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Inside Billings
October 3, 2024
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🎒 What's Happening at Billings? 📚 | |
The 6th and 8th graders have completed their first trip of the school year, with the 7th graders ramping up for theirs next week! Read on for more information on each trip, and click on the links below to see the galleries of trip photos! If you do not have the SmugMug password please reach out to the Front Desk. | |
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Mike on the Mic 🎤
I was so lucky to join the 6th Grade Overnight to Deception Pass last week! The 6th Grade Overnight is a two-day, one-night introduction to the ExpEd program, with a focus on skills of perseverance, self-care, and independence. From setting up tents to cooking meals for the entire group, to practicing caring for our bodies, belongings and our new friends, to taking risks to be goofy in our campfire “15-second talent show,” students set a great foundation for the next three years at Billings. Our teachers took our learning outside the classroom with a hike to the beach, a tidepool exploration, and an interactive game about marine invertebrates and some of their adaptations.
Reminder that we have our Annual Fund Kickoff Coffee this Friday morning, followed by our monthly Billings Family Association meeting. As always, wear your Billings Blue and Green for Spirit Fridays!
We look forward to seeing families on Tuesday, October 15th for Curriculum Night from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Doors will be open at 6:15 and we will have light refreshments to welcome everyone. We will start promptly at 6:30, so that you can experience 10-minute curricular presentations from each teacher. We are excited for you to hear from the exceptional people who advise, teach, and care for your children.
Finally, your child’s advisor will be sending information on Friday about our upcoming conferences on Friday, October 25. There are no classes that day, though students will be leading their conference with their advisor and at least one parent or guardian.
Thanks for your support,
Mike
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On Tuesday night, we were honored to welcome many Friends of Billings on campus for a thank you reception. Our esteemed guest of the evening was Luanne Billings, the visionary founder of The Intermediate School (TIS) in the 1970s, that grew into Billings Middle School since 1996. Attendees included TIS graduates from 1991, past Head of School Ted Kalmus, Billings Alumni, Alumni families, and many former and all current Board members. It was a lovely opportunity to reconnect and celebrate the transformative impact of a Billings education over the decades.
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✒️ Deans on the Scene 🎓
Rob met with the 8th grade class today to discuss Billings’ processes and protocols for applying to high schools. Rob gave each student a form which has key dates, information on teacher recommendations, and protocol for planned absences for tours, visit days, and more. Additionally, representatives from The Downtown School, University Prep, Holy Names, and O’Dea will be presenting to 8th graders on 10/9, 10/18, and 10/22, respectively (HNA and O’Dea are presenting jointly on 10/22). Don’t hesitate to reach out to Rob with any questions!
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Philanthropy at Billings
We are excited to introduce this year’s Annual Fund Chair: Erika Wright, parent of Cash in 7th Grade.
Tomorrow we will be kicking off our 2024-2025 Annual Fund! Join us at the morning drop-off to meet Erika, the Annual Fund Committee members, and our Community Engagement Manager, Koby McInnis-Fuller, for a quick hello and coffee. There will be a small gift to help kick off this year’s Annual Fund so be sure to pick yours up alongside coffee and donuts. See you there!
You can make a donation by dropping off a check at the front desk or by clicking here to make a donation online. You can also click here to make a pledge for a future donation. Don’t forget to check with your employer to see if they will match your donation! Boeing, Microsoft, Nintendo, Pokémon, and many other major employers offer an employee match program. This is a really great way to double the impact of your donation!
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Upcoming Events: 📅
- Annual Fund Kick-off Coffee: 10/4, 8:00am-9:30am
- BFA Meeting: 8:30am-9:30am
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Tuesday, 10/8 – Thursday, 10/10: 7th grade trip to Yakima
- [NO SCHOOL] Friday, 10/11: WA State In-service Day
- [NO SCHOOL] Monday, 10/14: Teacher In-service Day
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Curriculum Night: Tuesday, 10/15 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm
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Now that we’ve learned more about our 6th graders and their interests and group dynamic, we are ready to assign permanent advisory groups for the school year. We will announce these groups in an email to families this Friday afternoon and they’ll make this shift first thing Monday morning, October 7th. | On Monday, 9/30, 7th graders ventured to UW campus to conduct a botanical tour of the campus and explore the botany greenhouses. Students learned about all sorts of native plants, and then got to see an incredible variety of cacti, carnivorous plants, “ant plants”, and much much more. This was the jumping off point for our plant biology unit in science class. Hopefully students will start this unit with some understanding of how awesome plants are! |  | |
We had a wonderful trip last week with our 8th grade Fall Leadership Outing! This was our first time traveling to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness - and the views did not disappoint.
Students stepped up to our FLO (Fall Leadership Outing) goals of leading this trip: making decisions, filtering water, cooking meals, leading hikes and organizing gear. Students did a great job of taking care of each other in small and big ways. The weather was a mix of rain, clouds and sunshine but students (mostly!) kept a positive attitude about this challenging adventure.
In music production 7th and 8th graders followed Youtube videos learning how to edit and produce trap beats in Soundtrap, while in Ukulele 6th graders learned three chords (C, Am, F) and the riff to Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.
