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BMS Support Team |
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Students' FAQsASK THE COUNSELORS! Answers to BMS Students' Questions!
I am brand new to this school. How do I make friends? First of all, you�re right� this building IS huge! However, it�s a great new building so all you have to do is ask for directions if you�re ever lost. The UAs are near the cafeteria side of the building. The gym is in the middle of the building near the main office. The Guidance office is on the other side of the main office, as is the nurse�s office. The library is on the main floor also. It�s the one with all the books inside! Sixth graders live on the ground floor with those Francais and Espanol-speaking people. Then there�s the teams Acadia and Sugarloaf on the main floor, and Baxter and Katahdin on the top floor. Then lots of little offices in between! Remember , just ask if you�re lost. The one thing you want more than anything else is to make friends and yet it really is not that easy sometimes. Here�s what you do: Just be yourself, be friendly and easygoing. Be involved! The best thing you can do to meet friends is to join a club or sport to get to know different people. Talk to those who sit near you in class (not during class of course). Talk to someone in the lunch line. Everyone else could help out new students by talking to those who look like they could use a friend. Just say hello! Invite them to sit with you at lunch or talk with your friends at recess. Try to remember what it was like to be brand new! I have way too much on my mind. I can't concentrate. What do I do? First of all, thanks for telling us! It�s OK to ask for help, especially when you�re feeling so low. Everyone has bad days from time to time. We all have family or friend issues once in a while, too. So, you aren�t alone! You can visit your team�s guidance counselor any time to talk about friends, family, school, or anything else on your mind. We also have some really cool social workers who can also help out. Visit us in the Guidance office near the main office. Let�s work together to make things better. Why do we have so much homework? Wow, that�s not a fun thing to be � swamped with homework! You are probably stressed and tired and feeling overwhelmed, which is understandable. So why do you have so much homework? Well, we asked some teachers, and they told us that really and truly their main goal in life is NOT to make students so stressed out with too much homework. They don�t just give homework for the heck of it. Honestly, they give homework to help you practice what you learned in class. It�s also so you can really show them you understand what you are learning. How else would you get practice to prepare for tests and for remembering the information forever? Here�s what will help you do all that homework: 1. Make sure you always write in your agenda book so you know what homework to do and when it is due to your teacher. 2. Make sure you are organized! Clean out your locker and backpack so you know where your books and binders are. Keep binders neat and in order. Keep a homework folder so you know where all your assignments are. On one side write �to do� and on the other side write �done.� Keep assignments in order! 3. Do your best. Since homework is supposed to be practice, it doesn�t mean it has to be perfect. Just try your best, ask for help when you need it. 4. TURN IN YOUR HOMEWORK WHEN YOU FINISH IT! So many kids are failing classes because they do not turn in homework even though it is completed. Those zeroes will really bring your grades down. GOOD LUCK! Why is school important? What�s the point anyway? Wow that�s a pretty big question. Let�s see, where do we start? Well, school is important for a number of reasons. The most important reason though is that it is to give you an education, knowledge, things you need to know in order to live in the real world. Math and science help you navigate the numbers and unique things in your world. English and reading help you speak better with people in your life, as well as help you understand the world around you since most of it is in the print form. Social studies helps you understand where the world around you begins and doesn�t end. It helps you understand there are so many other people in this world and that everything we do affects everything else. The Unified Arts are important because they teach you different hobbies and interests you might have. They let you explore what your interests are. That�s important because it makes you who you really are. Your teachers care about your well-being. That means that they want you to do well and to learn the best that you can. By offering you a place to learn with other students your teachers are providing you with something invaluable. That means that school is something you are really lucky to have. So, try your best to ignore how unhappy you are when you receive homework or news of an upcoming test. Try to remember that school is preparing you for your WHOLE LIFE and the REAL WORLD! Why is school not optional? Why do we HAVE to be here?? Great question! School is not optional because the state laws tell us it isn�t. So you can stop blaming your parents/guardians, your teachers or your principal. It�s a law that you have to go to school! Why is it a law? Well, mostly to keep kids safe and healthy and prepared for their future lives. Probably the future seems like it is light years away right now and that you�ll probably never get there. BUT your future is really right around the corner. Honest! It will be here before you know it. Everything you do NOW helps you prepare for a great future. By going to school every day you make sure you have the knowledge to help you succeed in a job and in the real world someday. If you miss more than 15 days of school, the guidance counselors send home a note to your parents saying that you really need to be in school more so you don�t stay back in that grade. If you miss more than 30 days of school, you automatically are referred to a committee that will decide if you stay back or not. So, being in school is REALLY important! What is counseling like anyway? It's different for everyone. It's fun, can be hard work, and is oftentimes really helpful. You talk about whatever is on your mind. You might play games, paint or draw, write, play with stress balls, etc. It's up to you and whatever you feel most comfortable with! You can see a counselor alone or with a friend or in a group. What do students talk to counselors & social workers about? ANYTHING! Whatever is on your mind is ok to share with a counselor. This might include: friends, bullying, homework, teachers, parents, family problems, sad feelings, anger, etc. Will the counselor or social worker tell anyone what I talk to her about? Mostly everything is confidential in counseling. However, it is our job to keep you safe, which means if you tell us about any harm you've done or plan to do to yourself or someone else, or any harm someone else might do or has done to you or someone else, then we really need to tell someone. Otherwise, talk on! |
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