Vikan News - Student Edition
Vikan Knights, ARMOR Up!
From Principal Velez
Dear Community,
This week we inducted eight more Knights as Knights of the Round Table with a formal ceremony, festivities, and a feast! Knights of the Round Table (KORT) students exemplify our core values of Adaptability, Respect, Motivation, Optimism and Responsibility on a daily basis by being at school on time every day, ARMORing up in and out of class, and keeping up with their school work.
Please join me in congratulating these new Knights of the Round Table! Congratulations to them and their parents/guardians.
8th Grade:
Isabelle Fletcher
Rilynn Brown
Ezra Nickeson
Angie Yepez Peres
7th Grade:
Suki Mizunaga
Kenneth Tatman
Ashya Robles
Ian Birkhead
Stay strong Vikan...and ARMOR up!
Principal Velez
Spirit Week Oct. 24th - 31st
Tues. Oct. 24 - Tye - Dye Day
Wed. Oct. 25 - Western Day
Thurs. Oct. 26 - Twin Day
Yearbook
Who's doing what?
School Resource Officers (SROs) are a familiar presence in our schools. They’re assigned to all high schools and middle schools, and we’ll be adding more of them to our schools. SROs:
Are sworn law enforcement officers
Assist in the prevention of crime
Conduct or assist in investigations
Immediately respond to threats
Build relationships with students, staff and community
School Safety Guards (SSGs) is a new role in 27J Schools. This role was created to provide extra security for elementary schools, which do not have SROs. School Safety Guards are armed and stationed at every elementary school. SSGs:
Are private security guards
Deter outside threats
Cannot ticket, detain or arrest
Immediately respond to threats
Build relationships with students, staff and community
Thanks to the 2022 MLO, we added more Campus Security Supervisors (CSSs) to all of our schools. Now, each high school has at least four CSS’s, each middle school has two, and each elementary school has one. CSSs:
Monitor hallways, bathrooms, and shared areas
Can assist with contacting and meeting with families about student behavior issues
Support safety drills and incident responses
Are not armed and cannot detain students
Weather
As the weather changes and gets colder, we want to let you know that students will have an inside day if the temperature is below 20 degrees. Please make sure that your student is properly dressed for the weather and please remind them to bring a jacket/coat with them.
Pick Up Reminders
Vikan values learning and instructional time. In order to maximize student learning, please be aware that we will not be calling students down for pick up until the parent/legal guardian is in the office. Please arrive with plenty of time to allow us time to call them down to the office for pick up (process can take up to 15 minutes from the moment you arrive).
If your student is arrive to school after 9:00 am, a parent/guardian must accompany the student to the office to check in.
If you are picking up your child at the end of the school day, please do so before 4:15 p.m. to give us plenty of time to get them from their classes. We are not able to call students after 4:15 because the bell would ring before we are able to get to them. Students might be in PE, working on a science project, or finishing up an assignment. Getting ready to leave takes time.
We appreciate your cooperation and support.
Student Corner
The students in Creative Writing were asked to write descriptively using the different types of figurative language we learned about and practiced using in class. They could describe anything, but many of them chose family members, friends, and pets. Here are the types of figurative language they were asked to use in their writing:
It was so fun to see their creativity shine through in their writing. Students wrote multiple descriptions and here are just a few of them from some 7th grade students. I hope you enjoy reading a few samples of the students’ work and love their figurative language!
Ms. VP
Elise Archuleta
Whiskey is a funny character! You can’t anticipate his next move. He is the sunshine in the house! (metaphor) Everyday he and I will have so much fun. We will play fetch and he will usually pounce, push, and plunge me to the ground!(alliteration) After school, I always look forward to seeing him and hearing his friendly bark. (onomatopoeia)
He is two years old and he is heavier than my brother, who is in fourth grade! His birthday is September 19th. We didn’t get him anything, but soon he will be getting a new collar. Sometimes when we get ice cream cones from DQ, we will give him the bottom piece of the cone. He will go bananas. (idiom) His mouth pulls up in a smile and his tale goes so fast it shakes his whole body. (personification) Whiskey takes it and runs in the yard to his favorite corner and eats it. Then he comes back and waits for the other person to finish theirs. I love him so much. I wish we could have a million more dogs like him. (hyperbole)
Usually when my stepdad, Jon, goes hunting he will take Whiskey. Whiskey is a good hunting dog and will do anything to please you. He is such a loyal dog and always brings back the birds like a boomerang. (simile) This dove season they got 15 birds in two mornings of hunting. That’s pretty impressive!
Tessa Barragan
My best friend is like a dying hyena when she laughs (simile). Besides all that, she is my best friend and always makes me feel better when I'm down in the dumps (idiom). I wouldn’t know what to do without her. She is like if a rainbow could talk because she’s so bright and fun all the time (personification). When we hang out, it’s like hamsters having hijinks, we won’t stop laughing (alliteration).
