Dear Families,

I hope you are enjoying the fall weather. It's hard to believe that it's already the third week of school. All of our students have been busy practicing routines and procedures the past few weeks and it's been a pleasure to see the process unfold through their hopes/dreams (K-5) and their goals/declarations (6-8). I have especially enjoyed working with middle school homeroom representatives for the past few days to use all of their homeroom agreements to draft a single middle school contract that will serve as a guide for middle school behavioral expectations. We are hoping to finalize this work on Wednesday to share with the whole middle school before heading to camp next week.

In my last newsletter blurb, I shared a number of changes including increased art time for all of our students, morning and homeroom advisory meetings, a new K/5 math curriculum and a change in our PE schedule that allows for increased common planning time for classroom teachers. This week, I would like to explain another change you have probably noticed in our K/5 master schedule that impacts students' instructional time at school.

Prior to this year, our K/5 students enjoyed 30 minutes of daily PE and 65 minutes of daily recess (am, pm and lunch period recesses) - approximately 95 minutes of daily physical exercise. In analyzing the schedule while reporting our instructional minutes to the district and state, it became apparent that our K/5 master schedule was somewhat imbalanced. While students had the opportunity for 95 minutes of physical exercise, their time for required academics was limited and somewhat fragmented across the school. While some students had five days of math instruction a week (for varying minutes), others only had two or three days per week of math instruction. This same inconsistency applied to other content areas as well and left us far below the district's expectations for academic instructional time.

As a school that values a whole child approach to teaching and learning, it is imperative for us to support all of our students' intellectual, physical and social-emotional needs. The new school-wide implementation of responsive classroom strategies has added to our focus on the students' social-emotional needs and a revised master schedule that ensures increased academic instructional blocks also ensures that students are receiving the intellectual support that we value. This updated master schedule offers our K/5 students up to 45 minutes of daily recess and 30 minutes of daily PE - approximately 75 minutes of daily physical exercise (still above the average district minutes). This adjustment to time for physical exercise has allowed us to increase our instructional minutes to meet district requirements for math and literacy (reading/writing) and to provide consistent time for science and social studies. This updated schedule is aligned with our mission and vision and reinforces the value that we place on a whole-child approach by better balancing the intellectual, physical and social-emotional needs of our students.

On a daily basis students have 25 minutes of lunch recess. As the weather begins to change I would like to express the importance of children dressing properly for outdoor play.  There is an old Norwegian saying: "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." Please help students prepare for outdoor recess time by making sure they understand the following basic rules on how to dress warm: 1. Thermal Baselayer, 2. Mid-layer, 3. Waterproof Breathable Shell.  

We appreciate you help in addressing this issue.  

Thanks,

Brett 

Hi Parents!

Please label EVERYTHING you send to school (coats, backpacks, lunch boxes) with your child's name. When we purge the lost and found of unclaimed items we try our best to match up labeled items with their owners. Please check the lost and found frequently; it will be donated once a month and sometimes it takes a few days for items to make their way into the lost and found collection. The Lost and found is located in the cafeteria.

This WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th is a TWO HOUR EARLY DISMISSAL. Elementary students will be dismissed at 12:35 so staff can work on Professional Development.

If you are looking to get involved or need up to date information from a committee please check out the new set of links on the side of this email. Many of our committees plan to set up blogs, and they will all be linked there as they roll out, so keep checking!

If you haven't already sent in your child's first day packet paperwork, please do so this week.

Thanks,

Sharon

Dear Middle School Families,

Middle School Parent Social-  
 Tuesday, September 24  2013, 7- 9:30 pm @ Razzi's pizza, 8523 Greenwood Avenue N
Come for an informal evening and meet other parents to discuss tween/teen parenting issues and have some fun!

Camp Forms-   Forms should all be in and if you are sending medication to camp to be administered to your child, not only should the form signed by their physician be in but the actual medication in the original bottle needs to be brought in to Nurse Julie this week.  She is only at our school 2.5 days/week and it takes a lot of time to get the medicine packed up and ready to go.  Thanks for your cooperation with this. 

2 Hour Early Release Wednesday September 25^th!  Don't forget kiddos will be released 2 hours early so the staff can participate in professional development. 

