Happy Thursday Eagles!

We have had a great week and have 1 more day tomorrow to finish strong before we can kick off Spring Break. Please do not forget that the campus will be closed for Spring Break March 14-18, and then staff will have a professional development day on March 21st. We will look forward to students returning on Tuesday, March 22nd.

This week our fantastic PTA hosted our book fair in-person for the first time in two years and included a Kona Ice Spirit day. The students had a blast and it was so exciting to see families back on campus and connecting with CRMS.

*Today, from 5-8, join us for dinner from Chick-fil-A at Four Points. Tell them you are there for CRMS and they will donate back to the Eagles.

*Reminder: Due to the staff professional development day and student holiday on Monday, 3/21, there will NOT be early release on Wednesday, 3/23.

Follow us on social media:

Twitter: @Sturdevant_CRMS

Instagram: Canyon_Ridge_MS

Facebook: Canyon Ridge Middle School PTA

The Dyami Dancers competed at the Vista Ridge Championship contest over the weekend. The following dancers received division one ratings on their routines:

Solo - Molly Atkinson

Solo - Paige Cussimanio

Solo - Anneliese Fournier

Solo - Kate Simpson

Duet - Laya Balasumbramanian & Leela Menon

Duet - Anneliese Fournier & Ava Rosen

Duet - Isabella Camargo & Ashley Thompto

Duet - Lacey Philpot & Kate Simpson

Small Ensemble - Paige Cussimanio, Raegan Moore and Lacey Philpot

Small Ensemble - Mireya Jawahar, Emma Nearing and Sophia Watson

Isabella Camargo & Ashley Thompto placed 2nd in the middle school duet category and Lacey Philpot & Kate Simpson placed 3rd.

Congratulations Dancers!

CRMS Library Club's first Hogwarts Fundraiser Readathon is coming April 22 for Library Club members! Members: Fill out Readathon Application Packet and return packet at the student-only LIBRARY CLUB MEETING on THURS. MARCH 24 at 7:40 AM in the Library. (No packets are accepted in advance.) We only have 50 spots for Readathon so be sure your packet is complete and here at the meeting on 3/24. We will start a waitlist for other applications that come in after the meeting and may open remaining spots to other CRMS students if space allows.

• QUESTIONS? See READATHON OVERVIEW slides HERE
• MORE QUESTIONS? Download READATHON PACKET Here (Completed packets are due in-person on MARCH 24, 7:40 AM at the special student-only meeting in the Library. No packets accepted in advance.)
• NOT IN LIBRARY CLUB? See how to join here

Email Librarian Mrs. Illingworth with questions or if you would like to help with treats, decorations, student sponsorship, etc. for transforming our school into Hogwarts for a magical evening on April 22! Thank you for supporting our CRMS students in their desire to raise funds for literacy efforts! maryvirginia.illingw@leanderisd.org

On Tuesday, the CRMS Concert Band performed at the UIL Concert & Sight-Reading Evaluation at Lake Travis High School. This was the first CRMS band to perform at UIL in over 2 years and not a single member of the group had ever seen or performed at UIL before. On the concert stage, they delivered a stunning and dramatic performance of their prepared music and then went on to absolutely crush their sight-reading piece! All six judges awarded them the highest rating; Superior, earning the band the coveted Sweepstakes Award!

We are so proud of these young people for their stellar performance and for all that they have overcome to get to this far after having spent most of their beginning band year on Zoom. Their spirit and resilience are truly inspiring!

Best of luck to our Symphonic and Honor Bands as they continue to prepare for their UIL performances on April 13.

The community is invited to Vandegrift High School’s 12th Annual Relay for Life benefiting the American Cancer Society. Our goal is to celebrate, honor, and remember those who havebeen affected by cancer.

Your help in supporting this local event would be greatly appreciated. I was wondering if we could visit your location and post a flier in your school.

