Addison writes a story

We will be starting our apple unit next week and would like each child to bring in one apple for our baskets. We will have a sample tasting of each variety at the end of the unit. We have read "Johnny Appleseed" and talked about the parts of the apple and the life cycle of the apple.

In Spanish, vocabulary words for this week included 'apple' and parts of the apple. As well, parts of the body were reviewed by singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Spanish.

We have opened our outside working space since the weather has become more comfortable this week. This delightful area allows the children to enjoy fresh air and nature while working.  Several Practical Life materials available outside include those with water such as pouring and washing.  

Ms. Denise's class enjoyed books this week read by Ms. Laura, Mallory's mom and Ms. Katie, Addison and Emerson's mom.

The Family Picnic was a blast!  Children, parents and school staff had a chance to play and socialize with plenty of tasty food.  Fortunately the rain held off until we had eaten.  Thank you for coming and to those of you who helped set up and clean up.

Please remember:  Send in an apple with you child next week.

Bryce's illustration

We have had another fabulous week here in the Lower Elementary.  This week our creation stories were from the Mayan Culture (see photo at right), the Bible and Africa.  Again, the children were enthralled to hear all of the stories.  We ended our week with a BANG!  The Big Bang, that is.  Miss Ada and Miss Patti set the stage by darkening the room and playing Star Wars music.  Then we told the Story of Creation, as some people believe it happened.  It is a dramatic science story and the children love it.  As always, the children then went to their sketch pads and drew what their impressions of the stories.  We will be following up with several science experiments next week.

Please note:  Our first class field trip is scheduled for October 1st.  We will be traveling to the Mahaffey Theater in St Petersburg.  We will be seeing Star Stories, Greek Myths.  It is a shadow puppet show in which the artist makes her puppets out of recycled cereal boxes.  We are so excited, as this is part of our curriculum studies this year.  We do need drivers and chaperones.  Please email or call the school if you are available.

This week we continue to talk about peace and being a kind and considerate person.  We read the book, Oliver Button Is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola.  As you can imagine, this book beautifully illustrates that we are all different and have different abilities.  It also takes a serious look at bullying.  After reading the book, we had a frank discussion about the book and its contents.  Children are so honest and it really was a fabulous conversation that we had with the entire class!

What a fun BPS Family Picnic, even with the rainy ending!  Thanks to all for coming.

Everyone enjoyed bowling on Friday. Ms. Lisa at Pinarama gave all the students some good tips on bowling and we expect to see some great scores before the unit is over.

On Wednesday we went outside on the sidewalk to unroll the "Long Black Line." This lesson is intended to give an impression showing how long humans have been on earth in comparison to the length of time since the universe began. 

The line is 30 meters and the last centimeter represents the existence of human beings. When we came back inside, Ms. Ann told a story about the coming of humans to earth and the three gifts human beings possess. Those include the ability to stand upright and make use of our hands for work, a more complex brain capable of imagination, and the ability to love one another.

On Friday, we went back outside with the same black line. 

This time, Ms. Ann told a story about how long humans have used their hands for making tools from stone, finding shelter, hunting for food, nomadic life and the beginnings of civilization. 

The red, one centimeter stripe at the end of the line represents written history. All of the black line represents pre-history. 

 (Photo Above Right: Can you see the class at the end of the 30 meter line representing human time on earth?  Photo Left: The small red stripe on the end represents written human history.) 

Middle School & Upper Elementary at Pinarama

This week Middle School received lessons on the Chinese Dynasties, timelines and development of Ancient civilizations, and Ancient Chinese Gardens.  

We also had our first yearbook meeting on Wednesday with Ms. Amy, Ms. Tacy, and Mr. Steve, and we started to develop the theme for this year's yearbook.

We had our first Justice Teaching Class on Friday too.   The 8th graders had a Algebra test on Friday, and all of Middle School took a Wordly Wise test.  We went bowling for PE on Friday.

This week has been full of new excitements.

Administrative Mangers:  Julia Parrino, Berkeley Kittredge, and Lauren Robinson 

Karim Tahiri, Maya's dad, considers the choices

Cub Scout Pack 334 worked hard on getting the word out and taking orders for their main fundraising activity - selling popcorn. Thanks to BPS parents at drop-off for their interest and patience in the driveway this morning. 

The Scouts will be taking orders through the rest of the month if you would like to support their group. In addition to selling a variety of popcorn, they are taking donations to send popcorn packages to military men and women overseas and accept donations directly to the Pack.  Contact parent Tina Rice at for more information.

There will be a fundraiser for medical equipment, diabetes screening tools, medications, etc. at Drs. Mona and Anjan Shah's home on Saturday, September 21.  They will have Indian music, hors d'oeuvres, dancing, jewelry (including bindis), and henna tatoos - a Journey to India.  For more information, check the website and look under Events.  You can buy tickets on line (and even be a sponsor) or at the door.  We would love to see the Beach Park moms and dads there!   Any questions, call or e-mail Kathryn at 813-541-0871 or kkepes@yahoo.com.  Looking forward to seeing you on the Journey to India! 

Target - Keep Voting!

This year, Target will give money to schools all over the country for one simple act: a vote. Our school needs just 25 votes to earn a $25 donation from Target. But that's only the beginning. For each additional vote, our school will get $1 more. 

So please remember that, although the gesture is small, the rewards are potentially huge. Go to  GiveWith.Target.com to vote for Beach Park School once a week through September 21 or until Target has given away all $5 million. And please forward this email to your friends. 

Vote and see rules at GiveWith.Target.com.  Thanks!