Perspectives
 by the Green Team

Cafeteria Perspective

    People from all around the school buy their sizzling lunches in the CAFETERIA!

   Recently, I have spoken to a student about the cafeteria and here is what I found out. The student, who is new, said the cafeteria is ok and the student said it might take some time to adapt to. But people are whipping out their lunch money in a heartbeat and swiping a lunch as fast as they can. Obviously, the lunch is good, but the BIG hit are the slushies.  Snack time has shot through the roof like a rocket, and the line is almost as big as the lunch line! There are some sideliners here in the cafeteria, however, because the snack fee might be a bit too high.  Recently, BMS has added a new system for buying lunch by using an ID card, which is working out well. All in all, everyone seems pleased at lunchtime.

Student-Led Conferences

    In Bernardsville Middle School, all kids have student-led conferences.  The reason behind this conference is to improve students’ skills on interviews for when they grow up. The conferences allow the kids to be responsible for their own work.  The children put their papers together and reflect on their work.  They then rehearse with a partner in Literacy.  On November 5th or 6th , parents bring their children to school and talk formally about what they have done in their classes lately.  Each conference lasts about fifteen to twenty minutes.  So far, they have proved very successful at BMS.

Red Ribbon Week

   Every year BMS celebrates a week called Red Ribbon week or Drug Awareness Week.  For every day of the week there is a different thing that students are asked to do, like wear a favorite sweatshirt. The schedule for the week is; Monday = wear your favorite sweatshirt, Tuesday = wear RED, Wednesday = wear your favorite hat, Thursday = wear a team jersey, and  Friday = wear jeans to school. Red Ribbon Week begins on October 22nd and ends on October 26th this year.

   Also, the literary magazine, a new club at BMS, is having a contest to celebrate Red Ribbon Week. Students can write an essay, short story, or poem about a specific topic. Winners will receive prizes: the first place is a fifteen dollar gift certificate to Barnes and Noble, second place is ten dollars to Barnes and Noble, and third is a five dollar gift certificate to Barnes and Noble.  That is the update on the literary magazine and Red Ribbon Week!!!

Spirit Days

   If you visit BMS, you will probably notice that students from grades 5-8 are more unified.  The reason behind this is quite interesting.  Since last year, students in BMS have been in color teams.  The teams are blue, green, yellow, orange, red and white.  Each team is competing with the other.  The teams have a certain number of points and at the end of the year the team with the most points gets a party.  There are many good ways to win points.  Points can be won in class, by being a good neighbor, or during Spirit Day.

   Spirit Day, which occurs once a month, is when the six teams go out and participate in a number of fun activities.  One spirit day already occurred on the first Friday of school.  On that day, really fun activities took place; one activity was tag.  One team was “it” and they had to run around and tag the other kids.  If a student was tagged, he was frozen and had to rely on kids from his team to get him unfrozen.  Another exciting activity included team members lining up, holding the shoulders of the team member in front, and running around without breaking the line. Team members also had to pick up as many balls as possible and whichever team had the most balls won.

   Throughout the year BMS has many spirit days.  The fifth graders enjoyed one period a few weeks ago in the cafeteria learning about the dangers of cheating and plagiarizing.  They learned a few rules, including “if you help somebody cheat, you are cheating too.”

   Students at BMS are looking forward to another fun -filled day soon.  The new colored teams and spirit days are not only fun, but they unify all the students of BMS.

 Close this window to return to
The Bulldog News Home Page