Office Staff

Steve Jones: Principal

Dan Meyer: Asst. Principal

Ann Wilson: Asst. Principal

Marie Twomey: Secretary

Melissa Gregory: Secretary

Terry Smith: Secretary

Katie Isley: Nurse

Tyree Finney: Security

Hawk express - March-June 2014 Desert Hi l l s Middle School

Important

Phone Numbers

Office: 222-6600

FAX: 222-6601

Attendance: 222-6614

KSD WEB SITE www.ksd.org

Our Web Site:

schools.ksd.org/DH

Reminder! Be sure to check your student’s lunch account

regularly. No borrowing will be

allowed starting mid-March

Menus at: www.ksd.org/departments/

Students at Desert Hills are working hard to master core skills like reading, writing, math, science, listening, critical thinking and reason-ing. This spring, students will take the Smarter Balanced Assessment

(SBAC) for English/Language Arts (ELA) and Math, the Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) for Science, and the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) for Reading and Math. These tests provide us with an important opportunity to check on student progress. Sixth and seventh graders will take English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics tests while eighth graders will take ELA, mathematics and science tests. All of these tests will need to be done in our four computer labs. SBAC testing in ELA and Math for 6th graders will take place during fourth period classes in the computer labs from April 6th through May 1st. SBAC testing in ELA and Math for 7th graders will take place during first period classes in the comput-er labs from April 6th through April 17th. SBAC testing in ELA and Math for 8th grad-ers will take place during first period classes in the computer labs from April 20th through May 1st. The 8th grade MSP Science test will take place between May 18th and May 22nd. Even though we will be doing these tests over a five week period, your student will only be going to the computer lab 6 to 8 times to take the tests. Each test will be about 90 minutes in duration. MAP testing will take place from May 4th through May 15th. All students will be MAP tested in their Reading and Math classes. The MSP, MAP and the SBAC ask your child to read, write, listen, think and solve problems – skills your child needs to be successful in the 21st century. Howev-er, these tests are just three tools to check your child’s progress toward state learning goals. Classroom grades, assignments and teacher conferences will continue to be good sources of information. Please make sure your child gets enough rest and has a good breakfast prior to each of his/her testing dates. Your child’s teacher has a schedule of when your child will be going to the computer lab for testing. If your child is unsure of the day, please e-mail his/her 1st (if your child is a 7th or 8th grader) or 4th (if your child is a 6th grader) period teacher for the information. Mr. Schuldheisz and Mrs. Sievers, our counselors, will help students finish incomplete tests and make up tests that were missed due to being absent. It would be appreciated if appointments could be avoided during your child’s test dates. At Desert Hills we appreciate all you do to help your child and our school achieve great things. Thank you for making learning a priority in your home.

Steve Jones Principal

HAWK EXPRESS March-June 2015

Spring is Testing Time!

HAWK EXPRESS - MARCH-JUNE 2014

Month Item

March Pencils

End of 3rd Quarter Neon sunglasses

April Smiley Pen

May Blizzard coupons

End of 2nd semester Water bottles

Help your student get to school on time each day! There are prizes available for perfect attendance each month, quarter, and semester. AND, for each prize awarded, the student will put their name into the basket for another chance to win either a GIRL’S BIKE or a BOY’S BIKE (pictured above) and HELMET! Thank you to Steamfit-ters International and our very own PTO for donation of the bikes. And Thank you to UNITED WAY for their as-sistance and prize donations as well.

GOOD ATTENDANCE + HARD WORK =

GOOD GRADES!

THANK YOU, VOTERS!

On February 10th, Kennewick voters approved an $89,500,000 bond measure

that will build two new middle schools, three new elementary schools, and make

other district-wide health, safety, educational and infrastructure improve-

ments.

One of those new middle schools will be a replacement middle school for De-

sert Hills Middle School! The new Desert Hills will be located in Coyote Can-

yon where Ridgeline Drive dead-ends at Clodfelter Road. The Kennewick

School District is well-prepared and the Desert Hills’ project is ready to go.

Bids for the new Desert Hills will be advertised for bidders beginning Febru-

ary 22nd. The bid opening is planned for March 19th and the District expects

to award the winning bid at the March 25th Board Meeting. Groundbreaking

should take place in April!

We expect to move into our new school and begin classes in August 2016! We are all looking forward to a

brand new facility for your children! Watch this newsletter for construction updates!

HAWK EXPRESS - MARCH-JUNE 2014

Students can stay after school to get

help every Monday, Tuesday, and Thurs-

day from 2:30-3:15. Starting on March

2, Ms. Gardner, Pt. 6, will be the Home-

work Help teacher.

