Around the District

School board to meet

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education meets at 6 p.m. in the borough building at 148 N. Binkley Street in Soldotna (unless otherwise noted). For more information, call 907-714-8888 or visit kpbsd.k12.ak.us. The agenda and packet items are posted on Wednesday afternoon prior to the date of the Board meeting. Persons with disabilities who need accommodations to participate at the School Board meetings should contact Debbie Tressler at 907-714-8836 or email dtressler@kpbsd.k12.ak.us no later than three business days before the meeting date. The board will meet:

■ Sept. 8 (Homer High School).;

■ Oct. 5;

■ Nov. 2;

■ Dec. 7;

■ Dec. 8 (Worksession);

■ Jan. 11;

■ Feb. 1;

■ Feb. 2 (Worksession);

■ March 7;

■ March 21;

■ April 4;

■ April 5 (Worksession);

■ May 2 (Seward High School);

■ June 6;

■ June 7 (Planning Session);

Holidays and vacation days scheduled

■ Sept. 7 — Labor Day;

■ Oct. 29-30 — Parent-teacher conferences, no school for students;

■ Nov. 26-27 — Thanksgiving;

■ Dec. 16 — End of second quarter, no school for students;

■ Dec. 21-Dec. 31 — Winter vacation;

■ Jan. 18 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day;

■ Feb. 4-5 — Parent-teacher conferences, no school for students;

■ March 11 — End of third quarter, no school for students;

■ March 14-18 — Spring Break;

■ May 18 — Last day of school.

Connections Homeschool Program

Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year! Every week I send out an email listing information and activities for our families. Below is a list of upcoming activities for students and families to participate in along with a description of the activity under the date section. If you have any questions please call our office at 714-8880 or email cnolden@kpbsd.k12.ak.us. Thank you and have a great day!

Dates To Remember:

■ Aug. 27 – Homer Office: Back to School Beach Party 12-2 p.m.

■ Aug. 31 – Yukon Island Kayak Trip – Homer

■ Sept. 7 – Labor Day – Office Closed

■ Oct 1 – School Pictures – 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Borough Building in the Assembly Room

Homer Office: Back to School Beach Party!

Please join us at Bishop’s Beach in Homer from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 27, for our annual Back to School Beach Party. Hot dogs, snacks, and drinks will be served. Fun activities including kite flying, bubbles, and badminton are planned. All homeschooling families and anyone interested in homeschooling are welcome. Make plans to attend this fun family oriented event! Younger children must be accompanied by parents. The Homer Connections staff will be there to visit with you and provide information regarding our program.

If you know anyone interested in homeschooling and wanting more information about the Connections Homeschool Program, please let them know they are also welcome. We’re in need of volunteers, including teens, to assist us with the activities. Please call the Homer Connections office at 226-1880 if you would like to volunteer.

The Homer Connections office will be closed from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 27, so our staff can attend this event.

■ We’re looking forward to seeing you and your family at our Homer Back to School Beach Party!

Where: Bishop’s Beach Pavilion

When: 12 p.m. 2 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 27

Yukon Island Kayak 3/4 Day Trip

“Picture paddling through craggy rock arches, bald eagles flying overhead and silently watching sea otters napping in kelp beds. . . . Snowcapped mountains always in the background.”

■ Connections is again partnering with True North Kayak Adventures to offer a 3/4 day kayak trip around Yukon Island in Kachemak Bay! Along with learning safe paddling practices True North’s amazing guides will lead students in educational experiences including Alaskan coastal ecology, environmental responsibility, and local archaeology.

When: Monday, Aug. 31 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Who: Connections students grade 4-12

Jake and Derek from the Homer office will chaperone but parents are encouraged to come as well. (Students in grades 4-6 must have adult with them)

Where: Homer Spit with water taxi to Yukon Island

Cost: $105 (student allotments can be used, parents must pay their own way)

This includes the water taxi, kayaking, and snacks. Bring your own lunch!

Contact: Derek Bynagle (dbynagle@kpbsd.k12.ak.us) 226-1880 or sign up with your Connections advisor.

Space is limited so sign up ASAP! Parent payment may be submitted to your local advisor.

