Happy Friday to All of You!
New Items:
Classified Appreciation Week
This week was classified staff appreciation week. I do want to publicly acknowledge our classified staff.
Together as a whole, we have the best staff a school can ever ask for. We will formally recognize all staff members during staff appreciation week later in the year.
9th grade forecasting sheets
-If you are a parent of an 8th grader please remember to turn in high school forecasting sheets to the counseling office.
State testing has begun
I will let you know what classes are testing the following week so you can re-enforce 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. King (ELL)
-Mrs. Holstrom (ILC-Science)
-Mrs. Tofte (6th and 8th grade Reading-finishing up from last week)
-Mr. Johnston (8th grade Reading-finishing up from last week)
-Mrs. Rice (6th grade Reading)
-Mrs. Halstead (6th grade Reading)
-Ms. Silva (6th, 7th, 8th grade Reading)
-Mrs. Plummer (7th grade Reading)
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.
Positive Behavior Referrals for the week:
Byron Morris
Juan Campuzano
Yulissa Gaona Fabela
Forecasting for current students
We will be forecasting with our current students beginning next Tuesday. Along with the Core classes of Reading, Writing, Science, Math, Social Studies and PE, students will forecast for one elective. Electives offered include: Spanish (all levels), Shop (6th grade), Art (all levels), Strings (All levels), Choir (all levels), and Band (all levels). We also offer a Leadership class for 7th and 8th graders (if they meet behavior criteria) and aide positions which are open to 8th grade students.
Spring Band Concert
Our Spring Band Concert will be next Tuesday at 7 PM.
Important 5th grade transition dates
http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/chehalemvalley/welcome-5th-grade-students-a...
Spread the Word to End the Word
On Wednesday students facilitated a dialogue around the national campaign of spreading the word to end the word. This dialogue took place in Wolf Reading. Videos were shown, and the students took the pledge to do their part to "spread the word to end the word."
Anti-bullying assembly
On Tuesday we had an anti-bullying assembly courtesy of Camfel productions. It was a great assembly and fit perfectly with the fact that it was on Blue on Tuesday.
PTO Meeting Thursday March 20th
We will have some guest presenters about the effects of drugs and alcohol and signs parents can look for if concerned that their kids are using. We will meet at 6:30 PM.
Whooping Cough
As you no doubt have heard we recently have had to exclude some students who had not been vaccinated due to potential exposure to students who had whooping cough.
Please see the attached link if you would like more information from the district regarding whooping cough:
http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/district/whooping-cough-alert-0
Schedule Change Next Year
I mentioned this last week, but 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.
Battle of the Books
Congratulations toTeam A-Listers, Mason Shewell, Annika Sellke, Eli O’Brien and Gabe O’Brien. They are the winners of the 2013-14 Oregon Battle of the Books! They will now represent CV at the regional competition on March 15th.
Good Luck!!
Run with the Wolves!
We are excited to be offering our 2nd annual 5K run/walk on April 26th. Please see the attached link for more details.
http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/chehalemvalley/run-wolves
Upcoming:
-Spring Concert:3/11
-Spring Fling Dance:3/14
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
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 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!
