Montera Middle School eBulletin

Block Schedule: AB - a - Ab

Tuesday March 18,

• 9:15 - 10:00am: Coffee Chat with Dr. Williams
• Cypress Mandela Training Center - Field Trip (Mr. Runge)
• 3:45 - 5:15pm: Boys Volleyball Tryouts
• 3:45-5:15: Ultimate Frisbee Tryouts

Thursday March 20:

• 5pm: Ethnic Studies in OUSD - Student, Family, Community Info Session

• 6:00pm - 6:45pm: 7th Grade Family Info Meeting 2026 DC Trip ZOOM

• 7:00 - 8:00: PTO Meeting - All Are Welcome - JOIN ON ZOOM

Friday March 21:

• 9:30 - 10:15am: 8th Grade Panoramic Picture
• 3:45 - 5:15: Ultimate Frisbee Tryouts
• 7:00pm: Montera Pub Crawl

Monday March 24, 8:00am - 7:00pm: Pattys & Buns Dine Out Fundraiser

Tuesday March 25: Yearbook Custom Pages - Final Deadline

Wednesday March 26: 8th Grade Trip to DC Departs (evening)

Thursday March 27: End of 5th Marking Period

Friday March 28: Cesar Chavez Day - No School

Monday March 31 - Friday April 4: Spring Break - No School

Monday March 31: 8th Grade DC Trip Returns (evening)

2024-25 BELL SCHEDULE | TORO TIPS | SUBSCRIBE TO CALENDAR | THE MATADOR |

OUSD ACADEMIC CALENDARS (2025-2028)

Thursday, March 20 7:00 - 8:00pm All Are Welcome!

Please join our monthly Montera PTO meeting (combined general & board meeting).

View upcoming agendas and propose agenda items in the PTO meeting agendas doc.

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84746425032?pwd=SrObeIYJgntfVl9qeB0pacOu3cO8gt.1

Meeting ID: 847 4642 5032
Passcode: 712715

Every Montera yearbook includes 2 custom pages that appear only in your book - they're a great way to honor your student's individual achievements, activities, and friendships! Custom pages must be submitted through Treering by March 25 to be included in the book. Find out how to create your custom pages here: https://help.treering.com/s/article/Creating-Custom-Pages-with-Page-Builder

Informational Meeting for 7th Graders and their families about the 2026 DC Trip (in their 8th grade year)

Mar 20 6:00pm - 6:45pm

ZOOM: https://ousd.zoom.us/j/3867413021?pwd=czhQWmRaQ0FLRWdqRCs2OE9ZeG5uUT09&omn=82979977718

The 8th grade panoramic picture is being taken on Friday, March 21st at 9:30 on the blacktop. Please see the attached for how to place an order. Families are encouraged to use the QR code to make payment ahead of time. Payment can also be made on photo day with the envelope that was provided to students in Advisory.

California Healthy Kids Survey

It is that time of the year again when students, staff and families take the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS). The CHKS is California’s largest statewide survey of resiliency, protective factors, and risk behaviors and lead to a better understanding of the relationship between students’ health, behaviors and academic performance.

Our goal is to get 100% Montera student and parent participation. As a reminder, the CHKS is anonymous and the data is used by the school to identify areas of continuous improvement of school safety, culture, health, etc. CHKS survey results are also used to raise and maintain state grant funding for student services and programs.

Families, please use this link to fill out the Parent survey. Your students will be taking their survey next week during Advisory.

I appreciate your cooperation with this.

Stacy Brix

7th Grade Assistant Principal

WHEN: Saturday, May 3 2025, 4pm - 8pm
WHERE: Zanzi Nightclub, 19 Grand Ave, Oakland

Adults Only

Dinner - Drinks - Auction - Dancing

TICKET NOW ON SALE

Don't miss out on the fun - get your tickets today!

https://paybee.io/@montera@30

This week we are featuring two recent donors who are local, Montera-family owned restaurants: Five Spiced Kitchen and Glenview Taqueria. We are so grateful to these businesses - please support them with your patronage! Thank you for supporting our kids and Go Toros!

Donate here

We are about 2/3 of the way there! Can you reach out to your favorite restaurant/cafe/gym/salon so that we can make this an incredibly successful auction? We are seeking donations big and small including gift cards in any amount, discount codes/coupons to businesses, donated items, services or experiences.

Businesses benefit by getting visibility and promotion in our online auction and/or live auction event on May 3. Donations are tax deductible. Funds go to programs that help Montera students and teachers.
Businesses can donate by contacting auction@monterapto.com or filling out this donation form.

We Also Need Volunteers!

In addition to attending, we need volunteers to plan and put on the event. If you’re interested in helping, please reach out—we’d love your support! Contact auction@monterapto.com.

DONATE | VOLUNTEER | LEARN MORE | BUY TICKETS

The Montera Pub Crawl has been rescheduled for Friday March 21st @7pm. Please come out and enjoy a fun evening with other Toro families and help raise some money for Wooodshop, Art & Musci!

