Raven’s Roost: A Message from the Principal - LCPS

April 2012-2013 Volume 11 Issue 8

Contents Raven’s Roost: A Message from the Principal ... 1

Administrative Assistance .................................. 2

RBMS Contact Information ................................ 2

RBMS Administration ......................................... 2

School Hours ...................................................... 2

Visitor, Volunteer, and Late Student Sign in

Procedure ........................................................... 2

Student Drop off Procedure ............................... 3

Early Dismissals .................................................. 3

Students Tardy to School ................................... 3

Attendance ......................................................... 3

School Work Requests ....................................... 3

Address and Phone Changes .............................. 3

Lost and Found ................................................... 4

Counselor’s Corner............................................. 4

Clinic Tips ........................................................... 6

Parent Link ......................................................... 6

School Menu ...................................................... 7

Art ...................................................................... 7

Continental Math League .................................. 7

Latin Club ........................................................... 7

Band News ......................................................... 8

Library ................................................................ 8

Science Olympiad Invitational ............................ 9

Regional Science Olympiad ................................ 9

Schools to Watch ............................................. 10

Collecting Books for Needy .............................. 10

SOL Testing Dates ............................................ 10

Summer Activities ............................................ 11

Recycling Event ................................................ 12

Parent Resource Center ................................... 13

MANDT for Parents .......................................... 14

2013 Loudoun County “Free” Tax Assistance .. 15

April Calendar .................................................. 17

Raven’s Roost: A Message from

the Principal I would like to commend our art teachers,

Mrs. Plucker and Ms. Epperson, along with

all of the gifted student artists for helping to

make the art program at River Bend a great

success. I encourage parents to visit their

art work on display at the Cascades

Starbucks and at the LCPS Administration

building.

By the time you read this newsletter, spring

break will be over. This signals the

approach of our SOL tests and end of year

exams. Students are encouraged to take

advantage of the weekly after school Math

and English remediation sessions. The PTA

will provide snacks during the battery of

math tests.

We are also excited about the upcoming

musical, Fiddler on the Roof. River Bend is

known for its theater productions, and we

believe this one will not disappoint. Please

plan on attending at least one of the three

River Bend Middle School April 2012-2013

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performances (April 12-14) and enjoy the

talent of our staff and students.

We are also hoping to rekindle interest in

Multicultural Night. Our school will hold a

scaled-down version of this event on

Wednesday April 17, 2013. In addition, we

will celebrate our re-designation as a

School-to-Watch on Friday April 19, 2013.

Administrative Assistance If, due to a disability, you need assistance to enable you to participate meaningfully in a meeting or conference, etc., please contact Mr. Robert Phillips 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. Robert Phillips 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 Contact Information Main office: 571-434-3220

Absentee Line: 571-434-3222

Website: www.lcps.org/rbms

Address: River Bend Middle School 46240 Algonkian Parkway,

Sterling, VA 20165

RBMS Administration Principal ..........................................Bennett Lacy Asst. Principal ...........................LaShanté Knight Asst. Principal ...............................Robert Phillips Attendance Secretary.......................Truus Foard Secretary.....................................Dawn Mahoney Bookkeeper..............................Stephanie Napert Parent Liaison.............................Tricia Anderson .

House A (8th Grade) Dean ..........................................Melissa Dober Counselor..................................Janae Gwizdala Secretary.........................................Robin Byrd

House B (7th Grade) Dean......................................Deborah Agunsday Lead Counselor……………..…………Sherri Robinson Secretary.........................................Julie Bahun House C (6th Grade) Dean ...........................................Kathryn Clark Counselor ……………….……........Veronica Williams Secretary.......................................Gwen Pride

School Hours School 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 8:15 a.m. bell.

Visitor, Volunteer, and Late

Student Sign in Procedure All visitors need to stop by the main office upon

arrival. Each visitor, volunteer, and all late

students will log into the computer located on

http://www.lcps.org/rbms


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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.

