Please make sure you log in your hours using the link above. Families who have reached the 40 hour commitment will be recognized in future editions of the newsletter and on this page of the PIVOT website.

En Espa�ol

Tan pronto como la edici�n en espa�ol est� disponible, una copia impresa estar� disponible en la recepci�n.

�Quieres traducir esto ahora? Ver el bolet�n como una p�gina web. Utilice el enlace en la parte superior "Click here to view as a webpage." ("Haga clic aqu� para ver esta p�gina en la red.") Copiar la direcci�n de la p�gina en la red. Vaya a esta p�gina web:

Google Translate

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Summit Rainier YahooGroup

Diane Tom

If you would like to join the Rainier Parent listserve/ email group, you can join in one of three ways:

1. Go to the group home page and click Join

2. Send a blank email to this address and respond to the confirmation

3. Email group moderator, Diane Tom and she will send you an invitation to the group

Labels for Education

We are now collecting Labels for Education. Drop off your labels in the Rainier office.

Bookmark our new Amazon link today and Amazon will donate up to 10% of your purchases to Rainier.

Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

This Week

Thursday, February 6 -

PLP Tool training, 5:45-6:30pm
PIVOT meeting, 6:30pm

Friday, February 7 - Deadline to sign up for online payments
Saturday, February 8 - Recruitment Open House, 10am

Mark Your Calendars

Monday, Monday, February 17 - School Closed
Tuesday, February 18 - Cafecito, 3pm
Thursday, February 27 - 10th Grade College Night at Rainier, 6:30pm
Friday, February 28 - Due date for new student applications

Message from the Directors

Dear Rainier Families,

Facilities Update

As you know, we have been negotiating with East Side Union High School District regarding some key issues on our campus, including the location of the bathroom and the need for science laboratory space. We are pleased to announce that the district is working with us to remedy both situations in the coming months.

The district will be building a bathroom directly next to our campus for our sole use. Although the construction will take several months, we are excited to see this critical need addressed. We will also have sole access to a science laboratory classroom on the Mount Pleasant campus. We will be working with the district to ensure the lab space is set up for us, and then our science classes will be able to share the lab space for the remainder of the spring semester.

Thank you to all - faculty, parents, and students - who have worked to advocate for our needs!

New Faculty Members

We are excited to welcome two new faces to our faculty for spring semester! Dena Zingales and Lesley Martin are joining our faculty to support Rainier during Ms. Lamcke and Ms. Pinelli's maternity leaves this spring.

Ms. Zingales started with us this week and brings with her many years of experience in a variety of educational settings. She has worked as a lead curriculum writer, a classroom teacher both in the United States and in China, and a teacher leader. We are glad to have her joining our team!

Ms. Martin will be starting next week. She brings with her seven years of experience as a principal, as well as a variety of other experiences in educational leadership. Ms. Martin's daughter also graduated in the first class at Summit Prep in Redwood City, so she knows our schools well.

Thank you for welcoming both Ms. Zingales and Ms. Martin to Rainier!

Free and Reduced Forms Due

For families who have not yet turned in the Application for Free and Reduced Lunch, please fill out the form and return to the office no later than Thursday, February 6 at 5pm. Families who were missing forms should have received them in the mail and/or via their student. It is important that we receive all of the forms which directly impacts the funding that we receive from the state to run our school. Even if you prefer not to provide this information, please return the signed form with N/A written in so that we can reach our goal of 100% submission.

Respectfully,

Pamela Lamcke, Principal

Lia Pinelli, Assistant Director

Summit Public Schools: Rainier

Parent Accounts - Online Payments

Lia Pinelli, Assistant Director

We are excited to share that we have extended the deadline for enrolling in our online payment system until Friday, February 7 due to strong interest from parents in paying for Study Trips online. Parents can sign up using this link: http://bit.ly/spsparentsignup

How it works:

Parents enrolled in the parent portal by Feb 7th will receive an invoice via email with the amount charged per school & grade level
Parents will have a 15 day window to pay the invoice online (just as with lunch)
Invoices will be automatically generated and sent to parents

Sponsored Students - Parents with payment accounts can begin making donations to sponsor students right away! Ask Ms. Miranda for details.

Please help us streamline the study trip payment and our lunch payment process by enrolling in our easy program! This will save us hours of time by eliminating the check/cash processing and deposit logistics.

Parent Account Portal: https://system.netsuite.com/pages/login.jsp

(once you have an account, link is also found in left column)

The Parent Portal Guides in English and Spanish have been updated to include payments for Study Trips. Please do not try to PREPAY for study trips, wait to receive an invoice, or you still have the option to pay by check/cash.

Portal Guide (English): http://bit.ly/spspaymentsguide

Portal Guide (Spanish): http://bit.ly/spsguiadepagos

Parent Training and Parent Meeting

PLP Training

We realize that many parents still have questions on how to use the PLP tool. There will be a Parent Training Session on Thursday, February 6th from 5:45-6:30pm on the Tahoma Campus. This will cover the PLP tool so that parents can check student's project work, assessments, feedback from teachers, and grades. There will be sessions in both English and Espa�ol.

PIVOT Meeting

Thursday, February 6, 6:30pm

This week's PIVOT meeting will be focused on opening a productive dialog between parents and Summit Rainier & Tahoma administrators about the following parent concerns:

1. Teaching Model (Delivery of curriculum and content to students)

2. Facilities Master Plan (Safety, Health)

3. Transparency and Communication from Summit to parents

4. Technology (Playlists, Dashboard, etc.)

This meeting will be a joint effort between Rainier and Tahoma, we are asking that parents attend.

