BHMS LANCER UPDATE - Friday, March 2, 2018

SCHOOL NEWS

NEXT WEEK'S SCHEDULE

Monday, March 5 - A day
Tuesday, March 6 - B day
Wednesday, March 7 - A day
Thursday, March 8 - B day
Friday, March 9 - A day

Thursday, March 29 - 1/2 Day; dismissal at 11:35 a.m.
Friday, March 30 - NO SCHOOL
Monday, April 2 through Friday, April 6 - NO SCHOOL (SPRING BREAK)

For additional days off or school breaks, please see the District Calendar.
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For more BHMS specific dates, check out the A/B DAY SCHEDULE AND EVENTS CALENDAR and the BHMS DAILY BELL SCHEDULE (includes lunch periods) on the BHMS Website.

DOES YOUR STUDENT PARTICIPATE IN A BHMS CLUB? The CLUB CALENDAR is 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 PARENTS/GUARDIANS OF 8TH GRADERS

On Tuesday, March 6, the BH High School (BHHS) counselors will come to BH Middle School (BHMS) to meet with 8th grade students and share information about 9th grade course selections. Course selection sheets will be passed out, and students will be given instructions on how to enter their 9th grade course requests in MiStar. Counselors will be back at BHMS on Wednesday, March 14, to meet with each 8th grader AND a parent/guardian by appointment only, to review the course selections.

IF YOUR 8TH GRADER WILL BE ATTENDING BHHS in the fall, please do the following:

1) TODAY: If you haven't already done so, go to the scheduling site at the link below to set a March 14 appointment with the appropriate BHHS counselor. Remember, the appointment is for 8^th graders AND a parent/guardian, and will be held here at BHMS. The counselor assignments are broken down by the first letter of the student's last name, and are shown on the scheduling site. Students for whom an appointment is not scheduled will be assigned a time to meet with their BHHS counselor, even if a parent/guardian is unable to attend. Please click HERE to set up your appointment.

2) ON MARCH 6: when your student arrives home, follow-up with her/him to review the course selection information handed out by the BH High School counselor.

3) BEFORE MARCH 14: Make sure that your 8^th grader has entered her/his course requests in MiStar. The hard copy of the course selection sheet should be signed by you, and turned in at the HS Counselor appointment on March 14.

-Students who are certain they will not attend BHHS do not need to sign up for an appointment.

Please refer questions to BHMS 8th grade counselor, Mr. Flevaris.

HOOPS FOR HEART PHYS ED CLASS FUNDRAISER

It's time for the annual Hoops for Heart Physical Education Class Fundraiser for grades 6, 7 and 8. The annual campaign raises awareness of, and funds for the battle against heart disease. Physical Education teacher, Mr. DiVito, has prepared a letter with more information about the Hoops for Heart campaign, and how you can help students be healthy and raise funds at the same time.

"WHERE EVERYBODY BELONGS" (WEB) PROGRAM AT BHMS

BHMS has a program called "Where Everybody Belongs", referred to as "WEB", for short. 8th graders, who are selected through an application process at the end of 7th grade, are trained as WEB "Ambassadors". Those ambassadors are paired with 5^th grade students, who they mentor at orientation and throughout the the school year, to help them acclimate to BHMS. Please read this article, written by 8th grader Carson Brodsky, about his experience as an Ambassador with the WEB program.

NOTES FROM THE MUSIC BOOSTERS - VOLUNTEERS REALLY NEEDED

BAKERS AND SELLERS DESPERATELY NEEDED: Music Boosters continues to need volunteers for the weekly Wednesday fundraising bake sales, which take place immediately after school in the Gateway Space. Volunteers are needed to donate baked goods and/or run sales. PLEASE REMEMBER that products must not contain or be cooked with nuts or nut products. Baked items can be dropped off in the main office anytime before 2:45 p.m. Sign up to donate baked goods and/or work at a sale by clicking HERE. Thank you for supporting the BHMS Music Boosters!

Also, thank you to everyone for helping! It has been a busy month for the music program this month, and it will continue in the upcoming months!

