K-12 Principal 

Email Address: c.lanz@tlschool.net

Phone number: (509) 395-2571

 

Principal Newsletter       March 2018

Dear Mustang Families,

I cannot believe it is already March. We are having a great start to the 2nd semester and I look forward to seeing our student’s learning as the semester progresses.

Destination Imagination

Our four Destination Imagination teams will compete in Richland this Saturday, March 3rd for their regional tournament. This year, our teams chose to face the fine arts, engineering, and scientific challenges. To see more information about the challenges that faced our DI teams, please visit http://www.wa-di.org/. Good luck, Mustangs!

Robotics

Our FIRST Robotics Team attended their season kickoff event on Saturday, January 6th at the University of Portland. At the kickoff, a new game and playing field were unveiled and teams received their kickoff kits. Under the direction of Rod Nelson, our Robotics Coach, working with adult mentors from our community, our students have had six weeks to design, build, program, and test their robot to meet the season’s engineering challenge. Now our team, the Iron Mustangs, will participate in Regional and District events that measure the effectiveness of their robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of our students.  We wish our Robotics team a successful season. For more information on the FIRST Robotics season, please visit: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/game-and-season.

Upcoming FIRST Robotics Events for the Trout Lake Iron Mustangs

March 1 - 3 - District Competition - Clackamas, OR - Week 1

March 15-17 - District Competition - Yakima, WA - Week 3

Roller Derby

Trout Lake School will be hosting the Gorge Roller Girls at the school on Saturday, March 10th at 6:00 p.m. The Gorge Roller Girls (GRG Blood N Gorge Vs. Air Raid Roller Girls) will generously donate half of the proceeds from the roller derby to the track fund. Admission to the event is $8.50 for adults and $5.50 for students in advance online or $9 for adults and $6 for students at the door. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.gorgerollergirls.org/ or at the door. Our ASB, associated student body, will have the concession stand open. Please join us for a fun evening of roller derby!

Backpack Snack Program

If your child(ren) is/are currently receiving a lunch scholarship here at Trout Lake School, you might be interested in a program from our community called the Backpack Snack Program.  Each student participating would receive a small bag of healthy, non-perishable snacks for the weekend. The snacks would be picked up from the library at the end of the day on Friday, after the bell rings, when the students are on their way out to the buses. Please let me know if you and your children would like to participate in this awesome program, and then we can be sure we have enough for everyone. You may email me directly or call the school office and they will add you to the list.

Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday, March 11th.  Remember to spring your clocks forward one hour.

Early Releases

School will be released at 11:48 a.m. on Friday, March 9th and Friday, March 23rd. During the early releases, staff will engage in Youth Mental Health First Aid Training. The course introduces common mental health challenges for youth, reviews typical adolescent development, and teaches a 5-step action plan for how to help young people in both crisis and non-crisis situations.

Track Practice

High school track practice began on Monday, February 26th. Middle school track practice (grades 5 - 8) begins Monday, March 19th. If your child is going to be on the track team, please make sure their fees are paid and their paperwork is up to date prior to the first day of practice. Sport physicals are good for 2 years. If you are unsure of the date of your child’s last physical, please call the office and we can look it up for you.

Peter Pan Play for Grades K - 5

Auditions for the Elementary school play "Peter Pan" will be held on Monday, March 12th in the MPR from 3:10-5:00pm. All students K-5 are welcome to audition. There are many great roles in this play: The Lost Boys, Pirates, Mermaids, Twinkling stars and of course, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Captain Cook, Tiger Lily, The Crocodile and more! The play is scheduled for May 18-19 with rehearsals to begin in March. An informational paper will go home with students next week giving more details about the audition process. Questions should be sent to Jennifer Harty at j.harty@tlschool.net.

Trout Lake Run

The Trout Lake Associated Student Body, ASB, will be holding our annual Trout Lake Run on Saturday, April 21st. The start and finish to the race are at Trout Lake School. Runners have the option of running or walking a 5K, 10K, or Half-Marathon. The half-marathon race begins at 9:00 a.m. and the 10K and 5K races begin at 10:00 a.m. All proceeds from the run directly benefit our students and their activities. For more information and online registration, please visit http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=54866.

Testing

We will begin our state mandated testing in April. Students in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11 will be testing at various times throughout April, May and early June. Please try to avoid making dentist/doctor appointments during the following dates, so students can test with their classmates and do not have to be pulled out of class at a separate time for makeup testing. Please check the school calendar for up-to-date testing dates. You can find more information about Smarter Balanced testing at http://www.smarterbalanced.org/. If you would like to see the practice and training tests, please visit http://www.smarterbalanced.org/assessments/practice-and-training-tests/.

Testing Schedule

ELA = English Language Arts

Grade	Testing Schedule
3rd Grade	ELA: April 10-12 Math: April 24 & 25
4th Grade	ELA: April 10-12 Math: April 24 & 25
5th Grade	ELA: April 17-19 Math: May 1 & 2 Science: April 26
6th Grade	ELA: April 17-19 Math: May 1 & 2
7th Grade	ELA: May 8 - 10 Math: May 15 & 16
8th Grade	ELA: May 15-17 Math: May 8 & 9 Science: May 24
10th Grade	ELA: May 29 - 31 Math: June 4 & 5
11th Grade	Science: May 17

Spring Break

No school April 3 - 7 for spring break. Enjoy!