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Inside Billings
January 22, 2026
| | 🎒 What's Happening at Billings? 📚 | | We’re shaking off the winter chill and hitting the ground running! Our classrooms are heating up with new projects and goals, while our snow trips are building connections across grade levels. | | |
Mike on the Mic 🎤
There’s nothing like winter weather in the Northwest, where we can go from heavy mountain snow to rain to warm sun to icy mornings all in the span of a week! This is a great time to check in with families on the Bright Arrow alert system. A phone call, text, and email will be sent out today, January 22 at 6:00 pm as a test of our system. If you do not receive a phone call and/or an email, reach out to the Front Desk to let Becca know and we will update our system. If you do not receive a text message, please send "YES" to 79041, and you should receive a confirmation text.
Every morning, I get up very early to analyze the weather conditions and forecasts using a variety of sources hyper-locally around Billings and the region. Although safety is always our top priority, we make every effort to have students learning in person on campus. I send out Bright Arrow alerts for delayed openings or school cancellations no later than 6:30 am.
Thank you to those of you who enjoyed coffee and conversations this month about community building and our Annual Celebration and Fundraiser at Billings. Each year we invite parents to support our procurement efforts for our live auction – we need your help! What type of items are we looking for? Think, experiential getaways!
- Donations of vacation homes, timeshares, or hotel stays
- Airline miles or travel vouchers to help create the perfect getaway
- Boat trips, fishing charters, or sailing adventures
- A day at the spa
- Tickets to a Seattle Seahawks or Kraken game
- VIP access or exclusive experiences at the stadium
If you have an item or experience you'd like to contribute or if you have connections that could help us secure such items, please reach out to auction@billingsmiddleschool.org for assistance and a procurement letter template and procurement item form. Your support is invaluable, and we are so grateful!
Finally, I hope that you have all registered for the annual Billings Bowling Night at the UW HUB Student Union this Saturday, January 25th from 5-7pm. I’m looking forward to seeing you there!
Thank you for your support,
Mike
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We are looking for volunteers to donate desserts for the Dessert Dash at the Annual Celebration and Fundraiser on March 6. This can include cookies, cakes, pies, brownies, and beyond! Desserts may be purchased from a store or homemade. They must serve 8 people and be able to sit out for the duration of the event. No refrigerated desserts, please.
We'd especially love to include desserts that echo the event's Base Camp theme. Think s'more platters, fruits of the forest berry pie, and cakes or cookies decorated with campers, bears, mountains, or shooting stars.
If you are interested in donating an item for the dessert dash, please sign up here!
Wondering what the Dessert Dash is? It’s an exciting and delicious fundraising activity. Families donate homemade and purchased/procured treats (one dessert per table). Each guest at the Annual Celebration writes down the amount they want to contribute to the total bid for their table. The table with the highest total bid wins their first choice of dessert! The next highest chooses second, and so on.
| | In 6th grade advisories this week, we reviewed the distinctions between three related emergency situations: Shelter in Place, Lockout, and Lockdown. While the implications can be scary, reviewing our safety protocols with these conversations and eventual drills is very important and we appreciate our students’ maturity. It also provides a good reminder for students to consider safety procedures at home, with extracurricular activities, etc. Our Arts program performance groups are in full swing and we appreciate all the cardboard donations. We’re looking forward to our second trip to the pass next week! | The 7th grade team is excited to head out to Snoqualmie Pass today and have our first official snowshoeing day. Today, we are doing a snowshoeing challenge involving teamwork, collaboration, and speed, and we’ll also be building snow structures! Since we weren’t able to get the full snow experience on 1/7, we’ve added another snowshoeing day to our schedule after midwinter break. This will be on Thursday, 2/26! | | 8th grade students enjoyed a first of the season day of snowshoeing at Gold Creek. Last Thursday, 8th graders acted as hosts and teachers for 6th grade students who were snowshoeing with Billings for the first time. Students led activities such as Red Light, Green Light, Ultimate, Talent Show, and Snow Sculptures. The weather was blue-sky beautiful and full of sunshine. We were really proud of all the students and how they led, played and participated. We will be excited to share more stories of fun and snow from our trip to Hyak this week as well! | | |
In Science class the 6th graders have been learning all about Weather and Climate. We recently completed an Albedo energy lab. Students have been learning a lot of new vocabulary words, completing simulation activities, and doing hands-on lab experiments. Students are keeping a running set of digital flashcards to review their new vocab. We will have a unit vocabulary quiz the first week of February.
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In 8th grade Science we have been learning about Newton’s Laws and Physics. Students completed a position versus time lab all about their average speeds. As a part of this lab students followed procedures, collected and recorded data, created graphs, and analyzed their findings. We will continue to practice Physics with several upcoming projects during this term.
In 6th grade Math, we are practicing several ways to multiply whole number and decimal values by hand. While we recognize that calculators and computers often do these calculations for us in the real world, there is important relevance to mastering these multistep strategies for the sake of building our skills with sequential processes and problem-solving. This practice also gives us opportunities to use estimation to predict accurate products and develop stronger number sense with arithmetic operations. Ask your child about the standard, partial products, and lattice methods of multiplication. Their homework assignment next week will be to teach these methods to a family member.
