Happy New Year to All Our Partners!

ADP Sponsors 2014 BCP “Are You Smarter than a BCP Fifth Grader?”

Thank you to Automatic Data Processing (ADP) for supporting BCP's Are You SmarterThan a BCP 5th Grader? fundraising gala on Friday, April 25, 2014 with a $500 sponsorship. ADP has been a proud, continued sponsor of BCP.

About ADP
ADP, one of the world's largest providers of business outsourcing and human capital management solutions, serves more than 620,000 businesses of all types and sizes in more than 125 countries. http://www.adp.com/

Baltimore Reads Book Bank Provides Books for BCP Schools

Earlier this month the Baltimore Reads Book Bank delivered over 900 free children's books to the BCP schools. City Springs Elementary/Middle School received 415 books; Hampstead Hill Academy received 360 books; and Wolfe Street Academy received 165 books. Students will get to keep the books.

This is the second school year that BCP schools are participating in a new program that helps build home libraries and encourages reading at home. We would like to thank Director of Book Bank Operations Mark Feiring for supporting our students.

For more information about the Book Bank visit: http://www.baltimorereads.org/book-bank.html

Why Our Kids Need a Safe Place to Play

“We really want to play football...” and baseball, soccer, and lacrosse.

This is a quote from a letter written by the children of City Springs Elementary/Middle School to their principal. These same children can be seen very early every morning playing the sport they love, but it breaks our hearts to see that their only option is to play on a blacktop playground.

Despite our best efforts to keep it clean, the City Springs playground is unsafe and littered with broken glass, discarded needles, and other debris. Play options are correspondingly limited. This prompted the children to present us one morning with a signed petition. Our goal is to get them what they requested, and what they deserve. Together we can transform this neglected park into a vibrant community athletic complex.

Our children need a safe place to play

• City Springs students and students from neighboring schools need a safe place to exercise and play sports in order to improve health, school attendance and academic achievement
  
• The athletic complex is critical to addressing the growing need for additional day school and after-school athletic opportunities.

The Community Athletic Complex will include:

• A multi-purpose artificial turf field for football, baseball, soccer, and lacrosse;
• Running/walking track;
• Playground;
• Fence with key-card access for community members;
• A concession building, security camera system, field goal nets, and lighting.

Scholar-Athletes

The complex is part of a larger Scholar-Athlete School vision that will capitalize on the strength of
the coach/athlete mentoring relationship in order to change student attitudes about healthy living,
school attendance, and academic success.

How You Can Help
With the full support of Baltimore City Public Schools, to meet our mission, and transform our
neighborhood, we need to raise an additional $1 million to build the City Springs Community Athletic Complex.

To learn more and make a contribution visit www.baltimorecp.org/athleticfield or contact
BCP Executive Vice President Larry Schugam at 410-675-7000 x17 or lschugam@baltimorecp.org.

Legg Mason and the BSO Give BCP Students a Musical Treat

Image provided courtesy of the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra and republished with the BSO’s permission

On December 6th, Legg Mason and the BSO treated 40 students and teachers from Wolfe Street Academy to a performance of The Snowman at the Meyerhoff. The BSO provided complementary tickets to Legg Mason's partner schools for this Midweek Education Concert and Legg Mason provided transportation.

The performance transported students to a winter wonderland come to life in a timeless story of a young boy's magical friendship with a snowman. As they traveled across the world together, students learned about the environmental impact of climate change.

The BSO Midweek Education Concerts provide an interactive experience for students in Pre-Kindergarten through sixth grade. Each concert features exciting orchestral works and explores key arts integrated themes. All concerts are aligned to meet state and national curriculum and common core and next generation standards.

On April 24th, 44 students and teachers from Hampstead Hill Academy will take in a performance of Mahler's Titan; part of the 2013-2014 Legg Mason Open Rehearsal Series. This series offers serious music students in middle, high school and college a “behind the scenes look” at a working BSO rehearsal.

Legg Mason is also providing transportation for this trip and another trip on February 5th for City Springs Elementary/Middle School. Students will enjoy America the Beautiful, a concert that explores geography and geology while showcasing the beauty of the American landscape.

We would like to thank Legg Mason and BSO for their generosity and commitment to providing outstanding cultural enrichment opportunities for City Schools students.

For more information about the BSO's education programs visit:
http://www.bsomusic.org/bsokids/

Wolfe Street Academy Hosts Raising a Reader Parent Workshop

On December 13th, Wolfe Street Academy hosted a Raising a Reader (RAR) workshop for 42 Pre-K and kindergarten parents. Attendees learned about the Raising a Reader early literacy and family engagement program; participated in story time; and made a craft project with their children. Pre-K Teacher Jennifer Ingersoll-Pintuck led the workshop.

Raising A Reader provides parents with training in how to develop the habit of sharing books with their children. More than 100 high quality books are rotated into each child’s home on a weekly basis for families to practice regular book sharing. Families are also connected to the local library in order to sustain book borrowing and sharing practices.

Funded by a grant from the United States Department of Education and other private partners, Raising A Reader and City Schools will have served over 12,000 children and families by December of 2013. 

This year both Wolfe Street Academy and City Springs Elementary/Middle School were selected to participate in Raising a Reader. This is Hampstead Hill Academy's second year in the program.

We would like to thank Raising A Reader, Baltimore City Public Schools, and the U.S. Department of Education for providing this wonderful opportunity for our students.

About Raising A Reader

Raising A Reader is a national non-profit organization offering local agencies an evidence-based early literacy and parent engagement program that has demonstrated it can improve the reading readiness skills of children birth to age eight.

For more information visit: http://www.raisingareader.org

Stamp Act Webpage Designed by Hampstead HIll Academy Students

Check out this amazing webpage on The Stamp Act, designed by Hampstead Hill Academy 8th graders Anna Shafer, Simone Shafer, and Sara Florez from Amy Kosmer's class. The webpage was part of a class research project. Each group chose their own way to present the research information and this group designed the webpage themselves. The webpage includes a glossary, timeline, bibliography, essential questions, and a slideshow.

View the webpage at:
http://revolution-stampact.weebly.com/