Connections
Dates To Remember:
Dec. 17 — SOLDOTNA: Open Gym at Kenai Rec Center 12-2 p.m. NO ADVISORS AVAILABLE but the gym will still be open
Dec. 18 — SOLDOTNA: Food Bank Christmas Dinner Hosted By Connections. Call the office to help volunteer!
Dec. 18 — SEWARD: Holiday Fun in the Seward Connections Office! Please join us for food, fun and holiday crafts! We will be making Christmas owls as well as putting together homemade soup gifts for charity. There will be two sessions, please choose one: 10-11:30 a.m. or 1-2:30 p.m.
Dec. 18 — HOMER: Paper Circuits Project: Light Up Greeting Cards
HOMER and SEWARD OFFICES CLOSED Dec. 23-Jan. 5
SOLDOTNA OFFICE CLOSED Dec. 25 and Jan. 1
Jan. 22 — Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Q & A Session
Jan. 31 — Geography Bee at Soldotna Office 1 p.m. Grades 4-8
May 4 — Kenai Fjords Marine Science Explorer Tour. Please Contact Julie Lindquist for more details at jlindquist@kpbsd.org or 907-224-9035.
Soldotna Office — Kenai Recreation Center gym time every Tuesday from 12-2 p.m.
Homer Office — SPARC activities every Tuesday and Wednesday from 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Semester Reports Are Due! Please contact your advisor if you have any questions.
Homer: 226-1880
Seward: 224-9035
Soldotna: 714-8880
CONNECTION FAMILIES:
Check out our new link for Connections events! These are community events that Connections students may be interested in!
Central Peninsula: https://padlet.com/connectionskpbsd/lz7z7ea4ii7w
Homer: https://padlet.com/dbynagle/HomerConnections
Seward: https://padlet.com/lhaskins1/SewardConnections
Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science
The office would like to send out a very special thank you to everyone for their generosity and tremendous support we’ve seen during this special holiday season! We appreciate all our Kaleidoscope families!
The Life Skill we are focusing on this week is Integrity — To act according to a sense of what’s right and wrong.
We are currently accepting lottery applications for the 2020/2021 school year. The deadline for this application is Feb. 28, 2020. If you are interested in attending Kaleidoscope please contact the office for more information at 283-0804.
Brrrr! It looks like the winter weather has found us! Kindly send your child in with gear appropriate for the weather. Also, to ensure gear makes it home LABEL all gear, including; jackets, gloves, hats, snow pants, boots.
Tuesday, Dec. 17
9:15 a.m.: Firth-fifth grade will be going over to KCHS for Holiday Concert Rehearsal. All fifth graders should bring a sack lunch.
6 p.m.: First-fifth grade Holiday Concert at KCHS
10:45 a.m.: Boersma’s Class is going to Charis Place
1:15 p.m.: Zinszer’s Class is going to Charis Place
Wednesday, Dec. 18: 3 p.m.: Third and fourth grade Celebration of Learning
Thursday, Dec. 19: 2:45 p.m.: Kindergarten Cookie Sharing
Friday, Dec. 20: Pajama Day
Dec. 23-Jan. 6: Winter Break — No School
Upcoming Events
Jan. 8, 4:15 p.m.: APC meeting
Jan. 15: Early Release Day, school dismisses at 2:10 p.m.
Volunteers: Study trips are already scheduled so watch for student permission forms. If you’d like to volunteer on a trip, you need to be an approved volunteer. Two steps are required each school year to be approved. Go to http://kaleidoscope.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/volunteers and click the link to the background check. This may take two weeks for approval to be returned. The KSAS volunteer training is our second step, please see the office for information regarding this process.
Soldotna Elementary
Dec. 16: Winter Concert (K-sixth grade) and Cookie Train 6:30 p.m. at Soldotna High School
Dece. 20: Ugly Sweater Day
Dec. 23-Jan. 6: Winter Break
Mrs. Simmons’ class helped serve the local community by stocking food shelves and measuring grains at the Kenai Food Bank. Students worked hard and enjoyed volunteering! We appreciate the parent volunteers that donated time to make this experience possible.
Parent Pack needs your help! Sign-up for email communications or like the Parent Pack on Facebook for up-to-date volunteer opportunities.
Weather Reminder: Please ensure that children have appropriate gear for the weather. Students will attend periods of outdoor activity every day.
K-Beach Elementary
There will be a band Concert Dec. 17 in the K-Beach Gym at 6:30 p.m.
