September 2023

BFA Fairfax Middle School

Family Newsletter

From the Principal:

We’ve had a great start to the school year!

We opened the first few days with a strong focus on community and establishing our expectations and norms for the middle school. Our middle schoolers have done a tremendous job. A big shout out to the 5th grade class (Team Voyager). They have really impressed the 5th grade team and entire middle school faculty.

Middle School Teams: You may have heard about “Odyssey”, “ Horizon”, “Endeavor” and “Voyager”. This year the middle school has named each of the four middle school teams based on NASA spacecraft with a school-wide focus on the FWSU motto of “A belief in what’s possible”. The teams are as follows:

Voyager - Grade 5

Odyssey - Grade 6

Horizon - Grade 7

Endeavor - Grade 8

Advisory and Morning Meeting: We have kicked-off this year with a school-wide advisory program. Every student has an “advisory” teacher (similar to a homeroom teacher). Students across the middle school start their day in Morning Meeting with their advisory group and teacher. The purpose of advisory and the Morning Meeting time is multifold and includes welcoming students to the school day, reviewing expectations and schedules, and discussing issues of importance in the class, on the team, and across the school, among other things. It’s also an opportunity to build community within classes and across the school.

A/B Day Schedule: As you likely know, this year the middle school is running on an “A” and “B” day for the Unified Arts (UA) classes. Students take four UA classes, two on A days and two on B days. Here is a copy of our A/B calendar: Middle School A/B Calendar

Substitutes: We continue to need substitute teachers! Please reach out to me or Sally Sillado (sbillado@fwsu.org) if you are interested.

Volunteering: There may be opportunities to volunteer this year. Please remember that anyone who wants to volunteer in a classroom or go on a field trip must complete this link: 2024 Volunteer Agreement Form. This is a digital form that can also be found at FWSU.org main page under quick links. Please consider completing this form now so that you are all set when you want to volunteer. You will only have to do this once a year.

BFA Student Handbook: Please take a minute to review the BFA Parent and Student Handbook. You can access it on the BFA website under Parent and Student Resources.

We hope you have a great September and early fall!

Warmly,

Heather Baron, Middle School Principal

From the Dean of Students:

I have really enjoyed having the opportunity to engage with students and families on a much broader level in my new role this year. We have had a very positive start to the school year, and it has been wonderful having students back in the building. In my role as Dean of Students, I will be working closely with students and families as they navigate the joys and challenges of middle school! If you have any questions, concerns, or need support, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

Dana Gore, Dean of Students

Classroom Corner

TEAM VOYAGER (Grade 5):

It was a fun start to the school year on Team Voyager playing games, developing routines and expectations, getting to know each other, creating class contracts and going on a scavenger hunt to become more familiar with the middle school! They also engaged in activities to learn about the Middle School Learner Habits: Collaboration, Self Direction, Persistence, Responsibility and Reflection. 5th Graders also began exploring the first of our monthly themes: Belonging. Students will be learning strategies to help build a sense of belonging within our community and will be trying to demonstrate these acts throughout each day. We are off to an amazing start and are thrilled with how students have settled into middle school routines!

TEAM ODYSSEY (Grade 6):

We have had a great start to 6th grade on the Odyssey Team! We have been working on establishing community in several ways including creating class jobs in literacy. We have been utilizing a structured morning meeting routine in all three advisories to ensure all students are all getting the same message. In all three content areas, we have been using the first couple weeks of school to ease into our first units. Stay tuned for more information about each of our units! As a 6th grade we will be administering the STAR assessment over the next two weeks for both math and literacy.

TEAM HORIZON (Grade 7):

Team Horizon has been busy! In classes, students have been working on team building engineering projects for science, word study for ELA, key concept review in math, and discussing the significance of 9/11 in social studies.

Looking ahead: We will be taking our first class field trip to Hosmer Point the first week in October. Be on the lookout for more communication coming soon!

TEAM ENDEAVOR (Grade 8):

Team Endeavor has been working hard at developing our community in Morning Meetings and Supported Study, including welcoming new students and teachers to the team. We have learned about the meaning behind the Endeavor team name, and used this to create academic goals and declarations for the school year.

On Monday September 11 we viewed a Digital Learning Experience from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. This is always a powerful experience for students to learn about the events of that day, and stories of courage and resilience from people who were directly impacted.

