BFJH Weekly Update
Friday October 6,2023
Upcoming Dates
Monday October 9
No Activities
Tuesday October 10
Cross Country at Ballard-4:00 PM (Away)
Football: 8th Grade at ADM 4:15 PM (Away)
Football: 7th Grade vs ADM 4:15 PM (Home)
Wednesday October 4
No Activities
Thursday October 5
No Activities
Friday October 6
No Activities
Important Dates
October 18- Picture Retake Day
October 17-8th Girls Basketball practice starts
October 19-7th Girls Basketball practice starts
October 25- End of 1st Quarter
October 30- Parent Teacher Conferences
November 2-Parent Teacher Conferences
Please remind your student to charge their Chromebooks at night!
What's happening in WINN this month!
We are WINNing at Bondurant-Farrar Junior High!
Here at the Junior High, we dedicate 30 minutes of our instructional day for WINN which stands for What I Need Now. This time is dedicated to three primary purposes - providing targeted help in areas of need, providing opportunities to learn about topics of interest outside of the typical scope of the classroom, and providing reteaching and retesting support to help students in their current classes.
We have just kicked off our 2nd year of WINN here at the Junior High and all of our students are getting to experience a topic of interest or need on a more personal level. Our year is broken into 6 - 6 week sessions. The first 6 weeks of school are focused on team building, learning school expectations, learning social skills that are necessary to successfully navigate Junior High, and how to be responsible Digital Citizens. All students participate in these classes.
Starting with the 2nd 6 weeks of school, we transitioned to offering interventions and extensions. Our teachers worked diligently to make data-driven decisions to identify the students who will most benefit from targeted interventions in the areas of math, reading, writing, and study skills. Students in interventions will work with highly qualified teachers who provide small group instruction, opportunities for practice, and monitor progress to provide students and parents with feedback on growth over the 6 week session. It’s a great opportunity to catch up on a missed skill and to improve confidence!
Any student who is not in an intervention will participate in an extension. Extensions are offerings that are inspired by the teacher’s passion and informed by student voice. Each extension is aligned to an Iowa Core standard and offers an opportunity to learn about something that isn’t taught in a formal classroom. Most offerings provide learning for building healthy lifestyle habits, skills for independent adulthood, or opportunities to explore current interests like art and science. Students get to vote on the extension they would like to attend and typically are assigned within their top 3 choices. This year we have added an FFA extension that is led by the FFA leadership team from the High School.
Students attend interventions or extensions on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week. On Tuesday and Thursday, students are pulled by their current teachers to receive reteaching, take a missed test or retake a test, or to receive any support that is necessary for a class they are currently enrolled in. Students can ask their teachers to pull them if they feel they need help in a given subject. It’s a great opportunity for students to learn and practice self-advocacy and personal responsibility.
Extensions and interventions change every six weeks. By the end of the school year, all students will have the opportunity to participate in an extension of their choosing, and most importantly, all students will have the opportunity to improve their skills and to learn new insights about themselves. Our Junior High Bluejays are WINNing!
Nurse's Corner
I had the privilege of speaking with all of the 7th grade students during their Language Arts classes this week. We talked about the sugar and caffeine content in many of the soft drinks available on the market today. Inevitably, the conversation and questions came around to energy drinks. I was able to provide the students with some alarming information regarding energy drinks and the negative impact they can have on adolescent health. In our research we discovered that adults should not consume more than 300 mg of caffeine and adolescents should consume less than 100 mg of caffeine per day. I am sharing below some of the information we talked about regarding caffeine in energy drinks. Ask your student about what they learned and how they plan to adjust their caffeine (and sugar) intake.
Baseball Hat Order Today!
$25 due December 1st
Hats will be passed out after Christmas Break
Order Link: https://bfschools.revtrak.net/r3#/f/2023-2024-baseball-hats
How to Order Pictures!
Order at JOSTENSPIX.COM
For Questions call 1-877-515-1447
Order your Yearbook Today!
How to access your students ISASP Scores
Please use this link to our District's website for information on how to access your student's scores for the Spring 2023 Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP), which students completed this past April.
Links and instructions are provided on how to find your student's scores on Infinite Campus, as well as a more complete student report, which can be found at the ISASP website.
Please reach out with any questions.
Lunch Accounts
All lunch account payments can be managed through the Infinite Campus parent portal. If you have questions please email Christy Hahn.
Automatic Payments for School Meals
We'd like to inform you of a convenient way to manage your child's school meals account. Parents and guardians now have the option to set up automatic meal payments through Infinite Campus, our online platform. By enabling this feature, you can ensure that your child's meal account remains funded without the hassle of manual payments. To set up automatic payments, simply log in to your Infinite Campus account and (click here to) follow the instructions.
Thank you for your continued support in providing the best for our students.
Sports Physicals
This is an exciting time for young athletes of all experience levels. To be eligible for participation, the school needs you to:
- Complete the online Activity Registration. Here is the link to the Activity Registration Page.
- Submit a completed Iowa Athletic Pre-Participation Physical Examination form to the MS Office (either electronically or drop off a copy). Physical Form Link
No athlete is allowed to practice or compete until both of these steps have been completed. (The athlete is highly encouraged to attend practice to observe so that they are "up to speed" when they are deemed eligible.)
Questions? Please reach out Cassie Nelson at nelsonc@bfschools.org or 515-957-7970.
Thank you!
GO JAYS!
Booster Club Apparel Store
Our athletics booster club has launched a new online apparel store. This is a 24/7 store with no "closing date" and we're told items typically ship in a week or so. Purchasing Bluejay gear through the boosters directly supports Bondurant-Farrar students and programs.
Lost and Found
NFHS Crisis Line
The NFHS has partnered with Crisis Text Line to encourage mental health support for teens across the country. Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7, high-quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention in English and Spanish by empowering a community of trained volunteers to support people in their moments of need. Crisis Text Line promotes mental well-being for individuals, wherever they are. Individuals are encouraged to text the keyword “SHIELD” to 741741 if they are experiencing a mental health crisis – anything from suicidal thoughts or abusive relationships to difficult conversations with parents or anxiety about school workload.
Community Suggestion Box
As a valued member of our school community, your input is wanted and valued. We all have a vested interest in making sure that Bondurant-Farrar Junior High meets the needs of our stakeholders. We want your thoughts on solutions to problems you see from your perspective. Do you see a process that can be improved upon? Do you have a solution to improve current practices? Do you have creative insight into how we can grow in serving all of our students? We want to hear it!