River Bend Middle School



Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Raven’s Roost: A Message from the Principal PAGEREF _Toc378684835 \h 1Administrative Assistance PAGEREF _Toc378684836 \h 2RBMS Administration PAGEREF _Toc378684837 \h 2Visitor, Volunteer, and Late Student Sign in Procedure PAGEREF _Toc378684838 \h 2RBMS Contact Information PAGEREF _Toc378684839 \h 2School Hours PAGEREF _Toc378684840 \h 2Student Drop off Procedure PAGEREF _Toc378684841 \h 3Early Dismissals PAGEREF _Toc378684842 \h 3Students Tardy to School PAGEREF _Toc378684843 \h 3Attendance PAGEREF _Toc378684844 \h 3School Work Requests PAGEREF _Toc378684845 \h 3Address and Phone Changes PAGEREF _Toc378684846 \h 3Lost and Found PAGEREF _Toc378684847 \h 4Busing PAGEREF _Toc378684848 \h 4Fixed A/B Schedule PAGEREF _Toc378684849 \h 4Physical Education Department PAGEREF _Toc378684850 \h 4Spelling Bee PAGEREF _Toc378684851 \h 5Counselor’s Corner PAGEREF _Toc378684852 \h 5Parent Link PAGEREF _Toc378684853 \h 6PTA PAGEREF _Toc378684854 \h 7Latin PAGEREF _Toc378684855 \h 8Library News PAGEREF _Toc378684856 \h 9Fiscal Year 2014-2015 Operating Budget Facts PAGEREF _Toc378684857 \h 10 PAGEREF _Toc378684858 \h 11GRADE REPORTING DATES School Year 2013 – 2014 PAGEREF _Toc378684859 \h 12Inclement Weather Information PAGEREF _Toc378684860 \h 13February Calendar PAGEREF _Toc378684861 \h 142013-2014 Calendar PAGEREF _Toc378684862 \h 15Raven’s Roost: A Message from the Principal February represents the beginning of a new semester. Our honor roll assemblies will be held on February 19 during fifth, sixth, and eighth blocks. To celebrate Black History month, we will be joined by story teller, Dylan Pritchard on February 4, 2013 for three grade level assemblies. Our English department will conduct a national program known as “The African American Read-in.” Throughout the month, students will be exposed to literature of famous African American authors in all of their English classes. The Spelling Bee will be in high gear this month as three students will represent River Bend at the county level on March 6. We are in the process of building a master schedule for next year, and that means the course selection process is about to begin. As a result of the information we gather, teachers are hired and classes are created. Therefore, please make a thoughtful decision. More information will be forthcoming from the guidance department.Once again, I would like to commend the PTA and all the parent volunteers for helping to create a “climate for success” at River Bend Middle School.Administrative AssistanceIf, due to a disability, you need assistance to enable you to participate meaningfully in a meeting or conference, etc., please contact Mr. Dave Franck at 571-434-3220 at least five working days prior to the meeting.Servicios Especiales - Si por alguna razón de salud usted necesitara asistencia (silla de ruedas, alguien que maneje hasta el colegio, etc.) para poder atender una de las actividades, sea una conferencia, reunión, evento, etc. por favor contacte al Sr. David Franck al 571-434-3220 con por lo menos 5 días anteriores al evento. Si fuera necesario los servicios de un intérprete para participar de actividades, conferencias, reuniones, eventos o algún programa, por favor contacte a la escuela con la misma anticipación. RBMS AdministrationPrincipal ...................................Bennett LacyAsst. Principal .....................LaShanté KnightAsst. Principal ...........................David FrenckAttendance Secretary.................Truus FoardSecretary..............................Dawn MahoneyBookkeeper................Stephanie McLaughlinParent Liaison...................................Kim CurlHouse A (8th Grade)Dean ......................................Melissa DoberCounselor.............................Sherri RobinsonSecretary......................................Robin Byrd?House B (7th Grade)Dean................................Deborah AgunsdayLead Counselor………………Veronica WilliamsSecretary.....................................Julie BahunHouse C (6th Grade)Dean ..........................................Sheila SteenCounselor ……………….