Happy Friday to All of You!
New Items:
Welcome back from spring break! It was good to see all the kids and to get back in the swing of things. This week went by quickly. It is hard to believe that it is April already.
Parent Survey
As part of our efforts to make Newberg schools an outstanding place for students to learn, we are inviting all parents in the school district to participate in survey that measures levels of parent engagement and satisfaction. We are conducting this survey as part of a nationwide study that measures and compares a variety of factors across school districts. Your participation is very important to us.
Please use the link below to complete the survey between April 1 - 15. This will take approximately 15 minutes.
Parent Engagement & Satisfaction - English
http://ncfsl.eschoolsolutions.com/limesurvey/index.php/631914/lang-en
Parent Engagement & Satisfaction - Spanish
http://ncfsl.eschoolsolutions.com/limesurvey/index.php/936159/lang-es-MX
This survey is administered by the National Center for School Leadership as part of nationwide effort they conduct each school year. Topics addressed include academics, communication, discipline, school climate, outreach and engagement and homework. By using a third party, we are able to ensure that parent responses are kept strictly confidential. The Center provides us with aggregated scores that will provide us with the necessary data to evaluate our school district while maintaining the privacy of individual respondents.
Your involvement in your student’s education is vital. We want to ensure that we are doing what we can to help you be involved in his or her education. With your input, we can all work to make our district a better place to learn. Thank you for taking the time to provide your input on our school.
Run with the Wolves!
We are excited to be offering our 2nd annual 5K run/walk on April 26th. It is getting close. Please see the attached link for more details.
http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/chehalemvalley/run-wolves
No After School Homework Club on Monday
PTO
PTO meeting scheduled for next Thursday, 4/ 10 at 6:30 PM.
Wadayama Homestays Needed
We are looking for volunteers to serve has hosts for some Wadayama students and staff members. They will be here the first weekend of August 6th. If you are interested please contact Heidi King at
kingh@newberg.k12.or.us.
Sex Education
House Bill 2509 requires age-appropriate comprehensive sex education to be taught starting in the 6th grade. We began our health unit with 6th graders on Monday and next Monday we will begin sex education with our 6th graders. 8th grade letters will be mailed home soon as they will begin their units on April 14th. Students not currently taking PE will be pulled out of their elective classes to engage in the units.
6th grade-March 31-April 11
8th grade-April 14-April 25
7th grade-April 28-May 9
Parents can choose to opt their student(s) out of Sex Education with a formal written request.
State testing has begun
I will let you know what classes are testing the following week so you can reenforce the importance of eating breakfast, and getting a good night's sleep beforehand. Attendance is obviously very important! The following teacher(s) will be testing their Reading, Science or Math classes next week:
Mrs. Goehler (Math)
Mrs. Pinkston (8th grade Science)
Mr. Christiansen (7th grade Reading)
Mr. Johnston (8th grade Reading)
Mrs. Holstrom (ILC)
Mrs. Spang (8th grade Science)
What Parents Can Do At Home
• Acknowledge test-taking anxiety as normal, but stay positive.
• Encourage your child to think positive thoughts like “I can do this!”
• Give compliments for effort: “I’m proud of how hard you have studied.”
• Go over the test-taking tips with your child.
• Adequate rest makes a difference! Make sure your child goes to bed at a reasonable
time; being active earlier in the day (not right before bed) can help kids get to sleep.
• Nutrition also influences how well children do on test; a good breakfast is important, but a large meal right before the test can be distracting.
• Your child should wear comfortable clothing for long test-taking periods.
• Help your child learn how to relax. Some find it helps to take a few deep breaths before starting the test; others like to imagine a peaceful place like the beach or park.
School Improvement Goals:Percentage of students we expect to have meet or exceed the state benchmark.
Reading: 6th grade-80%, 7th grade-84%, 8th grade-85%
Math: 6th grade-70%, 7th grade-78%, 8th grade-78%
Science: 8th grade-82%
Positive Behavior Referrals for the week:
McKenna Brady
Spring Parent Conferences
Spring parent conferences will be held on April 16th and April 17th.
