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Principal's Message l Megan Martin, Principal
Dear SPS Families,
Thank you for another wonderful year with your children! As everyone enjoys the summer months and reprieve from the schedules of the school year, our preparations are underway for the 2016-2017 school year. On behalf of our entire staff, we would like to give our thanks and appreciation to our Peaks' Parents leaders and class reps. Our school community is stronger as a whole because of your support and involvement. This coming year marks a significant celebration for our school, our 20th Anniversary, and we look forward to celebrating.
Seven Peaks is committed to the development of students in accordance with the IB learner profile, and we are proud to promote students that embody these characteristics. During our recent annual Middle School Awards ceremony last week, we recognized 10 middle school students who stand out as unique representatives of these IB Learner Profiles.
IB LEARNER PROFILE
AWARD RECIPIENT
KnowledgeableSydney Dedrick (7th)
PrincipledLogan Hanna (8th)
ReflectiveSierra Pierce (6th)
Open MindedCharlie Martin (8th)
Risk TakerMichael Rowley (8th)
ThinkerLaine Wallace (7th)
CaringOcean Eisenburg (6th)
InquirerCameron Zipper (7th)
BalancedJordan Hall (8th)
CommunicatorSavannah Kane (8th
We also honor select 8th grade graduates with two prestigious awards:
The John Kailey Compassionate Award and the Todd LaFrenze Humanitarian Award. This year's Seven Peaks Humanitarian Award recipient is a boy who demonstrates charity, acceptance and genuine kindness to all he meets. He is eager to help the Seven Peaks students, staff and his community. His smile lights the room and he inspires us all to be better people. This year's humanitarian is Wesley Zeller.
This year, we honor two students whose true character and integrity see them doing this daily. They both go out of their way to offer kindness to every student and staff member. Most importantly, they are the first to respond to a friend or even a stranger with support in a time of crisis. This year's Compassion Award goes to Gracey Downer and Aiden Ekblad.
We wish everyone a relaxing break and hope to see you all!
Megan Martin

Stay Informed and Get Involved
   
Staff Farewells |
From Andie DeSha, Counselor --
As I get ready to fulfill my dream of starting a private counseling practice, I wanted to let you all know how much it has meant to me to be part of the Seven Peaks School community. I'm both excited to start my new venture and sad to say goodbye. During the past four years as School Counselor, I have been blessed to work with amazing educators who care deeply for their students, parents who support their children's education, and students who have great talent and potential. I will be forever grateful for my own learning and growth that has taken place in this wonderful community. Most of all, I will miss the students who have found a special place in my heart. Click here to continue reading.
 
From Lani Dunithan, Instructional Aide --
Dear SPS family - "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." - Winnie the Pooh. I am so grateful for all the wonderful memories I have from working with such incredible staff, parents and students. I truly loved coming to work each day. Even when I was sick..the SPS community was there for me!! I feel so fortunate to have spent the 2nd half of my early childhood career in such an amazing school. Being there at the first day SPS opened to their doors, 19 years ago, and seeing how far the school has come, is such an remarkable transformation and one I was very honored to be a small part of. Thank you, each and everyone of you, from the bottom of my heart!!

Mary Barlow, Bookkeeper/Accountant --
I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Seven Peaks School staff, families and community that I have worked with over these past few years, as I have thoroughly enjoyed connecting and engaging with each of you. When we moved here from Seattle, I really thought that I would have to give up my career in Accounting & Finance in exchange for the Bend lifestyle; however, my career has found me again and I have been offered a position as Controller for a wonderful start-up company, and so after 3 1/2 years I am saying goodbye to Seven Peaks School. I just want to relay how much I have loved my job at Seven Peaks, especially since I was able to put in place processes and procedures to build a very strong accounting department (even if it was just me in the department!) and that I will be forever grateful to have worked and been part of such a wonderful community of families. 

From Kristin Carlson, 6th Grade Language Arts/Humanities Teacher -- 
Once again, thank you so much for being such amazing co-workers and helping make SPS such an inspiring place to teach! Each of you are so wonderful at what you do and I have had the best experience these past 2 years. I can't wait to be back, teaching again in the near future :-) Please stay in touch over the summer! I will keep Megan updated on baby progress and she can let everyone know when baby boy is born. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day and happy summer break!!!

