| Volunteer BITS | | Can't commit a lot of time, but could help out for an hour or two? Consider the following: - Volunteers are needed next week for Staff Appreciation Week-contact Siena Roberton to help!
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| From the BPC | | Staff Appreciation is next week. Help!! In order to make this week special we need you. We have many things planned for the week, including a coffee and donut break, showering our teachers and staff with hand written notes from our children, a catered lunch where all teachers and staff can eat and socialize together, fresh fruit packages and healthy smoothies and snacks.
It is not too late - please get your note cards to school by Monday morning, May 3rd to be included in the special package we are putting together for all the wonderful teachers and staff who make Barnesville such a special place for our children.
We are still looking for a volunteers - If you can volunteer on Wednesday from 10:45am until 12:00pm, or Thursday morning 7:30am - 8:15am, please contact Siena Roberton directly at jrob999@aol.com.
Don't forget - please send your child to school with 2 pieces of fruit on Thursday May 6th - there will be volunteers at drop off to help pick up the fruit from your child.
Thank you for all your cooperation to make this a special week for our teachers and staff.
Keeping Tabs on your Child in Today's Internet Society The Barnesville School will be hosting an informative workshop and discussion with Debbie Kovalsky, Internet Safety Consultant for Computer Training Wheels, on May 11th at 7:30 pm. Learn how to appropriately keep tabs on your child while they develop more independence. She will explain the ins and outs of IM, Chat, Blogging, Facebook and expose common areas of concern. Ms. Kovalsky will provide you with the tools you need to educate yourself and your children about online dangers. Mark your Calendars- May 11th at 7:30 pm. Contact Janine Huber with any questions. | |
| A Note from Mrs. Nave | | Heads of School for the Day!
Jack and Halle Magruder were running the school today. I hope they had as much fun as I had putting it all together. Don’t forget to bid on it for next year. The Head of School for the day has a very busy schedule and lunch out with Mr. Huber. This year I was invited to go along. A big thanks to Mrs. Magruder for covering my office duties. They learned what it is like to be in charge of a school and even got to purchase gym equipment. Tooth box report- just for fun!
There are several loose teeth around school but they are fighting to stay put. Four tooth boxes left my office since the last bits. I made several attempts to pull some teeth but they were not ready! | |
| Business Office | | Lunch Orders
Just a friendly reminder from the Business Office that lunch balances are due as soon as possible. Starting this month, lunch balances must be paid before orders for next month can be placed. Please contact Marie Mehala with any questions.
Tuition Invoices and FACTS Online Enrollment Instructions are in the mail. Please contact the Business Office if you haven't received your copy by Monday. | |
| Facilities and Transportation | | Facilities & Transportation: We are getting closer to the end of our school year, but it does not change the the flow of the AM drop off traffic pattern. When pulling into our driveway, please remember to to turn right and go through our parking lot. Please do not travel straight up our driveway to the front of the school. Some cars may be coming in your direction. | |
| Technology | | From time to time almost everyone receives email from an unknown source trying to sell you something you really don't want or need. The most popular scams involve the sale of cheap prescription drugs, credit card debt relief, mortgage refinancing, and the occasional message from someone in Nigeria asking for your bank account information in exchange for a $1,000,000. In the past, these emails could readily be thwarted by spam filters and blacklists. However, in recent months email users have been seeing a lot of spam from themselves to themselves. That is to say, both the "From" and "To" address match the legitimate email address of the email user. Spam of this sort is very confusing because most people don't intentionally spam themselves. What is happening here is that spammers are data mining email addresses (usually from public web sites such as employee lists or lists of family members) then generating fake email that appears to be from the email recipient. The ever more clever spammers are exploiting weaknesses in email systems and are, at the same time, making it difficult for email users to combat the unwanted email without inadvertently adding their own email address to their blacklist. How then does one deal with this problem? One solution is to build a "filter" or "rule" (or whatever it is called in your email program) to block the unwanted mail. Set up the following conditions in your filter:
1. If the "From" address is your email address, and...
2. If the "To" address is your email address, and...
3. If the character string "()" is not in the subject line, then 4. Delete the incoming message In the example above you can substitute your own secret easy-to-remember character string for the string "()". A filter such as the one above will block most, if not all, of the unwanted emails from/to you, except the emails you send yourself whose subject line contains your secret character string. This scheme will allow you to send email to yourself without getting blocked by your filter. Give it a try and let Jim Snider know how it works! | |
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| | From Our Head of School | | Earlier this week, 16 parents joined me on a visit to Poolesville High School in order to tour the new facility and meet with Billie Bradshaw, Magnet Coordinator. I believe we were all impressed with the intensity of their academic program and the achievements of their students. As we drove back on the bus, we talked about the choices our graduates have as they get ready for 9th grade, and how different these schools can be. I can’t think of a greater contrast than, say, Poolesville Magnet School, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Georgetown Preparatory School, and St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. Different missions (and different price tags!), but all schools of good repute and caliber. One of the primary reasons you send your child to Barnesville is to prepare him/her for that next step into secondary school and beyond. So how do we do? What measures do we use to see if we are achieving this goal as we deliver our academic program? Below I have two charts. The first is an updated list of secondary school acceptances and placements from the last three years. You’ll see both a broad diversity of missions as well as an impressive list of great schools. The second is a condensed chart of feedback we received in our annual web survey of Barnesville graduates and their parents. We want to get information directly from our young alumni and their parents to see how well we are doing and explore areas in which we can improve. As I shared last month, their feedback was both positive and encouraging. Looking ahead to our remaining months this school year, I welcome everyone to come to our 8th grade graduation exercises, to take place the morning of Friday, June 11th. In a new tradition, we have invited a young alumna to talk about her time in Barnesville and in secondary school, now that she prepares for college and beyond. Tess Klingenstein, Barnesville Class of 2006 (and soon-to-be graduate of Georgetown Day School), will be our guest speaker this graduation. Tess will be attending Tufts University in the fall. I hope you can all attend this day with us, not only to celebrate our 8th graders’ wonderful accomplishments, but to see what the future may hold for your child after Barnesville. John Huber
Head of School Secondary School Acceptances (2008-2010) enrollments listed in bold Independent Schools (local day) Independent Schools (boarding) Parochial Schools Poolesville Magnet Schools Annual Young Alumni Survey (2010) informal web survey of 31 former students (2007-2009 graduates) and their parents
How well were you (your child) prepared for secondary school in the following areas? | | Positive
| Fair | Negative | N/A
| | Independence | 94% | 6% | 0% | 0% | | Academics | 90%
| 10% | 0% | 0% | | Social fit | 87% | 10% | 3% | 0% | | Public speaking | 84% | 13% | 3% | 0% | | Researching | 81% | 19% | 0% | 0% | | Athletics | 81% | 16% | 3% | 0% | | Essay writing | 77% | 16% | 6% | 0% | | Organization | 77% | 19% | 0%
| 3% | | Note taking | 74% | 26% | 0% | 0% |
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| Middle School | | Fifth Grade Civil War Presentations
On Monday, April 26th the fifth grade students dressed as a character from the Civil War Era and gave many wonderful and varied speeches to parents and students reflecting their knowledge and research of the character. Trip to Newseum
On Tuesday, April 27th our 7th and 8th grade had a great trip to the Newseum in Washington, D.C. where they were able to see such things as the 9/11 Gallery, the Berlin Wall Gallery, the News History Gallery, the Pulitzer Prize Photography Gallery and much more. The students truly enjoyed what the museum had to offer! Middle School Earth Day Celebration
Barnesville School was given a generous donation of 50 trees from the Montgomery County Forestry Board. With the help of the Forestry Board and Pepco our middle school students participated in the planting of all of the trees on Wednesday morning from 8:30 to 10:00 AM. The students learned to properly plant a tree and how trees support our environment. They did plenty of mulching and cleaning up as well. It was a great hands-on experience for everyone! We then had an assembly at the end of the day where each middle school class presented the posters they had created to support the care of our environment. Fifth Grade Class Trip
