IMPORTANT DATES: Wed, Jan 4 Classes Resume Thurs, Jan 5, 3:15-4:15: TRUE Rehearsal Tues, Jan 10, 3:15-4:15: TRUE Rehearsal Thurs, Jan 12, 3:15-4:15: TRUE Rehearsal Fri., Jan 13 Grandparents' Day Fri., Jan 13, 6-8pm Talent Show Mon, Jan 16 **NO SCHOOL: Martin Luther King Jr. Day Tues, Jan 17, 3:15-4:15: TRUE Rehearsal Thurs, Jan 19, 3:15-4:15: TRUE Rehearsal Fri, Jan 20 **NO SCHOOL: Professional Development FUTURE EVENTS Mon, June 5-Thurs, June 8 Adventure Trip 2017 Fri, June 9 **NO SCHOOL--Middle School ONLY Wed, June 14, 6-8pm 8th Grade Graduation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Welcome back! Let's get our priorities straight, right up front: The Star Wars Party is going down this Friday.
Costumes encouraged! Same drill: We will be buying pizza, Caesar salad,
and fruit juice and ice tea from Costco with cookie money. If your
student has dietary restrictions, please plan to send something special
for them to eat/drink on Friday. We'll be watching "The Force Awakens," starting at 10:30am, and will take an intermission break at about 11:45 to eat. Thanks, Michelle Lodwig, for arranging to pick up the food! Lots of exciting stuff coming up! Foreign Language Our
Spanish teacher, Erin, accepted a position, offering more hours, that
conflicts with her teaching time at Ridgeline. Things were going so
well! We're committed to providing Foreign Language instruction in the
Middle School, so we're going to pilot a new approach: Rosetta Stone.
The Ridgeline Board approved the purchase of a site license for the
Middle School to use Rosetta Stone as a tool for learning foreign
languages. We're super excited about the possibilities this unleashes. The
students will have 22 languages to choose from! Students will engage
in teacher-supported self-study lessons twice a week, officially, during
school. After that, the sky's the limit! Students can go at their own
pace, at school or at home. Rosetta Stone will be one of the activities
that students can engage in after they've completed their baseline work
during their Humanities/Communications work period. (Along with
reading and blogging.) We
will tie in cultural projects in Humanities that will enhance the
students' individual language studies. We also plan to bring in guest
native speakers from countries around the world to help add depth to
their understanding of how language and culture intertwine. This
is a new journey for the Middle School, to be certain. There are going
to be details to iron out, for sure, but we are sincerely grateful for
this enrichment opportunity. Adventure Trip 2017 Save the date! We just booked our campsite today for our Adventure Trip in June. We'll be going to Wolf Creek Group Campground in the Umqua National Forest, about 30 miles east of Roseburg. It's a 2-hour drive from Ridgeline. We will leave first thing Monday morning, June 5, and return home in the afternoon on Thursday, June 8. Middle School will not have class on Friday, June 9 (the rest of the school is off on Monday, June 5).
Cost for the 4 day, 3 night trip is estimated to be $60 per student.
We will provide more details in April. If you want to join us for the
trip (we're going to need 10 parent chaperones), please let me know. 8th Grade Graduation Graduation
this year will be the biggest in Ridgeline's history. It's hard to
believe we have 28 students graduating this year! Graduation will be in
the gym at Ridgeline on Wednesday, June 14, from 6-8pm.
The tradition is that 7th grade parents step up to help decorate and
organize an ice cream sundae bar, so the 8th grade parents (and the
teachers) can be present for the ceremony. Please let me know if you'd
like to participate. (Plenty of time, and plenty of reminders yet to
come.) We're so glad to be back in business. Jon & Maizzy |
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