8:00 AM - 9:00 AM MLK Day-No School for Students and Staff
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort B
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM All Students Virtual
8:15 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort A
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort B
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort A
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort B
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM All Students Virtual
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort A
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort B
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort A
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort B
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM All Students Virtual
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM All Schools Half Day - District-wide Staff PD-Virtual Learning
8:35 AM - 3:15 PM Cohort B
Greetings Berkshire Families:
I have to start off by saying that the start of our hybrid learning model has been a success! The students, teachers, support staff and our families have all been awesome in the way that we have worked together to safely provide in-person learning opportunities to students while still meeting the needs of our fully virtual learners. Yes, live-streaming is certainly a challenge, but I am so proud of our teachers and support staff for rising to the challenge and continuing to grow and learn every day. I sincerely appreciate the patience and support of everyone as we work through this transitional time period of learning.
On a related note, I also want to remind families that we are currently unable to consider any additional requests for change in cohorts or moves from virtual to in-person learning at this time. We are still able to accommodate any requests by families to move their children from in-person to virtual, but we cannot process any more requests to move from virtual to in-person until at least April 23rd. We will certainly notify families as soon as we can again consider requests to move from virtual to in-person learning prior to April 23rd.
Finally, as we enter MLK Day weekend, I want to remind students and families that we do not have school (in-person or virtual) on MLK Day (Monday 1/18). However, we have spent time throughout this week pausing to reflect and honor the life and legacy of Dr. King. As an example, please take a moment to watch the video that stars some of our students and staff as they read excerpts from Dr. King’s famous speech I Have Been to the Mountaintop. https://youtu.be/zIldStn9920 A special thank you goes out to our dynamic CSO Pam Lucken for producing the video.
Have a great weekend!
Jason Clinkscale
Principal
Berkshire Middle School
End of Quarter 2
We have now reached the end of the second card marking period and teachers will be posting finalized grades in PowerSchool that will be available for viewing on Tuesday (1/19) after 9 am. We do not mail home report cards, except for the fourth and final card marking period.
Time and Bell Schedule
Yearbook Survey
Hello Berkshire Families! We are ready to start selling yearbooks! In order to get a pre-count, your help is greatly appreciated. Please fill out the form by clicking on the link below if you are interested in purchasing a yearbook for the 2021 school year.
Remember this is just a pre-count. Yearbooks will be sold online starting February 1, 2021 for $40.00 each. This includes shipping and handling. It will be shipped directly to your house in June. More information will be coming soon.
https://forms.gle/LG3BxGTsRaZCESMc6
Winter 2 Sports Update
Berkshire families, the winter 2 sports season is coming up soon. Currently the district is working through many things to get our next opportunity for athletics up and running. Specifically, winter two sports traditionally include Boys Swimming, Girls Volleyball and Wrestling. All of these sports are being affected by our current Covid situation and subsequent decisions made by the district and our league (COMSAC – Central Oakland Middle School Athletic Conference). Many schools in our league will not be offering athletics at all this season. Those schools that are offering athletics are creating plans that will make this year’s winter 2 look different than in the past.
Requirements:
Registration link: In process. Will be sent out ASAP when made available by the district.
Safety & Social Distancing:
ATTENTION ALL 8TH GRADE PARENTS
9th Grade Scheduling Timeline
Email your counselor if you need help entering your courses into Power School.
Mrs. Hardeman’s Email Address (A-L): Rhardeman@birmingham.k12.mi.us
Mrs. Battle’s Email Address (M-Z): Abattle@birmingham.k12.mi.us
VARC Update
With the move to our hybrid schedule, our Virtual Academic Resource Center will continue to be offered on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, during lunch and rec. You can access VARC through this VARC Zoom Link
This is a great first stop for academic support! Encourage your child to sign in and touch base with our Berkshire staff. We are so happy to support our Berkshire students!
VARC updated times:
Monday – 11:21am-12:58pm
Wednesday – 11:05-12:40pm
Friday – 11:21am-12:58pm
Final Picture Retake/Make-up day
If you have not had your picture taken this year or you need a retake we will have the photographers here one more time:
Thursday, February 11
After School from 3:30-5:00
Berkshire Cafeteria
Berkshire families,
As we continue with virtual learning and now prepare for in-person learning opportunities as well, we have come to recognize the need for parents to have some guidance on how to best support their children at home. With everything going on these days and the relative stressors that are out there, we understand that time, patience and an understanding of how to help your student can be tough to come by. As a result, we put together a list of ideas that will help any student be more successful not only during virtual learning, but throughout their education. We hope that you can find some things here that can add to your parenting “toolbox.”
Attendance - Ideas to help:
Is your student showing up?
What to stress to your student:
Nightly have your student walk you through Schoology
As they meet expectations, you can gradually ease up on nightly check-ins and move towards every few days or once a week. Give and take goes a long way with middle schoolers.
Develop a calendar and a schedule for your student based off what you see in Schoology
Checking Grades:
Go over zoom etiquette and your expectations
What are your expectations for their participation in class?
Questions to ask/consider:
SLANT
SLANT is the best way to get ready to be engaged in class:
Sit up
Lean forward
Ask questions
Note Take
Technology Issues
If you have any issues with technology:
*If you are requesting an exchange due to a faulty laptop, please follow the same procedure stated above.
Contact Berkshire's Tech Support:
Ms. Garbutt: Lgarbutt@birmingham.k12.mi.us
Office #: 248-203-4735
School Supplies
Make sure school supplies they will need for each class is on their desk or work space: books, binders, pencils, pens (blue, black, red), paper, highlighters, etc. Once you establish your expectations with your student, check-in with their teachers to hold them accountable.
