skyridge middle school - camas school...
TRANSCRIPT
Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 1
From the Principal – Aaron J. Smith
Dear Skyhawk Families, Although there were a few sullen faces on Monday morning due to the Super Bowl outcome, things will not be slowing down at Skyridge Middle School this month. For example, in addition to all of our usual winter activities, our students are once again demonstrating their willingness to make a difference by participating in a “we can create change” penny war this week. Our ASB leaders organized their own inspirational assembly last Friday to kick off their campaign to raise $10,000 to build a school in Haiti! The assembly included special guest speakers like Mike Nerland, Camas School District Superintendent, Scott Higgins, Camas City Mayor, and Krista Colvin, Skyridge mom and breast cancer survivor, speaking on making a change in the world. A special shout out to Dean Strawn, our Dean of Students and ASB advisor, and all of our ASB student leaders for organizing the assembly and our special fundraising campaign. Whether in the classroom, on the court, or making a difference in our community and the world, our Skyhawks continue to impress. Thank you for supporting our young scholars and citizens as they continue to spread their wings into young adulthood. Go Skyhawks!
Sincerely,
http://schools.camas.wednet.edu/skyridge/ February 2015
“THANK YOU!” to our Camas School Board Members
It takes strong schools to build a strong community, and our school board members devote countless hours to making sure our schools are helping every child learn at a higher level. They make the tough decisions every month and spend many hours studying education issues and regulations in order to provide the kind of accountability our citizens expect. Thank you to our five wonderful school board members:
Connie Hennessey, Casey O’Dell, Doug Quinn, Julie Rotz, and Mary Tipton
5220 NW Parker Street, Camas, WA 98607
Phone: 360 833-5800 • Fax: 833-5801 • Attendance: 833-5806
Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 2
PROGRESS REPORTS
Our grading period has just ended. Your student’s grades should be accessible for viewing on Skyward Family Access. Do you know that you can customize Skyward Family Access to automatically provide you with grade notifications via email? Here’s how:
1. Go to the Skyward Family Access home page
2. Enter your login and password
3. At the top, right corner, click: “My Account”
4. Under “Email Notifications” you may select all or some of the options listed
Option 1 – Receive Daily Attendance Notifications Option 2 – Receive Grading Emails You will be emailed if your student receives an assignment score less than 69%. Option 3 – Receive Progress Report Emails You will receive a progress report that includes grades for all of your student’s classes which resembles a report card. Each class will have a corresponding grade instead of a percentage. You will select to receive these updates monthly, weekly or daily. Skyward Family Access also offers a calendar of assignments with the grade received. The “Calendar” feature can be found on the left side menu. “Skylert” is also found on the left side menu. This feature lets you choose the type of notifications you can receive and which method you prefer. If you have questions, please contact our Skyridge Registrar, Gail Soohoo, at 833-5805.
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/exit 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!
C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T S Daily calendar review is available on our website: www.http://schools.camas.wednet.edu/skyridge/ FEB 2 – Knowledge Bowl Begins FEB 2–6 ASB “We Can Create Change” Penny Drive FEB 10 – Spring Musical Auditions 2:45PM-STARMITES FEB 11 & 12 – LATE START; Classes begin at 10:15 AM, buses run 2 hrs. 15 min. later than normal schedule FEB 12 – ASB Leadership Conference 8AM-2PM FEB 13 – Snow Make Up Day – a SKY day FEB 13 - Skyridge Variety Show FEB 14 – WMEA State Honor Choir in Spokane FEB 17 – NO SCHOOL; Presidents’ Day Holiday FEB 19 – Skyridge/Liberty/CHS Choir Concert @CHS at 7:30PM (8th grade Choir only) FEB 25-28 – ACDA National Honor Choirs in SLC FEB 25 – Class of 2019 (8th Grade) Parent Forecasting Meeting/AP Pre-AP Informational Meeting @CHS 9/10 AM or 6:30/7:30 PM FEB 28 – Boys and Girls Basketball Tournaments
Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 3
National Geographic Bee Building Champion
Our Annual Skyridge Geographic Bee Building Competition was held during an all school assembly on January 09, 2015.
Steven Sturges, 7th grade, won the school-level competition and a chance at a $50,000 college scholarship. Other building level competitors included Alex Gee, Gavin Gregory, Will Hansen, Thomas Taylor, Logan Kesting, Ken Koceja, Jackson Lyne, Lucas Mansfield, and Maddy Wood. Steven will now advance to the next level of competition, a written examination to determine state competitors. The state-level competition will be held March 27, 2015, followed by the national-level in Washington DC, May 11-13, 2015.
Your Skyridge ASB Team put together a memorable assembly on Friday, January 30. The assembly was called the “We CAN Create Change” assembly and had three goals:
1. Entertain 2. Educate 3. Inspire. To help support the entertainment goal of the assembly, we brought back several Skyridge alumni students including Claire Bauer, Isaac Dizon and the CHS Dance Team. The education goal was achieved through a variety of measures including the assembly pre-lesson which was planned, organized and implemented by our ASB Team members. This lesson took place during FLEX on Thursday, January 29. Additionally, we had a guest presenter from the Free the Children organization who shed light on our global service campaign which is to raise enough money to help build a classroom in Haiti ($10,000). Finally, the assembly inspiration came from a combination of ASB driven activities and messages as well as inspiring presentations delivered by Camas’ Mayor Higgins and Superintendent Nerland. The “We CAN Create Change” Penny Drive takes place during February 2 - 6. As a community, we are super proud of the Skyridge ASB Team for many reasons, especially for their commitment to leading by example and providing service for our school, community, and beyond.
