Finn Hill Falcon Flyer

• Teachers had a great LEAP day on Friday, full of professional learning!
• Thank you to PTSA for sending such love to our staff by stocking the lounge!
• Dr. Mehlberg and Ms. Cleaves have hosted three Falcon Feedback sessions so far with PRIDE ambassadors, eighth graders, and sixth graders. They have learned so much about what it's like to be a Finn Hill Falcon from these student voices.

Sunday, March 13

• Daylight Saving Time begins: “Spring Forward”

March 14-18:

• Education Support Professionals Week

Monday, March 14

• Club/Music Picture Day
• Session 2 Intramurals Begin
• FHMS PTSA Board Meeting, 7:00 PM-7:30 PM

Tuesday, March 15

Thursday, March 17-Saturday, March 19

• Technology Student Association state competition

Tuesday, March 29

• Battle of the Books District Competition, 6:30 PM-7:30 PM, KiMS
• FHMS PTSA General Membership Meeting, 7:00 PM-9:00 PM, Teams

Monday, April 4-Friday, April 8

• Spring Break

Monday, April 18-Friday, April 22

• FHMS Career Week

Thursday, April 21

• Finn Hill Virtual Career Day

Tuesday, April 26

• Culinary Competition Entries for Mr. Briehl's Students Due

Here are the new guidelines we will be following at FHMS effective Monday:

1. Layers of Protection that Aren't Changing

• Vaccination
• Testing
• Staying home when sick
• Isolating when Covid Positive
• Reporting of cases
• Notification of positive cases
• Ventilation
• Cleaning/disinfecting
• Hand hygiene

2. Mask Options for Students and Staff

• Options when wearing masks in most situations
• Respecting choice of others
• Those with medical conditions encouraged to consult with doctor
• Masks needed to be worn by students when in the health room and Q room as these are considered medical areas by DOH
• Schools will not monitor family choice of students wearing masks
• Will not seat students based on mask wearing preference
• DOH recommended areas to wear a mask (not required): school buses, performing arts, and indoor athletic activities

3. Significant Shifts in Quarantine Protocol

• No longer based on vaccination status
• All close contacts will be given same information
• If exposed and close contact: monitor for symptoms, consider wearing a mask, get tested 3-5 days post-exposure, notify school of symptoms, stay home

4. Governor’s Proclamation - Vaccination

• No change: those with exemptions still following accommodations
• Volunteers: to be in person, still need to be vaccinated

5. Positive Case Protocol

• There is updated DOH guidance
• LWSD needs a little more time to process and update our procedures
• Still continuing with current positive case response – including contact tracing
• Seating charts will continue until new procedures are given to us

6. Physical Distancing

• Still should not prevent from full time school
• Still look to maximize distancing
• LWSD reviewing current guidelines and may adjust in the future

Families, please remind your students of two important housekeeping items:

1. Be sure to charge computers before coming to school. It is permissible to bring chargers to school. You may want to label your charger so it doesn't get lost, as students are responsible for the replacement cost if lost or stolen.

2. Encourage students to use their lockers to store unneeded items. We are having trouble with students losing backpacks and computers when they leave belongings unattended.

As a school, we will focus on one PRIDE characteristic per week via daily announcements, a Monday Falcon Time activity, and focused ticket-giving based on the characteristic. On April 22nd we will hold another incentive day. Ask your student about the PRIDE characteristic of the week!

Career week will be April 18th-22nd. Students will be exploring future career options and pathways through Xello, the district platform for career development. We will have our Virtual Career Day on April 21st. We were fortunate to have many community members contribute to this event last year and we are hoping to add some additional presenters to our collection for this year’s fair. If you have an interesting career, career path, or know someone who does, please consider being a part of the fair or inviting them to join us. We’d love to have a wide variety of careers to highlight. Contributors can either submit a video they film, or we can arrange a virtual interview, please see the attached instructions for more information . Take a look at the list of our students’ most requested careers. Do you or someone you know work in one of these fields? Our students would love to hear from you! Contact Gail Lee at gvecchiet@lwsd.org or Kirstin Doughty at kdoughty@lwsd.org if you have questions. We will be collecting presentations until March 31st.

Top 30 requested careers from FH students:

Athlete, Attorney/Lawyer, Chef/Culinary Arts/Baker, Animator/Cartoonist, Video Game industry, Actor, Artist Traditional/digital, Military, Business/Entrepreneur, Scientist, Engineer, Software Engineer/programmer/coder, Photographer/Videographer, Teacher – especially HS, Animal careers, Counselor/Therapist, Doctor, Model, Streamer/Social Media industry, Biologist/Zoologist, Dancer, FBI, Marine Biologist/Oceanographer, Nurse, Architect, Astronaut, Director, Pilot and Veterinarian.

As you may know, Lake Washington School District receives funding through the state and federal government in LAP and Title I grants. The amount of money available to LWSD is contingent on the number of students who receive Free and Reduced Meal support. LWSD's overall Free and Reduced numbers are down this year which will mean less LAP monies to support our Safety Net and Title I programs. We believe there are more students out there that need these supports.

