game @ West Hills Middle School.
6-7PM – Proud Dads Co-ed Tennis at Pine Lake Country Club, indoor courts
Tuesday, October 27
7-8AM – Proud Dads 5th & 6th grade girls basketball
8-8:20AM – Bagel sale in front of the media center by the 8th grade celebration committee
3:15-4:00PM – School store is open in the main hallway during choice hour
4 PM – 7th grade girls basketball game vs. Bloomfield Hills Middle School at home; 8th grade immediately following
4:05 – 5:35PM – Boys soccer practice
7:00PM - Community Conversations regarding BPS budget and school funding - Berkshire
Wednesday, October 28
6:45AM – 7th & 8th grade girls basketball practice
4 PM – Boys soccer game vs. Detroit Country Day at home.
Popcorn Day – freshly popped popcorn is sold during choice hour for $1 in the main hallway.
3-4PM-Market Day pick-up in the entrance hall.
Thursday, October 29
7-8AM – Proud Dads 5th & 6th grade girls basketball
4 PM – 7th grade girls basketball game at Derby; 8th grade immediately following. Please visit highschoolsports.net for directions or pick-up a “Maps to Away Athletic Contests” packet in the office.
5-6:30PM – Proud Dads Co-ed Flag Football for 3rd – 8th graders
Friday, October 30
1:45 p.m. - All school Halloween parade – families are invited to watch the parade
BCS Parking Lot Responsibilities
To make sure everyone is safe in our parking lot, The Bloomfield Hills Police Force will be present during drop off and pick up times. We have a larger amount of families picking students up at the end of the day than ever before. This creates problems for both parents and students. There are two areas that the police will be focusing on when they are present. These areas include the blocking of the exit drives on Quarton Rd. and Covington Rd. (cars are not allowed to use this as an entrance) and the illegal parking/blocking of our handicap parking areas.
The safety of your children has been the biggest concern. Please do NOT have your children cross the parking lot between cars. They must stay on the sidewalks!
Hot Entrée menu for the week: (subject to change, if necessary)
- Available everyday: Salad Bar, Hamburgers, Chicken Patties, Pizza & Cheese Breadsticks
Monday –Cheese ravioli w/green beans & wheat roll
Tuesday –Create your own stuffed baked potato w/broccoli or turkey OR chili & toppings
Wednesday –Pizza bagel or entrée salad w/choice of popcorn chicken or turkey
Thursday –Meat loaf w/mashed potatoes & corn or fresh fruit w/yogurt & whole grain muffin
Friday –Grilled cheese w/tomato soup or garden burger
To submit an item for next week’s “WAG”, email nb01bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us by FRIDAY 7AM
Open House Stuffing Volunteers Needed
The BCS Community Connections Committee is looking for volunteers to help stuff the 500 folders needed for the upcoming BCS Open House. We will be stuffing folders in the Media Center on Tuesday, November 3rd from 8:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. or until we are done. The more hands we have, the faster it will go and coffee and donuts will be available for all those who help. Please contact Becky Bachand at dbachand@comcast.net for more information and to let us know how many extra hands we can count on.
The Scholastic Book Fair is November 10-12 - Volunteers are needed!! If you love books and are looking for a short term volunteer job... we would love to have your assistance with the BCS/Scholastic Book Fair! Parents are needed to help set up, assist students during their previews, collect $ during the sale and to pack up. This is a fun event and all proceeds go directly to the Media Center to purchase new materials!! If you have a junior or senior BCS alumni high school student who needs community service hours, we would welcome their help too!
Please contact Linda Weitzel (jeffnlinda@hotmail.com or 248-865-7279) if you can help!
