KP Connection
Weekend Edition January 10, 2015
No Twitter Account Required --Please enjoy our updates for the week.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- All Month --KP Challenge Wonder Read and Kindness Activities
- 6th Grade Concert 7:00PM to 8:30 PM
- Posting Kindness Locker Notes from 3:00 PM to 6:00PM at KP
- Select Ensemble Concert 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
- Geography Bee- auditorium 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM
- Garnet Tm Service Dinner @ Immaculate Conception 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM
- Dr. Martin Luther King Day -NO SCHOOL
- West Hartford's 19th annual Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life on Monday, January 19, 2015, 10:00-11:30 AM, at the West Hartford Town Hall auditorium
- END of QUARTER 2
- Midfest Rehearsal - Sedgwick !:00PM
- Knitting to be Kind - A Community knitting/crocheting event to create baby items 4:30-6:15PM @ KP (see below for more information)
- Penguin Plunge at Winding Trails in Farmington 9:00AM
- 8th Grade High School Elective Presentation during Learning Lab (1:20PM)
27th
- Report Cards Distributed
- Technology Tuesday --Parent/Guardian Tech Opportunity (see below)
28th
- Hall 8th Gr.Parent Orientation 7:00pm – 8:30pm @ Hall
30th
Coffeehouse/Scene Night 7pm – 9pm
SCHOOL NEWS
King Philip students are reading the novel, Wonder and we working on Acts of Kindness activities both at school and at home. Our plans is for students, staff, parents/guardians, and community members to perform kind acts, big or small, planned or unplanned. Ideas for acts of kindness and special events will be listed on KP’s homepage, included in future KP Connections, along with a postcard that will be mailed home next week.
We are asking for your help in evaluating the impact of our Kindness Challenge in multiple ways.
- Submitting them through our Kindness is Contagious form (click here)
- Having your child bring a completed Acts of Kindness form to his or her morning advisory each Friday (these forms will be distributed in MA) .
- Tweeting in acts of kindness to @KPWHPS with the hashtag #KPKind
- Posting on our KP Acts of Kindness electronic bulletin (click here) board where you can post pictures and text.
- A Kindness board will be created to display the number and types of the acts of kindness at KP.
Thank you for supporting our efforts to cultivate a climate of Respect, Responsibility, and Good Citizenship where our Character Counts.
KP Kindness Options (click here)
KP KINDNESS EVENTS
Join us at KP on January 15th from 3:00- 6:00pm to write kindness quotes and post them on lockers. Students should be accompanied by a parent/guardian. Please bring a nonperishable food item to be donated to the local food bank.
Join us at KP on January 22nd -Knitting Club will host a Knitting to be Kind event to knit caps or blankets to be donated to St. Agnes Home from 4:30-6:15pm please rsvp to Ms. Pacyna or Ms. Shoemaker. This is an extend family event! (see below for more information)
Join us at KP on February 6th- Bring a t-shirt and create your own Kindness T-Shirt from 2:00-3:30PM and 6:30-7:30PM. We encourage that a parent/guardian accompany a student. Please bring a nonperishable food item to be donated to the local food bank.
- Join us at KP on February 11th for Family Paint Night. KP's very own art teacher, Mrs. Grindle will host this creative evening from 6:30-8:30 pm. There is a $15.00 charge per pair ($22 for three) for this event with proceeds going to the American Heart Association. Seating is limited to the first twenty-five people to register with payment. Students must be accompanied by an adult.
Knitting to be Kind - A Community knitting/crocheting event to create baby items
St. Agnes Home in West Hartford provides residential care and supportive services for pregnant and parenting adolescent mothers and their infants.
If you have basic knitting or crocheting skills, please plan to join us on January 22, 2015, 4:30-6:15 PM, at King Philip MS. This is an invitation to all teachers/staff, students, parents, grandparents, guardians and friends of KPM. We will focus on creating baby hats or squares to be sewn into baby blankets. We will have patterns and some supplies, but if possible, bring your own knitting/crochet tools and machine washable yarn. Squares for baby blankets will require worsted weight washable yarn. This is a great way to use up that stash!!!
To help us plan, please RSVP by email or phone to Cheryl Pacyna (ext 5261) or Kathy Shoemaker (ext 2276). Let us know how many people will be attending and if you need supplies or will be bringing your own.
Receiving Weather Alerts
Weather closing messages are sent in two ways:
- The night before or the morning of a delayed opening (like Wednesday night's call). These are sent as Outreach messages and will go to 2 phone numbers.
- During the school day if there is an early dismissal, messages are sent as Emergency messages and will go to every phone number.
If you did not receive a call on Wednesday night to all of the numbers you have, please call our office so we can confirm our information in Power School which updates our messaging system. All changes take effect the next day.
