March 2025

Dear Families,

As we welcome the month of March, we have many exciting events ahead! This month, we proudly celebrate Women’s History Month, recognizing the achievements and contributions of women throughout history. We also kick off Read Across America Week, where we celebrate the joy of reading with special activities and guest readers. On March 18, we will observe Unity Day, a day to stand together against bullying and promote kindness. Don’t forget to wear orange to show your support! Our 5th graders will be taking the MISA (Maryland Integrated Science Assessment), an important milestone in their academic journey. We also look forward to seeing the incredible creativity of our young scientists at the Science Fair on March 31. Lastly, a reminder that the third marking period ends this month, so let’s encourage our students to finish strong. Thank you for your continued support in making our school a great place to learn and grow!

Tanya Montgomery, Principal

Karyn Chisholm, Assistant Principal

Dear Families,

Regular attendance is essential for student success, yet chronic absenteeism—missing 10% or more of the school year (about 18 days total)—can significantly impact learning. Research shows that students who miss too many days often struggle academically and socially, making it harder to stay on track with their peers. Whether absences are excused or unexcused, missing school affects a child’s ability to reach their full potential.

While we understand that illnesses and emergencies happen, we encourage families to prioritize consistent attendance. Being present each day helps students develop strong learning habits, build meaningful connections with teachers and classmates, and achieve academic success.

To date, 35% of Brooklyn Park Elementary students are identified as chronically absent, and 28% of students are currently at risk. This is a critical time for learning, and we want every student to be fully prepared for the next grade level. Every school day matters! Let’s work together to ensure our students have the knowledge and skills they need to move forward successfully. If your child is facing any challenges that impact attendance, please reach out—we are here to support you!

Thank you for your partnership in making attendance a priority!

Just a reminder - any and all medications must be dropped off by a parent in the health room with the appropriate documentation signed by both the parent and a physician. Please do not send any medication to school in your student's backpack, it will be confiscated and thrown away. For the appropriate documentation, please contact the health room.

Dear Brooklyn Park Elementary Families,

At Brooklyn Park Elementary, your input is crucial in shaping the educational experience for your child and all students. To better understand and improve how we support our families, we kindly ask that you take a few moments to complete our Parent Survey.

This survey focuses on important topics, including:

• Communication
• Academics
• School Climate
• Attendance
• Support Services

Your feedback is invaluable in helping us identify strengths and areas for growth as we strive to enhance the experience for both you and your child.

https://forms.gle/rFw41kRXGMVaaTqj7

The survey will remain open until February 15th, and we encourage all families to participate. If you have any questions or need assistance accessing the survey, please feel free to contact us at 410-222-6590. Thank you for partnering with us to make Brooklyn Park Elementary the best it can be!

Pre-K 3

Hello Parents/Guardians,

We have recently begun Theme 6: Creative Me- Soy creativo. Your child will be learning about things kids do- cosas que hacen los ninos, recycled treasures- tesoros reciclados, experimenting- experimentar, and, designing and building- disenar y construir. They are continuing to learn about 1-1 correspondence in math, equal and unequal sets, one-to-one matching. They will read the stories Things Kids Do, Shelby's Rainy Day Fun, It Started as a Sock, Soapy Scientists, It's Gravity, Better Things to Do, and Coletta's Cookies. Letters for this theme are N. N, M, m. H, h, X, x, V, v, K, k, Q, q, Y, y, Z, z, C, c, Ch, ch, E, e, G, g, A, a, P, p, I, i, F, f, O, o, U, u, R, r, L, l. Please continue to read with your child each night. Thank you for your continued support!

Happy Spring Families! As we enter March, we will be learning about the letters and sounds of Uu, Kk, Cc, and Vv. In math, we will be focusing on patterns, subitizing and reviewing shapes. We will be finishing up our Pre-K Museum this month too! Please continue to check your child’s folder daily. Field trip permission slips have begun coming home! Thank you for your continued support!