Caitlin

Walk-n-Wheel Month Kick-off Event

Saturday, Sept 28, 10 am - noon

Please join us for the Walk-n-Wheel Month Kick-Off Event, Saturday, September 28, 10 a.m. to noon, at the Salmon Bay School Playground.

This Ballard multi-school event will put you in gear for year-round kid-powered commuting. Here's what we have planned for you:

• Bike Safety Rodeo

• Bike Maintenance Station

• Helmet Check/Helmet Sale

• Bike Library

• Bike Games

• Bike Trains

We are especially excited about the "Bike Library" which will showcase various family, cargo, and kid bikes for families to try out.  You will also be able to talk to seasoned riders about the benefits of each type of bike, so this event is ideal for families that are just beginning to think about cycling.  

Ballard Bikes, the multi-school collaboration organizing this event, was formed to  promote active, kid-powered transportation at our schools year-round.  Find out about your school's plans for Bike/Walk to School in October and upcoming activities at this event. 

Community Partners-Cascade Bicycle Club, Seattle Dept. of Transportation, Feet First, and others will be present to share their resources.

All kids must have an adult family member present and must be wearing a helmet in order to participate.  This event is free and open to all students at Ballard elementary & K-8 schools.  Visit  http://ballardbikes.blogspot.com/ for more information.  

See you on the 28th!

Dear Parents,

I am one of the conductors for Pacifica Choir.  This year I am conducting 2 of the choirs:  Children's Choir (K-2) and The Treble Choir (2-4) - I am co-conducting with Susan Senft.  Both choirs meet on Wednesdays - CC 5-5:50 and TC 6-7:15.   If your child loves to sing this is a wonderful choir to join.  My daughter was in it for 13 years and received  both superior and invaluable training from her teachers and conductors.   The choir is open to all ages of school children, boys and girls.  I am also available to audition children who would be interested in joining an older choir than the one I conduct.  (There is no audition needed for the Children's Choir)

I hope some of you will check out this opportunity.  We have a lot of fun, learn the basics of music theory and sing some great songs.  We meet at the Maple Leaf Lutheran Church which is on 100th between Lake City Way and 35th Ave. NE.  

For more information you can check out the website:  www.pacificachoirs.org  or contact me at mkmcneill@mac.com

Cheers,

Mary K.

• educational exhibits
• farm tours, harvest markets
• gardening demonstrations
• free samples
• kids activities
• corn and hay mazes
• animal exhibits
• pumpkin patches                                                                                 
• shopping           
• scenic tours and more

For more info and a map check out:  

http://www.festivaloffamilyfarms.com/  

The Library provides many resources for parents and students both at our branch libraries and online. However, we want to know if there are other programs, resources, books or materials that would more effectively support students, parents and families. To learn more about how the Library can better serve the community, the City Librarian will be hosting 12 Community Conversations around the city. (You can find the full schedule here.)

There will be three Community Conversations with the City Librarian held in Northwest Seattle:

Broadview Branch Library

Saturday, October 5

11:30 am - 12: 45 pm

Ballard Branch Library

Monday, October 7

5:30 - 6:45 pm

Greenwood Branch Library

Monday, January 13, 2014

5:30 - 6:45 pm

GLEE STAR TO VISIT BHS!  -- Calling all GLEEKS! 

Take Chances Tour 2013 with Derik Nelson

October 1 at Earl Kelly Auditorium (BHS PAC)

Derik Nelson is a musician on the television show, "Glee" AND a former student of The Ballard High School Drama Department Director, Mr. Riley.  On the evening of Tuesday, October 1st, Derik will perform with a full band in a 90 minute concert (no intermission) at Ballard High School.   This concert is part of the Take Chances Tour 2013,  a program that raises much needed funds for  high school music and drama departments across the west coast.  The concert will raise money to support the Ballard High School Drama Department.  Tickets are available via http://www.showtix4u.com/ with ticket prices ranging from $15.00 to $30.00. A portion of the ticket sales will go to The BHS Drama Department.  See an informational video about Derik's tour (filmed primarily at Ballard High School): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiiDO7w8J-U

Ballard High School will be the only Seattle high school to host a benefit concert with Glee star and Washington native, Derik Nelson.