2 hour shifts are available during the following times:
Monday, November 9th - book fair set up- 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Tuesday, November 10th - student preview times - 8:30 am to 3:30 pm
Weds. and Thurs. Nov 11 & 12 - student preview and public sale - 8:30 am to 8:00 pm
Thursday November 12th - book fair pack up - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
SPECIAL EDUCATION-BCS COFFEE
You are cordially invited to come meet with Mr. Hartley and Wendy Albanese – Special Education Supervisor. Join us for coffee, meet with other parents who have students receiving special education services in our building and ask questions. This will be a great opportunity for us all to network within our building community! The coffee is hosted by BCS in collaboration with Friends of Different Learners. (November 10, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. in the cafeteria)
3rd-4th Grade Parents-
3/4 report cards will come home with the students on the day before conferences…
November 10th.
Attention all 6, 7, and 8th graders!
We are happy to announce that this year's BCS musical production is Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!Every 6-8th grade student who enrolls in the production may participate! All enrolled cast members must audition.Auditions are scheduled for Monday, October 26 after Choice Hour in the BCS cafeteria.Production packets with audition information are available in the Office and by the Media Center.Email Mia Kennedy at peteandmia@comcast.net with questions.This production has an $85 dollar "Pay to Participate" fee.No BCS student will ever be excluded from participating in a school activity for financial reasons. Please contact Principal Adam Hartley at 248-203-4428 or ah07bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us if you need support.
Dear BCS Parents,
I recently sat down with a group of new parents and talked about their experiences with BCS thus far and discussed any concerns they had with the transition from a traditional school to one that is more in line with positive deviance. Positive deviance can be defined as doing things differently to reach positive outcomes. The hardest thing for a parent it seems is to let go and allow their children to be more independent and take ownership in their daily schedule. This is hard for anyone that has children!
The traditional classroom in America creates an environment where the teachers and parents make many of the decisions for the students in and out of the classroom. These decisions could be as simple as where the students sit, whom they play with, or how they will spend their time. While some decisions are important for the teacher or parent to make, there are many opportunities we can take advantage of and allow the children to learn about problem solving and independence.
Do you remember when you were a child growing up in different times? Neighborhood baseball games and bike rides highlighted the summer! These games did not involve parents or umpires telling us what to do and how to do it. We discovered how to solve arguments on our own and how to compromise when two sides didn’t see eye to eye. We learned about consensus and understood that if we couldn’t agree on something, the end result may be that the game was over. No one wanted to go home early so we learned to work together even if we didn’t like the people we were working with.
These skills are more important than ever in today’s world as we face many challenges across the globe. BCS understands that in order to equip our students with the essential skills to be problem solvers, the students themselves need to take ownership in their decisions. This is important for parents to not only understand, but to join us in giving each student at BCS the power of independence. This may look like a simple decision to take a choice hour class of their choice or to allow the student to create a plan of action themselves on making sure homework is turned in on time. Remember, even though this is very difficult for the adult, it is a process that will ultimately make your child a confident and motivated person!
Enjoy the week!
Adam
WEEK AT A GLANCE – OCTOBER 26 – OCTOBER 30, 2009
(Disclaimer: Please check all your calendars and bcsonline.info in case we missed something)
Monday, October 26
6:45AM – 7th & 8th grade girls basketball practice
3:15PM – Conference sign-up sheets posted for 3/4 & 5/6
4 PM – Boys soccer game @ West Hills Middle School.
6-7PM – Proud Dads Co-ed Tennis at Pine Lake Country Club, indoor courts
Tuesday, October 27
7-8AM – Proud Dads 5th & 6th grade girls basketball
8-8:20AM – Bagel sale in front of the media center by the 8th grade celebration committee
3:15-4:00PM – School store is open in the main hallway during choice hour
4 PM – 7th grade girls basketball game vs. Bloomfield Hills Middle School at home; 8th grade immediately following
4:05 – 5:35PM – Boys soccer practice
7:00PM - Community Conversations regarding BPS budget and school funding - Berkshire
Wednesday, October 28
6:45AM – 7th & 8th grade girls basketball practice
4 PM – Boys soccer game vs. Detroit Country Day at home.
Popcorn Day – freshly popped popcorn is sold during choice hour for $1 in the main hallway.
3-4PM-Market Day pick-up in the entrance hall.
