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Inside Billings
September 11, 2025
| | 🎒 What's Happening at Billings? 📚 | | |
Students and parents are joyfully settling into the new school year! Whether it's playing together outside during recess or making new connections at last week’s All-School Picnic, the Billings community is already buzzing with energy and excitement.
Keep reading to find out what’s happening on campus this week. And remember—if you ever miss an issue of iNews, you can always catch up by visiting the iNews Archive on our website!
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Mike on the Mic 🎤
We’ve had a wonderful first week of school, full of experiments, literature discussions, games, and new friendships. Building community, trust, and connection is the foundation for a year of learning and taking academic risks in middle school.
As I begin building connections with students, many are curious about what the Head of School does. Do I do more than greet them in the morning with fist bumps?! I explain that my job is to ensure our entire community is aligned with our all-school goals, core values, and mission to inspire students through academic challenge, personal discovery, outdoor and experiential learning, and community connection.
One of the ways we live our mission and values is our annual Convocation Ceremony, which will take place tomorrow in our gym from 10:00 am to approximately 11:45 am. A reminder that families are invited to join us! Billings hosts two “formal” ceremonies each year, with Convocation serving as a way for all students and staff to set intentions for the year, and Graduation, as a celebration of our unique tapestry of graduates and their impressive growth over their middle school years.
We look forward to seeing families next Wednesday, September 17th for Curriculum Night from 6:00 – 8:00pm. Doors will be open at 5:45pm and we will have light refreshments to welcome everyone. We will start promptly at 6:00pm, 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. This is an adult only event.
Finally, remember Billings Spirit Fridays by wearing Billings gear or blue and green!
Thanks for your support,
Mike
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🍎 Lovely Lunches 🥪
We are excited to partner with Lovely Lunches as an option to make the school day a little easier for you. If you are interested, families can make an account to order lunches directly from Lovely Lunches using an online system called Boonli. You can find information about their lunch program here or on the Billings website under the Student Life header.
Meals are prepared in a nut-free facility using as many local and organic products as possible. All lunches are served with a main entrée with a side including a grain, bread, crackers or pasta, along with fresh fruit and a vegetable side. An extra entrée may be ordered if you would like. The typical lunch price is approximately $7.50, and a sample menu can be previewed here. We're sorry for the broken link last week - this one should work!
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6th graders received their Chromebooks this week and excitedly joined various Google Classrooms for their core subjects. Teachers are reviewing guidelines for appropriate technology use at school and will be generous with reminders as we practice good habits and resist online distractions. Please help reinforce these technology-agreement guidelines at home. Charger cords should stay at home; if students plug them in before bed each night, they will have plenty of battery power for a full day at school. Please help them build this habit! We have backup chargers at school if they need them, so it’s best to always have one at home. Ask your child about our upcoming Convocation ceremony. This year, our goal-setting is combined with an egg-drop activity!
7th graders have been preparing for Convocation this week. The 7th grade team focuses on “The 4 R’s,” which are Resilience, Responsibility, Respect, and the 4th R (a placeholder for any word that starts with R). Every week, 7th grade students have the opportunity to nominate one of their peers for the 4 R Award.
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These awards are distributed during class meetings on Fridays. The award is given to the student that has embodied one of the 4 Rs during the week! Our first award will be given this Friday.
8th grade students are prepping for Convocation as well as their upcoming Fall Leadership Outing (FLO) which will be backpacking at Mount Adams. Students will have their local preparation day on Sept 23rd at NorthAcres park and then leave in hiking groups on the morning of September 24th. This will be a great beginning to a year of leadership and great connections.
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The 8th graders began their first Math unit of the year this week - Transformations! We start with this topic each year as a great way to reengage the students' math skills, differentiate for their various capabilities, and challenge the students to apply their conceptual understanding in a unique context. At the end of the Transformations Unit, your students will design a “brand” to represent themselves using each of the transformations they have mastered. The students began their exploration of the topic by applying their math vocabulary in a game of “Transformations Guess Who?!”
6th grade Social Studies students are working on an introduction to physical geography by practicing mapping the Pinehurst neighborhood. On Thursday, students will take a clipboard and compass and gather notes around the neighborhood like junior cartographers. In the classroom, students will compare their notes and reference Google Maps on their Chromebooks to create their own map of our community environment.
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7th grade Social Studies students are learning about Washington State geography and the various regions. Students will be preparing for their trip to Yakima in October, learning specifically about Celilo Falls, the Dalles Dam, the Yakama Nation and the Treaty of 1855.
