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BFIS Weekly Bulletin

BFIS Weekly Bulletin

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

December 20 Winter Party (last day before break) AND 2:00 Dismissal

December 23 Winter Break Begins

January 2, 2025 Professional Development (No School)

January 3 Students Return to School

January 15 Report Cards Available Online

January 20 No School – Professional Development for Teachers

Thankful For You Staff Shoutout

Send a thankful note to a staff member at BFIS! During this week, fill out this form to send a note to any staff member at BFIS. Fill out the form as many times as you would like. Your note will be printed and delivered to the staff member(s) throughout the week!

Greetings from the Intermediate School Music Room!

We’re thrilled to share what our 5th and 6th graders have been up to in music class!

This semester, students are:
🎶 Playing on their new xylophones (provided by the Fine Arts Boosters and PTO!) – exploring melodies and rhythms with hands-on practice.
💃 Learning folk dances – connecting movement and music in a fun and engaging way.
✨ Building confidence in their melodic and rhythmic abilities – developing essential music skills that will last a lifetime.

These activities not only foster creativity and teamwork but also nurture a lifelong love for music.

🎶 Mark Your Calendar for the 5th Grade Concert! 🎵

We are excited to invite you to the 5th Grade General Music and Band Concert, showcasing the incredible talents of our students!

📅 Date: Monday, January 27th
 ⏰ Time: TBA
 📍 Location: Bondurant-Farrar High School Auditorium

Come and enjoy an evening of music, as our 5th graders perform a variety of pieces they’ve been working on. It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate their hard work and dedication!

We hope to see you there!

Warm regards,

Anne Anderson

6th Grade Math

During December, your child has been learning about the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) with decimals. Students have practiced adding and subtracting decimals, multiplying and dividing them, while also mastering strategies for aligning decimal points and using estimation to check their answers.

To reinforce these skills at home, you can practice together by working with prices, measurements, or even budgeting scenarios that involve decimals. These hands-on opportunities will help build confidence and fluency.

Leading up to Winter Break we will look at the four operations with fractions and mixed numbers. Real-world applications you can have your child do at home can involve the delicious activity of cookie making - do you need a recipe halved, doubled, or even tripled for that cookie share? They can help you with this.


6th Grade Science:

We started our new unit on Cells and Organisms. We started this unit with a fun activity dealing with an infectious disease. The kids “traveled” to different locations and performed 3 actions depending on the number they rolled on the dice. At the end of this activity, we put “disease indicator” in their cups. If the liquid in their cups turned pink, then the kids caught the disease. We then looked at the data to determine which of the activities was the cause of our disease. The kids enjoyed this activity.


To build on the idea of infectious disease, we then looked at the Bubonic Plague and how it was spread.

Soon, the kids will be using microscopes for the first time this year looking at different organisms. The kids are looking forward to this opportunity.


We will finish the month reading over the history of cells as well as the influential people that helped build the foundations for our understanding of cells.

Using the microscopes to look at our one-cell organisms. Fine-tuning our still of seeing the small details.

Weather/Attire:

The cool weather is quickly taking over! Due to cool temperatures, we encourage your child to come prepared to stay warm! It is highly encouraged that the students wear longer sleeves, pants, and have a warm coat/jacket.


It is also important to know some rooms in the building are cooler than others. Your child is allowed to wear a sweatshirt or cardigan to help keep themselves warm throughout the school day.

Baseball Camps

The Bondurant Farrar HS baseball team is offering 2 camps this winter. One is for grades 3-5 and one is for grades 6-8. Could you please put these on your newsletters? here is the link: https://baseball.bluejaynationsportscamps.com/index.cfm

Booster Club Apparel Store


Our athletics booster club has launched a new online apparel store. This is a 24/7 store with no "closing date" and we're told items typically ship in a week or so. Purchasing bluejay gear through the boosters directly supports Bondurant-Farrar students and programs.

LUNCH INFORMATION

LUNCH ACCOUNTS

All lunch account payments can be managed through the Infinite Campus parent portal. If you have questions please email Christy Hahn.


