BIS Newsletter

Our year is off to a wonderful start! Our students have fallen into their routines and are building community in their new classrooms. We are kicking off the 2023-2024 school year with kindness as our first monthly theme! This aligns with our school-wide read aloud of Wonder. While reading this book, our classrooms are talking about kindness, healthy friendships, and celebrating our differences throughout the year with various lessons and activities. Mrs. Guay, our School Counselor, has started every week with a different kindness-themed challenges. Students had the opportunity to earn “caught being kind” tickets, were encouraged to participate in school-wide kindness initiatives, and had the chance to earn some awesome prizes!

Title 1: Under the latest reauthorization of The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), requires that all schools receiving Title I funds must inform parents of their right to ask schools about the qualifications of their child’s teachers and qualifications of any paraprofessional serving their child. Your child attends a school that receives Federal Title I funds: Title 1: Parent Right to Know Letter

Fall State Assessment: Our students will be participating in the NWEA Through Year Assessment in October. Our third and fourth-grade students will be taking their Fall Benchmark Assessments in Math and Reading spread over the course of two weeks (October 3-14). To support your child in doing their very best, we encourage the recommended hours of sleep, a healthy breakfast at home or at school, and conversations at home about taking their time and doing their best. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you have any additional questions regarding NWEA testing.

Sincerely,

Lindsey Nadeau

Biddeford Intermediate School Principal

You are invited to be part of our school community! Biddeford Intermediate School is looking for interested parents/community members to serve on our School Council. We are invested in increasing and strengthening our parent/community connection. Being part of our school council will give you the opportunity to learn more about school and be involved in goal setting to benefit our student body.

The School council will meet every other month starting in October. If you would like more information about becoming part of our school community, please email Mrs. Nadeau at lnadeau@biddefordschools.me for more information and a link to the first zoom meeting. Thank you for your consideration.

Don't forget these events on your calendars!

• Fri Sept 22 - Fun Friday (Scrabble Day)
• Thurs Sept 28 - BIS Flu Vaccination Clinic (see below)
• Oct 2-13 - BIS Reading & Math Assessments
• Wed Oct 4 - Early Dismissal (BIS dismisses at 12:00)
• Fri Oct 6 - No School for Students (Staff Professional Development)
• Mon Oct 9 - No School for Students & Staff (Indigenous Peoples Day)
• Tues Oct 10 - BIS Picture Day
• Oct 23-31 - Red Ribbon Week
• Fri Oct 27 - Fun Friday (Wear Red Day)
• Oct 31 - Fun Friday (Wacky Hair Day)
• Oct 30-Nov 3 - Scholastic Book Fair

Our backpack program is in place to help keep our

students fed! A bag of assorted food and snack

items is sent home with enrolled students every

week, typically Friday afternoons.

If you would like to enroll your child in the program,

please reach out to their teacher or contact:

Ms. McKenzie- emckenzie@biddefordschools.me

Mrs. Guay- aguay@biddefordschools.me

Ms. Aberle- jaberle@biddefordschools.me

Some students may access support with our reading and math interventionists throughout the course of the school year. During our WIN (What I Need) block, students may go to different classrooms for various interventions, supports, or activities. Their WIN schedule might vary during the week and also may change throughout the year.

Mrs. Quigley is our BIS Literacy Interventionist. Mrs. Quigley and her staff provide supports for students during WIN block and assist teachers with providing instructional supports for student in the classroom. A reading interventionist is a specialized educator who works with students to provide targeted support and instruction to improve their reading skills. A reading interventionist assesses, designs and implements effective reading interventions for students who are struggling with reading comprehension, fluency, phonics, and other essential literacy skills. Interventionists support students in reaching their grade-level reading benchmarks.

Mrs. Duchaine is our BIS Math Interventionist. Mrs. Duchaine and her staff provide math support for students during WIN block and assist teachers with providing instructional supports for student in the classroom. During intervention, Mrs. Duchaine provides rigorous and engaging instruction to students who need additional support or further challenge. She uses a variety of manipulatives and hands-on activities to support content standards to meet the needs and capabilities of the individuals. During intervention, students work on number sense, fact fluency and word problems. The goal is to fill gaps of skills that students may be missing and to build their confidence as a math learner.

