Curriculum Night Recording
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Curriculum Night on Wednesday, I appreciated the chance to share some of the things that make this place so special, as well as the conversation and Q-and-A after the presentation. I recorded the WebEx for anyone who was unable to make it on Wednesday. The password is: 9Mkyt99f
Pacific Crest Handbook
Anne-Marie Schmidt, our Assistant Principal, has begun production of our student handbook, which is currently available online. This document contains a lot of information on a wide variety of topics relevant to the daily happenings at PCMS, such as: Canvas, our expectations around cell phones and other electronic devices, our school and district’s attendance policies, and more. All students will review this in their Advisory class over the course of the year, beginning this week with some time spent around expectations for how students should work and collaborate with their peers in our community.
There will be a take-home assignment where students will review this information with you and have you sign a document indicated they’ve done so. This is a document that will evolve and update throughout the year and any major changes will be shared via this blog with a link to the handbook for review.
Oregon Battle of the Books
The Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) is a statewide, voluntary reading motivation and comprehension program sponsored by the Oregon Association of School Libraries in conjunction with a Library Services and Technology Act grant. At Pacific Crest, our Media Manager Marni Hanna has built a wonderful tradition around student teams and has even developed a program where students can prepare for “battles” against other schools by facing off against staff teams (my teams are 2-0 in the two years I’ve been at Pacific Crest, a feather in my cap for sure). I encourage you to talk with your student about signing up for a team; it’s a great way to bond with friends, to make new friends by signing up as a someone in need of a team, to broaden reading interests, and to actively work on critical collaboration and teamwork skills. This year’s titles can be found on the OBOB website.
Bike Safety
I’m again going to commend the high number of students who ride their bikes to school each day, it’s so impressive to see the number of bikes in the bike racks (and elsewhere, as the bike racks are typically overflowing) each day. If your student rides their bike to school, please help them be safe by encouraging helmet use and the proper following of traffic laws. It’s important to know that we do not permit bikes to be ridden anywhere on campus, as cars and busses are trying to focus on navigating a crowded parking lot and it is not safe to co-mingle cyclists (or scooter-riders or skateboarders) and our students and staff walking or standing on the sidewalks.
Additionally, if your student rides an e-bike to school, I’d like for you to to talk about how to do so safely. I have received a number of emails and phone calls from parents and people in our surrounding neighborhoods reporting what appear to be PCMS students riding e-bikes in the morning and after school hours in an unsafe manner, including having multiple passengers on the bike, zigging in-and-out of traffic, riding on the sidewalk, and riding without helmets. Here is a good primer on some basic bike safety tips.
Parent Volunteer Opportunities
We’ve heard from a number of families who are interested in volunteering at Pacific Crest, a fact that truly makes me happy in knowing that we have created a rich partnership with our families as we work towards the common goal of providing exceptional outcomes for our students. Right now, we are not permitting volunteers but we are expecting some update guidance and possible changes to that practice next month, which I will share as I receive them.
Calendar
- Sept. 27 | 7th Gr. Volleyball vs. HDMS | PCMS Court #1 | 5:15pm
- Sept. 27 | 8th Gr. Volleyball vs. HDMS | HDMS | 5:15pm
- Sept. 29 | 7th Gr. Football vs. HDMS | HDMS | 5:15pm
- Sept. 29 | 8th Gr. Football vs. HDMS | PCMS | 5:15pm
- Sept. 29 | 7th Gr. Volleyball vs. 3 Rivers | 3 Rivers| 4:15pm
- Sept. 29 | 8th Gr. Volleyball vs. La Pine & 7 Peaks | PCMS Court #1| 4:15pm
- Sept. 30 | Cross Country Meet | PCMS | 5:15pm
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