The 24 Character Strengths

Friday, October 20, 2017

The Super Strength of Gratitude… and the 24 Character Strengths

Happy Sunday! BCMS Students and Parents,

If you’ve paid attention to the banners that hang from the ceiling of our main hallway in BCMS you’ve noticed that there are 24 of them.  You might wonder, ‘why 24?’

The research behind the 24 Character Strengths was led by a group of former presidents of the American Psychological Association.  Martin Seligman, while meeting with a few of these former presidents, suggested that the field of psychology had been focused for too long (ie: the previous 200 years) on only ½ of the field.  He stated that psychology had always tried to take people from a negative number back to zero (ie: fixing broken people and getting back to baseline).  He then asked what if psychology could be more about taking people from 0 to some more positive number, or better sense of well-being!

This group then tried to define what was meant by the term “character.”  When they all arrived at different definitions, they realized that this was their first work.  And so, they set out to scour all the cultures of the world with one question; “what are the values that are consistent between all cultures?”

When I ask folks how many aspects of character they discovered I often hear numbers in the hundreds and even thousands.  The answer, 24!

That’s where our 24 strengths come from and to read more about the scientific studies that this group propagated in the span of time between 1999 and 2004 read Character Strengths and Virtues, by Seligman and his co-author Chris Peterson.  It’s a dense, thick read that’s definitely at an adult level but it’s full of really interesting research about the banners you’ll see in our halls.

All of these 24 strengths have now been researched extensively.  What the research continues to demonstrate is that some strengths, like GRATITUDE, are “super strengths,” in that, when we intentionally practice them, it makes us healthier and happier.  

Read more here:

• 7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude
• Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude

More about the strengths in upcoming weeks, but Gratitude is one of my favorites!

Mr. Klugman

End of Week Notes

Parent Coffee with Counselors - This Thursday, 9:30 AM, Library Media Center

• Each year our counselors host this event to talk with parents about the scope and sequence of our counseling program through 6th, 7th and 8th grades including the transitions into the building and to the High School.  We hope you can join us (no RSVP required)

Thank you’s

• To our PTO and all of the students and parents who participated in our PTO meeting Monday night
• For more information about our clubs check out this link
• Here is a list of our clubs that we will try to keep up to date as new clubs form (for example, Mr. Klamka just started our Songwriting Club a few weeks ago)
• To join a club or find out more about visit the classroom and / or teacher listed
• Thanks to Mr. Warford and our Garden Club for another great Scarecrow Day!  

It’s Costume Ball Week!

• We still need lots of parent volunteers and yes, you come in costume!
• To sign up please use this link
• Please also note that the only parents allowed into the event are those who are volunteering

BOU’s Talking with your Tween and Teen

• The BOU’s Talking with your Teen is appropriate for MS students and their Parents!
• Read more here

PTO News & Notes

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

We are still desperately in need of volunteers for the Costume Ball next week!  If you can, please sign up to help. Thank you so much! Use the link above

Costume Ball

*Ticket Sales for students (during  lunches): 10/25, 10/26 & 10/27   11am-12n & 12n-1:15pm

*Chaperones: 10/27   6:15-8:30 or 9:30 pm

*Bakers: 10/27 (Drop off)  8am-3pm or 4-6pm

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0444aaac2da1f49-halloween2

*Decorators (for the Haunted House): 10/26 starting at 3:00pm

Please email:  pmcgaughan@bcsd.neric.org

Parent Coffee & Counselor Presentation

*Bakers: 10/26 by 8:30am

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0444aaac2da1f49-bakers

REMINDER: PTO membership dues and assignment notebook payments are due!  You can make payment via our website at https://www.bcmspto.org/ or include your student's name and info on an envelope labeled “PTO” and turn it in at the main office.

Please note:  Box tops for Education are due Nov 1st; please send yours in by Friday, October 27th

A Great Fall Weekend!

Good morning BCMS Community;

Last week’s end of week notes were delayed to remind all of the Great Event we have tonight for new students including all of our 6^th graders. 