Penguin Plunge
On Sunday, January 25th, students and teachers from King Philip will be taking the Penguin Plunge at Winding Trails in Farmington! All money raised will benefit the Special Olympics of Connecticut. We invite all staff, students, parents and friends to join us! If you are interested in taking the Plunge, please email Ms. Pearson at katherine_pearson@whps.org for registration information. If you would like to support our team, please visit http://soct.convio.net/goto/KPCares
Thank you!
Technology Tuesday --Parent/Guardian Social Media Opportunity --JANUARY 27th
You don't want to miss this Tech Tuesday Event!
6:30-7:15PM --How teens and adults are connecting in the 21st Century
- Come learn about a few Social Media Apps that students and adults use
7:15-8:00PM -- It's Complicated book conversation part 3
- See 21st Century technology and the power of social media in action as we SKYPE with parents/guardians from a middle school in O'Fallon Missouri to discuss how they navigate the complicated world of social media with their teens. Even if you didn't read the book, this is a great opportunity to discuss teens and social media and connect and learn with and from other parents/guardians.
Contests/Competions - Encourage Your Child to Paricipate
2015 ProjectCSGIRLS Competition for Middle School Girls!
ProjectCSGIRLS (www.projectcsgirls.com) is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to close the gender gap in computer science and technology through running a national computer science competition for middle school girls and workshops around the country. Our competition challenges girls to be makers and use tech to develop projects with social impact.
The deadline to register for the 2015 ProjectCSGIRLS competition is February 15th, 2015 but if participants would like to request a mentor, they must register by February 1st. Projects are due April 1st so encourage students to register early!
A link to the online registration form can be found here.
Please help us reach hundreds of middle school girls across the country through the 2015 ProjectCSGIRLS Competition for Middle School Girls by encouraging your students to register for the competition and have the unique chance to build a tech project with social impact! Outreach instructions (social media posts, email blurbs, etc.) can be found here. Our flyer can be found here.
If you would like to get involved as a mentor for competition participants, please sign up here. Or if you would like to judge participants' projects, sign up here. If you would like to make an individual donation, please see our Donate page. If your company would like to sponsor ProjectCSGIRLS, please contact sponsorus@projectcsgirls.com. For general questions, please contact pooja@projectcsgirls.com. Thanks for your interest!
More Contests
Contests by the CT Council of Language Teachers (COLT)
For questions about either of these contests, please contact the teacher mentioned.
Poetry Contest: The Connecticut Council Of Language Teachers will present its annual poetry recitation contest in American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin only), English To Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL/ELL), French, German, Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Portuguese, Polish, Russian and Spanish on Tuesday – March 17, 2015 (snow date: Thursday - March 19, 2015). The contest will take place at Lyman Hall High School in Wallingford, CT (203.294.5350). The contest will begin promptly at 3:30 p.m. and will end by 6:30 p.m. Information regarding the poems to recite will be given to students.
The internal contest for interested participants will be on JANUARY 12th after school from 3:00-4:00pm. If your child is interested, please have him or her contact sixth grade World Language teacher Ms. Pearson room 213 or at Katherine_Pearson@whps.org. The department will cover the entry fees and the school will cover the transportation to the event if there are large number of participants.
Poster Contest: THEME: Lead With Languages: Global Skills for a Competitive Edge
Flyers detailing the expectations (click here) are available to all interested students in their MA and were e-mailed to them as well. All submissions must be submitted by February 19th to Mrs. Scobbo. Select World Language teachers use the judging criteria to select the 5 posters that will represent KP in this state-wide competition. If your child is interested, please have him or her contact sixth grade World Language teacher Mrs. Scobbo room 6 or at margarita_scobbo@whps.org. The department will cover the entry fees for the posters chosen.
Student Voices for Improving Education
From now until March 2, 2015, the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) and the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) are challenging middle and high school students across the state to develop creative videos and compelling essays (high school division only) that articulate their ideas for improving education in Connecticut. Whether they've brainstormed creative ways to increase learning opportunities outside of the classroom or have unique ideas for increasing collaboration among their peers, we want to hear about it!
today.
In the Community
Internet and Video Game Addiction: LOL or OMG?
Join Dr. Paul Weigle, child and adolescent psychiatrist, for a discussion of the impact of the Internet and video games on children's mental health.
Wednesday, January 14
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Braeburn Elementary School
Babysitting will be provided. If needed, please email rebekahseaton@yahoo.com.
Noah Webster House Tavern Nights 2015
The evening will feature cuisines and entertainment from three prominent West Hartford cultures. Enjoy Asian, South American, and Russian foods, music, and dancing. Tickets are $40 per person and $35 for museum members. The evening will also feature a special drink tasting and tavern games.
Tickets include dinner, one complimentary drink, live music, and tavern games. Additional beverages will be available for purchase. A valid ID is required for alcoholic drinks. Vegetarian options must be requested at the time reservations are made. Reservations are available through the museum’s website at www.noahwebsterhouse.org, or by calling 860-521-5362 x10.