Happy Holidays

As we get ready to leave for the Holiday break I just want to say Happy Holidays to the entire HBB Community.  We had a great day today and we had some pretty exciting things going on here, although nothing was more exciting than the awarding of the Bear.  We had one lucky 1st grade student who won the bear.  Our student council organized a coin drive and in a week and a half they filled an entire 5 gallon jug with change which will be donated to the Wish Come True Foundation.  All students who donated change were entered into a drawing to win the bear.  We are very proud of our Student Council Members for all their hard work and we are very appreciative of all the donations. 

Well that's it for now, we are all looking forward to spending some time with our families.  Please enjoy your vacation, HAPPY HOLIDAYS and we will see you all next year!  Enjoy the photos from today!

Student Council leaders posing with all the donated change

Student Council helping announce the winner

Our Lucky Winner!

Student Council members awarding the bear to a lucky
1st grade student

Character Word of the Week Winners and Kickball

As many of you know we had our MassPass Fundraiser and overall it was very successful. Thank you to everyone who helped make this fundraiser a success.  Classes which had 100% of their books either returned or sold were entered into a drawing to win a kickball contest with Mr. Gobeil and Myself.

The drawing was held today and congratulations goes to Mrs. Kaufman's 5th grade class and Mrs. Burke's 2nd grade class.  Both classes will have the chance to go outside and participate in a class kickball game. 

4th Grade Buddies

Last week I had the pleasure of joining Mrs. Sullivan's 4th grade class and Mrs. Trottier's 1st grade class during one of their visits together.  Mrs. Sullivan and Mrs. Trottier have organized 4th grade buddies for incoming 1st graders.  This gives 4th grade students the opportunity to mentor 1st grade students.  It was really great seeing the connections the kids have formed since the start of the year.  Below is a picture of students going over a book together as a class and they were learning about similes....it was a great lesson!

The character word of the week for last week was Gratitude.  And the winners are.........

Great job everyone.  The Character Word for this week is Humility.

Monday plans

Hello HBB community,

I want to take a moment to let you know what we will be doing Monday in response to the unthinkable tragedy in CT.

To start, we will be meeting as a faculty both before and after school to discuss our current safety procedures and to discuss our plans for supporting students over the coming days.

We understand that some of our students have been sheltered from most of the media coverage while others are very much aware of the event. Students will be coming in with varying degrees of information and concern and we will be prepared to provide support and answer questions as they arise.

We will not be addressing this incident collectively with all students. Our goal is to make sure students feel and know they are safe. Each classroom teacher will be addressing the incident as questions come up and we will have additional supports available throughout the day.

Over the next couple of days we will be working with the Superintendent, District Administrators and local police to review our current emergency response plans and we will be making modifications as needed.

The safety of your child is our NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you.

Thought are with families in CT

We are all mourning the tragic loss of life resulting from the senseless act of violence which occurred today in Newtown Connecticut. 

In the wake of this tragedy I would like reach out to the entire HBB community to let you know that we are doing everything in our power to make sure your child is safe when they are in our care.  We understand that you place a great deal of trust in us when you send your child to school everyday.  I want you to know that the entire staff at HBB is committed to doing everything we can everyday to ensure that your child is safe.  The care of your child is a responsibility we take very seriously and we take great pride in the work we do and we are thankful for the trust you place in us.

Over the course of this weekend please be prepared for your child to ask questions.  We certainly encourage you to handle these conversations in the way you deem best for you and your family but if you are looking for some tips or information on ways to approach these conversations here are a few links that may be helpful.

http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/parenting/talk-to-kids-media-violence.shtml

http://drjerryweichman.com/shooting.php?gclid=CO6aisesm7QCFQXNOgodslwA4A

http://www.naesp.org/resources/2/Report_to_Parents/2005/rtp11-05.pdf

Also, please take a moment to read the message from Superintendent Weiss which is located at the top of this page in yellow.

We are here to help.  If you have any questions, comments or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us.    As I wrap up I would like to say that our thoughts and prayers are with all the families, children and staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Please enjoy your weekend and enjoy some time with your family! 

Kindness

The Character Word of the Week for last week was Kindness.  As I said today at lunches I am VERY proud of this weeks winners....as I am every week.  Great job guys!

And the winners are.....

Student Council Rocks!

As we wrap up this week I would like to start by passing along a note from our 5th grade Student Council Leaders....
"The HBB student council is having a coin drive to raise money that will be donated to the Wish Come True Agency.  The money we collect will help grant special wishes to really sick children.  We appreciate any change you can contribute"

So in a nutshell, they are collecting change and they will be collecting change from classes each day until December 21st.