School Pictures Oct. 1

Soldotna – 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Borough Building in the Assembly Room

Interior Distance Education of Alaska

IDEA Homeschool is now enrolling. You can apply online at www.ideafamilies.org or come by the IDEA office! Our office is open Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Come by and take a look at our Resource Room, filled with curriculum ideas! Or check out a book in our extensive library! Want homeschooling ideas or advice? Come in and speak with any of our experienced staff, all with homeschooling experience! We are here to serve you!

IDEA has many events coming up!

Aug. 25: Seward activity day: We will start at 11 a.m. with playtime at the playground at the covered pavilion. Parents, this is a time for you to ask questions and write your ILPs while the kids enjoy the park. IDEA will provide paper products, silverware, hot dogs and buns. Families, please bring a beverage of your choice and a side dish or dessert to share.

Our afternoon is a field trip to the Seward Harbor for a guided tour by Harbour Master Norm Regis. Norm will teach us about the harbor, boats and more.

This opportunity starts at 1:30pm, please meet at the Harbormaster’s Office, 1300 4th Avenue.

August 27th: IDEA Staff is hosting a Back to School Event for the entire family! Our theme is:

“Setting Up Your Homeschool Household” at Kalifonsky Christian Center. Our schedule is:

Parents:

■ 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. ILP Party! Come get help filling out your ILP!

■ 10:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Workshop: Setting Up Your Homeschool Household

■ Children:

■ 9:30-10:30 a.m. Story time and craft

■ 10:45 a.m. -12 p.m. Math Games! Wait! Math can be fun? Yes, it sure can!

■ Family:

■ 12-12:45 p.m. Lunch – bring your own

■ 1-3 p.m. Family Activity: Inventions!

August 31st: First Lego League meeting at 1 pm at 818 Cook Street, in Old Town Kenai.

FLL teams are for students in grades 4-8 (ages 9-14); Jr. FLL teams are for students in grades K-3 (ages 6-9). If we have enough students interested and parents to coach, we will do Jr. FLL teams this year. The FLL season typically runs late August through November, meeting for at least two practices per week. FLL Teams that qualify for the state competition continue into January.

We need: 2 coaches per team, 6 students per team and suggestions for meeting places. If you have a church or building that can be used for hosting Lego practice for a team (or many teams) AND storage of that team’s equipment, we would love to hear from you at the meeting.

This meeting will be for signing students up, dividing into teams, registering parents that can volunteer as coaches for the season, discussing what First Lego League is all about and what the commitments are for students and parents. We will briefly discuss the challenge question, which will be released on Aug. 25! NOW is the time to start a new team, so if you need help with that, please come!

If you cannot attend the meeting but would like to start a team, volunteer, or get your student involved, please contact me at 398-3895 or cmireland@ideafamilies.org.

Sept. 11- Back to School Picnic at Soldotna Creek Park at 12:30-2:30 p.m., September 11, to celebrate a new school year! IDEA will provide the hot dogs, buns and condiments! Please bring a side dish or dessert to share! Don’t forget your water bottles

Sept. 15 – Outdoor Education Day at Solid Rock Bible Camp – more details and sign ups coming soon.

Signups and more details can be found on our website www.ideafamilies.org. Check out our Region K Blog for up to date events! We look forward to seeing you soon!

Kenai Middle

Welcome back Kossacks!

If you haven’t updated your registration form please stop by the office to do so to assure that in the event of an emergency we have accurate information for your student!

KMS LOVES volunteers! If you haven’t done so already, be sure to visit www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us , click on volunteer openings, find KMS, and fill out the appropriate information. There will be lots of opportunities to volunteer in the near future.

Nurse Dixie would like you to know she will begin height and weight screenings at the beginning of the school year. If you have questions or concerns she can be contacted at 283-1700.

Here are a few upcoming dates to keep in mind:

■ Sept. 3- KMS Open House & BBQ

■ Sept. 4- Cross Country Skyview Invitational

■ Sept. 7- No School

■ Sept. 11- Picture Day; KMS Soccer vs. Seward

Have a great first week!

Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science

Welcome back to Kaleidoscope! The theme for this school year will find us “Searching For Treasures”.

