This is just a cut-and-paste of the Principal's E-news; please excuse any crazy formatting.  Not all formatting survives the "e-mail to web page" transition!  (Font colors, for instance, often become hard to read.)  If you are not receiving the Principal's E-news, please contact the school directly.

April 9, 2010:

BEN RUSH eNEWS

Friday, April 09, 2010

Upcoming Events

·        Thursday, April 15               1^st Day of Primary choir grades 1-3 3:00 – 3:45

·        Thursday, April 15               Skate King

·         Friday, April 16                    Talent Show  1:30

Legacy for Learning

Lake Washington Schools Foundation Annual Luncheon – The Foundation provides grants for our school programs.  Rush received a grant this year for our after school robotics program!

·         Wednesday, April 28, 2010

o   11:00 Registration begins

o   11:30 Lunch & Program begins

o   12:30 Program ends

o   RSVP’s due April 14^th to bstolz@lwsd.org

·         Keynote – Dr. Chip Kimball

·         Where – Juanita High School – fieldhouse – 10601 NE 132^nd, Kirkland, WA 98034

·         Website – http://www.lwsf.org/events.html

·         Cost – The lunch is free.  The Foundation’s goal is to raise $1,500.00 by suggesting each person donate $150.00

Let’s get a Rush table of 10 people! 

Going Green

Congratulations to our Rush staff and students.  Since we moved to the baskets and done away with Styrofoam trays we have reduced our trash by 60% !  That is amazing and deserves a big WAY TO GO!

MSP SCHEDULE

The following is the schedule for the new Measurement of Student Progress test.  This test replaces the WASL.  Please do all you can to get your child to school on these days!

3^rd Grade                                                              4^th grade                                                               5^th grade                              

5/12 math             8:45 – 10                               5/13  Math           8:45 – 11                               5/18 Science         9:30 – 11              

5/13 Reading       8:45 – 10                               5/14 Reading       8:45 – 11                               5/19 Reading       9:30 – 11

                                                                             5/17 Writing I     8:45 – 11                                5/25 Math            9:30 – 11              

                                                                             5/18 Writing II    8:45 – 11

6^th Grade

5/04 Algebra Aptitude Test              12:10 – 1:30

5/18 Math                                            8:45 – 11

5/27 Reading On-Line                       8:45 – 11

International Night

Thanks to all for a wonderful International Night celebration.  It was an awesome way to celebrate the diversity we have at Rush.  Our performers were outstanding and the food – WOW!  We are truly and international school.

March 22, 2010:

BEN RUSH e NEWS

Upcoming Events

March 25 – Intermediate Concert – 7:00 PM – Ben Rush Gym

March 29 – April 2 – Spring Break!

March 22 - 26 is Classified Public School Employee Appreciation Week @ Ben Rush

Please take a moment this week  to recognize the work of all of our classified staff. As Governor Gregoire recognized in her January 29 proclamation, classified school employees “deserve recognition and thanks for the outstanding work they are doing for this state, their communities and the children enrolled in Washington’s public schools…” Thank you to all of our classified staff for the work that you do. You are truly appreciated.

Earthquake and Fire Drill

We will be holding and earthquake drill followed by a fire drill on Thursday, March 25^th @ 9:00 AM.  We will hold the earthquake drill and then exit the building with a fire drill.  I will alert students over the intercom and walk them through the earthquake drill and then we will activate the fire alarm to evacuate the building.  If you are in the building during the drill please follow all the emergency drill instructions.  You will be asked to evacuate the building as well.  It is always a good idea to debrief with your child and it is also an opportunity for you to discuss your home emergency plans.

We will have more specific dates and times as the district develops the schedule to disperse the tests.  Sixth grade will only take the reading test on-line. 

March 16, 2010:

March 15, 2010:

BEN RUSH Enews

CALENDAR EVENTS:

·         Monday, March 15, 2010 – Optional Conferences – School dismissed @ 11:30

·         Tuesday, March 16, 2010 – Optional Conferences – School  dismissed @ 11:30

·         Wednesday, March 17, 2010 – Wednesday LEAP – School dismissed @ 1:30

·         Friday, March 19, 2010 – NO SCHOOL – Teacher professional development day

·         March 29 – April 2 – Spring Break!

·         The main LWSD calendar with all events can be viewed @ www.benrush.org

o   Click on calendar in the upper right hand corner.  You can filter this calendar to display the events scheduled if you have children in multiple schools.

COMMUNITY BUDGET INPUT SESSIONS

Community input meetings are being held as we face possible budget cuts again this year.  Please plan to attend one of the following sessions.

·         March 16 – Budget Input session, Juanita High School, 7-9 p.m.

·         March 17 – Budget Input session, Rose Hill JHS, 4-6 p.m.

·         March 17 – Budget Input session, LWHS, 7-9 p.m.

ATTENDANCE:

Today we had 25 students late and 13 who did not call in to report and absence!  Please make every effort to have your child here on time and remember to call the school when your child is home ill. 