Those reasons are why she is my best friend and I wouldn’t trade her for the world (hyperbole). She’s always been by my side since fifth grade, that’s three years. We had even dyed our hair together. We regret it now, but after all these memories I know why she’s my best friend.
We are two peas in a pod (idiom). Everytime I go to her house her dog barks at me, but he’s one of the cutest dog’s ever (onomatopoeia). She is also someone I can count on when I need to talk to someone. We will play Roblox together all the time. We also Facetime all the time and most likely all day. She will always be my best friend.
Ayleah Castillo
My best friend and I are like two peas in a pod (idiom). We've been together for 4 years, which feels like my whole life (hyperbole). My whole family knows her and her whole family knows me and it's like we're family (simile).
We always call and laugh like hyenas (simile). Our favorite thing is going places together like the movies, restaurants, or the mall. It's so fun going to dinner places with her because we talk about more things we can do in the future and we always leave a big mess because we are pigs when we eat (metaphor).
We act very differently at school, but once you get to know us we will probably make you go insane(hyperbole). She's always had my back and I will always have hers. I love her so much and she helped me heal from my problems and I mean it from the bottom of my heart (idiom). She's so great, gorgeous, and glorious (alliteration). We can never take anything seriously if you're ever with us, we will always be laughing or screaming at anything (onomatopoeia).
Every weekend we have a sleepover and whenever she's over the tv, kitchen, and my bed are always calling our names (personification). I just hope we stay besties forever because she knows too much about me and just because she is the bestest best friend I could ask for.
Serges Njionou Djofang
My brother is a siren (Metaphor), he’s never quiet. When he’s upset you can hear his cry all the way from China (Hyperbole). And when he laughs, it sounds like a salamander scratching sand on a chalkboard (Alliteration). But when he is actually funny, like making a joke or falling on purpose, you can even hear the clocks laughing (Personification), and there are times when he can laugh like a chimpanzee (Simile). But my brother is very competitive, so when he loses, he’ll go bananas (Idiom). Then there are the times where he has to do work, like his chores. And one of them is making sure all the doors are closed. But you will never see him do it, let alone hear the doors creak (Onomatopoeia).
But there are times where me and him “bond”, but then again, those times usually last a little shorter than a second (Hyperbole). We were going to the park, and him, being him, was walking as fast as an old man (Simile). I was on my scooter riding, but then I ran him over. When I fell over the handlebars I wooshed past him (Onomatopoeia). He was really hurt but was laughing the whole way, at the time I didn’t understand, and I bet even the trees were confused (Personification). When we got home, we were talking for a bit, but then he left to go somewhere else, probably read or something.
Then there are the times we don’t get along, which usually follow the same format; he’s being annoying, I tell him to shut up, then he complains to our mom/dad that we are “bullying” him, then our parents take his side because why not, and then we get into this massive argument that neither of us are willing to give up.
Justin Perez Lopez
My family trip to Mazatlan. When my mom was trying to wake me up, I was sawing logs.(Idiom) I woke up and I brushed my teeth, got my suitcase, and I got in the van with my cousins. I went to sleep to rest because I woke up at 4 am. When I woke up, we were still not there. All I see is monster sized mountains in Mexico.(Alliteration)
I watched Karate Kid on the way there. The car ride was as fun as being in a Mexican bouncy house.(Simile) When we got to Mazatlan, I could hear the waves swooshing in the ocean.(Onomatopoeia) We went to the hotel and I saw a pool. I was as excited as when you open your christmas presents. (Simile) When we got there, I was as hungry as a horse(Simile). I was about to starve to death.(Hyperbole) We went to a seafood restaurant and it was pretty good and it was pretty chill because all you can hear is the waves crashing.(Onomatopoeia)
When we got to the hotel, the crickets were making noise. It was like music to my ears.(Simile) I couldn’t sleep all night because my grandparents and I had to share a bedroom and my grandpa was sawing logs.(Idiom) When I woke up we went to get breakfast at the hotel and the food there hit the spot.(Idiom) When we got done eating, I don’t remember what we did, but I’m pretty sure we went to the beach. Then my cousins and I found a shower outside of a house and we showered in it, but we almost got caught.
When it was night time, we went to dinner to get hot dogs with hot cheetos and ruffles on them. The hot dog was begging to be eaten. (Personification) When we went to the hotel we slept and then when we woke up we went to the water park. It was really fun and my cousin was always with me. After we got back we slept, and in the morning we left. When we got back we had to climb over the fence because we forgot the key. I realized the trip was over. I was happy that it happened.
