BVM Community,

Good evening/morning once again!!! Remember that in observance of Labor Day, Bonita Vista Middle School will be closed on Monday, September 4th, 2023. School resumes on Tuesday, September 5th at 8:05 a.m. Please make sure your student is on time :)

Nonetheless, we hope this message finds you in good spirits during this extended weekend! We wanted to remind you that our first progress report was published this past Friday, September 1, and is available to view via your Infinite Campus Parent Portal. Please make sure to review your student's progress through our 1st six weeks and have a discussion with your student. Should your student be behind, please remember that this is only a progress report and we have plenty of time to catch up and get ahead!!!

Additionally, we would like to remind you about the counselor presentation your 8th-grade child observed last week titled "You Make a Difference." It would be beneficial to have a conversation with your child about the key takeaways they learned from the presentation and how they can apply those lessons to their own lives (For more information on this presentation, please read below).

Furthermore, we are excited to announce that we will be hosting our 2nd Coffee with the Principal on Thursday, September 7th in our school cafeteria from 6 pm - 7 pm. This will be a great opportunity where our counselors will present information related to our most recent progress report, our students' academic progress, and helpful interventions available to all students.

We would also like to inform you that we will be holding our first Saturday School on Saturday, September 9th from 8 am - 12 pm at Bonita Vista Middle School. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to catch up on any missed assignments or seek additional tutoring assistance in any subjects they may be struggling with.

As always, thank you for your continued support and involvement in your child's education. We look forward to an awesome week! Have a wonderful day!

Lastly, please remember to review the 4 Essential Rules at Bonita Vista Middle School that allow us to not only promote our safety on campus, but it allows us to ensure that our students are fully present and ready to learn:

1. No Cell Phones on Campus: We ask that all students place their cell phones in their backpacks once they are at school and on our campus. We not only enforce this rule during class time but especially during nutrition breaks and lunchtime. We want our students to interact with each other as much as possible as opposed to being on their screens/phones.

2. No IPAD Misuse: Every student is issued an IPAD for educational purposes only. We ask students to use their devices strictly as implements of learning.

3. No Earbuds: Similar to our cell phone rule, we ask that once students are at school and on our campus, they place their earbuds in their backpacks. We have noticed that students are less distracted in class and engage more with each other when they are not using earbuds.

4. No Hoodie (worn on head): Students can wear hooded sweatshirts but in order to be able to identify our students at all times, we ask students not to wear their hoods over their heads. This rule is in place for student safety. Should a non-student sneak onto our campus, we would want to identify them immediately. Also, we need to ensure during class and outside of class that students do not have their earbuds. We prioritize making sure that students are paying attention in class and our fully engaged with each other at all times.

If you ever need to report a disciplinary or safety concern, please make sure to report all concerns to our administrative team.

Our assistant principal, Mr. Robert Bonilla roberto.bonilla@sweetwaterschools.org oversees students with last names between A-L and Ms. Estephany Conlon Estephany.conlon@sweetwaterschools.org oversees all students between M-Z. Please visit this link to contact any other staff you wish to communicate with: https://bvm.sweetwaterschools.org/staff-directory-2/.

Thank you,

Dr. Salazar

Last week, our 8th Grade Counselor, Ms. Sandoval, and Counselor intern Mr. Guerrero visited all 8th Graders in their U.S. History classes and discussed the very important topic of BULLYING. Please take some time this week and ask your 8th graders about this presentation and what they learned. We will be sending more correspondence this short week to provide some follow-up and recruit your help in our efforts to ensure that our students don't BULLY others, but more so that our students make a positive difference in this world. Feel free to look at some of the pictures and a couple of the slides presented in this presentation. Thank you to Ms. Sandoval and Mr. Guerrero for this very powerful message and information delivered to all of our 8th-grade students.

Hello, Parents/Guardians and Students,

Southwestern Community College has scheduled a free field trip for 8th-grade students in the Sweetwater Union High School District! The trip is scheduled for September 13th. Students will be able to participate in demonstrations for career options offered at Southwestern College.

Our designated bus will be picking up our students at 8:45 am and we will return to BVM after 1:15 pm. Lunch will be provided. Space is limited to the first 50 students who return their permission slips. The deadline to turn in your permission slip is Wednesday, September 6th.

https://tinyurl.com/SWCField-Trip

Printed permission slips are available with Mrs. Perez in the main office.

