November 2023 Update from Mr. Crete
November 2023 Update from Mr. Crete
Embedded Files
Message from Mr. Crete
Message from Mr. Crete
Greetings, Baldwin Street Middle School Families and Community!
The first quarter of the school year wrapped up last week! We are extremely proud of our students for the work they’ve done and the learning progress they’ve made these first few months of the school year. The nine-week grading period provides our students opportunities to experience multiple exploratory courses while at the same time receive more frequent feedback about their progress in year-long courses like math, science, English, social studies, resource, and music. We hope that more frequent information about your child’s progress will be valuable to you as a parent. As always, if you have questions about your child’s progress in learning, please reach out to us.
As we look forward to the upcoming holiday breaks, I want to remind you all of the importance of school attendance and parental support. Here are some tips on how you can support your student:
Talk to your child about their academics and extracurricular activities. Ask them what they are learning in class and what they are enjoying outside of school.
Help your child to set realistic goals. Encourage them to challenge themselves, but also make sure that they are not setting themselves up for failure.
Provide your child with a quiet place to study and do their homework.
Limit your child's screen time. Encourage them to get regular exercise and to spend time with friends and family.
Let your child know that you believe in them and that you are there to support them.
Try to follow the school calendar for vacations. Attendance is one of the most critical factors in ensuring academic growth for our students.
Last week you received an electronic notice from Baldwin Street Middle School asking you to sign up for parent-teacher conferences using a platform called SchoolBookings. Parent-teacher conferences will take place in-person on November 14th (3:15 PM - 7:15 PM) and November 16th (3:15 PM - 7:15 PM). If these dates don’t work for you or you find that a teacher doesn’t have availability, please contact the respective teacher(s) to set-up an alternate time to meet.
On behalf of our entire staff, I’d like to thank our parents for partnering with us during these crucial middle school years. We pride ourselves on being a school that is responsive to both student and parent needs. I encourage you to reach out to me or any of our staff members to share an idea, suggestion, comment, concern, or praise. Please continue to read on as there are several messages about what is happening at BMS in Quarter 2. Thank you again for your support!
Best regards,
Ryan Crete
Changes to 8th Grade Recognition
Changes to 8th Grade Recognition
As you know, BMS is now a 7th and 8th grade building only. With this change, our culture and atmosphere at BMS has changed significantly. We have focused this year on making BMS one body with separation of grade levels only exisiting for core classes. If you have older children that attended BMS, you will recall an evening recognition event that took place at either the football stadium or high school gym. Over the past two years, I have sought feedback from parents, students, and staff about what a meaningful end of year celebration looks like for our 8th grade students. I have also researched many of our neighboring districts about their end of year celebrations to come up with the best fit for BMS and our students. We then formed a committee to review the feedback and research and have decided to shift gears to best fit the culture here at BMS.
Please mark June 5, 2024 at 10:30 am on your calendars to help us celebrate our 8th grade students!
On June 5, 2024 our 8th grade students will celebrate their last day of middle school with a half-day celebration. Please see the proposed plan below:
7:50 - 9:30 am. 8th Grade Breakfast and Awards sponsored by 7th grade families
Students will receive their awards/certificates at this event. Including the Dave Power's Exemplary Character Award
Students will also learn of the 8th Grade Mock Election Results
Our Student Council class president will also give a speech during breakfast to her class.
9:30 - 10:30 am Yearbook Signing
10:30 - 11:15 am 8th Grade Walk Out
7th graders and staff will line hallways.
Parents will be invited to this portion of the event to line the walkways around the school.
8th grade students will then parade through the building and through the parents to be recognized for their completion of middle school.
Parents can then meet their student and take them home.
All students without a ride will be asked to return to the cafeteria until dismissal at 11:15 am.
We will be communicating out more details in future newsletters. If you have any questions about this event, please contact Ryan Crete at rcrete@hpseagles.net.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held IN-PERSON on
Tuesday, November 14
Thursday, November 16
3:15pm - 7:15 pm
BMS Gymnasium
Click on the following link to School Bookings to sign-up to meet with teachers: https://www.schoolbookings.net/
Conferences Code for School Bookings: d4qzk
Here are the details about using SchoolBookings:
You will need to know your child's schedule and which teachers they have. This can be found in PowerSchool. Contact the office if you are having trouble logging in.
Helpful tips / reminders
Conferences are 5 minutes in length, unless different arrangements have been made with the teacher. It's important that you arrive on time so that the whole session can be used to discuss your child's progress. It is also very important to end the session on time in order to provide the next session their full allotted time.
