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Inside Billings
November 20, 2025
| | 🎒 What's Happening at Billings? 📚 | | As we move into Fall Break, we’re taking a moment to appreciate the progress, partnerships, and community spirit that embodies our shared goal to provide our students opportunities to explore, discover, and better understand themselves—and the impact they have on the world around them. | | |
Mike on the Mic 🎤
I hope that all of you will have a restful and restorative Fall Break next week and take the time to share gratitude with loved ones. In that spirit, I have a few important appreciations:
Last Saturday was a Billings Event Trifecta! Special thanks to our teachers, parents, and student ambassadors for an enthusiastic Open House, including a prospective parent who was taught by Luanne Billings and graduated in 1996. I am also thankful for those who supported both the Pinehurst Craft Fair and the Alumni Reunion immediately afterwards. It was wonderful to welcome over 30 alumni to return for s’mores and hot chocolate. It was a thrill to meet 2004 grad Taylor and 2018 grad Anders in addition to so many 2022 grads who are applying to college! Even with the rain, the events were very positive and helped us to continue to build relationships with our community and our alumni.
Thank you for your understanding with the surprise 75 bus stop closure this week. I had several conversations with Metro and the City of Seattle Safe Routes to School liaison. They are reviewing the situation to see if any change can be made and they will get back to me next week.
Even though Billings will be closed next week for Fall Break, we are excited to welcome Steve & Kate’s Camp again for all school year breaks. If you’re interested in fall break camp, Steve & Kate’s Camp is very flexible - families can buy any number of days to use whenever and drop off and pick up any time between 8 am and 6 pm. Many large companies like Microsoft provide Bright Horizons Enhanced Family Supports benefits that can be applied directly to Steve & Kate’s Camp.
With gratitude,
Mike
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Parent Education: Screen Time
Thank you for your patience as we fixed an issue with student Chromebooks this week. It reminded me to reach out to share some thoughts about screen time:
Last year, I attended a presentation from Dr. Delaney Ruston entitled Raising Digital Natives: Solutions for Healthy Screen Time Habits as part of the ParentMap Parent Education series.
There were a few things Dr. Ruston talked about that raised my eyebrows. Perhaps the most impactful one was the impact of sleep deprivation due to devices in teens’ bedrooms at nighttime. She shared research that 82% of young teenagers have a phone, computer, or tablet device in their bedroom when they are supposed to be sleeping. The impact of sleep deprivation alone on brain function and learning mirrors the symptoms of depression and substance abuse.
Please know that you have our support in expecting that any homework will be completed in a common area, like the kitchen table, so you can see what your child is working on. We hope you can get a break from screens next week!
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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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Staff enjoyed a wonderful Puppet Show during Monday Design Lab classes put on by our 6th graders! Students showed off a wide variety of creative creatures and scene-writing skills to their peers and teachers. 6th graders have other exciting events coming soon, including a field trip on December 3rd (see Emily’s email for more details and cancel your Wednesday Lovely Lunch order if applicable) and their first winter expedition day in the snow this January. Please see Nathan’s email for more information and please turn in your permission form and complete the gear request survey as soon as possible.
Congratulations to some of our 7th grade “4 R Award” winners in the last few weeks. As a reminder, 7th graders nominate students on a semi-weekly basis for living out the grade-level values which we characterize as the 4 R’s: Respect, Responsibility, Resilience, and the mysterious 4th R. Rowan won for Respect and was universally lauded as being one of the kindest students in the grade. Quinn won for Responsibility and Resilience, with students saying that she was resilient to stick with volleyball and very responsible in her classes. Isaac won for Respect and Resilience, with students saying that he has been a respectful leader of the E-Sports club, and for being resilient through challenges. Last week, Torvald won for Respect and Radiance (a nice use of the illusive, 4th R). Students appreciated Torvald for jumping into the year and feeling like he’s been here the whole time, for being so kind and always making people happy, and for “carrying his team so freaking hard” on the social studies debate project!
