Schools briefs for the week of Jan. 13-19, 2020

Nikiski Middle/High School News

Monday, Jan. 13: High School Basketball C-Tea.m. @ Soldotna — Girls 3:30 p.m. Boys 5 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 14: High School Basketball C-Tea.m. @ Nikiski vs. Homer — Girls 3 p.m. Boys 4:30 p.m.; Graduation After Grad parent meeting: 6 p.m. in the library

Wednesday, Jan. 15: Early Release — Students Released at 12:45 p.m.

Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 16-18: High School Basketball — Rus Hitchcock Tip Off Tournament

— Thursday: Girls vs. Houston — 5:45 p.m. Boys vs. Houston — 7:15 p.m.

— Friday: Girls vs. Service — 5:45 p.m. Boys vs. South JV — 7:15 p.m.

— Saturday: Girls vs. Dimond — 3 p.m. Boys vs. West JV — 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 18: Middle School Wrestling @ Seward — 10 a.m.

Congratulations to Matthew Weathers, the Kenai Elks Student of the Month for January.

Mountain View Elementary

Wednesday, Jan. 15 is an early release day. Students will be dismissed at 1:50 p.m.

Our lost and found is overflowing. Please stop by and look for any lost items.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District issued a release just in time for students to get ready to head back to school after a long winter break. As we kick off third quarter, we feel that it’s important to address the frigid weather out there with a reminder about KPBSD’s policy: Periods of prolonged outdoor activity for students will not occur when the temperature is minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit or below (-10° F). This figure includes the wind-chill factor. Prolonged outdoor activities include recess, P.E., class walks, etc.

When the temperature doesn’t meet or exceed the -10 degree mark, your child will be enjoying the fresh air outside! Thank you for helping ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather, which includes coming to school with a jacket, snow pants, boots, gloves, and a hat.

Skyview Middle School

Wrestling, Nordic Skiing and Intramural Volleyball are underway!

Wrestling: First scheduled meet is Saturday, Jan. 18 in Seward at 10 a.m.

Nordic Skiing: First scheduled meet is Friday, Jan. 24 in Kenai at 3 p.m.

Intramural Volleyball: Ends Friday, Jan. 24. Competitive Volleyball begins Monday, Jan. 27.

Events:

Early Release Day:Wednesday, Jan. 15. Students end the school day at 1 p.m.

Next Site Council Meeting is Monday, Jan. 20 at 3:30 p.m. at Skyview Middle School.

Project Homeless Connect Towel Sets Donation Drive — Our Panther Student Council has committed to gathering 50 towel sets (face, hand, bath) to be distributed by Student Council volunteers at the Project Homeless Connect event on Jan. 29. Please consider donating a set (or two) to help us help our neighbors in need! Donation Drive runs through Jan. 24. You can drop off donations on the cart at the front office or in Mrs. Pothast’s classroom! Thank you for your generosity!

Panther Student Council Second Semester New Member Opportunity, Jan. 7 through Jan. 17: if you would like to be a member of our Panther Student Council this is the last opportunity to join for this school year. Member Contracts are available at the front office and on Mrs. Pothast’s classroom door. Contracts require a parent and student signature and must be returned by the end of the school day on Friday, Jan. 17. Please see Mrs. Pothast with any questions.

GEO Bee: Mr. Angleton is holding the 2020 Geography Bee. Get more information in the Thursday, Jan. 16 FOL with Mr. Angleton. Official start of competition will be Friday, Jan. 17. Must attend the first day of competition (Jan. 17) to continue (no late signups).

Purchase a yearbook! Cost is $30. Order online by visiting the Skyview Blog — Home page.

For more Skyview news Like us on Facebook!

Soldotna Elementary School

Jan. 15: Early Release (1:55 p.m.)

Feb. 4: Parent PACK Meeting 3:40 p.m. in the library

Feb. 14 and 17: Parent Teacher Conference Days (no school for students)

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.

Redoubt Elementary School News

We will be having our PTA meeting in the teachers’ lounge Jan. 14 at 3:45 p.m. We are always looking for new members to join our committee.

Early release will Jan. 15 at 1:45 p.m. Boys and Girls club will be open right after school. Please make sure your student has a plan in place on their after school plans.

Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science

The Life Skill we are focusing on this week is Organization — To plan, arrange, and implement in an orderly way: to keep things orderly and ready to use.

We are currently accepting lottery applications for the 20202021 school year. The deadline for this application is Feb. 28, 2020 by 4 p.m., with the lottery being held on Wednesday, March 18. If you are interested in attending Kaleidoscope please contact the office for more information at 283-0804.

All students need to come to school prepared to go outside. Make sure to send your student to school with the proper gear. Students will be going outside unless the temperature is -10 or below.

Wednesday, Jan. 15: Early Release Day — school dismisses at 2:10 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 17: Re-enrollment forms will be coming home in Friday Folders along with report cards. Please complete the re-enrollment form and return it to the office no later than Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. The re-enrollment form is to hold your student’s seat for the 2020-21 school year. If we do not receive the form back by the deadline your student loses their seat here at Kaleidoscope. For students not returning please fill out the back side of the form.

Upcoming Events

Jan. 20-31: Artist in Residence Crystal Soyangco will be here working with staff and students.

Jan. 28: PTA meeting at 5:30 p.m.

Feb. 5: APC meeting at 4:15 p.m.

Feb. 10-17: Book Fair will be open Monday-Thursday 8:35-9:10 a.m. and 3:40-4 p.m. Friday and Monday 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Feb. 14-17: no school, PT conferences

Feb. 21: Re-enrollment forms are due to the office no later than 4 p.m.

Feb. 24-28: Staff Appreciation Week. If you would like to help with this event please contact your KSAS PTA.

Feb. 27: Fifth grade will be having their Wax Museum at 1:30 p.m.

Feb. 28: Lottery Application Deadline — This is your last chance to fill out a new student or sibling lottery application. All applications have to filled out at the Kaleidoscope office and turned in by 4 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.uswpmuvolunteers 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.

Connections

Jan. 14: Open Gym at Kenai Rec Center 12-2 p.m.

Jan. 15: Ice Fishing at Scout Lake 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (more info below)

Jan. 16: Salmon Dissection at Soldotna Office (more info below)

Jan. 22: Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Q&A session (more info below)

Jan. 23: Kenai Watershed Middle/High School Event 1-3 p.m.

Jan. 24: Navigating Home-school Paperwork (more info below)

Jan. 24: Book Bingo at The Soldotna Office 2:30-3:30 p.m. (more info below)

Jan. 31: Geography Bee (more info below)

Jan. 31: High School Eligibility Due

Feb. 6: Kenai Watershed Elementary event 1-3 p.m.

Feb. 11: Battle of the Books, fifth-sixth grade meeting at 9 a.m.

Feb. 13: Battle of the Books, third-fourth grade meeting at 9 a.m.

Feb. 20: Kenai Watershed Middle/High School Event 1-3 p.m.

Feb. 25: Kindergarten Round-Up! (more info below)

Feb. 28: Connections Spelling Bee 1-4p.m. at the Soldotna Office (more info below)

March 5: High School Eligibility Due

March 24: Kindergarten Round-Up! (more info below)

April 7: Kindergarten Round-Up! (more info below)

April 9: High School Eligibility Due

April 21: Kindergarten Round-Up! (more info below)

May 4: Kenai Fjords Marine Science Explorer Tour — Please Contact Julie Lindquist for More Details jlindquist@kpbsd.org or 907-224-9035.

Connections Outdoor Club: Ice Fishing at Scout Lake, Wednesday, Jan. 15 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. All home-school families are invited! The outdoor club would like to provide fun, educational outdoor activities for home-school families to enjoy together. Bring warm winter clothes, snacks and drinks, fishing licenses for anglers 18 and older.

Directions to Scout Lake: Travel approximately 7.8 mile miles north of Soldotna on the Sterling Highway. There is a pull-off along the right side of the highway where we will meet at 11 a.m., then make the short walk down to the lake. Directions with a map/photo will also be posted on the Connections Homeschool Facebook page.

*We will have augers to drill the holes as well as ice rods, tackle, bait, etc. for anyone that needs to borrow. Please RSVP by emailing Mark Wackler at mwackler@kpbsd.org.

Salmon dissection at Soldotna Office: Jan. 16 at 10 a.m. ADF&G will be leading a salmon dissection for our home-school students at the Soldotna Connections office. All ages are welcome to participate. Please RSVP for this by emailing Mark Wackler at mwackler@kpbsd.org.

Navigating home-school paperwork: Friday, Jan. 24 from 1:30-2:30 at Soldotna Office. Connections advisors and staff will walk you through some of our common forms and procedures, hopefully saving you lots of time and energy in the long run! Our goal is that you’ll walk out of this get-together with a solid understanding of reimbursements, semester reports, the vendor direct payment process, eligibility, and any other forms or procedures you have questions about. We’ll provide snacks and book fair coupons to all attendees. We hope to see you there! All Homeschool Families are welcome

Book Bingo: We have lots of new books from our fall book fair we’d love to give to our home-school families! Come to the Soldotna office and play Book Bingo with the Connections staff! Friday, Jan. 24 at the Soldotna Office from 2:30-3:30 p.m.

Connections Geography Bee: Connections students grade 4-8! Come test your world knowledge by participating in the Geo Bee Friday, Jan. 31 @ 1 p.m. at Soldotna Connections Office (143 East Park Avenue, Soldotna).

DEADLINE TO SIGN UP: Jan. 24. Please email Wendi Dutcher: wdutcher@kpbsd.org.

Attached you will find a study guide to help you prepare. Each year thousands of schools in the United States participate in the National Geographic GeoBee using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society. The contest motivates student to learn about the world and how it works. Students in grades four through eight are eligible for this entertaining and challenging competition.

There are three levels of competition: school, state, and national. To compete for advancement from the school to the state level, the winning student at each school must take the online qualifying test. The state GeoBee champion advances to the national championship in spring 2020.

Contact your advisor or Wendi Dutcher (wdutcher@kpbsd.org) if you have any questions regarding this or would like to participate!

Kindergarten Round-Up: Do you have a child entering kindergarten? Stop by to any or all of our round-up dates. We’ll have multiple activities to explore and we would love to share some information with you!

Connections Spelling Bee: We are pleased to announce that Connections Homeschool is enrolled in the National Spelling Bee this year, continuing with a great tradition. All Connections students in grades 3-8 are encouraged to participate in order to build confidence, increase vocabulary and improve spelling skills.

Our local Spelling Bee date is Friday, Feb. 28 from 1-4 p.m. The 2020 Alaska State Spelling Bee is Tuesday, March 24 at the Anchorage Center for Performing Arts (PAC) — Discovery Theater.

Attached is the study list. Start with One Bee and have your student work their way through Three Bee. All words for the Connections spelling bee will use the words from this list. Here is a link to the parent portal for the official Spelling Bee website: https:spellingbee.comparents. For word lists and information, contact Carole Nolden at 714-8880 or cnolden@kpbsd.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

Soldotna High School

SoHi Dessert Concert on Jan. 23 at 7 p.m.

PTSA meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the SoHi Staff Lounge on Tuesday, Jan. 14. The Parents of Seniors and Parents of Junior committee meetings will follow immediately after at 6 p.m. Snacks will be provided.

The after-school tutoring buses will start running on Sept. 3. There are two buses that leave at 4:15 p.m. You must be on the route list to ride the bus. See Ms. Wear in the library to find out more information andor get on the bus list. You can also email her at twear@kpbsd.org or call 260-7036, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Soldotna Stars Letterman Jackets are available to order at http:www.neffco.com. Click on Varsity Jackets, find our school by State, select Soldotna High School, starting at $149 you can personalize it anyway you would like. Makes a great Christmas gift!

SoHi Pool Schedule: M/W/F Morning Lap 6:30-7:30 a.m.

Sport Calendar: http:www.arbiterlive.comTeams?entityId=21192 or http:www.asaa365.com

There are two ways to order a transcript. Each way serves a different purpose. If you need a transcript sent to a college or NCAA or a similar agency, then you will need to log on to: http:www.parchment.com to order transcripts to be sent. The request is then forwarded to SoHi. After processing, it then goes through cyberspace — rather than the US mail — to get to its destination, which is much faster! ALL transcripts that are headed for NCAA, colleges, etc. have to be processed this way!

FINAL TRANSCRIPTS! A final transcript is one that shows your second semester grades. If you order your transcript when we are in second semester, you will need to make sure you choose “next grading period” when you go on to Parchment — that way your transcript request will wait until the grades are in at the end of the year before it is sent.

Sterling Elementary News

Happy New Year to all of our families!

Jan. 13: Board of Education Meeting — 6 p.m.

Jan. 15: Early Release — Students released at 2:05 p.m.

Jan. 18: Recycle Sterling! Bring aluminum cans, plastics #1 and plastics #2 to Sterling from 12-1 p.m. Sort and bag your recycling so we can easily help weigh it.

Jan. 27-31: Great Kindness Challenge!

Jan. 30: Site Council Meeting — 4:30 p.m. We are looking for a Sterling Elementary Parent to join our site council. If you are interested, please contact our school office.

Jan. 31: Friends of Sterling Elementary PTO Family Movie Night “Homeward Bound” — 6 p.m.

Feb. 3: Board of Education Meeting — 6 p.m.

Thank you for going 20 miles per hour on the highway during our morning and afternoon arrival and dismissal times! When the lights are flashing, please slow down!

Kenai Central High School December 2019 Students of the Month

Rotary: Braedon Pitsch

Chamber: Jaiden Streiff

Elks: Dustin Bishop

Kard of the Deck: Hunter Beck

Super Staffer: Emily Sims

Culinary Arts: Herald Ochea, Mrs. Sims

Alaska Studies: Brooke Nash, Mr. Settlemyer

Study Skills: Michael Dominic, Mrs. Smith-Bohn

AP World History: Caitlin Crabb, Mrs. McCullough

Biology: Maya Montague, Mrs. Bergholtz

Geometry: Jayna Boonstra, Mr. Calvert