12/12 - 1/2 Day for Students
Professional Afternoon for Staff
Blake PTO Meeting
12/13 - #MedfieldPS Chat - 8 p.m. (see details below)
12/14 - Blake Orchestra Concert
12/15 - Grade 7 Field Trip to A Christmas Carol
Grade 8 to Christmas in the City
12/20 - Grade 8 Tilden Village Dinner
12/22 - 1/2 Day for Students and Staff
12/23-1/1 - School Vacation
1/1 - Happy New Year!
1/2 - School Resumes
1/5 - Geography Bee - Grade Level Finals
1/8 - Blake Site Council Mtg (3:30 p.m.)
1/9 - SEL Task Force Meeting (3:30 p.m. - MHS)
1/10 - Geography Bee - School Finals
1/15 - MLK, Jr. Day
Day of Service at Blake Middle School
No School for Students
1/18 - Blake PTO Meeting (7 p.m.)
1/19 - 7th/8th Grade Dance (7-9 p.m.)
Topic/Question for the Dinner Table
To help encourage conversations and dialogue about the importance of making connections with others, our topic/question of the week is: How can we make more connections with one another? Fostering Connections (Week of 12/10/17) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
Term 1 Report Cards
Last Friday students brought home their report cards for the first term. Time was and will be spent in advisory with students reflecting upon the work they accomplished, as well as setting healthy goals for the second term. If you have any questions about your child's work or the reports, please start by having a conversation with your own child. If questions still exist, you should contact the teacher directly to gain more insight.
Hour of Code at Blake
Our 'Hour of Code' last Friday, 12/8 was a great success. We hope that it sparked or continued an interest for our students in this field as we recognize that the skill of coding is increasingly important for our students as we work to increase their problem-solving and analytical skills in the fields of science, engineering, mathematics, and technology. I encourage everyone to check out the following links...
Hour of Code
Calling All Learners and Teachers for Hour of Code
What Most Schools Don't Teach
Coding in the Classroom: What is it and Why is it So Important?
#MedfieldPS Chat - 12/13/17 at 8 p.m.
Our next district-wide Twitter chat is Wednesday, 12/13/17 at 8 p.m.
Our continued intent is to bring the five schools together (staff and administration) at periodic times. The goal of these chats is to bring the five schools together (staff and administration) to discuss pertinent topics in education, initiatives, and ideas to collaborate around and share. I encourage you to follow the hashtag #MedfieldPS during the chat and to participate! Below are links to 'storify' archives of a few of our previous chats...
https://storify.com/nat_vaughn/medfieldps-chat-dldmedfield
(DLDMedfield)
https://storify.com/nat_vaughn/medfieldps-chat-feedback
(Feedback)
https://storify.com/nat_vaughn/medfieldps-chat-diversity
(Diversity)
https://storify.com/nat_vaughn/medfieldps-chat-a-fresh-start-8-23-17
(A Fresh Start)
Blake Community Blood Drive
This month we are kicking of our annual Martin Luther King Jr. blood drive. Currently we are putting together a committee of students who will work to promote, organize and then run the blood drive. Please consider donating blood, or if you cannot, help find another who may be able to. It is important this blood drive receive high support from the community for us to continue to hold it on a holiday. Hosted by the American Red Cross this blood drive offers an incredible opportunity, so please come out, and donate blood. The drive will be held in the middle school gym Monday, January 15th, from 9 a.m to 2 p.m.
Community Service Club Information - Coat Drive
The Community Service Club of Blake is holding its annual coat drive right now. The drive will conclude in early January. Please donate new or gently used WINTER coats. The donation box can be found at the front of the school. All coats that are donated will be delivered to Medfield's Anton Cleaners who sponsors the drive.
Lost and Found Items
The number of items in our Lost and Found has increased. Please remind students to come take a look, as there are a number of items that are unlabeled that have been collected. We will be clearing out the Lost and Found during the winter vacation.
Divide and Conquer (Next Generation MCAS, Legacy MCAS, and Standards Based Reporting in Math)
Thank you to all who were able to attend our Divide and Conquer workshops last week. I have copied the link to the slides for your interest...
Divide and Conquer Fall 2017
Girl Talk
Girl Talk is a national program where high school girls mentor middle schoolers. Ainsley Marshall and Morgan Caro have come together to continue Girl Talk at Blake Middle school. Their goal is to help you deal with the triumphs and trials of the early teen years. Anyone is welcome! We encourage you to follow our instagram account: https://instagram.com/p/BcIr4LoFzXu/ Message from 8th Grade
As we move into december the 8th grade will be beginnning to prepare for two events giving back to the community. First, we will be preparing and serving a meal for the residents of Tilden Village on 12/20 at 5 PM. A limited number of students will be able to serve however everyone will be involved in bringing in the food. 8th graders will also be attending the annual Christmas in the City even to help set up for homeless children in Boston. The student-staff basketball game successfully raised $1149.75! Contributions towards the cost of the buses are greatly appreciated - checks should be made out to Blake Middle School with Xmas in the City Transportation in the memo line.
