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Inside Billings
February 13, 2025
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💞With Love, from Billings💞 | |
🎒 What's Happening at Billings? 📚 | |
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Our 8th graders are off on their Winter Immersion trip for a very chilly Valentine's day out in the snow. In the meantime, our Summer @ Billings on-campus workshops are now available for registration! There are still spots open on our three overnight trips. If your student would like to stretch themselves on any of our excursions this summer, please fill out this Google Form. Limited financial assistance is available.
See the on-campus workshop classes below and visit our webpage to read the full descriptions.
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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 with Aviona | PM: Climbing | | AM: Sports Math | PM: eSports | | AM: Juggling | 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: Flag Football with Hoover | PM: Basketball with Griffin | | AM: Juggling | PM: T-shirt Design | | FULL DAY: Children's Book Workshop | PM: eSports | | |
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In addition to our excellent Billings Summer Program offerings, we are excited to partner with a number of organizations on our campus this summer. We continue to work on additional partnerships, and we will continue to keep you updated. As of today, we are excited to welcome:
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Mike on the Mic 🎤
We are very excited that our 8th graders are on their Winter Immersion Trip to Lake Wenatchee! This is an excellent way to celebrate their leadership and perseverance as well as the beauty of the outdoors in winter.
We are also excited to offer your child a space at Billings for the 2025-26 School Year! For most families, your reenrollment contracts will be sent to you via email/DocuSign on Friday, February 14th. For families receiving tuition assistance, your reenrollment contract will be sent by February 21st, if not sooner. A reminder that the DocuSign will go to one parent or guardian first, and when it is signed, it will then go to the second parent or guardian. All reenrollment contracts must be signed and returned with a deposit payment by February 28. We understand that investing in education for your child is a significant family commitment, and we thank you for your confidence in, and support of our school and staff!
Finally, thank you to the families who sent us off with such an amazing display of food, treats, gifts, and a massage yesterday. We are so thankful!
Have a lovely Mid-Winter Break,
Mike
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We are pleased to share that since they were last assessed in October, students experienced growth in both math and reading across all grade levels, with 47% improved placement in math and 41% improved placement in reading!
Please look for results from your child’s 2nd i-Ready diagnostics, which will be emailed to you later this afternoon. As you review the results, keep in mind that i-Ready is just one possible measurement of student learning and growth. At Billings, we rely upon several components to inform our approach to student learning and instructional goals, some of which include: our experiential mission to provide opportunities for learning by doing; scope and sequence planning; summative and formative classroom assessments; and class texts and instructional resources. i-Ready results serve as an additional, not primary, tool; and, while it’s not in perfect alignment with our curricular objectives, the diagnostics are providing insights into student growth.
Thank you for your continued partnership, and please reach out to teachers or to me if you have any questions about your child’s assessment results.
Dean Rob headed out with the 8th graders for what we hope will be another awesome snow camping adventure, one worthy of another feature on the landing page of our website!
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🌱 Philanthropy at Billings🪴 | |
Before you head off for Mid-Winter Break, take a look at these delicious opportunities to contribute to the Billings Annual Celebration and Fundraising Dinner on Friday, April 4th.
Calling all bakers, sweet treat makers, and anyone who loves dessert!
We are looking for volunteers to donate desserts for the Dessert Dash. 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 (with a tabletop fire pit, of course), 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.
Don’t forget to buy your tickets!
We also want to say thank you to each of you who have already purchased your ticket to join us on Friday, April 4th and donated items for the event!
If you haven’t yet bought yours, now is the perfect time. Tickets are limited, so purchase yours today!
We can’t wait to see you at Billings Base Camp!
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Upcoming Events: 📅
- 8th Grade Winter Immersion Trip: Thurs, 2/13 - Fri, 2/14
- [NO SCHOOL] Mid-Winter Break: Monday, 2/17- Friday, 2/21
- BFA All-Family Meeting: 3/7 at 8:30am
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The Nutbrown Girl: March 21-22 - see full calendar for times!
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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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This week in Advisory, the 6th graders have been decorating “Friendship Cards.” Each student received a randomly assigned partner for whom they will write an appreciation. Their goal is to acknowledge and appreciate the ways in which their classmates help shape the class as a whole. It has been very exciting to see what they create and write. They’re excited to exchange their cards on Friday!
This Friday, 7th graders will venture to the Ballard Locks & Carkeek Park to investigate the journey of the salmon, explore their artistic creativity at Seattle’s beaches, and practice their navigation skills within an urban trail setting.
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The 8th graders have been preparing for their Winter Immersion trip. Students chose different meals for the trip, learned about making snow anchors, and conducted pack checks for all of their required items. Last Friday, Rob led students in an activity to learn how to make snow anchors, a vital mountaineering and snow safety skill. Students will apply what they learned during our trip this week when setting up their camping gear in the snow.
