December January 2012 Newsletter

Home of the Bruins! Greenacres Middle School

Central Valley School Dist. 356

December 2011/January 2012

Main Phone Number: 228-4860 Greenacres Middle School 24 Hr Attendance Line: 228-4870 17409 E Sprague Ave.

Fax Number: 228-4869 Spokane Valley, WA 99016

Vern DiGiovanni Laura Hull Principal Vice-Principal

I trust that everyone had a relaxing and happy Thanksgiving Day and break. Please

remind your students to dress appropriately for the weather. I know students want

to believe that the car/bus will never break down or the school will always have

heat. It is smart to have a coat available just in case.

CVSD School Programs and Operational Levy: The Central Valley School District

will be running a three-year Replacement School Programs and Operations Levy on

February 14th. The current levy expires in December 2012. The levy supports

many aspects of a student’s education like technology, special education, curriculum

adoptions, instructional material, instructional equipment, extracurricular activities,

programs for the highly capable students, nutritional services, transportation, utili-

ties and insurance. This is not an all-inclusive list, but it does give an idea of the

vast areas that the levy supports. There is more information about the levy in this

newsletter.

School Improvement Plan: The GMS staff has been focused on improving learning

for all students. We have been working on instruction by incorporating learning tar-

gets into our lessons. A learning target is what the teacher expects the students to

know and be able to do by the end of the lesson. The targets are based on the

learning requirements of the state’s standards. The target is posted in the class-

room and is used to help focus the student’s attention on the learning objective for

the day. In this way, students clearly know what they are expected to learn.

We are also providing meaningful feedback that is constructive, specific and timely.

Constructive and specific feedback provides students with knowledge of gaps they

may have in learning and the opportunity to improve before they are asked to use

the learning again. Timely feedback is when a student uses new knowledge and then

is quickly provided results regarding their efforts. You can see that when construc-

tive and specific feedback is provided in a timely manner, an improvement in learning

will occur.

Fill the Bus: The Central Valley Fill the Bus campaign went extremely well. GMS

thanks our families, students and staff for volunteering their time and donations.

Thank you to Mr. Owens for organizing the event and hanging out all day on Saturday with

the students. Please see Mr. Owens’ article with the amounts and names of volunteers in

this newsletter.

Concerts: This is a great time of year for a little musical entertainment. Our bands,

choirs and orchestras will be performing this month. We welcome everyone, even if you

don’t have a student in one of these talented groups, to come join in the festivities.

Combination Orchestra/Choir: Tuesday, December 6th in the main gym @7:30.

Band: Thursday, December 8th in the main gym @7:30.

First Trimester Final Grades: The trimester ended on December 2nd. GMS is sending

home grades with students on Friday, December 9th. I have joined the other middle

schools in sending report cards home with students instead of mailing them, due to cost.

Progress Reports: The second trimester begins on December 5th. Progress reports will

be sent home with the students on January 19th and February 16th. The second tri-

mester will end March 14th. We ask that progress reports be signed and returned to the

teacher.

Professional Learning Communities (PLC)/Collaboration: Greenacres Middle School has

several ways that “Professional Learning Communities” are able to make a difference in

learning for students.

Grade Level Teams: They meet once or twice a month to discuss team level issues

such as conferences, field trips, collaborative assignments or student learning needs.

Grade level subject teams: They meet weekly to discuss common curriculum, use

of the state Grade Level Expectations and/or standards, individual student concerns, and

sharing teaching strategies as well as common assessment information.

Cross-grade level subject teams: They meet several times throughout the school

year to align our curriculum across all grade levels as well as to share assessment and

teaching strategies.

Staff: We meet to share how teams are addressing common issues, plan events

such as assemblies and conferences, and discuss school improvement plans as well as

share data such as MSP information.

Leadership: The team is made up of teacher leaders who have various roles in the

building as well as around the district. They gather data, research or opinions depending

on the decision that is being made and then meet to share information that will help the

building with planning and decision-making. We have been focused on our School Im-

provement Plan. We will be reviewing a survey that the staff took on collective efficacy

along with reviewing a survey that was taken by the students.

Thank you to businesses and organizations that are supporting GMS:

Our PTA for their ongoing support of our programs here at GMS, particularly in the

area of technology.

