Stoller Weekly
October 4th, 2019
Calendar it...
- Monday, October 7th from 6:30 - 8pm - Student Success Act Community Conversation (see article below)
- Tuesday, October 8th from 9:15 - 11am - Art Lit Training in the Art Lit Room
- Friday, October 11th - No School for Students/Staff Development Day
- Monday, October 14th - Stoller Scholastic Book Fair (see article below for hours)
- Tuesday, October 15th - Lost and Found Pickup (see article below)
- Tuesday, October 15th - Stoller Scholastic Book Fair (see article below for hours)
- Tuesday, October 15th - Deadline to Reapply for Meal Benefits (see article below)
- Wednesday, October 16th 6:30 - 8pm - Fall Conferences (see article below)
- Wednesday, October 16th - Stoller Scholastic Book Fair (see article below for hours)
- Thursday, October 17th 8am - 8pm - Fall Conferences/No School for Students (see article below)
- Thursday, October 17th - Stoller Scholastic Book Fair (see article below for hours)
- Friday, October 18th - No School for Students
- Friday, October 18th - Chromebook Insurance Deadline
Important News and Upcoming Events
Student Success Act
Speak Up 4 Student Success: HB 3427 - Student Success Act
The Oregon Legislature passed and the Governor signed the $2 billion Student Success Act (HB 3427) in Spring 2019. This is an historic and much needed investment in K-12 schools. The Beaverton School District could be able to access an estimated $34 million per year through a state application process.
School districts are required to apply for funds, and must engage their community in a needs assessment process prior to the application for funds. We will host a series of Community Conversations - Speak Up 4 Student Success in several locations throughout the BSD. Schools will also be engaging their communities in these conversations during September and October.
Please join us to talk about what student success looks like in the Beaverton School District? What is going well in Beaverton schools? What areas/services/programs could we improve?
Your voice matters! We welcome your perspective and opinion.
Speak Up 4 Student Success Community Conversations offered in English & Spanish:
· Monday, October 7, 2019 at Stoller Middle School, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
· Monday, October 21, 2019 at Aloha High School, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (Budget Listening & Learning Session) For more information, and to complete a BSD Needs Survey, please visit the Student Success Act webpage.
Parent Teacher Conferences
You will be receiving a letter from your child's core 1 teacher next week with details about how to sign-up for your conference time.
The scheduling link will be live on Wednesday, October 9th at 10am.
Cell Phone Policy Reminder
Overall, students are doing such a great job being responsible with their phones and we want to thank all parents for your support!
Scholastic Book Fair
The Scholastic Book Fair will be held at Stoller October 14-17th! It will be open before and after school, during lunches, and during most conference hours. Scholastic is offering a new "eWallet" feature; parents can pre-authorize a spending limit on their credit card for their students to use during the fair. The authorization ends on the last day of the fair. Thank you for supporting our fair!
Book Fair Hours
Monday
8:30 - 9:10am, 11:30am - 1:20pm, and 3:15 - 4:30pm
Tuesday
8:30 - 9:10am, 11:30am - 1:20pm, and 3:15 - 4:30pm
Wednesday
8:30 - 9:10am, 11:30am - 1:20pm, 3:50 - 6pm, and 6:30 - 7:45pm
Thursday
8:30 - 10:30am and 2 - 7:45pm
Maker Space Donations
Last Reminder...
Are you looking for somewhere to recycle items you no longer need? The Stoller Maker Space is the perfect place to donate unused, everyday, ordinary items. We only ask that these items are usable and clean.
Students are welcome to drop off these items at our Maker Space Drop-Off in front of Stoller's Maker Space. The Maker Space is located at the entrance of Blue Hall in the Lower Forum. Your donated items will be organized and then made available to teachers and students for class projects and activities.
Currently, a 6th grade team is looking for some Maker Supplies for an Engineering Design project. They are in need of straws, tooth picks, pipe cleaners, solo cups, string, clothes pins, paper plates and bowls. Additionally, a 7th grade team is looking for some Maker Supplies for a Stop Motion Animation project. They are looking for Play Doh and no longer wanted LEGO pieces. Especially the LEGO mini figs.