8th grade students will start out the year with a unit on Ethics before diving into World Religions. Students will be learning and discussing ethical systems in the coming weeks. Students began by exploring “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” to understand his theory of motivation and how this connects to human ethical choices.
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In Spanish, 6th grade students have been practicing greetings, reviewing vocabulary, and getting familiar with the alphabet! Please ask them about what they’ve been learning!
In 7th grade Spanish, we have been adding new vocabulary and verbs, and constructing sentences in Spanish.
In 8th grade Spanish, we have been reviewing some verbs and creating more complex Spanish sentence structures and dissecting their meanings.
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🏈Student Life 🤸
Associated Student Body - BMS Student Leadership
As you’ve likely heard, we are super excited to be launching an Associated Student Body (ASB) at Billings. At All School Meeting this week, Rob outlined the process for applying to be an executive officer or a grade-level representative. Elections for the executive officer positions are this Monday, and grade-level reps will be elected in their all-grade meetings in the next few weeks. Here’s a link for more information!
Sports
Hello Billings Families,
Cross Country and Volleyball and Football have all started. We are accepting sign-ups until September 19th!
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As our fall season games begin, we’ll be using the GameChanger app to share game schedules and updates. I’ve invited parents to join their Student's teams so you can easily see when and where games are. If you have not received the email, feel free to contact me.
I’ll also use GameChanger for quick, urgent messages. Especially, when buses are running late or there is a game/practice cancellation. Email will be a backup, so please download the app and accept the invitation if you haven’t already. Let me know if you have any questions regarding GameChanger or Fall Sports in general!
Daniel Shin
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Clubs
On Wednesday, we held our fall club fair during lunch. Students had the chance to learn about and sign up for clubs we are offering during lunch this fall. Some of these include: Culture Club, Rock Band, Textile Arts, Environment and Sustainability, Yearbook, Story Club, and several others! Lunch Clubs will begin next week.
Additionally, we are offering an after school club on Mondays called Children’s Hospital Research Project (known at Billings as CHRP). This club is facilitated by Dr. Kimberly Perkins, and current 8th grade student, Chloe, is helping to lead the experience. Look for an email from Rob with more information on how to sign up!
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🥾 ExpEd ⛺
As trip season approaches it gives us an opportunity to look back on the memories Billings students and alumni have made on the fall expeditions, and look forward to the new memories that are soon to come. 6th and 8th grade families, please ensure you have all necessary trip documents turned in to the Front Desk.
| | Students and teacher strike a pose while going for a hike along North Beach at Deception Pass. | | |
Carol Craig, a Yakama Nation Elder, speaks to the class of 2026 about the history of the Yakama Nation at the Yakama Nation Cultural Center.
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8th Graders from the class of 2024, running for joy as they reached their campsite at Mt. Adams.
| | Billings Family Association | | |
BILLINGS FAMILY DIRECTORY
The School is compiling a secure family contacts directory for current families to communicate with each other. The directory will include each student's name and grade, as well as their parents/caregivers' names, email addresses, cell number, and home address. If you do not want any or all of this information to be included in the secure directory, please notify the Front Desk (link email) by Friday, September 19th.
Neurodiversity Affinity Group Signup
Everyone who has signed up (as of 1pm 9/10/25) has been sent an email invitation to join the google group. The group should be listed in your google group memberships here. If you are running into problems, please let us know. The group’s first online meeting will be in October. Facilitator and 8th-grade parent Erika Wright will be in touch with group members soon to kick off the year.
Volunteer Opportunities
Many thanks to everyone who has completed the Volunteer Interest Form! As the activities you’ve expressed interest in get closer, we will be in touch with more information. In the meantime, feel free to reach out anytime with questions or suggestions.
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Upcoming Events: 📅
- Convocation: September 12, 10:00 am-12:00 pm
- Curriculum Night: September 17, 6:00-8:00 pm
- 8th Grade FLO Trip: September 24-26
- 6th Grade Deception Pass Overnight - September 25-26
- 7th Grade Overnight Trip: October 7-9
- [NO SCHOOL] WA State In-Service Day: October 10
- [NO SCHOOL] Teacher In-Service Day: October 13
| | In this section, we will share events that are happening locally and within our community. If you are affiliated with or know of an event that you'd like to inform our community about such as a craft fair, a kids night event, a performance, or anything else mission-appropriate, please let the Front Desk know so we can share it in this section! | | |
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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