Mr. Daniels’s class is practicing deductive reasoning skills by playing a number guessing game with a class in New Jersey, live on Google Hangout video chat! The game is called Mystery Number and the range can vary, from integers to whole numbers, from .000001 to 1,000,000. Daniels’s class is practicing in class, so they will be ready for the friendly competition on “Game Day.” Daniels’s class already met this group when they played Mystery location with them last week, a game where the class had to guess the New Jersey class’s location with “yes or no” questions.
Band Concert: Dec. 17, 6:30 p.m. in K-Beach gym
Winter Break: Dec. 23, Jan. 3, NO SCHOOL
Inservice Day: Jan. 6, NO SCHOOL
Mountain View Elementary
The primary winter concert for all first, second and third grade students will be on Monday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Renee C. Henderson auditorium at Kenai Central High School. Students need to be at KCHS at 5:45 p.m.
The fifth grade band concert will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 6 p.m. in the gym at Mountain View.
Winter break is Dec. 21-Jan. 6. Monday, Jan. 6 is an Inservice day and there is no school for students. Students return to school on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
Wednesday, Jan. 15 is an early release day. Students will be dismissed at 1:50 p.m.
Skyview Middle School
Friday is the last day of the second quarter! Please make sure all class work is turned in and fees are paid.
IT IS PANTHER SPIRIT WEEK!
Monday, Dec. 16: Pajama Day — Must meet dress code standards for appropriate coverage.
Tuesday, Dec. 17: Biggest Fan Day — Ideas: Sports Fan, Movie/Show Fan, Book Character, Celebrity
Wednesday, Dec. 18: Retro Day — Ideas: ‘50s Bee Bop, ‘60s Hippie, ‘70s Disco, ‘80s Rock
Thursday, Dec. 19: Twin Day — Ideas: similar outfits with a friend or group of friends, celebrity twin
Friday, Dec. 20: Panther Pride Day — Ideas: Purple, Vintage, anything Skyview Panthers
ACTIVITY NIGHT THANKS: Many thanks to all those who attended our Activity Night on Dec. 6! We are especially grateful to all the staff and parent chaperones who volunteered their time — we couldn’t have done it without you! Big shout out to our Alaska Wildlife Troopers for hosting their game and providing the prizes! Many thanks to Odom Corporation for donating the Coca-Cola products for the Ring Toss game! Mrs. Pothast would like to give a special thanks to all the Student Council members who stepped up to work shifts, donate cookies/frosting/sprinkles, and assist with set up and clean up! Thank you to EVERYONE who helped make this event happen!
ACTIVITY NIGHT WINNERS: Congratulations to the following students who won prizes at our Holiday Activity Night: Harold Rudstrom and Marcus Hagedorn Trooper game winners; Brenden Theel, Finnley Loop, Christopher Glaves, Jocelyn Kampstra and Brooklyn Hegwer Candy Guessing Jars winners; Finnley Loop, Kael Aamodt, Levi Mickelson and Richard Franco Recycling Station drawing winners; Grayden Musgrave and Miranda Brown holiday limbo winners.
HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE: Donations of nonperishable food items can be dropped off on the cart at the front office or in Mrs. Pothast’s classroom now through Wednesday, Dec. 18. Our goal is to gather 1,000 pounds of donations for the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank! If the 1,000 pound goal is reached, Principal Truesdell has agreed to take a pie in the face during an all school assembly! Please be generous and help us help our neighbors in need. Thank you!
Enjoy the Winter Break! No School for Students Monday, Dec. 23 through Monday, January 6. Winter Sports — Volleyball, Wrestling and Skiing — begin on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
Nikiski Middle/High School
Tuesday, Dec. 17: Winter Concert — 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 19
Varsity Basketball @ Kenai — Craig Jung Kenai River Challenge — vs. Galena — Girls 3 p.m. / Boys 4:30 p.m.
JV Girls Basketball @ CIA Tournament
Friday, Dec. 20
High School Wrestling State Tournament @ Alaska Airline Center
Varsity Basketball @ Kenai — Craig Jung Kenai River Challenge — vs. Houston — Boys 3 p.m. / Girls 4:30 p.m.
JV Girls Basketball @ CIA Tournament
Saturday, Dec. 21
High School Wrestling State Tournament @ Alaska Airline Center
Varsity Basketball @ Kenai — Craig Jung Kenai River Challenge — vs. Kenai — Girls 3 p.m. / Boys 4:30 p.m.
JV Girls Basketball @ CIA Tournament
Saturday, Dec. 21-Tuesday, Jan. 7 —Winter Break, NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
Monday, Jan. 6: Staff In-Service
Order your yearbook now at Josten.com. The price is $50 now, but will go up on Dec. 21.