If you would like to be a volunteer, be sure to complete your background check. Go to http://kaleidoscope.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/volunteers and click the link to the background check. The next link on the page will take you to the Online Volunteer Training for those who were unable to attend the in-house training last week. These 2 steps must be completed in order to volunteer at Kaleidoscope. Volunteers make all the difference and are very appreciated!

Tuesday, Aug. 25 – The first PTA meeting of the school year is at 9:15 a.m. Everyone is invited and welcome to attend!

Thursday, Aug. 27 – Kindergarten Volunteer Training at 4 p.m. in the kindergarten classrooms.

Mark your calendars: September 18 are Fall Pictures. Packets will be sent home in Friday Folders.

The next APC meeting is Sept. 21 at 4 p.m.

Nikiski Middle-High

Welcome back to the 2015 – 2016 school year! The year is off to a quick start with students back in classes and many athletic events already completed. Nikiski is proud to welcome three new teachers to our staff this fall:

■ Sierra Ward – High School Science. Sierra heads out north after teaching in Ninilchik for the past couple of years. She also brings experience as a mechanical engineer to our school.

■ Eli Porter – High School Math. Eli has been teaching in Washington state for the past 10 years at both the middle and high school level. Eli is a former graduate of Nikiski High School.

■ Kara Abel – High School Math. Kara is also a graduate of NMHS. She did her student teaching here at Nikiski and has been a long time member of our community.

Parents, remember Power School is your best source for checking on your student’s progress as well as contacting teachers. Please contact the school office if for help getting signed up to Power School.

This week will be a busy week as student’s get settled into classes and involved in various activities. Please note the following dates for this week:

Monday, Aug. 24 – Picture Day! Ordering envelopes were sent home with the students on the first day of school and are also available at the front office.

Simplify Picture Day by ordering online at MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from “click.email-lifetouch.com” claiming to be mylifetouch.com. No need to send cash or flyer back to school when you order online.

■ Tuesday, Aug. 25 – Open House from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Please join the Nikiski Middle High School staff for this event and an opportunity to meet the administration and teachers.

■ Thursday, Aug. 27 – Freshman Transition Night from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. This is an important night for incoming Freshman and their parents. Make sure to attend with your student!

■ Friday, August 28 – Saturday, August 29 – Shayna Pritchard Memorial Volleyball Tournament at Nikiski High School. For the complete schedule please visit the NMHS website at nikiskimiddlehighschool.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us.

■ Friday, August 28 – High School Cross Country Running @ Homer Invite.

■ Saturday, August 29 – Football @ Homer High School. Junior Varsity @ 2 p.m. Varsity @ 5 p.m.

Like us on Facebook!

Nikiski North Star Elementary

Welcome to the 2015-16 school year!

Picture day will be held on Tuesday, September 1st in the library. Your child will be bringing home a packet of information for you to fill out and return to school. Sibling pictures will begin about 2:30 pm. If you have an questions, please call the school office at 776-2600.

Please remember to put your child’s name on their coat, hat and gloves. If your child misplaces their belongings, please check the lost and found.

Soldotna High

Picture day is August 28

Every Friday is spirit Fridays! Wear your Sohi gear for a chance to win gift cards and more!

The Media Center is open until 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. There are buses at 4:15 p.m. for those students working in the Media Center. If your student were to stay after school and would need a bus home at 4:15 p.m. please contact Tamra Wear at 260.7036 or twear@kpbsd.k12.ak.us to give her the bus drop off location for your student.

ATOSS tutoring will start in the Library on Aug. 25 and run until May 4 from 2:30-3:30 p.m.

SoHi Pool Schedule:

Morning Lap swim 5:30-7:30 Mon – Friday

Evening Lap swim 6-7 Mon, Wed, Fri

Evening Open swim 7-8:45 Wed and Fridays

SoHi will be locking the Parking lot entrance Door during the following hours:

■ 7:40 a.m. to 11:55 p.m.

■ 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.

Also note that during school hours the only open door will be the Front Entrance Commons/Flag Pole doors. The above is to improve our overall school security.

There are two ways to order a transcript. Each way serves a different purpose.

If you need a transcript sent to a college or NCAA or a similar agency, then you will need to log on to: www.parchment.com to order transcripts to be sent. The request is then forwarded to SoHi. After processing, it then goes through cyberspace… rather than the US mail… to get to its destination, which is much faster! All transcripts that are headed for NCAA, colleges, etc. have to be processed this way!