At tonight’s PTO Meeting we will have student representatives from our various clubs and activities give a brief overview of each with the hope of recruiting new members or simply promoting the mission of each club.

The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is located in our Library.

Congrats to our many Fall Sports teams on their successful seasons both here at BCMS and to our former BCMS student-athletes now at the HS.  

Congrats also to our BC Chess Club who won their home invitational this weekend in defense of their regional championship the last two years.

Congrats and thanks to our Garden Club for their work at this weekend's Delmar Farmer's Market.

Lastly, it might sound strange that I congratulate the students and staff that attended the Washington, D.C. trip this past weekend but any time we have a group represent our schools, our families and our students with pride and dignity, as this group did, we're grateful that they maintain the legacy of the many groups before them!

On behalf of our PTO we look forward to seeing you at our meeting tonight!

Mr. Klugman

BCMS News & Notes

In case you missed it... on Tuesday, October 10, WNYT News Channel 13 aired a story highlighting the hard work and success of the Bethlehem Central Middle School Garden Club. Anchor Jerry Gretzinger interviewed a few club members, along with “veggie whisperer” Mr. Warford, as they showed what it takes to maintain the school’s extensive gardens and shared their devotion to delivering delicious and nutritious food options to students and the community at large.  You can see the story here: http://www.bethlehemschools.org/bcms-garden-club-featured-wnyt/

BOU Presents – Talking with your Tween & Teen 2017

On Thursday November 02, 2017 Bethlehem Opportunities Unlimited will be hosting our annual “Talking with your Teen” presentation.  This year’s focus will be on emotional health and wellbeing with a panel of presenters which includes Kristen Connor, a local pediatrician, Donna Bradbury associate commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health and Dr. Jennifer Smitkin.  

The first Capital Region CoderDojo session of the school year will be held on October 16th, from 6:30pm-8:00pm, we will welcome guest teacher Dan Phiffer from Eyebeam, an organization that celebrates opportunities to merge the best of Art and Technology. Dan will present the Mapzen App, an emerging competitor of Google Maps. Together with students, Dan will work on developing new features of the application, demonstrate programming techniques, art innovation and data mapping within Mapzen. The October 16th session will be held at RPI. For further details, and to sign-up for the session follow this link: https://zen.coderdojo.com/dojos/us/new-york/delmar/capital-region-new-york.

From our PTO - Thanks to everyone for supporting our PTO

Volunteer Opportunities

Bakers needed for Parent Coffee & Counselor Presentation, 10/26 by 8:30a

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0444aaac2da1f49-bakers

Halloween Costume Party

Ticket Sales: 10/25, 10/26 & 10/27:  11am—12n  &  12n—1:15pm

Chaperones  Friday, 10/27  6:15---8:30 or 9:30 pm

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0444aaac2da1f49-halloween

Decorate the Haunted House---Thursday, 10/26 starting at 3:00pm

email:  pmcgaughan@bcsd.neric.org

Box tops for Education are due Nov 1st, please send yours in by Friday, October 27th please

A Time & Place ...& Moderation!

Happy Friday!

This week sees the end of our first 5 weeks and if, to you, it feels like we just started school, our staff feel the same way!  We often comment to parents in our 5^th grade orientations that this 3 years of middle school will feel like it flew by and this past 5 weeks is testament to that.

In my observations of students over the last 5 years I see stark changes in attention and distractibility.  I don’t know if this is related to device-use but I suspect so.  The sway that devices have in the lives of children is more pervasive and prevalent than it has ever been and the truth that we struggle with as educators and as parents is that we have no idea what this means to our children in 5, 10 or 20 years from now.  Our school-based approach on this consequently is the age-old expression ‘all things in moderation.’ 

