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Volume 15 Issue 9 April 2017

Cheryl Thim, Principal School website Melissa Moser, PTA President

Leah Scarafile, Assistant Principal PTAbearcreek@

CALENDAR and Things to Know and Do

Mon., Apr. 3 PTA Meeting 5:30 pm

Tues., April 4 Ms. Otterbein to Otterbein’s bakery

Fri., Apr. 7 Twin Day

Easter/Spring break begins at the end of the school day

Tues., Apr. 18 Schools Reopen

Safety Day

Wed., Apr. 19 Chick Fil A Night

Thur., Apr. 20 Distribution of Report Cards

Gr 2 to Ladew Gardens

Sat., Apr. 22 Bear Creek Park & Shoreline Cleanup

9-2 pm

Mon., Apr. 24 Southeast Area Educational Advisory Council Meeting, Deep Creek MS, “Grading & Reporting”

Thur. Apr. 27 Family Learning Night

Fri., Apr. 28 Recognition Assemblies

9:00 - Honor Roll Breakfast

9:30 – Intermediate Assembly

10:30 – Primary Assembly

Mon., May 1 PTA meeting 5:30 pm

Tues., May 2 PK Registration by appointment

Wed., May 3 KDG Registration by appointment

Dear Parents,

Happy spring!  There is a lot of energy and activity at Bear Creek as we complete our 3rd quarter and prepare for the final push to summer.  Students should be evaluating their personal goals and setting new goals for the final quarter.   Please work with your child to evaluate his/her report cards and set personal goals for the final quarter.  Research shows that students who set their own goals are more likely to commit to meeting them.  Goals build leadership and responsibility for learning and that is our mission; to engage our learners today, to become leaders for tomorrow!

The spring and final quarter bring with it PARCC assessments for students in grades 3-5, and MAP assessments in grades k-2.   The MAP assessments give us results that measure student achievement (in percentiles), and growth (from fall/winter to spring).  Our school goal is to meet 65% growth in both reading and map at the winter administration.  We exceeded our Math goal with 69% growth and closed the gap in reading with 61% growth.  It is important that students do their best on MAP assessments because this gives us personal achievement and growth data for each student and lets us know how WE are doing as a school and at each grade level.  The MAP reports will be sent to parents following the assessment window and county distribution.  As always, if you have questions I will be happy to meet with you to review your child’s results. The PARCC assessments measure how students are doing in meeting the Common Core Standards in Math and Reading. We use this data to help us identify which areas our students and our instruction is very strong and in which areas we need to improve.  We appreciate your support and encouragement of your child as they approach these assessments.  Neither assessments are used for report cards.  

Our Title I summer program will be held at General John Stricker and our summer offices will also be located there from June 26-August 4th.  (proposed completion date).  Please plan accordingly and bring registration information to our office at General Stricker.  More information will be forthcoming about how to reach us and how to access our office during the summer.  If you have not submitted your child’s summer school confirmations, please send them in with your child.  We will be sending another round of summer school invitations based on the number of confirmations we have received.  We can accommodate 120 students by invitation so please grab your child’s seat if you have received an invite. Please help us protect our beautiful building and property over the summer by reporting vandalism, graffiti etc… to the police department.

SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY

The weather is getting warmer and students are starting to gather once again prior to the school day.  Please be reminded, students do not have supervision prior to 8:45 and should not arrive to school prior to this time unless they are a safety or sibling to a safety.  Safeties should arrive no earlier than 8:30.  Parents are responsible for the safety of students prior to the start of the school day.  Walkers are NOT permitted to cross the street without the crossing guard or a guardian.  Please help us keep your child from serious injury by following the law and crossing at designated walkways.  Finally, double parking is illegal.  It is illegal and dangerous as it limits visibility and causes traffic to move into oncoming traffic.  Parents should not be double parked on the street nor in our parking lots.  Parents must pull into parking spaces in the lower lot when picking up and dropping off.   Please remember that our staff is on duty to help keep your child safe.  Using foul or obscene language and gestures is inappropriate, sets a poor example for your child and repeated actions can result in a ban from the property.  Please model respectful, responsible behavior with our students and our staff.  We are most grateful to all of those parents and guardians who support and partner with us for your child’s safety!

April is Earth Month!

April 22 is Earth Day but Bear Creek will be celebrating throughout April! We have many fun activities planned. Our Environmental Club will be sharing important facts about conserving resources over the announcements each day in April. We have also received donations from local businesses and will have lots of fun raffles for students and staff during the week of April 18! These prizes include things such as reusable water bottles and coffee cups, plants, reusable containers, cloth napkins and towels and seeds and pots! These are all items that will help our Earth stay clean and green! On Saturday, April 22nd from 9-2 pm, there will be a large clean-up of our grounds as well as along the creek, organized by the Clean Bread and Cheese Creek Organization. We need volunteers of all ages and abilities. Gloves and bags will be provided or you may bring your own! Water and snacks will be provided as well. Any student who attends the Clean-up will receive a homework pass! Registration is at the Flag’s along the park. Get your family involved and have fun while helping to keep our beautiful grounds clean! What else can your family do to help the Earth this month?