Safeway of Liberty Lake for the food drive

Kiwanis of Liberty Lake for support of our PTA dances and Spirit Service Club/

Builder Club

Leo’s Studio for all of our photography needs including plaques and Student of the

Month pictures

Albertsons of Liberty Lake for providing dinners to families for Thanksgiving and

Christmas

Emerald City Smoothies for support of the PTA dances

Froyo Earth in the Valley, for their support of our AR Points Reward Program

Honor Society Businesses: Fuzziwigs Candy Factory, Spokane Valley Mall; McDonalds,

Liberty Lake; Build a Bear Workshop, Spokane Valley Mall; Just Chillin, Liberty Lake/

Spokane Valley; Zips, Spokane Valley; Emerald City Smoothies, Spokane Valley and

North YMCA

Kiwanis Donation: Kiwanis of Liberty Lake presented GMS with a check for $1,400 at our annual

student verses staff volleyball match. The money was raised by selling food and drinks at the PTA

dances. The money will go into the GMS PTA budget which will support Math is Cool, Science

Olympiad, student planners, and teacher grants. The Kiwanis has been a consistent supporter of

Greenacres Middle School through financial donations as well as combining their Builders Club

with our Spirit Service Club to create Spirit Service Builders Club. They are currently collecting

donations for our annual Adopt-A-Family fundraiser.

ExxonMobile Grant: Thank you to Manpreet Singh and family for nominating Greenacres Middle

School for an ExxonMobile Grant of $500.00. The money will be used to support our before

school resource room program that helps students in Math, Science, Social Studies and Language

Arts. We have seen improved learning and grades by the students who have accessed the program.

The program is run by Lynn Hicks, instructional assistant. The Singh family owns the Newman Lake

Food Store in Newman Lake and Conoco HiCo Village in Spokane Valley on Barker Road.

Vern DiGiovanni

Principal

“Greenacres—It’s the place to be!!”

Math is Cool The 7th and 8th grade Math Team competed in the Math is Cool tour-nament on November 4th. Kyle Wang came in 10th place in the Indi-vidual Algebra competition and Zach Merritt came in 10th place in the Individual Pre-Algebra competition. The 8th grade team has qualified

to compete at the state level. Great Job “Math is Cool” Team.

Team members representing our school were: Abby Horton Alistar Wise Arin Mitchell Brandon Carlson Elijah Beeman Gavin McCormick Grace Kim Harrison Sherwood Jake Johnson Jonas LaPier Josh Jenkins Kiernan Natarajan Kyle Wang Maddie Sherwood Peyton Cooley Rachael Doty Shelbi Ebert Zach Gallafent Zach Merritt

REFLECTIONS AWARDS RECEPTION

Parents and entrants --Please join us in the GMS Library on Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 8:30 a.m.

Winners moving on to the next level will be announced. Juice and pastries will be served.

FILL THE BUS!!

The students and staff were able to “Fill the Bus” almost halfway with donated food from first period classes. In keeping with their normal tradition and wonderful enthusiasm, the 6th grade was responsible for over half of items donated. We were also able to add some addi-tional food and cash donations from the students who participated in the High 5 Volleyball Tournament. Our efforts for the week included donations from first period classes, the volleyball tourna-ment and Saturday collections brought in a total of over 3000 pounds of food and 33 turkeys. $342.22 was also collected and will be used for food purchases. A special thanks to the following students, staff and adults who volunteered their time on Sat-urday the 19th to help load the bus at Greenacres, collect and sort food on the bus and unload the bus at the food bank. Hannah McCabe, Nicolas Hinman, Arin Mitchell, Peyton Cooley, Mariah Reneau, Mallory Sar-ner, Cory Pedersen, Trevor Burgess, Koryn Baker, Whitney Gulliford, Shelby Frank, Brady Sanders, Ali Balogh, Connor Reding, Hailey McGill, Jocelyn Oliver, Kylie Amini, Amy Ulrich, Ky-ra Harames, Hannah Reiman, Kelsey Hormel, Peighton Quaintance, Jordyn Bridgens, Katie Van Etten, Allison Termath, Kelsey Shaber, Carter Hanson, Jessie Brown, Nancy Fu, Alyssa Leo-ne, Leanne Masingale, Alison LaFrance, Josh Thomas, Daniel Taylor, Erica Casey, Logan Stock-er and the following adult helpers of Mrs. Cooley, Mrs. Casey, Ms. Taylor, Mr. & Mrs. Ha-rames, Mrs. LaFrance as well as the following staff of Mr. DiGiovanni, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Max-well, Mrs. Holm, Mr. Rowell, Mr. Vermaire, Mrs. Dempsey and Mr. & Mrs. Hull. Your help was greatly appreciated! Thank you. Greenacres ASB

STUDENT OF THE MONTH

Our Students of the Month program enable the staff to recognize the stu-

dents that follow certain criteria. Each month we will have a different crite-

ria that needs to be met. The criteria for November was “ Citizenship/

Leadership” .