We encourage families to complete a free and reduced meal application and get connected with additional benefits.

Hello to Families of Our Incoming Ravens:

We are really excited to be able to meet for an actual on-site meeting and orientation for the parents of our incoming 9th graders (Class of 26)! We will update information on our website with more specific details next week, but I wanted to make sure this is on your calendars:

8th Grade Parent Orientation

March 23rd

7-8

JHS Fieldhouse (gym)

What can you expect to see/learn/do? This is the general plan:

1. We will begin by having everyone meet in the Fieldhouse and sit in the bleachers for a short time.
2. You will have an overall introduction and welcome by admin, our PTSA and a few other staff
3. You will hear some information that we want parents to know in order to best prepare your student for high school.
4. After that, we will dismiss where you, and will be able to go to a variety of places in our school( we will have maps)

1. Fieldhouse: visit the table for athletics where you can learn some essential information about what needs to be done to turn out for high school sports, and more specifically, be ready for fall sports deadlines.
2. Commons: We will have some tables set up for clubs and some of our teaching staff to answer questions about activities and academics.
3. Library: Chat with a counselor if you have a question about grad pathways or student support; talk to an administrator if you have general questions about our school
4. Student Store: We are HOPING to have our student store open so that parents can purchase gear. We will have details posted on our website next week.
5. Self-guided tour of our entire building if you choose.

Finally, you have the distinction of being the first parents who get to do an in-person orientation that includes our completed, and beautiful, new building. This is my 5th year here, and we have had to figure out how to do orientation just a bit differently every year I have been here: the first 3 years were due to construction…and then COVID hit. So, I hope you can come and I look forward to meeting you.

Hello FHMS families!

This week is Education Support Professionals week. We want to send a special thank you to our paraeducators, school office staff, maintenance personnel, nutrition services personnel, instructional assistants, school nurses, and bus drivers. Their hard work and commitment to education is paramount to our children's success. Thank you for all you do!

FHMS PTSA

NEEDS:

WE NEED YOU!- Please consider volunteering on the PTSA board for the 2022-2023 school year. You can even volunteer with a friend, as all board positions can be shared by two people. If the programs FHMS PTSA provide are important to you, we need you to step up and take a leadership role. Without your help, PTSA cannot exist. To nominate yourself or someone else, go to Nomination Form. For questions, contact Kristen Dorwin at kdorwin@gmail.com.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

FALCON 5K-Have you heard? The FHMS PTSA is hosting the first FALCON 5K! We are so excited to bring this event to our community. It serves as a fantastic fundraiser for FHMS PTSA and encourages health, support, and unity for our school. Sign up now, and invite your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and exercise buddies. ALL ARE WELCOME to join in the fun. Run, walk, and ride your way to 5K. However you want to complete the race is up to you! If you sign up before March 25, you will receive the full swag experience. For details and sign up, go to: https://runsignup.com/Race/WA/Kirkland/FHMSPTSAFALCON5k

BOOK DISCUSSION- You are invited to join a book discussion on Fostering Resilient Learners by Kristen Souers and Pete Hall. Our next meeting will be Thursday March 31st at 7pm. Sign up here. Click here for details.

PTSA MEETING- The next FHMS PTSA community meeting has been rescheduled! We will meet Tuesday March 29 at 7pm via Microsoft Teams. Links will be emailed closer to the meeting.

EDUCATION/ENRICHMENT:

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE: LWPTSA Council offers scholarships to students and staff. Deadline to apply is March 25th. For more details, click here: LWPTSA Scholarships.

COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITY: Kids Coming Together community service events have resumed! These events are great opportunities for children grades 3-8 to meet new friends and connect with their community. There are not many opportunities listed yet but be sure to bookmark the site for future reference. Register for upcoming events.

Energy Usage

Today we are consulting our Green Team specialists (Vitalia and Yutane) about how to use less energy.

Yutane: Let me ask: When was the last time you forgot to unplug your devices when you were gone? When was the last time you kept the light on for no reason? I’m sure you are all aware of energy wastage problems happening in the world. Let me explain.

Every day about 58 KWH of energy gets used per person. You may not think that this is you—consider that you could be wasting a lot of energy. And I’m not saying that I’m perfect at conserving energy, we can all improve.

Vitalia: Here are some ways we can ALL decrease our usage:

• Washing with cold water can be beneficial in many ways, not just to reduce energy waste. Research shows that washing with cold water can reduce the chance of wrinkled, stained, or faded clothes. And again, Cold-water washing saves energy.

• Did you know that a device that still uses energy when it’s not in use is called an energy vampire? Energy vampires can take over things like phone chargers or computers. One simple way to get rid of this problem is to unplug your devices when they are not in use. This will stop them from wasting energy and save money from your monthly bill.

• The last tip is, to turn off your lights! Lights are not always in need when you are in a room. you can let the natural light from outside be your lamp, especially because the days are becoming longer. Use lights only when they are needed, even if they are LED. Despite some myths you might have heard, the actual switching of on and off doesn’t use any more electricity. So please turn off your lights when not needed. The environment will thank you.”