Feel free to join us on April 8th for Vandegrift’s Annual Relay for Life at Monroe Stadium at 6p.m.!

For more information over Relay for Life, visit this link:

https://secure.acsevents.org/site/STR?pg=entry&fr_id=101453

We will have school on Monday, April 18th to make-up for the closure on February 3rd. And the district will convert the last two Early Release Wednesdays of the year to full school days in order to maintain compliance with state-required instructional minutes. Leander ISD School Board Trustees approved making 5/11 and 5/18 full school days to make up minutes lost during winter weather Feb. 4. Updated 2021-22 School Calendar

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Due to challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, your 7th grade girl or 8th grade boy has not received a spinal screening. Spinal screening can detect abnormal spinal curvatures at an early stage and early detection is important for controlling spinal deformities.

The Department of State Health Services encourages you to take your child(ren) to a medical provider for well-child exams. During these appointments you may ask for a spinal screening. If your provider screens your child, please provide those results to the district (pass or fail) for our records.

Signs your child may have an abnormal spinal curvature:

• Uneven shoulders or hips

• Ribs that are prominent or stick out in one area

• Muscles that are prominent in the lower back or bulge on one side

If you would like your child screened for scoliosis, please submit a Student Spinal Screen Request. If your child was screened at their annual well-child exam, please submit those screening results to your campus nurse. Please note, if you choose not to submit a screening request at this time, you may still contact your campus nurse at a later date if a new concern arises, and they will be happy to screen your child.

Thank you,

Rachael Kristoff RN, BSN

Canyon Ridge Middle School Nurse

512-570-3507

512-570-9258 confidential eFax

Check out our awesome, fun 6th grade line dance exhibitions from last month:

3rd Period

4th Period

5th Period

The ViperBots, Vandegrift High School’s award-winning robotics program, is now accepting New Member applications for the 2022-2023 season. Interested students should apply by clicking on the link below and following the detailed application instructions.

https://www.viperbotsboosters.org/2022-2023-viperbots-applications/

Applications are due 3/31/2022 by 4:00 pm

Parent Information Meeting is on 3/10 or 3/22 (attend one)

(See application page for complete details)

For more information, please contact Rad Allen at irad.allen@leanderisd.org

What would it be like to go to a school made of candy?

The Kindergarten - 12th grade ESS Art Contest starts today and from Jan. 24 - March 13.

$500 gift card for them and a $500 gift card for their school! Go to http://library.ess.com/artcontest for details.

CRMS Families,

Yearbooks for the 2021-2022 school year are available online NOW! Order your yearbook before April 15th for $40. On April 15th, yearbook prices increase. Additionally, we are offering an opportunity for CRMS families to highlight their 8th grade students with a shout out. Shout outs are very similar to senior ads in a high school yearbook and are only available for 8th grade students. They can be purchased as an add on to the yearbook for $25. Shout outs must be purchased on or before January 31, 2022 and your short message and photos must be submitted by February 15, 2022. Our school orders a limited number of yearbooks each year. By pre ordering your yearbook now, you ensure that you will receive a yearbook. If you have any questions please email Jared Lichtenberger.

Student Transfer Window Open: Families interested in transferring to different schools within Leander ISD have until April 1 to apply. Parents are encouraged to check the list of schools open or closed for transfers as it continually evolves. Previously approved transfers will not need to re-apply unless they are transitioning from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school. Be sure to check out detailed guidelines.

At Canyon Ridge Middle School, we want to highlight diversity and inclusion through the various cultures that are represented on our campus.

We would appreciate your input to increase awareness and understanding of all aspects of your culture. Culture is much more than celebrations, languages, customs, food, dance, folklore, values, heritage, etc. It is everything! We invite you to share your culture.

We'd like to share information with our campus through various "Culture Blasts" spread throughout the year. "Culture Blasts" are short videos that highlight information about our diversity, inclusivity, and learning opportunities for the CRMS community.

Please fill out this Google Form and we will be in contact with you.