Student Drop off Procedure We have signs to direct traffic through our

parking lot. The school’s front parking

lots should not to 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 Dismissals If 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.

Students Tardy to School All 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. A parent/guardian

should accompany their student to the office or

send a note with the student when arriving late

to school.

Attendance River 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 Requests When 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 Changes Moving? 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.


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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 www.loudoun.k12.va.us.

Lost and Found River 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.

Counselor’s Corner Janae Gwizdala, 8th Grade, Academy of Science, and Thomas Jefferson Sherri Robinson, 7th Grade Veronica Williams 6th Grade Course Selection The course recommendation and selection

process for rising 7th and 8th graders has been

completed. Students and parents have selected

their classes for the 2013-14 school year. A

course selection letter will be mailed home with

the 3rd quarter report cards so that classes for

next year can be verified. Their deadline to

make changes to any course request is June

17th.

Students in grade 6 were introduced to the 16

Career Clusters as part of their academic

planning, so that they can begin to think about

their future and develop a plan of studies that

will help them to achieve their career goal.

Most of the 7th grade students have completed

a Career Interest Inventory and chose a career

cluster of interest.

8th Grade News

In preparation for next year, the 8th graders

have also made their course selections for 9th

grade. Course selection letters will come home

with the rising 9th graders on April 10th along

with report cards. If you have any changes to

make to your child’s selections, please make the

necessary changes, in writing, and return them

to Mrs. Gwizdala. For more specific information

about High School courses, please call or email

Tammy Christman, the Counseling Director at

PFHS @ 571-434-3204. There will be no

changes made to the high school schedules

after June 17th.

Rising 6th Grade News Mrs. Janae Gwizdala, who will be the counselor

for 6th grade in the fall, will start the transition

process for the rising 6th graders at the

beginning of April. The course recommendation

forms will go home with rising 6th graders at the

beginning of April. Mrs. Gwizdala will visit the

elementary schools in April to speak to 5th

graders about middle school expectations. The

Peer Ambassadors will join her and talk to the

students about various aspects of middle

http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us/


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school. Middle school transition will be

completed when the feeder elementary schools

visit River Bend at the end of April. If you have

any questions, please contact Mrs. Gwizdala @

571-434-3220.

Academy of Science The first information session for current

seventh grade students and parents who are

interested in learning more about the

application process for the Academy of Science

(for admission as ninth grade students ) will be

held on Thursday, May 9th at 7:00 p.m. in the

auditorium at Dominion High School. The

information session will include an overview of

the AOS program and the admission process.

Only students who will be eighth graders in

2013-14 may apply. There will be an Open

House and Information Session in September

with the specific date TBD. The complete

admission calendar for 2013-14 academic year

will be posted to the AOS website in May 2013.

River Bend Middle Summer Enrichment Program Remediation and Enrichment for Math and

English/Language Arts will be offered at River

Bend Middle School on Monday, July 8th thru

Friday, July 19th from 8:00 -11:00 for grades 6,

7, 8 only. These classes are for students who

have received a “D” or an “F” in either of the

academic subjects.

Fees: Regular tuition will cost $4.50 per hour.

Fees for Free and Reduced tuition will also be

available. Reduced lunch tuition fees will be

$1.25 per hour. Fees for Free lunch tuition will

be $1.00 per hour.

Students cannot register on line for classes.

Please contact your grade level school

counselor to enroll. Transportation will not be

provided.

New Courses New Middle School Courses that are Available Online Only, Math 7, will be offered as a new course through ED 2010 (now called Edgenuity), an approved online provider. Students who are eligible to take Math 7 as a new course must score Pass Advanced on the Math 6 SOL Assessment, have an “A” average in Math 6 and have special permission from the principal and the counselor. The course is only available to rising seventh grade students. Online classes should be started no later than May 13 and will cost $695. Remediation Programs for High School Courses Middle school students may retake a high

school credit course through summer school

programs offered at two high school sites (Park

View of Heritage) or online. Middle school

students MUST expunge the original grade and

retake the full session course. Online classes

should be started no later than May 13 and

will cost $695.

