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!