Calendar
Check out the calendar  here .
School
RMS Winter Social 
RMS Winter Social - Friday, Jan. 25th from 2:40-4:30 pm
Ticket Sales available during Lunch ONLY on Jan. 22nd and Jan. 23rd for $3.00 (with ASB) and $5.00 (non-ASB) - please have the exact amount.

Tickets purchased on Jan. 24th will be $5.00 (with or without ASB)

Your receipt is your ticket. Tickets are non-refundable/non-replaceable!

***There will be NO TICKET SALES on the day of the Social, Jan. 25th. No Exceptions.***
Second Semester
PE/Fitness: If your student will have PE/Fitness for 2nd semester, please log into Parent Access  to purchase your student's PE shirt. Paying online will prevent your student Print the receipt and have your student bring the receipt to their PE/Fitness shirt to receive the shirt.

Elective Class Fees (ART, Cooking, STEM, Robotics, Design & Model) will be available for payment and automatically assessed in your student's account TWO WEEKS after the beginning of the semester. Please log into Parent Access to pay for your student's class fees.

Parent Access- the easy and convenient way to pay for your student's fees/fine and to check their purchase history -  https://www.lwsd.org/help/parent-access-support
(please use Safari, Firefox, or Chrome and unblock your pop-up blocker)
Council-level winners for Reflections
The RMS PTSA received many OUTSTANDING entries to the Reflections Art Competition (which can all be viewed   here ). We are proud to finally announce the winners at the school level as well as the district-wide competition! Out of 15 entries submitted to the Lake WA PTSA Council for the district-wide competition, SEVEN students took top honors are moving on to State Competition!!

Congratulations to the school finalists: 
LITERATURE

6th grade winners:
1st Place - Ricardo Brito
2nd Place - Yuwan Luo
3rd Place - Anson Chen

7th grade winners:
1st Place - Annabella Li
2nd Place - Shruti Badrish
3rd Place - Adiba Saadullah

8th grade winner:
1st Place - Hannah Chinn
VISUAL ARTS

6th grade winners:
1st Place - Shuhui Yang
2nd Place - Nivedha Neelakandan
3rd Place - Chujia Yang

7th grade winners:
1st Place - Tiffany Tu
2nd Place - Di Mao
3rd Place - Catherine Gowell

8th grade winners:
1st Place - Jina Kim; 2nd Place - Kenzie Seymour
SPECIAL AWARDS:
For EXCELLENT INTERPRETATION: Di Mao
For MOST INTRIGUING: Hannah Chinn
For BEST OVERALL: Jina Kim

DISTRICT-WIDE COMPETITION WINNERS
Please congratulate the following district-wide competition winners:
Winning the Award of Merit for Literature is Yuwan Luo for their entry titled Firefighters and Medics.
Winning the Award of Excellence for Literature is Hannah Chinn for their entry titled "Broken Tools".
Winning the Award of Merit for Visual Arts is Shuhui Yang for their entry titled "We Are All Heroes".
Winning the Award of Merit for Visual Arts is Nivedha Neelakandan for their entry titled "Farmers: The Heart of our Country".
Winning the Award of Merit for Visual Arts is Tiffany Tu for their entry titled "The Climb to the Top".
Winning the Award of Excellence for Visual Arts is Di Mao for their entry titled "My Unique Heroes".
Winning the Outstanding Interpretation for Visual Arts is Jina Kim for their entry titled "A Brighter World".
PTSA
Parent/Student education on Stress and Time management
RMS PTSA in collaboration with LWPTSA council presents:
Stress and Time Management Parent and Student Education Event
February 5, 2019, 6:00 - 8 p.m.  at Redmond Middle School

The topic will be "stress and time management" and the panel will consist of teachers, parents, and students. And here is the especially fun twist: middle school students will moderate! 
The panel will address a topic of major concern for this generation of high achieving and highly motivated students who juggle busy lives. The audience will get to hear directly from high school students on what to expect and how best to prepare for the new challenges middle school students will face in high school. Learning about how students can successfully manage their time and alleviate stress should be of concern to all parents. Come and experience learning about this topic in an innovative and engagingly new way!
For questions email  face@lwptsa.net
Advocacy
Thank you to RMS PTSA delegates Steve Hitch, Felice Nightengale, and Shawn Roland and also Devon Kellogg who spent their weekend at the WSPTA Legislative Assembly in October to help the WSPTA select our legislative priority for Olympia.

The top 5 legislative WSPTA priorities for 2019 are:
- Social Emotional Learning
- School Construction and Simple Majority for Bonds
- Prevent Gun Violence
- Strategies to Address the Teacher Shortage
- Strategic K-12 Investments to Close Gaps

Read more about the state’s legislative priorities, resolutions and supported issues for 2019 here.

