Amboy Middle School Newsletter
January 2019
PBIS STUDENT STORE
Amboy is excited to continue our Positive Behavior Program (PBIS). PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. Our positive school climate and culture is a direct result of why we run our PBIS program, resulting in a positive learning environment for all students.
One way we reward students is with our PBIS store. Students receive talons for carrying themselves in a positive manner at school. A few ways that students can earn talons and convert them into Eagle Bucks for store purchases are by being Respectful, being Responsible, being Safe, and helping others. Students turned in over 800 tickets at our December store!
Amboy hosts our PBIS Student Store on the last Friday of the month. In order to continue to provide for our PBIS Store, we are seeking donations from the community. If you have the ability to donate, feel free to bring donations to the front office or send monetary donations through the Square Cash app.The following are items we are looking for:
- $5 gift cards from local businesses
- Bags of candy, small bags of chips, gum, pop (especially Mt. Dew), erasers, pencils, mugs, highlighters, footballs, basketballs, etc...
- Larger donations such as a Kindle Fire, Beats headphones, iPod, etc. (These can be used for a large drawing at the end of the year.)
- If you would like to donate money, we will use it wisely to purchase items that students request. For Square Cash type $yacambpta with a memo: PBIS.
- Battle Ground School District Tax ID #: 91-6010122
We could not get this student store up and running without the PTA and the specific help of Mallory Porter and Amber Veach. They have been such a tremendous help working the first two stores of the year.
Thank you for all of your support of our students at Amboy Middle School!
5TH GRADE FOCUS
Thank you for participating in the glove, food, and sock drives! Your teachers want to wish you a happy and healthy holiday season, and we look forward to seeing you in 2019! Please remember to look for missing assignment sheets and missing assignments that students can work on. The end of the semester is quickly approaching, and we want to make sure all students are giving their full effort in class so that 5th grade can be a successful year!
6TH GRADE SUMMARY
OMSI Field Trip - At the Amboy Bazaar we raised $980 toward our field trip to OMSI! Thank you to all who donated to our Raffle Baskets! We have been given the opportunity to take ALL 6th grade students to OMSI on January 24, 2019. We will be needing several parent volunteers. Please contact your student's teacher if you are interested and available.
In order to chaperone, you need to fill out the online volunteer application. You will also need to bring in a photo ID to the school office and $15 for the cost of the field trip. All of these items need to be done no later than Monday, January 14.
Study Island - Please encourage your student to practice ELA and Math skills on Study Island. Specific areas of Math should be adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. For the ELA portion, any of the Reading Standards for Literature and Language Standards would be great practice!
40 Book Reading Challenge - We are continuing our journey throughout the year to read at least 40 books! We are almost halfway through the year. We encourage you to check in with your student to see if he/she is close to 20 books. Please help him/her set aside some time each day over the course of the next couple weeks to keep working on that challenge.
Happy Holidays from our 6th grade family to yours!
7TH GRADE SCOOP
In History, Mr. Mathis' and Mrs. Wood's classes will be presenting their African Civilization Project and beginning Feudalism in Japan going into January.
8TH GRADE UPDATE
The beginning of February is the end of the first semester, and these grades can influence your child's selection of classes for high school. How, you ask? If a student fails history, they will have to make the class up. Your child will need three math credits to graduate, and if they do not get into Algebra by their Sophomore year, they may not be able to graduate on time.
Also, the habits your child has in middle school are very hard to break and will usually follow him or her into high school. Make sure your child is checking for missing work, getting the work turned in, and advocating for themselves by asking what he or she will have to do to get help in any class they are having problems with.
SCIENCE
We are continuing to work on our Environmental Science/Human Impact unit. Students will be presenting their research projects on minerals in early December. We are ongoing with watershed/macro studies. Students will be heading down to the creek to take measurements on stream qualities - both physical and chemical. Other students will have the opportunity to investigate the macroinvertebrate life in our creek. They are gathering data to support a conclusion as to the overall quality of Chelatchie Creek. This is a great opportunity for our students to take part in real world field science. See your student's science teacher for volunteer opportunities.
MATH
Is your 8th grade child having problems in math? Do you have access to the internet?
If you have access to the internet and your child is in the Holt Mathematics course, they have access to tutorial and interactive practices for math. Your child does not need to take the book home because he or she can access the material at home. How, you ask? Go to: my.hrw.com. Each child has been issued a Username and Password by their math teacher.
Our math department recommends trying it out for 10 to 15 minutes, three times a week. If you would like, have the child review the tutorial each day. Remember: my.hrw.com.
If your child is in Algebra, he or she will have online access, too. Have your child go to: Pearsonrealize.com.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Like last year, we are using our Chromebooks almost every day in most of the classes. We have just finished up a novel study reviewing Pre/Revolutionary War information. The Language Arts section works with the History department, and we are expecting the child to use information from both classes.
After winter break, the ELA teachers will be working on Poetry; the students will be interpreting poems, understanding Figurative Language, and using poems for the Speaking and Listening portion of ELA Common Core.
COUNSELOR'S CORNER
College Bound Scholarship
Below is a link for the College Bound Scholarship. Please take a moment to look it over to see if your child is eligible to apply. Basically, if your child qualifies for free or reduced priced lunch, they are eligible to apply for this scholarship. Students must apply while they are still in the 8th grade! If awarded, the College Bound Scholarship will cover up to four years of tuition. This scholarship is accepted at almost any Washington University, College, or Technical school.
After completing the online application, submit and print. Parent and student signatures are required. Students can bring the completed form to Mrs. K to be mailed in, or you can mail it yourself.
To apply, or for more information, please go to: https://readysetgrad.wa.gov/college/college-bound-scholarship-program.
You can also email or call our school counselor, Jordan Kalliainen, at kalliainen.jordan@battlegroundps.org or 360-885-6050 with questions.
BGPS JOB OPENINGS
Join the BGPS Team! There are many positions available, including a Lunch/Recess Supervisor here at Amboy Middle School. Visit the district's Jobs web page to get more information and apply.