Weekly Update

Tonight! Student/Teacher Basketball Game: Join us for our annual Student/Teacher Basketball Game from 5-6:30 p.m. Expect an exciting evening with fun halftime activities for kids!

Principal’s Coffee Chat: Test Anxiety: Mark your calendars! Our next Principal’s Coffee Chat will be on Friday, March 28, 2025, at 9 a.m. Our counselors will lead a crucial discussion on test anxiety, providing valuable insights ahead of testing season.

Celebrating Our Community:

• A heartfelt thank you to our dedicated CSD board members for their unwavering support of BHMS. Happy Georgia School Board Appreciation Week!

• We are immensely proud of our dynamic music program and its leadership. Happy National Music in Our Schools Month!

• This month, we celebrate our students with Developmental Disabilities, our exceptional music Department, and our dedicated social worker Mr. Radcliff (National School Social Work Week, March 2-8). Thank you for all your hard work and dedication!

Best regards,

Derrick L. Thomas

Please remember to take our annual School Climate Survey by March 31. Schools with fewer than 15 family responses or less than 51% of student and staff participation will lose one star from their overall School Climate Rating. These surveys are the measures by which GaDOE determines each school's climate, and the results are a part of each school's CCRPI results. Your feedback is valuable and vital!

The Stacey "Mama" Daniel poetry slam provided an entertaining and eye-opening experience. Sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students performed their original pieces. It is no wonder that the poetry was thought-provoking and fun because the students have been working with the teaching artist, Theresa Davis, for the last 8 weeks. The BHMS PTA and Decatur Education Foundation made the slam coaching session happen. They never miss opportunities to help our students shine, and we are thankful! Other highlights from the night include performances from Ms. Kraemer's Honors flute, clarinet, and saxophone ensembles and special judge Octavia Raheem, an award-winning author and former Beacon Hill Middle School teacher.

All students did a wonderful job, and the night ended with three winners:

First place - 6th grader, Uma Raman-Baksi

Second place - 7th grader, Kimberly Grant

Third place - 7th grader, River Lynch

Welcome, new Junior Beta club members! This week, we celebrated the induction of new students into BHMS Junior Beta. Thanks to the dedicated leadership of Mrs. Gary and Mrs. Dawson, the club is thriving in its third year with a large and active membership!

In celebration of Black History Month, on Thursday, February 27, the sixth-grade math department invited African-American professionals with a career in math to our sixth-grade math classes to discuss the math importance of math to their career. We were joined by an engineer, ER physician, accountant, and CFO.

Our Academic Bowl Dogs continued to rack up honors last week. They came in first among middle schools nationwide in a virtual tournament and have grown enough to enter two teams in a Georgia Academic Teams Association tournament last weekend. Our A and B teams made it through the morning competition to the playoffs, finishing in the top eight teams in each category. Congratulations A team (Sam Charen, Ben Corcoran, Kat Kolesnikova, Asher Lewin, Avinash Rathod, Jonah Sherman-Cearley, Odin Smith, and Bella Zhang) and B Team (Nate Clement, Zohayr Isani, Melinda Jereb, Crystal Lian, Declan Llewellyn, Grant Mann, and Suri Thomas).

BHMS gifted specialist Laura Gary has been elected Convention Co-Chair of The Georgia Association for Gifted Children (GAGC) for the upcoming term. GAGC is a non-profit organization dedicated to meeting gifted and talented students' unique needs, and providing advocacy, leadership, and professional development to educators, parents, and policymakers.

Gary has served as a member of the Coalition for Access and Equity and has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to promoting gifted education and advocating for gifted students in her district and across the state. Her dedication as an advocate for gifted education and passion for gifted education will be an asset to the GAGC Executive Board as Convention Co-Chair.

Scoliosis screening is a requirement for all students in the 6th and 8th grades who attend public school in Georgia. The Screening Schedule will be:

Please see the linked letter for details.

One of the most essential reading skills students develop is identifying a text's main idea and supporting details. This skill enhances comprehension, critical thinking, and the ability to connect literature to real-world events. Whether reading poetry, novels, or informational texts, students who grasp the main idea engage more deeply with what they read.

How Families Can Help

• Ask Questions: Have your child explain a passage's main idea.
• Highlight Key Details: Identify important supporting details together.
• Make Connections: Relate reading to personal experiences or current events.
• Encourage Discussion: Talk about book themes and their broader significance.

By strengthening main idea skills, students become more confident readers and thinkers. Discover more strategies and resources by checking out the full article on our PREP Project website:

Thank you to our partners at the Decatur Education Foundation and Beacon Hill PTA for supporting our free resources!

The date for the BHMS “Georgia Walk + Roll Day” has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 19. PTA and Safe Routes to School (SRTS) committee members will distribute raffle tickets to walking/rolling/riding students and award the class with the highest percentage of participants a Chick-fil-A breakfast.