Each year, LISD offers students an opportunity to take an Exam for Acceleration (EA) at no cost to the family. LISD offers four EA testing windows each school year. Click this link for more information and dates. Students and parents can request the exam through their grade level counselor. The next testing window and deadline to register is listed below.

Testing Window Four: June 6-9, 2022 (final testing window of the 21/22 school year)

Time: TBD, arranged with district staff

Registration deadline: April 22, 2022 @ 3:25pm

Location: TBD

The Regional Science Fair results came out last night and Canyon Ridge had a great showing! We have 6 students advancing to the state fair, and several students who placed in the top 5 and were close to advancing, along with several special awards. Here are the results:

• Aarya Apte, Engineering Mechanics, 1st place, STATE, Special Award: Office of Naval Research Broadcom Masters Award
  
• Evan Cargol, Biomedical and Health Sciences/Biomedical Engineering, 5th place, Special Award: Office of Naval Research
  
• Aadya Ganjalagunte, Biomedical and Health Sciences/Biomedical Engineering, 3rd place, STATE
  
• Shaye Wirth, Cellular and Molecular Biology, 1st place, STATE, Special Award: Broadcom Masters Award
  
• Kundana Addala, Computer Science: Hardware and Embedded Systems, 2nd place, STATE, Special Award: Broadcom Masters Award
  
• Oorja Kumar, Earth and Environmental Sciences, 3rd place, STATE
  
• Emma Wykrent, Engineering Mechanics, 4th place
  
• Maria Vanleeuwen, Microbiology, 1st place, STATE, Special Award: Broadcom Masters Award
  
• Ashley Kim, Plant Sciences, Special Award: Watershed Detectives
• Sutton Homoya, Plant Sciences, 5th place
  

CONGRATULATIONS to our Science Fair Regional competitors!

Our 3 CRMS Destination Imagination Teams competed last weekend at Cedar Ridge High School in Round Rock at the Regional Destination Imagination Tournament. The results are below:

First Place- (Engineering Challenge)

Advancing to STATE

Team Manager Snehal Patel

Team Members:

Ryan Crowley
Keerthi Attaluri
Zoey Prasla
Heeraj Patel
Anshuman Roy
Sarthak Kamble

2nd Place- Fine Arts Challenge & 3rd place in Xtreme Challenge

Advancing to STATE

Team Manager Jacob Leffler & Cindy Reynolds

Team Members

Dante Leffler

Derek Ryenolds

Sunaina Dewagan

Siri Krishna

Shreya Polaida

Third Place- Fine Arts Challenge

Team Manager

Scott and Heather Nielson

Team Members

Hope Nielson

Sofia Malacara

Magnolia Carroll

Violet Ralian

Great news! Our own Eagle Keerthi Attaluri has advanced to the Austin Regional Spelling Bee!

Go Keerthi--We wish you well as you continue competition in March!

Saturday, February 19th was the contest day for the Central Texas Regional History Day (first phase of the National History Day competition). Students from middle and high schools across the Austin area competed in a variety of categories. Canyon Ridge students did an amazing job on their research projects and were well represented among the contest winners. Here are the results:

Group Performance: Mireya Jawahar, Emma Nearing and Avni Singh won first place for "The Kashmir War"

Group Website: Ahyaan Azam and Daniel Aleman won first place for "The Adams-Onis Treaty"

Individual Exhibit: Shreya Poladia won first place for "A Great IDEA!" and Sanvi Kishore won second place for "Indian Independence and Partition"

Paper: Ethan Hoenig won second place for "Diplomacy in the Nuclear Age"

We are so proud of the work that our students put into their projects! These students will continue on to the Texas History Day state-level competition.