From Lindsay Dance, Spanish Teacher --
It is with bittersweet emotion I share that I will be moving back to Portland next year to be closer to friends and family. I will be teaching K-5 Spanish at an IB elementary school in Beaverton. My experience teaching Spanish at SPS has been inspirational, uplifting and truly the best professional experience I have ever had. I feel fortunate to have worked with most all of your students, JK -8th grade, during my time here. Thank you all for your support and for sharing your wonderful children with me. I will miss SPS greatly and will keep in touch!
Student Buddies| 
4th grades' last visit with our buddies.  We so loved getting to know our kindergarten buddies this year.  From reading, hiking, coding, and more.  We loved our time together.
Board Update | 
New Board Members
We are pleased to announce that SPS Parent, Eric Smith is our newest member to join the SPS Board. Click here for contact information for all board members.

Next Board Meeting
Wednesday, 8/24 at 6:00pm. We encourage parents to join us. All board meetings are on Wednesday evenings and are listed below, as well as, posted on Canvas School Wide calendar.

9/14, 10/12, 11/9, 12/14, 2/8, 3/8, 4/12, 5/10, 6/14

8th Grade Field Trip the Bay Area | Kent Vallier, Assistant Principal
Photo op waiting for the Jelly Belly Manufacturing tour.
Next stop...Alcatraz Island.
Google Self-driving Car.











Now that I am a two-year veteran of the 8th grade field trip, it is even more abundantly clear what wonderful students, parents and families we have at Seven Peaks. From the planning stages occurring in early January to the final bus clean out last Thursday night upon our return, our trips were successful because of your support and gift of time. The 8th grade students had a wonderful experience on the Google campus hosted by Darren Pleasance (thank you Darren!). They enjoyed seeing the driverless car and observing a few of them roam around the campus. Perfect weather welcomed us to Alcatraz as the students learned about this National Park and American Landmark. I was particularly proud of the 8th graders as they worked at the San Francisco/Marin Food Bank. We helped ship out thousands of pounds of food for those in need around the Bay Area. 

Our students represented Seven Peaks very well. Their courtesy and cooperation was terrific. I hope your students enjoyed the trip and have lasting memories of Seven Peaks as they matriculate to high school. Should any of our new high school students need anything, we're here for them. Thank you for the honor of having them in our classes and hallways.
7th Grade Field Trip to Mt. Saint Helens | 
Our 7th Graders ended the school year with a trip to Mt. Saint Helens which included many stops along the way. They enjoyed a tour of the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center which included a program on raptors. They stopped to tour of the Bonneville Fish Hatchery and Lock & Dam then on to the Anderson Lodge in Washington were they toured and learned the history and effects of the Mt. Saint Helens eruption. Several hikes to Ape Caves and other areas were enjoyed by all! 
 
6th Grade Brownie Baking | 
During the last week of school, 6th graders participated in an IB design cycle activity where they researched, created, and marketed a brownie. Their target audience was the 4th and 5th graders, who had no problem sampling their creations!

5th - 8th Grade Band Program |
5th - 8th Grade Band or Music?
Here at SPS, our JK - 8th grade students are automatically enroll in our music program. Our 5th - 8th grade students have the option of opting out of music to enroll in our band program. To forecast for the upcoming school year, we are asking each 5th - 8th grade student to select band OR music. Please read through the brief descriptions below for each program. You only need to reply to submit the following information if your student wishes to enroll in Band, otherwise they will automatically be enrolled in music. Please email with the follow information to Deb Mullen at [email protected] no later than Friday, 7/1:

  • Student's Name
  • 2016/17 Grade Level
  • 1st instrument choice
  • 2nd instrument choice
  • Instrument Experience

SPS BAND PROGRAM
Seven Peaks is excited to announce that all Band classes next year will be four days a week and during school hours.  

Band classes are very fun and provide an opportunity to learn a band instrument and move forward in musical performance in a group and solo setting. Students work on the musical skills that help them grow into an excellent musician that will be ready for any high school band program.