……......Janae GwizdalaSecretary.....................................Gwen PrideVisitor, Volunteer, and Late Student Sign in ProcedureAll visitors need to stop by the main office upon arrival. Each visitor, volunteer, and all late students will log into the computer located on the table to your left as you enter the Main Office. A pass or name tag will automatically print out. While at RBMS you will be required to wear a visitor’s name tag. Students will take their late pass to their House office and sign in there as well. Please be prepared to show a valid ID at the main doors before entering.RBMS Contact InformationMain office: 571-434-3220Absentee Line: 571-434-3222Office Hours: 8:00 am. - 4:00 p.m.Website: rbmsAddress: River Bend Middle School 46240 Algonkian Parkway, Sterling, VA 20165School HoursSchool hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:18 p.m. The building will be open for students at 8:00 a.m. Any student arriving before 8:00 a.m. may wait in the cafeteria. Breakfast is served from 8:00 a.m. until 8:20 a.m. Students that are not eating breakfast and all other students arriving after 8:00 a.m. are to go to their appropriate grade level House. All students will report to their first block classroom at the 8:20 a.m. bell.Student Drop off ProcedureWe have signs to direct traffic through our parking lot. The school’s front parking lots?should not be used as a morning drop off area. Please follow the “ravens” to the area designated for student drop off located on the side of River Bend. This area was created for the safety of our students. In order to maintain a continuous flow of traffic, pull up as far as possible and allow your student to exit the vehicle at any point on the sidewalk. Be considerate of others and move on once your child disembarks. If you would like to wait with your child until the doors open at 8 o’clock, please?move to?a parking space. Please do not park in the designated student drop off area.Early DismissalsIf at all possible, please send a note in with your child the morning of an appointment. The student’s house secretary will write a pass to excuse the student at the appropriate time. This will alleviate the need to disrupt the classroom and your child will be waiting in the front office when you arrive. If you are unable to send a note, you may call the main office to request an early dismissal or allow extra time for your student to be dismissed from class when you arrive at school.Students Tardy to SchoolAll students must be in their classroom by the 8:30 a.m. bell. Any student arriving to class after the 8:30 a.m. bell will be considered “tardy” and must sign in at the main office to receive a “tardy” pass. When a student is arriving late to school a parent/guardian may accompany their student, send a note, or contact the main office to have the tardy excused. AttendanceRiver Bend parents, we need your help! When your child is absent, please call the attendance line at (571) 434-3222 to notify the school. For your convenience, this is a 24-hour answering machine. An absence will be unexcused if the school does not receive a note or a phone message from the parent or guardian.School Work RequestsWhen students are absent, the parent/guardian should call the Absentee Line at 571-434-3222 and inform the school of the reason for absence and when they will return to school. Please do not request class work on the Absentee Line. If a student has missed?three or more days, the parent/guardian may request missed school work from their child’s house secretary. The class work will be available for pick up on the following day. To make arrangements for an extended absence, please contact your students Counselor and the Attendance Secretary in the Main Office at: 571-434-3220.?Address and Phone ChangesMoving? New phone number? We need your address and telephone updates. If you are moving and your child will be attending another school for 2013-14, please notify your child’s counselor as soon as possible. If you have moved and are still within our attendance zone, please remember to stop by the school to fill out a change of address form. We will need to see proof of your new residence. This proof can be a lease, deed, settlement papers or mortgage statement. To change a work or home telephone number, parents/guardians need to contact the attendance secretary at 571-434-3220 or on line at , access the PIMS link.Lost and FoundRiver Bend has several areas designated for lost items such as lunch boxes, books, binders, and clothing. Students that misplace their belongings can check in the Lost and Found that is located in the short hallway next to the counselor’s office in each House. Items of value or importance such as phones, iPods, agendas, glasses, jewelry or keys are kept in the House secretary’s office. If your student has lost an item, please encourage them to check in the Lost and Found or with their House secretary. Items that go unclaimed will be donated at the end of each quarter to a local charity.BusingWhen