It’s that time again! The BHMS PTA proudly presents the Spring 2025 Seventh Grade Dance Party. Mark your calendars for Friday, March 21 from 4 pm to 5:30 pm. The dance will be held in the cafeteria after school. Admission is $5, and all attendees must be BHMS seventh graders. Buy your student a ticket and maybe even one for a friend: https://givebutter.com/9wJQtN. Parents, interested in helping out at the dance, purchasing snacks/decorations or sending in a cooler/ice? Sign up here.

(NOTE: CORRECTED REGISTRATION LINK)

In partnership with the BHMS PTA Parent Support subcommittee, FORM yoga is generously hosting a free 90-minute yoga and mindfulness session to BHMS parents and caregivers. The session will be a “gentle, intimidation-free yoga practice with the opportunity to explore a few mindfulness tools.” There also will be some time for connecting with other parents and caregivers and a special package offer for anyone interested in becoming a member of FORM after the event. Space is limited, so please register here. You will have to make an account in the app in order to complete the registration process.

When: Saturday, March 22, 2 pm to 3:30 pm

Where: FORM yoga, 533 W. Howard Ave., Unit D (right next to Thinking Man Tavern and Clubhouse Kid and Kraft)

Why: Because we all could use some support, connection and stress relief!

The BHMS PTA works to build a dynamic and engaged school community that contributes to a safe and equitable educational environment for all of our students. We love to show appreciation to our teachers and staff, as well as promote programs, initiatives and school spirit to enrich our students and school.

We are seeking BHMS parents and caregivers who would like to join in our efforts for the 2025-2026 school year. We are in need of all levels of involvement, as members of our executive committee or volunteers for a specific event. Learn more about all the things we do and how you can get involved by completing our Volunteer Interest Form.

Thank you to our amazing group of sponsors who have helped support the 2024-2025 school year. Interested in becoming a sponsor for next school year? Reach out to Laura Spriggs, our fundraising chair at fundraising@bhmspta.org.

The PBIS Store is seeking donations from our Amazon Wish List or SignUpGenius in order to stock the store for our students. (Students particularly like full-size chocolate bars, candy of any kind and drink pouches.) We also need volunteers to work a 50-minute slot during student lunch hours. You do not need to sign up for your child’s lunch period. (In fact, they might prefer you chose another grade’s lunch instead!) We appreciate your generosity and support.

Students, are you looking for volunteer hours? Families, do want to have some local fun? Then mark your calendars for the following CSD events.

The 2025-2026 CSD enrollment opens on Monday, March 3, for rising Kindergarten students or students new to CSD. Registration may be completed entirely online. Find more registration information here.

New Families: See CSD's Key Contacts & Resources for Families, available in multiple languages.

REMINDER: If your currently enrolled student has a sibling who will be new to CSD for the 2025-2026 school year, you must register this new sibling via the Parent Portal.

1. Select "More" from the menu in the Parent Portal.

2. Select "Annual Data Update."

3. Select "2025-2026 New Student Registration."

As part of the enrollment process, you will also need to email residency documentation to CSD's district enrollment specialist, Patrice Moore, at pmoore@csdecatur.net, as the Parent Portal will not allow you to change or upload this field. Information about required residency proof documents is available on the CSD website. Please contact pmoore@csdecatur.net or 404-371-3601 x1063 for assistance.

Tour deCatur Registration is Open!

Get ready, get set, get registered for Decatur Education Foundation's 23rd annual Tour deCatur! Sign up at www.tourdecatur.com!

The fun happens on Saturday, March 15, at the Decatur High School stadium. This year, in addition to the 5k (a Peachtree qualifier), the 1-Mile Fun Run, and the adorable Tot Trot (for our friends ages four and under), DEF is offering a "None-Run" for anyone who wants to support Decatur kids without breaking a sweat! This is DEF's largest fundraiser and supports programs and initiatives that remove obstacles, provide opportunities, support educators, and strengthen the Decatur community!

This year's Bulldog Bash is Saturday, March 22 at Independent Distilling Company. The event will feature a live online auction with everything from artwork, experiences, trips, restaurant gift cards, sporting event tickets, self-care and much more. Plus, Hapa Kitchen will serve delicious Hawaiian comfort cuisine. All proceeds support Decatur Athletics, including more than 1,100 student-athletes on 57 teams representing 19 sports at DHS and BHMS. Buy tickets here.

You can find more information on the following:

Read recent issues of the weekly update below. Older issues of CSD Weekly may be found on CSD's district newsletter webpage or on our BHMS website

• BHMS Weekly Update - March 6

• BHMS Weekly Update - February 27

• BHMS Weekly Update - February 13

Social Media pages:

• CSDBeaconhllmiddleschool Facebook page
• BeaconhillPTA Facebook page
• CSDbeaconhill Instagram page
• Beaconhllmiddleart Instagram page

Other:

• Whom to contact if list
• Counseling Website
• School Website