September 16, 1999
Volume 8, No. 3
We will be sending home school picture order envelopes on Monday, September 27. Please be aware that if you wish to receive copies of your child’s school picture, the envelopes will need to be filled out with your order and returned by picture day with payment enclosed. All students will be photographed so that student identification cards can be issued.
Parents are reminded that the Southern Hills building is not open until 7:40 AM. Supervision is provided after 8:00 AM. Students need to be out of the buildings by 3:15 PM unless they are in supervised after-school activities.
Please have your child attend at least part of the day on Friday, October 1, if at all possible! We get our funding from the state based on the October count. If you know that your student will be absent on October 1, please call Maggie in the office ASAP to start the paperwork.
Information about the Rocky Mountain Talent Search is attached to this newsletter. This program enables capable and motivated middle-school students to take a challenging SAT or ACT college entrance test not usually administered until high school. High test scores entitle students to participate in various academically-oriented summer programs. For more information, call Rocky Mountain Talent Search at 303-871-2983.
The Summit Board of Directors met on Monday, September 13 at 7:00 PM in the faculty workroom (thereby sparing themselves from having to watch the Bronco game). The Board discussed this year's Tools for Learning fund-raising campaign and decided to initiate the campaign in the fall. The Board refined its earlier approval of a Tools for Learning expenditure for additional Silver Rain costumes.
Tentative dates for community meetings with Summit parents over the course of the coming year were also reviewed. Board members and Bernie Grove scheduled teacher evaluation observations for this fall. Bernie reported that she had told Summit students desiring Fairview classes to begin attending those classes on Monday. There is space available in the classes but the district administration has been refusing admission to these students over an inappropriate funding demand. Bernie has spent a great deal of time trying to resolve this. If it has not been resolved by Tuesday, it will be addressed in a meeting between Hunter, Jim and the BVSD administration. Hunter reported that the BVSD has also advised him that it intends to bill Summit for some $7,000 this year for telephone service. This service has been provided by the district under our contract and operating practice for the past three years without a separate charge to Summit. This will also be discussed with the district. The Board noted its concern about these and other recent instances of the BVSD administration making things difficult for Summit.
Claire Guidas, Peak to Peak's curriculum committee chair, reported on the directions Peak to Peak is taking with regard to articulation of its curriculum with Summit's curriculum. Summit teachers have been providing advice and input in Peak to Peak's curriculum development efforts. Marti Gorman reported on grant opportunities that are being explored by Summit. Summit is working with Peak to Peak to pursue joint grants where advantageous. The Board also was brought up-to-date on the progress of the Peak to Peak site, and continued the discussion between Summit and Peak to Peak regarding site-sharing details. The Board discussed in executive session issues and strategies involved in appealing the BVSD's refusal to increase Summit's enrollment cap once we relocate.
The next Summit Board meeting will be held on Monday, September 27, at 7 PM in the faculty workroom. Parents and students are always welcome and may raise issues or ideas not on the agenda.
The 23rd annual CU Wizards program is an informal introduction to astronomy, chemistry and physics, intended primarily for students in grades 5 through 9. Each program will last about an hour and will include several lively demonstration experiments.
Come to the University of Colorado at Boulder. See below for building and room. There is free parking only in LOTS 169, 378, 396, and 436. There is also parking available for a nominal fee in the Euclid parking structure.
Shows are usually held on the last Saturday of the month, September through June. All shows begin at 9:30 AM.
* Lot #436 will be the only lot free on October 30 due to the CU football game. ** Lot #308 will be available in addition to the other lots on June 17.
If you have a special need or disability, please notify the Physics Office, 303-492-6952, a few days in advance of the show you will be attending. Best wheelchair access to Duane Physics is through the east doors.
Current and previous issues of Summit News, information about Summit, and useful education links, are available on the Web at http://bcn.boulder.co.us/univ_school/summit/
Summit participates in the Parent-Teacher Hotline service courtesy of the Daily Camera. To confirm homework assignments, dial 303-938-9090 and enter the appropriate category number.