Would you like to make a change to your course selection sheet for the 2022-2023 school year that you already turned into the counselor? Complete the form no later than the 4:00pm deadline on May 26, 2022:

Current 6th graders change form

Current 7th graders change form

(Note: current 8th graders will need to contact his or her VHS counselor for changes to next year)

• All 7th PACE & 8th Math STAAR Field Test: February 17th

For more information on the Field Test on 2/17/22: Field Test at CRMS letter (Spanish letter)

• 8th grade Science STAAR: May 5
• 8th grade Social Studies STAAR: May 6
• 6th grade Math STAAR: May 10
• 7th & 8th grades Math & Algebra 1 STAAR: May 12
• 7th & 8th grades Reading STAAR: May 16
• 6th grade Reading: May 17

Attention current 8th grade students: Do you want to earn an associates degree from ACC while earning your high school diploma - for free? Do you want to earn up to 60 college credit hours towards college during your high school experience? Do you want to be part of the Legacy class of a new LISD campus, located at ACC San Gabriel, where the students will help establish the mascot, clubs and culture of the campus for years to come? Do you want to participate in a small school setting for your High School experience receiving individualized attention and support to ensure your success? If you answered yes to any of these questions, apply today for Leander ISD Early College High School!

Applications are being accepted now through Sunday, March 20. Applications in English and Spanish are available at echs.leanderisd.org, and from your 8th grade counselor. Please return paper applications to your middle school counselor so they may be routed to the Early College High School team.

For more information please email echs@leanderisd.org, review our webpage, visit with your counselor or AVID teacher, follow us on Facebook or Twitter at @LISD_ECHS, or attend one of our upcoming webinars. We look forward to receiving your application and answering any questions you may have regarding this amazing opportunity!

In Leander ISD, we use a universal screener, such as MAP Growth and Istation’s Indicators of Progress (ISIP), to determine what the student knows, growth and is ready to learn next. Throughout September 2021, students in kindergarten through 8th grade were administered the first baseline assessment and then all students were recently administered the mid-year assessment. The assessment information will support teachers in knowing the instructional areas in which students have grown and are ready to learn.

Student reports for both ISIP and MAP are going home with all CRMS students to families the week of January 26th. A district Universal Screener website has also been developed to support families as they review their student’s progress on ISIP and MAPGrowth. The website contains FAQs and basic information about the screeners. Below you will find sample reports, and tutorial videos you can view to help you better understand the data found in these reports.

• sample MAP Assessment student detail report

• NWEA MAP ASSESSMENT data review video

• Sample Istation Summary Report

• Parent Portal Walkthrough Video

It is important to note that the assessment data is NOT used as a grade. Instead, it is a single data point that helps their teacher know what they are ready to learn next. It is there to help inform the teacher’s instructional decisions and determine how best to support your student.

Thank you for partnering with us to support your child’s academic skills growth and development!

PTA has new Spirit Wear in Stock! Grab a soft, warm hoodie or a baseball tee for the cool days that are surely coming! We also have a new PTA t-shirt and girls youth PE shorts in smaller sizes. Show off your CRMS Pride and Eagles Spirit and visit our website to purchase! Eagles Spirit Wear - Canyon Ridge Middle School PTA

Students from Vandegrift High School began a homework help service in 2012. Today Viper Nation Homework Help continues as a student-led, free tutoring service for elementary, middle and even high school peers in our community. To sign up your student for one of the Tuesday evening sessions, please visit https://signup.com/go/zmqysDO.

Leander ISD updated our Health Response Protocols and on August 17th, elevated to a new Yellow Stage. Please review and partner with us to keep people healthy and schools open:

• COVID-19 Update: New Health Response Protocols
• August 6th Update to COVID Notifications, Contact Tracing and Dashboard data
• August 17th Update: Mask Requirement for All
• Leander ISD COVID dashboard

CRMS Frequently Asked Questions - COVID

ALL tickets for all high school and middle school athletic events hosted at LISD facilities will be sold online only. There will be NO cash sales at the gate. Tickets can be purchased through link on the athletics webpage: https://www.leanderisd.org/athletics_ticketspasses/

Many have generously reached out and asked how you can donate or support the teachers/school during this time. If you are wanting to donate and unsure how, we will gladly accept donations on campus of the following:

• bottled water
• masks
• paper towels
• hand sanitizer
• Clorox wipes

Currently, there is no state funding for PPE this year, so donations will be accepted and very appreciated! You can drop off in the school front office at your convenience during school hours.

