Ridgeline Roost
The
Volume I Issue 2
Ridgeline Roost
November 2012
Student Council attends AAJHSC Conference The Ridgeline Academy Student Council embarked to the Mesa Conference Center for the Arizona Association of Junior High Student Councils’ state conference for the 2012-2013 year. The theme of this year’s conference was “Leaders: Get in The Game”, which focuses on how to motivate student council members. At the conference there were numerous workshops that were developed and facilitated solely by members of various student councils from around the state. The focus of the workshops was to engage student’s knowledge and creativity in the areas of leadership and problem solving.
In this issue: P.1 Feature Article: Student Council attends AAJHSC Conference P.2 Focus on Core Knowledge® Calendar of Events P.3 Students in the News Community Update P.4 Eagles on the Go!
The first workshop attended by our Student Council members was “School Sprit Strategies.” This workshop was geared towards collecting ideas for spirit day, ways of using spirit days to fund your student council, examples of various forms of pep rally events, and how to construct a school spirit stick. During the workshop Ridgeline students shared the successes we’ve had with our pep rally events and our “Dress Down Day”. The next workshop was “What is Leadership?” During this session students learned about the differences between positive and negative leadership, how to engage with different groups of students, and how to grow as a leader. This workshop was followed by a leadership forum on “Community Engagement”. This session provided students with the techniques required to develop relationships with community businesses and charities. The last set of workshops attended by Ridgeline students were “Diversity: How to stop bullying” and “Robert’s Rules of Order”. The diversity workshop used many audience involved skits to demonstrate the many different types and situations of bullying in and out of the school. The “Robert’s Rules of Order” workshop helped our students learn how to run a successful student council meeting. The Ridgeline Academy Student Council had a very enlightening and motivating experience at the AAJHSC state conference. The students spent most of the hour long ride back from Mesa discussing all of the ideas they had gathered from the day and began to plan what they could do next as a student council. It was inspiring and endearing to see our students excited about their role in our school’s future success. Ridgeline Academy is developing the future leaders of tomorrow.
Focus on Core Knowledge® The rigorous Core Knowledge curriculum immerses students in concept-specific instruction across grade levels. This month, Core Knowledge instruction for Kindergarten through Eighth Grade includes: Kindergarten Changes All Around Us Native American Peoples Taking Care of the Earth 1st Grade Communities Modern Civilizations: Mexico Early People & Civilizations Weather 2nd Grade Creative Ideas Cycles in Nature: Seasonal & Water Cycles Properties of Matter/Energy American Government: Constitution 3rd Grade People & Nature The Human Body Earth Science The Vikings 4th Grade Patterns in Nature Geology: Earth/Changes African Kingdoms China: Dynasties
5th Grade Inventors & Artists Plant Structures & Processes Russia: Geography, Growth & Expansion Japan: Geography & Feudal Japan West Expansion: Pre-Civil War 6th Grade Challenges & Obstacles Reshaping Earth’s Surface Ancient Greece & Rome East-West Trade Routes 7th Grade Types of Nonfiction The Restless Earth Arizona Statehood America Becomes a World Power Geography of Europe 8th Grade Types of Nonfiction Electromagnetic Radiation & Light Geography of China People’s Republic of China The Cold War
Upcoming Events November 27
Boys Basketball @ Salt River
December 12 Student Art Showcase
November 29
Girls Basketball @ Pioneer
December 18 Eagle Band & Choir Winter Concert
December 6
Science Fair
December 20 Elementary Holiday Program
December 10
Drama Club Performance
Perfect Attendance for 1st Quarter 145 elementary and middle school students maintained perfect attendance for 1st Quarter. The students were recognized with an ice cream social on October 19th. To date, the school-wide student attendance rate is 97%. Honor Roll for 1st Quarter 23 middle school students were named to the honor roll for 1st Quarter. Students must have a 3.75 grade point average to earn this academic distinction. Ridgeline Football & Volleyball All-Stars Noah Mun and Xavier Sosa were selected to participate in the state CAA AllStar flag football game and Amber Rivera was selected to participate in the state CAA All-Star volleyball game, scheduled for Saturday, November 3rd. Faculty v. 8th Grade Volleyball Game On Friday, November 9th, the Faculty and 8th Grade class took the court for our first annual volleyball game. concessions were sold at the game with proceeds going toward the 8th grade class trip and promotion. Ms. BrooksTaylor, 8th Grade Faculty Advisor, organized the event. The faculty won the match 2 games to 1 game.
Community Update Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts to meet at Ridgeline Cub Scout Pack 536 will begin holding their monthly pack meetings at Ridgeline in November. The pack has approximately 30 scouts, including current and future Ridgeline students. The Cactus-Pine chapter of the Girls Scouts will be hosting a parent night on November 13th in anticipation of forming a Daisy and Brownie troop at Ridgeline. Booster Club hosts 1st Annual Fall Festival Over 500 students, family members, and friends attended the 1st Annual Fall Festival on October 26th. The Booster Club and Ms. Patton, faculty advisor, put on a tremendous event that will become part of an on-going tradition at Ridgeline. The proceeds of the event provide funding for extra-curricular programs. Booster Club Meeting The Ridgeline Booster Club met on Thursday, November 8th at 7:00pm to continue planning the end of year push for tax credit donations and begin planning community fundraisers at local businesses. Tax credit donations for 2012 are due by December 31st. The Booster Club will change meeting times starting in December to Thursday afternoons at 3:15pm.