Kindergarten

Welcome to spring! We have a lot going on in Kindergarten in the month of March so get ready!

• In math, we will be learning about teen numbers. We will talk about teen numbers as “a group of ten and some extras,” so it is important that you use this language when practicing at home.

• In literacy, we will be learning about words with a double consonant, like in the words running, egg, and shell. We are also going to be reading another decodable story called Sam. We are also starting a unit on Kings and Queens, which will incorporate writing skills.

• In science and social studies, we are going to learn about living things, habitats and life cycles. This is a very fun unit and we are excited for it!

On March 20th, we will have our Medieval Times field trip! We are very excited for this trip. More details will come as we get closer to the date. Also, be on the lookout for information on another field trip coming soon!

As always, please reach out to your child’s teacher if you need anything!

1st Grade

Hello First Grade Families!

February has flown by and we are ready for March. We have been working hard in Skills. We are learning all about root words and adding suffixes. We also started looking at alternative spellings for sounds like /k/, /s/, /ng/, and more. Spelling words come home weekly so please work on them at home. Math is revving up with subtraction word problems and 2 Digit addition using base ten blocks. Knowledge is taking us on an adventure to the center of the Earth as we explore Earth’s history. We might have some future geologists in our classes! Science and Social studies has us explore light and sound and how they are made. First grade is working hard and learning more and more each day!

Thanks!

The First Grade Team

2nd Grade

Wow, we were definitely ready to take on iReady Reading and Math! We were so focused and extremely proud of our growth! As we come to the close of Black History month, it was an honor to perform for BPES! We enjoy when we come together as a community.We are really looking forward to our next field trip on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 to the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Thank you for the love and support from our PTA helping to support our transportation!

Math focus are strategies of; justifying how important it is to know the value of coins and how to tell time.Our students are learning to determine the value of groups of coins or bills, use analog and digital clocks to tell and write time to the nearest five minutes and determine whether the time of an event is a.m. or p.m. We challenge you to add this content to your every day routine.

Literacy focus;Knowledge curriculum has our students introduced to an important period in the history of the United States—the time of westward expansion during the 1800s. Students learned why pioneers had hardships Fulton’s steamboat, the Erie Canal, the transcontinental railroad, and the Pony Express. Students will come to understand the hardships and tragedies that Native Americans endured. Our Skills curriculum focuses on spelling alternatives for vowel sounds. We will continue to review previously taught grammar skills, including capitalization and punctuation, use of apostrophes, and the identification of nouns, adjectives and verbs as parts of speech.Narrative writings will come from the short stories we’re reading.

There’s so much to accomplish the next 2 quarters. We will get it done! As always, we want the best for our soon to be 3rd graders and will continue to push them to their best potential. Again, we thank you for your love and support.

~2nd Grade Team

3rd Grade

READING

The nonfiction Reader for Unit 7, What’s in Our Universe? consists of selections describing the sun, the eight planets, our moon, asteroids, comets, meteors, galaxies, stars, the Big Bang theory, and important figures in the history of space exploration, including Nicolaus Copernicus and Mae Jemison. Students will be given opportunities throughout the unit to demonstrate Read-Aloud fluency.

SPELLING

During this unit’s spelling exercises, students will review words with spelling patterns /j/, /n/, /ae/, /k/, and /s/. In Lessons 1–5, students will review words with spelling patterns of /j/ spelled ‘g’, ‘j’, ‘ge’, ‘dge’, and ‘dg’. For Lessons 6–10, students will review words with spelling patterns of /n/ spelled ‘n’, ‘nn’, ‘kn’, and ‘gn’. Finally, in Lessons 11–15, students will review words with spelling patterns of /ae/, /k/, /s/, /j/, and /n/. Students will have two or three Challenge Words and one Content word added to each spelling list.

You will also continue to teach dictionary skills. As this unit progresses, students should become proficient in the application of guide words.