Mikey Przybylski
The basketball game was as wild as a jungle(simile). At the start of the game the basketball was jumping off the rim. (personification)
One time my teammate was going to the rim, he was a bull driving to that rim (metaphor) Then he spun going through the defense, the defense is always a piece of cake for him (idiom).
We are used to this, but something was different this time. When he went up to layup the ball, the defender pulled him down viciously, and when he hit his head smack on the floor the crowd went “ooooohh” (onomatopoeia). When his head hit the floor, there was a boom bang bop (alliteration and onomatopoeia). He stayed on the ground while the other team moved down the court.
We called a timeout and it seemed like he was on the ground for hours with trainers and coaches surrounding him(hyperbole).
My friend got up and kept playing. He was a strong one, but the trainer said he couldn't get too carried away.
Ivan Reyes
My dog is absolutely adorable; as pretty as a flower glimmering in the sun. (Simile and Onomatopoeia) Whenever I see her, she spins around in joy, happy to see me, but when I leave the house, I hear her calling my name. (Personification)
She is a beautiful gem. (Metaphor) She is the cutest critter to me. (Alliteration) If you were to see my dog, you would faint because of how cute and adorable she is. (Hyperbole) She has been with me when times were tough, and with me when things were as easy as using a GPS instead of a map. (Idiom) I absolutely love my dog and forever will until the day she dies. (Hyperbole)
We hang out with my dog all the time to play fetch; she is as fast as a cheetah! (Simile) Luna (her name) is undeniably cute and amazing at a young age. I really hope she doesn’t die too soon, that’ll be devastating.
Madison Rogers
My cat is a pain in the neck (idiom). She's a monkey and she's always climbing things (metaphor). She's just a kitten, but she's as feisty as a lion (simile). She's killing me with all the scars she gives me (hyperbole). Even though she's just a kitten, her meow is as deep as Batman's voice(onomatopoeia and simile).
I swear every time she does something bad and I catch her, she cusses me out (personification). She's spoiled rotten, but she doesn’t even use all the toys she has, she has 18 toys and she only plays with my shoes (idiom). She's a calico with the mind of a monkey; she's very mischievous (metaphor). She's the size of a rat, but can take down my 6 year old fat cat. Her fur is the colors of fall (mataphor).
My favorite thing about her is probably her attitude, it's hilarious. When she’s picking on my other cat and I yell at her, she gives me airplane ears and growls (onomatopoeia). At night when I'm trying to sleep, she has two personalities; it's either zoomies or a cuddle bug. October is my favorite kitty and will always be. I couldn't live without her (hyperbole).
Ashlyn Taylor
I have a Bernese mountain dog and a golden retriever. They are as loving as little angels (simile) and as big as bigfoot (simile). My golden retriever is about a million years old, but the sweetest dog ever(hyperbole). My golden retriever is a brave lion(metaphor), but my Bernese mountain dogs is as dumb as a box of rocks (simile).
They will follow you around the house and always be in the way when you're trying to do something. They will always be attacking guests and making it so difficult to have a conversion without being barked at. It will look like they're dancing when they wag their tails(personification).
They love being the center of attention and will act like they're dying the second you get out the shampoo bottle. (hyperbole) If you get out a leash, they will act as excited as elephants on a sugar high (simile). They sleep a million hours a day (hyperbole). They’re as fast as lighting, but only for a few minutes(simile). They eat more than a giraffe(hyperbole). I love my dogs so much and wouldn't trade them for the world.
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London and Paris Trip
Dear families,
Thanks to all of you who were able to make it to wednesday's meeting about our upcoming trip to London and Paris in Summer 2024. If you missed it, I have attached the PARENT GUIDE ENROLLMENT COMPANION to this email.
To guarantee a spot on this tour for your student, receive a $100 travel discount and to qualify for risk-free enrollment, lock in one of the 12 spots available with a $95 Enrollment Fee
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Space is limited, and is first-come, first-served!
You can also view the Parent Guide to Travel from EF Educational Tours, our travel partner. It covers everything from details about EF to options for high school and college credit to payments plans and what to expect on tour. Additionally, as a reminder, once you enroll with your $95 Enrollment Fee, you will have access to your individual fundraising page and be able to apply for EF’s Global Citizen Scholarship.
Still have questions? EF's Traveler Support team can help at 800-665-5364. And if your child has friends who haven't signed up yet, feel free to pass this message along to their families too.
Thanks everyone!
Sarah Butler
P.S. Check out this video to learn what parents & guardians like you thought about their own children's EF tour experiences.
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Vikan Middle School
Website: https://www.sd27j.org/vikan
Location: 879 Jessup Street, Brighton, CO, USA
Phone: (303) 655-4050
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VikanMiddleSchool/?ref=pages_you_manage