Daily Bulletin
New Buffalo Elementary School Bulletin for Friday, May 02, 2025
Education and Nutrition Benefits Application: ***If there has been an income change in your household, please fill out another application.*** New Buffalo Area Schools is joining the Michigan School Meals Program for school year 2024-2025. All students can get one breakfast and one lunch free of charge each day at school. Although no application is required to receive this free meal benefit, filling out the Education and Nutrition Benefits Application is still important! Your child(ren) may qualify for other benefits like reduced fees at school. Your application may also help the school qualify for education funds, discounts, and other programs. Without this information, our district could lose important state funding for educational programs that our students are entitled to. The information collected from the application is used to provide additional services and benefits beyond school meals, like resources for classrooms, teachers, and children, guidance and college counselors, and health and wellness services. The following items are also dependent upon this application: Title I, summer day camp scholarships, summer EBT funds, field trip support, Toys for Tots, and potential household support for cable and internet. Before completing the application, please review the following: If you received a notice in July 2024, that states your child(ren) has already been approved, DO NOT complete another application. One application per family is all we need. The application is located on-line at Meal Magic Family Portal. A paper application was sent home with all students at the beginning of the school year. For more information on school meals, please visit the New Buffalo Area Schools Food Service website. If you have other questions or need help, call 269-469-6048. Si necesita ayuda, por favor llame al teléfono 269-469-6048. Si vous voudriez d'aide, contactez nous au numero 269-469-6048.
Mighty Acorns dates:
4th grade: Friday, May 2 5th grade: Friday, May 9
School Board Meeting Dates 2025/2026 school year:
Monday, April 28 at 6:00 p.m. in the cafeteria at the MS/HS
Monday, May 12
Monday, May 26
Monday, June 9
Monday, June 23
Monday, July 14
Monday, July 28
Monday, August 11
Monday, August 25
Granor Farm Camp 6/30-8/7/25: Granor Farm Camp is hosting day camps for children ages 5-10 where they get to explore and learn about the workings of a farm, grow and cook with local produce, and create art using natural materials. Six weekly sessions (Monday-Thursday) are available from 6/30-8/7/25. Camp runs from 9:00 am - 1:00 pm EDT. Registration opens on March 4 - visit to sign up. Here is a flier with more information: Granor Farm Camp Summer 2025.
Girl Scouts meetings:
Girl Scouts meetings will take place at BASE as an enrichment from 4:00-5:00 pm every other Thursday beginning March 20. The dates will be March 20, April 10, April 24, May 8 and May 22. Please see this attached flier for more information: Girl Scouts.
Community Shred Event: The Pokagon Fund is partnering with New Buffalo Township and The New Buffalo Township Fire Department to host a free Community Shred Event on Saturday, May 10 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. This event is for residents of Chikaming, New Buffalo and Three Oaks to shred personal documents. Paper clips, staples, metal spiral in notebooks, metal on file folders, binder clips and any thin metal pieces will be fine to go through the shredders. Please see the attached flier for more details: Community Shred Event.
Beginning Band Sign-up Night:
New Buffalo Elementary is holding a Beginning Band sign-up night on Wednesday, May 21 from 4:30-6:30 pm in the elementary music room. The sign-up process will take around 10-15 minutes. Here is some information regarding band:
Lory's Place Camp Lifetimes 2025:
Camp Lifetimes 2025 will be a "Grief Wilderness Journey" at The Woods Fitness Park. Participants ages 5-11 years old are welcome to register to join us on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 from 9:00 am - 3:30 pm. Families will also have an electronic waiver to sign for the The Woods Fitness Park. Lory's Place will be covering the $10 lifetime membership cost for participants and facilitators. Registration deadline is June 18, 2025. You may register online at this website or fill out this registration form: Lory's Place Camp Lifetimes registration.
Spring Testing Schedule:
5/12-5/23 -- Delta math screener 5/12-5/23 -- NWEA MAP testing window 5/13 -- K-5 ELA 5/20 -- K-5 math 5/22 -- DIBELS benchmark testing grades K, 2, 4 5/22 -- MAZE testing grades 2-5 5/23 -- DIBELS benchmark testing grades 1, 3, 5 5/27-5/30 -- Achieve3000 level set grades 2-5
PTO Involvement Survey:
New Buffalo Elementary PTO is in need of volunteers! Our PTO provides events and activities such as: book fairs, carnival, teacher appreciation activities, luncheons, Holiday Shoppe and the Bison Stampede fundraiser.
2025 Harbor Country Feeding America Mobile Food Truck Pantries:
The Pokagon Fund is helping to fill the nutritional gap for families through its sponsorship of mobile food pantries in their service area. There will be 24 such events during the year 2025. The host sites are: Harbert Community Church in Sawyer, Church of the Mediator in Lakeside/Harbert, Harbor Country Rotary Club in Three Oaks and New Buffalo American Legion in New Buffalo. Please see the attached flier for details or visit Feeding America West Michigan's website for their online schedule for Berrien County.