March 8 Daylight Savings Time (spring forward) March 9 Classified Employees Week March 20 State Professional Day - NO SCHOOL! March 30-April 3 Spring Break!! April 21 Public School Volunteer Week May 4 Teacher Appreciation Week May 25 Memorial Day - NO SCHOOL! June 11 Last day of school

BAND HAPPENINGS

Thursday, March 5th, 6:30 pm: 8th Grade Gold Band & Kamiakin High School Wind Ensemble.

Friday, March 13th (all day): Elementary Tour 8th Grade Gold Band and Jazz Band 1 go to Ridgeview, Sunset View, & Cottonwood to perform for the 5th graders.

Wednesday, March 18th: Large Group Festival 8th grade Gold Band will travel to Richland HS Auditorium to perform and listen to other bands as well.

Thursday, March 19th: Large Group Festival 7th grade Blue band will travel to Richland HS Auditorium to perform and listen.

Saturday, April 11th: Jazz Band Unlimited: Jazz Band I at CBC. Wednesday, April 15th: University of Portland Trip: Jazz Band 1

Thursday, May 14th, 5:30 pm: Spring Band Concert in the Desert Hills gym, featuring 6th grade Hawk Band, 7th grade Blue Band, 8th grade Gold Band, and the Jazz Bands: I and II.

DHMS Choir Monday, March 23, 6:00 pm: Festival Concert at Kamia-kin HS Auditorium.

Wed., March 25 all day: CBMEA Large Group Choir Festival in Othello.

Monday, June 8, 6:00 pm: Final Concert at Kamiakin High School Auditorium.

ORCHESTRA

Tuesday, March 10th, 6:00 pm: Winter Concert in the DHMS Gym. 6th, 7th, 8th grade orchestra students Tuesday, March 17th, 6:30 pm: 8th Grade Orchestra performs with Kamiakin Orchestra in the

Kamiakin High School Auditorium. Tuesday, March 24th, morning: Large Group Orchestra Festival at Chief Joseph Middle School for 8th grade, and possibly, 7th grade orchestra students. Wednesday, May 6, morning: District Orchestra Festival Rehearsal at Highlands MS for 6th, 7th, 8th grade or-chestra students Thursday, May 7th, 7:00 pm: District Orchestra Festival Concert at Toyota Center for 6th, 7th, 8th grade or-chestra students. Final Concert date: TBD

In accordance with state law, the Kennewick School District is required to disseminate the Federal Programs Citizen Complaint Procedures free of charge to families. If you would like a copy, download it from the KSD webpage at www.ksd.org/departments/federal/default.aspx, pick one up at the KSD Administration Center, or call the Federal Programs office at 222-5091.

HAWK EXPRESS - MARCH-JUNE 2014

PTO NEWS

May 11-15 In 7th Period classes.

Donations can be made at the office or the Counseling Offic-

es. Sponsored by

Natural Helpers.

WE LOVE OUR VOLUNTEERS! ACTIVITIES YOU CAN GET INVOVLED IN:

SHOPAROO: (Free money) Sign up and submit receipts!

March 3, 12:30 pm: PTO meeting in the Library

March 4, 1:30-3:00 pm: MARCH MADNESS Social is after school. Last Social of the year! We’ll need

chaperones.

March 13: Cavalcade of Authors

March 26-27: Hoops for Hearts in PE classes. We need a few parents to help collect money.

April 7, 12:30 pm: PTO meeting (Vote for next year’s board)

May 4-9: Staff Appreciation Week. Watch for sign ups to help bring food!!

5/5 Breakfast

5/7 Desserts

5/8 Lunch

June 10: 8th Grade Activity. Angie Schwartz and Michelle Meacham are the co-chairs for This event. Planning meet-ings are being posted on the Desert Hills Middle Schools Facebook page. Watch for a flier in May, coming home with the students, on the party specifics. The theme is NEON! We will need donations of:

Water bottles

Individually wrapped candy - NO NUTS!

Money

We will need help with:

Set-up, chaperoning, and clean-up

Running the different activities

June 11: Spring Fling!! We’ll need parent help for this end-of-the-year celebration! It is a ton of fun! We’ll need:

Mini-candy bars

Cupcakes

Soda

Water bottles

Geography Bee Results

The winner of the National Geographic Bee for 2015 is Cayden Tanasse. This is his third year as the winner. Congratula-tions Cayden! Cayden now gets to repre-

sent our school in the state competition. The runner-up is Kaleb Fisler and third place is Grant How-ard. Other finalists include:

6th Grade: Dyson Hawkins and Ryan Plumb 7th Grade: Kestra Engstrom and Molly Stephenson 8th Grade: Griffin Tripp, Kameron Hebert and James von Reis

All the contestants did an excellent job. The audience was excellent. Thank you for the appropriate behavior during the bee. Thanks to Bev Williamson for organizing the event, Tina Blizard for help as scorekeeper and Eric Otheim for being the official timer and filling in as scorekeeper.

