08-09 Sept Ljh News

September 2008

Lake Views The newsletter of Lake Junior High

Lake Events September 2008 2

First day of school

10

PTA Meeting 9:30 am

11

Papa John’s Night

11

Open House 6-8 pm

19

Fundraiser kickoff

25

6th/7th grade dance 6:00-8:30 pm

October 2008 3

8th/9th grade dance 6:00-9:00 pm

7

Arena conferences (gym) 4:00-8:00 pm

8

PTA Meeting 9:30 am

9

Student Star Breakfast

9

Picture retakes

9

Papa John’s Night

9

Arena conferences (gym) 4:00-8:00 pm

16-

No school, MEA

17 30

Volume 14, Issue 2

Welcome back to school! Open House is Sept. 11 6:00-8:00 pm Parents, come experience your student‘s school day at Lake‘s annual Open House. Walk through your student‘s schedule and meet their teachers. Learn about the curriculum, teacher expectations, and more. Lake‘s PTA will sell Lake clothing and showcase products from our upcoming Geckler Fall Fundraiser. Look for displays in the commons about ways to support Lake and about some of our student activities. This is a parent only evening. Remember to bring your student‘s schedule!

Lake PTA Meeting Wednesday, September 10 9:30 am Lake conference room

Join us for a conversation with Lake‘s principal, Todd Hochman, who will talk about

Activities bus leaves promptly at 3:15 pm Students who participate in high school activities can ride the activity bus to Woodbury High School. The bus departs from the athletic door entrance at 3:15 pm. Only student participants of Woodbury High School activities can ride the activities bus. Students attending Woodbury High events must arrange their own rides.

 Middle school transition; & Lake‘s 2008-09 site goals. We‘ll also elect a new PTA secretary. All Lake community members are welcome!

6th grade Pop Band 7:00 pm

Study plans help students study smarter, not longer

Inside this edition 2 2 3 3 4 4

Making the most of middle school School Board eliminates A+ grade From the Principal‘s desk

Do you know Slow, Go, and Whoa The value of parent involvement Student Council elections

Research shows that students who get top grades don‘t study longer or harder but do use a study plan. A good study plan takes into account the following.  A planner or assignment book to track teacher assignments. Lake‘s PTA provides all Lake students with planners.  A schedule of extracurricular activities. Student‘s activities outside of school need to

be tracked, just as their school assignments do.

dictionary, thesaurus, and text books.

 Written goals for each subject.

 Names and places to get homework help. (Textbooks, websites, the library, classmate contact info, etc.)

 Time set aside for nightly homework assignments and studying.  A designated time to do homework. A designated place to do homework.  Supplies to aide in completing homework, such as pens, pencils, calculator, paper,

Make a written contract with your student that clearly defines your expectations this year. Both you and your student should sign the contract. The contract will help resolve disagreements about your expectations if problems arise during in the year.

Page 2

Making the most of middle school

Whether or not your child is thinking about college, decisions your child makes as early as 8th grade can have a major impact on his or her future.

Middle school students need more space and independence to discover new interests and build skills and knowledge. They also need continued support and guidance from parents. Here are some ways to help your child make this transition and stay on the right track: Attend an open house. Help your child become familiar with his or her new building, classrooms, and lockers.  Meet with your child‘s school guidance counselor. Ask the counselor‘s advice on how to help your child transition into his or her new school.  Expose your child to a broad range of experiences and programs. Help him or her explore new interests and start to consider future plans.

Lake Junior High

PTA

®

everychild. onevoice.®

PTA Three4Me A little means a lot

Can you donate just 3 hours of your time to help at Lake this school year? Go to the Volunteer page at www.lakepta.org and register to help online. Or, send in the pink Volunteer Form from the parent folder distributed at orientation. Printed copies of the Volunteer Form are available in Lake‘s office too. The homeroom class submitting the most volunteer forms will be rewarded.