| As we approach the Fall Break, the 8th grade team has challenged the class to think about what they are grateful for and appreciation they might have for their fellow classmates. The 8th grade class did a great job organizing and running the food drive for the school! At the beginning of the week our 8th grade representatives took all the donations to the Lake City Foodbank. On arrival, the team of faculty and staff weighed all the items to determine the total number of donations we had. The official number will be announced at the All School Meeting on December 1st. | | Along with the donated supplies, our student artists Henry, Isaac, and Hazel sold their homemade crafts during the Pinehurst Maker's Market last Saturday to contribute an additional $100 donation to the Lake City Foodbank! | | 7th & 8th graders have wrapped up their materials intermissions, creating weaving materials out of plants, and preparing and dyeing cotton yarn with dyes made from common kitchen/garden ingredients (beets, turmeric, & black beans). This week, students have begun designing a mock sketch for their final weaving project. This project will incorporate all of the materials they have made and will feature a design that tells a story of importance to them. | | |
This is a very busy week for 7th grade science! Students are wrapping up the plant biology unit by writing a formal lab report based on the photosynthesis experiment that they designed and implemented over the last three weeks. They are also studying for their Fall Term Final Exam that will take place on Thursday, 11/20. This exam is cumulative and covers lab safety as well as The Columbia River Gorge Mini Unit and the Plant Biology Unit. The exam is open-note, but if students are interested in earning honors, they must make a double-sided note sheet instead of using all of their notes.
This week, both 7th grade math sections are finishing up a very meaty and often-challenging Equations and Expressions unit. After many weeks of inverse operations and balancing equations, our FTAT section is creating posters representing and analyzing a selection of brainrotted word problems, identifying and solving for a given variable. Prealgebra embarked on a small project requiring them to plan out an Amazing Race-style journey, using their inequality solving skills to find a balance between travel time, comfort, and carbon emissions.
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🎓 Deans on the Scene ✒️
The Google Suite outage earlier this week was a brief, but important reminder of our dependency on technology. Fortunately, our teachers pivoted quickly to keep students engaged and show them that acts of learning–reading, writing, solving, discussing, and applying are not only possible without laptops and software, but very much alive at Billings. Many thanks to our students and families for your patience and flexibility during this pause and pivot. It certainly presented an opportunity for teachers to think about how we integrate technology into our teaching practices, as well as our students’ association with learning and tech. As we regain access and resume use of email and other software, we’re reminding students about the purpose and appropriate use of technology at school. Please partner with us by reviewing our tech policies in the Student-Family Handbook and the Student-Parent Chromebook Agreement.
| | Billings Snow Trips are just around the corner and the Billings Expeditions Team has put together some excellent programming for this school year! Snow Trips are day trips on Thursdays during the Winter Term. Please keep an eye out for your student’s Snow Trip Permission Form that was sent home with them on Tuesday. Snow Trip Forms must be completed and returned to school by Thursday, December 18th (12/18/2025), and the Snow Trip Gear Request Survey must be completed by Friday, December 12th (12/12/2025). Thank you! | |
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Upcoming Events: 📅
- Open House: Saturday, November 15, 10am-12pm
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Pinehurst Craft Fair: Saturday, November 15, 12pm-3:30pm
- Alumni Reunion: Saturday, November 15th, 12:15pm-1:30pm
- NO SCHOOL: Fall Break, November 24-28
| | Need to start shopping for the holiday season? Head over to the Billings shop and get up to 20% off Billings swag! | | Bring your friends and family to the ECS Holiday Gift Market December 13 & 14! | | |
SQUIRRELLY WORKSHOP:
Teens & 'Tweens: Holiday Gift Making Series (4 Fridays)
Sign up your Teen or 'Tween for a Squirrelly Art Class where they can get creative with art in a safe and fun space! Squirrelly offers diverse art experiences every day of the week in our bright, woodland studio on Sand Point Way.
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Our favorite series starts tomorrow, November 14th, Surprise Holiday Gift Making. Register now at squirrellyworkshop.com to secure your child's spot!
- Squirrelly has after-school art for kids, art for adults, and art for preschoolers, too! Come enjoy an adult evening out learning watercolor or print-making, sign your elementary school aged student up for after-school art class or bring your mini-artist for our Friday morning preschool open studio!
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Learn more and register at squirrellyworkshop.com! Financial assistance and scholarships are always available.
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Looking for something to do as a family? Check out the Mosaic Room which is located just around the corner from the Billings campus. The Mosaic Room offers family friendly classes from Yoga and Salsa dancing to Yo-Yo tricks! Scan the QR Code to sign-up!
All Billings families will receive 10% off with the code: BILLINGS10
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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 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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