October 14, 2013

Hello, Salmon Bay K-8 families!

Curriculum Night:

I'd like to extend a huge thank you to all of the families who joined us for last week's K/5 Curriculum Night. We had a packed house! I hope you enjoyed the overview presentation that Brett and I shared and also enjoyed the presentation(s) in your child's classroom. The above link is active, so feel free to watch the overview presentation again (or for the first time) and let us know if you have any questions. We are hoping to have as great of a turnout tomorrow night for our MS Curriculum Night.

Professional Development update:

Last Friday, while the kids began their 3 day weekends, the teachers, Brett and I spent the day in our first professional development session with  Envisions Learning Partners (ELP), an organization we have partnered with to strengthen our project-based learning curriculum. We began the day working in small K/8 groups creating visual representations of our students' journeys at Salmon Bay and later updated these images based on what we learned from looking at various data sources. The data we reviewed included the Envisions Needs Assessment results, state and district testing data, the top 10 areas of need identified by staff and parents at last year's FOSB retreat and the narrative results from the fall 2013 parent survey.

After much discussion, we concluded that we have a lot of exciting work ahead of us. The next step with ELP will take place during our upcoming early release day when we will begin collaboratively developing our 8th grade "graduate profile." Once completed, this profile will serve as a discussion tool for how each grade-level, beginning with kindergarten, contributes to the intellectual, physical and social-emotional development of our 8th grade graduates -- all in the context of achieving our collective vision. We look forward to sharing more with you about this process throughout the year(s).

Hope to see you soon!

Jen 

Where in the world...

Last week while I was visiting classrooms I found myself fascinated with the level of student engagement in Sam's 7/8th grade social studies classroom.  Students were carefully labeling geographic features on large world maps. Maps, atlases and computers were being shared around the room as students learned the locations of the seven continents, four oceans, and numerous rivers, bays, seas mountains and other features, nearly 100 items.  As Sam and I walked around we talked about how students direct experiences help them make better connection.  In a quick moment of excitement, we created a Google Doc where students were able to record pictures, experiences and comments for each of the geographic features they were studying. On Sunday, as I was writing this brief memo I jumped onto the open doc to record a post on the Tropic of Cancer.  While on the document three additional students were observed adding items to the assignment.  It is exciting to see this level of engagement. 

As a teacher we never know exactly how students will use what we are teaching.  However, I know that the students in Sam's class have the capability to accomplish whatever they strive to do.  The skills that he is teaching will help future urban planners, cartographers, GIS specialists, scientisst, business women, writers and more.  

Have a great week,

Brett

Dear Families-

Thanks to those of you who came out to curriculum night. We hope that you enjoyed getting to know your child's teacher and their classroom. We are always working to fine-tune our events and towards that goal we will be sending out an optional survey later this week to ask for your input.

Tomorrow is picture day/ Please fill out the Lifetouch order form that was sent home with your student (extras available in the main office) or order online at mylifetouch.com. Our Picture Day ID is LS613028Y0. To order a package your student will need the form or printed online order confirmation at the time their portrait is taken. Every child will have a picture taken for their school record, even if they aren't ordering a package.

We expect to have our brand new SALAD BAR up and running in the cafeteria by the end of the month. We are so excited to be able to offer our students a chance to serve themselves a variety of fresh, healthy vegetables. We will have more details soon!

Our FOSB (Friends of Salmon Bay, our Parent/Teacher Organization) has its October meeting THIS WEEK on Thursday. We meet from 7-9 in the Salmon Bay Library. If you have a student at Salmon Bay, you are already a member. No need to pay dues, or make a commitment, just show up and have an equal vote! We love new faces at FOSB meetings, and I hope to see some of you there!

Have a great week,

Sharon

Hello middle school families!  

Get out your combs and brushes because picture day is tomorrow!  Your student should have brought home a packet to fill out to order pictures.  If you did not get a packet or if you would rather order online I am including the instructions for doing that.

1. Visit mylifetouch.com
2. Enter Picture Day ID which is LS613028Y0
3. Order and print the receipt to give to the photographer on Picture Day.

Middle school dance!   Our first dance of the year is scheduled to happen on Friday November 1st during the school day between the hours of 1:00-2:45!   There will be a separate email coming soon asking for chaperones and donations so look for that soon.  

