ISSUE: JUNE 2, 2017
Volume: 2016-17
Bay City Public Schools
SPOTLIGHT
Your Education Connection
Parents, Staff, Board Members and Key Communicators:
BCPS Students Rock at Math
Last week, 19 Bay City Public School Classrooms participated in the Sumdog Math Contest that was held for the entire
Bay-Arenac Region.
Visit our website at
www.bcschools.net
2016-17
CALENDAR
Wed., June 14
AM Session Only
Last Day of School
Students in Bay City completed 158,101 Math Questions!
Scores were based on accuracy, and questions adapted to
each student's level - so everyone had an even chance.
The overall class scores are the average number of correct answers out of the students in
that class. (At least 10 students from the class must have played in order to get an average score.)
The Top 10 Classrooms in the Bay-Arenac Region were:
1st – 700 points
Ms. Crosby – Kolb 4th Grade
2nd – 638 points
Mr. Ahrens – Kolb 1st Grade
3rd – 599 points
Mrs. Novak – Mackensen 1st Grade
4th – 467 points
Mrs. Michalak – McAlear 3rd Grade
5th – 457 points
Mr. Workman – Kolb 5th Grade
6th – 399 points
Mrs. Piggott – Hampton 4th Grade
7th – 358 points
Mrs. Stark – MacGregor 4th/5th Grade
8th – 307 points
Mrs. Stevens – McAlear 5th Grade
9th – 304 points
Ms. Brenske – MacGregor 2nd Grade
10th – 259 points
Mrs. Samborn – Auburn 1st Grade
Congratulations, Bay City Public Schools…..a complete sweep of the Top 10!
Kolb Gets Beautified
Thank you to all the volunteers who
rolled up their sleeves on May 20th to
make Kolb look beautiful! Students
and parents worked side-by-side planting flowers, adding mulch, building a
Kinder-garden, and cleaning
up Kolb Trails! We could not have
done it without you! Thank you very
much!
WMS Students Help Our Habitat
Western Middle School would like to thank Jeff Sugden, representative from Pheasants Forever and Whitetails Unlimited, for coming to Western Middle School to talk with our students
about pollinators and also to help install another pollinator station on school grounds. Both
organizations, Pheasants Forever and Whitetails Unlimited, have previously donated funds for
Western Complex to plant a pollinator station on school grounds.
Mr. Sugden visited Western Middle School on Tuesday, May 30th, to emphasize to our students the importance of pollinators and teach our students about their connection to the agricultural industry. Prior to meeting with our students, Mr. Sugden came out to WMS over Memorial Weekend to till a new plot of land near the southeast corner of the middle school building. This area will serve as an additional pollinator station, which is also being funded by
Pheasants Forever and Whitetails Unlimited.
The new pollinator station is the plot of dirt where students are planting
seeds in the pictures. This dirt plot will eventually look identical to the original pollinator station, which was developed last spring. Our pollinator stations include native wildflowers that provide valuable habitat for pollinating
insects, grassland songbirds, pheasants and quail. Pollinators impact 75%
of the global food supply, are keystone indicators of environmental health
and their populations are currently in decline.
During Mr. Sugden's lesson with students on May 30th, he talked about the
importance of pollinators and explained how pollinators, both directly and
indirectly, control the world's food supply. Mr. Sugden also provided lunch for our students as he explained to them
that, without pollinators, the food they were eating would not be readily available.
We greatly appreciate Mr. Sugden's efforts to help fund our expanding natural habitat area, located near the southeast corner of our school, and also for his time and energy in tilling the land to prepare it for planting. We also appreciate him taking time to talk to our students and educate them on the importance of pollination. Also, a huge thanks to
Western Middle School teacher, Allison VanDriessche, for connecting with Mr. Sugden and creating opportunities like
this to make learning science fun for our students. Our students thoroughly enjoyed contributing to the development
and expansion of our new outdoor nature area.
