Calendar
Check out the calendar  here .
School
National Geography Bee
RMS has gathered enough students to hold a Geography Bee in the commons on Saturday, Jan 26 th  at 10 a.m. The deadline to register your student to compete is Wednesday, Jan 16 th . Please email Mr. Williams ( awilliams@lwsd.org ) if you’d like your student to participate or have further questions. In the meantime, you and your student can access study materials and rules at  https://www.nationalgeographic.org/bee
Council-Level winners for Reflections
The RMS PTSA received many OUTSTANDING entries to the Reflections Art Competition (which can all be viewed   here ). We are proud to finally announce the winners at the school level as well as the district-wide competition! Out of 15 entries submitted to the Lake WA PTSA Council for the district-wide competition, SEVEN students took top honors are moving on to State Competition!!
Congratulations to the school finalists: 
LITERATURE

6th grade winners:
1st Place - Ricardo Brito
2nd Place - Yuwan Luo
3rd Place - Anson Chen

7th grade winners:
1st Place - Annabella Li
2nd Place - Shruti Badrish
3rd Place - Adiba Saadullah

8th grade winner:
1st Place - Hannah Chinn
VISUAL ARTS

6th grade winners:
1st Place - Shuhui Yang
2nd Place - Nivedha Neelakandan
3rd Place - Chujia Yang

7th grade winners:
1st Place - Tiffany Tu
2nd Place - Di Mao
3rd Place - Catherine Gowell

8th grade winners:
1st Place - Jina Kim; 2nd Place - Kenzie Seymour
SPECIAL AWARDS:
For EXCELLENT INTERPRETATION: Di Mao
For MOST INTRIGUING: Hannah Chinn
For BEST OVERALL: Jina Kim

DISTRICT-WIDE COMPETITION WINNERS
Please congratulate the following district-wide competition winners:
Winning the Award of Merit for Literature is Yuwan Luo for their entry titled Firefighters and Medics.
Winning the Award of Excellence for Literature is Hannah Chinn for their entry titled "Broken Tools".
Winning the Award of Merit for Visual Arts is Shuhui Yang for their entry titled "We Are All Heroes".
Winning the Award of Merit for Visual Arts is Nivedha Neelakandan for their entry titled Farmers: The Heart of our Country.
Winning the Award of Merit for Visual Arts is Tiffany Tu for their entry titled "The Climb to the Top".
Winning the Award of Excellence for Visual Arts is Di Mao for their entry titled "My Unique Heroes".
Winning the Outstanding Interpretation for Visual Arts is Jina Kim for their entry titled "A Brighter World".
LWSD Board Meeting Hosted by RMS
Redmond Middle School will be the highlight of the January 14th Lake WA School District Board meeting. There will be a video and a brief talk by Principal Jon Young highlighting the activities and successes of Redmond Middle School. PTSA will be providing refreshments at 6:30 and the board meeting will start at 7. RMS will be the first item on the agenda. We would love to see you there!
OZ the Musical is On Stage This Week!  
Come out and support your fellow grizzlies as they take you on a magical journey to OZ!

Dates:  TH/Fri/Sat January 17th - 19th at 7 p.m. and Saturday the 19th at 2 p.m.
Location:  Redmond High School's Performing Arts Center

More info and tickets on sale here: Find all Details here.
PTSA
Parent/Student Education on Stress and Time management
RMS PTSA in collaboration with LWPTSA council presents:
Stress and Time Management Parent and Student Education Event
February 5, 2019, 6:00 - 8 p.m.  at Redmond Middle School

The topic will be "stress and time management" and the panel will consist of teachers, parents, and students. And here is the especially fun twist: middle school students will moderate! 

The panel will address a topic of major concern for this generation of high achieving and highly motivated students who juggle busy lives. The audience will get to hear directly from high school students on what to expect and how best to prepare for the new challenges middle school students will face in high school. Learning about how students can successfully manage their time and alleviate stress should be of concern to all parents. Come and experience learning about this topic in an innovative and engagingly new way!

For questions email  face@lwptsa.net
Advocacy
Thank you to RMS PTSA delegates Steve Hitch, Felice Nightengale, and Shawn Roland and also Devon Kellogg who spent their weekend at the WSPTA Legislative Assembly in October to help the WSPTA select our legislative priority for Olympia.