Our monthly FOSB meeting is this Thursday October 17th at 7:00pm in the school library.  Please join us!

Have a great week,  Caitlin

The library continues to be a very busy place, as we've been working on research and reading a lot of great books! Sometimes those two activities intersect, as with the book we've been focusing on during the first couple of weeks of October: How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz. This is example of an illustrated book with a story to inspire rich thinking, and illustrations to engage readers of all ages. I would tell you that this is one of my favorite books, but the students insist that I say that about ALL the books in the library! If you'd like to explore a bit more about the author, here's a link to his page:

http://us.macmillan.com/author/urishulevitz 

I've enjoyed getting to know the new Kindergarten students, and learning about their taste in books. As always, there are many passionate readers! We've been talking about the strategies that families use to help students remember their books on "library day." I find that putting books with other "important to bring to school" items usually does the trick. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send me an email at laillman@seattle schools.org

Library Shout-Outs: To my awesome TAs Sophie and Ella; my elementary helpers Keziah, Mercedes, Denali and Sophia; after school helper Marcel; and my oh-so-helpful parent nonfiction shelver Kelly! Everyone who signed up to help in the library should be getting an email from me this week. (MAP testing always puts us a bit behind.)

Happy Reading!

Linda 

Notes from the Lunchroom:

IMPORTANT: This Wednesday October 16th, is the last day to hand in your applications for free or reduced lunch, after that your child will be charged for meals until the form is handed in & processed. Please get them in if you haven't already, we cannot refund your account for any charges which may occur.

This week, Oct 14-18th is NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH WEEK.

Did you know, Nutrition Services serves over 18000 lunches and 7000 breakfasts every day in Seattle, with entrees ranging from kid favorites chicken nuggets and cheese pizza to butternut squash curry with couscous. Many of the fruits and vegetables we serve are locally sourced, like apples, pears, plums, and carrots. 

EXCITING NEWS: Salmon Bay Lunchroom is getting a salad bar! Stay tuned for more details next week!

Melissa

Karen and Danielle could use a little help in the Main Office in the mornings between 8-8:45am.  If you would like to give a hand, please go here http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4EA9A82BA2FB6-main  to sign up for a day.

If you'd like to be an extra set of eyes on the playground during lunch Recess, please sign up here http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4EA9A82BA2FB6-playground 

It's Walk-n-Wheel Month!!

We had an awesome start to Salmon Bay's Walk-n-Wheel month last week -- let's keep it up!  

This upcoming Friday we will host another morning welcome station by the bike racks where we will be handing out punch cards for kids to keep track of their progress taking alternative modes of transportation to school (walking, bus, bike, scooter).

If you must drive a car to school, but still want to participate, park 4-5 blocks away from the school and walk in with your student.  See you this Friday

We are creating "Salmon Bay Bikes" T-shirts.  If you are interested in ordering/purchasing one please email Caitlin at caracey@seattleschools.org 

Seattle Public Schools is updating attendance area boundaries to accommodate enrollment growth and new construction. An initial draft of boundary changes was provided in September, offering families, staff and the community time to weigh in and give feedback.

After hosting five community meetings and receiving thousands of emails and suggestions, new recommended boundary changes are being proposed.These can be found at: http://bit.ly/GrowthBoundaries. For more information, including supporting documents, see the following:

•  October 16 Board Action Report
•   Attachment B: Reference Materials
•   Attachment C: Summary Information on Public Input

We are asking for new feedback on the recommendations via a survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7BKFRS3. Please take this survey by Oct. 21. Input through the survey will be included in the review. 

Next steps:

• District seeks public input via a survey from Oct. 14-21.
• School Board Work Session on the boundary proposal from 4:30-6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17 at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence.  (The public is invited to attend, but public testimony will not be taken.)
• Revised recommendations will be sent to the Board for the Nov. 6 meeting
• A School Board vote is scheduled for Nov. 20.
• If approved by the School Board, implementation of some of the new elementary and middle school boundaries will begin for the 2014-15 school year, although many boundary changes cannot go into effect until Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) capital levy construction projects are completed.

For more information on the growth boundary project, please visit http://bit.ly/GrowthBoundaries.