All of the students that are selected are treated to a pizza/sundae party at

lunch time. There will also be a Student of the Month breakfast for stu-

dents, parents and staff in December.

These students were selected for the month of November are:

Hailey Christopher Brynn Albright Zach Gallafent

Blair Gasaway Natalie Cabiad Joshua Jenkins

Sean Hagerty Ryan Hagmann Savannah Folsom

Amanda Hanson Connor Olson Angela Hoene

Jordan Schneidmiller Alina Lavrova Krysta Staples

Dalton Liesse Natalie McGee Brian Munro

Mason Rawley Sydni Schaefer Melissa Sweeney

Alissa Williams Noah Youseph

Sue Gairson,

Student of the Month Coordinator

COUNSELOR’S CORNER

As we get to the end of the first Trimester, I have noticed that one of the most common barriers to aca-

demic success is lack of organization. More teachers, more classes and more homework can lead to feel-

ings of frustration and being overwhelmed. When students are organized they get better grades and par-

ents can be a great source of support in this area. I have listed some tips from the Middle School Parent

Guidebook, by Woodburn Press, 2010 Edition.

Make sure your child has a binder, folder or notebook for each class that is CLEARLY labled. Set up a file at home

for tests, returned papers, etc. Email teachers re: the best way to organize for their particular class.

Encourage your student to USE his/her planner. Writing assignments down helps students remember what needs to

be done and when. It is also a good habit for high school!

Have your student put all loose papers in folder or binder. There should be NO loose papers in lockers, backpacks or

binders.

Help your child prioritize homework based on due dates (appropriate use of planner makes this easier!)

Facilitate backpack and locker clean out, weekly.

Large assignments can seem overwhelming, and sometimes students need help figuring out where to begin. Help

your child break a large assignments into smaller segments that are more manageable.

Have your child get everything ready for the next day, before going to bed each night.

Parents often feel that as kids move through middle school they become more independent; to some extent that is

true. However, kids who are disorganized and struggle with academic success need parent support that continues

throughout their school career. Kids need to know that parents value education and support teachers and admin-

istrators at school.

Lisa Marsh – 228-4878

Jesse Dhillon – 228-4867

LOST & FOUND!!

Our lost and found is over-

flowing! We will be bagging

up our lost and found after

Christmas and donating items

to charity.

Feel free to come in and

search if you are missing

items.

Please consider putting your child’s

name on clothing and lunch boxes so

we can return items to them.

Media Corner December/January 2011-12

It has been a busy month in our library. Last Wednesday, to end our book club, students met and

watched the movie HUGO. Congratulations to Angela Hoene, Alex Burke and Kyla Stayton; they won

in our prize drawing. Also, students learned how the author/ illustrator, Brian Selznick, illustrated his

pictures and drew an image from the book. Students and teachers voted on their favorites. The winners

were Clara Poshusta and Cody Abel. Congratulations. The next books students are choosing to read:

6th grade: House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

7th grade: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

8th grade: Stuck in Neutral by Terry Truman (local Spokane author)

Our Top 10 AR readers at this time are: Tyler Zarecor, Maegan Gunderson, Mark Ford, Alison

LaFrance, Joshua Jenkins, Elise Brockbank, Jacob Lewis, Sam Collins, Angela Hoene and Clara

Poshusta

Eighth grade students toured EWU and the Maurice Sendak Exhibit. Students will begin reading Anne

Frank in LA and learning about background of Holocaust after winter break.

Seventh grade continues to learn about Native American treaty making and conflicts between early set-

tlers and government. The presenter, Lily Gladstone from Living Voices was amazing. Students learned

about boarding schools and the Navajo Code Talkers from WWII through this interactive performance.

Students will also have the opportunity to listen to Raymond Brinkman, an anthropologist on contract

with the CDA Tribe. His job includes restoring their language --among other tasks. He is on Board of

Directors for the new museum at Cataldo Mission. His presentation will focus on cultural con-

flicts...losing the language and its implications.

