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Inside Billings
April 24, 2025
| | Peace & Love on Planet Earth | | 🎒 What's Happening at Billings? 📚 | | |
We hope everyone had an amazing Spring Break and is ready for more fun in the sun at Billings! Emails for all Spring Clubs have just gone out, so if you haven't received any communication from Becca, please email the Front Desk.
For Earth Day on Tuesday, we gathered outside as a community to celebrate and show gratitude for our beautiful planet! Emily and Maya invited us to share 10 things we loved about planet Earth. Students were eager to share their appreciation for our planet and the people on it, and offered ideas on how we all can protect it.
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Mike on the Mic 🎤
Welcome back from Spring Break! We hope that you made the most of beautiful weather, either here or afar.
I hope your child has enjoyed returning to the mystery of our Secret Staff Spirit Week. Each day this week, the staff will dress in a different secret theme. Our Staff Spirit Week is a great kickoff to many fun events this spring! Unfortunately, we are cancelling Billings Movie Night tomorrow. Although there was good informal buzz about the event tomorrow night, we didn’t get enough formal RSVPs. Given that this is a cool partnership with Scarecrow Video, we want to ensure we have maximized attendance, so we are going to reschedule for another date. Thank you to those who RSVP-ed and donated – we will be refunding all Movie Night donations.
Please mark these great events on your calendars!
- Friday, May 2: Billings Student Dance, 6pm – 8pm at Billings
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Wednesday, May 7 – Friday, May 9: 7th grade trip to Baker Lake
- TBD Arts Performances: Tentatively scheduled for Monday, June 2 at 2:30 pm. Families will be invited to attend.
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Monday, May 19 – Friday, May 23: 8th grade trip to the Olympic Coast
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Wednesday, May 21 – Friday, May 23: 6th grade trip to Mt. St. Helens
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Wednesday, May 28: 8th Grade Project presentations, starting at 8:45am in Jim
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All families are invited to view and support our 8th graders.
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Wednesday, May 28: 8th Grade Family Dinner
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This not-to-be-missed event is for 8th grade parents, guardians, and faculty and is the first part of the graduation celebration. We honor your partnership and your child over the last three transformative years. It will be a catered dinner by Paseo and there is no cost for families.
- Friday, May 30: Conferences
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TBD 8th grade celebration fun day: Tentatively June 5 and/or 6
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Tuesday, June 10: 8th grade Graduation, 6 pm – 8 pm, at Billings
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Wednesday, June 11: Last day for 6th and 7th graders, ½ day
Thank you for your support,
Mike
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✒️ Deans on the Scene 🎓
With spring break behind us and some bright and sunny days ahead of us, we’ve officially entered the final stage of the school year. At Billings, this means LOTS of activity, energy, and exciting milestones. Whether it’s the Spring Reign ultimate tournament this weekend, the spring dance on Friday, May 2, or one of the three expeditions happening in the next four weeks, our students and teachers are definitely gearing up for adventures of all kinds! As we enter this busy period, we are working with students to ensure they are managing their time and tracking all of the various activities and assignments that are upcoming. Advisors in all grade levels are charting out the final seven weeks of the year with our students to build key executive function skills around managing this busy and exciting time!
Teachers have been having a little secret fun this week with dress up spirit days. Students are noticing teachers wearing unusual outfits and accessories, and they’re asking questions like “why all the sparkles?” or “who are you supposed to be?”. Becca confirmed their suspicions in ASM on Wednesday and they announced a contest to guess what it’s all about in a survey in advisory at the end of the week. The class with the most correct guesses will win a class treat!