Jacob Andreanoff has been selected as the Kenai Elks Student of the Month for December!
A huge thank you to Zee Berg, former student of NMHS, for coming out to excite people about her work as a dental hygienist. Zee was fantastic and told us the best part of her job was working one on one with people and teaching them about dental care. She said one Christmas she was working at a gas station while her kids were at home opening presents and she knew she never wanted to work another Christmas. She asked around and found a career choice that would work: dental hygiene. Even though she didn’t find her direct route out of high school into her career of choice, she told our students it was important that they take their own path. She reminded students, “The things you are possibly doing now — be really careful — they can later cause you to be denied employment.” Great advice Zee! Thanks for coming out!
Cook Inlet Academy
The date of our Christmas Program is changed due to some unforeseen conflicts. Instead of Monday, Dec. 16, the NEW DATE is Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 6 p.m. This week was our last full week of school and then the second quarter and first semester come to an end. The school year will be half over. Please encourage your students to stay on top of grades and assignments.
The last day of school will be Dec. 18 and students will be released at noon for Christmas Vacation.
Don’t forget we will have some great basketball action here Dec. 19-21 at the CIA Classic. We are asking for those who can to help with concessions for the Classic which starts on Dec. 19. This is a huge fund raising opportunity for High School Basketball and there are still some slots available. If you have students/athletes playing basketball please consider filling an empty slot. When the CIA girls are playing it should be the boys’ parents running concessions and vice versa. Of course, this is a school wide event, so even if you don’t have kiddos playing basketball but would still like to help, please call Robin ASAP at 299-7428 so she can get you on her list. Thank you to everyone for helping make The Cook Inlet Classic Basketball Tournament a success!
Thank you to Ken Youngberg for his help as our “handy man.” Also thank you to our Athletic Director Mike Cruz and Brian Moore for their work on creating stores for our website with Squad Locker. If you haven’t looked, check out the store on our web site. This is a fast and great way to buy Christmas gifts for our athletes.
Also a big thank you to all our parents who have helped in classrooms and field trips and have contributed to making this first semester successful. Merry Christmas!
Nikiski North Star Elementary
Tomorrow is the last day to order school spirit ornaments from Ms. Stein’s class. The students will be creating and selling ornaments that celebrate Nikiski North Star and Alaska spirit. This fundraiser will go straight to their class field trip fund for winter and spring trips. Each ornament is $7 and order forms can be picked up at school or from any student in Ms. Stein’s class.
The NNS site council is in need of parent representatives. This is a great opportunity to make your voice heard and provide input as to the operations of NNS. The meetings are held approximately five to six times per year typically on Monday at 3:45 p.m. Please let the office know if you are interested in serving on this committee.
School will be closed for Christmas break from Dec. 23-Jan. 6. School will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 7. NNS wishes all of our students, staff and families a safe, relaxing and fun holiday. Please remember to read to your child or have them read to you over the break! #NikiskiReads
Kenai Middle School
Congratulations to our Basketball Teams on their success at Boroughs this past Saturday! Is was a GREAT season!
The Door Decorating Contest is underway. There is a prize for the door that receives the most votes on Facebook. Like us on Facebook at Kenai Middle School. Like your Favorite Door and spread the word! We will also have a secret celebrity visitor to choose the best door as well. Listen up for news regarding our secret celebrity visitor and the winners!
This Wednesday, Dec. 18 begins our Holiday Spirit Days!
Wednesday is TWIN DAY, Thursday is WINTER WHITE OUT, and Friday is HOLIDAY SWEATER DAY! Join in the fun, there will be prizes for best dressed!
Tryouts for the play “Suessical, the Musical” are Tuesday, Dec. 17 from 2:30-4 p.m. Tryouts are for seventh and eighth graders. Sixth graders will have the opportunity to be involved by choosing the Stage Craft Club for Clubs.
We will have after-school tutoring this week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 2:30-4 p.m. After-school tutoring will resume Jan. 14 after winter break.
Students will select clubs on Friday, Dec. 20. Encourage your student to have a first, second, and third choice in case one club fills quickly. Clubs will happen during school each Wednesday starting Jan. 22. They end Feb. 26.
Winter Sports — volleyball (seventh and eighth grade only); wrestling and cross-country skiing will begin after we return from winter break. Sports packets can be picked up at the office. All winter sports require a completed sports packet before participating.
WINTER BREAK — There will be no school for students starting Dec. 23. Students return to school on Jan. 7. We wish you all the very best of holidays!
