Benton Weekly Update

We are now officially in the final quarter of our school year. Quarter reports will be emailed home to parents by the end of the week. This is a good time for 8th Graders to check their progress and ensure they are on track for 8th Grade Promotion (Promotion Contract linked below).

On Tuesday 3/19, our Festival Choir & Guitar Concert will be in the Benton MPR at 6pm. Please join us for an evening of beautiful music from our Superior Ranked ensembles.

On Thursday 3/21, the NLM Middle Schools Softball Tournament will be held at Behringer Park in La Mirada. The games should start at approximately 9:30am.

We have our SBAC Academy continuing this week after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Selected students have been invited to participate to provide the support needed to carry them to success. If your student received an invitation to attend, please return the permission slip to the school office.

We have another Attendance Challenge for the month of March. Let's do our best to be here every day on time. It's important for students to be in school all day, every day - if they're not here, they're not learning!

We have a new webpage! Our new URL is benton.nlmusd.org but our old URL will connect you through to the new page. Although some features transferred over from the previous page, we are still in the process of updating it with photos and information. This process could take several weeks, please be patient with us, and if you're ever in doubt or need of information, please don't hesitate to reach out to the school office.

Make it a great week!

Check out our 8th Grade Webpage with information and news just for 8th grade students and their families.

For your reference, here is the Promotion Contract with criteria to participate in the Promotion Ceremony. Students received this contract in the fall and most have returned it to the office.

Current 6th & 7th Grade students need to enter their course requests in PowerSchool AND turn the course request forms into the office.

6th Grade Students will need to get a TDAP vaccination before entering 7th Grade. Start scheduling those appointments now!

Each year the City of Norwalk sponsors Artastic. Several Benton students submitted works of art and were awarded Friday 3/15. Congratulations to Lucia Churchill for her first place award in Artastic! Other award winners are:

We had a successful opening for Beauty and the Beast, Jr. Tickets are still available for performances Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 6pm. If you wish to purchase tickets, click here.

Dr. Kim and the Benton Femineers attended Physics Day at Knott's Berry Farm last week. The Benton Femineers were the only middle school students demonstrating their work. A great day of learning (and funnel cake) was had by all.

Please join our zoom with your favorite morning beverage for conversation or Q&A with Benton Principal Ms. Ridgeway.

GIRLS SOFTBALL PRACTICE SCHEDULE:

Tuesday 3/19- 3:15-4:15

Wednesday 3/20- 2:00-3:15

BOYS SOFTBALL PRACTICE SCHEDULE:

Monday 3/18- 3:15-4:15

Tuesday 3/19- 3:15-4:15

The Middle School Softball Tournament is scheduled for 3/21.

Students will attend periods 1A–4A on Wednesday. This Wednesday, like all Wednesdays, dismissal is at 1:45pm.

The Tournament will be at Behringer Park in La Mirada.

Students are dismissed at 1:15pm on Thursday.

Students are on Break Friday, 3/29 through Friday, 4/5. Students return to school on Monday, 4/8.

The 23-24 Benton Yearbook is on sale now for $35 in the front office only, our webstore link is temporarily unavailable. You can purchase your copy now, Yearbooks will be distributed during the last week of school.

8th Grade Parents: each year in the yearbook, we feature a page with baby pictures of our 8th grade students. Now is the time to send a digital baby photo of your 8th grader to edegener@nlmusd.org. You only have a few weeks to submit those photos, do it now and be sure to include your student's name.

You can now purchase Ads or Well Wishes in the Benton Yearbook! Prices are as follows and are payable (cash or check) in the school office.

• Full Page: 7 in. horizontal x 10 in. vertical @ $100
• Half Page: 7 in. horizontal x 5 in. vertical @ $70
• Quarter Page: 3.5 in. horizontal x 4.75 in. vertical @ $40
• Eighth Page: 3.25 in. horizontal x 2.25 in. vertical @ $30

Full design supplied by parent to above specifications as either a PDF or JPG file with a high resolution enough to ensure quality at the size desired. The deadline to purchase/submit artwork is April 19th.

ENGLISH LEARNERS ADVISORY COUNCIL (ELAC)

Parents of students identified as English Learners are invited to participate on the ELAC. The ELAC provides advice to the School Site Council on the development of Benton's Single Plan for Student Achievement, the plan for improving the performance of English Language Learners.If you would like to serve on this body, please contact me or Ms. Alcala lalcala@nlmusd.org.

The PTSA is a huge support to students and Benton's programs, and we hope all families choose to join, support, and get involved at Benton. Join the Benton PTSA online at this link .

As you can see below, we have A Days and B Days. Students have periods 1A-4A on A Days, every Monday and Thursday, and periods 5B-8B on B Days, every Tuesday and Friday. On Wednesdays, we alternate between A Days and B Days.

Benton Middle School is a Visual & Performing Arts Magnet school. Follow us on Instagram @Bentonwolverines.

Email: rridgeway@nlmusd.org
Website: bentonms.org
Location: 15709 E. Olive Branch Drive, La Mirada, CA 90638
Phone: (562) 210-2500
Facebook: facebook.com/bentonmiddleschool
Twitter: @BentonPrincipal