During spring break several of our 6th graders competed in a regional Science Bee. Three of our students qualified for the national competition in Orlando, FL!!!!! If you see these kids around, please congratulate them on their hard work and big science brains!

• Taylor Mineart – he was the champion for 6th grade science
• Anderson Cook took 2nd place
• Dylan Harrison claimed the 3rd place spot
• Cassidy Ballew came in 4th, but will not be advancing to the national competition.

We are so incredibly proud of our Falcons! 😃

Friday, April 22

• AVID Applications Due
• Falcon 5K Kickoff, 4:00 PM-6:30 PM
  

Monday, April 25-Friday, April 29

• Career week has been moved to April 25-29th.

Tuesday, April 26

• Culinary Competition Entries for Mr. Briehl's Students Due

Wednesday, April 27

• Administrative Professionals Day

Thursday, April 28

• Virtual Career Day will be on 4/28.

Friday, April 29

• ASB Dance, 6:00 PM-8:00 PM

• Week of 5/9, SBA Testing, ELA & Math, Grades 6-8
• May 16, WCAS Testing, 8th Grade
• Week of 5/16, Make Up Testing
• June 2-Future Falcon Visit (fifth graders visit FHMS), 10:00 AM-12:00 PM
• June 10, Eighth Grade Family Fun Center Field Trip
• June 14-Eighth Grade Promotion Ceremony, 6:30 PM-8:00 PM, Gym
• June 15-Eighth Grade Clap Out, 2:45 PM-3:05 PM
• June 16-Field Day, 1:00 PM-2:30 PM
• June 17-Last Day of School (Half Day)

We have been alerted that traffic along 84th Ave NE at afternoon dismissal time has become dangerous due to vehicles waiting in line in the normal traffic lanes and/or blocking the driveway entrance to the EAS pick up area. Since we do not have staff to monitor this situation, we are asking that parents coming to pick up students after school follow a few simple guidelines to promote smoother traffic flow and provide better safety.

1. When pulling into the EAS traffic loop, please pull as far forward and as close to the curb as possible.

2. If traffic is backed up onto the street, please pull to the curb to wait in line. Do not stop and wait in the regular traffic lanes.

3. Please do not stop your car across the sidewalk/driveway entrance to the EAS traffic circle. Wait until you can fully pull in before advancing.

4. If picking up students on 84th rather than in the EAS traffic loop, please only do so on the school side of the street. Do not park across the street from the school and have your student(s) cross in the middle of the street to enter your vehicle.

Thank you for your adherence to these important safety guidelines!

Look for new and exciting items coming to the Finn Hill Café. We will be doing new salads, sandwiches and pizza starting the week of April 18th. Also, effective Monday, April 18th, French fries will no longer be offered with the grill items. French fries will cost $1.00 and you must have either a positive lunch balance or cash.

Earth Week

To recognize Earth Week, we have created an Earth Week Bingo of sorts. Each day you have a variety of options of exploration on 5 different environmental topics: energy use, water quality & use, biodiversity, waste reduction and air quality. We hope that you will embrace the changes we need to make to protect our environment and reduce our waste.

Click here

Garden News

Green Team planted their marigold starts in their fenced vegetable garden space before spring break and a variety of cold weather friendly greens this week. If they can survive our random hail events, greens should be ready to start harvesting in a couple of weeks. When temperatures warm up, we also have tomato, pumpkin, broccoli, strawberry, spinach, lemon balm, etc. starts that will be planted. We promise to share pictures soon.

Spring Soap Fundraiser

Green Team is running its spring Small Business Soap Fundraiser from April 18th – April 29th with soap delivery May 6th. Students will be receiving soap fundraiser order forms during Falcon Time on Monday April 18th and will need to deliver their filled-out forms with check/money to their Falcon Time teacher or Ms. Stephens in the office by Friday April 29th. If your student(s) loses their form, you can print it at home or pick up a new one from their Falcon Time teacher or the office.

Click here

Alternative Way to Help

If not interested in buying soaps, our Green Team is also looking for donations of no longer wanted drought-friendly, full sun flowering shrubs/plants that we can plant in our non-fenced pollination garden area. We are hoping for shrubs/plants that will be less than 5 feet tall since most of us are under 5 feet tall.

Needs

• JOIN PTSA BOARD: Thank you to those who have volunteered for our elected board positions! We are still searching for nominees for president. Without a president, we will have to dissolve our PTSA. The good news is that as president, you will have the support of an active, involved board, as well as the support of the school administration! If you see the importance of PTSA programs and support at FHMS, please volunteer your time and talents to the FHMS PTSA Board. Email kdorwin@gmail.com for details.
• AVID VOLUNTEERS: The AVID program at Finn Hill is in urgent need of consistent weekly volunteers on Tu/Th mornings (especially Thursday Mornings) for one-two hours. Please sign up here.
• SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE and AWARDS COMMITTEE: Want to help the PTSA but can’t commit to a year-long job? We need about 3 volunteers for each committee. Scholarship committee is tasked with reviewing scholarship applications to be awarded via the FHMS PTSA. The awards committee is tasked with running the PTSA based awards, both for staff and for volunteers. The time commitment and workload are small but can be a huge benefit to our community! Email president@fhmsptsa.org if you can help, and for more information.

