Dear Derby Families,

It was quite a musical masterpiece last week as our Dragons showcased their hard work and talents. Bravo to both our choir and band as they both put on fantastic holiday concerts. We were impressed and entertained both evenings. Mr. Smith, Mr. Costello and I can’t wait to hear what the orchestra has in store for us this Wednesday night!

I wish everyone a great December week!

Go Dragons,
Marla Otterbacher
Principal

Derby Middle School Week at a Glance 2019-2020
To submit an item for next week’s Derby E-News, email mpapp@birmingham.k12.mi.us

Monday (12-9)
Boys Basketball Red Away vs. Bloomfield Hills Middle School 4:00 PM
Boys Basketball White Home vs. Hazel Park 4:00 PM
Girls Swim Red Away vs. Bloomfield Hills Middle School 5:00 PM

Tuesday (12-10)
Half-Day Dismissal at 11:25 AM

Wednesday (12-11)
Orchestra Concert 7:00 PM at Seaholm
Boys Basketball Red Away vs. Berkshire 4:00 PM
Boys Basketball White Home vs. Country Day 4:00 PM

Thursday (12-12)
Girls Swim Red Home vs. East Hills Middle School 4:15 PM

Friday (12-13)

Mark Your Calendar-
Winter Recess- December 21st --January 1st Classes Resume January 2, 2020

Derby Attendance Reminders

To Report an Absence:
To notify the school of a student’s absence, a parent or guardian must telephone the 24-hour answering service 248-203-5000 option 2 no later than 8:00 a.m. or by email at derbyattendance@birmingham.k12.mi.us on the school day of the absence. Please note that sending a note to your child's teacher does not excuse your child. Always report absence to the attendance phone line or email. 

Picking up Your Student During the School Day:
Students who leave Derby for any reason during the school day must sign out in the Main Office. Students must submit a written note from the parent or guardian to the Main Office in the morning. The student will be given a pass in exchange for the note to leave class at the requested time. The student will present the pass to leave the class to their teacher at the start of class. The parent/guardian must come in to the Main Office to sign out his/her child.

Clubs, Clubs, Clubs

As we venture into the cold, dark days of winter, it is time to jump into some Derby after school activities. Our winter session of clubs, which will begin the week of January 6, 2020. Some of our winter offerings include: Girls Who Code, Sewing Club, Roblox Game Design, Chess Club, Rubick’s Cube 101, Power Yoga, Typing 101, Scratch Coding, Winter Running Club, and Competitive Video Gaming. The winter club registration form is available in the Derby main office or electronically at https://www.birmingham.k12.mi.us/Page/9737. Registration forms are due by Wednesday 12/18/2019. If you have any questions, please reach out to Mrs. Westerlund at kwesterlund@birmingham.k12.mi.us.

Derby’s Hour of Code

Is your child interested in technology? Would he/she be interested in learning more about Coding? If so, an Hour of Code might be just the right activity. The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. Please send in the registration form by Friday, December 13 to join one AccelerateKID in one of the upcoming sessions. If you have any questions, please reach out to Mrs. Westerlund at kwesterlund@birmingham.k12.mi.us.

Box Tops for LINKS

Hello Derby Families,
Box Tops has gone digital! Please consider downloading the Box Top app on your phone and all you have to do is take a picture of your receipt and Box Tops does the rest, no more clipping! Donating your box tops raises money for the Derby LINKS program to provide games, activities, field trips, and parties. We get 10 cents for every box top, so this can really help to fund our peer to peer program that over 100 students participate in.

You can find more information on this process here:
https://www.boxtops4education.com/en/How%20To%20Earn

If you still have Box tops, they can be turned into the counseling office. Thank you so much for your support of the Derby Links Program!

Lost and Found

Please ask your student to check the Lost and Found for any items they might be missing and the cafeteria for lunch bags. Any items not claimed will be donated before our holiday December break. Thank you!

LIGHT HOUSE ADOPT-A-FAMILY

Tis the season to come together as a Derby Community to help those who are in need here in our surrounding area. This year, Derby will maintain our holiday tradition of supporting the Lighthouse Adopt-A-Family project November 25th through December 12th. Each A2 class will be sponsoring a member from an adopted family during the holiday season. This year, Derby has adopted 10 families with a total of 26 children. Please find it in your heart to help where you can. Students will be signing up to donate items from a giving list in their A2 classes. All Lighthouse items must be new and unwrapped. The Lighthouse items will be delivered to Lighthouse in Pontiac on Thursday, December 12th. Thank you for supporting Lighthouse and helping families who are in need this holiday season. If you have questions regarding the Lighthouse Adopt-A-Family program, please reach out to mmcgrath@birmingham.k12.mi.us

“Favorite” Annual Event is coming Dec. 17th

Sixth Grade International Festival
Your sixth-grade student recently received a parent letter explaining this popular upcoming event on Dec. 17, in case you missed it click here: Sixth Grade International Festival
We need MANY volunteers to support this event, please click the following link to volunteer for a shift
Volunteer Sign up 
HOPE YOU CAN JOIN THE FUN!!