7th and 6th ELA classes are deep into their January Projects: a World-Building creation project focused on narrative story telling, collaborative writing, and 3D model-building. Students are taking inspiration from books like The Hunger Games or The Giver to craft their stories around a central character escaping a challenging world, or designing a “Museum of the Future” with artifacts from a dystopian society. The classroom is filled with creativity, collaboration, and lots of cardboard! I can’t wait to see the final results!
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🎓 Deans on the Scene ✒️
Many thanks for your responses to the Winter Family Survey. We are reviewing the input you shared with a lens for learning and responding to student and family experiences.
i-Ready diagnostics are still underway in all grade levels. We will offer make-up sessions for students who are absent or who need extra time. When students have completed the assessment, we will review data and share individual results with families.
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🖥️Business Office💼
Hello Billings Families,
A brief reminder that if you are currently receiving Tuition Assistance, you need to re-apply every year. The Tuition Assistance portal is currently open. Please apply through our Clarity App HERE. Your application needs to be completed and submitted no later than February 1st, 2026, which is just over one week away. We ask that you apply sooner rather than later so we have ample time to review your application.
If your child is a scholarship award recipient, you do not need to re-apply. That award is valid for your student's entire time at Billings as long as they continue full participation in our program, maintaining strong academic standing, and adherence to the policies outlined in our Student Handbook.
Agreements for the 2026-27 school year will be sent out via Clarity on or before Friday, February 27th.
You are welcome to email or call me directly if you have any questions,
Joan Krussel
joank@billingsmiddleschool.org
206.412.5626
| | Billings Family Association | | |
Need Your Help with Faculty Appreciation
Mid-Winter Faculty Appreciation, our month-long celebration of Billings faculty, began this week, and we need your help with 2 items.
Word Cloud Art: Please help us create a special Word Cloud Art piece for every Billings faculty member! Via this Google Form, you and your family can share as many words as you like that describe or celebrate the faculty your child interacts with. We will take the submissions and turn them into a Word Cloud Art piece they can keep forever. The submission deadline is Wednesday 2/4.
Chocolate Buffet: On Wednesday 2/11, we will end the month-long celebration with a chocolate buffet. Please sign up here to bring in some chocolate treats to show our faculty how much we appreciate them.
Thank you for helping show our gratitude for the amazing people who support our kids every day!
Last Chance to RSVP for UW Bowling Night This Saturday
Saturday 1/24 is the big day, and registration for this evening of family fun is still open! Additional info and FAQs are posted here. As the event winds down that evening, Billings parent and HUB architect Scheer Chan will lead a tour for those who are interested. (Thank you, Scheer!) See you Saturday!
Parenting Resources
From Blowups to Breakthroughs: A New Way to Navigate Anger in Kids
with Renee Jain, parent coach and psychologist
Feb 10, 12-1pm
Register here for this free webinar from ParentMap
Parenting Unique Minds: A Panel on Neurodiversity & Teen Support
With Ben Wahl, MSW, panel moderator & founder of Ryther’s Aspiring Youth Program
Feb 26, 6:30-8:30pm
Presented by PEPS, this in-person panel of mental health professionals is free, but space is limited to 50 attendees, so register asap.
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Upcoming Events: 📅
- Bowling with Billings: January 24, 5-7pm at UW
- NO SCHOOL: Prospective Student Visit Day, January 30
- Winter Dance: February 6
- 8th Grade Winter Immersion Trip: February 12-13
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Youth Climate Advocacy Training
January 31st 10am-2pm
University Heights Building
This training will:
- Demystify WA’s legislature to show how laws are made and how young people can have a powerful role in the process
- Workshop a wide range of advocacy roles like writing op-eds, submitting comments and public testimony so that youth can build confidence through practice
- Simulate the legislative process through “mock” exercises like writing bills and pushing bills through mock legislature to learn how to navigate different legislative steps
Students can RSVP here!
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Mindfulness & Art: NEW After-School Class on Wednesdays at Squirrelly!
Starting February 4, Squirrelly Workshop offers a new Wednesday after-school class (4:30–6pm) blending mindfulness and art for kids ages 5–12. This 7-week series uses breathing, sensory awareness, and creative projects to build focus, emotional regulation, and confidence. Led by Sylwia Mazur Johnson, certified special education teacher and mindfulness instructor. Register per class or save with the full series. Scholarships available. Learn more at squirrellyworkshop.com or email info@squirrellyworkshop.com.
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Executive Function Workout!
Join me (Greg: Director of The Learning Center at Billings) for a regular morning EF workout from 8:30am to 9:30am on Mondays. Developing EF, or Executive Function, requires the exercise of the brain in specific ways. Drop in on any Monday morning to share stories and explore strategies for strengthening our EF muscles and by extension, that of our students.
Think of EF (Executive Function) as the CEO of the brain, helping us improve our self-regulation and aid our ability to make both short and long-term plans that enhance our performance in many aspects of our life. At a middle school pragmatic level this includes things like: doing your nightly HW, working on long term projects, or doing chores around the house. This is not a class. This is an opportunity to share collective wisdom. While 30 plus years as a middle school educator has certainly allowed me to garner some wisdom, I am really a facilitator on Monday mornings. Regular attendance is not a prerequisite. I don't need advanced notice. Drop in as you are able.
We will be meeting in person in Mercury during advisory and the beginning of first period. If you do not want to attend in person and prefer Zoom, let me know and I will send you a recurring Zoom link. Masks are not required but can be worn upon request.
And if Monday mornings are not a viable option for you but you want to learn more, don't hesitate to e-mail me, and let's find time to chat 1-1.
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