BSCS Middle School Band and Choir Honored

On May 7th, the Music program at Bonita Springs Charter Middle School attended "Music in the Parks" Choir and Band Festival at Busch Gardens in Tampa. This festival presents our students with the opportunity to grow their musical expertise by listening and competing against other ensembles from other schools from different states. Our participation is the result of combined efforts by parents, administration and students at BSCS. This year, we participated with 2 Bands, and 2 Choirs, that compete in different categories.

Here are the results:

Intermediate Concert Band 1st year, 6 - 7 Grade Students	1st Place with an Excellent rating.
Advanced Concert Band 7 - 8 Grade Students	1st Place with a Superior rating.
Mixed Choir 6 - 7 Boys and Girls	1st Place with a Superior rating.
Chamber Choir Smaller group 7 - 8 Girls Only	1st Place with a Superior rating, and Best Overall Performance for Middle School/Junior High Choirs

We are very proud of our student's achievement; many thanks to all the BSCS family for their support.

Antonio’s Song: Chilean born trumpeter teaches BSCS students the value of music

It takes a unique sort of patience to teach a middle school band. While many teachers strive to keep a quiet, orderly class for lessons, a band teacher’s job is to maintain a noisy class that’s also orderly.

As Antonio Castillo directs his intermediate class in Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” at Bonita Charter School one morning, he has to stop every few bars for a gentle correction. The clarinets are too forceful, or the trumpets come in too early or too late. But it’s all part of the step-by-step process required to turn a group of students with little musical experience into a band.

What makes the Castillo’s patience especially impressive is that he has performed at the professional symphony level, where perfection is expected.

For Castillo, the white boards, the child-size chairs and the fledgling musicians in his classroom are a world away from the Chilean Symphony Orchestra or the Pittsburgh Opera Theater where he was the principal trumpet player. He has gone from being a top trumpet performer to teaching first-time musicians the basics.

Castillo insists he is exactly where he wants to be.

To read the entire Naples Daily News article click here.

Gator Gallery

BSCS 2nd Grade Teachers, Jennifer Shelly and Stephanie Tubbs show their "GATOR GALLERY" a gallery walk student generated closure activity that they implemented into their instructional routine as part of their recent CLOSURE workshop as evidence for our Professional Learning Community.

Bonita Springs Charter students working with peers to stop bullying

In some regards, it might seem like a part of growing up — a rite of passage.

But child psychiatrists and educators are starting to recognize bullying as a major problem that not only can inflict severe emotional scars, but turn kids to violence and self-harm.

In Florida, the Jeffrey Johnston Stand up for All Students Act was passed in 2008, named in honor of a Cape Coral teenager student who took his own life after constant bullying. The law requires strict reporting of bullying incidents, as well as education for both the bullies and the bullied.

But at Bonita Springs Charter School, students are taking matters into their own hands. The consequences, say staff, have led to a more respectful, more harmonious environment for students at the kindergarten through eighth-grade school.

“For the bullying part, I rely heavily on the peer counselors,” said guidance counselor Robert Barnes. “(Kids) can listen to a guidance counselor for hours and hours and it ain’t going to do any good.”

To read the entire Naples Daily News article click here.