Upcoming Events

• FALCON 5K: FHMS PTSA is hosting a virtual 5K to help bridge our fundraising gap. The cost is $40 per participant, and all the proceeds go to the PTSA. If you aren’t interested in the run, we will also gladly accept donations. Sign up/donate here by April 22nd.

Education/Enrichment

• INTERNET SAFETY PARENT ED: LWPTSA and LWSD are hosting Stefanie Hanley, an expert in crimes against children and other high-risk victims online. She has more than 15 years of experience working collaboratively with federal and local law enforcement. This presentation will cover cyberbullying, social networking, online gaming, sexting, mental health aspects of internet safety, teens as targets, screen addiction, and internet and cell phone safety tips. When: Monday, April 18 at 7 pm Where: Online via Zoom; register here

• EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING PARENT ED: LWSF is hosting a 4-session virtual workshop. The goal is to help parents cultivate advanced social and emotional awareness and skills that can help parents clarify their parenting identity, improve relationships, and help raise resilient kids. The first session starts April 20th. Learn more and register here.

Staff Appreciation

• Please help show our FHMS teachers and staff how much we appreciate them during this year's Staff Appreciation Week! Sign up here to help: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080d49a9a628a2f94-please
• This year's theme is "Survivor" - because, phew, what a year for our fantastic FHMS teachers and staff to have survived and thrived, back in the building! The PTSA really needs your help to show our staff just how much their dedication, flexibility, and hard work is appreciated - we'll be providing them with delicious snacks, treats, and fun goodies all week long! We're asking for specific donations, but if easier, please consider donating money to help fund a lunch!

The Panorama spring survey will be given to all students on Wednesday, April 27 during fourth period. We use the data at Finn Hill to measure growth in social and emotional learning as part of our school improvement plan. We will be analyzing the spring results and comparing them to the results we received in the fall.

The survey is anonymous, but if you would like to opt your child out of taking it, please reach out to your child's counselor via email to let her know of your wishes.

For more information, please see the

Lake Washington School District has finalized plans to make up for the one day missed due to the January 3, 2022 snow day. May 31 was built-in as a snow make up day, meaning that if we had snow days this school year, we would make them up by changing this day from a non-student day to a regular school day. The 2021-22 calendar has been modified to reflect this change. Tuesday, May 31 has changed from a non-school day to a full day for students.

View printable school calendar.

• We had one positive case reported this week.

• Onsite school PCR testing: Lake Washington School district offers on-site PCR testing at your school. A testing team will be on-site one day a week. Finn Hill offers testing from 7:30 am-8:30 am on Fridays. Students can test at their school location during the scheduled time. Testing is free and while insurance is not required, you may be asked to provide your insurance information if available. No appointment is needed for school testing.

  • Parent or guardian must complete the “opt into testing” form before testing can be done. This will only need to be done once per school year.
  • Alternatively, a student can bring completed consent form to school the day of testing:
    • English | Spanish | Chinese | Hindi | Portuguese | Russian | Telugu

  
  

As a follow up to the information counselors recently shared regarding the increase in mental health needs, we are seeing nationwide, we have included a link to an article that talks about helping teens to manage stress. The article comes to us from Newport Academy, a local provider.

https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/mental-health/teen-stress-relief/?utm_source=pardot

Extended Absence: If your student is going to be absent for more than 3 days from school, you and your student need to complete the Pre-Arranged Absence Form and submit the form to the attendance desk in the office PRIOR to your absence. Student must take the paper form to all teachers to complete.

Form can be found here: LWSD Secondary Pre-Arranged Absence Form (finalsite.net)

Early Dismissal: Please notify the attendance office at least one hour prior to departure.

Tardy Students: All students arriving to school after 8.35am need to be signed in by a parent or guardian at the school office. Even if you have called to tell us your student is running late.

Reporting an Absence: If your student is absent, please notify the attendance office within 48 hours with your students' name, date of absence and reason for absence.

Attendance Voicemail: 425-936-2341. Email: FinnHillMSAttend@lwsd.org

Sick Kids: If your student reaches out to you while they are at school, to tell you they are not well and want to go home, please encourage them to go to the health room/office immediately. In an effort to keep students healthy and safe, having an unwell student sitting in class with other students is not a wise decision.