News From RStar512
Week of April 8th
Kinder Round-Up is Coming!
Children must be age 5 on or before Saturday, August 31, 2019 to be eligible for Kindergarten enrollment. If you know of a family who has an eligible child, but is not yet enrolled in the district, please share this information with them.
If you are unsure which school your child will attend, please use School Finder near the bottom of this page: https://www.smsd.org/about/boundary-maps.
What you need to know about Kindergarten Roundup:
- Parents or guardians will begin the enrollment process, ask questions, meet the principal, and hear from teachers about what students will learn in Kindergarten.
- Children will participate in fun activities, so please bring them with you!
- Appointments for screenings may be scheduled at Kindergarten Roundup and may be held on either May 2 or May 3.
In Kindergarten, children grow socially and emotionally as well as academically. The Shawnee Mission School District Kindergarten program helps children build a strong foundation for academic success. Experienced, compassionate, and talented teachers engage students in hands-on and personalized learning opportunities to help each student achieve personal excellence.
To learn more about our free, full-day Kindergarten program, please visit our informational page about Kindergarten here: https://www.smsd.org/academics/kindergarten. Or, you can find it by visiting your school’s website and looking under the “Academics” tab.
PARENT PERCEPTION SURVEY
Dear Parents/Guardians:
The Kansas State Board of Education launched a new vision for education – Kansas leads the world in the success of each student. This vision focuses on identifying and addressing the unique needs of each student. A key piece of this vision is helping students to explore and identify their passions while graduating them with the skills needed to be successful in the workforce and in life. To better address, the needs of current and future students, the Kansas State Department of Education is surveying parents and guardians of children 18 years of age or younger about their current perceptions about various post-high school opportunities. In other words, how do you as a parent or guardian define success for your child? Please take five minutes to complete the following survey, answering questions in respect to your oldest child who is today 18 years old or younger. Thank you in advance for your participation in this short survey and for all you do to help our state prepare the next generation of Kansas children for tomorrow’s workforce. Click the link to begin the survey now: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DJ5HB5T
Sincerely, Dr. Randy Watson Kansas Commissioner of Education
Pennies For Patients
We have a fantastic SQUAD at Rising Star, and our goal for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is $2000.00! Starting Monday, we will be collecting money in the gym in the morning. STUCO students will help collect the money in the gym at morning arrival.
Parents, be on the lookout for your Pennies for Patients information that teachers sent home. Thank you for your support and attention to this great cause. Rising Star is an AMAZING SQUAD. WE CAN reach our goal of $2000.00.
Pennies For Patients - Spirit Days
Monday – PJ Penny Day
Tuesday – Name-Change Nickels
Wednesday – Double Dimes (Twin Day!)
Thursday – Quirky Quarters (Dress Weird!)
Friday Dollars – Freaky Friday (dress like your idol or teacher)
Destination Imagination
Destination Imagination Team Results
Dear Parents,
We are SO excited to inform you that our Destination Imagination team, The Box of Sharpies, had a very successful result at the Kansas Affiliate DI Tournament last weekend! Not only did they win their age division in the Game On challenge, but they also won the highly coveted Renaissance Award for excellence in engineering (only given to one team in the whole tournament)!
Team members are:
- Carter Patterson- Pawnee
- Marc Janda- OP
- Mia Deeble- Rising Star
- Opal Walden- Rising Star
- Greta Kelley- Holy Trinity
- Audrey Curnes- Holy Trinity
- Pari Khinda- McAuliffe
- Brianna Deeble- Rising Star
- Josie Culey- Comanche
- Bryce Maxwell- Apache
The Game On challenge involved choosing an existing game to research and incorporate into a skit presented from two points of view. Our team chose Battleship, and the points of view were inside the game and the human world outside the game where two sisters are playing. They had to construct a container that holds everything needed for the skit (props, costumes, etc), and it had to transform in some way during the skit. Their box used pulleys to lower flaps that made their box look like two game boards back to back with ships and grids. They had to have one technical element (the pulleys), and two team choice elements (the costumes and sound effects).
