BIS Newsletter

Happy March BIS families,

Happy Spring! It was a long winter but we are ready for the weather to warm up and the flowers to bloom. BIS was invited to attend a daytime BMS production of Beauty and the Beast JR. on Friday! Students will be walking to the PAC to watch the performance. Please help us by getting your child to school on time Friday morning to ensure they are able to join their classes.

Spring Parent Teacher Conferences: Our Spring Parent Teacher Conferences will be held in the afternoon/evening on Wednesday, April 5. Spring conferences are a great opportunity to discuss your child's growth this year, areas of strength, and areas for future focus!

National Social Emotional Learning Day: In honor of the national focus on social emotional learning, we would like to highlight some of the amazing ways BIS supports student emotional health and learning!

• Comprehensive school counseling programming is available to ALL students. Our school counselor offers skill-based guidance groups throughout the school year to help students with building positive self-esteem, practicing social skills, managing emotions, and fostering healthy friendships. Our Resiliency Coordinator works individually and in small groups with students on healthy coping skills and mindfulness!
• Our monthly assembly themes are qualities that align with our core BIS values and introduce new concepts for emotional growth. Practicing a Growth Mindset, for example, will help build resilience and help our students successfully overcome stressful moments.
• Our morning meetings at BIS are designed to provide opportunities for students to regulate and settle into the school day. During morning meetings, teachers and support staff provide social skills opportunities, community-building activities, and opportunities for students to practice emotion recognition, coping skills, and even mindfulness.
• All of our teachers have built "calming corners" in their classrooms to provide students with the ability to practice healthy coping skills in the classroom. These calming corners are normalized and encouraged to de-stigmatize the importance of self-care.
• Our SEL teacher is utilizing the Second Steps curriculum to enhance our third and fourth graders social skills and emotional awareness.

And so much more! BIS staff are working hard to prioritize our students' emotional health and individual experiences. We are very proud of our SEL work at BIS and look forward to adding more opportunities for expanding these valuable life lessons.

Sincerely,

Lindsey Nadeau

Biddeford Intermediate School Principal

BIS IMPORTANT DATES

• March 24: Fun Friday - Book Character Day
• April 5: Early Release (students dismiss at 12:00pm) & Parent Teacher Conferences (4:30-7pm)
• April 12: Western Wednesday (Fun Friday on a Wednesday!)
• April 13-21: No School; Spring Break. Return on April 24.
• April 24-28: College & Career Week
• May 3: Early Release (students dismiss at 12:00pm)

COMMUNITY DATES

• March 22: School Committee Meeting (7pm) @ BHS Little Theater
  
• March 23 & 24: Spring Musical: Beauty & The Beast JR. - Open to All. Show times: Thursday and Friday at 6:30pm @ BMS Performing Arts Center
  
• March 31: US Air Force Band (7pm) @ BMS Performing Arts Center
  
• April 6, 7 & 8: Spring Musical: “Pippin” - Open to All. Show times: Thursday and Friday at 7pm & Saturday at 2pm and 7pm @ BMS Performing Arts Center
  

• April 12: School Committee Meeting (5pm) @ BHS Little Theater

• April 21-23: The Addams Family - Open to All. Show times: Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 2pm & 7pm, and Sunday at 2pm @ BMS Performing Arts Center
  

• April 22: National Prescription Drug Take Back Day (10am-2pm) @ Biddeford Public Works Click Here
  

• April 26: School Committee Meeting (7pm) @ BHS Little Theater
  

The winter session of small groups with Mrs. Guay and Ms. Aberle ended this week! Our students worked hard learning all about coping skills, what makes a good friend, how to deal with worries, and practiced mindfulness. Our final round of small groups for the 22-23 school year will begin in two weeks and wrap up towards the end of May.

At our February assembly, our students learned that their brain is like a muscle, and they never stop learning! In March, our monthly theme is courage. Students learned that just like their brain, they have a courage muscle as well that never stops growing. By being brave, trying new things and standing up for others, they are making their courage muscle stronger every day!

With the District-Wide Art Show behind us, we typically spend the Spring working with clay. Unfortunately, our kiln requires some small repairs, so we won’t be able to learn about clay this year. We’ll substitute other 3-D art media, such as paper mache and found-object sculpture, allowing us plenty of opportunity to get our hands messy!

3rd grade students - we’re playing games in music class! We’re playing “Acka Backa” which is an elimination game. Every student that gets “out” gets to play a piano part or a rhythm stick part to accompany the song. We’re also learning the movements to a Swedish folk song called “Fjaskern.”

