BRMS November Family Newsletter

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November 22 - 24th - No School

November 29th - FutureQUEST 8th Grade Field Trip

December 4th - Boys Basketball Home Game

December 4th - BR/CK 6th Grade Orchestra Concert

December 6th - BR/CK 6th Grade Band Concert

December 7th - Boys Basketball @ SOMS

December 7th - Home Wrestling Meet

December 11th - Boys Basketball @ McFarland

December 12th - Parent Canvas Info Session

December 14th - Boys' Basketball Home Game

December 19th - Home Wrestling Meet

December 22nd - Asynchronous Day

As a follow up to family conferences and the STAR reports you received detailing your student’s performance, we wanted to share opportunities for students to continue their math learning.

If your student is looking for additional opportunities to extend their learning in math, please encourage them to complete the “Are You Ready For More” activities as well as regularly engage with the IXL learning platform available on student devices. These opportunities are designed to extend learning, and are one of several components that we review when determining how well we are meeting student needs and when we may need to look at additional supports.

ACCESS Testing will begin at Badger Ridge starting the week of December 4th. The ACCESS test is a secure large-scale English language proficiency assessment administered to Kindergarten through 12th grade students who have been identified as multilingual learners (MLs). It is given annually in WIDA Consortium member states to monitor students' progress in acquiring academic English. Badger Ridge 6th grade students will test on December 6th, 7th grade students will test on December 12th, and 8th grade students will test on December 13th. All grades will have a make-up test day on December 14th. If you have any further questions regarding the ACCESS testing, please contact Julie Briggs at briggsj@verona.k12.wi.us. Thank you!

Our staff and teachers are noticing an uptick in students bringing blankets to school. While we appreciate students’ desire to make school a more comfortable place to learn, our goal is to build healthy habits for students in the classroom and beyond. We are encouraging students to see themselves as scholars with bright futures in college and/or their career path of choice, so with that being said, blankets need to remain at home. Thank you!

Our policy at Badger Ridge Middle School is that cell phones and airpods are off and away all day (8:00 - 3:30pm). If you need to contact your child during the school day, please feel free to call the office and leave a message with our secretary staff, and we will deliver the message to your child. G-mail is another option to communicate with your child during the school day, since they have their iPads. More information about students, technology, and appropriate internet use is below. Thank you for your support with this!

Is your student bringing ibuprofen or Tylenol to school in their backpack? If so, please make sure to review the Verona Area School District’s medication policy and complete the parent medication consent form. Medication that is not reported to the nurse will be held until a parent picks it up or the medication consent form is completed.

• VASD Medication Policy and Procedure

• Parent Medication Consent Form English / Español

• Prescriber Form for Prescription Medication

Looking for information about students taking medication at school, the latest COVID and illness guidance, field trip forms, or requesting dietary accommodations? Check out the updated Verona Area School District Health Services website: VASD Health Services.

New this year, Verona Area School District is partnering with Verona Smiles to provide free dental x-rays and diagnostic services at school! If you have not registered your student for Verona Smiles this school year, you still can by completing this Google Form: Verona Smiles enrollment. Please see the flier here.

Verona Area School District continues to partner with Bridging Brighter Smiles to provide preventative dental care at school. Registration remains active for 2-3 years. If you have not registered or re-registered recently on the Bridging Brighter Smiles website, your student may no longer be registered. You can still register or re-register your student to receive preventative dental care for this school year here: Bridging Brighter Smiles enrollment. If you have questions about the program or your student’s enrollment status, contact Bridging Brighter Smiles at wecare@bbsmiles.org.

If your child has a note from their medical doctor that impact their participation in a class (such as PE), please encourage your child's MD to share some specifics or examples regarding what your child can and cannot participate in, and if they should be in an alternative location for their learning. We want to ensure that your child still receives the best education they deserve even in the midst of an injury. Thank you!

Our AVID Elective class had the opportunity to attend a campus tour and information session at UW-Whitewater earlier this month. Students enjoyed hearing about the amazing opportunities and support available there. Check out some photos of their learning in the BRMS highlights section below!

All BRMS students have had the opportunity to continue using AVID WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading) strategies in R2S through learning about chronological/sequence order in texts. On AVID Advisory Wednesdays, students have been learning about systems of organization, reflecting on their current organization practices, and setting organizational goals for themselves– ask them what they want to get organized and how it’s going!

BRMS House teachers are continuing their learning about AVID and how AVID WICOR strategies support grade-level standards and rigorous classroom learning experiences.

Thank you for a successful period of Fall student-led conferences! A special thank you to those who filled out the post-conference survey. Your feedback was very helpful in understanding your experience as families in service to our students. The family engagement team at BRMS has reviewed and interpreted the data from our fall student-led conference survey, and here are some key highlights to note:

• 91% of our respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their child was prepared for the conference

• 88% of our respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the information shared in the conference was useful in understand their child’s progress and performance

• 92% of our respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they understood where their child stands in their mastery of grade level standards after the conference

After reading your comments in the general feedback section, it sounds like more support is needed around navigating Canvas and PowerSchool. With that being said, we will host an informational session on how to navigate Canvas as a parent to start. We feel it may be helpful to learn more about this platform in the community with other parents with direct support from our staff on how to view Canvas as a parent, see your child’s progress, their grades, and more. Please see the flier below for more details. We hope to see you there! Light refreshments will be provided! Bring your own device, but we will have extra iPads in case you need them!