This Monday and Tuesday, May 3rd and 4th our fifth grade students will be taking a trip to Gettysburg and Harpers Ferry to support their study of the Civil War and will be spending the night at Mar-Lu Ridge in Jefferson, Md. It promises to be an exciting trip with many wonderful learning experiences and fun for all. | |
| Lower School | | A May Day Message from Nancy Taylor Lower School will celebrate May Day on Friday, May 14th at 10:30 on the playground around the May Pole! Come and join us- the merriment will be led by the traditional Hobby Horse and Teaser, and all Lower School students will be participating. On that day, each Lower School child needs to bring a flower or two, or a small “branch of May”, with them to school. Boys should wear nice, comfortable pants or shorts, and a nice shirt of spring colors, such as pastel tones, or muted stripes or plaid. Girls should wear festive but comfortable spring clothing suitable for dancing. No jeans or T-shirts should be worn that day! All students should wear shoes with non-skid soles to ensure that there will be no slipping while dancing. Fourth Grade boys should wear khaki pants and a long-sleeved white oxford-style shirt. Thank you! See you there! News from Fourth Grade Fourth Grade went to Seneca 1860's Schoolhouse in Poolesville the day
Barnesville celebrated Earth Day. We all did our part at the schoolhouse to
leave little or no footprints at the state museum. That day we worked in
the one room classroom with no electricity or plumbing, we collected
kindling and larger wood to feed the pot belly stove to keep us warm, and we
ran around outside for recess with no equipment. We ate lunch from a paper
bag, and we all brought our garbage home with us. Living the life of a
1860's schoolchild was really fun, enlightening and somewhat simpler than
today, yet it seemed the same when it comes to acquiring knowledge. All the
students had their chance to impress the teacher with their knowledge of
the U.S. It was a great field trip and celebration of Earth Day for fourth grade. News from Second Grade Today Ms. Chu (Amy's mom) came to our classroom to do an Earth Day
demonstration. She talked to us about what elements make up air, helped us create molecules of some of those elements, and then left us with a sweet treat of ice cream made with liquid nitrogen! Also, in celebration of Earth Day, second graders brought in recyclable materials and then used them as paintbrushes to create a picture. Everyone's art was unique and we got to reuse and make masterpieces at the same time! Finally, the second graders turned in their book reports on Japan today. They read a non-fiction book about the country or a folk tale and then created mobiles with important symbols from the book. They are hanging proudly in the second grade classrooms. News from Kindergarten Students performed Snow White last week and will again this Friday. Click here to see photos from their earlier shows! | |
| Communications and Marketing | | Get ready for the Auction! Catalogs were sent home Tuesday. If you haven’t seen yours yet, check your child’s bag. This year we will be auctioning off several not-to-miss social events. If you want to win one of these fabulous parties, start organizing your friends now! Chillin’ & Grillin’
Back by popular demand! Jim and Dawn know how to throw a fabulous party, and this year there will only be ONE! This party is featured on page 15 of the Gala catalog. Wine (and Scotch?) Enthusiast Party
Craig Walton and Alex Zukiwski know their wine (and apparently their Scotch!) and are eager to share their expertise and selections with you. Details are in the Gala catalog on page 48. Dinner Party at the Comus Inn
Drinks, dinner, and limo service! What more could one ask for? Check it out on page 14. Gourmet Texas Dinner Party
Have y’all partied with the Butz, Zukiwski and Walker/Rasmussens yet? Let’s just say they know how to entertain in style! Get the details for this party in the Gala catalog on page 19. Be forewarned! NOTHING in this year’s auction will be doubled! All packages, parties and experiences will only be offered once! If you cannot attend the Gala, you can still bid absentee! Absentee bid forms (page 9 in your catalog) are due to Nicole Campbell by noon on Friday, May 7. | |
| Admissions and Advancement | | The Admissions Office continues to be very busy! On Tuesday, we held our second targeted Open House for our Early Childhood program-Kindergarten. Our guests were treated to storytime in the library with Mrs. Barr, a tour of the classrooms, and playtime with Mrs. Roos in our beautiful, full-sized gymnasium! Lots of fun was had by all! Special thanks to everyone who helped make this event such a success!
In addition, there has been a flurry of interest in our Middle School. Three private tours last week resulted in three applications for Middle School. The passion and dedication of our Faculty & Staff, as well as the joy of our children, is obvious to all who visit our campus!
Mark your calendars! Be sure to tell your friends and neighbors to stop by our booth at Kentlands Day, this Saturday, May 1st, to get more information about Barnesville!
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