KMS WEEKLY UPDATE

What a fantastic first week of school we have had! Thank you to all parents, guardians, students, teachers and staff!

As I mentioned in our last newsletter, KMS will conduct regularly scheduled drills during this school year. Conducting drills is an important part of our preparation for emergency situations and help staff, students and families understand what to expect during an emergency.

As a school district we understand that some emergency drills, like lockdown drills, can elicit concern and stress because of the nature of the drill. To help lower the levels of stress around lockdown drills, which will increase the ability for students to create the muscle memory around what they need to do, we are communicating early to you and your students about the upcoming lockdown drill at Kodiak Middle School which will be held the week of 9/5-9/8. Teachers will notify students the day before or the morning of the drill. Please see the attached flyer on the Standard Response Protocol for more information on Lockdowns.

New this year, students may have the opportunity to attend different types of intervention labs, as needed. There are 3 options:

• Reading Lab
• Math Lab
• Learning Lab

Reading Lab or Math Lab will address unfinished learning in either of these content areas. Identified students and families will be notified of this opportunity before enrollment. Each of these labs would take the place of a 9-week elective.

The Learning Lab is an opportunity for students with one or more failing grades due to missing assignments. Students will have the opportunity to attend the Learning Lab in place of their elective until they complete the required work to get their grade up to passing. At this point, students will return to their scheduled elective in progress. Again, students and families will be notified of this opportunity before placement in the Learning Lab.

If you have any questions, my door is always open.

-Geoff Smith

This is where we will have a quick reference for the upcoming week. More info is usually listed lower in the newsletter, if needed.

For example, this coming week, we have a drill and a field trip. More detailed info will be included later in the newsletter for those two items, but we won't list anything extra for the school holidays or early release days. Those are just reminders.

MAP stands for Measures of Academic Progress and KMS will administer these tests 3 times this academic year. Please see the attachment below for more info.

Mrs. King still needs MANY pieces of plastic, wood, or metal to give the bus ramp art a facelift! If you have noticed the bear and fishes along the Powell Street bus ramp - several pieces have come off and need to be replaced. Anything you can spare to send in to the main office (bagged, please) will be put to use and GREATLY appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

We are still accepting new runners, if you would like to join!

Just see Mrs. King, in the Art room or grab a form from the main office!

Students will have opportunities to get to know their classmates, enjoy nature, and have an adventure as we walk up Pillar Mountain, enjoy the view, then walk back to school. We will leave from Advisory period at 8:50AM and come back to school around 2PM.

Students should bring: a water bottle, rain jacket, sack lunch/snacks (or request one from the school during 1st period Tuesday's lunch count), and comfortable shoes.

Permission slips will go home today, and need to be returned on Tuesday. Students will not be able to go on the field trip without a signed permission slip.

If you are interested in volunteering to chaperone, please call the office at 907-486-7460 or email Alex Otto at aotto02@kibsd.org

For more information on how to be approved to volunteer in our school district, click HERE.

6th grade students will be bringing home an iPad contract Friday, September 1.

Parents AND students need to read AND sign the form and return it to their 7th period teacher on Tuesday in order to receive their iPads.

KIBSD-issued iPads are to ensure each student has the technology to participate and complete the coursework for each of their classes. If you would like to enable parental controls to manage your student's device, the app below is free to use and compatible with iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Android.

The graphic below is clickable, as well.

We had a great first week of school! Thanks for all your effort!

Stay safe, have fun, and enjoy the activities around the community for our long weekend break!

For your convenience, we are attaching this information for 8th grade classes below.

Here you will find events that will be happening in the future, but not during the coming week. We want to give our families plenty of time to plan and knowing the dates, but maybe not all the details will help with that. Details will be later in this newsletter or another newsletter in the near future.

• 9/11-9/15: Math MAP Testing
• 9/12: PTSA Meeting @ 6pm in the KMS Commons
• 9/14: KMS Open House @ 4:30-6pm
• 9/19: KMS Picture Day
• 9/29: Migrant Education Family Social @ 6:30pm at the Kodiak City Pool

• 10/1: Migrant Education Family Social @ 1:30pm at the Kodiak City Pool

Families must be present to sign their students up for their beloved annual swim and ice rink pass.

September 29 and October 1st Migrant Education Family Socials are the only opportunities to sign your students up for this pass.

We will no longer be taking requests throughout the year.

Please plan to attend if you wish to have your annual City of Kodiak facility use fee covered by our department.

If you have any questions, please contact KIBSD Federal Programs at 907-486-7596

*If your student arrives after the morning bell please direct them to the main office entrance, to see the attendance secretary, Mrs. Tricia. All tardies will be marked unexcused unless a parent calls the attendance line (907-486-7460) and leave a message to excuse them.

Students will not be marked tardy if there is a bus delay.

Your student's lunch account can be paid via cash/check to main office, or online via the PowerSchool Parent Portal.

FOR INFO ON FREE/REDUCED MEALS, CLICK HERE

Click the button below for directions to set up a new account, check balance, or add funds.

To make sure you are receiving all communication from KMS, please take a moment to verify that your emails and phone numbers are correct in the PowerSchool Parent Portal.

This is the main way we will send home general school-wide information.

If you do not have a PowerSchool Parent Account, click <<HERE>> for instructions on how to set one up.

If you do not know the ACCESS ID and Password for first-time set-up, please call our main office secretary at 907-486-7460.

If you have already set up your PowerSchool Parent Portal, click <<HERE>> to sign in.

Feel free to bookmark this link for a quick way to see your student's :

• grades
• assignments
• lunch balance, etc.

If your student has an allergy or asthma that is not on file, please call our school nurse and update your student's info.