Family Learning Night

Come and enjoy the activities at our Family Learning Night, “Learning Around the World” on Thursday, April 27th from 5:30-6:30. We will have new activities for reading, math, science experiments and technology fun! The Scholastic Book Fair will be open with a special offer, buy one book get one FREE and you will receive a coupon for a FREE snack from 6:30-7:00.

We hope to see you at Family Learning Night!

Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Registration

Prekindergarten registration will be held Tuesday, May 2nd and Kindergarten registration will be held Wednesday, May 3rd by appointment only. Please call the school at 410-887-7007 for an appointment.

Prekindergarten students must turn 4 years of age by September 1st and kindergarten students must turn 5 years of age by September 1st. If your child is enrolled in our current prekindergarten class, your child will automatically be registered for kindergarten.

Library News

Thank you for your support to the Book Fair.  With your contributions, I am able to purchase many new things for the library.  In the past, I have purchased new student centered furniture, games, and materials.  I also use these funds to purchase new books for the library. Again, thank you for your continued support!

Have you been to BCPL lately? They offer a variety of resources for students including library events, homework research, storyline listening line, and of course BOOKS.  Please check out their student site for more information: . So many wonderful FREE resources are just at your fingertips! 

PBIS News

As we get ready for spring PARCC assessment, the PBIS committee would like to remind you that, while there is no way to cram for the test, there are important ways you can help your children to be respectful, responsible, and READY. Please:

• Help them get a good night’s sleep – sleeping well and eating breakfast are very important for success at school. Children ages 5 to 12 years old should be getting 10 to 11 hours of sleep each night.  For example, if your child has to be up at 8:00 a.m. for school, they should be asleep by 9 or 9:30 pm.

• Implement a consistent bed time routine - getting ready for bed in the same sequence each night (i.e., pajamas, brush teeth, read for 20 minutes, lights out) helps our brain to predict sleep is coming, to unwind and to prepare for sleep. All electronics should be turned off an hour before bed. TVs and video games do not help children fall asleep, but make them more aroused/awake.

• Be at school on time each day so students have time to get prepared.

• Make sure students know that –

o If they have been working hard and doing their work all year, there is no reason to be worried now. They should be ready.

o They simply need to do their best on each task.

o If they are nervous or have questions, they can ask questions and talk to their teachers.

Thank you for all you do to support your children and PBIS! We are so excited by the progress we make as a school community when we are respectful, responsible, and ready!

Please visit the website to view the entire bulletin.

Bear Creek Park and Shoreline Cleanup

Save the Date – Saturday, April 22nd from 9-2 pm. Volunteers of all ages and abilities are welcome and needed. Trash bags, gloves, snacks, water, and lunch will be provided. A limited number of tools are available for loan, but please bring your own if you have them.

Service learning hours and community service hours are available for students. For more information, call 410-285-1202 or email Info@ or visit the web at

Freestate Summer Camp

Freestate Sports Arena, 5811 Allender Road, White Marsh, MD 21162 is offering summer camp for ages 4 and above. Weekly camps begin May 29th-September 1st from 8-4 pm with half days and extended care available. For more information about cost and to register, call 410-335-6400 or visit .

What’s New with You….

Kindergarten

Kindergarten is reading, writing, experimenting, and counting.  We are working hard on our animal reports and finishing up our class books becoming authors and illustrators.  In Science, we are learning how we can protect everyone from the sun while on the playground and will ultimately design a structure that will successfully prove what we have learned.  The children will also be learning more about weather too.  In Math we are finishing up 2D and 3D shapes and will move on to simple adding and subtracting.   Story problems will be tackled as well.   The third quarter is coming to an end and we are working on our goal of 300 steps.  Keep reading at home and working on those sight words.  Have your child write and create his/her own sentences with them to share with a friend at school!  Happy READING and WRITING!

Grade One

Welcome Spring! We are all excited to see some warmer weather and prettier days. As the weather gets warmer, so do our classrooms. Please send water bottles with your child if you would like! In reading, we are reading non-fiction texts, including biographies and how-to texts. We are learning how to sequence events and write directions. Practice at home, having your child sequence steps on how to brush their teeth, how to bake cookies, or tie their shoes! In math, we are working on finding all the combinations to make certain numbers. Challenge your child by having them create combinations at home using Cheerios or Fruit Loops. Please, be sure to complete homework each night and read 100 book challenge. Reading is extremely important to help your child succeed!