your student is taking a different bus home other than that assigned, the student must have a note from a parent or guardian. All bus passes will be issued through the main office as space permits. Fixed A/B ScheduleThis year, the A/B days are “fixed” in the calendar.? If we have a snow day, the calendar does not change to make up for the missed day.? This is a change from previous years but makes it easier to plan things in advance.?Physical Education DepartmentSince February is National Heart Awareness Month, it is a perfect time to focus on what we can do to take care of our heart each and every day. Whenever our heart is working above 70 % of its resting heart rate, it is getting stronger. A strong heart pumps more blood, oxygen and nutrients to our entire body for strength, energy and endurance. Here are some of the activities that can make your heart healthy.Exercising for 20 continuous minutes a day to strengthen the heart muscle.Eating nutritiously to reduce the risk of fatty plaque buildup in the heart’s blood vessels.Maintaining a healthy body weight to prevent the heart from over working.Get plenty of sleep to allow the heart to rest and repair damaged tissue.Avoid unhealthy behaviors like smoking, overeating & junk foods, Manage stress with healthy behaviors.Visit a Doctor regularly to identify any unknown heart issue before it can get worse. The heart is our body’s engine. An average heart will beat more than 3 BILLION times in an 80 year lifetime. To keep that engine running at the highest level possible, take care of it so it can take care of you. Have a healthy February!RBMS PESpelling BeePlease join us in congratulating the following students on being River Bend's top spellers!? Rosanna Fajutrao (6th grade), Joanna Tan (7th grade), and Lucy Greenman (8th grade) will represent River Bend at the regional bee on March 6th at Stone Bridge High School at 6:30pm.? Congratulations and good luck, spellers!Counselor’s CornerCourse Selections for Rising 7th and 8th graders: Course recommendations for the 2014-2015 school year have been completed by sixth and seventh grade teachers. The counselors will visit classrooms this month to discuss elective choices with the students. The students will choose the electives they would like to take for the next school year, and will bring a list of the recommended core courses and elective choices home for parents to approve and sign in March. Counselors will use the information from these course selection forms to build your child’s schedule for next year. Any student who does not return their signed course selection form will be registered for the electives he/she chose during the classroom visit, and the academic placements that were recommended by the teacher. If you have any questions about teacher recommendations, please contact that teacher directly. For any other concerns about course selections, please call your child’s counselor. The counseling department has created a new feature to help our parents to become familiar with the available courses offered in our school. We now have a podcast available for parents to watch in order to be informed of what the course options are for rising 7th and rising 8th graders. We hope that this tool is helpful to parents. Our podcast can be found on the main page of the River Bend website.Parents, please remember that the school’s goal is for your child to have a successful school experience. We feel that all children should be challenged to reach their highest potential. Carefully consider the classes you and your child will choose for next year. Grades are not the only thing to consider when deciding whether or not to take an honors course. Honors students are expected to spend more time on homework, have more independent studies, and might be graded more heavily on projects and class assignments. Please also consider your child’s extracurricular activities as you make these choices. For Rising 9th graders The Administration from PFHS met with the 8th graders last month to talk about the transition to high school and to allow students to ask questions and to share any concerns they had about transition. It was a very good bridging opportunity. The Rising 9th grade Parent Info Night will be at PFHS on Wednesday, February 5th at 6:30 p.m. This is a great opportunity for parents to gather information on high school expectations of their students, get a better understanding of course selections, and to ask questions.During the month of March, eighth graders will choose their classes for ninth grade. More details to follow in the March