The first week of BUGS was a SUCCESS!!  After a rigorous recruitment phase, the limited spots were all filled, and the students of BUGS all returned excited, eager and full of energy, ready to take on the new year! Even after just a weeks time, this year is shaping up to be a very exciting and fun filled year with so many surprises in store. The BEST after school program in Baltimore City is back!

Springtime in the City

The service berries are bright red and there are goslings running rampant on campus. That can only mean one thing: it's officially spring time.
The students and staff alike do their best to avoid the geese (and all their droppings)!, but the service berries are another story. Each afternoon the tree is surrounded by a group of students and teachers picking and eating the delicious fruit, which resemble blueberries in taste and appearance. 

Service berries growing on BUGS campus

Students picking service berries

 Cooking class in particular has benefited from this bounty. The Ladybugs spent a lovely afternoon picking berries and then baking them into delicious muffins. 

Ladybug Arly mixing up some service berries muffins

Springtime at BUGS also means lots of opportunities to play outside and enjoy the lovely weather. On recent Fridays students have had chances to roll down Federal Hill before visiting the American Visionary Arts Museum(AVAM) and play at Patterson Park.

Line of girls posed at the top of Federal Hill

And racing down the hill!

Rolling down the hill

Butterflies posing at AVAM

Students working together on the swings; 2 swings using 5 BUGS

Rosa(left)  and Endia enjoying the playground at Patterson Park

I SCREAM for ICE CREAM!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015, was free ice cream day at Haagen-Dazs! For a special treat, many of the teachers walked to the local Haagen-Dazs in Harbor East with their students. The students really enjoyed the experience, exploring a new part of Baltimore that they may not know existed. The childrens' faces lite up with excitement and joy when we told them our surprise for them!

The ice cream was fabulous! Thank you, Haagen-Dazs, for providing our children with an awesome experience!

THE 19TH ANNUAL BUGS FARMERS MARKET

From making Ice Cream and Pasta with Ms. Ronnie, to making pillows, tote bags, and snow globes with Ms. Kat, planting numerous plants with Mr. Jason and making Soaps and scrubs with Ms. Valerie, The 19th Annual BUGS Farmers Market was a complete success. The children all showcased all the cool things they made throughout the year, worked every station diligently and made such a huge profit for the program all while having fun and being as awesome as they possibly could. Every child woke up eager and ready to help and have fun on a saturday morning and made our Farmers Market a flawless event. Lots of people from our neighboring communities, families and friends came out to support our students and their amazing work and to see their show stopping performance! There was dance, fashion, popcorn, face painting, music, food fresh off the grill, and the sound of children's laughter in the air, all the key ingredients to create The Bugs Farmers Market. Until next year..........:)

Coming this Saturday...the BUGS FARMERS MARKET!

Where will you be this weekend?! At the BUGS Annual Farmers Market of course! Our students have been preparing for a months and it's going to be an amazing event! Come buy tomato, pepper, herb and flower plants for your garden, see amazing dancers in action, taste our homemade ice cream, purchase beautiful soaps and art and enjoy face painting and BBQ. Help us paint our raised beds and meet the BUGS chickens! 

This Saturday, April 25th

19th Annual BUGS Farmers Market

10-2 at 802 S. Caroline St

Rain or Shine! 

BUGS take a new look at science

On the last day before spring break, BUGS ventured to the MD Science Center! We attended an IMAX presentation about lemurs, an endangered species in Madagascar. Afterwards, we had lunch by the Harbor and explored the Science Center! Students got a chance to learn about many topics, such as blue crabs and the Chesapeake Bay, dinosaurs, and had the opportunity to lay on a bed of nails. It was a great way to spend our last day together before the break!

Superheroes and Spring Coming!

The BUGS artists have been busy using their creative powers for good! The Ladybugs put their imaginations to work deciding what kind of superheroes they are - they designed and created costumes including masks, wings, bows and arrows, helmets, shields and capes. After visiting Guerilla Comics in Fells Point to research female super heroes it is clear that the ladybugs are some of the bravest, fiercest, and most powerful superheroes around. 

 Aside from this snowy first day of spring the weather has been beautiful and the BUGS students have been ready to celebrate warmth, seedlings sprouting, and the sun! Watercoloring around the gardens is a favorite new pastime.  

Legg Mason & Bikes

On Monday, March 16th, the BUGS After-School Program was given two bikes from Legg Mason. These bikes were constructed as a part of a team building exercise with high-ranking directors. The directors were from New York, Baltimore, London, and Singapore. They were separated into small groups. Each group was given a problem to solve. Once the problem was solved, they were then awarded a part of the bike. As the problems were solved, they were able to receive all the parts of the bike and then able to construct it.  At the end of the exercise, there were 8 bikes constructed.

Rebekah Lin Meyer, Living Classrooms Volunteer Coordinator, and Jennifer Byers, Legg Mason Non-Profit Outreach Director, were instrumental in allowing the BUGS Program to be about of the bike giveaway. Jeff Masom, Living Classrooms Foundation Board Member, briefly spoke about his connection to the Living Classrooms Foundation and all of the incredible programs that the foundations has in reaching the Baltimore community.  He then introduced the BUGS Program. Shyan Locklear and Darryl Spence were two students who represented the BUGS Program with this presentation. Needless to say, the students were excited! BUGS is now the proud owner of two bikes (one girl, one boy). These bikes will be a part of a giveaway for the BUGS First Annual Parent/Child Dance.  

            

BUGS Expo a Great Success

Despite the bleak weather and the many snow days, the BUGS students and staff made each day count to get everything ready for the Expo. The teachers all planned their posters and carefully setup their tables to showcase what the students have been working on over the last few months. And Mr. Tyone, with some help from Mr. Al, ran the students through rehearsal after rehearsal trying to get everything ready for the big day.

Mr. Tyone oversees a rehearsal at CJR

Some Grasshoppers squeeze in a few extra minutes of practice

Yet another rehearsal, this time at LCF. Gotta get this down.

Everyone's efforts paid off as a the cafeteria at Commodore filled up with families eager to see the students progress. They had a chance to mingle with other parents, eat some supper and wander through the displays from the various classes.

Ladybugs running an assembly line of Chicken Caesar Salad wraps to share

To top off the whole evening, the students put on a spectacular performance featuring music from Michael Jackson and Aaliyah. The audience loved it!

Enjoying the show

Here's a short clip of the finale of the show.  

Hopefully we will have some copies of the full show available in the future.

Now our thoughts turn to springtime. Along with melting snow we have lots of things to look forward to including outdoor recreation time and some more great events to show off what the BUGS students are up to. On March 28th we will have a Parent-Student Dance and then a few weeks later, on April 25th we will hold the 19th Annual BUS Farmer's Market. So mark your calendars so you don't miss 'em.

THRILLER

The Spider Clan has been working very hard on preparing for the BUGS Expo, scheduled for February 25, 2015. For the Expo they will be paying tribute to the late, great Michael Jackson. They will be doing their own rendition of one of MJ's biggest hits, "Thriller". Check them out as they rehearse for their performance.