Blake's Kindness Month
The five year anniversary of the tragic events in Newtown will be upon us shortly. At Blake we are continuing a tradition started four years ago by honoring those who died that day by asking everyone in the Blake community to participate in
Blake's Month of Kindness. You will see the acts of kindness are not 'big', nor are they complicated, yet each can make an impact on someone, including each of us. We encourage you to print out the document and post it in a public spot (i.e. refrigerator) for your entire family to reference during the next month. We are going to document these days and put them together in a way that we can refer back to easily and remind ourselves that kindness is something we all can practice every day. I encourage you to check out the links for Blake's Month of Kindness on Mrs. Gumas's website - mrsgumas.com. During this stretch of time, if you see your student partaking in an act of kindness and could take a picture or video, please send it to Marissa Gumas ([email protected]) or post it to post it to Blake's Kindness Padlet 2017.
Blake Winter Intramurals
The Winter Session Intramural offerings will be available this week. Contact Matt Marenghi ([email protected]) if you have any questions.
Reminder for all Blake Students and Families
This is a reminder that as a school we will not be orchestrating 'Secret Santa' type activities for students in which gifts are being purchased and/or given. For a number of reasons, school is not the proper forum for the exchange of gifts, and we appreciate your understanding and support.
Recess Reminder for All Parents/Guardians
This is a gentle reminder to families that students are going outside for recess and should bring weather-appropriate clothing like winter jackets and gloves so that they will be warm outdoors.
Standards Based Reporting Information Sessions
Thank you to all Blake parents/guardians who were able to come to our Standards Based Reporting information sessions last month. As promised, here is the link to the presentation...
Standards-Based Reporting Parent Presentation October, 2017
Blake is on Facebook!
Blake is adding Facebook to our social media repertoire! You can now follow our page for the latest announcements, sharing of our school life, glimpses into special events and learning with FB Live and more...
Click this Link: www.facebook.com/BlakeMiddleSchool/ or search for @BlakeMiddleSchool
Parks and Rec Winter Opportunities
Medfield Parks and Recreation would like to invite students from Blake Middle School to two exciting events in 2018. The first is the Nashoba Valley Ski Club, which will run on six Thursdays in January and February. Registration is available for the ski club, but space is extremely limited. This trip has SOLD OUT each of the past two years. To register, go here.
The second event is the annual Snow Tubing trip to Nashoba Valley, which will take place on Thursday, Feb. 1. This annual event always sells out! This is a half school day in Medfield, so take full advantage with a fun trip to go tubing with friends! Registration for this event just went live, and you can signup here.
Some of you may need to create an account before registering if you have not done an activity with Parks & Rec over the past few years since we upgraded to a new software program. That process should take no more than 5 minutes. To register an account on our Web site simply go to create an account.
Any questions, or to volunteer for either program (CHAPERONES ARE NEEDED FOR BOTH TO RUN!!!), please email Kevin Ryder, Director of Parks & Recreation, at [email protected] or Eric Kevorkian, Program Coordinator, at [email protected]. Chaperones will be able to ski/snow tube for free at these events!
SEPAC - KidStuff Coupon Book
The KidStuff coupon book fundraiser is underway. Your support helps SEPAC fund workshops, events for kids and families, and scholarships. If you are interested in purchasing a book, please contact Kate Tormey at [email protected].
Update from Blake PTO
BLAKE PTO MEETING TUESDAY DECEMBER 12 at 7:00 pm in the LMC. All are welcome!
GET YOUR MEDFIELD WARRIOR SIGNS, COASTERS, TRAYS, ETC! Rustic Marlin Designs has designed a line of wood-based Medfield Warrior products (signs, coasters, flags, trays, blocks, etc.) that will be carried exclusively at Be Charmed, a new store in town! Be Charmed is located at 70 North Street. 75% of the profits from the sale of the Warrior line will go to both the PTO and MCPE! It’s a great way to get Warrior merchandise while supporting a new local shop and raising money for our schools! GET YOURS TODAY!
ONGOING BLAKE APPEAL - We need your help so we can continuing funding enrichment programs and future initiatives for the 2017 - 2018 school year. We are requesting a contribution of $50/child this year. This is a suggested amount but we will gratefully accept any amount you can contribute. Making a donation is easy. Simply click on the link http://www.medfieldk8pto.com/blake.html and scroll down to the end of the page or send a check made payable to Blake Middle School PTO to Blake at 24 Pound St. Medfield, MA 02052. Thank you in advance for your support of the Blake PTO. Please feel free to contact Claudia Rosen [email protected] or Keven Gallagher [email protected] with any questions.
STAY IN TOUCH Please like us on Facebook Medfield K-8 PTO and follow us on Twitter @MedfieldK8PTO. And for more information and calendar of events, please check out our website medfieldk8pto.com
Update from MCPE
Thank you, Medfield!! With your help we have crossed the $50,000 mark in our 30th anniversary fundraising campaign. Through your generosity we are able to fund so many important grants across all of our five schools. There is still time to donate, so if you haven't had the chance, please visit our website www.medfieldcoalition.org Thank you!