Lightning Newsflash
Lakeridge Middle School's weekly newsletter.
October 21, 2020
News from Lakeridge Middle School
End of Quarter Grades
We have two weeks left in the quarter (ends on November 5th). We encourage you to check ParentVue and contact teachers if you have any questions about the progress of your students. Our teachers are working with students to keep them caught up and help them find success as we finish our first quarter.
When report cards do come out in a few weeks, remember that there will be 4 course grades per quarter which will each stand alone on student transcripts. For our students/families accustomed to trimester grades for 8 courses, this will look a little different than what you have seen previously.
October Parent Feedback
Library Returns & Quarter 2 pickups at Palisades
Please return any textbooks you can live without for the duration of quarter 2 to Palisades on or before October 29.
There's a big drop bin in the Palisades lobby which is accessible anytime. This would allow them to safely be available for check out to other students without having to navigate the many boxes in storage for our move into the new building in early November. You will have time to check out new copies (from our new school's library) in January for Quarter 3. Most needed books: Stargirl, Outsiders, SS 8 - My World, Any Q1 Core Focus Math Book you’re finished with.
Quarter 2 Textbook PickUp will be November 5th and 6th from 10-2 at the main front door or Palisades. Students will receive Language Arts Novels and Art Kits so if you child is in LA or any art class during quarter 2, you'll need to stop by.
iReady Results
Math and Language arts teachers will be reviewing the results of students iReady assessments in the weeks ahead to inform their instruction moving forward. This baseline data is another helpful data point as we work together to meet kids' needs.
Keep in mind that this is a baseline data point and we will have more valuable information when your child participates in the assessments again in the winter and spring. Also this is our first time administering assessments at home and there are many variables that can affect student performance.
Because the fall iReady scores are baseline data, the results are most useful to teachers. If parents/guardians want to review their child's scores, we are happy to share them. Please complete the form below to indicate your interest in receiving your child's assessment results. You may complete this form multiple times for multiple children.
Office Hours
We're Moving (AGAIN!)
That's right, our new offices are almost ready for us and when they are, we'll have to close our office for a few days as we make the move from our temporary digs at Palisades to our new permanent home back at 4700 Jean Road. Watch newsflash next week for specifics about when we'll close down operations here at Palisades and when we anticipate opening for business at the new Lakeridge Middle School facility. Exciting times!
Our office at Palisades is typically staffed every weekday from 9AM-4PM. If you need to arrange pickup of unclaimed student materials, answers to a question, help connecting with the right resource or any other assistance you are welcome to call us at 503-534-2343.
Counseling Corner
Last Tuesday teachers delivered our Character Strong Lesson “How Emotions Work”. We hope that you and your student enjoyed it and learned something from it. This Tuesday the lesson students participated in is titled, “Snap Judgements”.
If you would like to read more on this topic here are some links:
Lyashevsky, Cesarano, & Black. (2020). To Understand Is to Forgive: Learning a Simple Model of Appraisal Leads to Emotion Knowledge Transfer and Enhances Emotional Acceptance and Empathy. American Educational Research Journal April 2020, Vol. 57, No. 2, pp. 906–940 (LINK)
Lisa Feldman Barret. (2018). How Emotions are Made. https://www.amazon.com/How-Emotions-Made-Lisa-Barrett/dp/1328915433/ (BOOK)
If you would like to dig deeper with your student and family here is an action step:
Family Character Dare:
A key component of the Character Strong curriculum is the Character Dare - actionable ways to bring the sometimes abstract concepts, values and traits of character to life. We believe that character is a set of skills and all skills require practice! In each lesson there is a student Character Dare. Each week we will also include a Family Character Dare for you to participate in if you would like.
This week's dare is:
The Power of Why
Tonight, after asking, “how was your day” don’t stop with the “good” or “ok” response. Follow it up with “why”or “tell me more about that.” Do it several times to really get deep into understanding.