LUNCH VISITORS

We love having people come for lunch! A few things to remember:

  • Please bring in ID and check in at the office.
  • Once lunch is over, we ask that you head toward the office to check out.
  • If you plan on staying longer then allotted lunch times, please make sure we have a current volunteer form AND have prior arrangements with the teacher so they can have plans for you in the classroom.

Please let all family and friends that plan to come to lunch know these things! Thank you!

Attendance

Please call the main office @ 515-967-3711 or email Megan Kula @ kulam@bfschools.org with any absences. Also please email your student's teacher about any concerns or absences as well.


For information on new attendance guidelines, click here.

Start and End Times

Most of our school days will begin at the same time each day, at 8:10 am. This means your child should be at school no later than 8:05 in order to be in their homeroom for the start of the Morning Meeting each day. Mondays, we will dismiss students by 1:50 pm, and on most Tuesdays-Fridays, dismissal will be at 3:20 (walkers and bussers together). Any unique circumstances (a late start, unique early dismissals that don't follow a typical Monday schedule, etc.) will be communicated when they happen. For example, a 2-hour late start (our most common late start) would typically mean we would start at 10:10.

Drop Off and Pick up

PARENTS/GUARDIANS DRIVING STUDENTS TO AND FROM SCHOOL

With the playground and recess area for our Intermediate school students on the west side of the building, the drive around the building will only be open during drop off and pick up times. For the middle part of the day, there will be gates that will block traffic flow and restrict vehicles to only the south/west area and the north area of the building (approximately from 8:45 am until 1:15 pm on Mondays, and 8:45 am until 2:45 pm Tuesday through Friday). This is for student safety and for allowing students and staff to have access to outdoor activities and facilities for recess and PE. Please note this when you are needing to pick up students from school at times other than pick up and drop off times.


Morning Drop-off:

  • Serving time for breakfast begins at 7:30 AM. Students eating breakfast will remain in the Cafeteria until dismissed by an adult to their Homeroom.

  • Students who are not eating breakfast, and are either walking or being dropped off by a parent, should not arrive before 7:50 AM.

  • Students who ride a bus to school will be dropped off at the east entrance. All other students either walking or being dropped off by a parent may use the north or south entrances.

  • All students arriving before 8:02 AM will report to either the Gymnasium, or the Cafeteria if they are eating breakfast. Students will be dismissed by an adult from either location to go to their Homeroom by 8:02 AM.

  • Parents/Guardians will have the option of using the driveway between Anderson and the Intermediate School (south side--if you are dropping off students in multiple buildings) or the parking area to the north of the Intermediate School (if you are only dropping off students at the Intermediate School) to drop off children at the beginning of the day.

  • For student safety and traffic flow, students will NOT use the west entrance for drop off.


Afternoon Pick-Up:

  • Students not riding a bus may exit from the north, east, and south doors of the building.

  • For student safety, students will NOT exit the west side of the building to the west parking lot.

  • Parents/Guardians will have the option of using the driveway between Anderson and the Intermediate School (south side) or the parking area to the north of the Intermediate building to pick up children at the end of the day.

The BFIS Student Handbook is live and on the the District website. Please click on this link to access it directly.
Attendance, Announcements/Newsletters, Initial Infinite Campus questions: Megan Kula, Main Office #: 515-967-3711

Counselors, Social/Emotional Support: 5th grade Natalie Wilson and 6th grade Madison Pfaffe Main Office #: 515-967-3711

Student Health: School Nurse, Jenn Meyer, Main Office #: 515-967-3711

Student work or general classroom questions: Email your child's teacher

Transportation: Kami Hausman or Mary Jo Hetrick, District Office #: 515-967-7819

Behavior Concerns, General Questions: Assistant Principal, Kevin VanderLinden, Main Office #: 515-967-3711

Intermediate School Secretary

Email: kulam@bfschools.org
Website: http://www.bfschools.org/
Location: 300 Garfield Street Southwest, Bondurant, IA, USA
Phone: 515-967-3711

Michael Kramer
Michael is using Smore to create beautiful newsletters