This is why we do not allow students to bring their Chromebooks to lunch or use their cell phones in the lunch room.  The result – LOUD, but we love it.  The students are talking, touching base, making connections and reinforcing social skill.  Throughout my career I have always been what’s referred to as an ‘early adopter.’  I have long been willing to try anything that might help students.  Some might observe that this stands in contrast to an ethos of moderation but I always try to remain informed by what I read coming out of respectable research outlets.  This week I saw this article “Your Teen’s Phone is Ruining Her Concentration” and I was reminded of this theme of moderation and that there is a ‘time and place’ for all things.

I hope you find the article as insightful as I did, but even more I hope you have a great long weekend.  We teachers try to take at least one day off from school-work over a long weekend to focus on our own families and to get away from all distractions as a reminder that our families are our most important priority! 

Enjoy your family no matter its structure and Have a Great Long Weekend!

Mike Klugman

End of Week Notes

Thank you - WOW - What a Great Salads for Kids Day
For those who may not be aware, we have fewer students this year than we have had in more than 10 years.  So why did we eat more salad than ever before?!

One Answer; our students love Salad and fresh Veggies from our Garden.

Special thanks to ...

Mr. Warford and the Garden Club

To our Cafeteria Staff for their support

To our many parent - volunteers who make this event possible!

Student Leadership Committees (Formerly PAC)

Yesterday I sent an email out to all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students via their school-based email addresses encouraging them to consider joining one of our 9 leadership committees.  A list of these 9 committees came out of our earlier survey of students with regard to those things they'd like to engage with to make our school better.  We have a Student Leadership Committee (SLC) website with more information.

Unfortunately for parents, you WILL BE able to visit the website but the Google Classroom and Meeting Pages for each committee can only be opened by students (they will need to be signed into their school accounts).  If you want to review these you'll have to look over your students' shoulders when they are logged and you can tell that Mr. K gave you permission!

You may notice that our website also has a calendar and this is an intentional redundancy that should begin showing the dates of our committee meetings so please bookmark the SLC website linked above.

Please also encourage your son or daughter to pick one committee and get engaged.  The only way we have to demonstrate to them that their voice and leadership are important is by creating opportunities like this and the skills they can learn, while not measured on any standardized test, will carry with them forever!

PTO Meeting - Open to ALL Parents and Students

Reminder – Our PTO Meeting on Monday, October 16^th (7:00 PM in the Library Media Center) is open to BOTH parents and students!  It has become an annual tradition to have representative students from our various clubs and activities come to speak and orient about what their groups do.  It’s a great way to create engagement and a sense of belonging.  Students who participate in events outside of their curriculum feel more ownership of the middle school as “theirs” and also come to form wider associations in their peer groups.

For more information about our clubs and opportunities you can also check out: http://www.bethlehemschools.org/bcms/parents/

District Strategic Planning Committee
Next Wednesday, Oct. 11, the Bethlehem Central School District Strategic Planning Committee is hosting a Community Forum from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the high school library.

The committee is seeking to gather input for a strategic plan tentatively titled Design for Excellence 2025. The long-term plan will examine the district’s core values, mission and vision, and map out goals and strategies that will help guide district decision-making into the next decade. The planning process is just beginning and will likely extend through early 2019.

Please consider attending the forum on Wednesday to share your vision for the future of BC. You can RSVP here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BCSD-Community-Forum
Learn more about the Strategic Planning process: http://www.bethlehemschools.org/strategic-planning-committee/

From our PTO

Thanks to everyone for supporting our PTO

Picture days went great thanks to you

Date to be included in the directory extended !!!.  You now have until Sunday 10/8 to sign up for the directory!! Consider joining & supporting the PTO too.  The easiest way is to go to our PTO website, bcmspto.org, go to the PTO Store tab  and do online.  Also, you can pay for the agenda book, there if you haven’t already done so.

~Please remember to bring in your Box Tops (receptacle box in lobby)

For all 7^th and 8^th Graders…   Winter sports sign-ups are happening now for middle school and high school sports. Any interested athletes should visit their school health office to sign up. The deadline is Friday, October 13 and all paperwork is due to the health office by Monday, October 16.

Have a great Weekend