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Community
Beach Park School Newsletter |
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Above: Upper Elementary student Blake with her egg
Important Dates
Friday, February 8, 10 am - 12:30 pm - Lower Elementary Field Trip, Sweetwater Organic Farm
Send in disposable bag lunch
Friday, February 15th - Dental Health Month Presentations
All classes
Wednesday, February 20th - PreK/K Inside Field Trip
Bits N Pieces Puppet Show
"Jack & the Beanstalk"
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Nicholas spelling words with the movable alphabet
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Driveway Etiquette
In the interest of safety, we ask that you unload your children only if you are in the first or second spot in the driveway.
Please wait until you are in the first or second position to allow the driveway to move more smoothly and reduce the number of children walking near cars as well as the number of cars waiting in the street.
As well, please stay in your car until you are in the first or second position if you want to come to the gate and meet your child.
Thanks!
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PreK/Kindergarten
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Adin contemplating his triangles made with
bead bars
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It has been another beautiful week in the Primary classrooms! We have begun working on some fun community building and earth stewardship activities this week. Each class read the book "This Is Our Earth" by Laura Lee Benson, which opened up great conversation about different ways we can care for the earth. We also did a community building activity that taught them how important working together and helping each other is.
For Spanish this week the children were learning the names of artic animals in Spanish. Some of the animal names they learned are oso polar (polar bear) and liebre (artic hare).
The Kindergarteners continued their unit on nutrition. They also learned about the parts of the sunflower and enjoyed making their own sunflower paintings.
We celebrated Caitlin's birthday this week. Happy birthday, Caitlin! Anika's mom, Rima, came in to talk to her class about their fabulous trip to India. In Ms. Denise and Ms. Karen's class, Jennifer, Presley's mom, and Mona, Adin's mom, came and read to the class.
Valentine's Day: For Valentine's Day, each child may bring in cards to share with their class. Each class has 20 children. The children can sign their own names to their cards. PLEASE, do not write the names of the children on the envelope: this will make distribution a lot smoother. Thank you!
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Lower Elementary
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Jack and Ian concentrate on sketching
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As we continue this week with our character studies, I am led to reflect on our little ones. As you know, we have 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders in our class. That means we have lots of different abilities and lots of different needs in one classroom. I often say to my students, "We all have different needs." To my great pleasure and surprise the children accept this! They totally and utterly accept each other right where they are. It is quite a beautiful thing to witness on a daily basis. I often overhear one child say to another, "Wow, that is really nice" or "Way to go!" When one child drops something, many children flock over to help! I am not making it up. My point is that our kids are awesome. They are learning and growing every day, not just academically, but socially and emotionally as well. They are learning from each other, just as Montessori intended.
Earlier in the week, we embarked on a fabulous new periodical called Character Education Studies Weekly. It is amazing and the children love it. Each newsletter focuses on a specific character trait. This week we talked about honesty. We read several articles on Abraham Lincoln, otherwise known as Honest Abe. We learned all about his life and what his character was like. As a follow-up activity, each child discussed what they thought their character traits might be. I am sure that you saw the nametags come home that said, Brave Lauren, Curious Tristan or Friendly Dougie. They were awesome and the children talked about them for days! Miss Kristen chose Understanding Kristen and I chose Positive Patti, for obvious reasons!
Last week, following our fantastic field trip to Alessi Bakeries Production Center, we decided that we would start a mold garden. Yes, that's right, a mold garden! Mr. Andy, from Alessi Bakery talked about having the right temperatures and how important certain ingredients were and then having just the right storage facility. He mentioned that without certain precautions, mold would grow. Well, we decided to see if Mr. Andy was right. We placed some of our crumbs and garbage from lunch in an airtight container. We are currently waiting and observing! I am sure you will hear all about it.
Valentine's Day: Children are invited to bring in valentines for their classmates. Please have your child sign his or her name to their valentines but do not write the friends' names on the envelopes. The envelopes should be left blank as this makes distribution much easier and more enjoyable for everyone. There are 26 children in the class.
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Upper Elementary
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This week we began a unit on Character Education. We are using "Character Education Studies Weekly" to help learn about various character traits. This week we talked about responsibility. We read about Anne Sullivan who was Helen Keller's teacher. We learned that Anne had a tremendous responsibility that she fulfilled in teaching Helen to use sign language and to begin speaking.
On Monday we completed an activity where students worked in pairs to complete an acrostic using the word responsibility. There was one catch; one of the students was blindfolded and could not speak! After ten minutes, the students switched roles. They developed several strategies for working together. We then watched the original black and white movie, "The Miracle Worker", on our new wide screen monitor using our new Apple TV.
