Building BRAVES

Welcome back to second semester! We have hit the ground running and are ready for a great semester.

We will start iLearn testing for checkpoint 2 next week.

There are some important upcoming dates listed below, please make sure to look through them. 8th grade families there will be a Future Braves Expo in February that we would like all of our 8th graders to attend. This is an evening of information gathering and students get to meet some of the teachers!

As we continue into the winter months, please have students bring iPads home on a nightly basis. Should we have synchronous eLearning the students will need to follow the eLearning schedule and be logged into their TEAMs meeting that the teachers post. Those links can be found on each course calendar. Your student must be logged in to each class to be present for the day. For asynchronous eLearning students must complete their assigned homework and get it turned in to be counted as present. If your student is having technical difficulties please reach out to Mrs. Prayer Hirn or Ms. Shelby Nower. If your student has a question with their homework or finding a teams link please have them reach out to their teacher, Mrs. Schlemmer, Ms. Bowers, or Mrs. Vanderkolk for help. I emailed the synchronous eLearning schedule to families via school messenger on Monday and to your students via Canvas on Monday. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

Thank you so much for a great first semester! We are really enjoying this year's group of sixth graders and are looking forward to a wonderful second half of the school year. Here are a few tidbits of information for you as we finish the first half of the school year:

• Hot Chocolate Bar: Sixth graders were able to enjoy a small treat as they came to school on the last day before Winter Break. Students had hot chocolate with toppings and gingerbread cookies. This was our way of letting them know how much we appreciate each one of them.

• NWEA: Students finished the winter round of NWEA testing and made a tremendous amount of growth. We are very proud of each of the students and hope they continue to improve during the remainder of the school year. Please ask your child about his/her progress and if he/she made his/her goal for math and ELA.

• Pencils: We continue to have many students come to our classes without a pencil. If you could please replenish your child's supply when we come back in January, it would be greatly appreciated.

• Charged iPads: As we go into the second part of the school year, please continue to remind your child to charge his/her iPad each evening. We will continue to use the iPads daily, and it essential that they come to school charged each day.

• Thank you: Finally, thank you so much for all your support from home. It really is a team effort to help students be successful, and we could not do it without your support. We hope you were able to spend some quality time with your family during the last two weeks.

*Cookie decorating: Every seventh grader had the opportunity to decorate Christmas cookies during our last day of classes. The cookies were provided by BMS while students volunteered to bring icing and other decorations.

*Math: Mr. Keller will be teaching a unit on circles upon our return in January followed by a long unit on prealgebra skills (equations, inequalities, expressions, factoring, like terms).*NWEA Winter testing-Students have completed their winter math and reading NWEA tests to show how much they’ve learned during the first semester. We really don’t focus on which students achieved the highest scores. Rather, we encourage all students to simply show growth and improvement from their test scores in August. Reading test results showed 73% of students improving while Math test results showed 77% improving. *I Learn Testing- Beginning in mid-January, our next round of I Learn state testing will take place. *IXL lessons- Students continue to complete math and reading IXL lessons weekly based on an individualized skill plan created for each student. Students who complete their assigned lessons for the week receive reward time in the gym or outside every Friday, compliments of Principal Schlemmer. IXL Link

*Homework/Grades- Please make it a habit during the second semester to check with your child regularly regarding their grades and hw completion. While it’s each student’s responsibility to stay on top of his/her grades and hw, it really helps if parents are also aware of grades and hw completion. Canvas and PowerSchool can be accessed by parents. Here’s that link again:

https://northadams-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/kellerm_nadams_k12_in_us/EbJNVKY3NYdBoaUtb5IDP4wBMo_IMamGTKKBUbjvIkt9og?e=qrtKGC

This class is so great, and we had an awesome first semester. As we go into the 2nd semester, please encourage your child to stay up on their work and not fall behind.

We had a fun month of December with dress-up days all fifteen days we were here. Many kids participated in being festive which made for some great photos.

We were all very proud of the kids improving their NWEA scores from the Fall test to the Winter test. We look forward to watching them improve their iLearn scores also.

As we go into January, the next semester goes by fast. In February, the kids will begin signing up for their high school classes. We will invite the high school guidance counselors to talk to each SRT about electives and required classes. We encourage all parents to take an active role in this process with your child.

During the second semester, 8th grade students participating in Exploring College and Careers will have the opportunity to receive high school credit for their work. Mr. Miller has talked with them about what this means, please reiterate with your students that it is important to do their best while taking this class so they can start their high school years off on the right foot.

Please make sure over the Christmas break that your student returns to school with a charged iPad and any supplies they are low on at school. We could also use more Kleenex boxes if you are willing to send some with your child.

Art Sonia:

Celebrate the season with fun art gifts! You may purchase high-quality custom keepsakes with your child's art. The school arts program receives 20% of your purchase to use for art supplies.

Ornaments are a beautiful way to preserve the memories of a lifetime. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and friends will cherish your child's artwork for years to come.

So, check out the Art Sonia gift shop! And make sure to check out your kids' awesome work this year!

Our Young Hoosier Book Challenges continue! This is a great way for students to read from many different genres and also receive rewards for it. Grades 3-8 have been active in an individual challenge where students need to read 5 books from the list of 20 before Spring Break to receive a reward of either an ice cream party or candy buffet after Spring Break.

Grades K-2 will get started this January with a classroom challenge Young Hoosier Challenge. All classrooms that read 12 of the 20 Young Hoosier Picture books will receive a donut party!

Keep reading all!

Week of January 13: Students will participate in ILEARN checkpoint 2

January 27th: Bellmont Elementary and Bellmont Middle School will be rolling out our spring POP fundraiser.

January 20th: MLK Day, we will be out of school unless we need it as a snow make up day.

End of January: Bellmont Middle School students will participate in a hot chocolate bar to celebrate their efforts on ILEARN checkpoints and NWEA.

February 5th: Future Braves Expo (Freshman orientation), please plan on attending. Look for more information to come.

February 10th: Last waiver day for the school year: students will have no school.

February 17: President's Day: no school unless needed as a snow make up day.

February: Students can send Candy Grams to friends for Valentine's Day

March 12th: Parent Teacher conferences from 3:30 -6p.m., this is also the end of the 3rd quarter

March 24th- 28th: Spring Break-