Building BRAVES

We are off to such an amazing start to the 24/25 school year! Your kids are awesome and it is such a pleasure to get to work with them everyday. We are working on learning expectations for the school, classroom, and teachers. We are learning new processes and procedures for the different grade levels. Our teachers are working hard to introduce the students to the various subject areas and have some fun along the way!

*Our middle school PE students were able to help the elementary students in some awesome games of kickball to "Kick Off" the school year.

*We are working on organizing a Washington D.C. trip for our current 7th and 8th grade students. Parents also have the opportunity to attend. Right now we are looking at either taking a bus tour or flight to Washington depending on interest in both. Once we determine what is the most popular vote an email will be sent out to everyone interested with additional details and an estimated cost. Parents are welcome to attend this with their student! Here is the form for the interest survey if you did not receive it. Please see the section below for more information.

We will be trying mindful Mondays for this school year. Please see the section below for more information.

*As we get into the swing of school it is important to remember that if your student is out of school for any reason, please call the front office and let us know they will be out for the day.

We ended our August with a whole district pep session! Please ask your students about our fun:) We showed our school spirit by wearing crimson/ red! We had great participation and some kids really embraced the challenge in creative ways. Please watch the Facebook page for pictures.

Mrs. Vanderkolk is always available to talk or help facilitate any support that your student might need. Please encourage your student to reach out, you are also welcome to reach out if your students fills you in on an issue you think the guidance counselor can help with. We have a student check in form available everyday for students to check in with the administration and guidance should they need any help or support with anything. This form can be found on our BMS news and announcements page on Canvas and also here.

Your student can use this at any point in time even if it is to just tell us they are having a great day! We will then get an email to let us know a student filled it out and we will talk to your child about the concern or support needed.

Mindfulness is a way to help regulate our emotions and keep us present in the moment. It can help us manage our big emotions that we sometime feel. We are currently working on breathing techniques that help calm our nervous system.

For the last week of August we worked on two- four breathing. We breath in for two counts, hold, and then breath out for four, all while sitting in a relaxed position. Started by just focusing on our breath and then would practice breathing in and out of our nose. We will move on to triangle breathing to start September.

Meet your sixth-grade teachers:

Mrs. North-math

Mrs. Rich-social studies

Mrs. Ruble-science

Mrs. Wolpert-language arts

How to be successful in sixth grade:

*Make sure your iPad comes CHARGED every day.

*Check Canvas when you are absent and complete all the work listed.

*Check power school for grades and turn in missing work.

*Make sure you get plenty of sleep.

Your Seventh Grade Team: Mrs. Johnson-Science Mrs. Pohlman-Reading/Writing Mr. Frederick-Social Studies Mr. Keller-Math Ms. Weiland-Resource Room

*Use Canvas daily. Every teacher puts his/her daily assignments and classwork on the Canvas Calendar daily. Even when a student is absent, missing work can be found.

*Learn your locker combination and lock your locker. Lockers should always be closed and locked. Some students get into the lazy habit of leaving it unlocked so they don’t have to bother with the combination. Not a good idea. We have fixed lockers with problems or given a new locker to students having problems not their fault.

*Complete your assignments. Almost always, students who get failing grades do so because they simply do not complete their work and turn it in. Don’t dig a hole of missing work that will be very difficult to climb out of. Education is like working out; your daily workout is being engaged in your classes and doing your assignments. You can’t “skip” workouts and expect to learn much, just like you can’t skip physical workouts and expect to improve your health.

*Choose your company (friends) wisely. Hang out with those who make good choices and treat others kindly.

*Set goals. Set a goal for each class and be determined to reach it. Write it down and tape it inside your locker to remind yourself.

We have an awesome group of 8th grade students this year, and all teachers are excited to start. Please reach out to any of us if you have questions. We do suggest that you monitor Powerschool on a regular basis. We update grades daily so you can see what your child’s grades are. If your child is absent from school, they need to check Canvas to see what they are missing that day. There would be no reason schoolwork should be missing.

This year, we will encourage students to put forth a lot of effort as we prepare them for high school. We look forward to working closely with any parent or guardian, so please reach out to us.

Sharice Bowen: Social Studies

Ben Fawbush: Math

Daniel Hunter: Science

Stacy Krull: Language Arts

Art:

We love to collect Recyclable items to use in art! So be on the lookout for:

• Cereal Boxes

• Soup/veggie Cans

• Old/used craft supplies

• Yarn

• Paper towel rolls

And send them in! Thanks a bunch –Wilson

Art Sonia:

This year we will be using Art Sonia in art class. It is a fun online portfolio students can upload their artwork too. This allows parents/family that is added to see their work throughout the year AND it will follow them through middle school!

Parents can also buy gifts and items with their student's artwork on it through art Sonia! Things like mugs, garden flags, key chains and so much more (Great ideas for Christmas right!?). Plus, the art room gets some of the funds to use towards awesome Art and Ceramic supplies!

We have started promoting the Young Hoosier Book Award (YHBA) Challenge for all grades. In grades 5-8 the challenge is an individual student challenge to read 5 of the YHBA books from the Middle grade list. Students will then fill out a Microsoft form and when 5 books have been read and forms have been submitted, they will be invited to an ice cream party after Spring Break. At the ice cream party students vote for their favorite YHBA and we submit their votes to the state where they will be tallied around the state. The state winner is announced in May.

We have the YHBA books in print form in the library and in ebook and audiobook on Sora. Students simply sign into Sora with their Bellmont username and password.

Looking ahead:

Our annual in school Book Fair will be held Monday, October 14, through Friday, October18.

Online Book Fair will start on Monday, September 16

We are currently looking in to a potential Washington D.C trip at the end of May or early June for our current 7th and 8th grade students. The choices are a bus tour which would run around $1,000 but could be more. The second option would be a flight down to D.C which would cost around $1,500. Both amounts are subject to change based on the number of people that would want to attend.