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In Science, 6th graders have been learning about The Greenhouse Gas Effect. Students have been investigating different models of the greenhouse gas effect using PhET simulations. Students worked in pairs to investigate the effects of greenhouse gas concentrations on temperature, amount of snowfall, and size of glaciers on Earth.
8th grade students have been learning all about Newton’s Laws in physics. Students took their second quiz of the unit this week to show their mastery of topics in physics. After mid-winter break, students will be constructing Egg Car Crash projects in order to put their physics knowledge to the test. Students will have to meet creative and scientific requirements to earn full credit for this project.
6th graders are continuing to learn about Spanish foods, meals and allergies, 7th graders are watching, discussing, and analyzing plot points and characters in a telenovela, and 8th graders are continuing to read “Pobre Ana” and identifying different parts of speech and text devices in the story.
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6th grade students argued their Hammurabi-inspired court cases in Social Studies this week in front of a two judge panel. Students argued cases involving a building burning down, a stolen bracelet and a kindly neighbor accused of stealing something they were simply “moving” to safety. The question that looms: is any of this really “justice”? We’ve definitely got some budding lawyers in our midst!
7th grade continues to study the ways in which the environment of Seattle and the state of Washington are impacted in a variety of ways by development and alterations to the physical environment. Social studies students are learning about the carving out of the ship canal and building the locks for more efficient transporting of people, resources and goods. Students will visit the Ballard Locks this week to see this up close and in person.
8th grade students hosted Karen Treiger, a legacy speaker from the Holocaust Center for Humanity to discuss the story of her in-laws and the amazing story of survival. Karen shared how her life was forever altered after researching their stories and visiting Poland to see where they hid and meet family members who helped keep them alive during the war. Students were a wonderful, respectful audience who asked thoughtful questions.
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The 7th graders ended the first half of the winter term with a SLAM DUNK, as they tested out a new activity called NBA Math Hoops. Students applied their understanding of percentages and statistics to construct the best 5-player team possible, made up of NBA and WNBA players, in a draft setting before going head-to-head in a board game to see who has the best team. | |
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From the BFA:
Using Google Groups as Message Boards
Most Billings families have signed up for the family Google Group for their child’s graduation year, and many have also joined our Neurodiversity Affinity Group. All of these groups can be used as message boards. Ask a question of other families. Post a resource or event that could be helpful to others. Start a conversation!
To post a new message via the Google Groups webpage:
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Sign in to Google Groups.
- Click the name of the group.
- At the top left, click New conversation.
- Enter your message, and then click Post message.
To post a new message via email:
You can also post a message by sending an email to the Google Group. Each group’s landing page lists its email address. Please note that you have to be a member to email the group. Also, the Google Groups mobile site does not allow for message posting.
To respond to someone’s post via the Google Group webpage:
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Sign in to Google Groups.
- Click the name of the group.
- Click the message you want to read / respond to.
- Choose whether to reply to the group or individually:
- To reply to the group, below the message text, click Reply all. Compose your reply and click Post Message.
- To reply only to the person who posted, below the message text, click Reply to author. Compose your reply and click Send.
To respond to a post via email:
- Click the message in your email inbox. You can select any email in the conversation thread to reply to.
- To respond only to the person who posted, select Reply. To respond to the whole group, select Reply all.
For more instructions and posting guidelines, see the user manuals for the family Google Groups and Neurodiversity Affinity Group.
It’s not too late to join the Google Group for your child’s graduation year or the Neurodiversity Affinity Group. If you are having trouble with a group, please contact us.
Notes from February BFA Meeting
If you weren’t able to make last Friday’s BFA meeting, please check out the meeting notes. BFA meetings are held on the 1st Friday of each month, from 8:30-9:30am. All parents and caregivers are invited to attend in person or online.
Parenting Resources
The Lost Art of Civility: Raising Respectful Kids, with Robert B. Brooks and Sam Goldstein, co-authors of “Tenacity in Children” and “The Power of Resilience”
February 25, 2025, 12-1pm
Register here for this webinar from ParentMap.
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Crafting
We are looking for VOLUNTEERS! If you happen to be a sewist or builder, you are more than welcome to let Gillian and Sabrina know right away! If you are neither of these but have a lot of newspapers lying around, you can bring them to the Front Desk to be used for the sets and props. We pride ourselves on the Winter Production being an all-school event, and that includes the families and wider community! Your inclusion means so much to us and shows the students what a community really can do when it comes together.
Resources
Do you know of a local (or global) organization/person who is doing amazing work in the environmental field (science and/or activism)? Please send their info to Amira to have them featured on the list of possible research topics for the 7th Grade Environmental Justice Final Research Project.
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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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