Agenda and committee reports attached to this bulletin. This week, we welcome 6th grade math teacher Jon Olver, and 4/5th grade teachers Marian Wagner and Brian Williamson, who will share their insights into how to make the most of conferences. The treasurers will have information to share about mini-grants and building improvement mini-grants, and our secretary will provide information about upcoming November elections for new families. If you're interested to hear about graduate portfolios, and preparing students for 21st century skills, as well as information about how we're preparing to meet the Common Core standards, our principal or assistant principal will be on hand to provide information and take your questions. Finally, we will hear about a recent decision by middle school and K-8 principals to eliminate soccer tournaments and align teams into divisions along MS-only and K-8 only lines, find out about supervision for middle school students who wish to use the upper field at lunch recess, learn about the events and needs of our awesome committees, learn about volunteer opportunities coming up this fall, and much more! And did you know that our September minutes and FOSB's budget are online?  Check them out! Questions or comments: Middle school FOSB co-chair Robin Lofstrom (clevelandette@gmail.com), or elementary co-chair Jodi Russell ( reddsell@comcast.net).

Thanks to our wonderful Salmon Bay Garden Committee for their hard work this weekend.  Thanks to their efforts we will see over 80 new tulips this spring!  They do an amazing job of keeping our school grounds beautiful. 

You may have caught this news item in the Onion (America's finest News Source):  After months of ceaseless debate, including last week's record 76-hour filibuster slap-bass solo from Senate Rubber Band Minority Leader Bootsy Collins (D-OH), the National Funk Congress is no closer to resolving its deadlock over the controversial "get up/get down" issue, insiders reported Monday. 

Salmon Bay School parents and staff will be doing their part to resolve this issue amicably at our semi-annual Rock for FOSB, a night out with live music by & for parents/staff, past & present.  Whether you boogie down or prefer to rock it up, this is your chance to connect with the musically inclined adults in our school community.  Who will be the surprise guests this year?  Maybe it's you!  Save the date:  Friday November 8, starting at 8 pm, at your nearby Ballard Eagles [5216 20th Ave NW (between N Leary Ave & N Russell Ave) ]   

Jon Olver

Salmon Bay 6th grade Math

Get Ready Salmon Bay! Our Annual Direct Giving is only a few weeks away....

Does your company provide a corporate match to employees?

Companies large and small show their support to non-profits by matching your gift-giving dollars for its employees.

Organizations such as Microsoft, Google, etc. provide generous corporate match programs; and what a better way to make your donation dollars go further than to check out the process to have your place of work match your direct giving dollars!

Non-Profit Name:  FRIENDS OF SALMON BAY(FOSB)

Microsoft Employees search for Friends of Salmon Bay Elementary

on your internal "give" site, to add us to your list of charities. 

Read more on our blog spot at:    http://sbsdirectgiving.blogspot.com/ 

Campaign Drive Dates: November 1 - December 31, 2013

GOAL: $40,000

Salmon Bay let's S.W.I.M. to our goal!

Any Questions? Contact Monica  : monica571@gmail.com  

Mini Grants

FOSB has $5000 to award in mini grants this year.  The deadline for submitting an application is Friday, October 25, 2013.  Applications can be found in the office, by clicking this link http://www.salmonbayschool.org/forms/fosb-mini-grant-application or by contacting Katherine Ropp or Stacy Kalthoff (fosbtreasurer@gmail.com).  The Mini Grants Selection Committee will meet on Tue, Nov 5p.  Please RSVP to a treasurer if you plan to attend.  The grant recipient slate will be announced and voted on at the Nov. 14th FOSB meeting.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Building Beautification Mini Grants

This year FOSB has set aside $5500 for Building Beautification projects.  At last winter's FOSB retreat, parents expressed concern for the state of our hallways and the lack the visual beauty at our school.  In response to those concerns, we have set aside money and are setting up a mini grant style process to give out the money.  Applications can be found in the office, by clicking this link http://www.salmonbayschool.org/forms/fosb-building-mini-grant-application or by contacting Katherine Ropp or Stacy Kalthoff (fosbtreasurer@gmail.com).  If you are not sure which  application to fill out or which committee to submit your idea to, please contact Katherine Ropp.  Applications are due by Nov. 15th. A committee is forming to select grants for funding.  If you are interested in sitting on this committee, please contact Katherine Ropp or Stacy Kalthoff (fosbtreasurer@gmail.com).  A meeting time has not been set, but will be the week of Nov. 18th. The grant recipient slate will be announced and voted on at the Dec 5th FOSB meeting.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Chinook Books and Apps

LAST WEEK to buy CHINOOK BOOKS and APPS!