The Biddeford Intermediate School will be having an influenza vaccination clinic on Thursday, 9/28/23. We are partnering with Northern Light Home Care & Hospice to provide this clinic to our students. Please click on the link here (SPECIFIC TO BIS) and complete the consent form by Tuesday, 9/26/23 at noon.

Parents must type something into all highlighted fields, so please use NA if it doesn’t apply. Although the vaccine is provided at no charge, there is a cost to administer the vaccine. We appreciate it if you included accurate insurance information. Children presenting with an incomplete form will not receive their vaccine. There is no out-of-pocket cost; those without insurance will be vaccinated with the appropriate form completed.

All clinics will have injectable vaccines. In addition, FluMist (nasal spray) may be available at some clinics. We cannot guarantee it for all clinics. Unless you clearly mark which type of vaccine you prefer, and there is no contraindication to either type of vaccine, the nurse at the clinic will determine which type of vaccine to use for your child. For information about flu and the vaccine, click here.

Our BIS Support Staff is here to assist your child in having a successful year at BIS. Our team works with all students and is a big part of our community! If your child and/or family are in need of additional resources or supports, please do not hesitate to reach out to the team members below.

Mrs. Guay is our School Counselor! During her days at BIS, she supports our third and fourth graders with their social and emotional needs. Mrs. Guay meets with students individually and in skill-building guidance groups designed for all students. She also works with families and community supports and develops programs and initiatives to keep BIS a fun, safe, and comfortable place to be. A letter went home recently asking parents for input on enrolling their students in small groups to learn about friendship, coping skills, mindfulness, and dealing with worry and/or family changes. If you did not receive the letter or would like to talk about small groups further, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Guay. We are very lucky to have Mrs. Guay at BIS. Contact via phone or email: aguay@biddefordschools.me

Ms. McKenzie is our School Social Worker! Ms. McKenzie meets with students who need additional social and emotional support at school. She is a liaison between school and community resources, is the lead of our Backpack Food Program, and is also the co-advisor of our BIS Civil Rights Team. Ms. McKenzie brings her smile, great attitude, and tiger pride to school every day! She makes our school a better place! Contact via phone or email: emckenzie@biddefordschools.me

Ms. Aberle is our BIS Resiliency Coordinator. Ms. Aberle works with students and families to ensure they have a successful year at BIS. She works with students on coping skills and mindfulness, collaborates to get students to school, and helps students access the resources they need. Ms. Aberle leads our much-loved School Someday program and our BIS Clothing Closet. We love Ms. Aberle's warm personality and passion for helping others. Contact via phone or email: jaberle@biddefordschools.me

Nurse Lexi and Nurse Alana are here to support your child with their medical needs while they are at BIS. Whether your child has a playground injury, seasonal sickness, or regular medical needs, they help in ensuring our students have safe, comfortable, and healthy experience in our school.

This year is off to a great start in the SEL space! Using the Second Step program, we have started practicing the essential Skills for Learning. This Unit will help students gain skills to help themselves learn, including how to focus their attention, listen carefully, use self-talk to stay on task, and how to be assertive when asking for help with their work. We have been starting our class with 15 minute yoga + mindfulness exercises that aim to help students develop healthy coping skills while in school.

What an amazing start to the new school year in PE so far! We’ve been having lots of fun learning and playing some tried and true favorites to get everyone ready for free time outside of class. Our focus is on small area games that students can play with little or no equipment at recess, home, the park or almost anywhere else they can gather a small group of friends or family. Ask them about The Lions Den and Hungry Wolf but be ready for some action if you do!

Here are BIS we value the ability to connect and form relationships with all our students. One way that we foster developing a strong connection to school is by providing every student a “Someday”. This week each class worked with Ms. Aberle to create their Someday, “Someday at school I would like to …”. Students will be surprised with their Someday during the school year. This is just one way that students get a voice and choice here at BIS!

Email: lnadeau@biddefordschools.me
Website: www.biddefordschools.me
Location: 335 Hill Street, Biddeford, ME, USA
Phone: (207) 282-5957
Facebook: www.facebook.com/biddefordintermediate