GRAMMAR

In grammar, students will review the conjunctions and and because and be introduced to the conjunctions so and or. Students will continue their study of cause and effect, understanding that the conjunction because announces the cause and the conjunction so announces the effect. Students will also recognize that the conjunctions and and or are opposites, as the conjunction and includes topics, ideas, or things in sentences, whereas the conjunction or excludes topics, ideas, or things in sentences. They will be introduced to the correct punctuation needed for presenting items in a series in a sentence and will review the use of quotation marks in dialogue. Students will be introduced to singular and plural possessive nouns.

MORPHOLOGY

During the morphology portion of the lessons, students will study the common suffixes –ful and –less. Students will also review the suffixes –ous, –ive, and –ly. Students will continue to practice using their knowledge of how these suffixes change the meaning and part of speech of these words. Students have done sufficient word work to be able to apply what they have learned as they encounter unfamiliar words in text and content.

MATHEMATICS This month our Mathematicians will revisit the relationship between multiplication and division through word problems. We will continue focusing on fact fluency. Students should be fluent with the 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s facts. This month they will focus on the 3s and 4s. They should be able to recall these facts within 3-5 seconds. This is such an important skill. Please ensure they are practicing daily completing the homework sent home weekly.

SCIENCE

Our scientists will continue to learn about animals and their needs in order to survive. We will focus on three reasons animals live in groups: to find food, protect themselves from predators and to cope with changes in their environment. Encourage your child to research different animals to discover the unique needs of each animal.

SOCIAL STUDIES

In Social Studies we've been having conversations about money and are in the beginning stages of planning for a budget. As we progress, we'll explore how to use money to produce goods and services and even talk about the economy on a global scale. Continue to have discussions about money and find ways for your student to develop some financial literacy. Some easy ideas include earning an allowance, making a savings goal for a new item they want, and earning money by doing a service (ex. washing cars, carrying groceries).

4th Grade

Reading: Students will learn to be slow, careful readers who can peel back many layers of meaning in a text. They will dig deeper and discover new meaning as they read excerpts from the novel. Students will move flexibly between reading and writing. They will engage in lessons that teach them to take what they have learned in their reading and apply that understanding to their writing.

Math: Students have begun a new unit. In this new unit, students will add and subtract with mixed numbers. Students will learn multiple methods to represent, add, and subtract mixed numbers.

Social Studies: Students will explore what led up to the American Revolution and many battles during the American Revolution. They will view different perspectives of the battles and the history that created the United States.

Science: Students are continuing to explore how energy moves and different types of energy. Students will advance to fuel and the environment and eventually engineering a design demonstrating how we can save energy.

Field Trips:

• 4/1- Arlington Echo Just 4th grade
• 4/10- Whole School Chesapeake Baysox Game
• 4/30- ONLY 10 4th graders (Turtle Release) Oliver, Tolu, MJ, Victoria, Logan, Lesly, Jordan Carter, Daniela, Ellie, and Auden
• 5/1- Maryland Zoo
• 5/22- Baltimore Art
• 6/5- B and O Railroad

5th Grade

March is a big month for 5th grade! In math we will be multiplying fractions. In ELA we will be reading Midsomer's Night Dream by Shakespeare. In Science we will be reviewing for MISA as well as learning about matter. In Social Studies we will continue to learn about America post Civil war.

We'll have our first 5th grade field trip and a lot of testing! Please see the big events below:

March 4: ELA unit assessment: Reformation

March 11, 12: MISA Science Assessment. Students are assessed on all science learning from elementary school.

March 14, 17: Water ready field trip. Students will be learning about water safety and swimming techniques.

