TBMS Weekly Newsletter - Issue 26-27.12

Dear Bromfield Middle School Families, 

I hope everyone has been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather! It's been a lovely start to November, though I suspect we shouldn't get too accustomed to it!

This week I received a concerning report about students accessing an inappropriate online "game" on school-issued devices before school. I have already spoken with some of the students involved, and additional conversations will take place tomorrow. I am also working with our technology department to better understand how students were able to access the game despite the safeguards we have in place.

The reality is that no filtering system is perfect, and students can sometimes find ways around even the strongest safeguards. We will certainly continue working to make our systems as secure as possible, but equally important is helping students develop the judgment to make responsible choices online.

Middle school students are naturally curious, and curiosity is generally a wonderful thing. But when combined with the extraordinary access to information and entertainment that technology provides, that curiosity can sometimes lead them to places they shouldn't be. Part of growing up is learning to navigate those situations and make good decisions, even when adults aren't watching.

With that in mind, I have a request for families. Sometime tonight or over the weekend, please take a few minutes to talk with your children about how they use their electronic devices, both school-issued and personal, beyond completing schoolwork. Ask what games they play, what websites they visit, and whether they have encountered inappropriate content online. Most importantly, encourage them to be honest with you and to come to you when they encounter something troubling or make a mistake.

We will continue doing our part at school, and I appreciate your partnership in helping our students become thoughtful, responsible digital citizens.

Our fall conferences will be held in person on Thursday, November 12, and Thursday, November 19. Sign-ups are open through midnight on Wednesday, November 11. Please see the emails sent Monday and earlier today for scheduling details. I encourage families to take advantage of the opportunity to connect with our educators!

As we look ahead to Veterans Day next Wednesday, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the veterans in our school community and beyond. Your service and sacrifice deserve our recognition and respect. The holiday also offers an important opportunity for our students to reflect on the meaning of service and the many ways individuals contribute to something larger than themselves. To all who have served, thank you.

Sincerely, 

Bromfield Middle School Principal

Upcoming Events:

Upcoming Celebrations & Observances:

If you have an announcement, event, reminder, or other information you would like included in the newsletter, please email your request to mscarborough@psharvard.org. We’d love to help share your news with The Bromfield Middle School community!

If you were at curriculum night, you probably heard a bit about Standards Based Grading. Standards-based grading helps students focus on what they are learning rather than simply the grades they earn. It provides clear feedback on individual skills, highlights areas of strength and growth, and gives students multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery and take ownership of their learning.

After report cards go out, your student(s) should bring home a paper report that has grades broken down by category so that you can see their level of mastery on each of our assessed standards. Please remember it is early in the year, so it is perfectly normal for students to not be proficient with every 6th grade ELA standard yet! 

8/8 (100%) = advanced

7/8 (88%) = proficient

6/8 (75%) = approaching proficiency

5/8 (63%) = emerging proficiency 

No grade = nothing was turned in

A large proportion of the grade is “student skills” which is simply a measure of how much work has been turned in. It is calculated by (total # of graded assignments - total # of graded assignments submitted ) / total # of graded assignments x 80 points.

Rubrics for each skill / standard are available upon request. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out at cvasel@psharvard.org - thanks!

In seventh grade ELA, we paused in our reading of The Breadwinner to spend a week analyzing “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl. The students enjoyed unpacking Dahl’s work in groups to find and pull out examples of foreshadowing, and presented their findings to the class. We also worked on examining Dahl’s diction to determine how his choice of words impacted the overall mood of the piece.

Looking ahead, over the next few weeks in ELA, students will finish the remaining chapters in The Breadwinner, write an essay on how the protagonist developed over the course of the story, and get ready to begin our unit on rhetoric and argumentative writing. 