Eagle Athletics Basketball tryouts are over and now our Eagles are ready to take the court! Our boys and girls basketball teams are prepared to make an impressive first impression within the league as we open up the Winter Athletic season. Boys basketball coach Mr. Ahn sees a lot of promise in this year’s team, “I’ve been coaching for quite a few years and this is my first inaugural team. Even though a lot of the boys haven’t played interscholastic before, they are catching on quick. They’re nailing our drills and becoming comfortable working as a team. I’m looking forward to see what they are capable of once we start facing seasoned squads.” A quick chat with girls basketball coach Ms. Banks revealed a challenge within the girls team. “A lot of them want to be cheerleaders and basketball players! These girls stay after school each day for basketball and cheer practice so that when the season starts, they can play in their games and then cheer for the boys team. This has created a theme of endurance throughout our practices to help them understand how to manage their energy for both.” The boys play their first game at Salt River Junior High School on November 27th. The girls team will join the boys in their season opener versus Pioneer Prep on November 29th. All of our home games are played at Ridgeline Academy and we look forward to seeing your support as our cheerleaders rally our teams to victory!
Clubs on Campus New Student Clubs for 2nd Quarter Several new students clubs are being introduced in the second quarter. Ms. Gokool will sponsor a Storytime Club for K-2 students; Ms. Patton & Ms. Frisch will sponsor a Science Fair Club for grades 4-8; and Ms. Downing and Mr. Rabassa will oversee Intramural Flag Football for grades 3-5. Ridgeline Becomes Official NJHS Chapter Ridgeline received its charter to become an official National Junior Honor Society chapter on October 23rd. The Faculty Council, under the direction of Ms. Thomas, has begun the rigorous selection process for student membership and Ridgeline will induct its first members on November 5th. RA Chapter of NJHS Inducts 7 New Members The Fall Induction Ceremony of the Ridgeline Chapter of NJHS was held on Monday, October 5th. The first membership class of the chapter included three 8th grade students (two of which are transfer members from previous schools) and four 7th grade students. NJHS is a national scholarship and service organization.
Volume I Issue 2
Ridgeline Roost
November 2012
Student Council attends AAJHSC Conference The Ridgeline Academy Student Council embarked to the Mesa Conference Center for the Arizona Association of Junior High Student Councils’ state conference for the 2012-2013 year. The theme of this year’s conference was “Leaders: Get in The Game”, which focuses on how to motivate student council members. At the conference there were numerous workshops that were developed and facilitated solely by members of various student councils from around the state. The focus of the workshops was to engage student’s knowledge and creativity in the areas of leadership and problem solving.
In this issue: P.1 Feature Article: Student Council attends AAJHSC Conference P.2 Focus on Core Knowledge® Calendar of Events P.3 Students in the News Community Update P.4 Eagles on the Go!
The first workshop attended by our Student Council members was “School Sprit Strategies.” This workshop was geared towards collecting ideas for spirit day, ways of using spirit days to fund your student council, examples of various forms of pep rally events, and how to construct a school spirit stick. During the workshop Ridgeline students shared the successes we’ve had with our pep rally events and our “Dress Down Day”. The next workshop was “What is Leadership?” During this session students learned about the differences between positive and negative leadership, how to engage with different groups of students, and how to grow as a leader. This workshop was followed by a leadership forum on “Community Engagement”. This session provided students with the techniques required to develop relationships with community businesses and charities. The last set of workshops attended by Ridgeline students were “Diversity: How to stop bullying” and “Robert’s Rules of Order”. The diversity workshop used many audience involved skits to demonstrate the many different types and situations of bullying in and out of the school. The “Robert’s Rules of Order” workshop helped our students learn how to run a successful student council meeting. The Ridgeline Academy Student Council had a very enlightening and motivating experience at the AAJHSC state conference. The students spent most of the hour long ride back from Mesa discussing all of the ideas they had gathered from the day and began to plan what they could do next as a student council. It was inspiring and endearing to see our students excited about their role in our school’s future success. Ridgeline Academy is developing the future leaders of tomorrow.