March 18: Math Quarterly

March 19: ELA Quarterly

March 21: Science Quarterly

March 27 and 28: Half days and end of Q3

PTA

The PTA wants to thank everyone for joining us in February and participating in our events. Flyers have been sent out about our Double Good Fundraiser and Donuts with Grown-Ups. This month we will have the following events:

March 1st -5th: Double Good Popcorn Fundraiser

To participate:

1. Download the Double Good app (The app is available for free on iOS and Android).

2. Enter our event code SSKLGZ in the app.

3. Create your Pop-Up Store.

4. Share with family and friends!

March 27th - 2 hour early dismissal Chuck E. Cheese Night 12:30pm - 9:00pm

March 28th - Donuts with Grown-Ups 7:40am ( pre- registration is recommended)

Chorus and Band

Hey music families!

Band, Strings, and Chorus have been working hard on learning new, exciting music for our June 2nd concert at the Chesapeake Arts Center. Be sure you have the date saved! Remember to reach out via email or thrill share to Mrs. Israel or Mr. Henning for any questions regarding music classes.

Media

New books have arrived!

Encourage your child to share their library book(s) with you.

Please remind your child to read their book(s), keep them in their backpack, and return them to the Library-Media Center when they are finished or on their Library Day! Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten are learning how library check out works and will start checking out books in the near future.

Mondays:

3-Reed

1-Czorapinkski

Tuesdays:

4-Richmond

2-Mason

3-Dacus

Wednesdays:

4-Alvarado

2-Mathiesen

3-Bonaparte

5-Hudson

1-Dehaney

Thursdays:

2-Byer

5-Williamson

1-Harrison

Fridays:

4-Willet

2-Nappier

3-Mason

5-Frank

1-Taylor

ELD

Hello Families,

We are more than halfway through the school year! This month we want to encourage students to read more at home. Reading helps develop English vocabulary and supports students with learning about Science and Social Studies content.

Here are our favorite reading websites:

Websites that are accessible through ClassLink:

I-Ready (Grade 1+)

Amplify

Starfall

MackinVia

ABCya

Other Reading websites:

Get Epic (Epic.com - free to use)

ReadWorks.com

Tumble Books.com

Library

The Anne Arundel County Public Library is a great resource center to check out books to read there or at home. Please see their website for more information. https://www.aacpl.net/services/espanol

Thank you for all the support you provide at home! Everything you do truly makes a difference.

PBIS

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m9D0XpblrHN471KzL-manZKibqvzFSEx_Usj-i9kshY/pub

CSI

Our school has been designated as a Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) School by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), based on schoolwide performance and other criteria. In partnership with MSDE, Anne Arundel County Public Schools has provided a dedicated team to address the unique needs of CSI schools. This team works to support students and teachers through targeted interventions, data-driven individualized plans, professional development for teachers, and family and community engagement initiatives.

These efforts aim to create a supportive and effective learning environment that accelerates student achievement and enhances overall school performance. If you have questions about the resources and supports available at our school, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Together, we can ensure the success of every student.

Counselor

What does a School Counselor DO?

I work alongside teachers and parents to help students develop

socially and emotionally, and to help remove any barriers to learning!

I Provide:

•Classroom lessons teaching social skills, how to take care of strong feelings, study skills, etc.

•Small group counseling

•Short-term individual counseling

•Consultation with parents and teachers

•Parent workshops

•Community resource referrals (including longer term therapy services)

•Schoolwide programming (Kindness Week, Harvest for the Hungry etc.)

Come join us on March 12th at 5:30 for a Parent Input Meeting. At this meeting we will discuss our Title 1 Plan and any changes you would like to see for next year. Your voice matters to us, and we would love to hear any suggestions and feedback to make our events even better for next year! If you are able to log on virtually you will be entered in our raffle!

