Thursday, September 16, 2021

Green Chile Pod Bulletin                                 Thursday, September 16, 2021
Calendar Items:
September 2021
    17 Friday, No Classes 6-12, Faculty/Staff In-Service
    24 Friday, 7th Grade Harvest Fest
    25 Saturday, Fall Sports Day and Homecoming
    27 Monday, No Classes for Grades 6-7, 6-7 Parent Conferences
  October 2021
   7-8 Thursday-Friday, No Classes 6-12, Fall Break
 20-22 Tuesday-Thursday, 7th WOW (Green Chile)
    24 Sunday, Admission Open House
    28 School Photo Retakes

Mask Usage
Since our return to in-person learning last spring, we have continually stressed appropriate mask usage.
Until our entire community is able to be vaccinated, in fact, mask usage is key to our ability to remain on
campus. Our students have by and large been really wonderful about mask usage, but we have shared
these guidelines with them and would appreciate you reminding them at home as well:
:: Students should come to school each day with a well-fitting and comfortable mask.
:: Students must wear masks at all times when indoors. Masks must be worn over the mouth and nose.
:: Students should keep their masks handy for transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces.
:: Students must wear masks during all outdoor class meetings and other assemblies.

Homecoming Spirit Week
Homecoming is coming next weekend, and 6-7 students are invited to the festivities. We will be sending
information home soon about next Friday’s activities, which will start at the end of the school day with an
all-school pep rally, and end in the evening with an all-school bonfire. In the meantime, next week is
Homecoming Spirit Week, and each day of the week has its own theme. Please encourage your student
to dress for the occasion!
:: Monday is Pajama Day
:: Tuesday is Decades Day
:: Wednesday is Heroes vs. Villains Day
:: Thursday is Coachella Day (hippy attire… flowing skirts, concert T-shirts, flowers in your hair, etc.)
:: Friday 9/24 – AA Spirit Day - school colors!

Attendance
Accurate attendance is critically important, and we have updated the absence form on our website.
Parents can now easily report illnesses, appointments and planned absences through the link below in My
Backpack.

Counseling - Lorrie Swanson (swanson@aa.edu)
Seventh Grade Students don’t eat lunch until 12:30, so please help them to plan ahead with bringing a
snack. Puberty is happening! Please help your child with hygiene, showers, clean clothes, and
deodorant.

Parent Mixer Save the Date: Welcome Home!
Please join us for a parents-only mixer the evening of Thursday, September 23 from 6-8 p.m. to
help us kick off Homecoming 2021. With continued efforts to keep our community healthy and safe, we’ll
gather outdoors on the east end of our beautiful campus. Our very own SAGE Dining team will provide
refreshments including some of our campus favorites and local fare.

The event is free for all current parents, but if you have not already, please let us know if you will attend.
RSVP here! Click “register” and scroll down to “parent mixer.” While you are on the registration site,
feel free to sign up for additional homecoming events, including “Classes Without Quizzes” and lunch on
Saturday, or to order your homecoming t-shirts.

Dress code is “Charger chic”. Show your school pride by wearing red and black, or any Academy team
jersey or Charger gear you may own. We look forward to welcoming you HOME!

Contact advancement@aa.edu with any questions.

Homecoming Charger Café Concession Volunteers Needed
Volunteers needed for concession shifts throughout the day at Charger Café, Saturday, September
25th. Come enjoy Homecoming and support your Academy Chargers from the Charger Café. If you are
available to volunteer, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please use this link to sign up. All
volunteers must be fully vaccinated. Only adult volunteers are allowed to work Concessions at this
time. No children or students please. We will have no more than three people working at any time to
keep Charger Café from getting too crowded.

Emily Hiller
presidentelectaapa@aa.edu

AAPA - Volunteers Needed on Friday, September 24 to Help with Bonfire
This year's bonfire will be on September 24, 2021 and will be for the whole school. We need your help to
bring firewood, drinking water, ingredients for s’mores and to attend the event to help keep everyone safe.
Donations can be brought to the 6-7 Administration Building, Room 80 (directly across from Mrs. Jones
office).

Click here to sign up: https://signup.com/go/FLOWkqF

Questions? Contact Colin Hallahan at spork31@gmail.com or Josh Stein at joshuasstein@gmail.com

Community Service Club – Club Sponsor: Matt McCracken (mccracken@aa.edu)
Are you interested in helping people? Do running food drives, making fuzzy blankets, and creating a positive
impact on your community sound like a fun time? Do you like candy? Come join the 6/7 Community
Service Club on Wednesdays afterschool until 4:15 in Room 85-86 to learn about how you can do fun
projects for different nonprofits that could use your help and have some sweets while you’re at it!

