SCHOOL NEWS

Monday, November 13 - A day
Tuesday, November 14 - B day (Picture retakes in a.m.)
Wednesday, November 15 - A day
Thursday, November 16 - B day
Friday, November 17 - A day

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November 21 - 1/2 day; dismissal at 11:35 a.m.
November 22, 23, 24 - No school. Thanksgiving break.

The CLUB CALENDAR is now on the main page of the BHMS website. Please bookmark the link as a reference for your student's club meeting dates, start times and end times. 

For more dates, check out the A/B  DAY SCHEDULE AND EVENTS CALENDAR and the BHMS DAILY BELL SCHEDULE (includes lunch periods) on the BHMS Website.

Lifetouch will be at BHMS on the morning of Tuesday, November 14, for picture retakes and to take first-time pictures for students who were absent on the original picture day. Please follow the instructions for your option:

For retakes: Students should return their entire original photo package to the photographer at the time of retakes.

For first-time photos (students who missed picture day): Students should bring a completed order form and payment to give to the photographer, or you can order and pay in advance online, using Picture Day ID LM727122Y1 on the Lifetouch Website.

The BHMS staff looks forward to meeting all parents/guardians during Fall conferences. BHMS is using PTCFast.com to make signups for Parent Teacher Conferences as convenient as possible. Parents/guardians of students in grades 6, 7 & 8 can click on or enter the following link into your browser window: https://ptcfast.com/schools/Bloomfield_Hills_Middle_School_1. Once the site opens, select your child's team, click submit then follow the directions for signing up for your conference. 

Parents/guardians of 5th graders will be contacted directly by the 5th grade teachers with instructions on signing up for their conferences.

Students in grades 6, 7 and 8 are asked to bring in $10 (exact cash only, or check payable to BHMS) for Physical Education class roller blade equipment rentals. Payments should be given to Mr. DiVito or Mrs. Wenson during gym periods before Friday, December 18.

Beginning on January 8, students in those grades will be participating in an in-house skating program during Physical Education classes. Roller blade skates will be delivered to the school by a company called Skatetime School Programs. Due to insurance purposes, we will be exclusively using Skatetime's roller blades. This skating unit has been implemented because of its emphasis as a "Lifetime Activity." Skating provides a variety of benefits, which include balance, coordination, motor skills, and a top rated cardio-respiratory workout.  Students will also learn basic skating skills such as starting, stopping, forward skating, cornering, and a number of safety tips for being a smart skater.

The fee includes delivery and pick up of the equipment as well as use of the skates for five days of skating during P.E. class. Students will also be required to wear wrist guards and a helmet, which will also be provided. However, students have the option of bringing their own helmets and wrist guards. The helmets and skates will be sanitized daily.  Knee pads will also be provided for those who choose to wear them. Please refer questions to Mr. DiVito. Thank you for your support in this great activity.

Members of the BHMS Games Club would love to have your used LEGOS, or gently used board or card games that can be completed in less than an hour. LEGOS sets with directions would be awesome, but they are happy to take loose blocks as well. If you are looking to clean out any of those items, the club is happy to accept them. If you have any of these items that you are willing to donate, please deliver them in a bag or container marked "Games Club", to the BHMS office. Your student can also drop them off in Mrs. Kucinski's Room 126.

Great news! Due to overwhelming demand, BHMS was able to secure a third bus for the 8th grade Washington, DC, field trip scheduled for late April, 2018. That bus has filled up quickly, with fewer than a dozen spots remaining. They will be filled on a first-come first-served basis. If your student is interested and not yet registered, it's recommended that you register them immediately. Registration will close for good when all remaining spots are filled, or on Friday, November 17, whichever is earlier.

Trip information, including costs, exact dates, itinerary, and how to register is included in this Corporate Travel flyer. If you still have questions after reviewing the flyer, please e-mail the BHMS Building Trip Coordinators, Mr. Baker or Mr. Neuwirth.

Once again this year, the generous BHMS PTO provided the funds to transport BHMS sixth graders to the Howell Nature Center's Global Village, an outdoor education program run by Heifer International. There, students learned about world population and resource distribution, and toured model home sites representing how people live in poverty in different countries. Students also learned how Heifer helps people in poverty by providing specialized training and income-producing animals. Students were active participants as they hiked around the village, asked questions of the tour guides and prepared lunch outdoors. When they returned to school, students reflected on their experience and held a fundraiser called Folding for Change. They made origami and sold it for donations to Heifer International. Other students told family and friends about Heifer and solicited donations. The sixth-grade Global Villagers raised over $2,300, which will go a long way toward helping support economic independence for people living in isolated areas of the U.S and abroad. This experience serves the BHMS school goals of instilling "international-mindedness" in students, and fostering "service as action."

THANKSGIVING PIE GIVING: Please open this flyer for information about PTO's Thanksgiving Pie Giving for BHMS staff.

5TH GRADE FAMILY MEET AND GREET NIGHT: PTO has a fun Meet & Greet Movie Night planned for 5th grade families on December 8. Complete information can be found in this flyer.