To support these efforts the PTA has decided to donate all proceeds from this upcoming HAT DAT on December 13th to assist in the Student Council's efforts.  So please help out our Student Council!

Illness Guidelines

Before we get to a few of the pictures from some of the great things that happened here at HBB I want to bring a few things to your attention in regards to student illness.  As you may have heard or experienced, we have had a stomach bug going through the schools.  In an effort to avoid spreading these bugs we ask that all parents please keep their children home if....

- They have a fever of 100 degrees or more within 24 hours.  They should be fever free for 24 hours without Tylenol or Motrin before returning to school.

- Vomiting or diarrhea.  They may return to school when symptom free for 24 hours and able to eat and drink normally.

- If placed on an antibiotic students must be on the antibiotic for a full 24 hours before returning to school. 

We appreciate your assistance in keeping our school community healthy!

Here are a few pics of some HBB Happenings from this week....

Students decorating in
Mrs. Dziewit's class

Students decorating in
Mrs. Dziewit's class

Student's in Mrs. Gobeil's 1st grade class Reading Poetry

4th grade student learning about
electromagnetism during the
Museum Of Science Assembly

That is it for this week.....SEE YOU ALL MONDAY!

Character Word of the Week Winners

The character word of the week for last week was Thankfulness.  The word for next week is Kindness.  And the winners for this week are........

MassPass, its Cold, Extended Learning Block and other odds and ends

We have another week behind us and what a great week it was.  We were treated to a week with Bill Harley and what a treat it was!  Our students participated in some assemblies and had the chance to hear Bill perform, our teachers had the opportunity to meet with him during lunches and after school,  and families had the chance to hear him perform at his concert Thursday night. 

I want to especially thank our PTA, once again, for organizing this exciting and enriching event.  If you are interested in learning more about Bill Harley you can visit his web site by clicking the following link.

http://www.billharley.com/

Holiday Gift Card Drive

The staff here at HBB are all pitching in to donate gift cards to the Middleborough Christmas Wishes Program.  Christmas Wishes is a program which helps needy families during what can be a very tough time of year.  If you are interested in joining us Gift Cards should be turned into the main office here at HBB or to Christmas Wishes directly.  If you are interested in learning more about Christmas Wishes here is a link to an article with additional information.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/lakeville/topstories/x684376423/Making-Christmas-Wishes-come-true-in-Lakeville-Middleboro#axzz2DigBxYc5

MassPass

As you may know the PTA is selling Mass Pass booklets which are loaded with great savings for you and your family.  Booklets are $25 per book.  The booklets were sent home with students a few days ago and if you are interested in purchasing one just send in the money.  If you are not interested please send back the booklet.  We are hosting a contest for the classes that have all their books either returned or sold.  The class with 100% of their booklets either returned or sold will be entered into a drawing to win a kickball game with Mr. Gobeil and myself.  So please get those books in! 

Its COLD!

I want to remind everyone that students should be dressed appropriately for the weather.  Students are generally outside at least twice and sometime three times if they have PE so if students are not dressed appropriately for the weather they may be asked to stay inside.  Thank you for your assistance with this.

Attendance

Good school attendance is directly connected to student performance and as the year progresses I will periodically remind you to keep this in mind.  It can be tough for students to catch up when they miss work and it is imperative that students get to school.  With that being said I know sometimes things come up and kids get sick.  That's to be expected but the only excused absences are those which are accompanied by a Doctor's note.  So if you have a note, please remember to send it in.

Extended Learning Block

Things are cruising along with our new extended learning block.  Students have begun participating in a variety of activities, one time per week, designed to extend the learning in a variety of subjects.

At this point we are still developing and working on our offerings.  Students are currently participating in extensions of Art PE, Music, Computers and Library.  In some of these classes they are doing things that they would not otherwise get the chance to do, like in Art for example.  In other classes they are participating in extensions of their classroom experience.  Like building their research skills or typing skills on the computer.

This block is a work in progress and we have plans to increase the number of offerings as we move forward.  Our goal with this time is to have a host of offerings all designed to give each child the opportunity to truly enhance and build upon each student's classroom experience.  This block is also giving us time to have classroom teachers begin some of the difficult curriculum work needed to make sure that HBB is a school that prepares all students for success in the 21st century.  The work being done by teachers is having a positive and direct impact on instruction now and you will be hearing much more about this in the future.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns please let us know and have a great weekend!

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE

We want everyone to know that there are still tickets available to see Bill Harley in concert tonight!  Tickets are $4 per person and $10 per family.  Tickets are available at the door and the concert starts at 6.  This is a great way to get out as a family so please join us! 