The top 5 legislative WSPTA priorities for 2019 are:
- Social Emotional Learning
- School Construction and Simple Majority for Bonds
- Prevent Gun Violence
- Strategies to Address the Teacher Shortage
- Strategic K-12 Investments to Close Gaps

Read more about the state’s legislative priorities, resolutions and supported issues for 2019 here.

PTSA Advocacy Focus Day in Olympia is February 11, 2019. Contact Steve at  advocacy@rmsptsa.org  if you are interested in participating.
Science club news
8 RMS Science teams participated at Invitational Science Olympiad at Camas high school on Dec 1 st ,2018
where a total of 38 teams participated. RMS teams performed very well, and team rank and top
medalists are mentioned below. RMS Blue placed 1 st at the Tournament. Click below to see the detailed results.
Results from RMS Internal Buzz Bowl Competition
Total of 12 RMS teams (50+ students) participated at an internal buzz bowl competition held at Redmond Middle School on Sunday Dec 16. The event was organized by RMS Science Club and executed by an external evaluation team Science for Community team. All teams performed exceptionally well, and top 2-3 teams will move forward and represent RMS at the National Science Bowl to be held at Portland in Feb 2019.
Membership Earns Cookies for Classes & Discounts for You
Thank you to everyone who has signed up to support the  Cookies and Milk contest. Winners will be announced as they happen. In the meantime please enjoy some of the benefits of membership such as 10% off tickets to Pacific Northwest's Ballet Nutcracker or discounted tickets to Holiday With Lights at Wild Waves. Contact  membership@rmsptsa.org  for discount codes if you can't find your membership letter.
Join the PTA
Here is the Link to Join PTA
Winter Social - January 25th
The time to celebrate the end of the semester is approaching.
This is a BIG event and worthy of many adult chaperones.
Please use this exclusive link to sign up to chaperone at the social. Click Here
Look for additional information about the social in future articles.
RMS PTSA awarded Gold Membership Growth Award!
RMS PTSA has recently been recognized by Washington State PTA as a Gold Membership Growth Award recipient! PTAs are presented with this award for enrolling members equaling at least 110% of their previous year’s total membership. That means our PTA is growing!

Thank you to everyone who has become a member so far this year: YOU are the reason our PTA achieved this award! If you haven’t yet signed up for a 2018-2019 PTA membership, please consider joining today! By doing so, you are demonstrating your support for our PTA and all it does for Redmond Middle School.   http://rmsptsa.org/Packet/Join
'The Snuggery'- RMS Initiative for students in need
Redmond Middle School has created a food pantry/clothing closet for students in need of these extra resources during the school day or at home during the week. They have dubbed this room “The Snuggery”.
ASB
With the Holidays approaching, a reminder that purchases made on Amazon using this link help RMS ASB.
Help RMS ASB by donating used clothing and shoes. The bin is located in the parking lot by the portables.
Fund the Grizzlies  –  Please donate to the Redmond Middle School Associated Student Body (ASB) to help fund student activities.
Community
Student Self-Advocacy Seminars
Thursday, January 17th, 2019          
Session #3: Student Self-Advocacy: Olympia Here We Come – Bellevue PTSA Council will be inviting all students, parents & staff to join them for a day of advocacy in Olympia on January 21st for “Bellevue Goes to Olympia”. This session will be providing tips and guidance for advocating with our state senators and representatives.

All sessions will be held at Sammamish High School, Room 216,  100 140th Ave. SE, Bellevue WA 98005  from 6pm-8:00pm. 

Seating is limited so please register as soon as possible for each of the individual sessions. If registration is full, please check the website for the most up to date details of possible additional dates.

For more information please email:  jessjean@hotmail.com  and registration available at  www.bellevueptsacouncil.com/   Click here to go to website
Choice School applications open; Middle school and high school options booklets available
Choice school applications are now available online for the 2019-20 school year . The deadline to apply is 4 p.m. January 18, 2019, for any school that relies on a lottery to determine enrollment.

Parents of students in grades five or eight should have received a Middle School Options postcard or High School Options postcard. They outline the opportunities in these respective levels, including information about neighborhood schools and choice schools. Videos about each choice school are posted on the  district website  and  YouTube channel .
Bear Tracks weekly is produced by RMS PTSA as a benefit to the Redmond Middle School Community. Articles are due on Thursdays for publication the following Monday. Bear Tracks is edited by Ekta Vadlamudi and [YOUR NAME HERE - please email Sujatha Patra: communications.vp@rmsptsa.org if interested in co-editing]. Please review our communication priorities and submit articles to weekly@rmsptsa.org .