New High School Courses Certain middle school students are eligible to

take one full session high school credit course

at the high school summer school site or online.

Rising 8th graders are permitted to take one full

session Math course for a new high school

credit. Rising 9th graders are permitted to take

only one full session course for a new high

school credit in Algebra 1, Geometry, English 9,

Earth Science, or World History. Full session

dates are from June 24- August 1, 2013. All

classes meet from 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Students

from River Bend are slated to attend summer

school at Park View. Bus transportation will be

provided from central pick-up points. Students

can attend at Heritage, but must have their own

transportation. Registration and payment opens


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at Noon, May 1, 2013. The fees are $650 for

regular tuition, $120 reduced lunch tuition,

$100 free lunch tuition and $1,000 out of

county. Registration closes at 3:00 p.m. on

Friday, June 12, 2013.

For more information visit the summer school

website at:

http://www.lcps.org//site/Default.aspx?pageID

=82114

Clinic Tips Paula Bailey, RN We are seeing numerous students in the clinic

with seasonal allergy symptoms. At this time of

the year you may need to send in allergy

medication for your child. To help make this

process easier I have made medication forms

available for downloading on the River Bend

School (RBMS) web site. You will need to go to

the clinic section on the RBMS web site and

click on the area for medical forms. You will

also find a form to refresh your memory on the

proper way that medication should be packaged

and transported to the school by the

parent/guardian.

With spring arriving, gym classes will start going

outside. This can be a difficult time for

asthmatics. If your child has permission from

the doctor to carry their inhaler, please see that

they have it with them during this time. Asthma

forms are also available on the RBMS web site if

you need one. Doctor’s orders are required for

any student who has an inhaler at RBMS.

I hope having these forms available will make

things easier. If you have any questions I can be

reached in the clinic during regular school hours

(8:15 a.m. - 3:18 p.m.) at 571-434-3223.

Paula Bailey, RN 571-434-3223 [email protected]

Parent Link Tricia Anderson, Parent Liaison I want to tell you about a wonderful LCPS resource you may not be aware of. The Parent Resource Center is a place where parents can go to learn about a variety of disabling conditions, the special education process, and resources available to special needs students and their families. The center offers a variety of services at no cost to families. They have a lending library of books, articles, and videotapes on disability and parenting topics. They offer training on a wide range of topics through workshops and seminars. Staff members meet individually with parents whose children are experiencing difficulty at school, at home, or in the community and wish to explore and consider the range of options available. They assist parents in preparing for special education and other meetings at school. The emphasis throughout all of the center's programs is the establishment of positive partnerships between parents and educators. One popular feature of the Parent Resource Center website is the tutor list. If your child is struggling with a particular subject or subjects, you can access a list of available tutors. Many tutors have special education training and are willing to work with children of all abilities. As summer comes nearer, the website usually lists summer camps available for children of all abilities. There are links to the camps' websites so you can see where the camps are held, who the camp is designed for and any costs associated with attending the camp. If you are interested in getting more information about the center and what they have available, please visit their website: http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us//site/Default.aspx?PageID=76179

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=76179

http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=76179


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The Parent Resource Center is located at 20 Union Street, NW in Leesburg. If you plan a visit to the center, they ask that you please call in advance. The staff likes to give each family their undivided attention when they visit. Their phone number is 571-252-2185. Tricia Anderson, Parent Liaison [email protected] 571-434-3220

School Menu The Loudoun County Public Schools new

Secondary Lunch Menu is a three week

repeating menu. This menu may be viewed

online at www.lcps.org by selecting lunch

menus

Art In art we are displaying two art shows February

22-May 24:

Cascades Starbucks 21021 Southbank Street

Sterling, VA 20165

Administration Building

2nd Floor 21000 Education Court

Ashburn, VA 20148

Come out and support the young artists at River

Bend Middle School!

