Week of January 28, 2018

Upcoming at AWS...

Monday, January 29
F DAY
8:00am Morning Meeting
10:00am All Schools Chapel
10:30am Break and Snack in the MS Office
2:15pm Winter II Season of Athletics Begins
3:30pm All Schools Faculty & Staff Meeting: Emergency Training

Tuesday, January 30
A DAY
8:00am Advisory
9:00am-11:00am MS Preview (Admissions Event)
10:05 Break and Snack in the MS Office
10:20am Flex & MS Chorus
2:45pm Grade Level Team Leaders Meeting in the Design Lab
3:15pm Grade 6 Team in the Design Lab

Wednesday, January 31
B DAY
8:00am Advisory
10:05 Break and Snack in the MS Office
10:20am MS Chapel led by the Hartmann Advisory and Reflective Recognitions (Students from all grades who demonstrate a commitment to being Reflective); Leenstra Advisory as Acolytes
2:45pm Grade 7 Team in the Design Lab
3:15pm Grade 8 Team in the Design Lab

Thursday, February 1
C DAY
8:00am Advisory
10:05 Break and Snack in the MS Office
10:20am Long Advisory
2:45pm MS Faculty Meeting in the Design Lab

Friday, February 2

D DAY

8:00am Advisory
10:05 Break and Snack in the MS Office
10:20am Clubs

Grade 8 Transition to Upper School

Next weekend, all students in Grade 8 have been invited to participate in Scholar Search Weekend. As part of the SSW process, students demonstrate their merit for scholarships through a variety of activities. Students transitioning from the Middle School are also evaluated with feedback from the Middle School Faculty. Please consider providing some feedback to Alyssa Harvey about students in Grade 8. In particular: Would this student do well in the Upper Schools? What makes her/him great? What holds her/him back? From your experience, who has been a top student? Any other observations helpful to determine merit? If you have feedback about particular 8th Graders, please email Alyssa Harvey by the end of this week. 

MS Preview

On Tuesday, January 30, we'll host a MS Preview for prospective families. This will be a smaller version of the Preview we do on Veterans' Day and will run from 9:00-11:00am. We anticipate a small crowd (only 3 families have registered so far). There is no impact on MS schedule or on classes beyond a tour coming through and a few students (TBD) who will be on a panel. 

Ticket to Thrive

Reminder: Ticket to Thrive, our major MS admissions event, is on Saturday, February 10. In the coming weeks, we'll update the schedule and details, but take a look at last year's Schedule & Details doc. 

Ordering & Supplies

Just a reminder - please direct all requests for supplies and special orders through Neil. Just shoot him an email with ordering information and relevant links. He is developing a form to streamline the ordering process, and we'll add that to the permanent links on this blog when it's ready.

Mid-Year Meetings

Reminder: Please schedule a 30 minute meeting with Bill before February 1. To schedule a meeting, please reach out to Neil.

Getting to Know You

On the families blog this week, we'll continue to feature our fabulous faculty! The Get to Know You form is here. Here's the schedule...

• February 2: Vicky
• February 9: John R
• February 16: Niki 

A little further down the road...

• Saturday, February 10 8:30am-2:30pm: Ticket to Thrive
• Monday, January 29: Start of Winter II Athletics Season
• Friday, February 9-Saturday, February 10: US Scholar Search Weekend
• Saturday, February 10: Ticket to Thrive
• Monday, February 12: Re-enrollment Contracts released
• Friday, February 16: All School Civvies Day
• Monday, February 19-Friday, February 23: February Break for Lower and Middle Schools
• Monday, February 26: Re-enrollment Contracts due
• Thursday, March 1 7:45am: Grade 6 Parents’ Coffee 
• Friday, March 2 1:00pm: Living Voices "Through the Eyes of a Friend" (Special Schedule)
• Tuesday, March 6 7:45am: Grade 7 Parents’ Coffee (note date change!)
• Saturday, March 10: Auction 2018
• Tuesday, March 13 7:45am: Grade 8 Parents’ Coffee (note date change!)
• Friday, March 16 2:15pm: SRS Irish Dance Performance 
• Wednesday, March 21 2:15pm: Winter II Athletics Assembly
• Thursday, March 22: Spring Advisory Conferences
• Friday, March 22: Faculty In-Service
• Monday, March 26-Friday, March 30: Spring Break
• Wednesday, April 4 6:00pm: MS Journeys Information Night (at least one parent of every student must attend!)
• Wednesday, April 25: Regional orchestra festival at Stadium High School
• Thursday, April 26-Friday, April 27: MS Play in the Kemper 

Upcoming religious and cultural observances

• Monday, January 1 marked the beginning of Human Trafficking Awareness Month. 
• Wednesday, January 31 is the Jewish holiday Tu b'Shivat.
• Thursday, February 1 marks the beginning of African American History Month, American Heart Month, and International Friendship Month. It is also World Hijab Day. 
• Friday, February 2 is the Christian holiday Candlemas. 
• Saturday, February 3 is the Shinto observance Setsebun Sai.