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EVERGREEN EAGLE EXPRESS
Week of September 4, 2016 - Issue 4
EVERGREEN MIDDLE SCHOOL ǀ 6900 208TH Ave. NE, Redmond, WA 98053 ǀ 425-936-2320
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PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
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Hello Evergreen Families -
We hope you had a wonderful last week of summer vacation and are excited to embark on another outstanding school year. We had a fantastic week of professional development and learning with our staff and we are very excited to see students on Tuesday. We welcomed 18 new staff members to our Eagle Family including teachers, physical therapists, office personnel, classroom assistants, and paraeducators. We had deeper learning on the Professional Learning Communities model, AVID, student interventions, grading practices, and a new student incentive and rewards program called Eagle PRIDE. In my weekly message to families, I will highlight some of the work we are doing each week to support students in our efforts to help them be Future Ready. We will also highlight these programs during our Curriculum Night presentation on Tuesday, September 20. Recently, I sent out a few emails highlighting and reminding families about schedules, materials, and pick up/drop off changes this school year. Those reminders are listed below:
*6th graders will start school at 8:00am on Tuesday with WEB *7th and 8th graders will start school at 10:30am on Tuesday *All students only need to bring themselves and their lunch or lunch money on Tuesday *Students do not need to bring any materials on Tuesday *Students riding the bus will be dropped off at Dickinson Elementary and will walk down the new stairs, monitored by an EMS crossing guard *Parents dropping off their student will use one of the three drop off locations at EMS (Upper Loop (former bus loop); Middle Loop; Lower Loop) *No parent pick up or drop off will occur at Dickinson Elementary *School ends at 2:30pm every day this week and our Wednesday early-release will begin on Wednesday, September 14
We are excited to see students on Tuesday and look forward to partnering with you this year. We know students can feel both anxious and excited about the start of a new school year. We will welcome and support them in their learning and are excited about all this year has in store. As always, feel free to reach out if you have questions or want to pass along feedback. Thanks and take care and we will see you soon. All my best,
Principal
Evergreen Middle School
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IMPORTANT DATES
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Mon., 9/5 - NO SCHOOL: Labor Day
Tues., 9/6 - First Day of School; 8am-2:30pm for 6th graders; 10:30am-2:30pm for 7th & 8th graders
Wed., 9/7 - Full Day of School; 8am-2:30pm
Fri., 9/9 - EMS Picture Day
Fri., 9/9 - 1st Season Sports Forms & Fees Due; Laptop Agreement Forms Due
Mon., 9/12 - 1st Season Sports Begin
Tues., 9/13 - Laptop Check-Out
Wed., 9/14 - 1.5 Hr. Wed. Early Release Schedule Begins (out @ 1pm)
Thurs., 9/15 - Welcome Back Coffee @ 9:30am in the EMS Library; EMS PTSA General Membership meeting to follow from 10:30am-noon
Tues., 9/20 - EMS Curriculum Night @ 6:35pm in the Fieldhouse (gym); 7:05pm in the classrooms
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SCHOOL NEWS
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Dear Evergreen students and parents,
Our Evergreen Laptop Roll-Out Day is right around the corner on Tuesday, September 13th.
I will send out more information and resources closer to that day, but in the meantime, there are three items to share now.
1. Parents, this is a terrific volunteer opportunity if you are interested and available to help out on the 13th. The PTSA makes it easy to volunteer through Sign Up Genius.
2. Each student will receive the Laptop Agreement Form the first or second day of school, so you need not print your own copy, but a PDF copy is attached in case it is helpful to you and your family. Each student must bring the signed Laptop Agreement Form to their Science teacher by Friday, September 9th so that we can give you your computer on the 13th.
3. I have included the newly updated version of the Laptop Handbook as well. The handbook should provide you with plenty of information and answer any questions you may have about the program.
I truly look forward to working, learning, and growing with all of you this year!
Take care and keep smiling,
Kevin Olson
EMS Teacher/Librarian
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HAIKU IS NOW POWERSCHOOL LEARNING *new*
Over the summer, Haiku, the district's learning management system, was acquired by PowerSchool Learning. The tool remains largely the same. The changes are mostly cosmetic, including the name, colors and logos. The PowerSchool logo appears where the Haiku logo used to be. The link to this tool on Parent Access now says Haiku/PowerSchool Learning. Both names will be listed during this transition as we get used to the new name. You will be able to monitor student class information, assignments and calendars through this system as you have in the past.
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IS YOUR CHILD'S BACKPACK TOO HEAVY? *new*
According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), backpacks should weigh less than 10 percent of a student's body weight. Backpack Awareness Day is September 21. LWSD will observe the day, with a theme of "Pack it light, check at night." We encourage students and parents to look through student backpacks each night. The goal is to reduce excess items in a student's backpack, thus reducing the total weight students are carrying. Click below to learn more.
Every student at EMS is issued a locker and students should not be carrying around all of their materials all day. Students can access their locker between classes to get the required materials for that class and leave other materials in their locker until needed.
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SCHOOL PICTURE DAY, ID CARDS, & VOLUNTEER BADGES
Lifetouch Photography will be at EMS for School Picture Day on Friday, Sept. 9th. You may pre-order your photos by going to www.mylifetouch.com and putting in our Picture Day ID #: LS116706Q0
Even if you choose not to buy photos, your student's picture will still be taken for the yearbook and ASB/ID card. ASB/ID cards will be handed out during the 2nd week of school. Temporary paper ID cards will be given out before that.
Your pre-ordered photos will arrive 2-3 weeks after Picture Day. If you do not pre-order, proof sheets will also arrive at that time and you can choose to order then.