M-STEP testing schedule:
The M-STEP testing cycle has begun. Grades 3-5 will be assessed in the areas of English Language Arts and Math. Fifth grade will also be assessed in Science and Social Studies. Please refer to the schedule below for specific testing dates for each grade level. Some testing sessions will begin promptly at 8:45 am; therefore, it is extremely important for your child to be on time. If your child is not in their classroom when the testing begins, they will have to make up that assessment on a different day. 5th Grade Testing Schedule (10:15 am) 4/15 Science
4/16 Science
4/22 Social Studies
4/23 Social Studies
4/29 ELA Dday 1
4/30 ELA day 2
5/2 Make-up day (S, SS, ELA)
5/6 Math day 1
5/7 Math day 2
5/9 Make-up day (all)
4th Grade Testing Schedule (10:15 am) 4/29 ELA day 1 4/30 ELA day 2 5/2 Make-up day 5/6 Math day 1 5/7 Math Day 2 5/9 Make-up (all) 3rd Grade Testing Schedule (8:45 am) 4/29 ELA day 1 4/30 ELA day 2 5/2 Make-up day (ELA) 5/6 Math day 1 5/7 Math day 2 5/9 Make-up day (all)
2024-2025 Daily and Half-Day Schedule:
Full day schedule
7:45 am - Doors Open/Breakfast 8:20 am - Class Begins A student is considered tardy at the 8:20 am bell. A student will be marked absent after 8:50 am. All students in grades K-5 will have 25 minutes to eat their lunch and a 15 minute recess before or after lunch. 3:35 pm - Pre-K and BASE Dismissal 3:40 pm - School Dismissal Half-Day Schedule 7:45 am - Doors Open/Breakfast 8:20 am - Class Begins 11:55 am - Pre-K and BASE Dismissal 12:00 pm - School Dismissal
School Year 2024-2025 Background Checks:
Please fill out the volunteer application through Visitor Aware if you are planning on attending any school event. A volunteer is defined as anyone working with children or coming inside the classroom/on a school bus with students. The volunteer form needs to be filled out at least 48 hours in advance. If you completed a background check during the 2023-2024 school year and were approved as a volunteer through Visitor Aware, you do not need to complete a new volunteer request. In that case, contact Devinnie Wysocki at dwysocki@nbas.org or call her at 269-469-6010 and ask to have your background check renewed. This must be done before volunteering for any school event.
2024-2025 Attendance Data Points:
Attendance Data Points At different intervals during the school year, the office will be analyzing student attendance and placing students in categories of regular attendance, at risk attendance, chronic attendance and severe chronic attendance. If your child hits chronic or severe chronic attendance, you will be provided a letter after that data point. Excused and unexcused absences will be calculated in this total. Data Point 1 - Tuesday, October 29th (40 days of school) Regular = 0-2.5 days absent At risk = 3-3.5 days absent Chronic = 4-7.5 days absent Severe Chronic = 8 or more days absent Data Point 2 - Friday, January 10th (80 days of school) Regular = 0-4.5 days absent At risk = 5-7.5 days absent Chronic = 8-15.5 days absent Severe Chronic = 16 or more days absent Data Point 3 - Tuesday, March 11th (120 days of school) Regular = 0-6.5 days absent At risk = 7-11.5 days absent Chronic = 12-23.5 days absent Severe Chronic = 24 or more days absent Data Point 4 - Tuesday, May 13th (160 days of school) Regular = 0-8.5 days absent At risk = 9-15.5 days absent Chronic = 16-31.5 days absent Severe Chronic = 32 or more days absent Data Point 5 - Last day of school - Friday, June 6th (180 days of school) Regular = 0-9.5 days absent At risk = 10-16.5 days absent Chronic = 17-33.5 days absent Severe Chronic = 34 or more days absent
2024-2025 School Year Calendar: Here is a link to New Buffalo's 2024-2025 school year calendar: 2024-2025 Calendar
BASE calendar 2024-2025 school year: Here is a link to New Buffalo Elementary's BASE calendar for the 2024-2025 school year: BASE calendar 2024-2025
Lory's Place: Lory's Place is meeting at New Buffalo Elementary School monthly at 10:00 am. This group is a safe place where you can share all your feelings when someone in your life has died. Please check out this brochure and permission slip. Contact Keri Haskins, school counselor, at khaskins@nbas.org if you have any questions.
Blessings in a Backpack: Blessings in a Backpack is a program sponsored by Water's Edge Methodist Church that provides food on the weekends for any student in any grade who applies. This program is not based on income. Please see this Blessings in a Backpack brochure & application. This form also went home with all students the first week of school.
Berrien RESA Playgroups:
New Buffalo Elementary is hosting Berrien RESA read, play & learn playgroups this year one Friday per month from 10:00-11:00 am. These are FREE literacy-based events for families with children ages birth-5 years old. Each playgroup is based on a children's book and features hands-on family fun learning activities, including: sensory play, story time, art experiences, fine & gross motor centers, infant area & snack. All activities are chosen because they promote positive parent-child interaction and developmentally appropriate learning opportunities. After a short welcome, families can choose how they want to spend their time interacting with the activities provided. At story time, families will receive a copy of the featured book to take home! Come and join the fun! Here is a link to the playgroups brochure. Upcoming dates: Friday, April 25, 2025
Student Council Popcorn Days:
Student Council Popcorn Days - all students can bring a quarter for a bag of popcorn - one grade level will be responsible for delivering popcorn bags: Fri 5/9 - 4th grade