PTO MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY NOW ONLINE: The 2017-2018 BHMS PTO online School Directory is now available to PTO members. Returning directory users, click here for the online directory.  Continue to use the same email address and login as you used last year.  Click on "Forgot Password?" if needed. If you're new to the directory this year, you received an email with a temporary password to access the online directory.   If you haven't received that email, please email Sue Brodsky at suebrodsky@comcast.net. If for some reason, you are not in the directory and would like to be, please click here and enter the code LancerDirectory. You can still support the PTO by joining, which will give you access to the online directory.  Please click on this link to join. The system will let you add your own information. Get the mobile app too! Look for myschoolanywhere in the app store.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR MUSIC BOOSTERS BAKE SALES: BHMS Music Boosters is in need of bakers and sellers for after school bake sales. Sellers volunteer on Wednesdays from 2:45-3:15 p.m., in the Gateway area. Bakers are asked to bring in two dozen individual pieces, which must be entirely free of nuts or nut products/by products. If purchasing baked goods, please check that they are also from a nut-free facility. Baked goods can be dropped off in the office any time during your scheduled bake sale day. Click here to volunteer to bake or sell on assigned dates. If you have questions, or if you can't make the day on which you volunteered, please contact Patty Shaw.

Members of the BHMS Games Club would love to have your used LEGOS, or gently used board or card games that can be completed in less than an hour. LEGOS sets with directions would be awesome, but they are happy to take loose blocks as well. If you are looking to clean out any of those items, the club is happy to accept them. If you have any of these items that you are willing to donate, please deliver them in a bag or container marked "Games Club", to the BHMS office. Your student can also drop them off in Mrs. Kucinski's Room 126.

Please open this Winter Session I Sports Summary, prepared by BHS Middle School Athletic Director, Avis Najor. It contains start dates, coach contact information and practice schedules. The Winter Session I sports include boys basketball and girls swimming and diving. Your student must have a valid physical completed on the MHSAA Physical Form only (dated after 4/15/2017) on file in the BHMS office before they will be allowed to tryout/participate. Students must also have a Pay to Participate sports fee submitted on their behalf. For additional details, see the Athletics page of the BHMS website. 

As always, we ask that you please contact a coach directly regarding his/her particular sport.

If your child will be missing three or more days of school, please have them pick up an Extended Leave Form from the BHMS office. The form should be completed at least two weeks in advance of the leave. This form is to be signed by the parent, and then your student will take the form to all teachers - block teachers and "A" and "B" day elective teachers. Once all teachers have signed off on the form, it should be returned to Mrs. Foronato in the office.

You can now upload pictures for consideration for use in the yearbook! Mrs. Iacobelli, our Yearbook Coordinator, is using an app/website this year to help streamline the process. Click Here to access the site. When registering, make sure to choose Bloomfield Hills Middle School as your home school. Pictures of sporting events and extracurricular activities are especially welcome.

There is a Box Tops collection bin in the main office. Please send in any you've been collecting. REMEMBER . . . each Box Top is worth ten cents to BHMS -- but worth nothing if you toss them in your waste basket. The math is simply amazing. If each of our 750 students brought in 10 box tops each month, for the nine months of the school year, BHMS would earn $6,750 to use toward programs or purchases not covered under the budget.

Thanks for supporting BHMS in small ways that can have big results. For more information about products that contain Box Tops, click HERE.

You can support BHMS when you do your regular shopping at Kroger by designating Bloomfield Hills Middle School as your Plus Card Community Rewards program recipient. The Kroger website provides instructions for setting up a new account, or for designating Bloomfield Hills Middle School (Organization Code 28755) to your existing account.

Once you've designated BHMS as your organization, each time you shop at Kroger and use your Plus Card, BHMS earns reward points, which translate into checks paid to BHMS quarterly. That's all there is to it!

Please remember that BHMS IS AN ENTIRELY NUT-RESTRICTED BUILDING, 24-HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. There are students in the building who are highly allergic to peanuts and all kinds of tree nuts, and their well-being is of concern.

Students should not bring lunch or snacks containing nuts or nut products. Additionally, while your donations and gifts are very much appreciated, we ask that you make sure anything given to the office, to teachers or classrooms, for bake sales, end-of-sports or club parties or any other occasion are free of all nuts and nut products. Thank you so much for your consideration.

SEE DISTRICT NEWS BELOW

Bloomfield Hills High School proudly presents A Chorus Line! Musical dates are November 16, 17, and 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. Tickets are on sale now ($15 students/seniors and $18 general admission) at www.etix.com (search Bloomfield Hills High School). Senior Gold Card members can contact Sharon Beltowski at 248.346.0190 or sharonbeltowski@comcast.net. For ADA Accessible seating, please call 248.346.0190.

In order to report absences, late arrivals, request early dismissal or a bus pass, or to get a school-related message to your child on a timely basis, you must call the attendance line directly at 248-341-6010.  Calling 248-341-6010 will get you to a recorded line. Messages on that line are checked on a regular basis throughout the school day. Leaving a message on any other line may result in the message not being retrieved or passed on to your student on a timely basis. Please program the 248-341-6010 attendance line phone number on to your phone and use only that line for the above purposes. Thank you.

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