
Building Braves
November newsletter
From the principal's desk
Happy Holidays! We wrapped up November and are quickly moving closer to Christmas Break! I cannot believe we are already almost completed with one semester of the 23/24 school year. I would like to take a couple of minutes to ask a couple of favors to you as parents. Please talk to your students about the expectations at school. We are the BRAVES, we are respectful to all, responsible, attentive, valiant, we show effort, and we are selfless. As we continue into the school year the staff continue to talk about these expectations with the students. We are seeing some disrespect of staff and students as well as times where we are not being as valiant as we could be. Please talk to your students about empathy toward others. In our BRAVES 101 sessions we have covered topics talking about our expectations as well as empathy toward others. Please continue to talk to your students and encourage them to live the BRAVES way! Our December is full of events as was November. Also, please take a look at our attendance policy in our handbook found online.
Thank you to all who donated to St. Jude Hospital. We had a turkey hunt to end our November and the kids had fun looking for him everyday.
Notes from the grade levels:
8th grade:
Can you believe that winter break is right around the corner? We can’t believe that the first semester is almost over. The growth that should be happening with this grade is so rewarding to watch from here until the end of the school year. We get excited to watch the kids mature academically, socially, and behaviorally. The 8th graders begin to act like little high schoolers, and we love to see that school is clicking with them!
The 8th graders just finished taking their reading NWEA test and will begin the math portion next week. This score is an important one as we look for progression from their previous scores to see that students are retaining information. Please ask your child how he/she did on the test.
December will be a fast month as we wrap up the first semester. We have fun stuff planned in our SRT classes and will need some items donated for special events. If your child is willing to bring in paper plates, icing, sprinkles, cups, napkins, or 2-liters of pop/lemonade we would appreciate it.
Please continue checking Powerschool for your child’s grades in each class.
7th grade:
The Seventh Grade Team is really hoping that each student is putting forth his/her best effort as they take the winter NWEA Math and Reading test in December. We encourage each student to strive for improvement over their August score.
Grades: Almost every time a student is failing a class, it’s the result of not having assignments turned in. Please help your child(ren) avoid failing grades by checking Powerschool regularly for not only their grades, but for missing work.
6th grade:
6th graders are taking the Winter NWEA in their academic lab classes. The goal is to improve their score from the beginning of the year. We will take a final round of this at the end of the school year.
Please make sure your child is getting plenty of sleep at night.
Make sure school iPads are getting fully charged at home.
Check the Canvas Calendar when absent.
We wish your families safe, happy, and healthy holidays!
Attendance Notes:
We are at the tail end of this semester so hopefully everyone shows up and finishes strong.
Tardies, unexcused absences will result in consequences. Please reference the handbook.
January 1, 2024 the attendance resets for the second semester.
Library News:
We are off to a great start with our Young Hoosier Book Challenge. Reminder that if students read 5+ books from this year’s list and fill out a form, they will be invited to an ice cream party in April. We have these books in print and ebook form at Bellmont.
Please remind your child(ren) the responsibilities of borrowing books from the library. They must take good care of them and return them in a timely manner. We have several students with books that were due in September or October and other students waiting to read those same books.
A couple library statistics:
1,857 ebooks were checked out on Sora this month.
4,508 print books were checkout this month
Top 10 BMS books checkout in the last month:
1. Diary of a wimpy kid : old school
2. The adventures of Captain Underpants
3. Diary of a wimpy kid : No brainer
4. Dog Man unleashed
5. Amulet : Supernova
6. Diary of a wimpy kid
7. Dog Man : Brawl of the wild
8. Dog Man : Grime and punishment
9. New kid
10. Amulet : Firelight
On the Calendar ahead
Holiday Dress up days:
Monday , December 18th: Christmas Pjs
Tuesday, December 18th: Christmas threw up on me
Wednesday, December 20th: Ugly Sweater
Thursday, December 21st: Red/ Green day
Friday, December 22nd - January 2nd: Winter Break
PBIS BRAVES DAY:
- BRAVES day is December 21 in the afternoon. We are allowing students to choose from 7 locations and activities and switch it up every 30 minutes. This is a great day to enjoy holiday fun times with friends and family here at school. We are so excited for some seasonal fun and activities to come on and around the holidays.
Student return to school on January 3rd, 2024