SCIENCE FAIR:

I want to thank you for all your support for the Ben Rush Science Fair it was a huge success.  The students were very excited and did an excellent job of displaying and explaining their projects.  Parents made many comments about the quality and variety of the projects and were very pleased to see many teachers attending in support of students.  I am absolutely ecstatic about it all!  We easily tripled the number of entries from last year.  I hope we can increase it again next year.  I have asked students to bring their projects back to school so we can display them in the hallways for all to see!

RECYCLING:

As may know we have done away with Styrofoam trays in our lunch program.  In addition we are recycling food waste, etc.  Since starting the program we have cut our trash pick-up from twice a week to once a week.  To date we have saved $3,300.00 of general fund money!   As we continue to get better with our recycling efforts we hope to save even more money while saving the environment.

LOST & FOUND:

We have numerous items in our lost & found.  Please check for lost items.  Additionally, if you put your child’s name on their clothing it is so much easier to return lost items.  Since student have purchased new Ben Rush shirts this has become increasingly important!  Thanks you!

MATH:

Mathnasium of Redmond is sponsoring the Second Annual Math Triathlon for grades 3-6 on Saturday, April 3!  There is no fee to enter.  Each grade level will compete separately.    All questions are grade level appropriate.  Prizes of $100, $75, and $50 cash will be awarded to individual winners at each grade level.   Winners will also receive recognition in the Redmond Reporter.  This contest is meant to be challenging and fun while encouraging younger students to hone their math skills.

To enter, parents need only to submit the online registration form at http://redmondmath.com .

MSP

You may be aware that the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has made some changes to the state assessment, formerly known as the WASL. It is now called the Measurement of Student Progress (MSP) in grades 3-8. The test is shorter by half in reading, math, and science, and will take one testing session for students to complete.  The writing test remains the same as always and requires two testing sessions to complete.

For sixth grade parents: OSPI has also made it possible for students to take the MSP on-line in reading and math. Each school in our district is piloting one online test this year in sixth grade. You may want to go on-line to look at a demonstration of the test tool.

Here’s how to view the MSP sixth grade test demonstration. 

1.      Go to the following web site :

http://wa-online.caltesting.org/tutorials/studentTutorials.html

2.      Click on the Demo link and choose to listen to the demo using audio

We hope this helps you see what your sixth grader will experience during the on-line version of the MSP.

Talking About Sex: Required Parent Notification

Each year, by state law, students receive instruction in HIV/AIDS prevention beginning in the fifth grade. As a school district, we also instruct students in sex education, beginning in the fourth grade. Parents who are interested in previewing lesson materials can do so through our District Resource Center Curriculum Library.

Parents of students in grades 7-12 who are interested in previewing the lesson materials at the District Resource Center can arrange a day and time with our curriculum library secretary, Abbie DeLong (adelong@lwsd.org).

Parents of students in grades 4-6 can preview lesson materials and videos at the District Curriculum Library on these dates:

If interested, please e-mail Abbie DeLong (adelng@lwsd.org) to make arrangements for your preview.

March 8, 2010:

BEN RUSH eNEWS

Upcoming Events

March 15 & 16 – Early release – half day – due to optional parent conferences – Dismissal @ 11:30 AM

March 19 – No school – teacher professional development day

Science Fair

"The Ben Rush Science Fair is this Thursday- March 11 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM.   We have over 65 students signed-up to participate!

If your student would like to participate you may still sign up.  Please send an email to wglover@docentims.com

For those who have signed-up, you may have one free poster board for each project.  You will be able to pick up the poster board at the Ben Rush PTA, Monday (before school) and Tuesday (before and after school).  Since we can only give out one per project, parents please either pick up the poster board yourself or ask your child to be especially careful.  if you have questions, please contact Wayne Glover at 425 269-6970  or wglover@docentims.com

February 22, 2010:

BEN RUSH eNEWS

February 22, 2010

Up Coming Events:

2/25    4^th & 5^th Grade Class Social, Gym 7-8pm

2/25    6^th grade Pac-Rim Class Viewing, 4:30-5:30pm

Ben Rush School Messenger

School Messenger is an all-school notification system via the phone, email or text messaging.  You received a message last Thursday about the new Ben Rush T-shirts.  It was great to hear that many of you received Mr. Stolz’s message.  When your cell phone shows you missed a call from the school, please listen to the voice mail first to see if it is necessary to call the school back.  We will be using this message system for future updates and events happening in our school to keep you informed. 

Stay Tuned!

Up-Coming Science Fair

Ben Rush Science Fair, Thursday, March 11^th, 7:00 - 8:30 PM.

Please sign up for the school's annual science fair.

http://benjaminrush.org/Documents/SciF_studentflyer.pdf

 Once you have signed up, start working on your project. When you have completed your project, please let the coordinators know and they will give you a complimentary poster board, courtesy of the PTA.  For more information, feel free to contact the science fair coordinators: Wayne Glover at wglover@docentims.com or Michael Kreeger at mike@mkreeger.com 

Need ideas?  Go to:  http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/

Planning for Summer School?

Planning for elementary and secondary Summer School 2010 is already underway. The dates for this year's Summer School sessions are: secondary--July 2-July 31; and elementary--July 12-August 6. Elementary will be held at Twain Elementary and Secondary will be held at Redmond High School.