BHMS STUDENTS SHINE IN AND OUT OF THE CLASSROOM

BHMS CHOIR STUDENTS SING AT SOLO & ENSEMBLE: Congratulations to the 7th and 8th grade choir students who competed at the District 4 MSVMA (Michigan School Vocal Music Association) Solo and Ensemble contest at Walnut Creek Middle School on Saturday, February 25. The students prepared two musical selections of contrasting styles, and presented them for an adjudicator. Students also performed their pieces at a recital on Thursday, February 23, to practice performing for their competition. Participants and ratings are as follows: Sarah Haddad (I), Kayla Hakim (I), Nikita Harvey (I), Sydney Saywrayne (I), duet of Ashley Singer and Anne Weaver (I), and Saylor Obrecht (II). BHMS is very proud of the talents and efforts of these students, and of their Choir teacher, Mrs. Pierre.

CAR POOL AND SAFETY CONCERNS

We continue to receive phone calls from concerned parents about several car pool situations that are putting students at risk, causing a great deal of frustration, and creating congestion in the car pool lane. The BHMS administration, PTO, and volunteer parents are currently working on a plan to eliminate these situations. In the meantime, if your car pool practices contribute to any of these major concerns (there may be others) please discontinue those practices immediately and follow the correct procedure indicated.

Concern #1: Cars bypassing those waiting in the right (inner) car pool lane, and dropping off or picking up students in the left (outer) lane.

Correct Procedure: Drop off and pick up in the right lane ONLY. Left lane should be a constantly moving lane used only for exiting the carpool area.

Concern #2: Cars backing up before pulling out of the right lane.

Correct Procedure: A student was nearly hit recently when a car backed up before pulling out of the right lane. Please wait the extra minute for the car in front of you to pull out, so that you do not need to back up to exit the lane.

Concern #3: Being in the right (inner) car pool lane, but ONLY dropping off or picking up directly in front of the building.

Correct Procedure: Drop off and pick up can be done in the right lane as far forward as the flagpole at the west end of the car pool circle, and as far back as the start of the sidewalk that extends from the building toward the road. Please do not leave space in front of you just to drop your student off directly in front of the building. This will keep the car pool lane moving, and minimize back-up on Quarton Road.

Concern #4: Cars entering the carpool lane prior to 7:55 a.m. (when the building opens), but sitting with students in the car until 7:55 a.m.

Correct Procedure: If you choose to have your student stay in the car until 7:55 a.m., please do not wait in the carpool lane. Instead, you are welcome to park in the lot near the tennis courts until your student is ready to exit from the car.

SHOP AT KROGER AND SUPPORT BHMS

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!

NOTE REQUIRED WHEN MISSING SCHOOL FOR APPOINTMENTS

For doctor or other health care appointments during the school day, students should bring in a note from the doctor/dental office to the Attendance Office for verification upon their return from the appointment. Please remember to sign your student out at the Attendance Office. Students sign themselves back in when they return. Refer to the Attendance Guidelines posted on the BHMS webpage for further information.

MYP COORDINATOR'S CORNER by Kathy Janelle

Please read this week's MYP Newsletter, from BHMS MYP Coordinator / Teacher Leader, Kathy Janelle.

REMINDER ABOUT STUDENT ILLNESSES

Students who have a fever should always be kept home from school. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines a fever as a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher. In fact, the CDC recommends that anyone with a fever remain home until they are they are fever free for 24 hours, without the use of fever reducing drugs. We ask that you adhere to these recommendations for the health of your child, as well as for the other students and adults at BHMS.

Students who become ill during the school day should go to the BHMS Clinic. Clinic parent volunteers are there to facilitate a call to a sick student's parent or guardian so that arrangements can be made to have the student picked as soon as possible. The clinic is not intended to be a place for sick children to remain for any length of time during the school day. If your daytime or emergency phone numbers or contacts change during the year, please update your student's profile on your Parent Connect page.

ROBOTICS NEWS

BHMS is proud to have students on nine different Robotics teams this year. Look for updates on these teams, which consist of BHMS students, in the District News Robotics information.

FIRST Lego League (Grades 4 through 8): BHMS Robo Ticks, Motor City Maniacs, Tech Tigers, Factory Falcons

FIRST Tech Challenge (Grades 7 through 12; determined by student's age): The Golden Gears, The Mechanical Monkeys, The Purple Protons, No Limits, The Space Unicorns.

END OF BHMS LANCER UPDATE

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