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Inside Billings
March 6, 2025
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🎒 What's Happening at Billings? 📚 | |
If you haven't already secured spots in our Summer@Billings program for your student, please check out the information below and on our site. Please note there have been a few small changes to the schedule! | |
Billings On-Campus Workshops
Week One: June 16-June 20 (closed 6/19)
AM sessions: 9:00am-12:00pm
PM sessions: 1:00pm-4:00pm
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| AM: Volleyball | PM: Climbing | | AM: Sports Math | PM: eSports | | AM: Flag Football | PM: Robotics | | |
| FULL DAY: Children's Book Workshop | | |
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Week Two: June 23-June 27
AM sessions: 9:00am-12:00pm
PM sessions: 1:00pm-4:00pm
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| AM: Basketball | PM: eSports | | AM: Juggling | PM: T-shirt Design | | |
| FULL DAY: Children's Book Workshop | | |
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Billings ExpEd Trips
Gone Fishin'!
June 16-June 19: Two days on-campus followed by a two-day, one-night trip.
Field Journal Road Trip June 16-June 20: Five-day, four-night road trip.
Olympic Backpacking
June 23-June 27: Five-day, four-night backpacking trip.
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We encourage you to check out our camp partners, who will be hosting their summer programs on our campus as well!
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Mike on the Mic 🎤
I am looking forward to Daylight Savings this weekend and having more sun in the afternoons! Springing forward into Daylight Savings Time is always synchronized with the reemergence of life in Seattle. We have great excitement about our community reemerging together this spring with The Nut-Brown Girl performance preparation in full swing. It has been a joy to see students transition from their drama classroom to start preparations in earnest on the stage. Similarly, spring sports already have a significant buzz with tennis preparation and ultimate conversations happening in the hallways.
I’m also very excited for the Annual Celebration and Fundraiser on April 4! Do you have your tickets yet?! I’m very pleased to donate four front-row midfield tickets to the Seattle Reign FC game on Friday April 18th against the rival Portland Thorns. In addition to world class soccer on the pitch, Reign FC is partnering with the RAVE Foundation to affirm LGBTQIA+ rights and asserting and supporting the power of women and gender diverse people.
Finally, I heard a few questions about the Spring Schedule this week. We will be starting the Spring Schedule on Tuesday, March 25th after the Winter Performance concludes on Saturday March 22nd. A reminder that Billings has a teacher in-service day on Monday, March 24th and there will be no school that day. The spring schedule will be similar to the fall, however, we are still polishing up a few changes. We will have the schedule ready for students and families next week.
Thank you for your support,
Mike
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🌱 Philanthropy at Billings🪴 | |
Signs of spring are sparking that sense of adventure in your heart, or maybe it’s the growing anticipation of the Billings Base Camp Celebration!
The big day is just one month away, and tickets are going fast! Have you bought yours yet? Ticket sales close next Friday, March 14th or when we run out of space, so hop on that today!
Last week, we filled you in on the festive cocktail hour that will kick off the April 4th event. Today, let’s talk dinner. And dessert. And all the good stuff.
Once the silent auctions wrap, we’ll head into the Base Camp-transformed gym for dinner. An upscale, on-theme BBQ buffet dinner awaits, with offerings to appeal to all palates and dietary needs. Winner of the $1000 Canlis gift card raffle will be announced, and the live auction will start. What will you bid on? Will it be the picture-perfect vacation? The jaw-dropping sports tickets? Maybe you’ll save yours for the exclusive package of memorabilia from this year’s school play, The Nut-Brown Girl. The items will be enticing, and our auctioneer Matt Lorch will keep things moving with a lively program. We’ll wrap the night with the delicious dessert dash, in which each table will pool their bids to have first crack at a sumptuous spread of treats. You’ll leave with sweet memories of a night spent in good company for a great cause.
Wondering how you can help make April 4th a night to remember? We are still looking for some event volunteers and dessert dash contributions. If you have pledged to donate something, thank you so much, and please make sure to submit your procurement form by this Friday’s deadline.
Many thanks to all the generous donors and our wonderful class reps, dessert dash team, auction committee, and everyone else who has volunteered to help make this night a smashing success in support of our wonderful school!