We look forward to seeing you!
Sincerely,
The 10-12 Student Exec. Board members
Sofia, Joanne, Lynn, and Riley

West Campus Bookstore Volunteers Needed!
Are you interested in volunteering in the 6/7 Division? AAPA and The West Campus Bookstore need
your help. We have many available time slots for the 2021-2022 school year. Volunteers can choose
times to work that best accommodate their schedules. Time spots are available throughout the week,
Monday to Friday between 7:30 AM and 2:00 PM. Volunteering in the bookstore is an excellent way to
become familiar with the faculty, staff and students in the 6/7 division.

What We Do: The AAPA volunteers run the cash register and help restock items as needed. Kids and
faculty come in throughout the day to buy snacks, books and academic supplies.

Shifts: Volunteers work one shift approximately every other week throughout the school year. The
bookstore uses a 1/3/5 and 2/4 schedule. This means you will be scheduled to work for the day of the
week and time you selected on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th (if applicable) day of the month, or the 2nd and 4th
day of the month. If grades 6/7 are not in session, the WCBS is closed.

Substitutes: We also rely on volunteers to substitute for shifts when the normally scheduled volunteer is
unavailable. Volunteers find substitutes by emailing the group email list, which I provide. This is usually
accomplished by selecting “reply all” to the most current WCBS group email.

Volunteer Vaccinations Required: With continued adherence to public health orders and putting the
health and safety of all individuals on campus at the forefront, all Bookstore volunteers are required to be
fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (one dose of Johnson & Johnson or two doses of Moderna or Pfizer,
plus two weeks), and proof of vaccination must be provided.

If you are interested in Volunteering please contact:

Christina Bachicha
AAPA Bookstore Volunteer Coordinator
cmbachicha@msn.com / 505-553-0393

Extracurricular Activities
Our list of extracurricular activities is available to students on the 6-7 Division Page on Canvas. Students
have access to detailed information on this page at all times and are encouraged to check it regularly for
updates. Students have also been receiving information about new extracurricular club listings in their
daily morning announcements.

Musical Instrument Storage
Students have been reminded that musical instrument storage on the West Campus is only allowed in
Ms. Bielejec’s office, next to the MPR. There is no instrument storage in the main lobby of the
administration building, in the class commons, or next to lockers.

Health Office Announcements – Shelby Parsons (parsons@aa.edu)
   Medication
      If you have medications to drop off at the Health Office for the new school year, please contact
      the Health Office at 858-8876 to coordinate a time. Examples include EpiPens, inhalers, or
      ADHD medication that will need administration during the school day.

        If you anticipate your student to need an over-the-counter (OTC) medication such as Advil or
        Tylenol, please bring this to the Health Office for storage. Students may carry one dose in the
        original container of an OTC medication on themselves if their parent or guardian deems them
        competent to self-administer appropriately. As a reminder, students are not allowed to carry or
        self-administer any controlled substances such as Adderall or prescription cough syrup, etc.

 When Should I Keep My Student at Home?
      As our students return to in-person learning, community health is a top priority. When your
      student is not feeling well, please consult this screening tool to determine when they should stay
      home.

        Does your child have any of the following symptoms?
         •   Temperature 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher
         •   Chills, unusual fatigue, and/or flu-like body aches
         •   Sore throat, congestion, and/or runny nose
         •   New cough (for students with chronic allergic/asthmatic cough, a change in their cough from
             baseline)
         •   Shortness of breath
         •   Diarrhea (more than three times in six hours), persistent nausea, or vomiting
         •   New onset headaches, different than mild/chronic headaches student may experience
         •   Loss of smell or taste

         Has your child:
         •   Been exposed to COVID-19 in the past two weeks?
         •   Started an antibiotic for something infectious in the past 24 hours?

         If you have answered YES to any of the above questions, please keep your child home and call the
         health office at (505) 858-8876 for further guidance.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Calling all 7th grade AA “families”!!!
It’s time to lace up those shoes and play some intramural volleyball…
To promote lifetime fitness & wellness the Physical Education Department has created a fun community
activity that will create an atmosphere of teamwork, unity, cooperation, competition and tons of
excitement. We will start our intramural program with 5 days of volleyball action on C1/D1 days only.
The first 2 days will include an introduction to the intramural program, establishing team names,
rules/regulations, gym assignments, volleyball lessons and finally “family” practices. The remaining 3 days
will consist of pool play, seeding brackets and the pod championships. We will have a Gold and Silver
champion/runner-up for each pod that will hold title and glory throughout the year. The Physical
Education Department will conduct intramurals during our class time and organize/facilitate the entire
event, however, if any family head would like to coach/motivate their “family” members, all are welcome.
After the first 2 days of intramurals, practices will be done outside of class, if desired, so we will provide
each “family” with a volleyball that we will collect once the season is over. If you have any questions or
concerns, please contact me.
It’s not how you start but how you finish…
Good Luck to all AA “families”!
ART – Sarah Hossain (hossain@aa.edu)
This week in Art, students worked on balancing positive and negative space while creating notans. After
they collaged their notans, they researched other artists who use paper as their primary medium for
creating.

