Spelling Bee

SPELLING BEE IS OPEN TO FRESHMAN STUDENTS
This year, Mountain House High School will be holding a spelling bee competition for all ninth grade students. Here are some important facts for you and your child.

1. September 30: A written spelling test will be administered in each ninth grade English classroom. Words will be selected from this list:  CLICK HERE  FOR THE LIST

2. From each English section, there will be one winner. Each winner will go to the site competition, which will be held October 8th at MHHS. From there, the winner will go to the district spelling bee, which will be held November 9th at MHHS.

We look forward to seeing the results of our competition! Get ready to spell, Mustangs!  If you have any further questions about the spelling bee, please contact Shelby Scoffield at sscoffield@lammersvilleusd.net

MHHS Resilience Project

Our AP English teacher learned of  Stanford University's "Resilience Project".  This project is a resource that uses personal narratives, programming, and coaching to motivate students as they experience the normal academic setbacks that are a part of a rigorous education.  One of the products from the Resilience Project is a video that university students and professors created called The students watched this video produced by Stanford's Resilience Project: 

Our MHHS Students wanted to create a Resilience project video of their own to show others how it is OK to not be the best at something right from the beginning, and to highlight that things get better as they learn.  They titled their video "I stink, and it's OK"  and it focuses on their writing habits in their AP English class.  Here it is:

Senior College Night

On Tuesday, September 29th at 7:00 P.M. in the Multi-Use room, counselors will be conducting a College information night for SENIORS ONLY.  Counselors will discuss college application deadlines, how to find scholarships, and what students need to do as they prepare to apply for, and attend college after they graduate this year.  ALL SENIORS and their parents should plan on attending this meeting.

PSAT Test is Coming!

The PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test) is a test designed for two main purposes.  It is a practice test for students who are preparing to take the SAT test that is required for entrance into many colleges and universities.  It is also required for Junior students who would like a chance to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship program.

Mountain House High School will be offering the PSAT on campus on Wednesday October 14th.  The cost for this test is $20.

Students have until Friday October 2nd to purchase the test either online at our webstore by CLICKING HERE or in person at the front desk in the administration building.

It is highly encouraged that students use the online test guide to prepare for the test.  The online test guide, including sample questions, and an explanation of the format of the test is available by CLICKING HERE.

Khan Academy also offers free test preparation for the PSAT and the SAT through a partnership with College Board.  You can access this free help through the website by CLICKING HERE.

Remember, to purchase your tickets before the October 2nd deadline.

College Athletic Recruiting Night

Has your student dreamed of being a collegiate athlete, but thought that it would never be possible?  Well, you might be wrong.  There are lots of options for students to participate in collegiate sports all over the country.  Come learn how to make the college sports experience happen for your student by attending our recruiting information night Wednesday 09/23 at 7pm in the Large Gym.

HOMECOMING!!!

This week (09/21 through 09/25) is HOMECOMING WEEK!  MHHS is so proud to be hosting homecoming week activities.  This year's Homecoming Week is themed after Pixar Movies.  We are proud to be welcoming all of our K-8 schools this year to our homecoming parade.  Each class will have a float, and so will each of our K-8 schools.  Our homecoming parade will step-off at 3pm from Central Park, and will end in front of the stadium at MHHS.  We hope to see our community come out to cheer on our students during our 2nd annual Homecoming parade!
Along with our Homecoming parade there are a few other events that will be taking place this week.  Students will be dressing up all week long during homecoming.  Here's our dress-up schedule:

Monday--PJ Day
Tuesday--Beach Day
Wednesday--Safari Day
Thursday--College Day
Friday--Extreme Blue and Silver Day

We encourage all of our students to get into the spirit of Homecoming and come dressed to impress on these days.

Friday will be another early release day, but students will also participate in our 2nd annual homecoming rally.  Parents are invited to attend if they would like, and need only to sign in at the main office when they come to campus.  Our cheer team, dance team, and band will be performing at the rally.  If you want to come get into the spirit of things, come on down to our rally on Friday the 25th starting at 12:45 P.M.

Also...please plan on joining us for the homecoming game Friday night with the JV game starting at 4:30 P.M. and the Varsity Game starting at 7:00 P.M.

Students should plan on attending our 2nd annual Homecoming Dance immediately following the Varsity Game starting at 9:00 P.M. and ending at 12:00 P.M.

Happy Homecoming!

Advisory Week 6: "Oops, I broadcast it on the Internet!

This week's Advisory period focused on Digital Citizenship, and we focused specifically on the consequences of "over-sharing" online.  Students were introduced to the benefits of sharing information online and the potential risks of sharing inappropriate information. Students viewd one of two student vignette videos.:  

 After watching these videos, students used discussion guides to talk about appropriate information sharing, how to minimize oversharing, and how to create a positive digital footprint.  We look forward to bringing this information to our parents in an informational meeting very soon.

