October: Principal’s Message

Happy October!  It was a pleasure seeing so many of you at the first PTO meeting and/or at Curriculum Night.  The sense of community, positivity and energy starting this year is remarkable, and I look forward to the joys and experiences that the school year will bring.  

On Monday morning the auditorium was buzzing with excitement, as I spoke to our sixth grade students before they left for their overnight trip to the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC).  On Tuesday, I drove to Pennsylvania to surprise them, and I had the pleasure of joining them in activities such as orienteering, forest ecology, hiking and, of course, a tasty lunch and dinner. I could see new friendships budding through inquiry, scientific exploration, respect, kindness and laughter.  The weather cooperated for the most part, but the team at PEEC adapted their program when we were faced with rain. Families, thank you for your patience as we experienced delays during the students’ return to BSI.

We are excited to be launching our music program on October 19 in grades K-2 led by the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (BCM).  At BSI, BCM runs an early childhood music and movement program that incorporates instruments, singing, storytelling tied into what the students are studying with their classroom teachers.  We expect to launch an afterschool BCM Band program for middle school students that will begin later this school year. We will send out information when we establish a start date for this program.   

We are set to launch FaceLab in Ms. Audrey’s class this month.  Students will be delving into Lego EV3 Kits; building robots during a ten-week exploration into robotics and programming.  Ms. Audrey’s class will work with the kits first, the robots will be broken down and Mr. O’Hickey’s class will have a chance to engage in the process.  A big thank you to the parent volunteers and Mr. Jose who will be trained to assist with this program!

Both BCM and FaceLab are PTO-funded programs.  I thank you again for the support that you provide so that we can offer these experiences to our students.

Finally, last year, our advisories dazzled us with their creativity when they decorated pumpkins and displayed them for us all to see at the Harvest Festival.  It is nearing that time again, and look forward to seeing what they will come up with this year…. Have a great long weekend.