Sixth grade is still learning about Egypt as well as how to properly cite sources using Easy Bib, an

online bibliography helper.

Read the book before you see the movie… WAR HORSE opens Christmas day War Horse by Michael Morpurgo is set in 1914. It is told from the Horse’s POV. Joey, the horse, is sold

to the army during WWI and misses his master, Albert. One of his jobs in the war is to carry wounded

soldiers off the battlefields, not much older than his master. It is a heartfelt book, that inspires peace and

you might learn something of the time period, too.

Keep reading!

Cherie Holm,

Teacher Librarian

One room schoolhouseOne room schoolhouseOne room schoolhouse

On the EWU campusOn the EWU campusOn the EWU campus

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 Student of

the Month Breakfast End of 1st Tri

3 MATH IS

COOL STATE

TOURNA-MENT

4 5

2nd Trimester

Begins

6

Choir/Orch Concert 7:30

7 8 Band Concert 7:30 PM Reflections Awards Recep-tion 8:30 AM

9 GRADES

GO HOME WITH

STUDENTS

10

11 12 13

All-League Wrestling at Evergreen M S

14

PTA Staff Luncheon

15 16

MUFFINS FOR MOMS 7:30 AM

17

18 19 20 21 22

2 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

December

H O L I D A Y

B R E A K

No School!

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

No

School

3School

Begins Girls

Basketball

Begins

4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 Martin

Luther

King Day

No School

17 18 19

Progress

Report

20

Donuts

for

Dads

7:30 AM

21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

January 2012

Central Valley Levy Funds Essential Educational Programs and

Activities

Central Valley voters will be asked to consider approval of a three-year School

Programs and Operations Replacement Levy on the February 14, 2012 ballot.

The levy renews and replaces the district’s current educational operations levy

which expires in December 2012. The School Programs and Operations Levy:

Maintains quality educational programs – good public schools are essential

to maintain a vibrant community. High levels of student achievement

across the district are directly tied to levy-funded school programs which

impact every child.

Provides basic funding – represents more than 22% of the district’s annual

operating budget

Not a new tax – replaces the expiring $27.3 million levy with a $27.1 million

levy

Essential educational programs and activities not funded by state and federal dol-

lars are maintained through the local levy including textbooks and teaching mate-

rials, technology for classroom instruction, maintaining class sizes, programs for

struggling and advanced students, special education programs, transportation,

utilities and insurance. The levy also pays for extra- and co-curricular activities

including athletics, music, drama, debate and after-school programs.

The levy amount has been set at $27.1 million for 2013, 2014 and 2015. This

amount protects against the anticipated loss of state matching funds for

school levies known as “levy equalization”. The impact to taxpayers is an

estimated annual levy tax rate of $4.19 per $1,000 of assessed property

valuation, an increase of 65¢ per $1,000 above the estimated 2012 levy tax

rate. If levy equalization is funded, the estimated tax rate in 2013 will re-

main unchanged at $3.54 per $1,000. For more information, visit

www.cvsd.org or call 228-5405.

CENTRAL VALLEY SCHOOLS PREPARE FOR WINTER WEATHER REPORTING

As we brace for winter weather, Central Valley School Dis-trict is prepared to report school closure and delay infor-mation. The District will continue to report using an automat-ed system which streamlines reporting to the local media. This same system is shared by dozens of school districts in the area. In addition to automatically alerting the local media about delays and school closures, the “Media Notification” system will instantly post the school closure or delay infor-mation online (www.cvsd.org click on “School Delays and Closures”). The district will also post any ur-gent information directly on our website’s home page. Any decision to close or delay school due to winter weather will be made prior to 6 a.m. Parents should listen closely for information about Central Valley School District schools which will be broadcast on local television and radio stations. Even when school is running on time, buses may be running late as they slow down to safely travel on winter roads. Some buses may follow “snow routes” in the higher elevations of our district. Information about changes in bus routes due to winter weather will be available by calling the Central Valley Snow Hotline at 228-5572. In the event of district closure due to snow, the 2011/12 calendar includes one snow make-up day (May 25). We appreciate your patience and assistance in the event of adverse weather conditions. Your child’s safety is a top priority for our schools and transportation de-partment. Thank you!!

CENTRAL VALLEY

SNOW HOTLINE

228-5572

High 5 news!

