Week of February 12, 2017

Upcoming at AWS...

Monday, January 13
D DAY
8:00am Morning Meeting
10:00am All Schools Chapel
10:40am Snack @ the MS Office
2:00pm Preview of MS for 5th Grade
3:30pm All Schools Faculty & Staff Meeting in the Great Hall
3:30pm Girls JV Basketball v. Heritage Christian
4:30pm Girls Varsity Basketball v. Heritage Christian

Tuesday, February 14

E DAY
8:00am Morning Meeting in the Lounge

10:05am Snack @ the MS Office

10:20am Flex

2:15pm MYP Subject Area Collaboration
2:45pm Grade 7 Team Meeting in the Design Lab

3:15pm Grade 8 Team Meeting in the Design Lab

Wednesday, February 15
F DAY

10:05am Snack @ the MS Office

10:20am MS Share & 8th Grade Recognitions in the Lounge

2:15pm MS Faculty Meeting in the Design Lab
3:00pm Ultimate Frisbee @ Charles Wright

Thursday, February 16
SERVICE LEARNING DAYS
8:00am Service Learning Days launch in the Great Hall
2:45pm MYP Meeting in the Design Lab

Friday, February 17
SERVICE LEARNING DAYS
ALL SCHOOLS CIVVIES DAY
Lower School Jump Rope for Heart
8:00am Service Learning Days launch in the Great Hall
7:00pm Upper School Musical “Chicago” in the Kemper Theater

Saturday, February 18

7:00pm Upper School Musical "Chicago" in the Kemper Theater

Monday, February 20-Friday, February 24

FEBRUARY BREAK

Monday, February 27

Grade Check

Action Items... 

Ticket to Thrive

Thank you for a great event! Nor surprisingly, near the end of the event the feedback from prospective parents was upbeat and positive. They consistently commented on how grateful they were to interact with faculty and to learn more about our program. Thank you for being welcoming hosts! Thanks, too, for your insights and observations about prospective students. If you haven't already, please provide your observations on the Feedback on Prospective Students 2017 form. This format allows Joy to easily integrate observations into the online admissions database files and applications. Please feel free to email Joy or me with anything not solicited by the form. Special thanks to Joy for the great care and attention to detail that she gives to each prospective student. 

In terms of the event itself, this year's schedule was tweaked based on feedback on last year's event and further reflection on the purpose of the event itself. This year, we integrated testing, modified the tours for parents to focus on the academic program, modified the student activities, and expanded the student and parent panels. While it's fresh in your mind, please capture any observations about the event on Feedback on Ticket to Thrive 2017. 

Service Learning Days

Thanks in advance for your flexibility regarding our first Service Learning Days! Tiffany has been working with students in the Service Leadership Team and Service Club all year to build these experiences for our students. This year's programming will lay the groundwork for a sequence (as we discussed last year) that builds toward the Community Project in 8th Grade. Tiffany has sent out instructions for each Service Learning experience. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to both Tiffany and me so we can coordinate details and responses to questions. After these days, we'll invite feedback about the sites you visited and about the program in general. 

Preparing for the MYP Visit

Here is the doc that Jennifer shared with us about preparing for the MYP visit. We'll review these recommendations and sample questions in the coming months, but it is worth working through these questions individually in the next couple of weeks.

Advisors: Spring Conference Schedules

Spring Conferences are scheduled for Thursday, March 23, and we are making some time available in the days leading up to the conference day to provide some flexibility. If you haven't already, please email Wade your availability for the following: 

• Monday, March 20 3:15-3:45, 3:45-4:15, 4:15-4:45
• Tuesday, March 21 3:15-3:45, 3:45-4:15, 4:15-4:45
• Wednesday, March 22 3:15-3:45, 3:45-4:15, 4:15-4:45 

Updating, Refurbishing, and Fixing...

Please start to think about the needs for your classrooms and workspace and what updates you'd like to see for next year. This could range from "pie in the sky" ideas to basic maintenance concerns. In the coming months, we'll be working with Mark on a plan for items to attend to over the summer as well as over the next few years. Please capture these requests on this doc. 

Following Up...

Communications

This week, the blog for families will feature the Individuals & Society and PHE programs. Please email your post to Bill or Alicia, or drop it in the corresponding box on this doc. \

Think about...

Upcoming opportunities

• Looking for a special event to mark Black History Month? KBTC is bringing the 2nd annual Black History Month Celebration in partnership with University of Washington's Center for Equity and Inclusion. This special event on Tuesday, February 21 at 6:00pm will feature clips from Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise and will feature a conversation and celebration of what it means to be black in America. Please contact Alyssa Torerez at atorrez@kbtc.org for further details, or register for the event here: https://kbtcrise.eventbrite.com 

Upcoming Religious & Cultural Observances

• Tuesday, February 14 is the Christian feast of St. Valentine, which remembers a Christian martyr who died in Rome in the year 270 CE. However, doubts about the historicity of the facts about the saint persisted, and the Catholic Church discontinued official observance of the feast in 1969. Some historians attribute the roots of the modern celebration of St. Valentine's Day to 14th c. English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, whose poem "The Parliament of Fowls" is considered the first Valentine's Day poem. 
• Wednesday, February 15 is the birthday of Susan B. Anthony. Born in 1820, she was active in the women's rights and abolitionist movements, and she was a key player in advocacy for women in the workplace, among anti-slavery activists, and in fighting for the admission of women to universities.   

Important Links

MS Faculty Meetings
6th Grade Team Meetings
7th Grade Team Meetings
8th Grade Team Meetings
Student Recognition Schedule
Share/Long Advisory Schedule
Professional Growth Docs: Templates
Schedule for Progress Reporting
Important MYP Info
Annie Wright Middle School Blog (for Families, to complement the Flash)