In 6th grade math, students completed their i-Ready diagnostic this week and continued our study of area, surface area, and volume with a focus on irregular polygons. We will soon move on to three-dimensional shapes (solids and polyhedra).
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7th graders are just wrapping up their “Chemistry for Life Sciences” mini unit. As part of this unit, students explored the unique and incredibly important properties of water.
They spent Friday afternoon planting in the garden. Students suggested garden bed themes and voted on the plants they wanted in the garden. After testing the soil last week, students added fertilizer and compost amendments and planted starts and seeds. (Below, left to right: Root Vegetable Bed, Leafy Greens Bed, Soup Bed, Herb Bed, and Rainbow Bed.)
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6th graders reflected on last week’s overnight trip in ELA, reading the Samish legend of the Maiden of Deception Pass. Students are now learning about the writing process and using it as they draft their own folklore-inspired tales.
8th graders received their essays with feedback, and they are reviewing writing techniques and grammar rules. Also, as a final connection point and wrap up of the summer reading, the class is viewing the new movie “Rez Ball,” which features similar themes as the novel regarding the enduring impact of colonization on Native American communities, friendship, and overcoming adversity. Students are completing a movie response to guide reflection and discussion. Next week, the class will start a non-fiction unit with readings that explore the impact of technology on humanity.
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7th grade families should have all Back-to-School forms on AlmaStart completed today. This information is crucial to our trip process, so let Becca know if you are having any difficulties accessing or completing these forms.
In order to get out the latest information on all Fall sports (soccer, volleyball, and cross country) we will be using the GameChanger app!
Some features that are most useful for parents:
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Messaging: Each team has a message function that allows you to quickly and easily communicate with all parents from the team, the coach, or Melissa. Feel free to drop any and all of your questions and comments about the team there for a quick response!
- We will use this message function to communicate drop-off at Billings after games
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Schedule Sync: On each team’s settings, you can set up “schedule sync” and it will sync the game calendar to your chosen calendar (Outlook, Google etc). These will automatically update in your calendar whenever any changes are made.
For more info, click here or reach out to Melissa!
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From the BFA:
BFA Meeting Tomorrow – Friday 10/4
The October BFA meeting will be tomorrow from 8:30-9:30am. You can preview the agenda here.
Neurodiversity Group Meeting
The group’s first virtual meeting of the year will be next Tuesday 10/8 at 7:30pm. The group is open to all parents and caregivers of neurodiverse students. To sign up for the group, register here. Several people are currently listed as “pending” members, so please check your spam folder or ask us to resend the link if needed. You can view all your google group memberships here.
Hot Topic: Discussing the Election with Your Child
If you haven’t yet had a chance, don’t forget to check out Rob’s video on Billings’ approach to the topic, as well as these quick resources for families:
Parenting Resources
The Anxious Generation: Essential Strategies for Rewiring Childhood, with Jonathan Haidt
October 15, 12–1pm
Register here for this Q&A-style webinar, presented by ParentMap
Raising Resilient Teens: Practical Skills for Parents, with Dr. Kira Mauseth
October 23, 6:30-8:30 pm
Register here for this free in-person community workshop on managing stress and anxiety using the “Cope, Calm, and Care” method, presented by PEPS.
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If you have time tonight, swing by the North City Bistro to see our Instrumental Music teacher Birch and his band The Gin Joints from 8pm to 10pm! One of the few remaining local venues that has jazz regularly, North City Bistro provides a wonderful listening environment as well as great wine and food.
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Equity & Inclusion Speaker Series
Dr. Gholdy Muhammad
Wednesday, October 9, 5:00-6:15pm
RSVP here
Billings is excited to once again partner with POCIS to sponsor the Equity & Inclusion Speaker Series, which offers our community the opportunity to connect, learn, and engage in topics around equity, inclusion, and antiracist education and action.
Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad is an Associate Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Muhammad’s scholarship has appeared in leading academic journals and books. She has also received numerous national awards and is the author of the best-selling book, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Model for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy. She also co-authored Black girls’ literacies: An Edited Volume. Her Culturally and Historically Responsive Education Model has been adopted across thousands of U.S. schools and districts across Canada. Her newest book, Unearthing Joy, is the sequel to Cultivating Genius and provides a practical guide for putting culturally and historically responsive education into curricular practice. Learn more HERE.
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Hello 8th grade families,
If your student will be considering private high school applications, click this link (English & Español) to learn about the test prep sessions Billings will be offering from September 9th through December 19th.
Executive Function Workout!
💡 FEEL THE BURN! 💡
Join me (Greg: Director of The Learning Center at Billings) for a regular Tuesday morning EF workout from 8:30am to 9:30am starting Tuesday, September 10th. 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 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 Tuesday mornings. Regular attendance is not a prerequisite. I don't need advanced notice. Drop in any Tuesday morning.
We will be meeting in person in Mercury, during advisory and the beginning of first period. Check-in at the front desk before heading down to Nadia. 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 Tuesday 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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