Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 1

Dear Skyhawk Families, I am pleased to report we are off to a positive and productive start to the school year here on the ‘Ridge. It has been particularly heartening to see our 6th grade students settling in and enjoying this important milestone in their educational journey. The overall consensus when I speak to them at lunch is that they’re loving middle school! Of course, the rest of our students and staff are also digging in to get to know each other as learners and to create a safe and comfortable place to learn and grow. Speaking of growth, please know that while our enrollment continues to rise, we take our responsibility to build a sense of community for our students to heart. This is one of the many reasons we feel so strongly about our successful teaming model. Our student leaders are also focusing on helping all members of our learning community feel connected and cared for through their “#Umatter” campaign. We have such amazing kids! In addition to our focus on building positive relationships and a sense of community, we are also continuously evaluating and updating our safety plans and procedures. In fact, we will be conducting an extensive reunification drill next Thursday, October 8. Please see additional information about this procedure and the sign-up link in the original e-mail you received. We hope you consider signing up to help us practice this important process and learn from seeing it in action. Lastly, I would like to share with you some highlights of our school improvement efforts this year. As many of you know, we have been focusing on using our flex period at the end of the day to support and enrich students’ learning experiences over the last few years. Last year, we made some significant shifts with our flex program to make our responses to student needs more timely and fluid. While we will continue to find ways to best utilize our flex period, we are focusing our professional development this year on instructional strategies to differentiate instruction during our core classes. For example, our language arts teachers are implementing reading and writing workshop strategies to help students individually and in groups through the social and collaborative nature of learning. We are also engaging in a rich conversation regarding the latest research about the exciting and mysterious adolescent brain. It’s truly a fascinating topic! In summation, we are very much enjoying having your children back on our campus and are excited about what we will learn together this school year. Thank you for your continued support and for sending your students to school ready to learn and thrive. Go Skyhawks!

Sincerely,

Aaron J. Smith

Skyridge Principal

http://schools.camas.wednet.edu/skyridge/ October 2015

5220 NW Parker Street, Camas, WA 98607 Phone: 360 833-5800 • Fax: 833-5801 • Attendance: 833-5806

Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 2

C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T S Daily calendar review is available on our website:

http://schools.camas.wednet.edu/skyridge/

OCT 8 – Safety/Evacuation/Parent Reunification OCT 8 – District Cross Country Meet @Harmony Sports Complex OCT 9 - No School: State Inservice Day OCT 9 - End of Grading Period OCT 13 ‘Paper Cup’ @Doc Harris – FB Skyridge vs. Liberty OCT 14 – 80’s Workout Dance – 2:45-4:30 OCT 16- 30 ASB Magazine/Cookie Dough Fundraiser OCT 17 – Football Extravaganza @Doc Harris 9am OCT 19 - First Day Practice: Volleyball(7/8) Wrestling(6/7/8) OCT 20 – Picture Retake Day OCT 21 & 22 – LATE START Classes begin at 10:15 am, Buses run 2 hrs. 15 min. later than normal schedule OCT 26 – 8th grade Mt St Helens Field Trips(Smith Period 1&2) OCT 27 – 8th grade Mt St Helens Field Trips(Smith Period 3&4) OCT 28 – 8th grade Mt St Helens Field Trips(Olsen Period 1,2&3) OCT 29 – 8th grade Mt St Helens Field Trips(Hunting Period 1&2) OCT 29 – 8th grade Mt St Helens Field Trips(Hunting Period 3&4) OCT 30 - CHS Homecoming Football Game NOV 1 – Daylight Savings Time Ends

SKYRIDGE ATTENDANCE 24 HOUR PHONE LINE: 833-5806

Call directly to report any information regarding absences, bus passes, and student emergency

messages. The voice mail box is checked frequently for messages.

DAILY SKY – HAWK ROTATION SCHEDULE Our daily class schedule rotation between “Sky” and “Hawk” days is located within our Skyridge website. Our students alternate between their STAR (Student Arts Related) classes which include band, choir, performance, art, robotics, technology and health/fitness every other day. SKY days are periods 1, 3 & 5 –odd numbers, like the number 3, the number of letters in SKY. HAWK days are periods 2, 4 & 6- even numbers like the number 4, the number of letters in HAWK. The health/fitness schedule rotates approximately every 3 weeks.

BUS NOTES Many of our buses are at full capacity and unable to support extra riders. For your student to ride a bus different than their assigned route, you need to send a note with your student and have them give it to our attendance tech in the main office. Mrs. Wood will contact the transportation department who will review your request and verify whether there is space available to meet your need. Mrs. Wood will notify your student the results of the review --- if there is room, she will give your student a “bus pass” for them to give to the bus driver. If there is no room, your student will need to ride their regular bus home.

DON’T FORGET –

Daylight Savings Time ends on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015

Set your clocks back one hour!

PROGRESS REPORTS –

Our current grading period ends on October 9.

Please check your student’s grades on Skyward Family Access.

NO SCHOOL on October 9

CHS Admission $ Admission to CHS games will be $4 for Skyridge students with an ASB card. Students without an ASB card will be

charged $6.

