Dear Byam Families,

February is always a busy month in schools with various holidays, activities and curriculum pieces that revolve around the calendar. One tradition that typically happens in February, but won't be until March this year is the 100th day of school. With that being said, today is our 83rd day of school and an accomplishment of note. We are almost to the midway point of school and we couldn't be more proud of our Byam community in the most challenging of years. Our families have shared so much of the teaching role this year and we are extremely appreciative. We wouldn't have come this far without you, so Thank you! Enjoy the weekend.

Best,

Jason Fredette and Betsy Dolan

“The job of an educator is to teach students to see the vitality in themselves.” — Joseph Campbell

Use the link below to participate in our February calendar. How many activities can you do during Byam's "Have a Heart Month".

Valentine's Day and exchanging valentines is always one of the highlights of the school year for our elementary students. While our lives and school have been very different this year, we want to continue with this time honored tradition and have valentines distributed. Our teachers have been very creative in how to make this happen. Whether they will be doing something in a virtual fashion or "quarantining" paper valentines before distribution, we are making sure our students can participate safely. Each classroom teacher will be reaching out with their specific plans. We ask that you please refrain sending any edible or additional items with your students.

Reports cards for our kindergarten students will be available on Tuesday, February 9 in the X2 Family Portal. You will receive an email from our clerk, Mrs. Murphy, when they have been posted. Kindergarten teachers are also in the process of setting up parent-teacher conferences. These conferences will be virtual this year and are a great way for you to have a two-way dialogue with the teacher around your child's progress.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has recently released the MCAS testing schedule for grades 3-8 that will be during the months of April and May. The Department will significantly reduce testing time for these students through a session sampling approach, in which each student will take only a portion of each MCAS assessment in each subject. Instead of taking two sessions each of English language arts (ELA) and Mathematics, students will take only one session each. We will share the logistics and schedules for testing as we develop them in the near future.

Thank you!

To everyone that supported the Family Fun night by ordering dinner and/or playing Bingo, it was a successful evening, THANK YOU! We hope everyone that joined us for Bingo had a great time. We will find out soon what we raised from the Brickhouse. Your support of events like these help the BSA to provide enrichment programs to all of our grade levels at Byam.

Hootenanny Sign ups end Saturday!

Last call for Hootenanny sign ups. January 31 will be the LAST day to sign up. Karyn is going to start reaching out to those signed up to preview/chat about the acts via zoom starting in February.

Anyone inspired by Poet Amanda Gorman? Read a poem — your own or someone else's! Anything goes for Byam Talent Shows! To sign up, please click here:

https://forms.gle/Rd1gmP5sM4kDvptK8

Artwork submissions will go through February! Get out your pencil and crayons! We have 5 submissions thus far. Let's go for 8!

Hannaford Bag Fundraiser

The Byam School Association has been selected to be the recipient of the money raised by the grocery bag program for the month of February at Hannaford. We are grateful to be selected! When you buy a reusable Community Bag at Hannaford’s at Drum Hill, we get a $1 donation.

Please see attached information for any of our Byam parents who have Byam alum older children who are now seniors at any high school.

Help Needed - School photo vendor selection

The Council of Chelmsford Schools is starting the process of evaluating new proposals for school photo vendors and the council would like to have a representative from each school. The involvement would be attending 2-3 zoom meetings to review proposals and make a nomination to the council. If you would like to be a representative for Byam please contact BSA.Chelmsford@gmail.com. Your input is important!

Chelmsford Community Education has asked us to share the below poster contest. Information in attachments below.

Byam Principal and AP Email Contact:

Principal Fredette: fredettej@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Assistant Principal Dolan: dolane@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Chelmsford Public Schools Website: https://www.chelmsford.k12.ma.us/

Byam Website Page: https://www.chelmsford.k12.ma.us/Domain/8

Note: This Byam newsletter can be translated to other languages by clicking the "Accessibility" button located above right.

Email: fredettej@chelmsford.k12.ma.us
Website: https://www.chelmsford.k12.ma.us/Domain/8
Location: 25 Maple Road, Chelmsford, MA, USA
Phone: (978)251-5144
Twitter: @byamprincipal