Linsday Students Get a Special Visit
Linsday students welcomed Dodger as they gently hugged and petted him as their new
dog friend! By interacting with
Dodger, the Bay County Court's
victim's advocate service dog,
student's become more aware of
their own feelings and the feeling of
others.
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Dodger is trained to sense sadness
or fearful feelings that children may
have while in the courtroom and will
nestle up to a child to offer comfort
and relief.
Upcoming
Events
You May Not
Want to Miss:
June 5 CHS Spring
Choir Concert 7:00 p.m.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Congratulations to Cindy Altes (WHS), Allison VanDriessche (WMS), and Lisa Welch (WHS)!
On Tuesday, May 30th, the Dow Corning Community STEM Partnership Symposium took place at SVSU. Three Bay
City Public School Teachers were recognized for their efforts as a Dow Fellow this school year. During the summer of
2016, these teachers participated in a two-week workshop exploring attitudes about STEM, career pathways in STEM,
and the process of Science. The teachers developed an inquiry-based project to conduct with students during this
school year.
Cindy Altes created a study in which students utilized
engineering design projects to focus content and science
skill delivery on energy in a ninth grade conceptual physics course. Topics included forces and motion, work and
energy transformations, and electricity.
Popular media reading selections, career connections,
and transferrable skill development were used to appeal
to students’ value assignment in terms of the importance,
utility, and enjoyment of class activities.
The goal for Lisa Welch’s project was to increase ninth
grade students’ motivation in Algebra 1. Lisa converted
her classroom ambience to make it less institutionalized
and more comfortable by adjusting lighting and seating
areas in order to research how that learning environment
affected student motivation.
The hope was that students would find this atmosphere
less intimidating and reduce anxiety to give them the selfworth and confidence they needed to know that they can
succeed in future difficult STEM ventures.
Allison VanDriessche implemented activities throughout
the year in which students examined real world examples of the benefits of science. Students grew chicks in
a shell-less environment to directly observe mitosis in
action. They also explored photosynthesis by growing
plants with various adjustments to the abiotic factors
and observed beehives in action to understand social
relationships of an organism to the survival of the species.
To bring relevance and increase student understand of
career options available, guest speakers or programs
were also brought into the classroom monthly.
Pictured: Cindy Altes (bottom left, Lisa Welch
(bottom right), Allison VanDriessche (top)
Central High Students Present Short Stories to MacGregor Kindergarteners
Central High School Creative Writing students presented 3 short stories to the Kindergarten students at MacGregor
Elementary this week. Each topic shared a theme of respect and kindness. Topics included: bullying, keeping the
earth clean, and lastly, the 4 Seasons. This is the second time they have shared their talents with our school.
Both the Central High School students and Kindergarteners enjoyed
this interactive experience and we
look forward to having them back to
share their creative writing skills next
school year!
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Wenona Students Get a Science Lesson
on the Appledore
On May 16th Mrs. Baldwin and Ms. Meacham took 18 Wenona students on the
Appledore V. The students performed 6 different experiments including water testing
for nitrates, phosphates, oxygen levels, pH, and plankton.
Students applied vectors to sailing, designed vessels to hold cargo, were shown invasive species and discussed their threats to our lakes. Other topics discussed were
pollution, water quality and food webs.
Bay City Preschool Students
Release their Butterflies
Students in the Bay City Public School preschool program were learning about butterflies during May. When the caterpillars
turned into butterflies the students took
them outside to release them!
The Bay County GSRP program is currently
registering preschool students. If you know
of a preschool age child, their parent can begin the registration process by going
to www.bayarenacpreschool.com or contacting the Preschool Partnership office at 667-3209.
Do you know of any students(kindergarten-high
school) who could benefit from intense reading
intervention?
The Literacy Center within Saginaw Valley State
University is thrilled to offer reading tutoring this
summer.
Assessments will be administered on June
13th and June 14th (4-5-6 pm).
The reading clinic will run for 3 weeks
(meeting on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday each week) beginning the week
of June 19, 2017.
The cost of the pre & post reading assessment
and 12 tutoring sessions is $270.00.