Conferences will be held in the BMS gymnasium. Once you sign up, you will receive an email with specific instructions for the day of your conference.
Do NOT delete your confirmation email you receive after booking your conferences. You will need to use this link to make changes if necessary.
If you are having trouble scheduling conferences, please contact the office at 616-669-7750 and we will be happy to help.
BMS Holiday Giving Tree
BMS Holiday Giving Tree
We are excited to announce that Baldwin Street Middle School will be hosting a Giving Tree during our upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences. This Giving Tree will be a wonderful opportunity for our school community to come together and support families who may need a bit of extra help during the holiday season. The Giving Tree will be located in the cafeteria, and we invite all interested families to participate by taking a tag or two from the tree and purchasing the requested item. All gifts should be wrapped and returned with the tag to the school by the end of the day on December 11th.
We hope that this Giving Tree will help spread joy and cheer to those in our community who need it the most. Thank you for your continued support of Baldwin Street Middle School and our students.
If you have any questions, email Brenda Davis at bdavis3@hpseagles.net.
Help with Teacher Meals at Conferences
Help with Teacher Meals at Conferences
Hi Parents! Conferences are right around the corner and the Baldwin Street Parent Group would love to be able to provide our teachers with dinner. An online sign-up to help with dinners has been created. Please feel free to sign up for multiple spots, (Conference dinners) if you would like.
Athletics
Athletics
Winter 2 Athletics
Winter 2 Athletics
Signups for Winter 2 sports (Girl's Basketball, Wrestling, and Boys' Swim & Dive) were emailed to students this week and will begin the week of January 8th. To be prepared for Winter 2 sports, be sure that your athlete has a sports physical, and athletic code, as well as the $75 participation fee turned in (unless you have already paid it this school year).
Links to the forms and payment are below:
1. Pay to Play and athletic code link: https://hudsonville.recdesk.com/Community/Program
All athletes will need a ticket from the office once everything has been submitted in order to try out and/or practice.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Jon VanSlyke (jvanslyhpseagles.net) or Karen Hill (khill@hpseagles.net)
Winter Colorguard
Winter Colorguard
Hudsonville Public Schools offers a competitive winter colorguard program. It is open to all HPS students grade 7-12. We are seeking new members for our 2023-2024 season. Students do not have to be in band to be a part of this team! The winter colorguard is a successful program that travels the state of Michigan and competes in February and March. Our varsity guard is the current state champion! Rehearsals start in November. There is a meeting on November 14, 2023 in the band room at the high school. The meeting starts at 7:00 PM. Parents will be able to get important information about the program. Students will have a chance to give colorguard a try. Reach out to Mr. VanderWall at cvanderw@hpseagles.net for more information.
Ski and Snowboard Film!
Ski and Snowboard Film!
The Hudsonville High School Ski Team is hosting a Warren Miller film premiere in the High School Auditorium on Tues, Nov 14! This is a great way to start off your family's winter season and support our team. Grab tix at warrenmiller.blogspot.com Doors open at 6:45 pm with time to meet with representatives from ski resorts and local ski shops. Film starts at 7:30 pm.
Supporting Our Students
Supporting Our Students
For the past few years FLEX has been used as a place for students to catch up on homework, quizzes or tests. However, the real power of a FLEX program is in intervention. The aim of an intervention is to identify struggling students early and give them the support they need to thrive in school. The word intervention is key to understanding what FLEX is all about. The goal is for the school to intervene, or step in, and start helping before a student falls really far behind. FLEX interventions use research backed materials to help students fill gaps in math and reading, and by filling these gaps students should see improvement in their current content work.
Here are some other reasons why FLEX is beneficial:
Students continue to get their core instruction in the general education classroom with their peers.
It's not a "wait and see" approach. Students can start to get extra help before falling so far behind that they fail a class or have to go to summer school.
If a student continues to struggle, there's already documentation about which type of instruction has not been helpful.
We will soon be making some changes to our FLEX schedule to incorporate more intervention. Sessions will be offered at 3 levels as follows.
Level 1 Intervention
Students will be identified using results of our STAR and Delta screeners along with teacher recommendations.
Students will work with research backed materials and a trained staff member
Intervention groups will meet for 4 weeks (8 sessions) during FLEX.
Level 2 Content Support
Students will work on building skills that support current grade level content.
This will not be a study hall or homework time unless the teacher is directly assisting students with a current assignment
Teachers will assign these sessions, or students may sign up during the self-scheduling window on Friday through Monday each week.
Note: quiz and test make ups may be handled through a testing center at a teacher's request.
Level 3 Enrichment Activities
Students will be offered a menu of choices to extend learning beyond the classroom.