newsletter.End of the Quarter News The end of the 2nd grading period and first semester was January 23rd. Report cards will come home with students on February 7th. Please ask to see your child’s report card. It is so important for parents to dialogue with their children about school and academic progress. If you are concerned about a particular class, please contact that teacher directly. If you would like to schedule a conference with all of your child’s teachers, you may do so through the grade level counselor. Please remember that in order to be promoted to the next grade; students MUST pass three out of the four academic subjects. If they fail two or three they MUST attend summer school in order to be promoted. If they fail four, summer school is not an option and the Principal must consider retention.CAMPUSParents of 8th grade students, CAMPUS is looking for rising 9th grade students who plan to attend college after high school who also may be the first in their family to go to college, or are historically under-represented students in college.? ?Online applications became available on January 15th.The application form must be completed on-line. It will be located on the CAMPUS page of the LCPS website. The student will need to print-off, and take to his or her teacher, the two Teacher Recommendation Letters for completion. Once the whole application packet is complete, the student should take it to Mrs. Robinson, the 8th grade Counselor, for review. CAMPUS Parent Information Night - Thursday, February 13th from 6:30-8:00 p.m.?in Harper Park Middle School Auditorium?Thomas Jefferson School of Science and TechnologyThe Student Information Sheets for students who are semifinalists only,?were completed on Saturday, January 25th. Teacher recommendations are to be submitted directly to TJ by Friday, February 14th. ?Academy of ScienceTeacher Recommendations for students who completed the application process are due Friday, February 7th.?Career CaféSpecial thanks to Keshia Miller, from Child Protective Services who spoke to our students about their career, duties, and education needed to prepare them for their?job.? If you would like to speak to our students about your job, please contact Sherri Robinson @ 571-434-3220.?Transition to Middle SchoolThe feeder elementary schools will begin to receive information regarding rising 6th grade course selection information in mid-February. A visit to Sterling Elementary has already been planned for Friday, February 14 @ 9:30 a.m.? Ms. Robinson, who will be the 6th grade counselor in the fall of 2014 will talk to the 5th graders about scheduling?and courses and will have a Q & A session with the students. ??Other feeder school visits will be posted at a later date.?WelcomeMs. Elsbeth Mayo, a student from GMU, has begun her internship with Ms. Robinson and will work with all of grade levels and counselors here at RBMS.? She will be with us until mid-May.Parent LinkKim Curl, Parent Liaison As we work our way through the cold winter months, we are probably finding ourselves home a little more and looking for things to do. This is a great time to become more involved with our students and children.It is more than just an education buzz-phrase, but “parent involvement” is the century-old foundation of raising successful children. The word is out about parent involvement. Educators, administrators, academics, parents, even the mass-media have all been awakened to the overwhelming positive effect parent involvement can have on students’ academic performance. Beyond its value in the school setting, parent involvement can yield benefits to children and families that affect every aspect of their lives, today and into the future. By strengthening their involvement in their children’s education, parents not only are helping their kids succeed in the classroom, they’re also solidifying the bonds that keep their families and schools strong.Please take some time to think about the ways you can be more involved. Often times it may just take a brief conversation with your child to determine who you might help. Other ways of staying involved include: monitoring Clarity, reviewing homework folders, helping with homework, and following up after a test, quiz, or project.As always, I am available here at River Bend to assist with you and your students’ needs. If you need help or want to offer some help, please contact me at 571-434-3220 or Kimberly.Curl@.PTAUpdates from your RBMS PTA!!!Our first PTA meeting of 2014 was on January 14th. Thanks to so many of our faculty for attending this afternoon meeting! 