Sunday, November 26, 2023

Rapids Report 11-27-23

The Rapids Report

November 27th, 2023

Dear STrEaM Families,

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday break! Weather permitting we will finally have full, regular weeks of school as we move into December.

Please plan to attend our Family Night on December 20th! We are challenging families to participate in our STEM Challenge of building a gingerbread house!

This Week at STrEaM:

Monday 11/27: Full schedule Periods 1-7

Tuesday 11/28: Block Day A Advisory & P. 1-4

Wednesday 11/29: Early Release 12:00

Boxing and Math Club After School

Thursday 11/30: Block Day B Advisory & P. 5-8

Friday 12/1: Full schedule Periods 1-7

Winter MAP Testing

Next week is MAP testing! Students will complete their winter MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) on December 5th and December 7th, with make-up testing being held on December 8th and December 11th.

Family Night December 20th

You are invited to attend a STrEaM Family Night Dec. 20th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM!

Follow this link to information about the event. We will also be mailing invitations.

There are several ways students and families can participate:

Join the chorus of carolers (practice after school each Wednesday from 12 - 1)
Enter the poetry contest
Bring a favorite dessert, and
Participate in the family STEM challenge!

Health and Wellness Update from Nurse Bethany

It’s getting cold out. Who’s in the mood for soup? If your student helps make it …even better. Healthy recipes for kids: https://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/recipes-healthy-kids-cookbook-homes

Please feel free to email or call me with any questions. zimpelman_bethany@asdk12.org

Wishing you well

~Nurse Bethany

Communicating with teens: Tip of the week!

Linda Cliatt-Wayman gave an excellent Ted talk once about going in and fixing a broken school. After listing all the problems with behaviors and academic failures, she asked this question: so what, now what? Many of us find ourselves looking at our teens and feeling disconnected, frustrated, and even hopeless. There are a lot of obstacles we can name. But so what? NOW what? What tools do we have at our disposal to make sure we are giving our kids their best chance at developing healthy communication habits, advocating for themselves, and handling their emotions in productive ways?

Tip 1: Incorporate both quality and quantity time! (purposeful and agenda-free togetherness)

Tip 2: It is never too late or too early to start modeling good communication skills. How?

Share your day. How did you work through your frustrations? What are you grateful for?

Share stories. What were you like as a kid? What do you remember about your parents? About your feelings and friendships?

Being transparent about how you cope with big feelings is a great way to help your student to navigate their own - especially when there is conflict. For example, when having a heated discussion with your teen, saying something like this can be powerful. “I am feeling too angry to talk right now. I need to step away and take a break. We can talk more when I’ve had a chance to calm down.” Coming back and discussing why you needed a break and how your feelings were affecting your communication could be a great way to begin discussing how emotions often cloud our judgment and our ability to communicate effectively.

After School Activities

Boxing Club

Boxing Wednesday 12:00-1:00.

23-24 Battle of the Books

We meet during lunch on Tuesday and Thursday (6/ 7&8), and Friday (7th & 8th grade only) this week. 6th grade meets in the Library, 7th/8th grade will also meet in room 110.. All books are available in the STrEaM library, your local library branch, digital copies or audiobooks. The hoopla app has quite a few books for free through the library. =) Have questions? Email

lojewski_martha@asdk12.org - 6th Grade Bahner_Stephen@asdk12.org - 7th/8th Grade

MATH CLUB

12:00-1:45 PM

APC (Academic Policy Committee)

The Academic Policy Committee (APC) meets the second Wednesday of every month at 5:30 PM. The next meeting will be December 13th at 5:30 PM in the Fab Lab at school. Community and parents are always welcome to attend. Please notify us prior to the meeting if you wish to provide public comment.

Friends of STrEaM

The Stream 100 campaign is still open! We have 49 pledges so far. Thank you
Lunch Support - donations of single serve chips, pretzels or goldfish. We are serving an average of 15 lunches per day four days a week
Interested in serving as a parent representative on our non-profit board? Call Jen at 907-223-2546

STREAM GEAR STORE

Purchase your STrEaM Gear on our online store! LINK: https://bit.ly/3YYp912

2023-24 Yearbook Order Today!