On November 29, 2023, BRMS and CKCS MS eighth-grade students will participate in FutureQuest, a hands-on event at the Alliant Energy Center to give students opportunities to interact with professionals from all career clusters. Local business professionals will be represented there and students will bring questions for them to answer as they explore various careers. If you have questions please contact Elvis Ajong (845-4425) or Amie Pittman (845-4431). If you have not already signed the physical permission slip forms or the electronic form, please scan the QR codes or click the link below to grant your child permission to attend the trip. Thank you!

As mentioned in our last newsletter, the POWER 6 area of focus from October 25th to November 17th was “Keep it Kind or Keep it Silent.” During this month, advisories gathered evidence of kindness that they are contributing to our school and community through a kindness bingo board. There were over 300 acts of kindness completed across both schools and over 350 entries earned across participating advisories!! WOW!

The winners of the kindness challenge is Ms. Lehnherr’s 6th grade advisory class!! Congratulations, Ms. Lehnherr and students!

As we continue to address digital citizenship at Badger Ridge, throughout the school year students will engage in lessons during Advisory about Digital Citizenship using the Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship Curriculum. It is a digital world and our kids need valuable lessons on how to navigate the internet safely and appropriately. We will engage our students in lessons about their digital footprint, media balance, safe and appropriate communication, cyberbullying, news and media literacy and privacy and security. So far this year, students have had lessons about their digital footprint and identity and about digital relationships and communication.

During the 1st Quarter at Badger Ridge, our data review shows that one of the top three behavior calls that our staff are responding to for student follow-up is misuse/inappropriate use of technology. While one of our Power Six universal expectations is that phones and AirPods are off and away for the school day, we’ve seen an uptick in phone usage during classes as well as students using their district-issued iPads for reasons outside of learning.

As many of you already know, technology and social media management is a tough learning curve for growing pre-teens and teens. They are powerful tools for entertainment, students use them for a means of feeling a sense of social acceptance, and sometimes, can be used for an escape from social interactions and situations. We would like to share with you a couple of resources for parents that can help students build healthy online habits and/or monitor your child's social media activity. In addition, your support with our Power Six expectation that phones are off and away all day at school is a helpful strategy as well so that our scholars can be the best they can be in the classroom. Again, our expectation is that all cell phones are off and away during the school day (8:00 to 3:30). If you need to communicate with your child during the school day, please call the main office.

As mentioned above, the primary resource that students are using to learn more about digital citizenship and online behaviors are from the Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship Curriculum. However, we also have parent tips and activities to help extend your child's learning at home, too! Here they are:

• Helping Your Child Interact Safely Online (English/Español)
• Family Activity - Relationships and Communication (English/Español)

Other Online Resources:

• Media Use Guidelines for Teens
• Digital Awareness for Parents

As it gets closer and closer to the holiday season, we're hoping you'll be able to help us get the word out about our upcoming free Thanksgiving events for 2023.

This year we have TWO event options:

• Meal Baskets: Individuals & families could register to pick up a Thanksgiving Meal Basket to pick up on Thursday, November 16th from 3:30-6 PM which will include a turkey, stuffing, and additional fixings for a meal! Meals can be picked up at our Fleming Club (2001 Taft Street, Madison) or our McKenzie Club (232 Windsor Street, Sun Prairie).

OR

• Sina Davis Community Meal: Individuals & families can register to join us for an in-person cooked meal on Thursday, November 23rd from 11 AM - 2 PM at our Allied Club (4619 Jenewein Rd, Fitchburg).

Registration is HERE, and any questions can be directed to community@bgcdc.org.

This school year, on December 19th through the 21st during advisory or right after school, our Makers' Market Club will be hosting a Holiday Bazaar! Students in our Makers' Market Club have been making handmade gifts, pillows, ceramic bowls, clay animals, crochet animals, jewelry, and more to sell for the holidays! All proceeds will be donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital and Angel's Wish. Please see the flyer for more details!

Where: Cooperative Children's Book Center, 225 N. Mills Street, Room 401

When: December 1, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Just in time for the winter holidays! There will be thousands of gently used and new books for children and teens at this sale sponsored by the Friends of the CCBC.

• Friday, December 1, 4-6 pm
• Saturday, December 2, 8 am – 1 pm (Bag sale in final hour!)

Prices:

• $4 hardcover picture books, non-fiction, beginning readers and all graphic novels ($3 Friends members–anyone can join or renew at checkout!)
• $2 paperbacks ($1 Friends members)
• $2 board books (everyone)
• $1 hardcover fiction (everyone)
• $10 Bag sale Saturday 12-1! plastic grocery bag or equivalent size

Payment: Cash, check, credit card, or institutional purchase order (please bring the PO, and a copy of your tax exempt #, if applicable)

Looking to serve at Badger Ridge? We welcome parent volunteers for a multitude of things, such as help with lunch supervision/table washing, timer/scorers at athletic events, AVID tutors, and classroom helpers. If you are interested in serving in any of these capacities, please feel free to reach out to Christina Grulke at grulkec@verona.k12.wi.us with any questions you may have. Linked here is all documentation needed to be a volunteer at Badger Ridge.