Crusader Times

Dear Crusaders,

Welcome to a new school year! We are off to a great start and I want to thank our teachers and staff for all their hard work in preparing for our students. We had a very well attended “Back to School Night” and parents had the opportunity to see our Mariachi and Band perform. They were great!

Our goal at BVM is for all students to have an enriching academic experience in a safe and nurturing environment. I want to wish all students and parents a great year and let you know that we are here for you. Feel free to reach us with any feedback or concerns. My commitment is to give all our students the best two years of their academic life. Have a great 2017-18 school year!

Eduardo Reyes, Ed.D.

Our school was given the opportunity to host 23 Chinese Delegates over a span of two weeks. Students were able to partner up with an ASB student and shadow them throughout the day as they fully immersed themselves as a BVM Crusader. They were a pleasure to host and we want to thank them for giving our students the chance to learn about their culture and customs.

On August 11th, we held our Annual Open House and had a great parent turnout where parents got the chance to learn about course requirements and content, view textbooks and materials, meet their child’s teachers and become acquainted with the campus.

When Gabriel Gerken, a BVM Alumni, started the garden project, he thought it would be easy to get some vegetables planted for the Special Education classes, but further investigation yielded a bunch of problems; the most significant was squirrels that had eaten all the plants in the past. Many people wanted to keep the existing fruit trees so he investigated repellents for squirrels. He even looked into an electronic repellent that failed miserably.

Ms. Funk, the school librarian, suggested he do a Zen garden. Looking into this idea, the $400 cost for plants would increase to $1,400 with statues and sand being very expensive comparatively. Dixieline and Home Depot gave extremely generous donations and Lowe’s gave a discount to purchased items. Friends and family chipped into the cost and the entire project came together with help from many people. The rakes and garden tools were checked out from the library, while Gabriel's grandfather helped to make his sketches of a Zen rake a reality.

Finally, Gabriel added squirrel resistant plants (plants that squirrels don’t like) to surround the existing fruit trees so you’ll see the addition of jasmine and geraniums in the garden as well. His hope is that students will find this a relaxing, stress free area.

Special thanks to Troop 800 who showed up in mass to move the 5,000 pounds of sand donated by Home Depot and the 2,500 pounds of rock donated by Gabriel's Uncle Walter!

Thanks for all of your hard work and helping create a tranquil Zen garden a reality!

Our school piloted an Exploring Arts Music Class last year, where our moderate/severe students are able to take music as part of their daily schedule. In their Exploring Arts Music Class, students get an opportunity to learn culturally relevant and traditional music from around the world. This includes how different some instruments are made, relationship between sounds and vibrations, string and percussion instruments, tempo, reading music and playing short pieces. Thanks Ms. Cruz for opening up the world of music to our moderate/severe students and for being such an amazing teacher!

Below are pictures of students working collaboratively in jigsaws to read, annotate, and write a rhetorical summary in their English 8 class. Next, students were tasked to put up the summaries for a gallery walk. Student then, used a rubric to evaluate each group's summary. The purpose of the activity was to teach good summary writing skills.

The BVH Vocal Music Department is having their “Royal Tea” on September 9th. We have a 12pm Tea and a 3pm Tea. Below is the brochure for Reservations and activities that will be included in the festivities. We hope to see you there!

In art with RADIAL BALANCE, shapes or forms are arranged around a central point. BVM art students have added bird motifs to their designs using repetition and pattern.

This month we would like to congratulate our Head Counselor, Monica Sigarroa-Sanchez, for her leadership and hard work in opening up the 2017-18 academic school year! Of course, the opening up of the school year came with obstacles, but when obstacles presented themselves she quickly sought out ways to resolve them. She lead our team of counselors and ensured that students were placed correctly in their respective classes. We appreciate all of your hard work and long hours that you dedicated to opening up our school! Thanks for all that you do and always putting students first!

Hello and welcome to our 7th Graders and welcome back to our returning 8th graders! We hope this year has gotten off to a good start and you are enjoying being a Crusader!

We understand this is a time of transition where NEW experiences and feelings regarding change can arise. Rest assured this is all a part of the process and to be expected. This is an exciting time for you to learn and explore more independence. There are so many opportunities for each of you here at Bonita Vista Middle School; from engaging learning opportunities, to clubs, to sports, and new friendships. At BVM there is something for each of your interests.

Please take advantage of the tutoring services available before and after school. For a schedule of AEC tutoring please pick one up in the main office or feel free to acquire it from our school website. Students should be checking your emails daily for those who have been assigned AEC.

Students, do not wait until your grades are declining. If you miss an assignment or score low on a test, take a PROACTIVE approach with your grades and seek help from your teachers/counselors. You can make an appointment with your teachers to get help during advisory or make arrangements to speak with them. Counselors will soon be meeting with you by sending “Call Slips” to discuss your grades should they drop.

You can also ask your counselor questions during nutrition break and lunch time or by filling out a blue slip “Request to See Counselor” if we are away from our offices.

Here is to a successful academic school year!

Sincerely,

BVM Counseling Team

This month I’m focusing on the problem of digital distraction for teens. According to a Pew Research Poll, cell phones, computers and other digital devices have become the technology of choice for teens to communicate with each other. Texting is the preferred mode of communication, surpassing face-to-face contact. What does this mean for us in our everyday interactions? How does it feel to be on the receiving end of this kind of distraction?

Often teens believe that they are good at multi-tasking, when in fact they too many tasks slow them down. Imagine you are in a study group and one person is texting and not contributing any conversation on the topic at hand and doesn’t seem to be listening to others in the group. Is this acceptable socially and academically? What if the person insists they can text and do study group at the same time. Is this accurate, or is time wasted waiting for the texting student to focus?

Here is another example: You decide to meet a friend for lunch and you are looking forward to spending time with him. When you get together, he spends most of lunch texting on his phone and ignoring you. How does this make you feel? And how do you treat others when you have an incoming message? Are you considerate of them and their time? Or do you have them wait until you are done texting to give them your full attention? Is one interruption okay? Two? Three? When does your device become a problem?

Of course, then there are dangerous distractions, like driving and texting. It all comes down to the choices we make day-to-day, every day. Are you making good choices that work for you and those around you? Or do you need to make an adjustment or two when it comes to using technology in your everyday life?

Why use technology in school? Technology allows students to find information faster and show what they know in new and creative ways that were never possible before.

Unfortunately, technology doesn't always work the way we want it to. When at home and having an issue with your iPad, contact the teacher immediately and let them know what the problem is. The next day ask your Advisory teacher for a pass to come visit the Genius Bar for help in room 606. You can also visit the BVM Student Tech Site for information and help to try to fix the problem yourself.

One of the challenges many students are facing is remembering how to submit an assignment to Canvas or Jupiter. Instructions for submitting can be found on the BVM Student Tech Site or you can visit the Genius Bar during Advisory for help.

08/26 - Saturday School and Saturday Scholars

09/04 - No School - Labor Day

09/09 - Saturday School and Saturday Scholars

09/12 - Make-up Picture Day and Middle School Success 101 Meeting: Digital Citizenship and School Involvement

09/13 - School Site Council Meeting

09/18 - 09/30 - Fall Break

Email: Eduardo.Reyes@sweetwaterschools.org
Website: http://bvm.sweetwaterschools.org/
Location: 650 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista, CA 91910, United States
Phone: (619) 397-2200
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bonitavistamiddleschool