Join the Derby Music Department on our Donation Drive!

Contact a director or use the link for donation online! These funds help us be able to provide Derby students with top notch instruments, one on one lesson time, sectionals and new published music! 
Online Link: https://www.supportbef.org/derbymusic.html
Director emails:
Band- sbarclay@birmingham.k12.mi.us
Choir- jhummel@birmingham.k12.mi.us
Orchestra- nkarpinsky@birmingham.k12.mi.us

Band Trips

Sign up for the 8th grade band trip (May 18-19) is happening NOW. Students need to be registered by Dec. 6th. Contact Mrs. Barclay (sbarclay@birmingham.k12.mi.us) if you need more information. 

Sign up for the Music Department Cedar Point Trip is taking place right now. All 7th grade students in band, choir or orchestra are eligible to sign up. We will be traveling to Cedar Point on Saturday May 16th. The deadline to reserve your child's spot is December 13th. 

Sign up online:
www.bennett-travel.com
Trip ID: DERBY7THGRADEMUSIC-CPT2020
PASSWORD:k1EBaXTv

Sign up via mail:
Send check and form to 
Bennett Travel
861 Arthur Ct
Hastings, MI 48058

OR send $ and form to school and give to your child's director to be sent to the travel company.

Donations for Rec Time

We are looking to add a few games to our cart for Rec time. If you have any of the following games at your home that you no longer use, please consider donating them to Derby. Donations may be turned into the main office, attn: Mrs. Wilde

*Decks of cards
*Uno or Uno Attack
*Sorry
*Blokus
*Headbands
*Chess
*Life
*Monopoly
*Telestations
*Clue

Derby Plarn Farm

Starting in December, during recreation time, our Derby students are invited to join our Derby Plarn Farm where we will use recycled plastic bags and get them ready to be crocheted into mats with a strap, tie and a pillow for the homeless. To learn more about this local project, visit the Motor City Mitten Mission at https://www.motorcitymittenmission.org/mat-pillow-for-the-homeless. Please save your plastic bags (Target, Kroger, etc.) and have your student drop them off in the collection box in the main office. Thank you in advance for your support.

Volunteer Opportunity in Derby Main Office

Your help in our busy front office would be appreciated! A hand managing doors and guests, answering phones, making copies and various other tasks would be a great help. Volunteers will not be working with any student sensitive materials. Time slots are noted in the sign up below. If you are only available for a portion of the time allotted, make a note in the comments detailing the time your are able to volunteer. Thank you! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090545adab2ea64-derby2

Volunteer Opportunity During Recreation Study Hall in the Library

Please consider volunteering in our library during recreation study hall hours 11:00am-1:00pm. Volunteers can help by accepting passes from students, reshelving books and monitoring students while in the library. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090545ADAB2EA64-derby3

Seaholm Boys Basketball Skills Camp

Registration for the December 26th & 27th Seaholm Boys Basketball Skills Camp for boys grades 3-8 is now open! The camp led by Seaholm basketball coaches & varsity players will run from 10am-3pm at the Seaholm gym. The cost is $130 & includes lunch. Additional details are on the website. Please register @ www.seaholmmaplesbasketball.teampages.com


BEF Annual Fund

Through December 31st

https://www.supportbef.org/donate.html 
Donations are being accepted by the BEF this season as they work to help BPS students DREAM BIG. Your gift will become an aquarium, allowing students to watch salmon grow. Or parts for a student-designed robot. It could make a school-wide celebration of Motown possible. It might become a professional musician working directly with high school students, or a character education experience at a middle school. Above all, your gift will become experiences that help students to Dream Big. Visit https://www.supportbef.org/donate.html to make a gift.

Athletic Registration

BPS is happy to announce that PowerSchool Registration, powered by InfoSnap, is also being implemented for Athletic Registration. You may find the link, by clicking here:

https://secure.infosnap.com/family/gosnap.aspx?action=19032&culture=en

As a reminder, this is an online student registration/data validation system, which allows the district to verify all student demographics, emergency and medical information, prior to the start of the athletic season. It is critical to ensure we have the most up-to-date contact and medical information for all students. The system is a secure and green process supporting our focus on safety and security. Electronic registration platforms of all kinds engage parents to ensure that information is entered properly, significantly reducing errors. The system will also allow families to electronically sign the annual permission forms. Reminder: you must still submit a physical to the Athletic Offices prior to participating. All physicals must be dated after April 15, 2018.