Families, Yearbook Orders ARE LIVE and will be available until February 23rd! Order here.

Call, email or stop by if you have any questions or needs!

Quyana!

Adam Mokelke, Principal mokelke_adam@asdk12.org

Rebekah Hayden, Assistant Principal hayden_rebekah@asdk12.org

Amy Bonertz, Counselor bonertz_amy@asdk12.org

Syliva Biondich, Administrative Asst. biondich_sylvia@asdk12.org

Jessi Blackson, Secretary blackson_jessica@asdk12.org

Bethany Zimpelman, Itinerant Nurse zimpleman_bethany@asdk12.org

Chris Krejca, Special Education krejca_christine@asdk12.org

Sunday, November 19, 2023

Rapids Report 11-20-23

The Rapids Report

November 20th, 2023

Dear STrEaM Families,

Winter has arrived in full force. Thank you for your patience and grace as we navigated remote learning last week. We will continue building on our emergency closure plan and projects. Our goals are to engage students in hands-on, project-based and meaningful learning activities (over spending the day on tech and zoom), and to provide families with clear communication, information and support.

This will be another short week, with Thanksgiving on Thursday and no school Friday. We will reach the midway point of the 2nd quarter (already?!) on Wednesday.

This Week at STrEaM:

Monday 11/20: Full schedule Periods 1-7

Food Bank of Alaska Thanksgiving Blessing 2pm - 7pm at St. Patricks for 99504/09/21

Tuesday 11/21:Full schedule Periods 1-7

Wednesday 11/22: Early Release 12:00

NO AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS

Thursday 11/23: NO SCHOOL- THANKSGIVING

Friday 11/24: NO SCHOOL

Winter MAP Testing

Students will complete their winter MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) on December 5th and December 7th, with make-up testing being held on December 8th and December 11th.

Family Night December 2023

When? Dec. 20 6 - 7:30

Below is a link to information about the event. We will also be sending out a mailed invitation. :) There are several ways students and families can participate: join the chorus of carolers (practice after school each Wednesday from 12 - 1), enter the poetry contest, bring a favorite dessert, and/or participate in the family STEM challenge!

Here is a link with some fun slides 🙂

2023-24 Yearbook Order Today!

Families, Yearbook Orders ARE LIVE and will be available until February 23rd! Order here.

Walking to and from school

It is now dark in the morning, and the snow has made walking to school challenging. Drivers: be cautious and watch for pedestrians. Parents: please have your child wear bright and/or reflective clothing when walking or biking.

STOPit

STOPit is an anonymous reporting tool designed to deter and mitigate bullying, cyber abuse, and other inappropriate behaviors, consisting of an app and a back-end incident management system for school administrators.

Specifically, the program empowers students and families to:

Report at-risk or inappropriate behaviors anonymously
Submit photo or video evidence
Alert designated administrators to issues and risks early, before they escalate

Your child has been educated on the STOPit app so please discuss it with your student. We also encourage your family to explore the district page on STOPit, linked above.

Communicating with teens: Tip of the week!

This week we’ll take a look at time. As our kids get older, there is often a feeling of urgency in regards to squeezing the most out of the time we have. We may double up on family days, hoping to increase the quantity of time. Or maybe we try to improve the quality of time we have by infusing teachable moments into every interaction, hoping everything will sink in. :) It’s a lot of pressure, and that pressure can actually work against your goals.

In terms of creating an environment that invites communication, both quality and quantity are important.Quality time (or planned interaction time) is intentional and can include things like game nights, movies, or walks. It can also be cultivating check-in times, family meal time, or a shared “check-in” notebook when you and your child have vastly different schedules.

Quantity time is all of those shared moments that don’t need an agenda - listening to music in the car, being in a shared space like the kitchen and doing different things. It’s time that is shared and free from expectations. And for teens who may not feel like engaging, but want to be a part of their family environment, that is important too.