Phillips Preparatory Newsletter
March 2022 Edition
Message from Principal Dennis
Greetings Parents!
I'd like to express my gratitude to our students, parents, school personnel, and community members for pulling together to forge a strong support network for one another. The picture to the left illustrates my advocacy work on Capitol Hill over Mardi Gras break when I met with Alabama's legislators to discuss the needs of our schools. Our IB Learner profile calls for our students to be BALANCED. To cultivate balance, we must all ADVOCATE for the high academic achievement, social-emotional fitness, and mental and physical wellness of our students. As we approach 4th quarter, I ask that you continue to stay connected to one another, fortify relationships, and communicate needs to ensure that our students are successful, healthy, and happy. Stay safe and #StayStrong!
PARENT TIPS TO SUPPORT YOUR CHILD
Click the following link for more resources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Results from the ACAP Alternate and Summative assessments will be used for accountability purposes. All students will be tested, and results will be used for the school's report card calculations. All grade levels will take the English Language Arts Assessment on Tuesday, March 29th. Sixth and eighth graders will take the Science Assessment on Thursday, March 31st. All grade levels will take the Mathematics Assessment on Tuesday, April 5th. Let's all encourage our students to perform their best on these state assessments. Click the link above for more information about the tests.
UPCOMING EVENTS FOR PARENTS TO NOTE
Monday, February 28th - Wednesday, March 2nd - Presidents' Day and Mardi Gras Holidays (No School for Students)
Tuesday, March 15th - Friday, March 18th - Band Music Performance Assessment
Thursday, March 17th - Third Quarter Ends
Friday, March 18th - Teacher Work Day (No School for Students)
Monday, March 21st - Fourth Quarter Begins
Thursday, March 24th - Friday, March 25th - District Honor Band
Tuesday, March 29th - ACAP Testing for English Language Arts
Thursday, March 31st - ACAP Testing for Science
Tuesday, April 5th - ACAP Testing for Mathematics
The Mardi Gras Dance that was postponed will be held in April. Dates for end-of-year 8th grade events will be shared soon.
U.S. Department of Education - Character Education: Dealing with Media Pressure
"Dealing with Media Pressure
Without doubt, media messages influence the values that make up our character. The media—TV, radio, newspapers, movies, songs, video games, advertising—use powerful techniques to get our attention and to get their messages across in the most effective way. Taking charge of our use of the media requires learning to say “no” to media images and messages. It takes practice for children to learn to do this.
To help your child deal with media pressures, you should:
★ Talk with your child about media pressures. Explain that the media can use subtle or clever messages about who she should be, how she should look, how she should act, what should be the focus of her life, what she should do with her time, what kind of people she should value, what she should think of adults, and so on.
★ Help your child identify the different kinds of pressure he faces everyday from TV, magazines, billboards, music, movies, videos games, and more.
★ Discuss the consequences of accepting or not accepting media messages (e.g., being a bone-thin female, being a muscular male, buying designer clothes).
★ Teach your child the two-step refusal process:
1. Check out the message and apply the “self-esteem rule”: Does it make you feel bad about yourself? Do you see people treating each other the way you would want to be treated?
2. If the answer is yes, act quickly to avoid being influenced by doing one of the following:
—Change the channel or station, turn the page, stop playing the game.
—Turn off the TV, song, game, or radio, or throw away the magazine or newspaper or leave the place where the message is being presented.
—Talk back to the message with a positive counter-message.
—Make a joke about the message."
But our implementation of this increased student access to technology involves much more than can be represented by a simple ratio - more computers for students is only a part of our 1:1 initiative. Students will have access to more and better digital resources for learning and collaboration. Teachers will be supported with timely professional development opportunities, rich curricular resources, and faster access to better data to help guide instruction. Administrators will be able to make informed decisions, based on student performance data. Parents will have easier access to their students' assignments, assessments, and communications.
Our learning management system - Schoology - will communicate with our new student information system - PowerSchool - to provide parents, teachers, and administrators with current, actionable information on student achievement.
Providing each student with a computer will allow us to take even more advantage of the vast and growing availability of web-based resources.
Please visit our Resources Page for more information and guidance.
The yearbook deadline has been moved up to March 11th. No late orders will be accepted. Don’t delay. Our students have worked hard on this book, and it's going to be fabulous!
Go to yearbookordercenter.com (school code is 2122) to order!
If you are curious whether or not you’ve already ordered, please click the link below. If you paid a deposit during registration, the remainder is due by 3/9/22. That must be paid in person. For all other orders, go to the site above.
~Kim Wakefield: Yearbook Advisor
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YlEaNc2vzxiuVAzLC0Dx8XBt5EUsn3XFUL_TIUc8zDs/edit?usp=sharing
WHOLE FOODS GRANT WINNER
VISUAL ARTS ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM COMPETITION
3RD PLACE IN DISTRICT SPELLING BEE
VEX ROBOTICS COMPETITION
CLUB DAY - EVERY STUDENT IS INCLUDED!
CLUB DAY - STUDENT VOICE AND STUDENT CHOICE
ALABAMA PTA 2022 DIVERSITY WRITING CONTEST
Extended Day
Cafeteria - March Menus
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Phillips Preparatory School
Website: www.phillipsprep.com
Location: 3255 Old Shell Road, Mobile, AL, USA
Phone: (251) 221-2286
Facebook: facebook.com/PhillipsPrepIB
Twitter: @PhillipsPrepIB