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✒️ Deans on the Scene 🎓
Please join Dean Rob and Laurie Alexander (Billings Family Association Chair) for our Spring Family Event on April 8! For this conversation, we’ll be centering our attention around screens, social media, and middle school connection. The format for the evening will involve a brief talk from Rob followed by breakout sessions with targeted questions so that parents and caregivers can share experiences, ideas, and wisdom! The Spring Family Event will run from 6-7:30pm. Please let us know if you are planning to attend by RSVPing via this link.
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Auction Catalog Spotlight:
Guided White Water Adventure for 8!
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Gather the whole family and join Blue Sky Outfitters for an adrenaline-packed whitewater rafting journey down the thrilling Wenatchee River, just outside the scenic town of Leavenworth. Feel the rush of excitement as you conquer the rapids, ride the waves, and take in the breathtaking views of Washington’s stunning landscape. The Wenatchee River, rated Class III (out of V), offers the perfect mix of heart-pounding fun and manageable thrills, making it ideal for both beginners and seasoned adventurers. Whether you’re looking to splash through the rapids or soak in the beauty of the river and surrounding valley, this adventure is bound to be the highlight of your summer!
Total of 8 rafting tickets
Must be age 8 or older
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Upcoming Events: 📅
- BFA All Family Meeting: March 7, 8:30am
- The Nut-Brown Girl: March 21, 7:00 pm
- The Nut-Brown Girl: March 22, 2:00 pm & 6:30pm
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Billings Base Camp: Annual Celebration and Fundraising Dinner - Friday, April 4th from 5:30pm - 9:00pm [purchase tickets here]
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6th grade ELA students have officially started their nonfiction skills unit! Students are currently learning about informational text features and completed a scavenger hunt to find real examples of these text features in various contexts and articles. Students were also introduced to root words and prefixes this week!
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6th grade Science students are hard at work on their Biome Travel Agency Projects. Their goal is to convince an audience of potential clients to visit their fictional resort in order to see the wonders of their Biome. Presentations will be next week on Monday 3/10 and Tuesday 3/11.
7th grade ELA students are beginning their choice book unit, with students focused on annotating and providing reader responses. As they read, 7th graders will take a look at new vocabulary and analyze how different authors use language to convey ideas in their novels. This week, 7th graders learned about connotation, denotation, synonyms, and antonyms.
7th grade DLAB students will have a special Friday schedule on 3/7 to accommodate a longer DLAB project.
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7th & 8th grade Math students explored the origins of Pythagorean Theorem as an introduction to the Exponential Functions & Properties Units. Students applied their understanding of Pythagorean Theorem to create complex math problems to challenge their peers with.
8th grade Science students have been constructing cars in order to test crash scenarios. They will put their cars to the test this week in physics class. Hopefully their egg passengers can escape unscrambled!
In Spanish, 8th grade students just finished the book, Pobre Ana, and will have a test on it next week. 7th graders are in the middle of their plot in telenovelas unit, and analyzing the characters, while 6th graders just finished up their food unit presentations, and are starting a unit about travel.
In Social Studies, 6th grade students continue exploring Ancient Egypt; this week students are learning about the role of Pharaoh and aspects of ancient religious beliefs. Ask your student about Egyptian cats!
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7th grade students presented creative mini-projects, showing their understanding of the history and geography of Seattle’s ship canal and the Ballard Locks. Students chose to create an original song, an interpretive dance with script, a Jeopardy game as well as other creative expressions of their learning.
In 7th grade Design the students have been working steadily on conceptualizing, planning, creating, and very soon playing their own original board games! Everything from a reimagining of chess, custom Pokemon cards, and even a Billings Monopoly! Currently they are finalizing the boards their games will be played on and making boxes to house all of their creations.
Art students have been hard at work getting things ready for The Nut-brown Girl. Sets and props made for our show The Nut-Brown Girl have been accumulating steadily as opening night approaches. I hope to see many of our Billings families at the show to experience the magic all of our students have been working so hard on.
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8th Grade students continue to explore ideas related to the Holocaust. Last Friday, students visited the Holocaust Center for Humanity in downtown Seattle. Students had a presentation and tour with a docent from the Center. It was a powerful and memorable experience for each of us. After the field trip, students wrote reflections that included responses that the Holocaust was not inevitable and that there was hope even in the stories of horror and sadness. When asked, students shared ways they could prevent discrimination or act as “upstanders”. Students said they could choose to speak up, check in with people, not participate in doing harm, and remember the past, including these stories from the Holocaust.