For parents and others who plan to volunteer at EMS, free volunteer badges will be made if you come to the EMS Library between 7:45am and 2pm on Picture Day (Friday, Sept. 9th) and have your picture taken. Your badges will be available that same day. With a volunteer badge, you must still sign in at the office every time you come to the school to help out. The volunteer badge simply replaces the visitor sticker you wear.
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EVERGREEN ATHLETICS
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INTERMURAL SPORTS AT EMS *updated*
1st Season Sports: Sept. 12 - Oct. 27
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Girls Badminton ~ Boys and Girls Cross Country ~ Boys Tennis
Attention all athletes! First season sports start on Monday, September 12th. The deadline to turn in all paperwork in order to participate in first season sports is Friday, September 9th. If an athlete does not have all of their paperwork received by September 9th they will not be able to participate. Once all paperwork is submitted to Ms. Nilsen in the athletics office they will receive a clearance card which they need to keep and give to their coach on the first day of practice. If they do not have that clearance card on the first day of practice they will not be able to participate on the first day and will need to see Ms. Nilsen the next day to receive their card to be able to practice the following day.
Check out the EMS Athletics page below to get the necessary forms and see and an example of what the clearance card looks like. Necessary forms are found at the bottom of the page in the "Athletics Full Packet" .PDF
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COME OUT FOR CROSS COUNTRY!
Cross Country IS a TEAM where the INDIVIDUAL scores count.
Cross Country IS an INDIVIDUAL sport with strong TEAM support!
Come and be a part of our growing success!
We RUN 2 miles through dirt, grass, woods, and RARELY on pavement.
All you need are some good Running Shoes...and Guts.
Click the button below for more information.
Questions? See Coach Peterson (epeterson@lwsd.org/Music) or Coach Gibson (togibson@lwsd.org/room 130)
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PTSA
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS & FOR JOINING THE PTSA! *new*
We are so grateful for all of your generosity with donations to the "Pass the Hat" fundraiser, staff appreciation, and staff member PTSA sponsorships! We are also very thankful for the many people who have joined us as PTSA members so far.
Here's where we are at today:
- Over $7,500 of our yearly $25,000 PTSA fundraising goal has been reached through "Pass the Hat" before school has even started. Way to go! Now, let's see if we can make it to at least $12,000 by Curriculum Night.
- Staff Appreciation donations have reached $1,250. Since we have about 90 staff members, that is around $14/person for staff lunches and gift cards. Let's keep it up so we can show how much we appreciate these hard-working people who spend so many hours investing in the lives of our middle-schoolers!
- We've had 15 staff member sponsorships at this point. Thank you! Let's see if we can make it to 30 by Curriculum Night.
- Our combined Family and Individual PTSA memberships have reached 125. By Curriculum Night, it would be great to have at least 200 memberships!
Also, we really appreciate all of those who have taken care of the mandatory $5 per student yearly fee for Emergency Preparedness (EPrep) supplies. So far, that fee has been paid for by only 135 of our 1,160+ students. If you have yet to pay your EPrep fee, or would like to contribute to the other items above, you can do so online through www.evergreenptsa.org. You can also fill out our PTSA All-in-One form that will be coming home in the Back-to-School packets and turn that in with a check.
One last thing, don't forget to have your employer match your donations if they have a matching gifts program!
Thanks, again, everyone for contributing to the enrichment, encouragement, success, and safety of our students and staff at Evergreen Middle School.
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - LAPTOP CHECK-OUT *new*
Interested in helping hand out laptops to all of the EMS students on Tues., Sept. 13th? Click below to sign up.
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LOOKING FOR A WAY TO GET INVOLVED?
HOW ABOUT CHAIRING A PTSA COMMITTEE?
PTA Reflections Program - WITHOUT A CHAIR THIS PROGRAM WILL NOT BE OFFERED TO EMS STUDENTS! We need someone to attend the September Reflections Orientation Meeting where you'll learn what is required and what resources are available. Some of this chair's responsibilities will be to establish a timeline, promote the program, communicate with school/students/parents, collect and submit applications and entries, arrange for judging, and keep records.
ASB Fundraiser-- help ASB teacher, Trish Miller, organize the "Fun Run"
Health Room-- organize volunteers to help students in the Health Room as their schedule permits
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JOIN THE EMS PTSA FACEBOOK PAGE
EMS PTSA invites you to join our discussion on Facebook. Click below for up-to-date notices about school activities and to communicate with other Evergreen families.
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EXTRACURRICULAR
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EMS Math Club is open to all EMS students who are interested in math enrichment opportunities, participating in various math competitions, and making new friends. The focus will be on solving interesting word problems and developing advanced problem solving skills. The topics will include geometry, probability, algebra, counting problems, logic, and number theory. Regular Math Club activities will include both individual math practice and team activities. Individual practice will be available at three levels of difficulty. Parent volunteers will prepare practice material, and students will access it via Haiku.
Details can be found below and also on EMS MATH CLUB facebook page.
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REDMOND SELECT BOYS BASKETBALL TRYOUTS
Sept. 20th & 25th
Redmond High School Gym
4th through 8th grade boys welcome
90 min. tryout per grade level
Players should attend both sessions
Pre-registration required
Learn more and register today
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NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
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The Lake Washington School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, gender, marital status, creed, religion, honorably discharged veteran, military status, sexual orientation, including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, or the use of a trained guide dog or service animal by a person with a disability, in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups.
The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies:
Director of Human Resources
16250 NE 74th Street
Redmond, Washington, 98052
(425) 936-1266
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Evergreen Middle School PTSA
Eagle Express is published by parent volunteers of Evergreen Middle School.
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