Expeditions

The past two weeks were spent in Expeditions classes. These elective classes ranged from College Readiness to Art and Drama.

The Drama class worked on expressing themselves. After picking a scene, the students worked on character development and vocal delivery. Students called the class "fun and interesting."

Visual Arts taught the basics of linoleum block printing - creating a strong design, working with tools to carve the image and ultimately printing with ink. Students were able to show their interests through their designs. Another class was focusing on Van Gogh's sunflowers. Each student came up with their own interpretation of the design, learning that, "it doesn't need to be exact to be art."

Above: Rowan Wiley shows of his block printing

Left: Nataliya Grigoryan paints Sunflowers

The computer science class worked with various web design tools, learning to program in Alice, Google Sketchup, and Visual Python to animate 3D objects. They were also able to take a field trip to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View and (briefly) appeared on the Channel 11 news coverage of the 30th anniversary of the Mac.

In Slam Poetry, the students showed off their quick thinking skills by competing in One Minute Poems - given a topic, they had to come up with a poem in just 60 seconds.

Additional photos of Expeditions can be found here.

College Corner

We are excited about all of the college-related events and experiences that come with spring semester!

College Nights are one of the ways that Summit Public Schools helps parents learn about applying to and paying for college. Last week at our 11th Grade College Night, parents had the opportunity to meet with financial aid representatives from Santa Clara University who taught us about the many different types of aid for which students can apply, as well as the importance of meeting deadlines. Our next 10th grade College Night is planned for February 27 - we will be covering important topics, including testing in 10th and 11th grades, a financial aid overview, and summer opportunities

Study Trips for students will be in March and April. Every year, each grade goes on a Study Trip, an extended field trip designed to expand student learning outside the school walls and give students an opportunity to visit a variety of colleges throughout high school. More details will be coming soon! Please look for your student to bring home a permission slip, and look for sign-ups for parent chaperones and drivers if you are able to join us.

Spring semester is also the time for a lot of the high stakes testing students need to complete before applying for college. In March, 10th grade students will be taking the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), an important step toward earning their high school diplomas. 11th graders are already in the process of taking their SAT and ACT tests this semester, and many of them will be taking Advanced Placement (AP) tests for possible college course credit in May.

Finally, this is a great time to start thinking about summer opportunities. Colleges look for well-rounded students that do more than just fulfill the academic requirements. They also want to see students who demonstrate leadership through working or volunteering, and summer can be the perfect time to gain that experience. To get some ideas for summer opportunities, check out Summit's College Readiness website.

Volunteers Needed

Fundraising Event Volunteers

We are starting to plan our joint school-wide spring event with Tahoma. We need everyone's input, talent, and spirit to plan a successful event to raise money for our schools and pump up our school pride! Please see the Fundraising Committee at the February 6 PIVOT meeting or contact Janet Amaro for more information.

Recruitment Volunteers

Please continue to spread the word about Summit Public Schools. We are now accepting applications for next year's freshman class. Applications are due February 28 for the first lottery, and highest chance of acceptance. There will be Informational Open House meetings on February 8 (10am at Rainier) and March 11 (6:30pm at Tahoma). Flyers are available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Please distribute these flyers in your communities.

Parents and students are needed to help answer questions at the Open House events. Please volunteer to help on this list.

Office Volunteers

Volunteers are needed to support Ms Miranda in the Rainier front office by performing light office work such as answering phones, filing, and assisting students. Please sign up here if you can help!

Athletics

Coach J Bumagat, Athletic Director

Spring Sports

We are in need of coaches for spring Baseball and Softball. We currently have enough students signed up for both sports and will have to forfeit the season if we cannot find coaches. If you are interested or know of anyone who is, please contact Coach "J" Bumagat, Athletic Director at 408-688-1995 or email coachjbumagat@gmail.com

All spring sports paperwork is due by January 30, 2014. Attach all requirement documents, address it to Coach "J" and leave at the front office.

Upcoming Basketball Games - Go Bulldogs!

BOYS:

2/5/14 vs Waldorf at Thomas More 7:30pm

2/15/14 vs Summit Tahoma at Mt. Pleasant 7:30pm

GIRLS:

2/5/14 vs Waldorf at Thomas More 6:30pm

2/14/14 vs Summit Tahoma at Thomas More 6:30pm

2/15/14 vs Oakwood at Oakwood 4:00pm

2014 Doodle for Google Competition

Before there was an airplane, there were doodles of cool flying machines. And before there was a submarine, there were doodles of magical underwater sea explorers. Since the beginning of time, ideas big and small, practical and playful, have started out as doodles. And we're ready for more. The theme of this year's Doodle for Google contest is "If I Could Invent One Thing to Make the World a Better Place...."

One talented young artist will see his or her artwork on the Google homepage and receive a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 Google for Education technology grant for his or her school. More information here. Deadline for entries is March 20, 2014.

Secret Sweetheart Valentines Grams

Order Roses ($2 each), Candy ($2 each) or Stuffed Animals ($3 each) to be delivered to Summit Rainier students during Summit Reads on Friday, February 14. (All three items for $6). Order by February 12 from the Prom Committee outside room 1211 during lunch.

Newsletter Submissions

Is there something you would like to have included in a future edition? Rainier's newsletter comes out weekly on Wednesdays. The deadline for submissions is Monday at noon. Please email articles to the Rainier Newsletter Editor. Early submissions are welcome and appreciated.