Hello HBB!  September is National Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month which is something that is very close to our hearts here at HBB.  For those who don’t know one of our students is in the midst of a heroic battle with Childhood Cancer and he is a very important part of our HBB Community.

In honor of him and all the other children out there battling childhood cancer HBB and our fabulous PTA has a number of events and fundraisers planned over the course of the next few weeks starting with September 20^th, which is PJ/Comfy Clothes Day.  All students who donate $1 are encouraged to wear their most comfortable PJ’s or clothes to school.  Also for our first early release day is (Sept 26^th), we will have our first half day hat day.  All students interested in wearing a hat are asked to make a $1 donation.

Lastly, we will be selling Burkland’s Best Key Chains for $5.  The Key Chains are handmade, durable and they look great!  Key Chains will be on sale at Open House and we will be sending home order forms shortly.

All proceeds from Hat Day, PJ Day and from the sale of key chains will be donated in support of National Pediatric Cancer Awareness and to the family of our student currently battling cancer.

Please help us make a difference and remember, every little bit helps!  Thank you!

Open House

Please mark your calendars for the HBB Open House which is scheduled for Wednesday September 25th at 6:30.  Open House is a great chance for you to come in, see your child's classes, learn more about the curriculum and get an overall sense of their day.  We ask that parents please remember that Open House is not a time for individual conferences with teachers.  You will have an opportunity to sign up for parent teacher conferences which are scheduled for November 13th and 14th.  We hope to see you there!

Expanded Learning and Intervention Block

Next week will be our first week of Expanded Learning Block.  For those of you new to HBB Expanded Learning occurs once per week in the afternoon for each grade and begins at 2:30 and runs to the end of the school day.  The expanded learning block is designed to enrich and extend the curriculum in new and creative ways while focusing on helping students acquire essential 21st century skills appropriate for each grade level.

New for this year will be our intervention component.  Students who may be struggling to grasp and retain concepts in class will receive extra help during this time in an effort to keep them caught up with the rest of the class.  Most parents should expect that there will be a time at some point during the year where your child may be held back for extra support.  Most students encounter concepts they find challenging at some point and the purpose of this block is to make sure students have the support they need.

We are very excited about the changes we have made at HBB to make the Expanded Learning and Intervention Block possible.   We feel that one of the keys to moving HBB forward is to differentiate and to give students who are meeting grade level standards the opportunity to go above and beyond and to help those who may be struggling when they need it.

Common Core

I am sure by now you have all heard about the new Common Core State Standards.  Here is some helpful information (courtesy of our ELA Coaches) on some of the main ideas about the Common Core and what you can do at home to support your child's learning at school.

That is it for this week.  Thank you and have a great weekend!