Respectfully,

BVM Counselors

Check out our week at a glance by clicking on the link or the button below: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iN4MUUuPjnu3HTYj8n8zEWcpUdEaAvmV_IbzOlE_RmM/edit#slide=id.p

The Acknowledgment Corner will be continued to be used to highlight and celebrate our students at any opportunity that we can! If you would like your student acknowledged for something we may not be aware of, please feel free to contact me (include a picture if possible).

Congratulations Angelica Plasencia who was nominated by Ms. Andere! Angelica has been a very helpful and caring student with her classmates. She has been a leader in her small group and is kind to all students. On her own, she has helped struggling students with their class work. Let's go BVM!!! #Kindnessistheway

Congratulations Serena Twano!!! Serena was nominated by Ms. Ehrig. Serena continues to impress everyone with her dedication and hard work towards her school tasks. She comest to school every day excited and eager to learn. She takes advantage of tutoring time and advisory time to make sure she stays on top of her grades. She brings a positive vibe to every class EVERY SINGLE DAY. And you can bet she'll always greet you with a friendly smile! Always continue to spread that positive energy and keep working hard Serena! Let's go BVM!!!

Several students from last week were recognized and surprised with gift cards for their positive engagement and participation in last week's Looking Ahead where 7th graders were taught more about the power of kindness, empathy, and the Compact for Success Agreement with San Diego State. Students were also given an overview of their promotion requirements for middle school.

Below you can see some of the students who were recognized and awarded gift cards for their participation in last week's assembly.

Below you will find valuable resources for our students and community, including our tutoring schedule!

Last week, students in Science 7 continued their work on the following learning objective: By the end of class, I will be able to explain the causes and effects of states of matter and phase changes, as evidenced by a report with a partner in 30-second expert groups.

Below, you can see how Ms. Abundes's DLI students approached learning with partners, and Mr. Young's class approached their learning in groups--both classes included student-to-student discourse--one of the more powerful learning tools! We are excited to see how some of the models produced by student groups come out next week! Let's go BVM!!!

In Art Survey (our advanced art class), our students will also be creating 3D models to represent their artistic expressions similarly to how Mr. Young's class is also creating 3D model representations of the different states/phases of matter. Students in their art classes will be using materials like styrofoam, newspaper, and cardboard to construct their models/art pieces. Students must first sketch out their work as seen below. Let's go BVM!!!

Our School Leadership Team met this past Wednesday, August 30th as they begin their work on inclusion strategies to make sure that all students are included in the learning and all learning is relevant. Our SLT Team is all participating in this year's CARE Network which will provide the team with ongoing professional development, support, and coaching throughout the 23-24 school year.

Below are some goals that our SLT noted:

1. Continue the learning/growth as professionals in what works to connect with students.

2. Define our roles in how to support the work.

3. Make a difference in students' lives in and outside of the classroom.

4. Approach the work from a team perspective (collaborative support system).

5. Create, use, and monitor strategies that work for all populations (may require differentiation).

6. Build connections when connecting may not be easy/feel natural.

7. Intentionally form relationships to remove barriers to learning.

8. Alignment: work smarter, not harder.

Below our some Needs that our SLT Noted:

1. Test strategies before bringing to school --how do we measure effectiveness?

2. How do we measure growth that won't show on existing data measures (grade report)?

3. How do we look at data holistically? (ex. grades, attendance).

4. How do we integrate MYP and CARE/SLT work?

5. How do we streamline the process of supporting struggling students for more of a school-wide effort?

6. How do we develop a communication plan?

We promise to continue our adult learning on campus and we are confident will increase the student learning on campus!

Mr. Armendariz and Ms. Bauer both attended the PLC Convening Training at our district offices. Both teachers respectively represented the Special Education Department and our Math Department. Ms. Hernandez, Ms. Eriksson, and Mr. Bonilla attended the PLC Convening Training the following day. Teachers learned more about the different between formative and summative assessments and were given the time and space to plan for future common formative assessments within their respective PLCs.

Reach out and communicate with us!

Email: alexander.salazar-arbelaez@sweetwaterschools.org
Website: http://bvm.sweetwaterschools.org/
Location: 650 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista, CA, USA
Phone: 619-397-2200
Twitter: @BVM_Principal