Each year at the beginning of March there is a buzz in the air around the celebration of reading and literacy in our classrooms throughout Baker. This year our students kicked off National Reading Month by collecting books for those in need, facilitating contests, engaging in fundraising efforts and creating opportunities for uninterrupted reading. Our students are taking the lead in motivating everyone to read more this month and hope to inspire everyone to continue reading every day of the year. Reading regularly is a healthy activity for every person and has been linked to the development of positive mental health throughout our lives. To see how you can support our student's efforts in their mission, please look at the information below.

March is Reading Month Fundraising Event: “Let Our Reading Adventure Begin!” 2019

We are fundraising to install book murals like the ones below

These are the locations where we will put the murals

Events throughout the month...

• Read-A-Thon: Students will collect donations to add book murals to our Baker Hallway.
• Door Decorating: Students will decorate their classroom doors to celebrate reading. It can be a favorite book, a book related to your content area or related to our theme, “Let Our Reading Adventure Begin”.
• Book Drive: Used book collection March 11 - 15 in the flag hallway before school
• Need a Book, Take a Book: Book shop March 19 & 20 in the flag hallway before school
• Bake Sale: March 26 & 27 in the flag hallway before school

Important Dates

March 11-15: Book Drive

• This is a great time for students to clean out their bookshelves at home and bring in books they’ve finished reading. Raffle tickets will be given for every three books donated. Prizes include Zoyo gift cards and new books! Students can drop books off before school in the flag hallway.

March 19 & 20: Need a Book, Take a Book

• The books collected during our drive will be displayed for browsing. Before school, students may take up to 2 (new to them) books.

March 25: Read-A-Thon Pledges Due

March 26 & 27: Baker Book Club Bake Sale

March 27: Read-A-Thon

• All students at Baker will be reading in their ELA class
• Students will collect donations to add book murals to our Baker Hallway.

The 2019-2020 PowerSchool Schedule Request Deadline is Extended to Monday 3/4/19!

Current 6th and 7th Graders

We understand that many of you are still in the process of scheduling your student's classes for the 2019-2020 school year. We are extending the PowerSchool Schedule Request Deadline to Monday at 3 pm. If you have not had the chance to register, please enter your student's online course requests through the PowerSchool Parent Portal and return your student's course selection form to their Science teacher. If you need assistance with the online registration process, please click on the tutorial videos below:

7th Grade Online Registration Tutorial (Current 6th Graders)

8th Grade Online Registration Tutorial (Current 7th Graders)

High School Scheduling

Current 8th Grade Students

Athens and Troy High School counselors will visit Baker on Thursday, March 7th to distribute materials and speak with students about the scheduling process for high school. They will return to Baker on Thursday, March 21st to collect the schedule request forms. Please be sure to create a PowerSchool Parent Portal before this date as the high schools will also be utilizing this system for scheduling. More details to come!

Pennies for Pasta - Pennies for Patients Fundraiser

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Once again Baker is partnering with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to join the fight against leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma. On Friday March 1st, we held our annual Pennies for Patients fundraiser assembly. A representative from the LLS came to Baker to share the work that they do to fund research in finding cures. This month we will participate in a Pennies for Patients fundraiser to collect donations.

The money collected will go to the LLS, which funds lifesaving research for the most lethal disease children face, blood cancers, and provide aid to Michigan patients and their families. While other large cancer organizations target their mission investment on prevention and early detection, LLS invests in CURES because most blood cancers cannot be prevented or detected early.

Collection for the fundraiser begins Monday March 4th and runs through Wednesday March 22nd. The collection will take place during 4th hour. The winning class receives an Olive Garden Lunch. Last year we did not meet our goal of $8,000, but still raised $6,389. This year we are setting our school goal at $8,000 again with hopes of exceeding last year's total.

Baker Athletics

VOLLEYBALL SPIRIT WEAR ON SALE - Spirit wear shirts are available to all fans (staff, students, families, etc) that support our Baker TOUGH student-athletes. It will be available for purchase for $10 (or $12 for larger sizes) and we expect to have them back in about a week. Please click on the link above to place your orders online.

