Hello SBMS Community!

It was wonderful to see so many of our families who were able to attend open house this week. If you were not able to attend and would like a tour of the school, I will be at SBMS from 9-10 AM on 9/28 (Saturday).

Walk the Amazon Fundraiser- CHANGE OF DATE

Our one fundraiser of the year started 2 weeks ago and it ends on 10/9. We are moving the date of the walking field trip from 10/4 to 10/9 (Wednesday) because our walk was inadvertently scheduled on the last day of Rosh Hashanah, a major Jewish holiday. Major religious holidays are important to members of our school community and we do our best to avoid scheduling important events on those dates. This was an accidental schedule conflict but it shouldn't have happened in the first place. My apologies for this error.

When to Keep Students Home From School

As a parent myself, I also brace for the first illnesses that come home after my kids go back to school. Please see below for this year's regulations for when students are to be kept home from school. If you have any questions, please contact me, the office, or Nurse Jenny.

Thank you for your time in reading this week's Spartan Update. If there is anything that I can do for you, please feel free to contact me at nolan_p@4j.lane.edu, 541-790-8300, or by clicking the Contact Paula button at the bottom of this newsletter.

Have a nice day,

Paula

Paula Nolan

Principal

Spencer Butte Middle School

When students return to school we start to see an uptick in illness calls. Please see below for this year's rules for when to keep your child(ren) home from school. If you have any questions, please contact the office or Nurse Jenny at downes_j@4j.lane.edu.

1. Fever

   • A measured temperature of 100.4°F or higher.
   • Return to School: After being fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication.

2. Cough

   • Persistent cough not diagnosed by a healthcare provider OR cough that is frequent/severe enough to interfere with participation in usual school activities.
   • Return to School: After symptoms improve for 24 hours (no cough or well-controlled cough).

3. Difficulty Breathing or Shortness of Breath

   • Not explained by situation such as exercise: feeling unable to catch their breath, gasping for air, breathing rapidly or shallowly, breathing with extra effort such as using muscles of the stomach, chest, or neck.
   • Return to School: After symptoms improving for 24 hours.
   • Seek immediate medical attention if needed.

4. Headache with Stiff Neck and Fever

   • Return to School: After being fever-free for 24 hours without medication AND when symptoms resolve.
   • This may indicate a serious condition. Seek medical attention.

5. Diarrhea

   • Three or more watery stools in 24 hours, OR sudden loose or bloody stools, OR inability to control bowel movements.
   • Return to School: After diarrhea improves (no more than two extra bowel movements in 24 hours), and no accidents. Bloody diarrhea should be evaluated by a healthcare provider prior to return.

6. Vomiting

   • Two or more unexplained episodes within 24 hours.
   • Return to School: 24 hours after the last episode OR after being cleared by a healthcare provider.

SBMS Librarian Jenn Kotlarek has been messaging families about missing books from the last school year. We appreciate all of the books that have come back, but we are still missing over $500 in books. If you are receiving messages about missing library books and your child knows where the book is, please send it with them to return to the school. If they cannot find the book, payment for the book or good condition replacements are always accepted.

Clubs at SBMS are a fantastic way for your child to add fun and connection during the school day! Starting a club is really easy- all a student needs to do is find 3 other students, an advisor, and get their club approved by Paula (and almost all clubs are approved). There are clubs for music, art, games, etc... and they're all student started. If your child is interested in starting a club, please have them come to the office to get a club formation request form.

We kicked off our Annual Walk The Amazon Fundraiser this week!

The focus for this year's fundraiser is Community Connection, Learning and Kindness. We have found that fall fundraisers are a key component of building a stronger Spencer Butte community while raising funds for SBMS specific projects.

Last year, our fundraiser was a success! The funds raised allowed us to provide student initiated projects that helped support our school, our SBMS stakeholders, and the community at large. Some of the ways that the funds were used was to purchase materials and supplies for classrooms and to help fund field trips.

This year we have already expanded learning opportunities at SBMS by creating new electives that were possible in part because of previous fundraisers. We want to continue to enhance our classroom offerings (for new and existing classes) and be able to provide opportunities like field trips at no cost to students.

At the end of the fundraiser, we will continue our tradition of the Walk The Amazon. This has been a school tradition that since in 2006 (and paused during the pandemic). After we collect money, we will take our entire school on a walk around part of the Amazon Trail and celebrate as a SBMS community. Our money collection days will be Tuesdays and Thursdays between now and our Walk, which will be on Wednesday, October 9th (this is a reschedule due to accidentally scheduling our previous date on the last day of Rosh Hashanah).

Students do have the opportunity to earn prizes via raffle tickets. Every student at SBMS has earned a raffle ticket just for being a member of our school community! Additional raffle tickets are awarded for every $10 raised with a max of 50 tickets. There are also additional rewards for different amounts of money raised, including ice skating with a friend, lunch provided at school by the Principal for a student and a friend or two, and the ability to slime staff members (with Spartan Blue Slime!).

Each student should have received an envelope with all pertinent information. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. We want to thank you for your help and support with this event.

Our next fundraiser turn in days are Tuesday the 1st and Thursday the 3rd.

We are looking for Volunteers for our Annual Walk the Amazon field trip. This year students will be walking with their Advisory Groups. We are looking for a volunteer to walk with each group. The walk distance is 3.4 miles round trip. Volunteers will need to have an approved volunteer application.

We have 17 advisory groups. If you would like to walk with your Student please sign up for their advisory group.