Home Access Center (HAC) provides families with an online tool where they can view helpful student information to support and guide their children through the educational process. From home or work, at any time of the day or night, parents can access the web portal to track academic achievement.

Features include:

• Grade notifications,

• Class schedules

• Attendance records.

Visit the Home Access Center page to learn more. Please allow time for our campuses to complete schedule and teacher assignments in the coming days prior to the start of the school year.

Beginning Aug. 5, Leander ISD parents can enter their home address into Infofinder to look up their child’s bus route number, pick-up/drop-off times, and bus stop locations for the 2021-22 school year. Bus routes are subject to change, so LISD parents are strongly encouraged to confirm their child’s bus information again the week prior to the start of school.

The Transportation Department will continue to use the Remind platform to communicate delay notifications and other important updates. Bus riders and their guardians will be added to a Remind “class” for their assigned bus route.

All students at CRMS must have a working computer/device with a keyboard. If you do not have your own device, that is okay! Click on this link to sign-up/re-enroll and pay the 2021-2022 mLISD non-refundable security deposit so you can get your computer as soon as possible!

Our schools and teachers use Remind to send text messages and emails to our parents. Make sure you log into Remind to set up your notification preferences, see archived messages, and send messages directly to your teachers and school staff. Download the mobile app (Google Play, Apple) for the best user experience.

Click here to learn more about Remind.

As Leander ISD Child Nutrition Services will continue to offer free breakfast and lunch meals to all students for the 2021–22 school year, low-cost meals are not being served at this time. To manage your student’s meal balance for snacks or extras beyond the meal service, please create your Titan Family Connect account (formerly MealTime). Leander ISD school menus, along with complete nutrition information, are available through Nutrislice.

School start and end times for elementary, middle and high school are listed below.

• Elementary School: 7:40 a.m.–2:55 p.m.
• Middle School: 8:10 a.m.–3:25 p.m.
• High School: 8:40 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

90-minute Early Release Schedule for 2021–22 School Year

• Elementary School: 7:40 a.m.–1:25 p.m.
• Middle School: 8:10 a.m.–1:55 p.m.
• High School: 8:40 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

*District Calendar linked below

Turn your sound on and please watch this video from CRMS students!

*Randall's will donate to CRMS PTA if you select us as your Good Neighbor Program just because you shop there! Complete this form and then e-mail to good.neighbor@randalls.com or take to any store customer service location..

*Did you know you can buy all your Amazon purchases through Amazon Smile, and they will donate to our PTA all year long?!?! It doesn’t cost you anything and you order the same way. Just set up your Amazon Smile profile to donate to PTA Texas Congress Canyon Ridge Middle School PTA.

*CRMS PTA: If you have not yet, please consider joining the CRMS PTA. Memberships start as low as $10.

*SPIRIT WEAR: Spirit Wear is restocked. Porch pickup is very close to CRMS.

Be sure to follow Canyon Ridge Middle School PTA on Facebook and join the Facebook group for your child's grade level. Thank you for your time and all of your support for our Eagles!

AP/Counselor by grade-level for 2021-22:

• 6th: Monica Diaz Carle/Sabrina Anderson
• 7th: Cassandra Ricks/Katie Young
• 8th: Leah Cox /Staci Cote

Email: Wendy.Sturdevant@leanderisd.org
Website: crms.leanderisd.org
Location: Canyon Ridge Middle School, Country Trails Lane, Austin, TX, USA
Phone: 512-570-3500
Twitter: @Sturdevant_CRMS