Continental Math League Continental Math League (CML) is a national competition that lasts for five months. Each month, students compete by solving six detailed, high level reading/math problems. The top six scores for each grade level are submitted as River Bend's team scores. Round Four of the Continental Math League,

coordinated by Dr. Talbot, took place in February. The following students achieved perfect scores on the February contest:

Natacha Normand

Jessie Touve Currently the leading scorers are

8th Grade: Hamsa Mani, Antonio Pareja-Lecaros, Alexandra Soccio-Mallon

7th Grade: Natacha Normand

6th Grade: Adam Moldover Way to go, Problem Solvers!

Latin Club You wouldn't believe the amount of fun that the Latin students have had lately. On February 23, students attended the TJ Certamen. On March 9, the students attended Classics Day at UVA. At Classics Day, students heard a lecture by a UVA professor, played certamen, learned about Roman curse dolls (and made one!), watched an abridged play by a Greek author, took a tour of UVA, played with snow, and even managed to get stuck on Route 66 for 1 1/2 hours when the bus had mechanical problems!

Students earning two trophies are: Blair, Joshua Chellman, Kathleen Chinboot, Jirachat Greenman, Lucy Ede, Alex Hart, Zoe Jayanti, Sraavani Jayanti, Aditya Khalif, Faduma Liu, Isha MacGoy, Julia Mahanty, Anirban Montano, Kevin Mott, Aidan



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Pham, Kevin Rachamallu, Medhini Robles, Richard Roshan, Arjit Ryan, Lisa Schmid, Katrina Shownkeen, Krish Soccio-Mallon, Alexandra Sotirova, Militsa Townsend, Tristan We are looking forward to attending State Finals Certamen at Herndon in April. Try your hand at these questions: What Etruscan was figuratively crowned by an eagle, and went on to become the fifth king of Rome?

Bonus: What was the name of his prophetess wife?

What principal part is used to form the perfect tense? Bonus: Give the 2nd person, perfect active indicative form of “amō, amārē.”

Band News Greetings from River Bend Bands! March was "Music in Our Schools Month," and the River Bend Music Department is busy planning a number of exciting events for the rest of the year. On April 4, the first-ever Chamber Music Festival will be happening in the library. Soloists and small groups of music students will be performing classical and contemporary literature. The program will feature wind, percussion, string, guitar, and vocal music, representing each of the four music programs at River Bend. A huge "Congratulations!" to the 8th Grade Band for earning a rating of "Excellent" at the District Concert Assessment on March 9. These students worked extremely hard preparing a

very challenging program during class and after-school. Bravo! Our own Joshua Blair was selected to participate in the very elite District Jazz Band. Only 18 students from Loudoun County are selected. Joshua will rehearse and perform with a guest clinician at Woodgrove High School on April 12-13. Congratulations to our musical Ravens!

Library

There is a new sign-in procedure at the library.

When you enter the library, go to the

circulation desk or Ipac computer. Follow the

prompts for your first and last name; enter

where you are coming from and why you came

to the library. Then when you leave the library,

be certain to sign yourself out. It’s a new

procedure but not new to sign in when entering

the library.

Series in the Library Many new books have arrived at the library.

There is a new series titled Storm Runners by

Roland Smith. You know about storm chasers, in

Storm Runners, the father-son team run to

storms to assist before and after the storm hits

an area. This time something goes drastically

wrong for Chase.

Do you believe in mermaids? Then you need to

find Daughters of the Sea by Kathryn Lasky. In

this new series, Hannah gets a tingling

sensation when she is near the vase. Not only

does Hannah have a secret, but so does May

and Lucy as well.

Sign In

At

Desk


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What do you know about the French

Revolution? In the library we have Sally

Gardener’s, The Red Necklace and her second

book The Silver Blade. What secrets does the

red necklace hold?