Volunteers are incredible forces in the lives of our students. We have many volunteer opportunities at SBMS- activity nights, field trips, and in-school events are a few examples. To be a volunteer, there's a two-step process:

1. Volunteer Application
2. Background Check

If you've been a volunteer in the past, your background check is good for 2 years.

We will share our volunteer opportunities through the Spartan Update and emails to families. To get the process started, please click the button below.

Spencer Butte is looking for a volunteer to be the Spencer Butte Mentor Coordinator. Our

Middle School Lunchtime Mentoring Program supports at risk youth by partnering them with a Mentor for lunch once a week. Last spring we had 112 middle school student being Mentored in 4J. The Spencer Butte Mentor Coordinator volunteers one day a week, on Mondays from 12-1pm, and does up to 30 minutes of other communications during the week. The volunteer Mentor Coordinator is fully trained and supported by the 4J staff Mentor Coordinator. This is a fantastic way to get involved at in our community, and make a difference in the lives of young people, come join us! Please contact Kate Becker for more information: becker_k@4j.lane.edu 541-517-0394

We have multiple opportunities for library volunteers this year. We have some beginning of the year tasks that are of limited duration to start as soon as possible and we have regular weekly shifts.

Tasks may include unboxing and shelving books, shelf-reading, processing new magazines, and helping with displays. If you are interested or have questions about the duties, please email Jenn Kotlarek (kotlarek@4j.lane.edu) directly for more information. You may also see the 4J volunteer requirements here (https://4j.lane.edu/16733_3). Thank you for supporting our library.

SBMS activity nights are a fantastic way for students to connect with one another in a fun way! We host a game room, open gym, movie room, dance hall, snack bar, and lobby hang-out. Giving students a variety of supervised choices takes help and we would love to have you join us. There is no set-up and no clean-up on your part! Chaperones come a little bit early to get signed in and assigned to a station, and leave right after the dance!

If you would like to help with the activity night on 10/18, please click the button below, or contact Stephanie our school secretary at 541-790-8300 or at minter_s@4j.lane.edu

UO Fall Science Open House

What: Free Science Outreach Event

When: Wednesday October 9th, 2024 - 6:30-8:30pm

Where: Willamette Hall Paul Olum Atrium on the UO Campus

Why: SCIENCE!

SPICE SCIENCE (Science Program to Inspire Creativity and Excellence)

The UO Fall Science Open House is a showcase of all the wonderful formal and informal science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) outreach available in our community. The open house features dozens of interactive, hands-on science tables and demonstrations. The event is free and open to the public. The goal of the open house is to connect families and teachers with science education opportunities.

The event is coordinated by the SPICE program. Participation is 100% free for presenters and attendees.

We are here as a part of your child's team. Whenever I have the opportunity to speak with a parent about something involving a class I always ask if they've had a chance to connect with the teacher. I ask that question because involving the teacher is the most powerful thing that we can do to help your child in class.

Our teachers love to hear from parents. Whether there is information about something happening in the student's life, a fun story about when your child spoke about the class at home, concerns about academic progress, or questions about the class, connecting with staff is the first and most important step in helping your student to succeed.

There are many ways to connect with staff. Sending an email or message in Canvas is the most direct way of reaching teachers. You can also call the school at 541-790-8300 and leave a message for a teacher to return.

Contacting Teachers Via Email

To find a teacher's email address, please access our directory below.

[Link to SBMS Staff Directory: https://spencerbutte.4j.lane.edu/41178_2 ]

Contacting Teachers Via the Canvas Parent App*

You may find the Canvas Parent app the easiest way to send a message. When in the app you can send a message by tapping on a course name and then the speech bubble emoji in the bottom right corner. Alternatively, you can also navigate to the inbox, tap on the speech bubble emoji, and then select the teacher/course you are intending to send the message to.

Canvas on Desktop*

If you are accessing Canvas via desktop you are able to send a message through the Inbox feature. To use that, follow the directions below:

1. Click on the Inbox logo/name on the left hand side of the screen.
2. Once you are in the Inbox, look at the top of the webpage and then click the pictogram that looks like a pencil writing on paper.
3. After you do that, you can select the course/teacher you are attempting to contact.

*Information about how to access Canvas is below.

Canvas is the online learning platform that parents can use to track grades and what is happening in classes (announcements, due dates, etc...). It is a very important tool to use and I recommend that every parent/guardian uses their Canvas Observer account (accessed via the web or the Canvas Parent app on your phone).

The information below will tell new and returning users how to activate their Canvas Observer account for this school year.

All new and returning users must activate their account before you can start using Canvas Observer (even if you had an account last year). To activate your account , complete the following steps:

1. Visit 4J’s Canvas for Families webpage and click on “Forgot Password?”

2. Enter the email you provided your child’s school and then click the “Request Password” box

3. Enter a password after clicking the reset link you receive in your email

4. Return to the Canvas for Families webpage to log in with your username and new password

One account per email- Canvas Observer will not allow you to activate more than one account if parents/guardians have the same email address on file for their student. In this case, contact your school and provide a unique email address for each parent or guardian associated with your student.

Please contact us at 541-790-8300 or email me at nolan_p@4j.lane.edu if you run into any problems with activating your account.

Having the ParentSquare app will allow you to receive instant notifications from the school (in addition to emails). By going to this site or downloading the app you can get registered in a few minutes. Setup is pretty easy (I did it last year for my own parent account). Basically, you'll create your account and then you'll be asked to link your children to your account. The site or app will walk you through the process. If you need any help with it, please call us at 541-790-8300.

This platform is being used at all schools and I encourage our community to download it so you get the instant notifications in addition to emails.