Stay informed… Skyridge Network News (SNN)
Posted on Facebook and on YouTube. Search for Skyridge Middle School.
Late Starts Wednesday and Thursday, February 11 and 12
Classes will begin at 10:15 AM. Buses will run 2 hrs. and 15 min. later than the
regularly scheduled times.
No School - Presidents’ Day Monday, February 16, 2015
Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 4
CROSS COUNTRY
Intramural March 3-28
6/7/8 Boys & Girls
Skyridge Middle School is offering an after school
“Cross Country” Intramural. Students are encouraged to participate
regardless of grade, gender, or ability. The only
requirement is a signed parent/guardian
permission form. Forms will be available at the end of February in the Main
Office. Practices will start March 3 and end March 26. There will be two meets for the athletes. Both races will be at Skyridge. First will be
Saturday March 21. The final race will be March
28. The races will be 1.5 miles and start at 11:00 AM. Practices will be Tuesday-Wednesday-
Thursday from 3:00-4:00. If interested, please
contact Mr. Houston, or Mr. Westfall.
8TH GRADE EAST COAST TRIP Is your child interested in traveling to the East Coast with a group of students for a week? A lot of students and parents think there might not be room for their child to attend the trip at this point in the school year, but it’s not too late to sign up! This 8th grade trip will be June 19-26, 2015. On this trip, students will visit Colonial Williamsburg, Washington D.C., Lancaster, PA, Gettysburg, PA, and New York City. For more information, email [email protected].
The Camas School District does not sponsor or endorse this event
Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 5
Konichiwa! (Japanese for Hello or Good Afternoon) We are in the planning stages of our delegation comprised of Liberty and Skyridge students traveling to Japan this summer. (We typically travel to Japan ‘odd’ years, with Poland being the destination on ‘even’ years.) As before, we will travel to two Sister Cities, Hosoe and Taki. We can take between 16 and 20 students and 5-6 adults. Students and adult chaperones are responsible for their own airfare, a Bullet Train ticket for transferring between the two cities half-way through our visit, and incidental expenses. Students will be housed in same- gender pairs with host families, first in one city and then in the other, so most meals are taken care of by the host families. Our “target” date span is the end of June and beginning of July. Once I know how many students are planning to travel, we can solidify the dates and lock in airfare. Generally speaking, we typically leave mid-week (i.e., June 24) due to lower airfare, and we’re typically gone 10 days. Given that smattering of information, please contact me at Liberty at [email protected] or (360) 833-5850 to reserve a spot for your scholar. We do try for a balance between Liberty and Skyridge, and if we have too many students sign up we take 8th graders, then 7th graders, then 6th graders. That said, however, we rarely turn interested students away – it’s an amazing educational experience for everyone! We will have an informational meeting within the next three weeks to provide additional information, including likely airfare and information about home stays. Please don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions! Arigato! (Thank you!) Sincerely, Marilyn Boerke, Principal, Liberty Middle School Administrative Chaperone
Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 6
It’s the Little Things: To help with corralling keys and cards, the PTO recently gifted Skyridge Skyhawks-branded lanyards to every staff member. It’s because of your financial support that we can take care of our awesome staff with little gifts that lighten the load. Thank you!
What’s coming up… Salads for Staff Needed: For Valentine’s Day, we’re treating our staff to a heart-healthy salad bar lunch on Tues., Feb.10. Can you help? See our Signup Genius at
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090e4aa8ad292-valentines1 Order Spirit Wear Now: Need something that screams, “I’m a Skyhawk”? Order forms can be found on the Skyridge PTO website and submitted to the office before Feb. 13. You’ll be stylin’ in two-weeks’ time. Questions? Contact [email protected]. Brain-Boosting PTO Meeting Recap: On Jan. 13, Family Therapist Jen McMillan schooled Skyridge parents on how to embrace their middle schoolers. Here’s a few of her helpful tips: · Belly breathing is your friend.
· Adolescence is a NECESSARY, exciting state of development. · Our brains are changing and growing—isn't that awesome? · Relationships are built in REPAIR. · Where you put your energy, linkages will be made. · Build your community. Have an idea for a parent event? Email [email protected].
Teacher Grants Coming Soon: We’re gearing up to give out monetary grants to staff! They fill out a request, the PTO board votes to approve, and funds are doled out accordingly. Imagine all they can do thanks to your generosity!
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 [email protected].
Basketball season has started and Knowledge Bowl practices begin Monday, February 2. Cross Country Intramurals will start March 3 and Track season will begin Monday, March 30. All paperwork can be picked up in the main office or found on the school website. Please have the completed paperwork turned into Mrs. Button and any fees to Mrs. Williams the week
prior to the beginning of practice.
GO HAWKS!!
Counselors Amber Thielbar and Jessica Loren, along with Nurse Kara Killorin, show off their new lanyards.
Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 7
KNOWLEDGE BOWL
The GSHL Middle School
League started practice on
Monday, February 2nd.
Skyridge has about 60 kids
signed up. Makes it kind of
tough for practices and
competitions, but we like to
involve as many kids as
possible. And we have a good
time … always!
Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 8
Skyridge Newsworthy Notes 9