In English language arts, we focus our reading on subjects and themes.  We recently finished reading The Pearl by assessing the consequences of greed in Steinbeck's climactic passages.  We also interpreted an excerpt from Eve Bunting’s The Wall, about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., as a way to understand more about the subject of memorials.  After considering the significance of Maya Lin’s architectural achievement, we identified symbolic objects in Bunting’s text -- and the foremost symbol is a rose.  In interpreting that rose, we learned how to write an analysis paragraph with structure, evidence, and significance.  Students are now drafting and polishing an analytical response on the consequences of greed, and they are using the paragraph paradigm to structure their ideas.

In Flex, students launched the Project 351 eighth grade food drive on behalf of Loaves and Fishes this week.  They designed posters, decorated boxes, and delivered these essential food drive materials across the school.  At the heart of our service work is an emphasis on how a lot of littles add up to a lot.  Please consider donating time, energy, and/or non-perishable food or personal care items to this important community service project.  The food drive runs from Monday, November 6 to Friday, November 20.  Donation boxes are located in each middle school advisory/Flex classroom.  Meanwhile, our students also continue to engage with academic support with full gusto. 

Hello TBMS Families, this month I will be reporting from two separate roles, as TBMS PE Teacher and as Assistant Athletic Director. 

On the PE front, we've had a fun few weeks of sun and mostly warm weather which has allowed us to wrap up Ultimate Frisbee on the Pond Field and quickly transition into Pickleball while the courts were dry. Students learned skills through practice and applied the rules of Pickleball (with some minor PE adjustments) to game-play in mostly doubles matches. We will use the next few weeks, both indoors and out to explore the skills involved in tag based teams games such as Flag/Tag Football and Flag/Tag Rugby. 

A note from The Athletics Department: Registration is open for winter sports here. Middle Schoolers in 7th and 8th grade are welcome to try out for Boys and Girls Basketball or join our Swimming and Diving or Indoor Track teams. If you have any questions please visit the Bromfield Athletics website and/or contact an Athletic Director. 

Monty Tech’s Vocational Interest Program is open for registration for 7th and 8th graders. The VIP Program is a great way for students in grades 7 & 8 to spend some time in shops, meet instructors, and use top of the line equipment at Monty Tech’s Vocational High School. The program runs for 4 weeks on Mondays on November 30th, December 7th, December 14th, and December 21st. Transportation from Monty Tech picks students up from TBMS between 2:15-2:20pm where they spend from 3pm-4:45pm in a different shop each Monday. Students return to TBMS between 5:15pm-5:30pm, or they can be picked up directly from Monty Tech if preferred. 

If your student is interested in this program, please register here. Please reach out to me directly at kfaulconer@psharvard.org with any questions about this opportunity!

Kim Faulconer

School Counselor

The PTO is a membership-based volunteer organization for HES and TBS. Our primary goals are to raise money to support the student experience, and create programs in support of our teachers, staff, and community, such as Teacher and Staff Appreciation. With the help of critical annual membership donations, we fund over $25K of teacher and staff-requested grants each school year, for stuff like $1K towards field trips for each grade, library books, scholarships, and much more.  Please consider joining or renewing your membership today!

The PTO supports the whole Harvard Public School community. Even when your children transition to TBMS and TBS, the PTO is still hard at work supporting them! From academic enrichment and classroom resources to student programs and special events, PTO-funded grants make a real impact at every grade level. We invite all school community members to be part of this work. Curious how PTO funds are used? Check out recently funded grants here. Ready to make a difference today? Join the PTO and help continue these valuable programs by becoming a member here. Want to get involved, or have questions? Email info@harvardpto.org

Donation boxes are located in each middle school advisory/flex classroom.

Some things you just don't think twice about. Saving $15.00 on your yearbook purchase is just one of them. Order your personalized copy today!

----------------------------------------------

Ordering a yearbook is easier than ever. Pay the way that's most convenient for you with Venmo, Apple Pay, PayPal, Afterpay, Cash App or a credit card.

*Minimum purchase requirements and eligibility restrictions apply.