BAMS NEWSLETTER

A MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL LYMAN

Dear BAMS Families,

A special thank-you to all who attended our Open House on Monday, October 20th. It was wonderful to see so many families connecting with teachers and learning more about our programs. Your partnership plays a key role in your child’s success, and we appreciate your ongoing involvement and support.

Information about Parent/Teacher conference sign-ups was sent out last week. This letter outlines the details and instructions for scheduling your conference time.

We also want to remind families about the Household Income Form that was mailed home last week. BAMS still has low response /participation with this form, and your support is needed! Completing this form—either electronically here or by sending the hard copy to the BAMS office—directly impacts our school’s ability to access additional federal funding for programs and enrichment opportunities for our students. Every form submitted helps, and we truly appreciate your time and effort. We extend our gratitude to those families who have submitted the form.

Looking ahead, we have several important dates to note:

Picture Retakes – Monday, November 3rd
BEAMS Session 2 begins – Monday, November 3rd
Early Release Days – Thursday, November 7th, and Monday, November 10th (12:30 p.m. dismissal for students)
Parent/Teacher Conferences – Thursday, November 7th (1:00–3:30 p.m.) and Monday, November 10th (1:00–7:00 p.m.)
Teacher In-Service-No School- Monday, November 24th & Tuesday, November 25th
Thanksgiving Recess- Wednesday, November 26th - Friday, November 28th

Thank you again for your continued support and partnership. Together, we can ensure that every student has a successful and rewarding school year.

Warm regards,

Keith Lyman,Principal

Our 1st dance- Friday, November 14th

Our first dance of the year will be Friday evening, November 14th from 6:00-7:30 p.m. The dance is open to BAMS students only. Admission to the dance is $5.00 and refreshments will be available for purchase.

Dance rules include the following

BAMS dances are for BAMS students only.
Once students arrive at the dance, they are expected to remain until the dance ends. Students may not leave early unless an authorized adult comes to pick up the student or the student and their caregiver make arrangements for an early departure with the Principal. Students will not be admitted to a dance after 7:00 p.m.
Students are expected to make their transportation arrangements for the end of the dance in advance of coming to the dance. Students are expected to leave school premises no later than 7:45 p.m., and those students who do not may be ineligible to attend the next dance.
At BAMS dances, all school rules apply. This relates to dress, what students may bring to the dance, and behavior. Any behavior infractions at a dance WILL make you ineligible to attend the next dance.
Students are expected to follow the directions given by any adult at the dance, and are expressly expected to dance in ways which are appropriate and acceptable to the adult chaperones.
Students who receive in- or out-of-school suspension on the day of a dance are not allowed to attend.
Students who are absent from school on the day of a dance, or arrive after 12:00 p.m., or leave school before noon (without a valid excuse) are not allowed to attend the dance that evening.

BEAMS: Brattleboro Enrichment Activities for Middle Schoolers

Registration for BEAMS Session 2 is now open! To accommodate students that also wish to play a Winter Sport, Session 2 will offer clubs in two "mini-sessions."

Session 2A will run from November 3 - November 21.
Session 2B will run from December 1 - December 19.

Students playing a Winter Sport can participate in 2A Clubs with no overlap between BEAMS and the beginning of the Winter Sports Season!

Program offerings, along with a copy of the registration form, are linked here. A reminder that clubs are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so interested students should return completed and signed registration forms ASAP!

Please direct any questions to BEAMS Director Nick Yialiades: nyialiades@wsesdvt.org / 802-451-3588.

A few reminders for students participating in BEAMS:

BEAMS does not run clubs on Early Release Days or Teacher In-Service Days.
BEAMS clubs are dismissed at 5:15 pm. Please make sure that your student knows their Dismissal Plan, and that adult pick-ups are ready promptly at 5:15.
If your student will not be participating in BEAMS for a day (e.g. appointments) OR will have a different pick-up plan, please be sure to contact the BAMS Front Office or the BEAMS Director.

BAMS Athletics

Registration for Winter Sports (Basketball and Nordic Skiing) will be on Wednesday, October 29th, during lunchtime. For questions related to BAMS Athletics, contact the Athletic Director, Kevin Myette, at (802) 451-3576 or kmyette@wsesdvt.org

Voices of the People

Do you like acting? Reading out loud? Have you ever wanted to be part of a performance, but not have to memorize lines? You are invited to participate in (or attend) a reading of “Voices of the People” at the library on November 10 from 6:30-8:30 pm. This is connected to our equity theme for this year. You don't need to memorize anything, just show up (at 6:15 if you’re reading)! For more information, take a look at this flyer. Please register using this link.

BAMS Equity and Social Justice League

Equity & Social Justice: As part of our district-wide equity theme, “Voices of the People,” we have been focusing on “Love is Love” for October - all people are deserving of loving and supportive networks of safe and healthy relationships. In Advisory, groups discussed and mapped out people in their life who they feel connected to and supported by. We also looked at organizations in Vermont that support LGBTQ+ folks, such as Outright Vermont

and Out in the Open. Some upcoming events sponsored by Out in the Open include film screenings of Heightened Scrutiny: Sat, Nov 1, 6:45 pm, at New England Youth Theater (community screening), and Sun, Nov 2. 4:00 pm, at The Latchis Theater (a screening especially for youth & families). See the flyer here.

Our focus for the month of November is “Water Justice” - access to clean, safe, and affordable water is a fundamental human right. There will also be a “Voices of the People” reading at Brooks Memorial Library on November 10 from 6:30-8:30 pm. For more information, take a look at this flyer, or you can register to be a reader using this link.

Team Taurus News

Taurus science is working on the properties of matter. Students are discovering how matter is organized. We recently learned why trees turn different colors in the fall using paper chromatography.

Team Taurus is headed out to the ropes course to work on our team-building skills. We look forward to seeing our students help each other challenge themselves and step out of their comfort zone.Team Taurus is taking the students to the ropes course this week to promote teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills. We hope to meet you all at the conferences on November 7th and 10th.

Team Leo News

In English, students are three-quarters of the way through the first novel of the year, Summer of the Mariposas. Skill areas of emphasis have included analytical paragraphs discussing the impact of a narrator’s point of view on reader experience (and using text evidence to support points made) and composing an effective summary. The writing process has been emphasized, with students printing and reading their work aloud, pencil in hand, making corrections as they go. Discussion skills were also honed as students prepared notes for a fishbowl discussion on a topic of student choice.

Science

Students have been challenged to uncover the mystery of what or who has resulted in the death of a mighty birch tree. By looking at a wide variety of suspects,(different fungi, woodpeckers, insects and climate data), they will deduce and report on the cause of the tree’s untimely demise. From here students will learn about the cause and effects of invasive species, both current and historical.

Math

We have wrapped up our first two units of the year. In our third unit, we are examining the effect of Dilations of given figures. We are experimenting with different shapes, varied centers of dilation, and have begun to compare dilations with rigid transformations from our last unit. Dilations help make a valuable connection from proportional to linear relationships graphically.

Social Studies

We are completing our unit on the ways Indigenous peoples manipulated their environments. Students made beautiful posters to share their learning and we had a gallery walk to view everyone's work. We will be studying Columbus in three different sources to compare the way his story is told by different secondary sources. The 13 Colonies and the beginnings of the American Revolution are just around the corner!

Community Work Day