Better yet, change up the question! How about “who did you help today?” or “What was the most challenging part of your day?” or “What’s one way I can help make today better?”
We hope you all have a good week,
Your LMS Counseling Team
School Counselors:
Callie Charon (6th) charonc@loswego.k12.or.us
Monica Binder (7th) binderkm@loswego.k12.or.us
Marcy Watts (8th) wattsm@loswego.k12.or.us
Student Clubs & Activities
Fall Drama Production
If you missed this show, don't worry! There will be more opportunities later this year to participate in our excellent after school drama program. Looking for something to do right now? Check out the clubs listed elsewhere in this newsflash for other possibilities.
Student Clubs General Information
Girl Up Club
Girl Up is a campaign by the United Nations Foundation, that gives young and adolescent girls a voice, opportunity and structure to make a change in their communities. Girl Up inspires change and action to girls worldwide to become a force, and a voice in the gender equality movement, and to help bring social change. Our club learns, supports, and advocates for everything Girl Up stands for; such as equality in sports and education, STEM for social good, advocacy, awareness, fundraising, spreading your message, speaking up, and so much more. Our group welcomes everyone to become an ally or an advocate to our community. The Lakeridge Girl Up Club would love to see you join our part in the Gender Equality Movement.
Check out our website
Join the movement!
Math Club
Queer Straight Alliance (QSA)
All Lakeridge Middle School students are invited to our weekly Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) lunch group. Every Friday we will get together after 2nd period to eat lunch over Zoom and enjoy a safe space to play games, do activities, learn about Queer culture, create Queer culture, problem solve, ask questions, share stories, explore identity, and get to know one another. All students are welcome, regardless of how you identify- LGBTQIA+. Come if you're Queer! Come if you're curious! Come if you're an Ally!
Reach out to Ms. Haffenreffer [pronouns: she/her] with questions.
Culinary Adventures Club
Oregon Battle of the Books
OBOB signups are open! Find your team of 3 to 5 members and complete the Google Form to register. Deadline: Nov. 1st. Start Reading!
This year, the OBOB competition at LMS will be conducted remotely on a date to be determined in late February or early March. Even if we have returned to in-person instruction by that time, the event will be held over Zoom so that students in both AM and PM cohorts and LO Online students can all participate.
We understand that finding interested teammates might be a little more difficult this year than normal, so please be diligent in reaching out to friends and acquaintances who you know love to read. If you are not able to find a full team of at least 3 members by Nov. 1st, please sign up anyway at the link above and we will make an effort to match you with others in a similar situation.
What is OBOB?
The Oregon Battle of the Books is a reading and trivia competition that serves as a statewide celebration of literacy and good books. Over 35,000 students across three divisions (3rd-5th, 6th-8th, and 9th-12th) from schools all over Oregon form teams of three to five members, then read and study from a common list of 16 books selected by the State OBOB committee each year. Last year, the books featured over 5,500 pages and over 1 million words of high-quality youth literature. We estimate that our LMS OBOBers read well over 20 million words last year as part of the program.
AMC 8
PTO Updates
Invest in our Learning Community
Your Lakeridge Middle School PTO is here for you and responding to evolving needs to support our LMS students, teachers, and staff. If you are in a position to make a donation this year, we are asking for $100 per family or any amount that is meaningful to you. Thank you for your support!
Click here to donate, or visit the LMS PTO website at losdschools.org/lmsPTO.
District Information
October is Dyslexia Awareness Month
What are the signs of Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a common condition that affects the way the brain processes written and spoken language. It can be associated with trouble reading, but it also can affect writing, spelling and even speaking. Many children have one or two of these issues on occasion. But kids with dyslexia have several of these issues, and they don’t go away.