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Lauren, Gracie & Isa
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As another activity to teach responsibility, students are now caring for a hard boiled egg. On Tuesday they decorated and named their eggs. They also created a safe environment for the egg using one of the recyclable Evo's boxes. (See photo at right) They will take care of the egg until Friday. If it cracks, students can put a bandage on to repair the egg.
Due to technical issues with the testing company, standardized testing started on Thursday instead of Tuesday. In the meantime, we finished listening to the book "Holes" and followed up by watching that movie and discussing the differences between the move and book.
Testing will continue on Monday and Tuesday next week.
Valentine's Day: The Upper Elementary class will exchange valentines with classmates on Valentine's Day. There are 19 students in the class. Students in this class may address their valentines to individual friends and put names on the envelopes. See the class roster accessible from the School Directory page on the BPS website. Contact the office if you need the password.
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Middle School
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 This week we have been preparing for the standardized testing. During the week we have been writing our individual ecology proposals. Wednesday morning we practiced D and E homophones.
This week, the class read about Anne Sullivan and how she took the responsibility to teach Helen Keller. For the class to know about responsibility we got eggs to take care of.
On Thursday and Friday mornings, we took standardized tests. On Monday and Tuesday next week, we will finish the testing.
by Isabella Fluker
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Spanish
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LOWER ELEMENTARY: We read an interesting book about "How Dinosaurs Go To School". We learned a lot about the different activities that a dinosaur would enjoy if they were allowed in a school, their behavior, likes and dislikes, and the various designs and coloration in their skins. This colorful tale is of course based on the writer's vivid imagination! We also took this opportunity to review means of transportation and other pertinent vocabulary via flash cards.
UPPER ELEMENTARY: "Signs" was the topic for some of our weekly lessons. We wrote and explored many categories of signs. Liquidation and summer sales, Bogo offers, real estate bargains, no smoking, wet floor, do not feed the animals, keep silence, danger, and high voltage, were among the most popular. This assignment contained a vast vocabulary that we use in our daily life. We also practiced some verbs ending in "AR".
 MIDDLE SCHOOL: Letters from the Canine Academy captivated our attention as we read the daily accounts of a dog attending "obedience school" against his wishes and how he refers to the Academy as a prison and his instructors as wardens, etc. The truth is his surroundings were comparable to a 5 star hotel with fine dining, superb accommodations, and plenty of amenities! We thoroughly enjoyed the story, its context, illustrations, and the author's imagination. We found many conversational phrases and sentences to enrich and expand our vocabulary.
TRIVIA FACT: The Zoe tribes are one of the most isolated groups of natives living deep in the Amazon rain forest of Brazil. This indigenous tribe chose to live apart--maintaining their history and traditional lifestyle. The Zoes grow and gather peanuts, bananas and other crops.
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Office Notes
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Auction Planning is Under Way
A small but dedicated group gathered at the Gonzalez home this week to begin planning for the 12th Annual BPS Spring Auction, our one big fundraiser of the year. Last year, $50,000 was raised for the school.
Please get your babysitter arranged now and plan to attend the Auction on Saturday, April 6th at St. Mary's Hall just off Henderson Blvd.
The theme "A Sunshine State of Mind" has inspired the planning committee and members are off and running on pulling it all together. Watch for signs of the best Florida has to offer: flamingos, mermaids, theme parks and oranges!
Everyone in the school community will be asked to help in whatever ways you wish: becoming a sponsor, soliciting or donating auction items, helping with the set-up and clean-up from the event, and much more.
We are already able to extend our appreciation to Ala Carte Pavilion's executive chef and BPS parent Jim Rice, as well as parents Rachelle and Mike Bedke for taking on the planning and provision of our fine buffet dinner for the evening. And, Jack and Grace Like will once again take care of setting up the bar and introducing the signature drink for the evening, the Key West Screwdriver.
More to come! Watch for the announcements of meetings and jump in! Soon, donation and sponsor forms will be sent out with more detailed information.
Re-Enrollment
By now, you should have received a letter inviting you to re-enroll your child(ren) for the coming 2013-2014 school year. Re-enrollment for current students is open until Friday, February 15th. After that time, new applicants will be able to enroll. To ensure your child a space next year, please respond by February 15th.
5K Walk & Stroll
In conjunction with the Gasparilla Distance Classic, a family-friendly 5 K walk and stroll is planned for Saturday, February 23rd. Details about this non-competitive event are at tampabayrun.com . As well, on Saturday, February 16th, there is a separate kid's event at University of Tampa Pepin Stadium with the Junior Gasparilla Distance Classic. For more information, check here.
Parent Tina Rice is participating in the 5K event on February 23rd. Any BPS parents or families wanting to join her may contact her by email . |
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4200 W. North A Street · Tampa, FL 33609 · Ph: 813-289-3747 · Fax: 813-286-7307
admin@beachparkschool.org
Beach Park School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin.
Accredited by Florida Council of Independent Schools and Florida Kindergarten Council
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