Just in . . . our new herb seedlings died! We were disappointed, but it was okay because we are seeing this experience as an experiment that we can learn from. We conducted additional research about planting indoors and found some ideas about how to keep our seedlings watered over a long weekend and adjusting our grow light height. Our grow light is a full spectrum light that produces a lot of heat so we cannot keep it at the same height as suggested for less powerful grow light options.

We are testing out two new watering methods using marigold, calendula, and petunia seeds Ms. Watsabaugh dried out herself this past fall. The petunia seeds are from a plant a student gave her last spring. Our new watering methods include soaking from below in trays and a capillary mat.

Capillary mats are something that allows a plant to be watered from the underside. We are using a tray with water in it, placing another tray with holes in it, and hanging newspaper over the side so the water is pulled up the newspaper through the process of capillary action. We are using newspapers for our mat, but there are many other ways to do it.

For fun, we are also using a heat pad under our petunias to see how this affects their germination rate.

Request: If you have any newspapers lying around that you are not using, we will take them.

Registration for Season 4 Sports is now opened in FinalForms on the district website. Sports offered for Season 4 are coed track, girls’ volleyball, and girls’ tennis. You can pay online by going to the district website>Families/Students>For Families/Students>Online Payments or at the cash register window with cash or check. The first day of practice is April 11th, 2022. You must register and pay in advance in order to practice on the first day. Practice will be everyday except for Wednesday from 3:05 until 4:30. If you have any questions, you may contact Taylor Holland, tholland@lwsd.org or Sandra Stephens, sstephens@lwsd.org.

I'm Jamie, a junior at Redmond High School. I am the chair of the Service sector of the Redmond Youth Partnership Advisory Committee (RYPAC). RYPAC is a committee run by the Redmond City Council for teenagers to develop leadership skills to establish professional events to give back to the community. This volunteer event is also being helped by another sector of the City of Redmond government, the Parks and Trails Commission. The volunteer opportunity is getting rid of ivy from Conrad Olsen Park.

This volunteer opportunity is easy and will help the ecosystem at Conrad Olsen Park since ivy is an invasive species. A student from UW will give a five-minute presentation at the start about the impact of our work. Volunteers will listen to music and talk to friends as they help make Redmond a better place for park-goers and the flora growing there. The event is Sunday, March 20th from 9 am to 1 pm at Conrad Olsen park. Parking will be at the nearby Perrigo Park and volunteers can come by anytime in between. They can choose to stay the whole time or part of the time. Volunteers coming should bring a mask and are encouraged to wear green. The green is for St Patrick's Day and for making Redmond greener). This counts for in-community service hours and will be documented by the city that you helped out!

March Full Month NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

• Honors women as significant agents of historical change

March 2–20 NINETEEN-DAY FAST

• Bahá’í Baha'is between 15 and 70 years of age do not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset and set aside time for prayer and meditation.

March 17 PURIM

• Jewish The “Feast of Lots” marks the salvation of the Jews of ancient Persia from extermination.

March 17 ST. PATRICK’S DAY

• Christian Feast day of the patron saint of Ireland. In the U.S., a secular version is celebrated by people of all faiths through appreciation of all things Irish.

March 18 HOLI

• Hindu A spring festival in India and Nepal dedicated to the god of pleasure, also known as the festival of colours or the festival of sharing love.

March 19 HOLA MOHALLA

• Sikh An annual event which is a martial arts parade historically coinciding with Holi, the Hindu festival of colors. Celebrations related to Holla Mohalla may be held in various locations over several weekends preceding the actual date of the holiday.

March 20 VERNAL EQUINOX

• Marks the first day of the season of spring. The sun shines nearly equally on both hemispheres when it’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere and simultaneously fall in the Southern Hemisphere.

March 21 INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

• Call to action to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination worldwide.

March 21 NOWRÚZ

• Zoroastrian A traditional ancient Iranian festival celebrating the first day of Spring and the Iranian New Year. Also celebrated as New Year’s Day in Baha’i tradition (Naw-Ruz). (This date may vary based on region or sect.)

March 26 KHORDAD SAL

• Zoroastrian The Zoroastrian celebration of the birth of Zoroaster, the founder of the Zoroastrianism religion. The holiday is specifically celebrated in India and Iran, immediately following the Persian new year, Nowrúz.

March 31 CESAR CHAVEZ DAY

• Honors Mexican American farm worker, labor leader and activist Cesar Chavez (1927– 1993) who was a nationally respected voice for social justice.

Mission

Each student will graduate prepared to lead a rewarding, responsible life as a contributing member of our community and greater society.

Vision

Every student future ready: Prepared for college, Prepared for the global workplace, Prepared for personal success

Website: https://fhms.lwsd.org/
Location: 8040 NE 132nd St, Kirkland, WA, USA
Phone: (425) 936-2340
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FinnHillMiddleSchool
Twitter: @FinnHillMS