7th Grade Art Club began this week! We meet Wednesdays after school from 3:45 - 4:45, as well as
after lunch on Thursdays. We will be designing and painting a mural for the art classroom ceiling this
year. Chat with me if you are interested in participating.

MATH – Dana Pederson (pederson@aa.edu)
All Pederson Math Students: Please check your grades/work on Canvas. I try to stay current in my
grading. If you see assignments that have a "-" or "0" or "missing" you know those are things I have not
received from you. If you see something is graded a "6", you can redo the incorrect problems for a better
grade. The deadline for this half of the trimester is the end of the school day on 9/24/2021.

Pre-Algebra (Blocks A & C) students will be taking their first test on Tuesday, September 21st. The Unit 1
test will cover the following information: solving word problems, translating verbal expressions to
algebraic expressions, properties of numbers, prime factorization, mean/median/mode, positive
exponents, negative exponents, and order of operations. More specific details can be found on Canvas,
with a link to each homework assignment. On the assignment, copies of the notes and any additional
resources should be there as well.

Algebra (Blocks E & F) students have finished-up Chapter 1 and reviewing properties, integer arithmetic,
and simplifying expressions. Next week, we will start working with linear equations. We will apply the
properties and integer rules to solving equations and word problems.

MATH – Linda Moussa (moussa@aa.edu)
7th grade G block pre-algebra students worked on powers and exponents this last week. They also had a
review for all previous lessons in order to prepare for a big test next week on Tuesday. The test will
include solving word problems, translating verbal expressions to algebraic and numerical expressions,
properties of numbers, prime factorization, mean/median/mode, positive exponents and negative
exponents.

ENGLISH – Tyson Lassiter (lassiter@aa.edu)
Be ready to travel back to the Renaissance Era as we begin All’s Faire in Middle School. Books need to be
purchased at the school bookstore by Monday, 9/20. Additionally, students need to make sure to bring
their four highlighters to class; it’s annotation time! One more thing: the cereal box project is due on
Tuesday for Blocks C, E, and G and Wednesday for Block H. Remember to use the assignment guidelines
that are posted to CANVAS (and have been since August) as a checklist. Neatness counts!

HISTORY – Jake Herrin (herrin@aa.edu)
In History this week, students presented (to the class) a primary source that would help a historian
describe your student. Some of the artifacts that were chosen, were…. Interesting. We also worked on a
historical atlas of New Mexico. We read our first introduction to “Indian Uprising on the Rio Grande”.
Next week, our focus will be on the origin stories of local tribes and salt dough pottery.

HISTORY – Jonathan Buys (buys@aa.edu)
While Red Chile Pod students are partaking in their WOW week adventures, Green Chile Pod Students
are working on a mini research report on an African country of their choice. They will research cultural,
geographic, historical, and economic aspects of their country. The country they choose will most likely be
the country they represent later when we get to our model UN project in trimester three. Red Chile
students will complete this same report when Green Chile has WOW week in trimester two. Next
week, we will return to our study of New Mexico’s past.

SPANISH—Jesus Nuñez (nunez@aa.edu)
Hola familias. This week students worked on Cuaderno de Practica, reviewing and practicing “verbos:
ser, estar y tener”. Students also learned “adjetivos posesivos”. Next week, students will have a quiz
about “verbos: ser, estar y tener, los números up to 100 and los artículos (el, la, los, las)”. Students will
also finish a project “Mi animal es…” where they are practicing “verbos: ser, estar y tener”. Have a great
weekend.

SPANISH—Chris Dineen (dineen@aa.edu)
We finished up a review of the verbs ser and estar this week, and took a quick detour into regular
numbers between 1-100 as well. We should conclude our wrap-up of regular verb conjugation in the
coming week, and we will prepare for a test over the topics we have covered in our review unit. I am
looking forward to a more regular schedule in the weeks ahead, which should give us nice momentum as
we break into the textbook and explore our first “new” unit.

SCIENCE—Rich Anderson (anderson@aa.edu)
Students are learning how life is scientifically categorized. Taxonomy and Scientific Names Page 2 is due
to be completed by Tuesday, 9/21 for Blocks A C G and Wednesday, 9/22 for Block B. Instructions are
on Canvas.

COUNSELING/SUSTAINABILITY

7th Grade Counseling Class - Lorrie Swanson (swanson@aa.edu)
Counseling class: The last two weeks have been wonky with ExEd and the river trips, and so we have
been working on our Meology projects and building community.

7th Grade Sustainability Class - Heidi Anderson (andersonh@aa.edu)
It’s fall harvest! We are entering the time of year when much of the harvesting turns to seed saving.
Students will begin learning about seeds and seed saving by helping to harvest the seeds from the garden.
They will learn how to assess them for saving, plant resiliency and future food production. They will
practice Soil Health Principles by leaving roots in the ground and organic matter behind as mulch to
protect the soil and the life it contains. Students will also continue to form personal connections to the
garden while practicing close observation through a sensory scavenger hunt and mapping exercise.