Volleyball - volleyball - volleyball

Wow! What a great time those high 5 volleyball players had on Friday! There was a great turn out with over 45 teams, lots of kids, and a lot of positive attitudes! We were able to donate 3 large box-es of food and $132.00 to the food bank! Thanks for all the participation! Congratulation to our grade level championships. 6th grade – Izms

Madison Papich, Jack Wampler, Hannah Wampler, Brayden Hamilton, Billy Ames, Kelsey Gumm, Kennedy Vincent, Bekk Martin, Brian Munro, and Mitchell Axtell.

7th grade – Pink Assassins Sammie Culton, Duke Golder, Jory Wakefield, Nate Bannon, Chase Gilbert, Lizzie Dudla

8th grade – Zamboomafu Zoe Chambers, Tanner Gummersall, Abe Jensen, Ben Craig, Ian Fullmer, Brooke Hagerty, Whitney Gulliford, and Brielle Crump.

Nice job, teams! We’re proud of you! Tara Downie, Advisor

December 2011 Greenacres MS

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1 French Toast Sticks / Syrup

Hash Brown

Sausage Patty

Cheeseburger / Fries

Chicken Burger / Fries Chicken Club Sand / Fries

Pizza Pipeline / Fries

Chef Salad / Roll

Sub Sandwich / Chips

2 Meatball Sub

Tots

Tossed Salad / Ranch

Cheeseburger / Tots

Chicken Burger / Tots Pizza Pocket/ Tots

Pizza / Tots

Chef / Crispy Chicken Salad

Sub Sandwich / Chips

Dessert

5 Chicken Parmesan Sand

JoJo’s

Tossed Salad w/Ranch

Cheeseburger / Fries

Chicken Burger / Fries Chicken Nuggets / Fries

Pizza / Fries

Chef Salad / Roll

Sub Sandwich / Chips

Dessert

6 Tomato Soup

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Tossed Salad w/ Ranch

Cheeseburger / Chips

Chicken Burger / Chips Pizza Sticks w/ Marinara

Pizza Pipeline / Chips

Chef Salad / Roll

Sub Sandwich / Chips

7 Nachos w/Meat & Cheese

Refried Beans

Sour Cream / Salsa

Cheeseburger / Wedge

Chicken Burger / Wedge Popcorn Chicken / Wedge

Pizza / Wedge

Taco Salad

Sub Sandwich / Chips

Dessert

8 Teriyaki Dippers

Egg Roll

White Rice

Bacon Burger / Fries

Chicken Burger / Fries Burrito / Fries

Pizza Pipeline / Fries

Chef Salad / Roll

Sub Sandwich / Chips

9 Fish w/ Tartar Sauce

Tots

Tossed Salad / Ranch

Cheeseburger / Tots

Chicken Burger / Tots Hamburger Sliders / Tots

Pizza / Tots

Chef / Crispy Chicken Salad

Sub Sandwich / Chips Dessert

12 Mini Corn Dogs

Mac & Cheese

Carrot Sticks

Cheeseburger / Fries

Chicken Burger / Fries Chicken Nuggets / Fries

Pizza / Fries

Chef Salad / Roll

Sub Sandwich / Chips

Dessert

13 Chicken Fried Steak

Mashed Potatoes/ Gravy

Corn Roll & Butter

Cheeseburger / Chips Chicken Burger / Chips

Corn Dog / Chili Corn Dog

Pizza Pipeline / Chips

Chef Salad / Roll Sub Sandwich / Chips

14 Soft Taco w/ Meat

Mexican Rice

Sour Cream & Salsa

Cheeseburger / Wedge

Chicken Burger / Wedge Pizza Bites / Wedge

Pizza / Wedge

Taco Salad

Sub Sandwich / Chips

Dessert

15 French Toast Sticks

Hash Brown

Sausage Patty

Cheeseburger / Fries

Chicken Burger / Fries Chicken Club Sand. / Fries

Pizza Pipeline / Fries

Chef Salad / Roll

Sub Sandwich / Chips

16 French Dip Sandwich

JoJo’s

Tossed Salad / Ranch

Cheeseburger / Tots

Chicken Burger / Tots Pizza Pocket / Tots

Pizza / Tots

Chef / Crispy Chicken Salad

Sub Sandwich / Chips

Dessert

19

Christmas Break

No school

20

21

22

Christmas Break

23

26

Christmas Break

No school

27

28

29 30