We welcomed everyone back from break this week at BBS. After a week off for Thanksgiving we are now on a 3 week spring to finish the fall term. It should be an action packed few weeks of fun and learning. 

We sent home the 2026 Ski and Ride Handbook this week with your child. Please review the handbook with them and sign and return the last page this month. Pay attention to the gear list and have your child get out their winter/snow gear and try it on. This is the time of year to make sure we are prepared for a long cold winter in the mountains. If you need any assistance or advice getting snow gear please reach out to Mr. Sharp. Students need to have a helmet and goggles for the program. BBS will once again pay for season rentals of skis/snowboards and boots. More forms for you to review and sign will be coming home in January.  Now let it snow!

In Field Study class we wrapped up our Geology unit before break. Students completed their unit test and overall showed strong understanding of topics like the rock cycle, how the Cascade mountains were formed, and how tectonic plates cause earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes around the globe. We won’t have much class time for Field Study this month so we are dipping our toes into the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with a mini-unit. We are learning the basics of what AI is and discussing the pros and cons of its impacts on our lives. 

In P.E./Health class we were visited by Rachel Visser from the Kids Center yesterday to learn about digital safety. She has come the past few years to talk to the students about this topic. Rachel does a great job explaining some of the dangers of technology use and how to stay safe while enjoying our digital distractions. 

I encourage folks to chat with your kid that week about what they learned and about the importance of being safe with all our technology uses.

After a week away, we rehearsed our plays and jokes yesterday with all three classes. Tomorrow, we’ll rehearse our songs, and Blue Bay will continue to work on the complicated last scene of their play.

Our students have done an incredible job learning their parts. Even if your child is telling you that they know their lines, please do keep working with them on their lines at home. Some kids are still struggling to remember their lines and cues. Any help they can get will build their confidence on stage. With just about one week to go, each day of practice counts!

If you like getting crafty and have time after school tomorrow (Thursday 12/4), we’d love some help with a few projects to make our plays sparkle and shine. Liz and I will be leading a group (kids welcome!) to paint some scenery and make some props for the plays. Join us if you can! We’d love the help. Thanks to Missy and Amy who have been working with their kiddos at home to make props, as well!

Next week we have an alternative schedule where kids will be walking to the community hall to rehearse the show. Thursday is an all-day rehearsal, including a dress rehearsal. It is the week where it all comes together!

A couple other reminders:

– After the performance, we will enjoy a dessert pot luck (consider adding a dessert to share!)

– Once we have had some time to enjoy the potluck the lights will go up. That is the cue for the kids to begin their clean up jobs.  They must first collect all of their personal belongings, then they will complete their clean-up job before leaving. They must check in with their assigned teacher before leaving the community hall. Refer to this document to find your child’s assigned clean up job and teacher: Student Jobs for After Winter Performance 2025

Winter Performance 2025 | Information for Families

In Humanities, Blue Bay has been reading and exploring more information about Ancient Egypt. They are learning how to do research, and create a slideshow presentation on a topic of their choice as it relates to ancient Egypt. The best part about individual research presentations is we all get to learn so much about each topic during presentation day. Students will be presenting early next week. Students have also been studying the parts of speech and got their quizzes back yesterday.

In Math, Blue Bay students took a big fractions test upon returning from Thanksgiving Break to wrap up that big unit. And now, we have now officially moved into our Zearn Math groups for the remainder of the year. They are moving through lessons with me, digital lessons, and workbook work. There are a few pros of this new curriculum strategy – First, students work explicitly on their grade level standards. Secondly, this method also gives students a chance to work more at their own pace, and get exposure through a variety of learning styles. 

In Buddy Time, students read the latest Nat Geo for Kids and created their own Pokemon look-a-like. They also learned about that intersection of Greek Mythology and Astronomy and identified their zodiac signs. We wrapped up the soaps students made in tissue paper and tied them up with a label, and glued magnets to prepare our class goods for the Holiday Bazaar.

We are about to wrap up our meteorologist packet. Students have loved going outside monitoring the weather. Look for their weather packets to come home in their purple folders. 

In literacy we have learned the trigraphs (3 letters that make one sound) -tch as in catch and pitch and -dge like in badge and bridge. 

In math we are using subtraction to jump back to 10. For example 14-8 is the same as 14-4=10 and then 10-4=6. We can use what we know about teens numbers and 10 friends to do mental math. 

Games and activities to try at home

• Math: Try using more than 10 items and taking them away like pennies making a 10. 
• Literacy: Ask students where they will see trigraph -tch and -dge. 

In Science/Social Studies we have been learning about different types of art and how that is used in a community. We read the book The Rainbow Flag (link attached if you want to see it) as a study of how a flag can be used as a form of art to represent support and pride in a community. Next we will be reading Beautiful Shades of Brown. This book engages students in a conversation about the hardships that many people in the Black community face due to unfair treatment based on the color of their skin. We are also connecting how students are participating in a form of art with the winter performance as part of a community tradition. As part of art and social studies standards students learn about symbols, celebrations, and different groups of people throughout history and currently in their communities.