303-938-9090 |
||
| Teacher | Subject | Ext. |
|---|---|---|
| Avallone | English | 0671 |
| Blakemore | Spanish | 0683 |
| Burkhart | Orchestra | 0667 |
| Choir, Silver Rain |
0678 | |
| Band | 0688 | |
| Donaton | Science | 0686 |
| Fotino | Math | 0675 |
| Frohbieter | Math | 0676 |
| Science | 0685 | |
| Griffiths | History | 0680 |
| Hankel | French | 0679 |
| Kapsak | History | 0673 |
| Koch | Math | 0669 |
| German | 0670 | |
| Lenz | English | 0672 |
| McGarrity | English | 0668 |
| Molenaar | Science | 0677 |
| Mueller | Math | 0684 |
| Sikora | Science | 0681 |
| Stough | Spanish | 0682 |
If you would like to work on fun and challenging math problems and be on a math team, join the sixth or seventh grade Math Olympiad Team. These teams attend weekly practice sessions and participate in five monthly competitions. This is the fourth year that interested Summit and Southern Hills students are forming joint teams to have fun with math and compete with more than 80,000 students from United States and several foreign countries.
Not sure you really want to do this? Feel free to come to a few sessions and then make up your mind before November. Beginning September 28, sixth grade students will meet on Tuesdays from 2:45 to 3:30 PM in room 181. Beginning September 29, seventh grade students will meet on Wednesdays from 2:45 to 3:30 PM in room 187. Summit students will be dismissed at 2:45 PM to attend the meetings.
Interested students are invited to sign up on the poster hanging outside the library or contact Anita Gonzales (Summit liaison/parent) at 303-494-5394.
Middle School is a time of transition: new subjects, new expectations and responsibilities, and a setting quite different from that of elementary school. Here at Summit, students see several teachers throughout the day, and each teacher meets as many as six classes of students. Communicating about the progress students are making in each subject is a complex, yet essential, process that requires cooperation and shared responsibility among the administration, teachers, and the students themselves.
Along with subject area content and skills, Summit tries to teach students to take responsibility for their own learning. One way in which students can feel in control of their learning is by assessing their own progress, tracking their own performance, and discussing their work with parents or guardians.
Learning to take this kind of responsibility is a gradual process—one that may not be completed until much later in life. Summit therefore assists students with both tracking progress and communicating it to parents.
Summit teachers inform parents of student progress in the following ways:
Teachers also give students the tools to track their own progress in one or more of the following ways:
Parents can help their children take responsibility by talking with them about performance:
Working together, we can take the mystery out of the grading process and help students become proud, self-sufficient “owners” of their education.
Summit and its teachers and administrators welcome constructive criticism, suggestions, feedback and comments. Teachers strive to be accessible to parents. Parents are encouraged to attempt to work out any differences or disagreements with teachers directly with the teacher, if possible. Parents are welcome to communicate with teachers by letter, telephone, or in person without going though the administration.
However, the faculty lounge building is off limits unless you are invited to meet a teacher there. Please check in at the office if you need to locate a teacher. If a parent believes that a disagreement with a teacher requires the attention of the Summit administration, the parent is welcome to bring that matter to the attention of the administration.
It is human nature that polite, rational communications are more likely to achieve the desired response than overstated or abusive communications. Abusive or uncivil communications directed at teachers or administrators will not be tolerated by Summit’s administration and Board. Teachers are instructed to refer any parent responsible for abusive communication to the administration and the Board for appropriate follow-up, and may refer to the Principal any communication from any parent, at the teacher’s discretion.
Boulder Valley School District Talented and Gifted Office is pleased to present an evening with Dr. Maureen Neihart. “Gifted: Cause for Concern or Reason to Celebrate?” will be a presentation for parents of gifted children on September 30, 6:30 to 8:00 PM, at the Monarch High School auditorium, 329 Campus Drive in Louisville. Please RSVP: 303-447-5067.
Susan Winebrenner will present a two-day workshop on “Teaching Gifted Kids and Kids With Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom” on Friday, October 1 and Saturday, October 2, at the Arvada Center. Space is limited. Registration forms must be postmarked by September 22. Call Education Consulting Service, 708-798-9096 for more information.
On Saturday, September 18, 9 AM - 2 PM at the Niwot High School Gymnasium, the Boulder County Commissioners, Boulder County Human Services Coordinating Council, and area non-profit agencies are sponsoring a community gathering to promote alternatives to community violence. For more information contact Jana Mendez, 303-441-4503 or Jane Uitti, 303-666-5882.