Realms Middle School
ROGER'S NOTES...
We are excited about the beginning of another school year - welcome to all of our new families and welcome back to all those returning! It si super fun to see all the excited energy and the great learning that is happening here already!
Regarding what you can expect from us around communication...
And lastly, please DO check out the Communication Section below - there is a short 3 question technology access survey that we are hoping every family will fill out once, and a new texting app called Remind that we suggest you sign up for if you are a "texter".
And, even though we are doing all this communicating electronically, we still hope you'll stop in to say hi face to face... soon!!!
RogerUPCOMING DATES (for more details, see our live calendar)
NEW PARENT ORIENTATION NIGHT - WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 27TH (6:00 - 7:30)
New parents of any grades - mark your calendars and do your best to attend! This workshop is designed to help answer all your questions about academic systems, grades, classes, curriculum and more. We strongly encourage new parents to attend. Returning parents - if you want a refresher on any of our systems you are welcome to join in. We will cover:
CELL PHONES AT REALMS - WHAT IS OUR POLICY?
AT REALMS, we care deeply about two powerful processes here at school.... engagement and community. For us, Engagement means that students are focused fully on learning and have as few "distractions" as possible. By Community we mean that we believe in the importance of building strong bonds between students, and students and staff here at school. No significant learning happens without significant relationships!
In our experience, both engagement and community are more often hurt than helped by the presence and use of cell phones at school. SO... our policy at REALMS is very simple: OFF AND AWAY ALL DAY. From 8:15 - 3:15 students cell phones should be OFF (that means powered down, not just silenced) and AWAY (that means in their backpack or locker, not their pocket). Students MAY use their cell phone in the office and with permission, if they prefer to use their cell to our office phone.
Parents - here's what you need to know:
If you text or call your student during the day, and your student's phone is in his/her pocket and not powered down (ooops).... then you are asking for trouble! Please do not call or text your kiddo at school - feel free to call us in the office instead, or better yet, wait till the end of the school day! If your student call s you from his/her cell phone DURING the school day, the very first question you should ask him/her is: "Are you in the office and do you have permission to use your cell?"
AN UPDATE OF FIELDWORK CONTRIBUTIONS SO FAR...
As you know, the fieldwork and elective programs at REALMS are 100% reliant on the fundraising efforts of Friends of REALMS (and coordinated by Amy Anderson). Our first effort is to motivate as many of you as possible to make your start of year "fieldwork contribution"!! The pie chart here shows how important your fieldwork contribution, of any size, is in our overall fundraising program for the year!
This is NOT a fee, and ALL students will participate in fieldwork regardless of ability to pay. However, this contribution is a critical "kick off" to our 2017-18 fundraising program. Please consider making a partial or full contribution if you can! Thanks.
Thanks so much to those who have made their contribution so far:
If you would like to pay a fieldwork contribution,click here!
BUY YOUR STRICTLY ORGANIC COFFEE FROM US! A FUNDRAISER FOR REALMS
We are lucky to have the support of Strictly O Coffee - you can order DELICIOUS coffee from REALMS and you will earn money for REALMS and at the same time support locally owned company... caffeine and supporting REALMS... it's a win-win!
To order your coffee, simply use our Strictly O Order Form here
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES HERE AT REALMS!
THE REMIND APP - A WAY TO GET TEXTS FROM US HERE AT SCHOOL: We will be sending out occasional helpful reminders using text messages this year, and a helpful app called REMIND. Remind (an app for your phone) is a free school communication system that allows us to send out texts to our community. Our hope is that it will be a way to connect with parents quickly and easily: fieldwork reminders, event reminders ... anytime we need to send out a quick message. The office can send out reminders to the whole school, or teachers can send out reminders to their class! We will continue to use our monthly website newsletters with all the details our families need to stay connected and informed. Remind will only be used for very brief reminders!
If you want to receive these reminders, you can learn more at their website OR simply sign up using this one page graphic... it requires just two simple steps!
DO YOU PREFER ELECTRONIC OR PAPER COMMUNICATION? PLEASE LET US KNOW IN THIS QUICK SURVEY! It is REALLY important to us that we do everything we can to be sure that ALL families have excellent access to information about events, curriculum, academic progress etc.... and yet we know that not all families in our community have equal access to the internet. Help us be sure we are communicating well. (And yes, we'll be following up with phone calls to any family that we don't receive a survey response from!) Pleas complete this 3 question tech access survey.
AMY'S VOLUNTEER CORNER... SIGN UP TO HELP OUT, & GET YOUR BACKGROUND CHECKS DONE!
Amy Anderson (with help from our secretary Kelly Beck) coordinates our parent volunteers who are instrumental in helping here at REALMS, ESPECIALLY with Fieldwork and Fundraising!
If you want to get more involved, we have opportunities to help out and need your help! To see where we need folks download and read our Fall Volunteer Opportunities document. THEN, to get signed up for one of these, just reply to this simple checkbox form: Volunteer Sign Up Form
ALSO - please know that before any parent can volunteer with students, they must complete the Bend LaPine School District volunteer background check, so we recommend you complete this now, just in case! That way you are ready to help out when the opportunity arises!
PARKING LOT ISSUES HERE AT REALMS
The Dirt Lot: You may have noticed that we now have logs blocking the dirt area in front of the school adjacent to OB Riley Rd. This "field" is actually the drainfield for a septic system connected to Town Hall, and the property owner has asked us not to use it for parking - sorry! It is actually in our lease, so currently no wiggle room.
Carpooling! To help ease the busy-ness of our lot, please consider carpooling! We have set up a self serve carpool sign up document that can help you find folks... you may add your name and any contact info you'd like and reach out to those near you.
School Bus: there is a pretty great system of buses in place to support REALMS kids getting to and from school, and we encourage you to try it out. For specific information on routes, times, and drop off pick up locations, call 541-355-5700 or email Janelle Bennett Gossett.
OUR NEW "RESET ROOM" - LOOKING FOR SUPPLIES!
This year at REALMS we are creating a Reset Room. This will be a place for students to take a break when they are not mentally or physically able to be a full participant in class, and to shift themselves back to being ready to learn. We are working to create a comfortable and relaxing environment, and we are looking for help in outfitting our space. Here are the kinds of things we are looking for:
Ideally, we are looking for self-explanatory activities that kids can do independently and that don’t require much setup or cleanup.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Eli Seemann
Thank you! The Supported Ed Team
STUDENT ACCIDENT INSURANCE
It is important to know that Bend LaPine Schools DOES NOT carry accident insurance for students! This means that you are responsible for the medical bills if your student gets hurt during school activities. As a service to you and your child, the District offers all families low cost accident insurance to help cover all of life's bumps and bruises - we encourage you to read this information and sign up if you are interested. Many coverage options are available.
ENGLISH information and brochure/application
SPANISH information and brochure/application