Encourage your students to:
Get Academic Help:
VARC:
(Virtual Academic Resource Center) is a great place to get extra help with an assignment, reading comprehension, studying for an upcoming test, or reviewing a math concept.
We find that once a student comes to VARC once, they are happy to return – so encourage your middle schooler to stop by! We love giving one-on-one support to our wildcats.
Monday-Friday, from 11:05-11:45 am. Simply have your child join with this VARC zoom link.
We encourage you to fill out this VARC form. It gives us contact information for you and your child, so that we can follow up and make sure we’ve met their needs.
Saturday School:
Time: 9 – 11 am.
Dates: December: 19 - January: 9, 22, 30 - February: 6, 27 -March: 6, 13, 20 - April: 10, 17, 24 - May: 1, 8, 15, 22.
Please visit the BPS Saturday School webpage to learn more and we hope to see you in this year’s virtual setting! https://www.birmingham.k12.mi.us/domain/839
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2047672482?pwd=T3pVU1REUXZTN09NM1MvSSsrVTJiZz09
Teacher “Office Hours”
Every teacher is open for one on one help from 11-11:40 am Monday, Tuesday & Thursday every week.
Reach out for Social/Emotional Help:
Counselors:
Last Names A-L = Ms. Hardeman: 248-203-4714
Rhardeman@birmingham.k12.mi.us
Last Name M-Z = Ms. Battle: 248-203-4711
Daily check-in question stems – Instead of asking “How was school?” try these questions to gain more information about how your child is doing in school.
What was the best part about your school day?
What was the hardest thing you had to do today?
Did any of your classmates do anything funny?
Tell me about what you read in class.
Do you think math [or any subject] is too easy or too hard?
What did you do for lunch?
Did you join any clubs?
Can you show me something you learned (or did) today?
Virtual Learning Frequently asked questions:
***NOTE: (Both the Schoology and ClassLink App can only be used with student accounts at this time)
Q. Can I download the schoology App on my phone or tablet?
A. Yes you can-
Q. Can I download the Classlink App on my phone or tablet?
A. Yes you can-
Q. I am trying to login to Zoom but it says my account is invalid or I get an error message...
A. This usually happens if you get disconnected from Zoom- It may show you still as logged in but your account is no longer connected.
Try this:
When I go to Schoology, I can't find my school-
If you are going to Schoology.com you have to find your District (Not School) before logging on. An easier way is to go to ClassLink and then open Schoology from there. You are encouraged to always use ClassLink for all your school needs. ClassLink is the quickest, easiest way to navigate through Virtual Learning.
In the event that ClassLink is unavailable please go directly to Schoology: Schoology
Q. I can't log in-
A. To best assist you with this problem, we need to know what you can't log in to. Possibly you are using the wrong account information for a site that you need to login to. Remember, if you are using ClassLink, your username and password information are collected and stored in ClassLink so You don't have to log on every time you need it.
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Here are places you would need credentials: |
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Computer logon -(district devices only) |
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ClassLink logon - This is your username and password (Birmingham Account) |
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Office 365 logon-Use your Birmingham Account. Make sure to set up in ClassLink |
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Outlook Email - Use your (Birmingham Account) @birmingham.k12.mi.us credentials. Make sure to set up in ClassLink. |
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Powerschool - Use your Birmingham username and your password given to you from the district. Send an email to wborovsky@birmingham.k12.mi.us if you need it reset. |
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Gmail - Use your @bps-schools.com credentials. Email Mrs. Garbutt at lgarbutt@birmingham.k12.mi.us if you need your password reset. Make sure to set up in ClassLink. |
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Google Drive - Use your @bps-schools.com credentials. Email Mrs. Garbutt at lgarbutt@birmingham.k12.mi.us if you need your password reset Make sure to set up in ClassLink.
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Q. I log on to Schoology, but I can’t upload my assignments from Google Drive-
A. There are three reasons this may happen:
Reason one: - The Schoology Extension did not load properly. Reinstall if you are having issues.
Reason two: - You did not use ClassLink to access Schoology. Close the browser, then reopen it and navigate to ClassLink to open Schoology.
Reason three- You did not connect your Google Resource Drive in Schoology. Make sure to download the Google Resource app while in Schoology and then put in your Google credentials to connect them to your assignments.The next time you use Google Resource, it will automatically log you on as long as you have logged on through ClassLink.
If your teacher has assigned a Google Drive Assignment to you, you can use the Google Drive Assignments App to submit your assignment.
Administration
Principal
Jason Clinkscale
248-203-4704
email
Assistant Principal
Julie LaBurn
Grade 6th Grade /7th Grade A-L
248-203-4747
email
Assistant Principal
Michael Babcock
248-203-4746
8th Grade /7th Grade M-Z
email
Main Office Staff
Principal’s Secretary
P. VanFaussien
248-203-4703
Main Office Receptionist
W. Borovsky
248-203-4702
Clinic/Attendance Secretary
H. Dacey
248-203-4718
Attendance Reporting
248-203-4700 ~ (Option # 2)
Counseling Office
A. Battle
248-203-4711
Last Names M-Z:
R. Hardeman
248-203-4714
Last Names A-L:
Department Contacts
Cafeteria Manager
248-203-4721
Transportation
248-203-3940
21707 W. 14 Mile Road Beverly Hills, MI 48025
Phone: 248-203-4700Fax: 248-203-4802