Final Transcripts! A final transcript is one that shows your second semester grades… If you order your transcript when we are IN second semester… you will need to make sure you choose “next grading period” when you go on to Parchment… that way your transcript request will wait until the grades are in at the end of the year before it is sent.

Soldotna Prep

Soldotna High School robotics club is ready to get up and running for the 2015/16 competition year. Local high school students will be designing, building, programming, and competing with their very own 18”x18” robot. This year we will be creating Android apps to control the robots. Our programming focus is coding in Java Script. Area high school students interested in the Mechanical Engineering, Project Management, or Computer Sciences career fields are encouraged to join the team this year.

We will be holding our first practice on Tuesday Aug. 25 from 3 to 5 in Room 4 at Soldotna Prep. The permanent practice schedule and season details will be discussed and decided on at this first practice. Our first competition is in November at Dimond HS. If you are interested in helping the team see real world opportunities in related fields, please contact Mrs. McGlothen (kmcglothen@kpbsd.k12.ak.us) to discuss site visit opportunities. We are always looking for ideas that can help our robots stand out at competition.

The club hosts a monthly kids camp for their major fundraiser to help pay for travel expenses associated with competitions.

These camps are: Lego Adventures & Lego Mindstorms Robotics. The Lego Adventures camp is geared toward 6-9 year old students and the robotics camp is geared toward 10-14 year old students. We are adding a new facet to the robotics camps with coding.

The camps are $35 per student and will be held on the following dates: Sept. 19, Oct. 17, Nov. 14, Dec. 19, Jan. 16, Feb. 20, Mar. 19, April 16. There is a registration capacity of 12 students per camp. First come, first serve registration is honored. Please email Mrs. McGlothen at kmcglothen@kpbsd.k12.ak.us for more information or to register your student(s).

One of Soldotna Prep’s 2015-16 school wide goals is to provide our students with the tools to explore a wide variety of career options and to develop a four year high school course plan; one that advances their “after high school” goals. Our staff is committed to helping each student initiate a pathway that will enhance their futures.

To kick off our school wide career readiness goal, all staff members are taking our students on a half day field trip to Kenai Peninsula College (KPC).

The highlight of this adventure is to tour the career technology building and the newly built dormitories. At the conclusion of the KPC tour, students will be treated to a BBQ lunch at the Soldotna Creek Park.

The ninth grade class will be divided into 2 groups, with one group going on the field trip on Monday, August 31, 2015 and the other group will visit on Tuesday, September 1, 2015. Permission slips will be sent home with the students. Parent volunteers are greatly needed to help with the BBQ. Please, contact Karen Ruebsamen at 260-2309.

Sports Practice schedules can be found on the school’s athletic page.

Please check Soldotna Prep blog for daily announcements and important updates http://soldotnaprep.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/

Monday, Aug. 31, School Pictures 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the small gym

Star Spirit Program Starts Aug. 28

Friday staff and students will be awarded one raffle ticket if they are wearing a Soldotna High School shirt or a current sports jersey. A piece of tape stating “Soldotna high school” on a shirt does not count. Student council students will come to each homeroom. For students who do not have a homeroom, they can stop in to Ms. Marquez’s room during AM break or lunch for their raffle ticket.

These raffle tickets will be compiled for the semester. Each week a winner will be drawn for a gift card. At the end of the semester, 20 names will be drawn for a full breakfast provided by Student Council. Tickets will be combined together at both Sohi and Soprep.

Tustumena Elementary

■ Sept. 7 – Labor Day NO SCHOOL

■ Sept. 8 – Picture Day

■ Sept. 12 – 5K Annual Fun Run Registration 9am / Run starts at 10 a.m.

■ Sept. 15 – PTO Meeting, 4 p.m.

■ Sept. 16 – Early Release, 2:05 p.m.

■ Sept. 28 – Site Council Meeting, 4 p.m.

Wings Christian Academy

We are excited for our 2015-2016 school year. School got off to wonderful start! Students ready and willing to get the school year started.

Reminder no school on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, 2015

Upcoming events are:

Field trip to the Norman Lowell Art Studio, amazing local artist, his art work will interest each student.