The Maker Space Supply Drop-Off is open all year and we will update you with student projects and specific supply needs.
TAG Information
Every year all students are considered for identification as Talented and Gifted in the Beaverton School District. Oregon law and District policy define gifted students as those who score at or above the 97th percentile on a standardized, nationally normed test of mental ability and/or academic achievement. Behavioral, learning, and/or performance information is also considered before a student is identified for TAG services. These services are provided by your child's classroom teacher(s). The BTSN informative presentation can be found HERE.
If you think your child might qualify by exhibiting qualities that typically are used to describe giftedness, you may wish to complete a Parent Information Form which can be picked up from the main office. Completing this form gives our school TAG committee more information about your child, but it is not required. All qualified students will be considered regardless of form completion. Completing this form does not guarantee that you child will be tested.
The Parent Information Form must be completed and returned to the TAG facilitator, 6th Grade: Trish Kelley & 7th/8th Grade: Aleah Steinzeig, or the Main Office.
(Click on Stoller Clubs above to visit our Clubs Page on the Stoller Website)
Current Events Club
The Current Events Club will be an environment where people can share their respectful opinions on a variety of topics, similar to a debate club. This club will meet on Wednesdays from 4 - 5pm in room B9 beginning October 2nd. If your child is interested, please have them fill out a Current Events Club Parent Permission Form 2019-2020 (also available in the Main Office) and turn it in to the Main Office.
*Please note that this club meets on Wednesdays and there is no Activity Bus on Wednesdays.
GSA Club
The GSA Club is a safe place for LBGTQ+ students and allies to be and advocate for themselves and others. This club will meet on Thursdays from 4 - 5pm in room B8 beginning October 10th. If your child is interested, please have them fill out a GSA Club Parent Permission Form 2019-2020 (also available in the Main Office) and have them turn it in to the Main Office.
Please note that this club starts October 10th and the Activity Bus, if needed, is not available until October 22nd. You will need to make other transportation arrangements until October 22nd.
Academic Competitions
AMC 8
Last Reminder...
The AMC8 is a national contest and will be held at Stoller on November 12th. Location and time will be announced in a future newsletter. This contest is designed for high-achieving and highly-competitive Mathematics students. Interested students should let their current Math teacher know that they would like to participate. Interested students will be asked to take a practice test. Registration will be confirmed with the student in early November.
Please work with your student to establish realistic goals before they choose to take the official test. Students may instead choose to take the test unofficially and score their own work in a non-competitive setting.
Practice materials for The AMC8 can be found here.
Please contact Mr. Nelson directly should you have any questions and/or concerns.
Science Bowl
The following 10 students have been selected to attend the 2020 Stoller Science Bowl team based on the screen test scores.
8th Grade: Nirmay Anantha, Derek Aslan, Andrew Gao, Andrew Xu and Alicia Ye
7th Grade: Athmay Anantha, Kapil Kakodkar, Shayaan Uddin, Justin Xia, and Ethan Zhang
Any questions, please contact Junwei Gao.
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is a national-level team competition in which 15 students compete in 23 events of earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. There are 7,800 middle and high school teams from 50 U.S. states competing each year. Stoller Middle School’s teams have been the reigning champion in the Oregon Division B competition for the past five years. This year, two teams (Stoller Grey Matter and Stoller Jaguarians) will be formed with 13 open positions to be filled by new Stoller participants in the sixth to eighth grades.
On Saturday, October 12th at 3:00 pm, the qualifying test will be administered in the Hillsboro Brookwood Library community room by the coaches of these teams. The qualifying test will cover three different competition topics this year: Ornithology, Reach for the Stars, and Density Lab. The top 13 students will be selected for the teams and the waitlist will be published at the end of the test. The competition topics for each student will be decided later based on student selection. Students interested in trying out should contact past participants to learn more or click here to view the 2020 Science Olympiad Flyer. If you have any questions, please contact Ye Feng (fe2val@gmail.com).