April 16th-4-8 PM arena style in the Commons and Gym
April 17th-Noon-4 PM, 4:30-6 PM in the teacher's classroom
Forecasting for current students
This week our current 6th and 7th grade students forecast for elective classes. Students put down their preferences. Forecasting sheets need to be turned in to the counseling office.
Important 5th grade transition dates
http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/chehalemvalley/welcome-5th-grade-students-a...
Upcoming:
PTO: 4/10 6:30 PM
Parent Conferences: 4/16-4/17
CVMS Volunteer Opportunities
If you are interested in volunteering for CV contact our volunteer coordinator, Stephanie Carstensen, home 503-538-6102 or stephaniec@c-ware.com.
Teachers actively looking for parent volunteers include Mrs. Brower for Read 180 and Mrs. Childs for Math Lab.
http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/chehalemvalley/chehalem-valley-middle-schoo...
Reminders:
One call home for missing work
In efforts to effectively enforce the importance of work ethic, a one-call will go home to families of students who have 3 or more missing assignments. These calls will go out on a daily basis. Please see below for our policy on missing work.
Missing Homework Policy beginning this semester:
3 Missing assignments in any ONE class=Minor Incident Report and one call home.
5 Missing assignments in any ONE class=Behavior Referral to Mr. Hampton or Dr. Franco.
Missing work will be a part of our incentive criteria for activities and the incentive sticker each quarter. Our incentive criteria will be:
-Less than 3 missing assignments in any one class (3 missing assignments in any one class will mean an MIR)
-No behavior referrals
-Less that 4 unexcused absences for the quarter
Schedule Change Next Year
I mentioned this last week, next school year we will have a change within our bell schedule which will add 30 minutes of instructional time to the school day. This new bell schedule will also be consistent with Mountain View. Within the new schedule, each period will be 53 minutes in length as opposed to the 47 minutes which we currently have. We will still operate on a 7-period day which will allow more opportunities for our kids to have electives and PE everyday. I will send out more information as we get closer to the end of the school year. Our proposed schedule would mean a start time of 7:40 AM and end time at 2:45 PM.
Student-Parent handbook
Please see the attached link: http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/chehalemvalley/chehalem-valley-parent-handbook
School Improvement Plan
If you are interested in reading about what our school improvements goals are as a school and the strategies we will utilized please feel free to peruse our school improvement plan for this year.
http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/chehalemvalley/school-improvement-plan-cvms
Homework Club
We are offering HW club to students every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 2:30-3:30 PM. We do have a late bus that will pick the kids up. The late bus does not go to the Ewing Young area. Throughout the year we encourage students to stay after school to work with their teacher or to receive assistance from Mrs. Blanchard and Mrs. Wolfe in HW club.
Absences
Every year we see more absences for trips and personal vacations. Although I understand that vacations do happen during the year, we ask that if at all possible you look to schedule extended vacations during our regular school breaks. Students can always make up work, however it is difficult to replace the loss of instruction. Please notify the Main Office if your student will be absent.
Please be cognizant that we are extremely vigilant in regards to attendance. The following is the list of reasons the state provides as excusable absences:
-Student illness
-Illness of an immediate family member
-Emergency
-Doctor/Dental Appointment
-Death of an immediate family member
-Court summons
-Satisfactory arrangements, made in advance with the school for other reasons
*Absences for reasons not noted on this list will be marked unexcused.
FAQ's about standards/proficiency based grading
As all of you know we are a standards/proficiency based grading school. To gain further information, I encourage all of you to read the material on the attached link if you haven't yet . The link includes FAQs about our new grading, a rationale, and a summary of our plan. This year we are in year two, and students will be required to re-take any summative assessment in which they score less than 70%. If you have further questions please do not hesitate to call the office. I would be happy to sit down with any one of you or to speak with you on the phone if you have questions.
http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/chehalemvalley/graduation-starts-today
Facebook
You can now "Like us" on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/ChehalemValleyMS
Twitter
You can now follow us on Twitter: cvmsmiddleschool @cvmswolves
Have a great weekend!
