Good morning everyone!

Our first Bingo Night of the year, and first since January of 2020, was a huge success Friday night!!

We would really like to thank our PTO for all they do and putting together a wonderful night! Our PTO volunteers do so much behind the scenes supporting our students in a very positive way, we can't say thank you enough, all your hard work is appreciated!!

We had a blast and there were lots of prizes given out!

Empowering Our Spartans

This week Ms. Christmas and I did walk-throughs in all of our classrooms looking at student engagement, unstuck strategies, learning targets, and student success criteria.

There is a lot that happens in each 57 minute class period to empower our Spartans to learn and our teachers work diligently to ensure learning is happening.

We saw students learning the Phoenician alphabet, writing creative endings to stories, learning to write professional emails, creating wooden ornaments, and engaging with ancient Mali all in two short periods! From rock cycles to Lewis and Clark (and so much more)--our Spartans are learning every single period.

While our teachers are working on engaging strategies and empowering our students, the students have a responsibility too--not tuning out and working through unstuck strategies to learn as much as they can.

Learning is hard work--and we all know that Spartans can do hard things!

Spartan Volleyball

We kicked off the second half of second season with Volleyball on Wednesday. With almost 60 girls turning out for tryouts--AWESOME!

The parent meeting for Volleyball is Thursday, December 8 at 4:00 p.m.

Coaches will discuss expectations, which includes academic eligibility. We will also make sure everyone has a Parent Transportation Letter waiver on file in the event we can not have buses drive us to our away meets.

LOST AND FOUND PICTURES!

We have included below lots of pictures of our lost and found. We will be donating everything on Friday, December 16th, so please take a look at the pictures included and have your student check the stage in the cafeteria when they have time

Inclement Weather

As the weather forecasts indicate, we may see cold weather this winter. Our Superintendent, Dr. Rumbaugh, has shared with everyone how we make the determination to delay or close schools due to ice, snow, flooding, etc.

• Safety first! We consider the safety of our children on buses, our student drivers, families driving and walking to school, and the safety of our staff, especially our bus drivers.

• We monitor weather patterns using multiple methods 24/7. In particular, we use a tool called Accuweather that is specifically designed to support school districts in looking ahead at weather patterns.

• When there is a concern about school starting on time, our staff begins driving the roads throughout the district as early as 2 a.m. We take photos, check road conditions, monitor traffic, look for hazards, etc. We typically drive the roads multiple times in the early morning to determine if conditions are improving, worsening, or staying the same.

• We strive to decide about the school day by 5 a.m. Once the decision is made, we begin communicating with families and staff. We communicate through:

• Autodialer (via School Messenger)

• Email (via School Messenger)

• Website

• Flash Alert

Predicting the weather is a challenge, and our primary goal is to ensure that the roads are safe, our campuses are easy to navigate, and the weather does not impede a safe school day.

Have a great weekend!

Tod Klundt

Principal

Stanwood Middle School

360.629.1350

tklundt@stanwood.wednet.edu

This week we announced our first Spartan Pride Awards during lunch. Names and pictures are below. We will continue to announce these weekly during lunch and send the slips home to families for prominent refrigerator display.

This week we had an ASB meeting in the cafeteria and it was the conclusion of the boys basketball season!

This week our Spartan Staff Spotlight turns to Sam Smothermon and Joe Wiederhold, two of our general ed paras who work in classrooms and help with supervision during lunch and after school.

Mrs. Smothermon is in her 14th year at Stanwood Middle School, with 20 years total in the school district. She served as PTO vice-president for six (or so) years and knows a lot about the traditions and history of our school. Her favorite thing about Stanwood Middle School is the age group (yes, you read that correctly). She loves the kids and that they want to do good things.

Mr. Joe is in his second year at Stanwood Middle School. He's worked for the district since 2014 (and another brief stint back in 2004-05) and recently certified as an emergency sub, so our Spartans might see him in their classrooms as the teacher some days! His favorite thing about Stanwood Middle School is the mix of students and staff--making it the unique place that our school is!

For families in need of support or connection to resources/services, please feel free to reach out to our Student Support Advocate, Amy Hart. Amy can help answer questions, connect families to community resources, and share needed information on programs and services that may be helpful. Amy is here to help however possible, and can be reached via phone (call or text) or email: 360-965-8249 or ahart@stanwood.wednet.edu.

Please be aware as we hand out chromebooks that there are fines associated with them if they are not returned and/or returned without damage.

The 2022-2023 student calendar is LINKED HERE and also pictured below.

Our PTO is an amazing group of people working together to support our students. From fundraisers to activities, their work helps our Spartans engage, connect, and thrive at Stanwood Middle School. Please like their Facebook page for all the up-to-date information about our school.

Families can access individual student transportation information online.

Versatrans eLink is the portal to access the bus route, stop time, location, and the bus your child will be riding. The "User Name" and "Password" on the login page is your student's 7-digit identification number.

Click here for instructions on finding bus routes

Click here to go to Versatrans eLink

The Stanwood-Camano School District does not discriminate in employment, programs, or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. Inquiries regarding compliance and/or grievance procedures may be directed to the District's Title IX/Affirmative Action Officer and Civil Rights Compliance Coordinator, Maurene Stanton (mstanton@stanwood.wednet.edu), or the Section 504/American Disabilities Act Coordinator, Robert Hascall (rhascall@stanwood.wednet.edu) Stanwood-Camano School District, 26920 Pioneer Hwy, Stanwood, WA 98292. Telephone: (360) 629-1200.

El Distrito Escolar de Stanwood-Camano School District no discrimina en sus programas o actividades por motivos de sexo, raza, credo, religión, color, origen nacional, edad, condición de veterano de guerra o grado militar, orientación sexual, expresión de género o identidad, discapacidad o uso de perro guía entrenado o animal de servicio, y ofrece igualdad de acceso a los Boy Scouts y a otros grupos de jóvenes especificados. El empleado mencionado a continuación ha sido designado para atender consultas y quejas de supuesta discriminación: Título IX / Oficial de Acción Afirmativa y Coordinador de Cumplimiento de Derechos Civiles, Maurene Stanton (mstanton@stanwood.wednet.edu), o la Sección 504 / Coordinador de la Ley de Discapacidades Estadounidenses, Robert Hascall (rhascall@stanwood.wednet.edu), Distrito Escolar Stanwood-Camano, 26920 Pioneer Hwy, Stanwood, WA 98292. Teléfono: (360) 629- 1200