2014 PTA meeting dates are:February 18th, 7PMMarch 18th, 7PMApril 22nd, 3:30PMMay 20th, 7PMAt this month’s meeting we were able to discuss new ideas about our 8th grade lock-in, needs for a sound system for our musical, and we were able to provide the funds for wireless keyboards for our science department!Remember Winter BINGO on February 20th! Thanks for supporting your PTA!!!***PLEASE link your Giant Cards to RBMS to earn easy money!!!!!!!!!!!***REMEMBER to use our RBMS link to , and they will give back a minimum of 6% of our purchases to River Bend!!!!MSAAC UpdateThe Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee meets on the 3rd Weds of each month at 7PM at the LCPS Admin building. All parents are encouraged to attend!General Body Meeting Summary 1-15-2014MSAAC kicked off the New Year with a conversation from outgoing LCPS Superintendent Dr. Hatrick. It was as inspirational as it was informative.A Conversation with Dr. Edgar B. Hatrick; LCPS SuperintendentBelow are some quotes from his speech…I’ve seen huge change in our county. I’m happy to say that it’s positive and moving in the right direction.… It’s moving from good to great. Begin with the end in mind.Relationship is what this is all about… (regarding education)We set out to find out what were the gaps. MSAAC was about getting together with first-hand experience to bring about change. It boiled down to relationships.?How did students view the teachers? How did teachers view the students? How did parents view the teachers?We can’t make changes alone. MSAAC helped us find a way to have a dialog.We have to realize the power of our words to help or hurt. There were lots of assumptions.Gap between the schoolhouse and the home house.It takes everyone to work together.What advice would you give the next superintendent- “Take some time to understand what you have so you know the road is ahead of you.” “Work closely with the community. Get involved.” “Love kids.”EventsAcademic Achievement Fair- rescheduledGifted and Talented Information Nights:Farmwell Station Middle School, 7 - 8 PM, February 10th?Leesburg Elementary School, 7 - 8 PM, February 20thHarmony Middle School, 7 - 8 PM, February 24thCreighton’s Corner Elementary School, 7 - 8 PM, February 26thGAP Year Fair- February 16, 2014; 2-4 PM; Champe High School1st Loudoun Regional Math Tournament- March 22nd; Dominion Trail ElementaryMarch 19, MSAAC Meeting- “Building Educational Support for Youth in Foster Care”- Christine Carmouze, Foster Parent Trainer and Recruiter. Loudoun County Foster Care and Adoption Department of Family Services.GPS Fair, March 26. Dominion High School. 6:30 - 8:30 PM.Board of Supervisors Meeting; Board Room in the LCPS Government Center. Go to: Board Meetings. Go to: County School Budget Updates: ItemsParents/Delegates: please fill out the LCPS Budget form. Be heard and advocate for your child!Parent/Delegates please download the meeting summary under the Meeting Summaries link on the web site and email to your principal and PTO?Email the MSAAC Secretary at dcaulk@ with your email address so that you can be added to the MSAAC email listStay up to date via: Facebook: LCPS web site: you know that the word cabbage is derived from the Latin word for head? Did you know that Attalus III left his kingdom of Pergamum?to Rome in his will to prevent war? Can you spot tricky grammatical usages in Latin?? Julia Macgoy, Richard Robles, and Militsa Sotirova can! Congratulations to them?for placing 7th at the Flint Hill certamen on Saturday, January 11. They answered questions about Latin grammar, Greco-Roman mythology, Roman history, Latin vocabulary, and English derivatives.Library NewsWelcome Back! Many new happenings are occurring at the Library. We have ebooks you can check out after you have created a ‘Backpack’. Ask a librarian for more information on how to create a ‘Backpack’. You will need to have your own device and Mackin via ereader app to download a book.We have ‘Simple Touch’ Nook ereaders for you to checkout and read a favorite book. Students will need to attend a ‘how-to’ afterschool workshop and have a signed user agreement before being able to check out a ‘simple touch’.New books arrive weekly. Stop by and see the latest arrivals, included are the Bloodlines and I Survived series626745101536500Fiscal Year 2014-2015 Operating Budget Factscenterbottom00GRADE REPORTING DATES School Year 2013 – 2014 centerbottom00centerbottom00Inclement Weather Informationcenterbottom00February Calendarcenterbottom002013-2014 Calendar ................
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