PTSA Advocacy Focus Day in Olympia is February 11, 2019. Contact Steve at  advocacy@rmsptsa.org  if you are interested in participating.
RMS PTSA Robotics team wins tournaments
RMS robotics club was officially launched as a PTSA club this year.  Three RMS robotics teams participated in the regional Vex IQ robotics tournaments and achieved amazing results.
The Plants team (Evan, Rakesh, Aaron and Shripad) received the Excellence award, the Skill champions award and finished 2 nd  place in the final teamwork challenge. The excellence award is the highest award presented in the VEX IQ programs. The Skills award is given to the team that achieved the top combined score for Programming and Driving Skills Challenge. As a result of the excellence award, the Plants team is qualified for the state-level competition.
Robo-TRONS (Teyi, Rithwick, Om, Neev, and Seth) and Vexplorers (Sidharth, Udhay, Shiv, Caster and Ehan) teams have also done an amazing job at the competitions by winning in qualification matches and proceeding to the final rounds. Both teams placed 3 rd  in the final teamwork matches.
Congratulations to the Plants, Robo-TRONS, and Vexplores. We appreciate the generous support from the  LWSD Reach for Success   program  for the RMS robotics club.  
Science club news
8 RMS Science teams participated at Invitational Science Olympiad at Camas high school on Dec 1 st ,2018
where a total of 38 teams participated. RMS teams performed very well, and team rank and top
medalists are mentioned below. RMS Blue placed 1 st at the Tournament. Click below to see the detailed results.
Results from RMS Internal Buzz Bowl Competition
Total of 12 RMS teams (50+ students) participated at an internal buzz bowl competition held at Redmond Middle School on Sunday Dec 16. The event was organized by RMS Science Club and executed by an external evaluation team Science for Community team. All teams performed exceptionally well, and top 2-3 teams will move forward and represent RMS at the National Science Bowl to be held at Portland in Feb 2019.
Chaperone for Winter Social - January 25th
The time to celebrate the end of the semester is approaching.
This is a BIG event and worthy of many adult chaperones.
Please use this exclusive link to sign up to chaperone at the social. Click Here
Look for additional information about the social in future articles.
RMS PTSA Membership Update
In case you missed the general meeting last week . . . As of 1/14/2019, RMS PTSA has 711 members which should earn us the Platinum Membership award for the year (20% growth over last year). Growth awards are given automatically when the criteria is met at the state level. 80 of the 711 members are staff. RMS has 47 full-time certificated employees. We will be applying for the 100% Staff Membership Award. Membership benefits are still available, we did print extra copies of the directory.
'The Snuggery'- RMS Initiative for students in need
Redmond Middle School has created a food pantry/clothing closet for students in need of these extra resources during the school day or at home during the week. They have dubbed this room “The Snuggery”. It is u pdated on January 20th to reflect the current Individual Food Needs! Read More..
ASB
Season 3 sports: Girls Basketball and Boys/Girls Wrestling
Forms and payment due on Friday, Jan. 25th No Later than C Lunch. Please pay your sports fees Online via Parent Access: https://www.lwsd.org/help/parent-access-support  (please use Safari, Firefox, or Chrome and unblock your pop-up blocker)
A reminder that purchases made on Amazon using this link help RMS ASB.
Help RMS ASB by donating used clothing and shoes. The bin is located in the parking lot by the portables.
Fund the Grizzlies  –  Please donate to the Redmond Middle School Associated Student Body (ASB) to help fund student activities.
Community
WSPTSA Focus Day
WSPTA members adopted a new set of legislative priorities focusing on all aspects of the health, safety, well-being and education of children – and 1.1 million students need YOU to be their voice on Focus Day,  February, 11, 2019 in Olympia .

Please join LWPTSA Council and PTAs across the state in Olympia to meet with your legislators. Got questions contact Melissa Stone, LWPTSA VP Advocacy at  advocacy@lwptsa.net
Public Social Emotional Learning Survey
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is doing a survey regarding social-emotional learning and they would like your input! Please help by taking the survey HERE .
Survey will be closed February 1st. 
Future Freshmen Parent Night @ RHS
Parents and guardians of 8th graders are invited to the Redmond High School Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, January 30, from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. The RHS Counseling department will present on the transition to 9th grade, scheduling, classes, graduation requirements, etc. For more information see the postcard sent last week.
HIV/AIDS Curriculum
In response to the growing threat of HIV to our population, the 1988 Washington State Legislature mandated that a program of prevention education be presented to students yearly, beginning with the fifth grade. The Lake Washington School District adopted the  KNOW curriculum  developed by OSPI for grades 5 - 8, and the Family Life and Sexual Health (F.L.A.S.H) curriculum from the King County Department of Health for grades 6-12 for our HIV/AIDS prevention education. LWSD also adopted lessons from the  F.L.A.S.H sexual health curriculum  for students in 4 th  grade through high school.
These research-based curricula were adopted with the involvement of educators, parents, and community members, and provide a science-based focus on the topics. Lessons will be taught by teachers at our school.
The HIV/AIDS and/or sexual health curriculum will be taught this spring in student’s science classes.
In accordance with the AIDS Omnibus Bill (E2SSB 6221), no student may be required to participate in AIDS prevention education if the student’s parent(s) or guardian, having previewed the materials, excuses their child from participation. Lesson materials for preview are available online for the  KNOW curriculum  and the  F.L.A.S.H sexual health curriculum  or can be viewed at our Curriculum Library, located at the Lake Washington School District Resource Center. Please contact Jennifer Gordon, ( jgordon@lwsd.org ) Curriculum Library Secretary, to arrange to check out the materials. Parents or guardians can also choose to preview materials at the school.
 
The next District presentation for parents will be held on February 5 th  from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the Board Room at the Resource Center.  Materials will also be available for preview and wavier forms will be available at each of these presentations.
 
If you choose to waive your child from this instruction, you will need to complete a request form that is available once you have previewed the materials.
Bear Tracks weekly is produced by RMS PTSA as a benefit to the Redmond Middle School Community. Articles are due on Thursdays for publication the following Monday. Bear Tracks is edited by Ekta Vadlamudi and [YOUR NAME HERE - please email Sujatha Patra: communications.vp@rmsptsa.org if interested in co-editing]. Please review our communication priorities and submit articles to weekly@rmsptsa.org .