Grade Two

Happy spring! We are super excited for our field trip to Ladew Gardens on Earth Day (April 20th)!! This trip goes along with the science unit we will be covering this month. This unit is called, Bee An Engineer. In this unit students will read the story, Mariana Becomes A Butterfly. Mariana has a plant that has stopped producing berries. Students will become agricultural engineers to help Mariana solve the problem of why her plant will not produce berries by conducting research about pollination. Students will then use what they have learned to design and build a hand pollinator to solve Mariana’s problem. In language arts, we will be writing and publishing a class book about bucket filling. Ask your student what it means to fill someone’s bucket. In math, we will be working on Unit 6 where students will continue to build their understanding of place value (ones, tens, hundreds) as they compose and decompose numbers into tens and ones. Students apply their work with place value as they play games that involve composing, decomposing, and comparing numbers up to 1000 and solve addition and subtraction problems within 1000. As always, please continue to make sure your student is completing their homework each night and reading for 100 book challenge. At this point in the school year students should have logged at least 300 steps!

Grade Three

In ELA students are still working on our fourth unit “Historical Perspectives”. So far students have learned about individuals who made contributions to our country. We have learned how the West was mapped out with Sacagawea and Lewis and Clark, the Oregon Trail, immigrants coming to Ellis Island, and Mary McLeod Bethune. At the end of the unit students will be completing their culminating event by writing an autobiography on a person they learn about and write it in first person.

In math we continue to learn about fractions. This can be a very difficult concept for our students to grasp. Please continue to work with your child at home and show them how fractions are used in everyday life. For example, when cooking, show them that there are fractions on measuring cups, etc. Your child should also understand that some fractions are less than 1 whole and some are greater than 1 whole. We have talked about both improper and proper fractions in class.

We are coming up on the fourth quarter. Your child should have reached at least 400 steps in the 100 book challenge at this point (100 steps per quarter). Please continue to encourage your child to read and get their logs signed at home.

The Third Grade Team

Grade Four

ELA: The fourth grade is busy writing original stories! We are especially excited about this writing adventure because these stories will be published into our own books! Families will have the opportunity to purchase their child’s book. Please look for more information coming home about this wonderful opportunity for our budding young authors.

Mrs. Goldenberg

In 4th grade math, we are working on Unit 5 Decimal Relations/Data and Measurement.

During this unit, students will:

-Understand and compare decimals

-Represent and interpret data on line plots

-Find equivalents in units of measure

Using Dream Box math at home which can be found on the bcps.one website will help your child with math skills!

Mrs. Metzbower and Mrs. Caron

Grade Five

In science, we’ve just finished working through our exciting Eco-Trekkers unit. The students had a great time during our field study and had the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the ecosystems and habitats in the Baltimore area. Next, we will be moving into the Ecology Rocks unit before switching back to Health. Please keep an eye out for more information regarding our upcoming Health units.

Fifth grade readers are about halfway through the novel called, Bud, Not Buddy and they are HOOKED. The book tells the story of an orphan ten year old African American boy during the Great Depression in search of his father. Students worked on gathering text evidence in order to write a persuasive opinion essay. We are now analyzing how the narrator’s point of view influences how the story is told. Students will them rewrite a portion of the book from a different character’s point of view, which will reflect a different perspective, thoughts, and feelings about the key events.

In math, the students will work with measurement. In the measurement unit students will explore measuring time, length, weight, mass, capacity and volume. Students will use conversions to find equivalent units of time, length, and capacity. Take some time at home and have your children explore with measurement. Children can measure capacity when helping an adult bake. They could measure and compare the height of each person in the family in inches and convert to feet and inches. Students can determine elapsed time by stating what time it will be after a 90 minute practice, movie, or etc…They will also work with geometric measurement exploring area, perimeter, and volume. The advanced students will be exploring ratios and fractions. In this unit they will explore ratio concepts as well as reasoning, rates, and percent. They will use ratio reasoning and conversion factors to convert customary and metric units of measure. They will explore division of fractions.

Ms. Boller

We have been working very hard here in Room 16! In reading we have been working on publishing our class book. Students researched their topic and illustrated their own pictures. In Math, students have begun subtraction. We use the story, Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons to show that subtraction means to take away. In Social Studies, students are reading about the new season, spring.

Mrs. Winkler

In Room 24 we are continuing our studies about animals.  We have read about a girl who is a friend of a rhinoceros.  We also read about the desert and the many adaptations animals make to survive in that climate.  In math, we focused on analyzing data in picture graphs and on extending and creating patterns.

Ms. Otterbein

Room 17 has been working very hard! In reading, we have completed our class book. We researched animals and turned our research into a paragraph. In math, we have been working on money and the individualized skills on our IEP. Our CBI and field trips have been a great way to generalize these skills in the community. Continue to remind your child of their 3 R’s while we begin the fun that spring brings!

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