Further information about our summer clinic
along with the application/registration form can
be found on our web page: www.svsu.edu/
literacycenter
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BCPS Art Students Paint Chairs for
Bay County Leadership's "Take a Seat" Project
Each year a new group of area leaders participate in the Leadership Bay County Class. The class
appeals to people of diverse backgrounds who have an interest in the future of our community. The
nine-month curriculum is designed to help participants better understand our community by reviewing
its history and examining entities and systems.
Speakers from businesses, government, education, law enforcement, natural
resources, arts and human services provide information to class members at
each monthly session. The program began back in 1987 and an average of 20
area leaders each year have attended and graduated from Leadership Bay
County.
The program is funded by and supported through the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. Each year, local businesses present community project ideas to the Leadership Class and the class then votes and decides upon a project to pursue. This
year's class chose the "Take a Seat" project, which was presented to them by
Studio 23.
"Take a Seat" involves the building of 50 Adirondack chairs, which was done by
Leadership Class members. The chairs were then sent out to local artists to be
painted. Bay City Public Schools jumped on board with this project, with 20 of
the 50 chairs to be placed in area parks being painted by BCPS students in their
art classrooms.
A huge thank you to all of the students who helped with this and dedicated their
time, energy and artistic talents to help beautify our area's parks. Also a big
thanks to the BCPS art teachers who encouraged their students to participate...Mr. Mark Piotrowski (WHS), Mrs. Diane Brown (WMS), Mr. Andrew Dowis
(CHS), and Mr. Howard McLean (CHS).
There is a ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled to reveal the chairs to the public. Maps will also be available highlighting the participating parks and their
adopted chairs. The ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday, June 20th at 4:30
pm in Wenonah Park. All 50 chairs will be on display and this event is open to
anyone who wants to attend.
We encourage everyone to stop by Wenonah Park on June 20th and check out
the amazing work from our local artists that will soon be featured on chairs in
many of our local parks.
Visit Our District Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/BayCityPublicSchools/
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Bay City Public Schools
910 N. Walnut Street
Bay City, MI 48706
Phone: 989-686-9700
www.bcschools.net
Auburn 5th
Graders Visit
Camp Timbers
Our 5th grade students
enjoyed a few days in
Sunny West Branch
from May 10th12th. Our 5th graders
experienced many activities including a climbing
wall, canoeing, camp fire, group building activities, ga-ga ball, crafts, archery, and many other outdoor activities.
Western Middle School Students are Growing New Attitudes Toward Science
Western Middle School students Erin McLean, Katie Tallman, Autumn Simmer, Jessica Letherer, and John Kelly presented a description of the recent classroom activities that science students at Western Middle school have been working on. These students presented their information to SVSU faculty, parents, other area teachers, and Dow Employees
and were a fantastic representation of both Western Middle School and the Bay City Public Schools.
The unique classroom activities and learning experiences students have been exposed to at WMS were possible only
due to a grant project written by Western Middle School science teacher, Mrs. VanDriessche. The grant funding, associated projects, and activities positively impacted students at all grade levels within Western Middle School.
Mrs. Sienko's 7th grade students worked at replicating a lab done in Japan to hatch chickens outside of their
shells. Students involved in bee-keeping helped to harvest honey, learn more
about the hobby of bee-keeping, and installed a second hive at Western. Mrs.
VanDriessche's 8th grade students manipulated variables such as light, water type,
soil conditions, etc. to grow basil plants that were then sold for Mother's Day
gifts. All proceeds from the plant sales went to the WMS Science Club.
A big THANK YOU to Dr. Stephanie Brouet of SVSU, Elly Maxwell from Dow Gardens, and the Dow Corning Foundation for providing these opportunities for our
students. Also, thank you to Mrs. VanDriessche who continues to pour her time
and never-ending effort into writing grants to secure funding that has allowed for
exciting opportunities like these for our students!
BCPS SPOTLIGHT
Janet Greif, Superintendent
INNOVATION, OPPORTUNITY, EXCELLENCE!
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