Back to School night was a huge success. BBQ at BOES. T-shirts were passed out, and students learned about their peers

Bus Field trip to The Aquarium 

Halloween Party sponsored by PTO

Veterans Day activity

Thanksgiving Feast with students and families

Christmas Caroling at Morningstar and Promontory Point for Assisted Living

Christmas at the movies students watched Smallfoot

Swim Safety with Bonneville High School Lifetime Sports Class

Zoomobile students loved learning from the Zoo Volunteers

Valentine's Party  Students played games, ate treats and passed out Valentine's.

What a wonderful and productive year we completed!  To say that the BOES Staff has been grateful for our new building is an understatement.  From the feedback I’ve heard, many of you are just as grateful!  To have our own space for activities, tutoring, and testing has given our BOES staff the gift of focus:  eliminating the time and energy of setting up and tearing down in our previous locations. Our incredible BOES Staff has spent precious time and energy serving our students and families, as well as fine-tuning the best parts of our school.  

Our focus on Online Lion PRIDE helped us grow our character as we strengthened our minds.  I was so pleased to watch our students learn, practice, and DO hard things throughout the year.  Braving a first-time bus ride, first-time trampoline park, performance at the talent show, or participating in standardized testing.  Also celebrating friendships made, emotions challenged, while learning to share, take turns, and be a little vulnerable in front of others.

We saw that positive relationships between our students and teachers showed strong gains for our students, especially those students who needed to do a little catch-up this year.  Mrs. Watson worked with many students online through Google Hangouts, students who weren’t afraid to ask questions or receive help.  Students who worked with dedicated learning coaches, in addition to receiving intervention help from Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Watson saw big gains, including some students who made more than a year’s worth of growth!  I celebrate the consistency and perseverance all our students (and learning coaches!) showed!

The success of our school year is not just measured by test scores.  The success of our school year is also measured by the difficulties we faced, the courage we developed, and the people we became.

At the beginning of this year I asked our Learning Coaches, “What are your educational values?  What is it you are willing to defend as the most important part of learning?”  The list you provided me stated:

All Students Should be:

• Able to Think Freely
• Independent in their Learning and in their Work
• Confident
• Confident in their Writing/Composition Skills
• Confident in their Reading Skills
• Passionate about Learning
• Able to Set and Accomplish Goals

In the eyes of these values, I see a very successful year, for all of us!

Looking forward to next year, our BOES Team has worked hard to complete our calendar for 2018-19.  Some of you received a copy at Gravity Factory.  A copy is attached, will be placed on our website, and will be a part of our school planner/gradebook that you will receive during back-to-school orientation next year.

Great things that will continue for 2018-19:

• Date and Time for Weekly Activities: Continuing to meet on WEDNESDAYS from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
• Shared facility with the D93 Gifted and Talented Program (GATE) Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
• Character and STEM instruction on Wednesdays (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)--with the addition of LEGO Robotics offered 10 Wednesdays.
• Music and PE instruction once a month with District 93 music and PE specialists
• Learning Coaches meetings monthly

Changes coming for 2018-19:

• Paper planners/gradebooks for Students and Learning Coaches--optional tools for goal setting, reflection, growing independence
• More purposeful ways to use Wednesdays and a School Store as an opportunity to learn skills of cooperation, struggle, and fluency.
• New T-shirts!

Our goals are still the same: to provide the best of both worlds: public school at home.  We would love to share this opportunity with more families!  Please share our school by word of mouth, on Facebook, and anytime you’re out and about wearing your BOS Lions shirts!

Thank you again for your support and incredible work!  I appreciate you all so very much!