8th Grade High School Registration

Saturday, March 14th: DISCOVERY DAY is being hosted at each of the high schools. Tuesday, March 24th: Kamiakin and Southridge High School counselors will be in our 8th grade science clas-ses to pass out materials to perspective freshmen. Friday, March 27th: KaHS and SHS counselors will help our 8th graders register for classes on line.

Middle School

Summer School

Middle Summer School will be at Southridge High School. Dates are June 24th - July 23rd,

(no

school on July 3, 6), from 8:00 - 11:00 am daily. The cost will be $225.

Dress Code As the weather warms up we want to en-sure that our students’ clothing choices are appropriate, and promote learning. More specific guidelines can be found in the stu-dent planners. Ideally, girls shorts should be no shorter than mid-thigh. Straps should be at least an inch wide, and not reveal undergarments. Boys may not wear tank tops. We appreciate your help, parents!

ASB MEETINGS

Wednesday, March 4, 1:30-3:00 pm:

MARCH MADNESS SOCIAL, in the Gym.

ASB Primary Elections: March 2nd - 6th

ASB General Elections: March 9th - 13th

ASB Meeting: 1:30- 2:00 pm April 22, 2015, Library

Final ASB Meeting: 1:30, May 20, 2015, Library

Scholastic Book Fair Thank You : The library would like to thank all the students and parents who supported the Scho-lastic Book Fair. We were able to raise monies to support and purchase books for our library. Pre-Summer Book Swap-June Start collecting your books for the end of the year Book Swap. Students are encouraged to participate in the swap that will take place in the library one day in June. This is a great way for students to get new books for summer reading.

Check list for books…

Book(s) someone would want to read over the summer.

Gently Used Books- No tears, water damage or pages falling out.

No book(s) that are over 10 years old.

Only 16 books per student Cavalcade of Authors-March: We had a wonderful response to Cavalcade this year and have 50 students signed up to meet authors on March 13

th at CBC. Thank you for all your support.

Silverwood Reading Logs (10 hours of Recreational Reading) are DUE to your reading teachers no later than Thursday March 19th. There is a link on the DHMS webpage if you misplace the tally sheet and they are also available in the library. Please make sure that each entry is initialed and that if there are entries for your 10 hours that it is signed by your parent. Washington D.C. Trip 2015 April: We are excited to announce for this year’s 7

th

grade students that the 8th grade trip to Washington DC is taking place during Spring

Break 2016. Mrs. Zoerb will be the trip administrator, and a DHMS teacher will be accompanying the group to Washing-ton DC.

Mrs. Zoerb will be promoting the trip to 7th grade in April, and packets will be coming home. There will be an information

meeting for parents on Tuesday April 28th or Thursday April 30th. Please plan on attending one meeting if your child is

interested in going to Washington D.C. Please email or call Mrs. Zoerb in the library if you have any questions at carla.zoerb@ksd.org or 222.6250.

Spring Sports Schedules Check the DHMS web site for the most up-to-date Spring Sports Schedules:

schools.ksd.org/DH/Pages/Athletics

HOOPS FOR HEARTS

The Health and Fitness staff has scheduled the Hoops for Heart event for March 26 & 27. Students will be given packets for collect-ing pledges starting on Thursday, March

19. This will give students a week to collect pledges for The American Heart Association. Pledges will be collected on the days of the event. Did you know that heart disease is one of the top killers of people in the United States? The pledges col-lected will help to fund research and provide educational infor-mation to schools and the general public. It is not recommend-ed that students go door to door to get their pledges. We encourage ALL students to bring in at least $1.00 toward the fight of heart dis-ease. All students will participate during their fitness class in various special basketball re-lated activities. Any student who brings in $5.00 or more will be eligible for prizes and will have an option to play a special game during class time. We hope all of you will help support this worthwhile cause.

SEAHAWKS FANS!

Music in our schools month March 2015 Monday Tuesday Wed. Thursday Friday Sat. Sun.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

ASB campaigning

begins

12:30 pm

PTO meeting

- Library Conf. Rm.