Band students perform several programs a year including Fall and Spring concerts, Veteran's Day Assembly, as well as other events. For Advanced Band students, other opportunities for performing are the Central Oregon Music Education Association District Band Festival and Solo and Ensemble Festival. Beginners are welcome in all band classes, however most start in the 5th or 6th grade.

Typically, instruments are not provided by SPS, but you may rent an instrument from a local music store or purchase an instrument. The school does have some instruments including a Baritone, Bari Sax, and a Tuba. For those who really want to play but funds are limited to rent or purchase an instrument, please contact me as our instrument inventory is limited.  

You may contact me, Warren Zaiger, 5th-8th Band Instructor, at [email protected] if you have questions.

SPS MUSIC PROGRAM
Singing, dancing and performing are central activities, development by Carl Orff,  in our Seven Peaks Music program. The teacher acts as a facilitator, helping the students tap into their own creativity to influence the application of new learning. Elementary students will perform in three musical programs throughout the year; the Veteran's Day Assembly, the holiday show and the spring show. The middle school students' performance is in the spring. Some examples of musical instruction at each middle school grade level include the following:

6th grade - rhythms, homemade instruments, recorders, drums, xylophones, movement, Hawaiian lummi sticks, composer research, holiday song research
7th grade - tininkling, xylophones, drums, chimes, original compositions, rhythms, create-a-band
8th grade - drama (Fairy Tale production) xylophones, rhythms, STOMP performance, drums, composing

If you have questions regarding our music program, you may contact:
Beth Basham, 8th Music Teacher at [email protected]
Sara Miller, JK - 7th Music Teacher at smiller@sevenpeaksschool.org
Baby Shower for Mrs. Carlson | 
We had a beautiful baby shower for Mrs. Carlson. Everyone brought a bead and a special wish for her baby and we strung them on a necklace for her to have at the baby's birth. Her sixth grade student's had a wonderful time decorating onesises, they were so creative and thoughtful with their designs. Everyone really enjoyed hearing the wishes read to Ms. Carlson and the delicious cake. We wish Ms. Carlson all the best and will miss her very much.

Principal for the Day #2 |
On Monday, 5/29, SPS was honored by yet our 2nd Principal for the Day, Coco Stevens. Our students and staff enjoyed an impromptu assembly and popsicles at the end of the day! Congratulations Principal Coco!
SPS Community Garden | Gail & Shawn Hanna
Happy summer from the SPS Garden Club! This is the first year that Shawn and I took on the SPS Garden and have really enjoyed working with all the children. Not being gardeners, we have learned a lot about what works and what does not work growing vegetables in central Oregon. SPS garden did well with lettuces, beets and radishes. Our tomato plants survived, but our peas and squash didn't. We replanted some of our crops, and the warm month of May helped them grow. Alas, the freeze at the end of school year, as well as our local ground squirrel populations have slowed some of our growing progress. On a positive note, in the final weeks of garden club, the students got to pick and try radishes and collect lettuce leaves to take home.  In the fall we hope, like last year, there will be tomatoes, beets, pepper and carrots to harvest. With our new found knowledge we are excited for next years garden club adventure.

We are currently looking for some summer help watering the SPS green house. We have some wonderful berry bushes that need watering a few times a week. We are going to be gone through July 1 and it would be wonderful if someone could take this on. Please email me at  [email protected] or text me at (650) 704-4591.
Reminders From the Office | 
SPS Staff Tutoring Offerings:
Several of our teachers are offering tutoring services this summer and fall. Click here for more information.

5th & 6th Move Up Day Photo Link:  https://7peaks20165th6thgrademoveupday.shutterfly.com/ 

Canvas Update
Parents, are you getting too many Canvas notifications? Click here for directions on how to change your notification settings!

2016/2017 School Year Calendar
Click here to see our upcoming school year holidays and major events. For more dates and details, go to Canvas School Wide Calendar.
Bend Community Events | 
     
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Seven Peaks School | Seven Peaks School | 19660 Mountaineer Way | Bend | OR | 97702