April Is Poetry Month What is Book Spine Poetry (cento)? A cento is a poetical work wholly composed of verses or passages taken from other authors; only disposed in a new form or order. A few examples:

Science Olympiad Invitational The Fairfax Science Olympiad Invitational was held on Jan 26th. Several members of the Science Olympiad team participated in a special Fairfax Science Olympiad Invitational. Congratulations to these scientists for their hard work. The RBMS winners were:

Erica Collins & Jennifer Baily - 4th place Forestry

Anirban Mahanty & Jennifer Baily unable to attend because of TJ test) -- 5th Place Anatomy

Isha Liu & Kathleen Chellman -- 3rd Place Rocks & Minerals

Hamsa Mani & Alexandra Soccio-Mallon -- 2nd Place WIDI

Angela Bao & Militsa Sotirova -- 3rd Place WIDI

Science Olympiad has 37 students who participate on the teams. Three teams (37 students) from RBMS will compete in a regional competition held by Virginia State Olympiad (VASO). The tournament will take place on March 16 at the Stone Middle School in Chantilly. 21 teams from 15 schools will compete to proceed to State tournament. Only 9 schools may proceed for the state round to be held at VA Tech. on the April 27. We give these students a 'thank you' for working so hard to represent yourselves and for representing River Bend. Thank you to Isha Liu's mother, Mrs. Sanjita Sethi, for organizing and leading the teams and to Mr. John Norman, science teacher, for being the faculty advisor.

Regional Science Olympiad Saturday, March 16th, the Science Olympiad regional competition was held in Fairfax at Stone Middle School. Wow, River Bend Science

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verse_(poetry)


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Olympiad students had a successful day. They learned and had fun competing against students from other schools in the area. Three teams from River Bend participated in the competition: Snap, Crackle and Pop. Team Snap had 1st Places in Crime Busters, Dynamic Planet, and Metric Mastery; and 2nd Place in Write It Do It. Team Crackle achieved 2nd place in Shock Value and 3rd place in Dynamic Planet. Team Pop achieved 1st Places in Experimental Design and Write It Do it, 2nd Places in Food Science, Forestry, Meteorology, Road Scholar and Rocks and Minerals, and 3rd place in Metric Mastery. Special Congrats go to Team Pop for achieving a superb 3rd Place over all for the Regional Science Olympiad Competition. Congratulations to all of the River Bend Science Olympiad students for your hard work and to those of you who will go on to compete at the State Competition! That is awesome. Thanks to Mrs. Sethi for her hard work organizing Science Olympiad and to Mr. Norman for his being the science go to guy and faculty advisor for the teams. Thanks to all of the parents for their support of all of these participating students.

Schools to Watch River Bend Middle School

was re-designated as a

School to Watch. This

prestigious award is given to high performing

schools that are academically excellent,

developmentally responsive, and socially

equitable. The school celebration will be taking

place on Friday, April 19th.

Collecting Books for Needy My name is Lucy Greenman. I’m a seventh

grader here at River Bend. I am participating in

a service project for my synagogue and will be

collecting new or (very) gently used elementary-

level books to donate to needy Loudoun

schools. I am really excited to help in this

project and to be able to provide books for kids,

especially those in need, so that they can

develop a love for reading as I have.

If you happen to know of anyone with

elementary-level books to donate, I’d

appreciate you getting them in touch with me.

They can contact me, via my mom, at

[email protected]. Also, I have placed

a bin near the Main Office at River Bend for

book collection.

Thanks very much for your participation!

Lucy Greenman

SOL Testing Dates Algebra and Geometry - 4/30 and 5/1 Reading 6th and 7th – 5/6 and 5/7 Reading 8th – 5/7 and 5/8 Social Studies 6th and 7th -5/9 and 5/10 Civics 8th – 5/13 and 5/14 Math 6th and 7th -5/15 and 5/16 Math 8th – 5/16 and 5/17 Science 8th – 5/20 and 5/21



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Summer Activities


12

Recycling Event


13

Parent Resource Center


14

MANDT for Parents


15

2013 Loudoun County “Free” Tax Assistance


16


17

April Calendar

Raven’s Roost: A Message from the Principal - LCPS

Documents

Transcript of Raven’s Roost: A Message from the Principal - LCPS