 Set ground rules for your

child. Make sure your child knows what time to wake up, when to be ready for school, and when to do homework after school. Also let your child know that he or she is expected to do his or her best in school.  Stay aware of your child‘s homework and school demands. It is important for you to keep track of your child‘s homework assignments and deadlines. However, check, but do not do your child‘s homework. Encourage your child to do his or her best work on homework assignments.  Monitor your child‘s progress. Be aware of your child‘s progress on schoolwork, tests, and grades, so you can address any potential problems or issues before they become larger.  Remember your child‘s next transition—high school. Make

sure that your child is aware of the classes and programs he or she will need to take in middle school to prepare for high school and beyond. Whether or not your child is thinking about college, decisions your child makes as early as 8th grade can have a major impact on his or her future. Young people must use this time to:  Develop good study habits.  Master strong reading, math and computer skills.  Explore science learning opportunities.  Establish high expectations for learning and good conduct—both at home and at school.  Develop good communication skills.  Confront personal roadblocks.

Reprinted with permission from PTA Goes to Work Parent Guide © 2008, National PTA

School Board eliminates A+ grade for secondary schools South Washington County School Board members voted to eliminate A+ grades beginning this year (2008-09). The recommendation was made in conjunction with a move to weight grades for high school students who take more rigorous coursework. To be fair to this year‘s seniors, weighted grades will apply only to 10th and 11th grade students who take Advanced Placement (AP), College in the Schools, University of Minnesota Talented Youth Math Project

(UMTYMP), or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. Beginning in 2009-10, weighted grades will apply to all high school students who take eligible courses.

Lake Grading Scale A A-

100-93% 90-92%

B+

87-89.9%

B

83-86%

Lake‘s 9th grade students (freshman) who take Honors English, Honors Social Studies, or Honors Science will not receive weighted grades.

B-

80-82%

C+

77-79%

C

73-76%

C-

70-72%

Class rank and Grade Point Average (GPA) will continue with a single track reporting system.

D+

67-69%

D

63-66%

D-

60-62%

F

59.9% & below

Page 3 Volume 14, Issue 2

From the desk of Todd Hochman, Principal Thank you!!! Greetings students, parents, and families! We are off and running on the first day of school. It was exciting to meet and greet the students as they arrived for the first day. I was greeted by many smiles, some confusion, and a lot of excitement. Thank you for having your child wellprepared for the first day. I hope your child‘s first impressions of school will be a very positive result.

Thank you to the staff and parents who volunteered at our Orientation and Back Door Block Party!

Last Monday, August 25, Lake Junior High hosted an orientation day for students and parents. It was our first attempt to have Lifetouch school photographers take student photos during orientation. Working together with our PTA, we also made some changes hoping that we could facilitate the orientation process well. PTA sponsored a back door block party, which featured free ice cream and popcorn. It was a great social time spent with students, staff, and parents. I appreciate your patience, realizing that the picture and schedule process was not as smooth as we anticipated. I am working with Lifetouch, my office staff, and the PTA, to assure you that we will have a fine tuned process in place at next year‘s orientation.

Thank you to our Back Door Block Party sponsor

Lake Junior High will host our Open House, Thursday, September 11 from 6:00–8:00 pm. Unlike orientation, this is an opportunity to meet your child‘s teachers and spend a few minutes to learn more about curriculum expectations. If you have any questions don‘t hesitate to contact the school office or guidance team. We look forward to seeing you next week! The first few weeks of school are extremely important in establishing success for your child. It is important that your child is receiving the best possible schedule of classes. The counselor‘s have worked hard to assure that your child has a schedule which reflects the needs and challenges of your student. In addition to criteria that have been established by the district to determine appropriate placement, we know it is a best practice to know as much as possible about a student. If you believe your child has been incorrectly placed, I would encourage you to schedule a meeting with the counselors/administrators to review your child‘s placement concerns. Finally, I encourage your child to take advantage of before and after school activities. Many of these activities are listed on the school web-site. There are also several opportunities for you child to receive assistance with their homework. Please check with your child‘s teacher at Open House. Working together will create the best possible experience for your child‘s education.