Counseling Connections

We know that the start of the school year brings a mix of emotions for students and while it can be very exciting it can also bring some stress as they transition back into their school routine. Here are some sample questions you may want to use in your chats with your students to get a sense of how they are doing with the transition and what may be on their mind:

What has been the best thing about starting school?
What has been the hardest thing about starting school?
What do you think will challenge you this year?
What are you most looking forward to or excited about?
How are you organizing your school work this year?
Who do you feel connected with at school (adults and peers)?

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there is anything we can do to support your child during their transition to the school year. We are excited to work with your students!

Katherine McElroy Welch

Director of School Counseling

kmcelroy@fwsu.org

Marisa Monette

Middle School Counselor

mmonette@fwsu.org

Chris Boutin

School-Based Clinician

cjboutin@fwsu.org

Athletics and Activities

The fields, trails, and stage are buzzing with activity as our various athletic teams and fall musical cast members are fine tuning their skills in anticipation of their opening games, meets, and performances. At BFA Fairfax, especially at the middle school level, we encourage students to take part in as many activities as possible, try new things, and become the most well-rounded individuals and student leaders they can be. Cross country and soccer competitions begin this week and continue through the third week of October, while our fall musical performances will be held on Thursday through Saturday, November 9-11. We appreciate your continued enthusiasm and support for our numerous co-curricular activities at BFA Fairfax, and look forward to seeing you in person at many of these events!

Geri Witalec-Krupa, Director of Activities

Nurse's Office

Welcome back!

I hope you all had a great summer filled with rest and fun.

Thank you to everyone who was able to send in this year’s Pink Health From . As a reminder If your student has Asthma or requires an Epipen please ensure that their rescue medication is in their backpacks or in the nurse's office. All other medication should remain in the nurse's office at all times. If you have not yet been able to get the Pink Health form,or updated Asthma Action Plan/Allergy Action Plan, please get them to me ASAP.

As our students are settling into the new school year Please remember they may need some help at home adjusting. A few examples of ways to help your student include: limited screen time in the evening, a time the student should be settled in bed and a well balanced dinner and breakfast.

I look forward to working with you and your students this school year and supporting them in the nurse's office as needed.

Please reach out with any concerns or questions.

Courtney LaCasses, BFA Middle School, clacasse@fwsu.org

From the Land of Music, Art, Physical Education, and World Language

ART: We’ve had a great start in the art studio! Students have been learning their way around the studio and working on their first project. Student artists designed their portfolio covers, writing their name in a unique and creative way. They will store all of their artwork and their sketchbooks in their portfolios throughout the year. In the next few weeks, we will be working on our next project and setting up our digital portfolios in Google.

BAND:

Grade 5: We’ve been stunned by the interest from fifth grade in beginning band this year! We have over 85% enrollment, which is outstanding. Please make sure you’ve gone to the Ellis Music website to rent your instrument as soon as possible; let us know if you have any questions. Please note that our first full ensemble rehearsal will be Friday, October 13th.

Grade 6-8: Our returning musicians have hit the ground running–it may be September, but we’re already hard at work on our Winter Concert material. The students have been doing a great job adapting to our brand new schedule, which is going to allow us to have much more time with each group of students. Please note that our first full ensemble rehearsals will be Friday, September 15th.

CHORUS:

It has been amazing to welcome new singers this year and reconnect with the many returning chorus members. We had full ensemble rehearsals for chorus last Friday and it was fantastic to hear the students in their larger groups. Our next full ensemble rehearsals will be on Friday, September 22nd.

The students have been given a Chorus Overview packet that has a letter, a concert/activities schedule and a page for students and their grown-ups to sign. If you have one laying around, please help your singer remember to bring it back to school! It’s going to be a spectacular year!

GENERAL MUSIC:

General Music classes have been reviewing music reading, learning piano skills, reviewing the elements of music (pitch, beat, tempo, etc.) and listening/identifying various genres of music. It’s been wonderful seeing the new students get excited about learning new skills and watching returning students jump right back into music class!

News from the Library

The Vermont Golden Dome Book Award was created to honor excellence in children's literature. Each year since 1957, Vermont students in grades four through eight select their favorite book from a list of nominees. It is recommended that students read at least five of the year's nominated titles before voting. Voting takes place in April. All of the nominees are available in the library. More information about the award and nominees can be found at the Vermont Department of Libraries. https://libraries.vermont.gov/vermont-golden-dome-book-award

Please be aware it is the school library procedure that when students move into middle school (5th-8th), they are able to choose books from the Young Adult (YA) section. This is not a section they have access to in the elementary school. The books in this section are written for a wide range of ages and reading abilities. If you have any questions, please reach out to school librarian, Joy Mercer.

Joy Mercer

School Librarian

jmercer@fwsu.org