BMS Family Newsletter 1st Quarter

As a reminder, if you have questions concerning a child's grade or classroom work, your first point of contact should be the classroom teacher. The teacher is the one who plans the lessons and does the grading, so naturally they would have all of the information. If you are not satisfied with that conversation, then you would contact the principal.

We ask that you follow this chain of command to help get you the answers that you are needing.

Friday, October 16, 2026 is the last day of the 1st quarter. With this, that means that all student work and assessments will need to be turned in and completed by the end of the day on Friday. Teachers will be submitting grades and all grade cards will be send electronically to your email address on Oct. 23, 2026.

The report card for the middle school is a little different than the elementary (for our new 5th grade families). I want to take the time to inform you how to read your child's report card to our new families. At BMS, we do both Standards Based Grading and an over all Letter Grade.

You will notice at the top of the report card you will see a letter grade A-F for an overall grade. Then you will see a list of the standards your child has learned or will be learning throughout the year.

How is the overall grade determined?

Standards Based Scores are 3- Mastery of Standard; 2- Approaching Standard; 1- Beginning Standard. So for each standard taught a student will earn either a 3, 2, or 1 for the standard. If there are 5 standards taught for first quarter then that will mean a total of 15 points are possible (5 standards X 3 points mastery). Then that number for total mastery will be divided and averaged.

For example: if your child had 5 standards taught in class and they received 3, 3, 3, 1, 2 for each standard. That would be 12/15= 80% so that would be an overall grade of a B.

If you are not receiving the emails or weekly announcements from Mrs. Janice, please make sure you have your updated information on file with the office.

If you move or change phone numbers, it is important to keep the office updated of new information.

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. They will be from 1:00-7:00pm. We are on a first come first serve basis at the middle school.

How to have a meaningful/successful conference?

Before the conferences:

Talk to your child: Ask how they feel about school, what they enjoy, and if they have any specific worries to share with the teacher

Review School work and grades: Look over recent homework, tests, or report cards ahead of time.

Write down your questions: Prepare a prioritized list so you don't forget key topics such as:

• Is my child meeting grade-level academic expectations?
• How do they get along socially and pay attention in class?
• What can we do at home to support their growth?

Gather context: Note any big changes at home, health issues, or learning preferences that may impact your child's day.

During the Conference:

Ask for specifics: If the teacher uses unfamiliar educational jargon or testing acronyms, ask them to explain what the data means for your specific child.

Listen and partner: Approach the meeting as a team effort. Use a collaborative mindset rather than a defensive one.

Share your perspective: Tell the teacher what you see at home- what motivates your child, frustrations you see when doing work at home.

Clarify Next Steps: Make sure you leave with a clear actionable plan for both home and school if your child needs extra help or enrichment.

After the conference:

Talk with your child: Share the positive highlights from the meeting, then share new goal, habits, or additional practice strategies.

Keep In Touch: Don't wait until the next Parent Teacher Conference- communicate with your child's teacher often to stay informed of academic success.

(information from KidsHealth, Child Mind Institute)

One of our Building Improvement Goals for BMS is 90% of our students will be at school 90% of the time. Currently we are at 91%! We have 67 students with 100% attendance still!

Please remember if your child can be at school, they need to be at school!! Attendance is important! When a student misses 1 day of school, they are only in attendance 75% of the time.

We have had a lot of students who are bringing in toys and squishies to school. This is a distraction in the classroom. All toys need to stay at home! This is causing behavior issues in class.

We are having a lot of issues with students not following expectations in class. The students are not wanting to complete their work, talk back, not remain seated- up moving around, not getting to class on time. These behaviors will not be tolerated! When students are at school, they are expected to follow classroom expectations, complete homework in a timely manner, participate in class. In the hallways, students should not be "horseplaying" and touching other students. Please continue to talk to your child at home about how they should behave at school.

Our mission at BMS is BEARS- Building Eager Academically Responsible Students! One way to do this is to teach students about good work ethic! When students demonstrate good work ethic and take responsibility to advocate for themselves they learn how to be successful. As parents, sometimes it is easy to fall in the trap of "I need to fix it" before allowing the child to "fix or handle" an issue. The way children learn is by modeling, watching, advocating for themselves, and even failing sometimes. We have been talking a lot about traits of good work ethics:

Accountability, Reliability, Integrity, Initiative, Discipline

Throughout the year, BMS will host family engagement nights. It is important that families are engaged in student activities, academics, educational learning, supporting students' learning. Please try to attend engagement events for your child.

Officer Fletcher had Brad Boettler of Evan's Voice come and talk to students in 6-8th grade on the dangers of on-line safety and social media outlets. This was a very powerful message for our students about knowing who you are talking to on-line and knowing who they can talk to. I shared information out to all families through Lumen on this program. We want to share awareness with our students and families. We want to make sure all of our students are safe. More information can be found at evansvoice.org

Oct. 16- End of First Quarter

Oct. 22- 8th Grade Spaghetti Dinner Meeting (7:00 pm Cafeteria)

Oct. 23- Grade Cards Sent out through Lumen

Oct. 26- (Monday) School In Session

Oct. 26-28- Scholastic Book Fair

Oct. 28- (Wednesday)- Halloween Costumes allowed (No Masks/Face Paint, No Weapons, No Blow Up Costumes)

Oct. 29- (Thursday) NO School/ Parent Teacher Conferences

Oct. 29- Art Chair Auction Bid Due

Oct. 30- (Friday) No School

Oct. 30- Haunted House/Trunk or Treat at BHS

Nov. 21- 8th Grade Spaghetti Dinner

Nov. 23- (Monday) School in Session

Nov. 24- Turkey Trot at BMS

Nov. 25-Nov. 30- Fall Break

Dec. 10- Middle School Dance (4:00-6:00)

Dec. 18- Last day of 2nd Quarter

Dec. 19- Jan. 5- Winter Break