Focus on Core Knowledge® The rigorous Core Knowledge curriculum immerses students in concept-specific instruction across grade levels. This month, Core Knowledge instruction for Kindergarten through Eighth Grade includes: Kindergarten Changes All Around Us Native American Peoples Taking Care of the Earth 1st Grade Communities Modern Civilizations: Mexico Early People & Civilizations Weather 2nd Grade Creative Ideas Cycles in Nature: Seasonal & Water Cycles Properties of Matter/Energy American Government: Constitution 3rd Grade People & Nature The Human Body Earth Science The Vikings 4th Grade Patterns in Nature Geology: Earth/Changes African Kingdoms China: Dynasties
5th Grade Inventors & Artists Plant Structures & Processes Russia: Geography, Growth & Expansion Japan: Geography & Feudal Japan West Expansion: Pre-Civil War 6th Grade Challenges & Obstacles Reshaping Earth’s Surface Ancient Greece & Rome East-West Trade Routes 7th Grade Types of Nonfiction The Restless Earth Arizona Statehood America Becomes a World Power Geography of Europe 8th Grade Types of Nonfiction Electromagnetic Radiation & Light Geography of China People’s Republic of China The Cold War
Upcoming Events November 27
Boys Basketball @ Salt River
December 12 Student Art Showcase
November 29
Girls Basketball @ Pioneer
December 18 Eagle Band & Choir Winter Concert
December 6
Science Fair
December 20 Elementary Holiday Program
December 10
Drama Club Performance
Perfect Attendance for 1st Quarter 145 elementary and middle school students maintained perfect attendance for 1st Quarter. The students were recognized with an ice cream social on October 19th. To date, the school-wide student attendance rate is 97%. Honor Roll for 1st Quarter 23 middle school students were named to the honor roll for 1st Quarter. Students must have a 3.75 grade point average to earn this academic distinction. Ridgeline Football & Volleyball All-Stars Noah Mun and Xavier Sosa were selected to participate in the state CAA AllStar flag football game and Amber Rivera was selected to participate in the state CAA All-Star volleyball game, scheduled for Saturday, November 3rd. Faculty v. 8th Grade Volleyball Game On Friday, November 9th, the Faculty and 8th Grade class took the court for our first annual volleyball game. concessions were sold at the game with proceeds going toward the 8th grade class trip and promotion. Ms. BrooksTaylor, 8th Grade Faculty Advisor, organized the event. The faculty won the match 2 games to 1 game.
Community Update Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts to meet at Ridgeline Cub Scout Pack 536 will begin holding their monthly pack meetings at Ridgeline in November. The pack has approximately 30 scouts, including current and future Ridgeline students. The Cactus-Pine chapter of the Girls Scouts will be hosting a parent night on November 13th in anticipation of forming a Daisy and Brownie troop at Ridgeline. Booster Club hosts 1st Annual Fall Festival Over 500 students, family members, and friends attended the 1st Annual Fall Festival on October 26th. The Booster Club and Ms. Patton, faculty advisor, put on a tremendous event that will become part of an on-going tradition at Ridgeline. The proceeds of the event provide funding for extra-curricular programs. Booster Club Meeting The Ridgeline Booster Club met on Thursday, November 8th at 7:00pm to continue planning the end of year push for tax credit donations and begin planning community fundraisers at local businesses. Tax credit donations for 2012 are due by December 31st. The Booster Club will change meeting times starting in December to Thursday afternoons at 3:15pm.
Eagle Athletics Basketball tryouts are over and now our Eagles are ready to take the court! Our boys and girls basketball teams are prepared to make an impressive first impression within the league as we open up the Winter Athletic season. Boys basketball coach Mr. Ahn sees a lot of promise in this year’s team, “I’ve been coaching for quite a few years and this is my first inaugural team. Even though a lot of the boys haven’t played interscholastic before, they are catching on quick. They’re nailing our drills and becoming comfortable working as a team. I’m looking forward to see what they are capable of once we start facing seasoned squads.” A quick chat with girls basketball coach Ms. Banks revealed a challenge within the girls team. “A lot of them want to be cheerleaders and basketball players! These girls stay after school each day for basketball and cheer practice so that when the season starts, they can play in their games and then cheer for the boys team. This has created a theme of endurance throughout our practices to help them understand how to manage their energy for both.” The boys play their first game at Salt River Junior High School on November 27th. The girls team will join the boys in their season opener versus Pioneer Prep on November 29th. All of our home games are played at Ridgeline Academy and we look forward to seeing your support as our cheerleaders rally our teams to victory!
Clubs on Campus New Student Clubs for 2nd Quarter Several new students clubs are being introduced in the second quarter. Ms. Gokool will sponsor a Storytime Club for K-2 students; Ms. Patton & Ms. Frisch will sponsor a Science Fair Club for grades 4-8; and Ms. Downing and Mr. Rabassa will oversee Intramural Flag Football for grades 3-5. Ridgeline Becomes Official NJHS Chapter Ridgeline received its charter to become an official National Junior Honor Society chapter on October 23rd. The Faculty Council, under the direction of Ms. Thomas, has begun the rigorous selection process for student membership and Ridgeline will induct its first members on November 5th. RA Chapter of NJHS Inducts 7 New Members The Fall Induction Ceremony of the Ridgeline Chapter of NJHS was held on Monday, October 5th. The first membership class of the chapter included three 8th grade students (two of which are transfer members from previous schools) and four 7th grade students. NJHS is a national scholarship and service organization.