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In PE/GO, Badminton was recently introduced to 7th grade students as part of their net sports unit. With the longer racquet, higher net, and quirky shuttlecock movement, badminton hand-eye coordination is trickier than pickleball. Students are enjoying the challenge and looking forward to starting our last net sport soon… volleyball!
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Your students are all hard at work getting ready to entertain the masses with a brilliant rendition of The Nut-Brown Girl. Putting on a production like this takes many hands, and we’d love for you to join in the fun! Your behind-the-scenes help is vital to making this show a success! Whether you have a talent for crafting, organizing, or simply love being part of the fun, we’d love for you to get involved. Here’s how you can help:
Help sew costumes:
We are looking for folks who are handy with a sewing machine to take outfit materials home and make skirts and pants with suspenders (pattern provided). Many hands make light work, so the more sign ups the better! Outfits need to be finished by March 17th. To help, email Sabrina or use this sign up genius.
Saturday Work Parties and Costume Creation:
Click here to sign up to help at one (or both!) of our Saturday work parties. Work parties will be held on March 8th and March 15th. Whether you want to run power tools and put the set together or help with organizing and painting the set, we have a job for you!
During the performance:
Click here to help during one (or more!) of the three performances. This includes registration, picking up food for our hard working cast, making sure everything goes smoothly backstage, clean up, and more. Rehearsals and the show will take place Wednesday, March 19th - Saturday, March 22nd.
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🎳 Sports & Clubs🎾
Spring sports will start the last week of March, at the start of spring term. Registration forms are available at the front desk or digitally. We are still looking for more students to join Track & Field and also encourage girls interested in Ultimate to sign up!
- Ultimate Frisbee (Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday)
- Tennis (Tuesday & Friday)
- Track & Field (Monday and Wednesday)
We are also offering a Bowling clinic on Tuesdays for up to ten students! Please reach out to Melissa or Emily for more info.
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Children's Hospital Research Project
Rob sent an email this week with an exciting club opportunity. In case you missed it, here's a brief summary. Take a look at his email for the full description!
In CHRP, students will design and endeavor to implement a full-scale research project by partnering with a Surgeon at Seattle Children's Hospital. Students will learn foundations of qualitative and quantitative research, data collection and analysis, and practice other advanced experimentation skills. Additionally, students will tour Seattle Children’s Hospital or another local facility and design a real-world scientific experiment focused on the medical field. We're really excited to partner with Dr. Kimberly Perkins who will be leading this experience for the club members.
This club will meet weekly on Thursdays starting on 3/6 and going through 5/15 during our regular after-school club slot of 3:45-5pm.
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From the BFA:
Join Us for BFA Meeting Tomorrow Friday 3/7
The March BFA meeting will be tomorrow from 8:30-9:30am. You can check out the agenda here. Come by to learn about upcoming events, meet fellow parents and caregivers, or get involved!
Save the Date: Screen Time Event with Rob
On Tuesday, April 8th from 6-7:30pm, Dean of Students Rob Heavner will lead a parenting event on screen time. The event is open to all Billings parents and guardians, and will include a talk by Rob as well as small group discussion time. Mark your calendar now for this informative event!
Still Looking for Snackulty Faculty Volunteers
We need your help with snacks and treats for the staff meeting on March 12th and beyond. You can sign up and view additional slots here.
Parenting Resources
Harmony at Home: Successfully Navigating Parent-Child Differences, with Dr. Ann-Louise T. Lockhart, pediatric psychologist and parent coach
March 20th, 12–1 pm
Register here for this webinar from ParentMap
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How to Build Equitable Schools
Join Elena Aguilar, author of the highly acclaimed book Arise: The Art of Transformational Coaching, to discuss the importance of emotional resilience in equity work. Walk away with a number of strategies to cultivate the emotional resilience needed to build equitable schools.
- April 23, 2025
- 5:00-6:15 pm
- Via Zoom
- Free and Open to the Public
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Check out these ParentMap articles:
For more support and resources surrounding the youth mental health crisis, screen time and social media, and the importance of play, visit ParentMap’s Antidote for the Anxious Generation page.
Speaker links
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Executive Function Workout!
💡 New Year, New Day!💡
We are switching to Wednesday mornings for our winter EF Workouts!
Join me (Greg: Director of The Learning Center at Billings) for a regular morning EF workout from 8:30am to 9:30am on Wednesdays. Developing EF, or Executive Function, requires the exercise of the brain in specific ways. Drop in on any Wednesday 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 Wednesday 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 provided upon request.
And if Wednesday 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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