Thursday, October 29
7-8AM – Proud Dads 5th & 6th grade girls basketball
4 PM – 7th grade girls basketball game at Derby; 8th grade immediately following. Please visit highschoolsports.net for directions or pick-up a “Maps to Away Athletic Contests” packet in the office.
5-6:30PM – Proud Dads Co-ed Flag Football for 3rd – 8th graders
Friday, October 30
1:45 p.m. - All school Halloween parade – families are invited to watch the parade
BCS Parking Lot Responsibilities
To make sure everyone is safe in our parking lot, The Bloomfield Hills Police Force will be present during drop off and pick up times. We have a larger amount of families picking students up at the end of the day than ever before. This creates problems for both parents and students. There are two areas that the police will be focusing on when they are present. These areas include the blocking of the exit drives on Quarton Rd. and Covington Rd. (cars are not allowed to use this as an entrance) and the illegal parking/blocking of our handicap parking areas.
The safety of your children has been the biggest concern. Please do NOT have your children cross the parking lot between cars. They must stay on the sidewalks!
Hot Entrée menu for the week: (subject to change, if necessary)
- Available everyday: Salad Bar, Hamburgers, Chicken Patties, Pizza & Cheese Breadsticks
Monday –Cheese ravioli w/green beans & wheat roll
Tuesday –Create your own stuffed baked potato w/broccoli or turkey OR chili & toppings
Wednesday –Pizza bagel or entrée salad w/choice of popcorn chicken or turkey
Thursday –Meat loaf w/mashed potatoes & corn or fresh fruit w/yogurt & whole grain muffin
Friday –Grilled cheese w/tomato soup or garden burger
To submit an item for next week’s “WAG”, email nb01bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us by FRIDAY 7AM
Open House Stuffing Volunteers Needed
The BCS Community Connections Committee is looking for volunteers to help stuff the 500 folders needed for the upcoming BCS Open House. We will be stuffing folders in the Media Center on Tuesday, November 3rd from 8:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. or until we are done. The more hands we have, the faster it will go and coffee and donuts will be available for all those who help. Please contact Becky Bachand at dbachand@comcast.net for more information and to let us know how many extra hands we can count on.
The Scholastic Book Fair is November 10-12 - Volunteers are needed!! If you love books and are looking for a short term volunteer job... we would love to have your assistance with the BCS/Scholastic Book Fair! Parents are needed to help set up, assist students during their previews, collect $ during the sale and to pack up. This is a fun event and all proceeds go directly to the Media Center to purchase new materials!! If you have a junior or senior BCS alumni high school student who needs community service hours, we would welcome their help too!
Please contact Linda Weitzel (jeffnlinda@hotmail.com or 248-865-7279) if you can help!
2 hour shifts are available during the following times:
Monday, November 9th - book fair set up- 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Tuesday, November 10th - student preview times - 8:30 am to 3:30 pm
Weds. and Thurs. Nov 11 & 12 - student preview and public sale - 8:30 am to 8:00 pm
Thursday November 12th - book fair pack up - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
SPECIAL EDUCATION-BCS COFFEE
You are cordially invited to come meet with Mr. Hartley and Wendy Albanese – Special Education Supervisor. Join us for coffee, meet with other parents who have students receiving special education services in our building and ask questions. This will be a great opportunity for us all to network within our building community! The coffee is hosted by BCS in collaboration with Friends of Different Learners. (November 10, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. in the cafeteria)
3rd-4th Grade Parents-
3/4 report cards will come home with the students on the day before conferences…
November 10th.
Attention all 6, 7, and 8th graders!
We are happy to announce that this year's BCS musical production is Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!Every 6-8th grade student who enrolls in the production may participate! All enrolled cast members must audition.Auditions are scheduled for Monday, October 26 after Choice Hour in the BCS cafeteria.Production packets with audition information are available in the Office and by the Media Center.Email Mia Kennedy at peteandmia@comcast.net with questions.This production has an $85 dollar "Pay to Participate" fee.No BCS student will ever be excluded from participating in a school activity for financial reasons. Please contact Principal Adam Hartley at 248-203-4428 or ah07bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us if you need support.
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