Parents and students can expect to pick up catalogues in their schools during Spring Conferences in March for elementary students. Catalogues for secondary students will be available in their schools after Spring Break. The catalogues provide information about the registration process, fees and courses. Additional information about Summer School 2010 can be located on the Lake Washington School District website by typing 'summer school' in the search field of the Homepage. The Summer School page will have updated information throughout the spring, as it becomes available.

This summer elementary students will have the option to choose between the core academic program for the grade level they will be entering in the fall or the Mandarin-Chinese Language Cultural Summer Program. The Mandarin-Chinese Language and Cultural Summer Program offers children the opportunity to learn Mandarin Chinese while having fun!  Students will not only learn the Chinese language, but also Chinese culture and history. The program teaches basic conversation and writing skills according to the weekly theme of the language classes. Cultural lessons will be taught through activities such as cooking, art, music, stories, games and hands-on projects. The camp will be divided into two grade groups—entering K-2 and entering 3-5. Information about registering for the Mandarin-Chinese Language Cultural Summer Program as well as the core academic program can be found in the Elementary Summer School catalogue.

Community Budget Meeting Dates

As you may remember last year the LWSD held a number of community meetings to gather input about possible budget cuts.  We are anticipating that we may have to make cuts for the 2010 – 2011 school year.  I would encourage you to attend one of the following meetings.

The revised community budget meeting schedule is as follows:

March 16 – Juanita High School, 7-9 p.m.

March 17 – Rose Hill Jr. High, 4-6 p.m.

March 17 – Lake Washington High School, 7-9 p.m.

March 24 – Redmond High School, 7-9 p.m.

March 25 – Eastlake High School, 7-9 p.m.

Ground Rules for School Grounds Clean-Ups by Volunteers

‘Tis the season when students, parents, staff members and coaches may want to help spruce up the school grounds, either for Earth Day, scout projects, or team field prep.  These volunteer efforts can greatly contribute to maintaining and improving our schools … if done correctly.  If you are a group that wants to conduct a school clean-up work party, you may not need to go through the Facilities/Community Project approval process.  The following types of projects can be done safely, productively, and in a way that our Grounds Dept. can continue to maintain under these conditions:

·         The work party is discussed in advance with the principal

·         Scope of work is limited to maintenance, such as raking and cleaning up fallen leaves, branches and trash, removing weeds, and trimming overgrown shrubs; or cleaning/repairing nets and fencing or filling in holes

·         No work is done within wetlands or rain gardens

·         There is an adult supervisor on hand at all times, either a LWSD staff member or approved parent volunteer

·         All volunteers complete Hold Harmless Agreements

·         All volunteers use appropriate safety tools (gloves, goggles, etc.)

·         All work is done with hand tools

·         All debris is put into bags or containers and either removed from the site on the day of the event or prior arrangements are made with the custodian for its disposal

·         Volunteers are strictly prohibited from using any types of fertilizers or herbicides (no ‘Round-Up’!)

If the goals of the work party include items other than those listed above, the project representative must contact the Facilities Dept. for approval (complete a Community Project Proposal form, include ALL relevant information, and submit it at least two weeks before the desired work party date).  Items that would require prior approval include:

·         Using power equipment (pressure washer, edger/trimmer, chipper, Bobcat, etc.)

·         Adding plants or materials (mulch or bark, infield mix, shrubs, etc.)

·         Making any changes to playgrounds (equipment or play chips)

·         Any type of new construction (raised bed, pathway, fencing)

·         Cleaning/painting portables or storage containers

Please remind your coaches and ADs of these policies.  If you have any questions, please contact the Facilities office at 425-882-5100 or Community Projects coordinator Sheri Sanders at 425-882-8174.

GO CHEETAHS!!

February 18, 2010:  Special audio message about Rush Spirit Gear:  CLICK HERE to listen.

February 16, 2010:

BEN RUSH eNEWS

Up Coming Events:

·         Hot Dogs – Jump Rope Assembly – Friday – 2:15 -2:45

Ben Rush PTA

Our Parent-Teacher-Student Association is a dynamic and integral part of life at Ben Rush Elementary.  From planning fun monthly activities to funding academic needs, this group is part of what makes Ben Rush a GREAT SCHOOL! If you know of anyone in our school community  with enthusiasm and time to devote to a leadership role in the PTA, please consider nominating him or her for office. And yes, you can even nominate yourself! Nomination forms and job descriptions are available here (http://benjaminrush.org/default.aspx) or on the PTA bulletin board in the school office. Nominees will be evaluated by a committee of Ben Rush parents, and prospective officers will be voted on by the PTA membership on April 22 at 6:45 in the school library.

Going Green

Beginning Thursday we will be eliminating Styrofoam trays and going to reusable baskets for our main lunch items.  Students will be asked to separate food items and recyclable materials.  We hope to drastically reduce our trash and recycle and compost more items.  Most schools in our district are doing this type of recycling!  This will be a bit of an adjustment for our students and staff but we know it is the right thing to do!

GO CHEETAHS!!

January 20, 2010:

January 11, 2010:

January 5, 2010: