Skate Night tonight
Skate Night at Playland Skate Center will be on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 from 6-8:30 p.m. It’s $6 per skater.
Teacher Talent Show on Friday
The always popular Teacher Talent Show will be on Friday, Jan. 22 at 7pm in the Summitt cafeteria. Tickets will be sold this week at 7:30 am and 2:30 pm in the Great Hall. These are reserved-seat tickets, so you choose your seats. The first five rows are $10 per seat. The rest of the tickets are $5 each. If you cannot come in and purchase your tickets, please send money with your child and we will choose the best available seats for you. The tickets will also be sold the night of the show, but buy them early because the show has sold out before. Concession items will be available for purchase at the show. Our Teacher Talent Show benefits the Koblenz Exchange Program.
Goodwill Fill a Truck on Saturday
Give your unwanted items a new home by donating it to Goodwill. A truck will be at Summitt on Saturday, Jan. 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., but you can bring your items as early as 8:30 a.m. Or if you cannot drop it off on Saturday, you can leave them in the large bins at the school. They are located in the Great Hall. If you need help getting your donations to the school please email Nicole at [email protected].
Message from Principal Standish
Please join me, Lynne Unruh and Elena Rodriguez in the library Wednesday, January 27th 7:45 – 8:30 am for coffee and muffins to learn more about Summitt’s Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program. Come join to listen and ask questions; meet other parents and have a muffin with me.
Daughter’s Night Out at Urban Air
Mark your calendars for Friday, February 26th from 6-8 pm for Summitt’s first ever Daughters’ Night Out at Urban Air. Round up your dad, favorite relative or other great guy for a fun night at Austin’s best trampoline park!
Urban Air has a special area for younger kids, plus warrior course and dodge ball areas for those who like more adventure. Special Summitt pricing for students is $17 for full park access PLUS pizza and bottled water. Adult special is $13 for full access plus pizza and water.
Adults can also accompany for free, but dinner will need to be ordered on your own.
Have a preschooler or older child that wants to join in? Bring them along! They are eligible for the $17 special. Prices at the door are $25 and do not include dinner, so be sure to buy your tickets directly from Summitt! Flyers will be going home closer to the event.
If you’re IN, sign the waiver here–a waiver is good for a full year: https://www.smartwaiver.com/w/559afef65932b/kiosk/
Questions? Ask Jennie Leon: [email protected] or 512-633-7766.
Library News
Welcome back and happy new year! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Thank you all for your warm holiday wishes — the cards and gifts were all so thoughtful!
The library is once again open and back in action! Students are rotating in for their regular library visits, so make sure to get those books turned in. Please help your student look under the bed, on bedroom book shelves, and at grandma’s house for those sneaky books. All books need to be turned in before a student is allowed to check out new ones.
Book Spring Read-A-Thon 2016
Monday, January 25, will mark the beginning of the 2016 Batty About Books Book Spring Read-A-Thon. This will be our 3rd year to participate in the program, and I am hoping even more students will take up the cause to help launch children into a world of reading.
This literacy organization helps put “forever” books into the hands of young children who otherwise have very few or none of their own. To learn more, visit http://readathon.bookspring.org/bsrsweet/about.asp
Need donations for crafts
We are in need of odds and ends for Makespace type activities. Please bring toilet paper rolls, clean plastic butter or yogurt tubs, oatmeal canisters, old CDs or jewel cases — anything clean that can be used to craft and create with. Please send it to the library.
GT Nominations due Friday
Does your kid have a keen sense of humor? Is she especially curious about the world around her, finding unusual patterns and connections between unlikely objects? Is he creative, assertive, and deeply passionate about certain subjects of interest? Does your child use an advanced vocabulary when speaking, or take on roles of leadership in peer relations? If so, you may want to consider having your child screened for the GT program at Summitt Elementary.
If you are interested in having your student tested and screened for the Gifted and Talented program, now is the time! The nomination period will end on Friday, January 22. Nomination forms in English and Spanish can be found online at http://www.austinisd.org/academics/advancedacademics/gifted/parent-corner
Or, if you’d rather, stop by the office to pick one up. There we also have versions in Vietnamese. Any student from kinder through 5th grade can be tested for the GT program regardless of home language and/or learning disabilities or challenges. Parents are welcome to nominate their own child. As always parents are encouraged to discuss the possibilities of doing so with your student’s homeroom teacher.
Please feel free to contact Denise Richey at (512)414-4249 or by email at [email protected] with any additional concerns, questions, or comments.
Counselors’ Chronicle
Important Dates for Transition to Murchison Middle School
- January 23, 2016 – Musical Instrument Test Drive at Murchison Middle School – Fifth graders are invited to come out January 23, 2016 from 9 am – 4 pm or January 28, 2016 from 4:30 pm – 7:30 pm to the Murchison Middle School Cafeteria Main Foyer to try out all of the instruments available through the orchestra and band programs. Please allow 20-30 minutes to try them out.
- January 26, 2016 – Emily Graves, 6th grade counselor for next year, will come to Summitt to hand out and go over choice sheets. Choice sheets will come home this day.
- February 2, 2016 – Murchison Choice Sheet Night from 5:30-7 pm. There will be stations set up to provide information about the different elective choices.
- February 4, 2016 – Choice sheets due back to your child’s teacher by this day. If we do not have a choice sheet back by this day, we will have to create one for them. Even if you might be moving or transferring, please fill one out just in case.
If your student will not be attending Murchison, please contact Courtney Cardosa @512- 414-4248 or [email protected]. You may also contact me with questions or concerns.
Here is a description that MMS provided about the two new course offerings on the 6th grade choice sheet:
Flight & Space / Energy & the Environment (two semester course)
Students in Flight and Space will be introduced to the history of flight through hands-on activities and research. They will also design an aircraft or spacecraft as they discover the science of flying, design and test propulsion. They will complete activities while learning about the history and principles of space travel. Students explore the science behind aeronautics and use their knowledge to design, build and test an airfoil. Projects include, building a hot air balloon, building different types of rockets and designing and building a glider.
Energy and the Environment will investigate types and forms of energy and energy sources. Students will learn about using energy efficiently, energy conservation, and will measure energy using student created windmill generators. Students will design and create solar cars, conduct a water audit and research the effects of composting, reducing, reusing, and recycling our waste products.
IB Foundations (Technology Course) Opt Out Test
There will still be an opportunity in the spring (likely April or May) for students to test out of the IB Foundations course so that they can take 2 fine arts courses. If your student plans on doing this, please have them still select one of the choices in the technology section. If they pass the technology test, they will use the rankings in the Fine Arts section to replace that course with the student’s second choice fine arts selection.
PTA News
It is already time to start planning for the PTA Board for the 2016-2017 school year. We will have several positions that will be open without a possible replacement at this time. If you are interested in any of the following positions, please email [email protected]. Board members usually serve for a 2 year term and you may not serve in any one position for more than 2 consecutive years. These positions will become active after the end of this current school year. The PTA board meets once a month for about 1 hour. These positions can be filled by parents who are at home or work during the day. Many of our board members have jobs during the day and this is their way of contributing to Summitt.
Treasurer – Creates the budget, presents a report at the beginning of each board meeting with the current finances, handles cash flow in and out of the account, signs and writes checks, audits the books, handles any tax filing forms, etc.. This position is very important and is best served by someone with some accounting experience.
Secretary – Needs to be present at all board and general meetings to take notes, copies and distributes notes at the beginning of each meeting from the previous meeting, updates and corrects notes, sends reminders of upcoming meetings.
Vice President 2 – is in charge of coordinating Meet The Teacher event (with lots of helpers), organizes family nights with partner businesses and creates and distributes any advertising, organizes Skate Night, attends board meetings.
Lost and Found
Please go through our Lost and Found because it’s overflowing with jackets, lunch boxes, water bottles, etc. The lost and found area is located in the music/cafeteria hallway on the right of the main entrance. All items not picked up by Friday, Jan. 22 will be donated to the Goodwill fill-a-truck fundraiser on Jan. 23.
AISD and Community Events
Austin ISD Calendar for 2016-2017
The school calendar for next year is out. You can view it here. Note that there will be no school the entire week of Thanksgiving.
Girl Day at UT
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day and the Girl Day STEM Festival will be held on Saturday, February 27, 2016 from noon to 4 p.m. at the University of Texas at Austin. Over 5,000 elementary and middle school students are expected to participate with over 900 volunteers and over 100 student organizations, community organizations and companies volunteering. Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (Girl Day) is an international event celebrated during Engineers Week each year. Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is presented by Halliburton & the Girl Day STEM Festival is presented by Google.
Balcones Youth Sports – Baseball and Softball
Come be a part of a fantastic league, where we create champions on and off the fields! Make amazing friends & memories at the ballpark!
The registration period for the 2016 Spring Ball Season is now open. The Spring Season will begin mid-February and end in mid-May. Depending on the number of teams, there will be one to two games per week and two practices per week too. There are no games or practices scheduled during Spring Break, Easter, and Mother’s Day. Visit our website for more info – www.balcones.net
BYS Little League Baseball participates in the District 11 Post Season Tournament which takes place in early June. We also participate in the State All-Stars tournament for Little League which begins in July.
We offer:
Little League Baseball for 4-12 yrs. of age
PONY Fastpitch Softball for 4-14 yrs. of age
PONY Baseball for 13-18 yrs. of age
Mathworks Summer Camp
Texas State University will host math camps this summer for students going into grades 4- high school. They will have:
- Day camp – Junior Summer Math Camp for 4th – 8th grade students
- Residential Junior Summer Math Camp for 6th – 8th grade students
- Honors Summer Math Camp for high school students
We are currently accepting applications online here,
http://www.txstate.edu/mathworks/camps/applications.html. Need-based
scholarships are available to students, and we highly encourage students of
all mathematical backgrounds to apply! Our programs provide unique
mathematical learning opportunities, with fun hands-on activities, guided
discovery learning, and a proven curriculum. You can also read a lot more
about each program here, http://www.txstate.edu/mathworks/camps.html
AISD Salute nominations
Open nominations for Principal of the Year, Assistant Principal of the Year, Counselor of the Year, Librarian of the Year and Classified Staff – Non Campus Based and Classified Staff – Campus Based of the Year began Jan. 5 and close Jan. 31.We invite staff, students, parents and community members to nominate a candidate for these awards. www.aisdsalute.org
Family Support Coop
Family Support Coop is hosting a workshop for families with children with special needs on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, 6-8 p.m. at Kealing Middle School, 1607 Pennsylvania Ave. More information is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9jdkhbhlxq5mbt2/Coop%20Flyer%20JANUARY%201.26.16.pdf?dl=0