School Volunteer Opportunities
Art Lit - Volunteers Needed
Volunteers like YOU make Art Lit at Stoller happen!
Join us for this opportunity to enrich your child’s classroom experience with art history lessons and hands-on art projects. Art backgrounds are not needed, just an interest in spending a day helping the kids tap into their creativity!
We especially need 6th grade parents!
Contact Chandra Innes at stollerptoartlit@gmail.com
Art Lit Training
Please join us for our first Art Lit training on
Tuesday, Oct. 8th @ 9:15am
Contact Chandra Innes for more information: stollerptoartlit@gmail.com
District News/Resources for Parents
Free Food Market
Questions?
Contact Oregon Food Bank
(503) 282-0555
Meal Benefits
Families who are currently receiving meal benefits, who have not yet applied for meal benefits for the 2019-2020 school year, must reapply before October 15, 2019 to continue to receive free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch for their children. Unless the Meal Benefits Office has received and approved an Application for Free and Reduced Price Meals by 10/15/19, meals will be charged at full price as shown below:
Breakfast: Elementary School $1.45 • Middle School $1.50 • High School $1.60
Lunch: Elementary School $3.05 • Middle School $3.25 • High School $3.60
Families can apply for Free and Reduced Price Meals ONLINE!
The process is SAFE, SECURE, PRIVATE, and available through SchoolCafe.com.
All you need is your student’s ID number. If you don’t have that, you can call your school office
or the Meal Benefits line (503-356-3957). Here are some of your options in SchoolCafe:
Create an account
Apply for Meal Benefits
View and print Meal Benefits letters
See what items your student is getting in the cafeteria
Check your student’s account balance
View cafeteria menus
Set up low balance alerts
Set up auto-pay (when balance gets to an amount that YOU set, the account is replenished from your credit card)
SchoolCafe can provide amazing amounts of information!
If you do not have access to a computer, you can also apply for Meal Benefits on paper. Applications are available in every school office and cafeteria.
If you have questions or need help, please call Laurie Bishop at Meal Benefits, (503)356-3957 or email us at NS-MealBenefits@beaverton.k12.or.us.
Learning Options
The Beaverton School District is nationally recognized for high student achievement and innovative programs. Beaverton students in grades 6-12 have the opportunity to investigate learning options that best fit their academic needs. Students can choose their neighborhood school, or apply for one of a number of Learning Option Programs. Transportation is provided.
Applications for the 2020-2021 school year will be available starting Monday, October 14, 2019. Please do some early investigation of the Learning Options Programs online and plan to attend one or more of the open houses that are available. Students may only select one option on their application.
All applicants must reside within the Beaverton School District boundaries. Beginning October 14, current Beaverton School District students are able to apply online using their BSD student ID. Resident students not currently attending a Beaverton school will need to complete a paper application available online, or at any school office beginning October 14, 2019. Applicants who do not have Internet access may also complete a paper application available at any school office. Please give careful consideration to your choice of school. Once an application has been submitted, no changes will be allowed.
Applications must be received no later than Friday, December 6, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. (PST).
OFFICE OF LEARNING OPTIONS
Information Line: 503.356.4440 • FAX: 503.356.4415
Mon., October 14, 2019 ------- Applications for the 2019-2020 school year will be available.
Fri., December 6, 2019 ------- Applications due no later than 4:00 p.m. PST.
Wed., December 11, 2019 ------- Electronic Lottery conducted for the 2020-21 School Year.
Acceptance or wait pool notifications will be sent via email.
Students who are not selected via the lottery will be emailed a Second Consideration application for the school for which they applied where applicable.
Thurs., January 9, 2020 ------- Second Consideration applications due to schools.
Wed., January 29, 2020 ------- Deadline to accept/decline enrollment – by 4:00 p.m. PST
Visit the District Website for more information and Open House dates.
Lost and Found
Stoller Middle School
Website: https://stoller.beaverton.k12.or.us/
Location: 14141 Northwest Laidlaw Road, Portland, OR, USA
Phone: 503-356-2680
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stollermiddle/
Twitter: @StollerPOWER1