Early Release Dates

As a reminder, MHHS no longer has Friday release days this school year.  Our collaboration schedule was integrated into our school day this year to provide ongoing opportunities for teachers to collaborate on a daily basis.  Our philosophy is that if we provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate on a more regular basis, we will have opportunities for faster feedback loops in our educational system.  Because we also want opportunities for school-wide, and district-wide collaboration, MHHS has planned 12 early release days throughout the school year.  On these 12 days, students will be released from school at 1:30 P.M.  These dates can be found on the Lammersville Unified School District Calendar (CLICK HERE), and are also detailed in our Bell Schedule Document (CLICK HERE).
For your convenience, here are the dates that students will be released early this school year:

September 9
September 18
September 25
October 16
November 4
November 20
January 13
March 11
March 16
March 25
May 11
May 20

In addition to these early release days, students will also be released early on finals days.  Students are required to attend class on finals days, and families should NOT plan family trips, or start holidays earlier as students will miss essential assessments during final exams.  Students are released on the Wednesday of Finals days at 2:05 P.M. and are released on Thursday and Friday at 12:35 P.M. Here are those dates:

December 16th-18th
May 24th-26th

If you have any questions about these dates, please call our main office at 209.836.7460.

Contributions

Did you know that if your student is involved in a sport, or in Marching Band that these school activities are looking for your contribution.  Each year the Lammersville Unified School District generously supports sporting and music programs, but running these programs is extremely expensive.  Each sport, and the Band organization is asking for your contribution ASAP to help pay for transportation, uniform re-conditioning, tournaments, and much more.  
Now is the time to make your Fall Sports contribution by clicking on one of the links below, or by visiting our Webstore HERE:

Football Contribution
Soccer Contribution
Volleyball Contribution
Cross Country Contribution
Golf Contribution

Families may also make their contributions by bringing cash, check, money order or credit card into the main office.

Families looking to make their contribution for Marching Band can access the payment information on the Boosters Website by clicking HERE

Science Olympiad Informational Meeting

Science Olympiad is school team competition in which students compete in 'events' pertaining to various scientific disciplines, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Over 7,300 teams from 50 U.S. states compete each year, and Lammersville Unified School District has a strong tradition of performing well in this yearly competition.  MHHS had its first Science Olympiad team last school year, and we are excited to start working with this year's team.  All parents are invited to attend this year's District Wide Science Olympiad Information meeting.

What: Informational Science Olympiad Meeting
When: Thursday, September 10, 2015 at 6:30pm
Where: Wicklund Elementary MPR

The purpose of the District Science Olympiad meeting is to talk about strategies to build the success of Science Olympiad at Mountain House.  Topics of discussion will center on team selection, Science Olympiad events, parent volunteers as coaches, invitational competitions and available resources.  The goal of this program is to improve on the success of each school’s program from last year.
We look forward to seeing you there!

If you have any questions, please contact our Science Olympiad coach, Mrs. Donna Earle at dearle@lammersvilleusd.net

Boosters Organizations

Did you know that over 80% of our students at MHHS are involved either in an extra-curricular sporting activity, an academic club, or a co-curricular music activity?  The participation in these activities that take place outside of the school day are sometimes as important to our students and families as school itself.   At MHHS there are three main non-profit organizations connected to the school that have been founded by volunteers to support our extra curricular activities.  If you have a student at MHHS, we highly encourage your participation in these organizations according to the activities that your student is involved in.  Here is a list of these organizations, their contact information, and links on how to join:

Mountain House High School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA)

MHHS PTSA is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit association that prides itself on being a powerful voice for all children, a relevant resource for families and communities, and a strong advocate for public education. Membership in PTSA is open to anyone who wants to be involved and make a difference for the education, health, and welfare of children and youth.  Each member of the family can be a member of this association.  PTSA is involved in fundraising efforts and advocacy within our school to sponsor parent education nights, communicate about scholarship opportunities, sponsor writing and arts contests, and support teachers in their classrooms.  

If you have a student at MHHS, you should consider joining PTSA to support their efforts.  Here's a link to their membership site:  http://mhhs.my-ptsa.org/content.asp?PageID=6

Mountain House High School Visual Performing Arts (VAPA) Boosters

MHHS VAPA Boosters is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports and promotes the activities of all students involved in Band, Choir, Orchestra, and Drama.  This organization is a volunteer and fundraising organization that helps pay for additional personnel, equipment, props, uniforms, and much more.  All parents who have students involved in any of the VAPA programs are highly encouraged to join this organization to support their activities.  There  are tons of opportunities to volunteer in the VAPA boosters, especially for parents of students in the marching band program.
You can learn more about the VAPA booster program by visiting their facebook page here:  https://www.facebook.com/mhhsvapaboosters  Additionally, parents interested in joining the boosters club can do so online by visiting their online store here:  https://squareup.com/market/mhhs-vapa-boosters

Mountain House High School Athletics Boosters

MHHS Athletics Boosters is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports and promotes all of the sports teams at Mountain House High School.  This group organizes all of the concessions at all sporting events, coordinates volunteer parent liaisons for each team, and coordinates fundraising to purchase athletic equipment, sports programs, and much more. All parents who have a student in an athletic program should consider joining the boosters organization.  The boosters organization will also coordinate volunteers to work at concessions stands, and during other sports related activities.  Visit the boosters website for more information about this club, including how to join by clicking here:  http://mhhsboosters.org/