Science Olympiad

Way to go Baker Science Olympiad! 30 students traveled to Allendale, Michigan on Saturday and came back victorious. One team placed 1st overall and the other placed 5th out of 28 teams. This weekend the teams will compete in the Region 6 Qualifier for States. Good Luck Baker scientists!

Allendale Invitational Highlights:

• Anatomy - 1st place by Vishnav Ramesh and Rithwik Paladugu
• Circuit Lab - 1st place by Srivatsav Bendi and Yashwant Dubbaka
• Crimebusters - 1st place by Nurayada Albeez and Arya Shah
• Density Lab - 1st place by Akashj Sharma and Shreya Giriraj
• Elastic Launch Glider - 1st place by Rithwik Paladugu and Akshaj Sharma
• Game on - 1st place by Anish Chandra and Ananya Kalindindi
• Heredity - 1st place by Akshaj Sharma and Vishnav Ramesh
• Meteorology - 1st place by Rithwik Paladugu and Arya Shah
• Solar System - 1st place for Deepak Chilukuri and Sreedevi Swaminathan

MSBOA & MSVMA Festivals

Congratulations are in order for our 8th Grade Orchestra students on earning a First Division rating at the MSBOA Festival held at Lakeview High School Friday, March 1st. During the festival the students played for 3 judges, who gave feedback and graded them on different areas of musicianship. They were also evaluated on the ability to sight read and play a piece never seen before.

Congratulations are also in order for the Symphonic Band Students on another 1st Division rating at the MSBOA band festival today. They received the highest possible core of a straight “A+” in every category in sight reading! This was a very big week for our Fine Arts department. Thank you for making your Baker Family proud!

8th Grade Choir

We are pleased to announce that the Baker 8th Grade Choir will be participating in the Michigan School Vocal Music Association District Choral Festival once again this year. The festival experience allows our singers to be adjudicated by a panel of judges in performance and sight reading. They also get the opportunity to hear other middle schools from around the area perform as well. It is a fantastic learning experience all around. Good luck Bobcats!

Washington DC Trip

Registration is open for the 2020 8th Grade Washington DC Trip. The trip is scheduled for February 14 - 18, 2020. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Macintosh zmacIntosh@troy.k12.mi.us 248.823.4689. For more information and early registration, please click on the link below.

Spring Parent/Teacher Conferences

Thursday, March, 14th from 5 - 8 pm

The Spring Parent Teacher Conferences are right around the corner. They are scheduled for Thursday, March, 14th from 5 - 8 pm. We are using the online Conference Manager scheduling tool to reserve conference times. This software, will allow you to pick and choose your own schedule for conferences, which can make for a more efficient and personalized experience for parents. Click on the link below to visit the Conference Manager website.

The Conference Manager will open Wednesday, March 6th at 6 am and close Wednesday, March 13th at 3 pm.

A few tips:

• Keep “travel” time in mind and please do not schedule back to back conferences as it will take time to travel from room to room. Please allow 5 minutes between time slots.
• Please only schedule one conference per teacher/class (unless you have more than one child per teacher). 6th grade parents may schedule two back-to-back sessions with their ELA teacher since it is a 2-hour block.
• You can add comments/questions when scheduling your time that the teacher can see to help guide the conference
• Need help with directions? You can always call the office and we will help get you scheduled.

Religious Diversity Journey

This week our Religious Diversity Journey students visited the Hidden Falls Gurdwara in Plymouth. They had the opportunity to hear from Sikhs who explained Sikh beliefs and customs. Students participated in a service project and ate together in the Lungar (community) hall. Students also had the opportunity to learn how to wrap their hair in a turban and visited the prayer hall.

This Week at Baker

PTO Communication

Help Needed in the Bobshop

The sign up is open for March! Please click on the link below to sign up. Spots fill up quickly. Thank you. We are looking forward to a great Bob Shop for the rest of the school year! - The Bob Shop Committee

Kroger Rewards & Amazon Smile