Cold Stone Creamery and to our back-toschool staff lunch sponsor

Deli Express

Papa John’s Pizza Night is Sept. 11 Coming to Open House? Lake‘s Papa John‘s Night makes for an easy dinner. Call 731.0113, mention Lake and your student‘s 5th hour teacher, & Lake earns 20% of your order total. The class with the most orders wins a pizza party!

Do you know Slow, Go, and Whoa? Slow, Go, and Whoa is a simple concept developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to encourage men, women, and children to eat nutrient dense—not calorie dense— foods, which are the basis for good health and nutrition. Lake PTA‘s Healthy Lifestyles committee is working this year to provide Lake students and families with information about ways to make better choices for their health.

Find more information at www.lakepta.org. Here‘s an introduction to Slow, Go, and Whoa.

include vegetables that have been fried or have sauces added, fruit juices, and white, refined flour foods.

Go foods have the least amount of fat and sugar. These foods contain important vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Go foods include vegetables, fruits, whole-grains, reduced fat dairy products.

Whoa foods have the highest fat, sugar, and calories. They typically lack nutrients and should be eaten occasionally and in small quantities. They include desserts, whole milk dairy products, soda, and many calorie-dense coffee drinks.

Slow foods contain increased amounts of fat, sugar, and calories than Go foods. They

 Monitor student grades with Student Profiler.  Sign up for Lake‘s listserv. Receive our biweekly Enews & periodic special announcements. Click on the InfoToGo link on Lake‘s homepage.

New research confirms value of involved parents

Lake Junior High School Principal Todd Hochman Asst. Principal Rich Paisner Asst. Principal John Schmidt

3133 Pioneer Drive Woodbury, MN 55125 Office: 651.768.6400 Fax: 651.768.6428 Health Office: 651.768.6412 Fax: 651.768.6428 District Office: 651.458.6300

New research adds to the literature that confirms that parental involvement with their children‘s education is linked with higher academic achievement. Researchers Karen Smith Conway, professor of economics at the University of New Hampshire, and Andrew Houtenville, senior research associate at new Editions Consulting, found that the positive effect of parental involvement is substantial. Conway, Quoted in the May 28, 2008, issue of ScienceDaily, said, ―We found that schools would need to increase per-pupil

spending by more than $1,000 in order to achieve the same results that are gained with parental involvement.‖

their children‘s progress. The study used national data gleaned from more than 10,000 8th-grade students enrolled in both public and private schools, their parOne interesting finding is ents, teachers, and school that parents spent more time administrators. talking to their daughters about their school work during dinnertime, possible because girls are more communicative. Conway and Houtenville also found that parents in resource-rich schools may decrease their level of involvement, and that this disengagement, Reprinted with permission from OurChilwhether partial or full, can dren® magazine. August/September 2008 issue ©, National PTA have a negative impact on

Visit our websites www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/ lake www.lakepta.org

October Lake Views online October 1! Lake Views © 2008 Lake Junior High Lake Junior High PTA

Student Directory deadline is Friday, September 19 Lake‘s PTA publishes a Student Directory which lists student names, addresses, phone numbers, and parent names. Our directory includes a school calendar, the bell schedule, PTA contact information, site council members, and a staff directory with email addresses too. If you want your student included in the directory, you must submit a Student Directory Form . Submit your form online at www.lakepta.org. Print copies of the form were provided in the blue parent folders at orientation and are available at Open House and in the Lake office. Every Lake family will receive a copy of the directory, courtesy of the Lake PTA. A sample directory will be on display at Open House!

Student Council elections

Student Council‗s tentative election date is Thursday, September 18

Parents are asked to encourage their 6th or 7th grade students to run for Lake‘s Student Council. These young leaders will work with 8th & 9th grade representatives, who were elected last spring, to maintain a positive school environment by sponsoring activities which promote and encourage excellence, community service and school

spirit. Students interested in running for Student Council should: 





pick-up a petition packet from the main office (available beginning September 2); Submit their completed petition packet to the office by Wednesday, September 10; Schedule time with a Student Council Advisor



to tape a campaign speech; Active campaigning is from September 10-17.

Student Council elections are tentatively scheduled for Thursday, September 18.

Student Council Advisors Mr. Carstensen Ms. Kazek