• Thank you to the FHMS PTSA and all of the parents who contributed to make Staff Appreciation Week 2022 a week to remember. We appreciated your thoughtfulness, generosity, and humor. We felt the love from our community, and we are honored and privileged to get to work at FHMS! See the pictures below for highlights from the week.

From Ms. Duncan

• Thank you to all of the parents who chaperoned our dance to make it such a success! We have heard nothing but glowing reviews from our students! We honestly could not hold these events without you all and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

• Shouting from the hill tops how wonderful Peter Strong is. He continually steps up to help whenever asked. From putting together our Career Day interviews to lending us space in the library and just being such a pleasant colleague to work with.

From Mr. Strong

• Thank you to all the very generous parents (and one grandparent!) who have already purchased 44 diverse books for the library so far! Look for more information below if you would like to contribute a book also.

Monday, May 9

• SBA Testing Begins, ELA & Math, Grades 6-8

Thursday, May 12

• FHMS Community Equity Team Meeting, 6:00 PM-7:00 PM, library

We want to let you know of a project we are doing to honor your 8th grade student. We would like to celebrate your student’s promotion to high school by displaying two pictures of them on a bulletin board: one from when they started elementary school (K) and one of them as an 8th grader as part of an honor wall to be displayed during the month of June.

Please provide us with two digital pictures of your child (labeled with their name) by uploading them to the folder linked here. We hope to have this display up by June 1st, so we ask that you turn your pictures in by Monday, May 29.

Your child’s display will be returned to you at the promotion ceremony if you attend or returned to your child before the end of the day on Wednesday, June 15.

Would you like your art to be featured on the cover of the Eighth Grade Promotion Ceremony Pamphlet? If so, create an original piece of Finn Hill-themed art and turn it into Mrs. Wishon by May 13th. We will post pictures of these on Teams for all eighth-graders to vote on. The winner will be announced on Friday, May 20th.

Exposure Notifications for Students

If you receive a COVID Exposure Notification for your student, please note that they can continue to attend school and school activities so long as they don't have any symptoms. Any student who shares a class, sport, or other activity with someone who has tested positive will get an email home saying they were potentially exposed to COVID. This does not necessarily mean they are considered a close contact, it just means they could have been exposed. The date(s) of the potential exposure are listed in the letter, so if your student was absent the notice can be disregarded.

Positive COVID-19 Cases

We have had 25 confirmed positive COVID-19 case(s) at our school this week.

Families of close contacts have already been, or will be, contacted regarding these positive cases. For privacy concerns, please do not email or call the school or district asking about which classes are impacted because we cannot give out that information. Thank you for your understanding on this.

Please continue to follow all safety precautions and requirements for coming on site.

We had a wonderful time working with your students over the last week talking about their futures and exploring careers. We also had a successful virtual Career Day in which students had the opportunity to choose from over 40 videos on various careers and career paths to watch and reflect on. We encourage you to follow up with your student about what they learned this week. Here are some specific questions you can ask to help get the conversation going.

• What were some of the careers you were matched with in Xello (our career exploration and High School and Beyond platform, pronounced Zello)?
• What Careers did you save and why?
• What kind of education/training would you need to do one of those careers?
• What is your plan for the year after high school?
• What videos did you watch for Career Day and what is something you learned from them?
• We also encourage you to share your own career pathway. Did you know what you wanted to do when you were in middle school? How did you get to where you are now?

We hope this can spark some meaningful discussions for you!

FHMS Counseling TEAM

As a reminder, students will be taking state tests this week. Students in grades 6, 7, and 8 will take the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) in Language Arts on Monday, 5/9 and Tuesday, 5/10 and in Math on Wednesday, 5/11 and Thursday, 5/12. Students in grade 8 only will take the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS) on Monday, 5/16. Make up testing will begin on Friday, 5/13 and will continue the following week until all students complete testing. The daily schedule/bell schedule for each test day is included below.

Preparing for the Assessments

• Please send a wired set of headphones with your student every day of testing. We will provide headphones to students who do not bring a wired set. Note: Bluetooth headphones may not be used during state testing. If students prefer to use a mouse on the test, they may bring a wired mouse to school on testing days. Bluetooth mice are not allowed.
• Students should bring their fully charged laptop to school each day.
• Students should arrive on time to school. Assessments start second period so students should be in their testing rooms by that time. Students received an email on 5/4 with their testing location. They practiced testing procedures during Falcon Time today.

• Students should bring a book to read in case they finish the test early. Students will not be able to complete homework or work on their laptops if they finish the test early.

In the past year, we’ve made great strides in making our library book collection more reflect our student population. Please help the library continue to expand their selection. If you’d like to buy a book (or books!) for the Finn Hill library, go to our gift registry at: https://www.amazon.com/registries/custom/2FVS1GUX6EIZJ/guest-view

Books can be purchased and sent directly to Finn Hill. If you have any questions, please contact Peter Strong at pestrong@lwsd.org.

• May 13, SBA Make Up Testing Begins
• Week of May 16, Make Up Testing Continues
• May 16, WCAS Testing, 8th Grade
• May. 24, Algebra Information Night, 6:00 PM-6:30 PM, Teams
• May 24, FHMS PTSA Community Meeting and volunteer appreciation & new member welcome event, in person @ FHMS, 7:00 PM-9:00 PM

• 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)

Needs

PTSA BOARD VOLUNTEERS: We desperately need volunteers for next year’s PTSA board; especially for the following positions: PRESIDENT, VP SCHOOL SERVICES, and VP FAMILY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. Please do not hesitate to volunteer. WE NEED YOU! Contact kdorwin@gmail.com for more information.

Upcoming Events

PTSA COMMUNITY MEETING: Our next meeting will be May 24, 2022, 7pm at Finn Hill Middle School. Yup, that’s right, we are back in person! We want you all to attend as this is a special meeting for so many reasons. Some of the highlights include:

• Check in with the principals
• Welcoming incoming 6th grade families
• Recognizing our incredible volunteers
• Electing our 2022-2023 PTSA Board
• Saying farewell to our 8th grade families
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Educational Opportunities

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING SKILLS: The past two years have not been easy for students. Many have come out of remote learning with a loss of their executive functioning skills. These include how to organize, plan, prioritize, manage time, maintain focus, self-assess, and study efficiently. Join Mary Pat O'Neil, independent college counselor, and Nancy Colburn, certified ADHD coach, as they discuss symptoms of executive function loss, and strategies to improve skills, along with answering audience questions. Register here for our May 5th 7-8pm webinar.

PARENT CHAT WEBINAR- UNDERSTANDING ANGER: Wednesday, May 11 at 7 pm Our next Parent Chat is "Understanding Anger: Strategies for Parents." Identify myths about anger, reflect on the messages we received and those we convey to our kids about anger, and learn anger control and conflict resolution strategies. Register here for our Spring Parent Chat series.