Please contact Suzanne to place your order, or stop in to see Sharon or Caitlin.

AFTER SCHOOL FIBER ARTS CLASS with Linda an Emi ! 

There is still room in our Monday class. You can join any time and we will prorate the fee!

Grades K-5: MONDAY  2:35-4:00, 10/1 - 12/18 (except11/25)10 weeks. This fiber arts class for k through 5th grade students will explore a variety of fiber arts and crafts, including felting( needle and wet) , finger knitting, yarn mache, dyeing wool, and much more!

GEMS is a science enrichment program for 7th and 8th grade girls currently attending a Seattle Public Middle School. The goal of the program is to encourage girls to maintain and broaden their interest in STEM subjects by providing mentoring, hands-on activities, field trips, and information pertaining to a variety of scientific fields.

We meet one evening per month and host various field trips throughout the year.  We have two locations this year, one at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in South Lake Union, and one at South Seattle Community College in West Seattle. The program is free and fully funded by Seattle AWIS, a nonprofit organization.  Transportation to and from all events is required, but if there is enough demand, we will try to organize ride shares or other transport.

We are currently accepting applications for the 2013/14 school year, and submissions are due by October 24th.  A link to the application and more information about the program is available at:

http://seattleawis.org/programs/gems

Are you in need of an after school program for your child? Illumination Learning Studio has two amazing fun programs for children ages k-6.  Our after school programs include Drama, Piano, Technology, and homework help!  Our program runs M-F 3:00 -6:00.  On early dismissal days your child will come early. Visit us online at www.illuminationlearningstudio.com or stop in for a tour!

Coho Kids Time is hosting Parents Night Out! Join us for an evening of ghoulish games, crafts, dinner and a movie. All potty-trained monsters are welcome. Costumes or pajamas are encouraged. Friday, October 18th 6:00-10:00pm. Cost is $30/child ($20 for each additional sibling) to be paid upon arrival in cash or check. Dinner served will be spaghetti, carrots & apple juice with popcorn during the movie. Movie is Hotel Transylvania (PG-91 min). Please sign up at the Coho front counter or by phone (206)297-7764 or email at coho@positiveplace.org. See you there!

School Board Candidate Forum 

Lawton Elementary Commons, 4000

6:45 - 8pm, Thursday October 24

Ballard Knights Junior Football and Cheer

Ballard Junior Football and Cheer has been providing youth football and cheer opportunities in the greater Seattle community for over 50 years, and we would like to invite prospective players and their parents to come get to know us, watch some football, eat some (free) food, and enter for the chance to win a pair of Seahawks tickets!

Ballard Junior Football plays in the Northwest Junior Football league, which uses age and weight to divide kids aged 6-14 into six levels of play.  Safety and quality instruction is a top priority, and to that end all the coaches in the NJFL are certified through USA football through both their Tackle Certification for coaching football as well as their Heads-Up Certification for teaching safer tackling and concussion awareness.  Our primary goal is teaching kids safe football while instilling a love for the game and good sportsmanship.

We would like to invite parents and kids to get to know us better by attending our next home game to watch our 89ers (8- and 9-year-olds).  We are especially looking forward to meeting players who might be interested in joining our 76ers (6- and 7-year olds) team next year!  

The game starts at 4:30pm at Loyal Heights Community Center, 2101 NW 77st, Seattle, WA, 98117.  We will be playing Silverlake on Saturday, October 12.

At the game, prospective new players in grades K-5 will receive a free hot dog, and their parents can register to win a pair of Seahawks tickets!  We'd love to see you out there!

Please feel free to contact us at  http://ballardjuniorfootball.org with any questions. Thank you.

GO KNIGHTS!

Piano Lessons

for people who have fallen

through the cracks

Ages 4 to all grown-up

Private weekly ½ hour lessons

$100/month

Local Dilettante Studio of

Elena Louise Richmond

Crown Hill neighborhood

 www.elenalouiserichmond.com 

206-783-7326