March 29, 2024

The Beckwith Chronicle

D.L. Beckwith Middle School News

Posted

Dates to Remember
Sept. 23 Picture Day
Sept. 24 School Committee 6:30pm DRRHS
Oct. 8 School Committee 6:30pm DRRHS
Oct. 11 No School- Teacher Workshops
Oct. 14 No School- Columbus Day
Oct. 22 School Committee 6:30pm DRRHS
Oct. 30 Grade 8 Group Photo

Additional Beginning of the Year Information
You may want to discuss with your child what he/she should do in the case of an unplanned early dismissal from school or if after-school activities are canceled. In the event of unplanned, district-wide early dismissals our automated “One Call Now” system will allow us to notify parents by telephone. We will also send notification through our email listserv. In this situation, the high school is dismissed first, followed by our middle school and finally the elementary school. If your middle schooler would be the first one home, he/she should know how to get in the house (with a key pinned in a special section of the backpack that isn’t used often perhaps or knowledge of where a special key is kept for emergencies). Hopefully we will not have any unplanned early dismissals, but it is always good to be prepared.

Student of the Month
Throughout the school year, Beckwith will recognize students who go “the extra degree.” These students are selected based on their effort and citizenship and their commitment to the Beckwith Ideal. Students of the Month make Beckwith Middle School a place where both students and staff want to be every day.

Making Connections at Beckwith Middle School
During the first week of the school year, students and staff at Beckwith Middle School took part in a school-wide project to promote community while celebrating individuality. Each student and staff member designed a puzzle piece that reflected individual strengths and interests. Students and staff then worked together to create a puzzle comprising the individually designed pieces. This puzzle represents the Beckwith Middle School Community and shows how the individuality of each person contributes to the overall whole and how each person is connected together to build a strong community. Each puzzle piece represents each person who comes together to make Beckwith Middle School a place where students and staff want to be every day. The puzzle is currently in the cafeteria. Students and staff have the opportunity to see the puzzle every day to view each other’s individual piece and see the puzzle as a whole.

BMS: Unified Champion School
On September 13, we received notification from Special Olympics Massachusetts that Beckwith Middle School has been named an official Special Olympics Massachusetts Unified Champion School! Very few middle schools share this recognition. The unified sports program, Beckwith Believers, has become a very important part of our Beckwith school community. Believers work together to learn, play, compete, and have fun during after school meetings, practices, and games. Our unified sports program has grown from offering only basketball in our first year, to including bocce last year, and now adding track and field totaling three sports across three seasons for this school year.

Unified sports is a reality at Beckwith because of the tireless work and dedication of Mrs. Jerauld, Mrs. Enos, and Mrs. Walsh who volunteer their time to coach and mentor our Beckwith Believers and manage the activity to make it an amazing experience for all involved. Thanks to Mrs. Jerauld, Mrs. Enos, and Mrs. Walsh, this program has helped positively shape our school culture with a focus on inclusion, togetherness, and equity. We are looking forward to another great year of unified sports at BMS!

Career Day at Beckwith
We are looking for volunteers to visit and share with our 8th grade students their occupations, how they decided on their career, where they work, major duties of their jobs, educational background, and work ethics. The program is anticipated to run on January 8, February 5, and March 4. If you are interested in participating, please contact Mrs. Melissa DiFilippo for more information mdifilippo@drregional.org.

Beckwith Middle School Thanks Parents for Recess Equipment
A group of parents generously donated recess equipment for our students to use during the recess break at the end of lunches. Parents donated footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, playground balls, tennis balls, benches, and a picnic table. A group of parents also donated time and equipment to create basketball and four-square courts on the black top for students to use during recess. This time during the day is an exciting time for students and allows students to release some energy and socialize with friends. BMS thanks our parents for making this an awesome experience for students.

Mrs. Darmody introduces Code.org at Beckwith
Beckwith students in grades 7 and 8 have started using a new Computer Science curriculum in Mrs. Darmody’s classes this year from Code.org (https://code.org/about), The curriculum is specifically designed for middle school students and is called “CS Discoveries.” Mrs. Darmody plans to continue to use the Scratch Creative Computing Curriculum https://scratch.mit.edu/about, that so many students enjoy using to learn Computer Science concepts, while also incorporating the Code.org curriculum. This will help all students meet the Massachusetts Digital Literacy & Computer Science Standards available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/dlcs.pdf. Check out Mrs. Darmody’s web site at https://gaildarmody.weebly.com/ for more digital literacy and computer science resources.

BoxTops for Education
Thank you so much for your support of the BoxTops for Education program at Beckwith Middle School. Last year, Beckwith received $636.80 for your BoxTops. We are so thankful for your support!

BoxTops has decided that it is time to go digital. Clippable BoxTops are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Please send in any paper BoxTops that you do collect, because we are currently putting them together to send them out by the November 1st deadline. In addition, please take the time to download the BoxTops app on your smartphone. By scanning your receipt you may earn money for our school, and you will also find that there are many new special promotions to earn an even bigger reward for Beckwith.

If you have any questions at all, please contact Christina Mitnik at cmitnik@drregional.org. Thank you for your support!

Rehoboth PTSA
Please consider joining the Rehoboth PTSA whose hard work and fund raising benefits the children of both Beckwith Middle School and Palmer River Elementary School. We are including a link to their website where you can learn how to become involved.

Principal’s Message
Dear Families,

The start of the school year has been outstanding at Beckwith Middle School. Our students have been learning and practicing new routines, working hard on academic assignments, and making connections with peers and staff. The puzzle activity was a great way to start the school year. It helped emphasize that we are all connected and are all working together to make Beckwith Middle School a place students and staff want to be every day. Mr. Shea and I reminded students on the first day of school that it takes everyone to create a positive learning environment.

This year, we hope to push our students to think critically, take academic risks, and build a skill set that will help them throughout their academic career. Through high expectations, both academic and behavioral, we challenge our students to be the best version of themselves every day. Our staff is present to support students through challenges and help students grow by giving students an opportunity to struggle, demonstrate effort, and become problem solvers.

We encourage families to support our work by reinforcing lessons learned at school through conversations at home. Please reach out if you need any support this year. We look forward to another year of working together to help our students reach their full potential.

Sincerely,
Joe Pirraglia

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