Wed. Early

Release

SPRING SOCIAL

1:30 -3:00 pm

In the Gym

6:30 pm 8th Grade Gold

Band with Kamiakin HS

@ Kamiakin

ASB Primary

Elections during 1st hour

Say Aloha to Bullying!!

Wear Hawaiian clothes

Daylight

Saving

Time

Begins

Spring

Ahead!!

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

ASB Final

Campaigning

begins

6:00 pm Orchestra

Concert - DHMS

gym

Wed. Early

Release

ASB Election speeches and

voting in first hour

Band tours Elementary

Schools

Cavalcade of

Authors

..wear black

8th grade

Discovery

Day at high

Schools

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

6:30 pm 8th Grade

Orchestra @

Kamiakin

BAND: 8th Grade

Large Group Festi-

val @ Richland HS

Auditorium

Wed. Early

Release

Show Some Class and

Don’t Harass - wear Classy Clothes

Hoops for Hearts packets distributed

BAND: 7th Grade Large

Group Festival @

Richland HS Auditorium

NO SCHOOL: `

State Professional Day

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

HS Counselors

provide registration

material

Orchestra Large

Group Festival @

Chief Jo

6:00 pm Festival

Choir Concert @

Kamiakin HS

Auditorium

CBMEA Large

Group Choir

Festival in Othello

Wed. Early

Release

Hoops for Hearts in PE

classes

HS Counselors register 8th

graders

Hoops for Hearts in PE

classes

Being a Buddy and not a

Bully Brightens my Day -

wear Bright Colors

Stand up against Bullying Month!!

Black out the screen before you’re mean!

State Testing Begins

MARCH is Anti-Bullying Month: Take a stand against Bullying

FRIDAYS:

March 6: Say Aloha to Bullying Awareness Month- wear Hawaiian clothes

March 13: Black Out the Screen Before You’re Mean – wear all Black

March 19: Show Some Class and Don’t Harass - wear Classy Clothes

March 28: Being a Buddy and not a Bully Brightens my Day - wear Bright Colors

Classified Employees Week

Spring Break Starts…..

April 2014 Monday Tuesday Wed. Thursday Friday Sat. Sun.

March 30 31 1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Wed. Early

Release

Jazz Band 1

@ CBC

Jazz Band

Unlimited!

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Wed. Early

Release

Jazz Band 1 @

University of

Portland

20

21 22 23 24 25 26

Wed. Early

Release

1:30 ASB Meeting

- Library

27 28 29 30 May 1 2 3

Spring Break!

April 6 - May 1 SBAC TESTING

VACCINATION INFORMATION

Starting in school year 2015-2016, all students in 7th and 8th grade are required by law to get two doses of chickenpox (or varicella) vaccine. Until now, Washington State has only required students in Kindergarten through 6th grade to have two doses of the vaccine. If your student already got the vaccine or had chickenpox, then he or she will not need to get the vaccine. A health check-up that includes vaccinations is recommended for all children age 11-12 years. During this visit you can check on the status of your child’s chicken pox vaccine and discuss with your provider the other two vaccines that are recommended but not re-quired at this time, HPV and Meningococcal. Schedule your child’s check-up appointment at least one month before school starts to make sure he or she gets all of the vaccinations needed for school. Also, don’t forget if your child needs medications at school state law states that the medication at school form needs to be completed by the doctor every school year. These forms can be found on the KSD website under parents and forms.

Public School Volunteer Week

April 6 - May 1 SBAC TESTING

April 6 - May 1 SBAC TESTING

June 2015 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sat Sun

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Wed. Early

Release

Lunches:

SPRING BAR-B-Q

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Hand out yearbooks

6:00 pm CHOIR Spring Concert

@ Kamiakin HS Auditorium

Fear Factor

Assembly

1:40-3:10 pm

8th Grade Party

SPRING FLING

Last Day Of School

10:40 am Release

Father’s

Day

May 2015 Monday Tuesday Wed. Thursday Friday Sat Sun.

May 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

District Orchestra Festival

Rehearsal @ Highlands

Wed. Early Release

7:00 pm District

Orchestra Festival

@ Toyota Center

Mother’s

Day

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Wed. Early Release

5:30 pm

Spring Band

Concert

@ DHMS gym

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Wed. Early Release

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

MEMORIAL DAY

NO SCHOOL!

Wed. Early

Release

Teacher Appreciation Week

Box Tops Contest May 11-15!

May 4 - May 15 MAP TESTING

May 4 - May 15 MAP TESTING

May 18 - May 22 MSP SCIENCE TESTING