Bill has been here all week this week and he is amazing.  If you have time tonight I know you won't be disappointed! 

Have a great break

Before we all leave for the break I want to say thank you to the entire HBB community for everything you do!  Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days capturing just a few of the many things going on here.

Mrs. Burke's Class
Today Mrs. Burke's class performed their play about how the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth and the purpose of Thanksgiving.

Pilgrim Games
On Tuesday students had the opportunity to go to the outdoor classroom and participate in some of the same games Pilgrims enjoyed years ago.....

Character word of the week
Lastly, and most importantly, the Character Word of the Week Winners (Gratitude) for this week are.....

See you all next week!

Thankful

As you know this is a short week due to the Thanksgiving Break, which makes the theme of this post fitting.  I would like to stop and thank everyone in the HBB community for making my first few months here memorable.  I feel privileged to be a part of such an incredible community.  I have been continually impressed by the dedication of our PTA and parents and the commitment and hard work of our staff.  Lastly, thank you to all the students, who make coming here everyday something I look forward to!  I hope you enjoy your break and take pause to reflect on everything you are thankful for as well.

Here are just a few of the things I have been thankful for recently.......

Thank you for helping us join forces with Nichols Middle School in collecting 500 pounds of Candy to donate to children at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Thank you for donating so many items to the Children of Union Beach New Jersey that we had to stop taking donations early!!!!

And thank you to all the High School Athletes who came down on Friday to help promote Healthy Eating.

Please enjoy break and remember, Bill Harley will be here the week we get back.  For those who don't know Bill Harley he is a two-time Grammy award-winning artist, recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the RI Council for the Humanities and an NPR commentator.  Bill’s songs and stories paint a vibrant and hilarious picture of growing up, schooling and family life.....just another thing I am looking forward to and thankful for!  (see our calendar below for specifics on dates of his visit)

Thank you for the donations and P. Plantation

I just want to take a moment and thank the entire HBB for your generosity in supporting the children of Union Beach New Jersey.  We have had an incredible outpouring of support and have collected so many donations that we will be ending our collections on Friday because we have received so much.

Thank you all for your support, it is amazing what can be accomplished when the community rallies together! 
 

Mrs. Santos and her Mother-in-law taking
a truckload of donations to NJ

Below are a couple of pictures from a trip some of our 3rd grade students took to Plymouth Plantation.  Have a great day!

Character Word of the Week Winners

The character word of the week for last week was Honor which is a sense of what's just, right and true.  Congratulations to our winners!!!!  This week's word is Gratitude!

Stormy week didn't slow us down

It was good to see the sun on Friday!  Even though the weather was not so great we still had a great week.  Things were relatively quiet for us in terms of events but we did start our schedule change this week and the changes were seamless.  All students seem to be enjoying the new enrichment block and our teachers have jumped right into doing the difficult curriculum work needed to move our school forward and to ensure our curriculum aligns with the new Common Core State Standards.

I assume there may be questions in regards to our schedule change, the reasons behind it and our plan to move HBB forward.  For that reason I would like to invite anyone who may be interested to come by HBB this Tuesday night at 5:30 pm.  I will be there to field any questions you might have and to give anyone who might be interested an overview of where we are and where we are going.

Hurricane Sandy
We will continue collecting donations for the Children of Union Beach New Jersey right up until the Thanksgiving break.  Please help us help others.  Union Beach was particularly hard hit by the storm and we are collecting any school supplies, hats, gloves, backpacks etc.  We have already had a large number of donations so thank you to all who have already donated.  It has been really great to see the outpouring of support!

Borough Talk
Tune in to your local access television channel to see some of the most riveting television of the year!  I was asked by Dr. Weiss to join Mr. Geoghegan and Mr. Branagan on the first episode of her new television show Borough Talk.  Her show will be a regular program on Local Access TV as this will become another method of keeping the community informed about all the great things going on in our schools!

Kickball
This Friday afternoon Mr. Gobeil and I took Mrs. Darcy's 3rd grade class outside for a hotly contested kickball battle.  Mrs. Darcy's class won the opportunity to play because they collected the most BOX TOPS in our school!  For the record, the game ended in a tie on a last minute home run by Skylar!   Great job guys!  (see pics below)

Earthview
As many of you know we have had the Earth View Program from Bridgewater State College here over the past few weeks.  This is an exceptional program which you can read more about if you click on the Enrichment Programs link on the left side of this screen.  Some of our High School Television Students were here to do a story on the program and you can view their story by clicking on this link.
https://vimeo.com/53085329

That's it for now.  Have a great weekend and enjoy these pics, courtesy of Mrs. DeStefano.