4th grade students - we’re learning all about “Theme and Variation.” Every class we listen to a famous Theme and Variation and we discuss what changed in the music? How many variations did we hear? All students will compose their own Theme and Variation based on the song “Mary had a Little Lamb.”

This winter in the library, we enjoyed reading a variety of books and stories. We found out what life would be like if we had animal characteristics while reading, “What If You Had Animal Eyes”, by Sandra Markle. We also had fun reading “Chez Bob”, by Bob Shea, about an alligator and his bird friends.

This month we are learning about the 4 Zones of Regulation and coping mechanisms for each zone. We will also be revisiting Big Problem vs. Small Problem in a court-like setting.

March has us switching gears and working on our kicking skills with a variety of activities. A new favorite here at BIS is called “sock-it ball”! In this fast-paced action-packed activity there are absolutely no hands allowed, with kicking only there are also some similarities to the game of soccer. This amazing game was created right here at BIS during our social distancing era, and boy are we glad it was!

The Blast Summer Program is looking for current Pre-K through 3rd grade students interested in participating in their free programming summer! Blast is partnering with the Biddeford Jumpstart Intervention Program to provide targeted learning opportunities and exciting enrichment activities during this 6-week program. For more information about registering, please contact Rebecca Cote at rcote@biddeforschools.me.

CURRENT Pre-K-3rd GRADERS: Current Pre-K through 3rd-grade students should inquire about the 6-week Blast/Jumpstart Summer Program (above).

CURRENT 4th GRADERS: The Jumpstart Intervention Program is looking for current 4th-grade students interested in participating in the free academic intervention program this summer. This 4-week program is intended for students who would benefit from a targeted academic boost this summer.

Anticipated Dates: July 5-28 (Mon-Thurs)

Time: 8:00am-12:00pm

Director: Kelsey Langill

Transportation & Food Services (breakfast & lunch) are provided!

INTERESTED IN TUTORING? Are you interested in tutoring sessions during the month of July but are unable to commit to the 4-or 6-week Jumpstart/Blast programs? Would you like your child to come in for a shorter burst (1 hour, 2-3 times a week in July) and practice their reading or math skills with one of our Jumpstart interventionists? Please reach out asap to inquire about scheduling!

For more information about registering your child for the 4-week Jumpstart program OR summer tutoring, please contact Kelsey Langill at klangill@biddefordschools.me

Biddeford Recreation's Safari Summer Camp is open to kids entering Grades K-5 only. Registration is now open for 3-5 days per week, and parents may choose to register for certain weeks or the full summer (8 weeks only: June 20-August 11 with a caravan camp available August 14-18). Payment plans are available and any requests for financial aid must be submitted no later than May 5th. For more information about registering, please CLICK HERE or on the image below.

RUNS MARCH 12-MAY 27

Shop at Hannaford and easily raise money for our school! For every four participating products you purchase (look for the shelf tags in the store or the apple symbol online), our school will receive $3.00 simply by redeeming your receipt.

NEW for 2023: Deposit School Dollars online using the Hannaford Helps Schools app to donate to a specific school.

The United States Air Force Band from Washington, D.C., is heading out on tour to the Northeast and will perform on Friday, March 31st at 7pm at the Biddeford Middle School Performing Arts Center. Free tickets are available via Eventbrite at http://bit.ly/3mblnCa. The concert is open to the public with general admission seating and doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

The U.S. Air Force Band is the premier musical organization of the U.S. Air Force. Stationed at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C., the United States Air Force Band honors those who have served, inspires American citizens to heightened patriotism and service, and connects with the global community on behalf of the U.S. Air Force and the United States of America.

Resilience & Relationships Tools for Parent Workshop

Limited Space - Click Here to Register

Concerned about Drug Misuse In our Community?

Attention Parents and Guardians: Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition’s Project Alliance needs your help! If you are concerned about substance misuse issues facing our youth and would like to get more involved with local youth drug prevention, consider joining our coalition. As a member, you can learn about available local resources, develop strategies for talking to your kids, and make a lasting impact on your community. Our coalition meets once a month via Zoom and is comprised of parents, teachers, law enforcement members, business and religious leaders, healthcare providers, and other community activists, all working together to make York County safer, healthier, and drug-free.

If you are interested in joining our coalition, please fill out your information here: https://bit.ly/PAMembership. CHCC also encourages parents and guardians to subscribe to their monthly newsletter, included below, for future community updates.

Lindsey Nadeau, Principal

Email: lnadeau@biddefordschools.me
Website: https://biddefordme.sites.thrillshare.com/o/bis
Location: 335 Hill Street, Biddeford, ME, USA
Phone: 207-282-5957
Facebook: facebook.com/biddefordintermediate