Spring Parent Input Meeting

Wednesday, March 12 · 5:30 – 6:30pm

Time zone: America/New_York

Google Meet joining info

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/epm-rpat-nmg

Our monthly courageous conversation was centered around what we value and why those values are important to us. In February, we discussed the source of anger and what triggers help to foster our anger or frustration. We also discussed strategies we use to de-escalate ourselves or a situation. The gentlemen shared strategies that help them to self-regulate. We will continue to encourage and teach strategies we can use daily to help us in school, at home and our community

We are now preparing for our spring field trips. More information is coming soon. Our gentlemen will celebrate African American male leaders that have made an impact on our world in our Black History Program. We will also compete in the AAASBE Oratorical contest. Please make sure your son has a white button-down shirt and jeans for the competition. Ms. Bethell is providing the bow ties.

This month our meeting dates are:

• 03/06/25 - Mentoring Session 2:30 - 3:50
• 03/19/25 - Mentoring Session 2:30 - 3:40

Last year we introduced our Appreciation Station Snack Cart to our staff! The cart will be filled every Wednesday full of sweet and salty snacks and drinks to show our BPES staff just how much we appreciate them. This school year we are looking for families to sponsor a week by either purchasing snacks or making a $40 donation so the snacks can be purchased. We ask that donations are dropped off to the school by Monday of the sponsored week. Please consider signing up below! Thank you for helping our staff know how much we appreciate them!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080D4BABAA2CA0FB6-appreciation

Five Star Parent

1. Builds a positive relationship with all staff members.

2. Dedicated to the BPES community.

3. Builds a partnership with their child's teacher. This partnership is based on trust, communication, and student growth.

4. Dedicated to preventing chronic absenteeism and chronic tardiness.

5. Respects and honors our community of diverse learners.

Emergency card verification emails have been sent. Please make sure you check and update your emergency contact information. The links are only active for 10 days. If you need assistance, please contact the main office at 410 222 6590.

Doors open at 7:40.

Students are dismissed at 2:25.

Late arrival/Early Dismissal

If your child arrives at school after 8:00, they are considered late. Please make sure they are at school prior to this time. Students need to be in their classrooms by 8:00 in order to be marked on time. If your child is late to school, or is getting picked up early, an adult MUST come into the building to sign them in or out.

Early dismissals must take place before 2:00 pm. The office is busy after 2:00, preparing for dismissal procedures, and will not be able to call any kids for dismissal after that time.

Below is the link for Before/After Care for families who need childcare.

School start times:

The doors will open at 7:40am for breakfast and community building. Instruction will begin at 8:00am. It is EXTREMELY important that all kids arrive on time ready to learn!

Walkers

Walkers will be dismissed at 2:25

Bus-Riders

To access BPES bus schedules, please click HERE

Car-Riders

We will dismiss car riders car by car. Please have your child's name on the hang tag so we can quickly call them to your car. Please do not park on 13th Ave during dismissal or arrival. It can make it challenging for people to enter and leave the lot.

Arrival

When students arrive they will pick up their breakfast and report to their homeroom. Teachers will greet students as they arrive.

Dismissal

At dismissal, walkers will be released. Following the release of walkers, car riders will be escorted to the cafeteria. Bus riders will be called as buses arrive.

Visitors

We will be planning several events this year where we will be inviting parents into the building. Unfortunately, we will not be able to allow parents to have lunch with their children in the cafeteria.

Student Birthday Celebrations

• Each student will receive a Birthday pencil and be acknowledged by the whole school on the morning announcements.
• We will celebrate all students' birthdays each month.
• It is very important to understand that food cannot be shared to celebrate. Please do not bring food to share with the class for your child's birthday. We have students with allergies and food sensitive health conditions.

Families can pay for their student’s meals online by going to www.mypaymentsplus.com.

At schools this year, breakfast will be free, and lunches will cost $2.75 for full price students.

Students will need to log in with their student ID in order to get their lunch. Please work with your student at home to help them memorize their ID.

Apply for Free or Reduced-Price Meals: Online Meal Benefit Application (MBA) (English and Spanish) - Link to online MBA – www.aacps.org/mealapplication. Applications must be filled out each school year, even if you qualified the previous year.