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Upcoming Events: 📅
- BFA Meeting: Friday, May 2, 8:30am-9:30am
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Spring Dance: Friday, May 2, 6:00pm-8:00pm
- 7th Grade Backpacking: Wednesday, May 7 - Friday, May 9
- Kid Bike Check: May 10, 9:00am-11:00am
- 8th Grade Backpacking: Monday, May 19 - Friday, May 23
- 6th Grade Overnight: Wednesday, May 21 - Friday, May 23
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From the BFA:
Planning Meeting for May Faculty Appreciation Week
Tomorrow, Friday 4/25, we will meet in the conference room from 8:30-9:30am to plan this year’s Faculty Appreciation Week, which will be celebrated May 12-16. We will work on organizing a catered staff lunch and planning appreciation activities like a dessert buffet and messages from families.
Join Us for BFA Meeting Next Friday 5/2
The March BFA meeting will be next Friday 5/2 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!
Kid Bike Safety Check Event on Sat 5/10
Billings students are invited to bring their bikes to school for a free safety check on Saturday, May 10th from 9-11am. Mike Jenness, 6th-grade parent and owner of Shots & Sprockets bike shop, will inspect bikes and share tips for getting them summer-ready. The event will also include a fun bike rodeo with games, hosted by 6th-grade parent Dan Schneider. Donuts and drinks will be provided. RSVP here to join the fun!
Parenting Resources
Parenting with a Coaching Mindset, with Priyanthi Alahendra
April 29th, 5-6pm
Register here for this webinar from the Bush School’s Parent University
Let Go and Let Grow: Raising Confident, Independent Children, with Lenore Skenazy, author of “Free Range Kids”
May 6th, 12-1pm
Register here for this webinar from ParentMap
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6th grade has been working on teamwork and problem-solving by doing the Marble Run Challenge this week during our 6th grade class meeting. Many of the teams were able to get the marble into the cup successfully! 6th graders will also be going over and filling out their planners with important dates of upcoming events (trips, Spring Conferences, etc), to make sure everyone is aware of and preparing for the upcoming month.
7th grade had great weather for their Central Washington trip before Spring Break! Please check out the gallery at the link below to see more snapshots of this exciting expedition.
| | Before break the 8th grade class worked on a collaboration and communication relay. Students worked in groups to defeat a number of blindfolded challenges including using chopsticks to move objects, navigating a maze, and sinking a free throw shot. | 6th graders eased back into Math after spring break by learning a new game: Farkle! It has similar risk-taking elements and computation practice as other dice games we’ve played, with the increased complexity of six dice providing more scoring combinations. Students are encouraged to play at home with family members (game description and rules) We’ve also continued studying exponent concepts and computation, distinguishing between expressions, diagrams, and values that represent repeated addition versus repeated multiplication. | |
8th graders have been learning about Waves in Physics and recently designed homes that could manipulate waves to impact sound and temperature of the rooms. Students presented their designs to each other in class and reviewed what they have learned about Waves. Students made visual representations for their designs - some choosing to design on paper, some on Tinkercad, and others used video game programs to make their spaces come to life!
In Spanish, 7th grade is working on a “Dream Home” project, where students are describing and drawing pictures of their ‘dream home’ using the vocabulary from our “Casa” (House) unit.
8th grade ELA students sprang into spring with grammar practice and lessons on usage and informal vs formal speech…you know it’s like all good and well, all right, alright, okay?! Also, we started a new unit in the textbook that features stories and poetry around finding your voice and your path. Next week, students will practice writing poems about finding their voice and identity.
7th and 8th graders are enjoying volleyball in PE and making impressive progress with this sport’s distinctive techniques for passing, setting, and serving the ball. We’re also in the midst of a pickleball tournament with students from all grades competing in singles and doubles brackets. Signing up for this tournament was optional and students have to sacrifice some of their lunch break to compete, so it’s been great to see a variety of students choose to participate in this extra athletic challenge.
6th grade Vocals started the Spring Term by watching Sing (Mindenki) by Kristof Deak, an Oscar-winning short film about social justice where a teacher is unkind to some of her students about their singing voices, and how the students unite. The film has a powerful message about the negative impact of being told you don’t have a good singing voice. The film always sparks great discussions in class prior to resuming singing as a 6th grade class.
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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!
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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