This tournament was the culmination of months of work, collaboration, grit, and sweat equity. Students even came in extra days to ensure they were ready for the big day. While we knew they had an awesome presentation and box, being new to the DI experience we were not thinking past the Kansas tournament. The winning teams were given information on the Global Finals tournament to be held the third week of May at Bartle Hall. The entry fee is expensive, so we are currently working to problem-solve this new hurdle.
Want to Recognize A Staff Member?!
MVP Trainings NOW AVAILABLE at Rising Star!
Are you interested in becoming a My Volunteer Pal (MVP) at Rising Star? We are now offering training sessions at Rising Star that are flexible with your schedule! If you would like to schedule a training, please click here: https://goo.gl/forms/Lv7lJ8rLuFQmuONp2
The My Volunteer Pal (MVP) program is the volunteer program for all Shawnee Mission Schools. MVP connects adult volunteers with students ages Pre-kindergarten to age 18. Volunteer Pals choose from a range of in-school activities, including:
* School Field Trips
* Mentoring
* Serving as a Lunch or Recess Buddy
* Weekly or Monthly Classroom Volunteer
* Chat ‘n Chew
* After-School Program Volunteer
Volunteers enjoy flexible schedules, and all activities take place on school grounds during school hours, with the exception of field trips.
If you’re unsure if you need MVP training, or if you have further questions, please direct questions to RyanWilson@smsd.org for help!
Spring Book Fair: We need your help
Help us ensure a Great Book fair success!! We'll set up the fair in the library Monday, April 15th with a little preview of the new registers after.
We need your help: Restocking, finding books for students, ringing sales, and clean up at the end of the day.
We need good quality used books:
If you are cleaning and find good quality used books we are happy to put them to good use. There will be a collection box outside of the front office starting next week. We sell these at the book fair and use the money from that for our All For Books program with Scholastic to get more books in the hands of our students.
Special Volunteer Opportunity:
The volunteer can be a parent or teacher that is available during morning drop off and Kindergarten roundup. Contact for more information Leah.mothersill6@gmail.com
No experience necessary. Can volunteer as much or as little as you want. We need your help! Contact Leah Mothersill (leah.mothersill6@gmail.com) or Liz Higgins (lizerena49@gmail.com) with any questions or concerns.
Thank you for your help!!
Future Chat 'n Chew Dates
Chat & Chew Books & Dates
Books can be found in our Rising Star Library, in most teacher’s classrooms, at the Johnson County Library & of course on Amazon or in brick & mortar stores. If you choose to purchase the books for your student, please consider donating them at the end of the year so that we can have more copies available to lend out each year. Donated books can be given to Mr. Wilson in the library. Thank you!
*Chat & Chew Party: Those students who have read & attended at least 3 Chat & Chew book sessions are invited to bring their lunch & their favorite book to share with their peers.
(Chat & Chew is held in the classroom during the student’s lunch period)
2019-2020 Transfer Applications Accepted March 1 to April 30
The Shawnee Mission School District will accept transfer applications beginning at 8 a.m. March 1, 2019, through 5 p.m. April 30, 2019.
Click here for Transfer Procedure information. Links for electronically submitting applications will become available at 8 a.m. on March 1, 2019 on this page.
Please note that the Board of Education adopted the following considerations as part of the district transfer policy on Jan. 14, 2019.
- Siblings of current District Transfer students receive first priority consideration.
- In-District students of employees will receive the second priority consideration.
- In-District Transfers are reviewed first in the order they are received.
- Remaining transfer requests are considered in the order they are received.
Transfer students will not be required to apply for readmittance annually. This includes students who are moving from sixth grade to seventh grade and students moving from eighth grade to their freshman year of high school.
The full transfer policy can be read here.
Current transfers (of any grade level) do not need to - and should not - reapply for transfer.
West is Best Scholarship Fund
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Website: https://risingstar.smsd.org/
Location: 8600 Candlelight Lane, Lenexa, KS 66215
Phone: (913) 993-4500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RStar512/
Twitter: @RStar512