Here are some signs to look for:
Preschool, Kindergarten, & First Grade:
Difficulties:
Difficulty learning (and remembering) the names of letters in the alphabet
Seems unable to recognize letters in his/her own name
Mispronounces familiar words; persistent “baby talk”
Trouble learning common nursery rhymes
Doesn’t recognize rhyming patterns like cat, bat, rat
A family history of reading and/or spelling difficulties (dyslexia often runs in families)
Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters on the page—will say “puppy” instead of the written word “dog” on a page with a picture of a dog
Does not understand that words come apart
Cannot sound out even simple words like cat, map, nap
Does not associate letters with sounds, such as the letter b with the “b” sound
Complains about how hard reading is; “disappears” when it is time to read
A history of reading problems in parents or siblings
Strengths
Curiosity
Great imagination
Ability to figure things out; gets the gist of things
Eager embrace of new ideas
A good understanding of new concepts
Surprising maturity
A larger vocabulary than typical for age group
Enjoys solving puzzles
Talent for building models
Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him
Second Grade through High School:
Reading
Very slow in acquiring reading skills. Reading is slow and awkward
Trouble reading unfamiliar words, often making wild guesses because cannot sound out the word
Has a tough time sounding out unfamiliar words
Avoids reading out loud
Gets tripped up by word problems in math
School and Life
Trouble remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists
Struggles to finish tests on time
Extreme difficulty learning a foreign language
Poor spelling
Messy handwriting
Low self-esteem that may not be immediately visible
Speaking
Searches for a specific word and ends up using vague language, such as “stuff” or “thing,” without naming the object
Pauses, hesitates, and/or uses lots of “um’s” when speaking
Confuses words that sound alike, such as saying “tornado” for “volcano,” substituting “lotion” for “ocean”
Mispronunciation of long, unfamiliar or complicated words
Seems to need extra time to respond to questions
Strengths
Excellent thinking skills: conceptualization, reasoning, imagination, abstraction
Learning that is accomplished best through meaning rather than rote memorization
Ability to get the “big picture”
A high level of understanding of what is read to him/her/they
The ability to read and to understand at a high level overlearned (or highly practiced) words in a special area of interest
Improvement as an area of interest becomes more specialized and focused—and a miniature vocabulary is developed that allows for reading in that subject area
A surprisingly sophisticated listening vocabulary
Excels in areas not dependent on reading, such as math, computers and visual arts, or in more conceptual (versus fact-driven) subjects, including philosophy, biology, social studies, neuroscience and creative writing
If you have questions or concerns regarding your child’s learning, please contact the school principal and/or literacy specialist. Another great parent resource would be to contact your school’s Student Services Parent Advisory Committee (SSPAC) representative. Please see here to learn how to contact your school representative.
Fee Waivers
Requests for resident fee waivers or fee reductions, except for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), will be processed using the attached form. Please complete the form and submit it to the department or school which collects the applicable fee or fees.
Effective October 5: Change in LOSD Grab & Go Meal Pickup Schedule
Great news! Starting the week of October 5, Lake Oswego School District is providing SEVEN DAYS of free breakfast and lunch meals to all children in the community ages 1-18. To accommodate these additional meals, LOSD is changing its pickup days effective Monday, October 5 to Mondays and Thursdays (no longer Wednesdays). One meal kit per child. Face covering required. Information regarding meal services is changing rapidly.
Lake Grove (Mon* & Thurs**) 11 to 12
River Grove (Mon* & Thurs**) 11 to 12
LOHS (Mon* & Thurs**) 11:45 to 12:45
LHS (Mon* & Thurs**) 11:45 to 12:45
*Mondays will provide 3 days of meals
**Thursdays will provide 4 days of meals
USDA and this institution are equal opportunity providers and employees.
Connections and Supports
Administration
Parent Organization
Need to make contact?
Email: schultzk@loswego.k12.or.us
Website: losdschools.org/lms
Location: 4700 Jean Road, Lake Oswego, OR, USA
Phone: 503-534-2343
Twitter: @LakeridgeMiddle