Sessions may include games that include math, reading or logic skills.
Teachers can assign these sessions or students may sign up during the self scheduling window on Friday through Monday each week.
With this new initiative, we are looking to gather any used or new academic games. If you are interested in supporting our level 3 enrichment opportunities for our students, please visit our Amazon wishlist here.
October PE Spotlight
October PE Spotlight
In quarter 1, the PE classes at BMS have learned the game of golf at school. The students were able to go to Crestview Golf course and play 9 holes. This golf unit gave the students an opportunity to learn a lifetime fitness activity. We want to thank Crestview Golf Course, our business sponsor Dean Boiler, and HPS for allowing this opportunity to happen for our 7th and 8th graders.
*If you have any older golf balls that you would like to donate to our program, please contact the BMS school office.
Food Service Update
Food Service Update
Keep up to date with school menus and other food service news at https://www.jenhudfood.org/.
Additional Parent Volunteer Opportunities
Additional Parent Volunteer Opportunities
Parents of Baldwin Street Middle School students! We need your partnership in many different ways during the school year. Opportunities include regular Copy Parent, volunteer during school day as needed, Parent Club Board positions and activities, Library, and Science Olympiad. Please complete the Parent Volunteer Opportunities Survey.
***All parent volunteers are required to have a background check on file. This includes Parent Chaperones that attend field trips throughout the school year. Please fill out our online "Volunteer Background Check Form" on the BMS website.
Please contact Bridget Gilliam or call the office at (616) 669-7750 with any questions.
Student Drop-Off and Walking Route
Student Drop-Off and Walking Route
I want to remind parents of the drop-off/pick-up expectations for before and after school at BMS. We have purposely closed of the parking lot at this time from parent traffic to ensure that our staff members are able to park and walk into the building safely. We please ask that you continue to use the front office loop to drive in, drop-off or pick-up your student, and then complete the loop to exit the parking lot.
Also, we now have a crossing guard available at 36th and Baldwin. We are asking all students that walk home to please cross at the light to ensure their safety when crossing Baldwin Street. Please help us with reminding your students of these expectations.
S.O.A.R Recognition @ BMS
S.O.A.R Recognition @ BMS
Congratulations to our SOAR Award winners! Students were nominated by a staff member at BMS and were entered into a drawing. At the end of the week, the following students were chosen to be recognized with the BMS prize cart and whole school announcement.
Week of October 27
Week of October 27
7th Grade: Neveah Ashcraft, Reegan Dawdy, Conner Thiel, Ava Valk, Zachary Dubicki, & Bentley Haveman
8th Grade: Lauriana Sanders, Mia Abberger, Nolan Rine, Kolton Haan, Trevor Kunzi, & Austyn Meekhof
Staff Member: Mrs. Pirlot
Week of October 20
Week of October 20
7th Grade: Charlotte Skavnak, Easton Burns, Aubree Hamstra, Gus LePard, Cole Rietman, & Klara Wimpee
8th Grade: Alex Baird, Lauren Spykerman, Camille Pirlot, Bryce Knebl, Olivia Eckhardt, & Liam Mestaz
Staff Member: Ms. Labarge
Week of October 13
Week of October 13
7th Grade: Veronica DeWitt, Ryan Floriana, Jordan Scholten, Ellery Van Pernis, Analisya Jimenez, Riley Parker & Hailey Segard
8th Grade: Derek Hyde, Josie Dean, Brody Walcott, Donovan Nelson, Gabe DeYoung, Adrienne Hoffman & Lily Anible
Staff Member: Mr. Wysocki
Week of October 6
Week of October 6
7th Grade: Kaden Condon, Anna Quist, Jacoby Snow, Grayson Jonker, Addison Daldos, & Jairyn Reyes
8th Grade: Megan Rayl, Jordyn Pals, Sophia Lagone, Jaelyn Gage, Noelle VanDyke, & Guilmer Santos
Staff Member: Mrs. Barnes-Lee
Ottawa County Schools Network Spotlight
Ottawa County Schools Network Spotlight
Community Events:
Community Events:
The Heritage Christian School Spring Children's Clothing and Toy Sale for the Fall Season will be held on Saturday, September 30, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 12:00. Items for sale include a large selection of gently used infant to teen fall and winter clothes, athletic wear, coats and snow pants, hats and gloves, shoes, boots, sports equipment, toys, books, games, puzzles, baby equipment, maternity clothes, delicious baked goods and more. Located in the large gym at Heritage Christian at 6340 Autumn Dr., Hudsonville. Hope to see you there!
Need Assistance?
Need Assistance?
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