FALCON FLYER

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Saturday, December 7

8-2:00 Picture Make Ups at SCH Photo

Monday, December 9

STUCO Coat Drive begins

3:25 Away Basketball Games at Oxford (A2 plays first)

Tuesday, December 10

6th Grade-iReady Diagnostic Test (class schedules will be modified)

8th Grade-Fastbridge Testing (in ELA classes)

7:00 PM Band Concert

Wednesday, December 11

3:25 Home Basketball Games vs Lakewood (A2 plays first)

Thursday, December 12

Spelling Bee-during FLEX

6th Grade Amplify Testing (class schedules will be modified)

7 PM Orchest Concert (grades 5-7)

Friday, December 13

STUCO Coat Drive Ends

7th Grade iReady testing (in math class)

NO Science Olympiad Club

OTMS Families,

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I want to say thank you to all who donated to our PTO Holiday Helpers program. We appreciate your support of our OTM families.

We only have 2 weeks before winter break and the end of 1st semester. I encourage you to monitor your child's academic performance during this final stretch. Please remember that Friday, December 20 is a shortened day. Students will be dismissed at 10:50. School resumes January 6, 2025.

As we look to 2025, it's already time to think about enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year. Please watch for additional information via email and in future editions of the Flyer.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dr. Stern

At the end of each quarter, courses in Canvas will conclude and will no longer be visible on the Canvas app. However, a concluded course remains visible through the Canvas website by selecting ALL COURSES and then PAST ENROLLMENTS.

Important dates for families:

Please note: The dates are subject to change based upon calendar updates or technology needs.

How do I view my child’s report card?

• Log in on ParentVue.

• Select the student’s name

• In the left navigation bar, choose Report Card

Each new quarter, classroom teachers will publish the next quarter’s Canvas course. As courses are published, students and families will again be able to see current courses on the Canvas app and Canvas website. For Canvas parent resources, visit www.bluevalleyk12.org/canvas.

Olivia Winslow, Michael Brown, Eitan Wajcman Emanuel Silva, Claire Stanley, Saburna Dutta

Alyssa Brown, Ty Schamberger, Ryan Bitter

Class change process:

Before requesting a schedule change for elective classes, please make sure you have reviewed your child’s 2nd semester 24-25 schedule on ParentVue to see if the desired classes are scheduled for another quarter. All schedule changes are reviewed by school administration. If space is available, we make every effort to accommodate schedule requests. Please note, many of our electives are already full so we may not be able to fulfill change requests.

To request a schedule change, students need to fill out a request to change classes Google Form which will be available on the OTMS Student Canvas page starting Wednesday Dec. 11th, 2024. Parents will need to approve this change via email confirmation. All second semester requests should be submitted by the end of the day on Wednesday Dec. 18th, 2024. Again, we will make every effort to accommodate but space is limited.

Questions should be directed to school counselors.

Roxanne Quinn (Last names A-L)
rhquinn@bluevalleyk12.org

Buomkuoth Lual (Last names M-Z)
bplual@bluevalleyk12.org

8th grade boys basketball season begins Monday, January 6th. Please see this link for detailed information from Coach Newell. This information will also be shared with any student interested in participating during a pre-season meeting on Monday, December 9th during FLEX time.

Please fill out the interest form as soon as possible, if interested. As always, the calendar is subject to change depending on the number of participants/teams and due to weather.

See below for information about enrollment night for 8th graders at BV North.

Makeup/Retake Picture day: Saturday December 7, 2024

8:00am - 2:00pm

CLICK HERE to reserve your time slot!

SCH Photo Studio

6224 Merriam Drive

Merriam, KS 66203

This session is for:
• Students who were NOT yet photographed this school year.
• Retakes of any students needed.
• Any students who want to be photographed and place an order.

**All images of each subject will be processed and sent to their respective school’s yearbook advisor or administration team.

You may have also have your pictures retaken. To be retaken, please fill out the retake form on the back side of your picture envelope and return your portrait package to the photographer on Makeup/Retake day.

This year, we will use the Scripps National Spelling Bee’s online testing platform to hold our CLASSROOM spelling bee via an online spelling test on Thursday, December 12, 2024.

The first step to spelling bee participation for your child is registering for the online testing platform by visiting https://online-test.spellingbee.com.

I encourage you to watch this video tutorial that will walk you through the registration process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ThKRsffiFc

Once you have registered, I can assign the appropriate test to your child. We will host the Classroom Spelling Bee in the library classroom during grade-level Flex classes on Thursday, December 12, 2024. Students will need to bring their charged Chromebooks and wired headphones. I will have a supply of headphones for those who need them.

The students with the highest scores will move on to compete at the school level. This year, our school-level competition will be administered via IN-PERSON SPELLING BEE in the Commons in January 2025.

Our school champion will then move on to represent Overland Trail Middle School in the next level of the Johnson County regional spelling bee program, which also may include online tests instead of in-person spelling bee events.

Remember, the first step to spelling bee participation is to register at online-test.spellingbee.com. Please register your child by Tuesday, December 10, 2024. If you have already registered in the online testing platform for another child, you can log in to your account and add an additional child to that same parent account. There is no need to register a different email address for each child in your household.

Please contact me with any questions about our school spelling bee program. I look forward to having your child compete to represent our school!

Sincerely,

Lisa Jackson, OTMS Spelling Bee Coordinator

ljackson@bluevalleyk12.org

PTO Calendar – upcoming events:

13 December: PTO board meeting at 11:45am

19 December: Staff Appreciation lunch

09 January: Papa John’s Restaurant Fundraiser

16 January: Urban Air – OTMS spirit night Fundraiser

Keep up to date with the latest events by following PTO on social media:

Instagram: overlandtrailmspto

Facebook: Overland Trail Middle School PTO

Monday, Dec 30
Current Grades 3-8: 11am to 1pm
Clinic will be held at Blue Valley North High School

Join the Blue Valley North Boys and Girls basketball teams and coaching staffs for a day of offensive and defensive fundamental drills. We will work on ball handling, passing, shooting and some scrimmage games. A great opportunity to get in some practice time over the winter break and for the 8th graders to prepare for their middle school tryouts.
Cost is $25. See the flyer below for more details.

This important message is for any family or staff that will travel out of the United States during the school year. Please click here to read the restrictions and recommendations for Out of the Country travel. Blue Valley resources such as Canvas, Classlink, and school email are not accessible out of the country unless you have a personal device with a VPN on it.

Is your student needing extra math support? Math Lab is offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year both before school and after school. Attendance is taken at every session.

Morning Sessions:

Tuesday (7:10 – 7:40 AM ) in room 25 (8th grade hallway) with Ms. Hilligoss email: lhilligoss@bluevalleyk12.org

Thursday (7:10 – 7:40 AM) in room 9 (6th grade hallway) with Ms. Lintz

email: pjlintz@bluevalleyk12.org

Afternoon Sessions:

Tuesday & Thursday (3:15-4:15 PM) in the library classroom with Ms. Carter, Ms. Mills or Ms. Miller . Students must provide own transportation home and be picked up by 4:15.

emails: clcarter@bluevalleyk12.org , tmills@bluevalleyk12.org , mjmiller05@bluevalleyk12.org

Do you have questions about student expectations? These are outlined in our student handbook and our district's Code of Conduct. These documents are linked on our school website and available for students via Canvas. You may also click here for the district's current

Student Code of Conduct. Please reach out to school administration with questions.

Blue Valley Schools is committed to promoting and fostering a safe environment in and around all our schools. We are continuously working to prevent, mitigate, respond to and recover from a wide range of situations. Please check out available ways to report safety concerns.