Delivery of Student Items Brought to School

Please put your student’s name on anything you bring for them to pick up.

o Items are placed on a table in the entry of the main office.

o A note is provided to your student’s

classroom at 10 am or 1:45 pm informing them that there is an item at the main office for them to pick up.

o If a student has called for the item

and/or is expecting a delivery, a note is NOT sent to them. They need to check the pickup area at lunchtime, between classes or after school.

Science Olympiad

Team practices are Thursdays starting

October 1 from 2:45–3:45 PM in Room 204.

Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 3

Show Your School Pride each Friday on Spirit Wear Days!

Wear our school colors of navy and burgundy! Spirit wear purchases are sponsored by our

Skyridge PTO and order forms are available on the school website or in the main office.

Your Skyridge PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization) is back in action! Here’s what’s going on and what you can do to get involved:

Back to School Night — Thanks to numerous parent volunteers, on Back to School Night for incoming sixth graders and new students, the PTO handed out schedules, sold Spirit Wear, and signed up parents to receive emails about school volunteer opportunities and more. A special thank you to Maui Wowi for whipping up delicious smoothies and donating $75 to our organization!

PTO Email — Have you signed up yet to receive email alerts? If you’re new to the school, we’d love to get you in our contact book. Just email skypto@yahoo.com with your name, primary phone, and email address. We promise not to inundate your inbox.

Staff Appreciation — On the second late start day in September, our awesome Staff Appreciation Committee put on a special breakfast for all our Skyhawk teachers and staff. We host these regular events to show our gratitude for the special people who make Skyridge such a wonderful place to be. If you’d like to join the Staff Appreciation Committee, please email skypto@yahoo.com.

Direct Drive — With the exception of Dine Arounds, instead of lots of little fundraisers, we hold a “direct drive” fundraiser and simply ask for donations. Your generosity funds curriculum-enhancement grants for teachers and specialists, helps us hold staff appreciation events, and lets us make our school even better. We have nearly $1000 more to raise! If you haven’t made your tax-deductible donation yet (which may also be matched by your employer), pick up a form in the office or find one on the school webpage by clicking the Parents tab, and then selecting PTO.

Stay in the loop by clicking the PTO link off the Skyridge website, viewing our Facebook page, or adding your name

to the PTO email list by sending us a message at

skypto@yahoo.com.

Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 4

Annual Patriot’s Pen Essay Contest Sponsored by:

Veterans of Foreign Wars and Ladies Auxiliary

Theme: “What freedom means to me”

Entry Deadline: November 1, 2015 (Deadline is October 30

st if turning into the Skyridge Office)

Conducted nationwide, this VFW sponsored youth essay competition gives students an opportunity to write essays expressing their views on democracy. The top 46 national winners all receive at least $500. The first-place award is currently $5,000, plus an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the winner and a parent or guardian. Rules include: Essay length: 300-400 typewritten words. Essays under or over these word amounts will be eliminated. The essay title or added footnotes do not contribute to the word count. You must write your own essay. All essays should be typewritten in English with no-color or graphics Do not identify yourself within your essay. Do not place your name on your essay. The entry form is your essay’s cover sheet. Visit www.vfw.org for more information. Flyers and registration forms are available in our main office.

School Zone on Leadbetter Drive Be aware that the speed limit in the school

zone on Leadbetter Drive is 20 mph. The flashing lights on the signs are currently not working but will be again, soon.

There are No Parking/Bike Lane signs posted on both sides of Leadbetter. Students are to be dropped off at the front of the school. After school pick up of students on Leadbetter has become dangerous as parents are parking on both sides of the road, in the turn lane, and even in the bus driveway. Please follow all traffic laws.

Please speak with your student concerning safe crossing when exiting the school grounds onto Leadbetter. Instruct students to use sidewalks and crosswalks.

THANK YOU!

8th GRADE EAST COAST TRIP Are you interested in traveling to the East Coast with a group of friends for a week? This 8th grade trip will be June 17-24 2016. On this trip, we will visit Colonial Williamsburg, Washington D.C., Lancaster, PA, Gettysburg, PA, and New York City. To find out more about this trip, you and your parents can attend the East Coast Trip Informational Meeting at 7pm in the Skyridge Library on Wednesday, October 14. Parents, who are unable to attend the meeting, can email Jeanette Romano at camaseastcoasttrip@gmail.com for more information.

SKYRIDGE TRAFFIC FLOW For safety purposes, parents are required to use our drop-off/pick-up loop. We are aware that traffic congestion is a challenge on school mornings and afternoons. To help relieve traffic issues, please support the following practices: Use the student drop-off/pick-up loop when bringing

your child to school and/or picking up. DO NOT use staff or visitor parking lots unless you are parking and entering the building.

Pull forward as far as possible when you enter the student drop-off area. Your student will be able to enter the building from any of the doorways.

Allow adequate time. Classes begin at 8:00 am. Students can access their classroom hallways and lockers any time after 7:45 am.

Be courteous to others, use safe driving practices and be cautious of pedestrians.

Do not enter or drop off students on the bus entry road or the rear of our building. This entrance is for

buses ONLY. THANK YOU!

Are you interested in starting a math club at Skyridge? We are looking for parent volunteers and students who are interested in starting a Skyridge math club. Parents will outline the practice content, practice schedule, and enter the team into local math competitions. If you are interested, please email Mrs. Carter –bonita.carter@camas.wednet.edu. If there is enough interest, a more formalized information

meeting will be scheduled. + - x ÷