Woodshop, Art, and Music are an important part of the Montera experience and this annual event is an important fundraiser for the continued success of these essential programs! Come connect with other parents while raising funds for some of Montera's signature programs!

Starting at Ben & Nick’s on College Ave at 7pm and then heading to a few more spots until we’ve had all the fun we can handle. Come for all or any part! Proceeds support the Woodshop, Art & Music Programs at Montera. Have fun, connect with other Montera parents, support the school = WIN / WIN / WIN! The Montera Social Club is a longstanding group of parents who believe in building community as a sustainable support structure for Montera. All are welcome!

RSVP Here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F054FA9A82BA0FA7-55382581-pubcrawl

Oakland Roots are giving every student a free ticket to their March 22nd Home Opener at the Oakland Coliseum! We believe every kid deserves the chance to experience the magic of professional soccer in their hometown.

Use code MONTERA (all caps) at https://oaklandroots.group/students to claim your free ticket and purchase additional tickets at a discounted rate.

***The school with the highest attendance percentage at the Home Opener wins $500 toward an end-of-year celebration!***

Ride for a Reason, a fundraising bike ride benefiting public schools in Oakland and Alameda, is one of Montera's favorite events! We earn around 10K from this annual event, but we must show up and participate to qualify! Montera is hosting a rest stop in Fairfield again this year in partnership with Brewer. Register to RIDE or VOLUNTEER today!

The Montera Annual Fund pays for supplies, events and facilities improvements not covered by the OUSD budget. It's the most flexible, general way to support our school. https://montera.ousd.org/get-involved/fundraising (See the sidebar on this page for more ways to donate, too.)

Our Giving Tuesday page has links if you want to donate directly to Sports, Music or 8th Grade Activities:
https://montera.ousd.org/get-involved/fundraising/givingtuesday

REGISTER | INTEREST FORM | DONATE | LEARN MORE

QUESTIONS: martin.price@ousd.org or sports@monterapto.com

SPRING SPORTS TRYOUTS:

• Boys Volleyball Tryouts: Tuesday March 18 from 3:45- 5:15pm (Monday tryouts cancelled)
• Ultimate Frisbee Tryouts: Tuesday March 18 3:45-5:15 & Friday March 21st 3:45-5:15 On the field. Bring water and cleats (if you have them). No experience required. New players welcome!

SPRING SPORTS PRACTICE SCHEDULE:

• Softball: Monday and Tuesday 3:45-5:15pm
• Baseball: Wednesday 2:00-3:30pm and Thursday 3:45-5:15pm
• Ultimate Frisbee: Tuesday & Friday from 3:45-5:15pm
• Track: Mondays and Thursdays from 3:45 - 5:15pm

SEEKING COACHES & ASSISTANTS!

• JV SOFTBALL COACH We had 23 students come out and we're anticipating more next Monday! Ideally someone stepsup so that all students have an opportunity to play!
• BOYS JV BASEBALL COACH
• FUTSAL - ASSISTANTS NEEDED

SEE FULL EVENT DETAILS HERE

Six Flags Trip: Friday, April 18th, $50 per student requested - *NOTE COST CHANGE

8th Grade Dinner Dance: Saturday, May 17 5:30 - 9:00pm
Picnic in the Park: Friday, May 23 9:15 - 3pm

8th Grade Promotion: Tuesday May 27, 4:00pm arrival 4:30pm Ceremony *NOTE TIME CHANGE

PARENT/GUARDIAN MEETING RECORDING & SLIDES:

• Meeting Passcode: a1b#&YpF
• Slides

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR ALL ACTIVITIES: SIGN UP

Questions: 8thgradeactivities@monterapto.com | MORE INFO

Trip Dates: March 26 (evening departure )- March 31, 2025 (evening arrival)

TILL DEBIT CARD | BAND APP | Itinerary | Donate

Questions?: Contact Mr. Cooper, Trip Leader: samuel.cooper@ousd.org

Photos from Montera's Black History Month celebration and Spring Wellness Day!

Click here to see Toro Pride Pics

These and many more opportunities are available to our Montera community, OUSD, and beyond. Items appear in the eBulletin for 2 weeks. Please click here for the full list of current programs.

Hello! We are the Stanford Parenting Center, an academic center seeking to empower parents with evidence-based strategies to help them foster healthy parent-child relationships and support their children’s mental health and well-being. The SPC works with the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development at the Stanford University School of Medicine to connect parents with a team of world-class experts.

We offer webinars, parenting classes, free online video resources, and individual treatment options for a wide variety of parenting topics. We encourage you to visit our website and social media, linked below, for more information.

We are pleased to announce a new free webinar, Help Your Child With Picky Eating: A Guide for Parents, which will be held live via Zoom from 12:00-1:00 pm PST on April 21. Details and link to register below, along with information on our Spring parenting classes!

Learn more about this free webinar and other Stanford Parent Center programs here:

https://med.stanford.edu/childpsychiatry/parenting.html

Bishop O'Dowd is pleased to invite 7th-grade students to participate in a Practice HSPT Exam on Saturday, May 3, 2025, at Bishop O'Dowd High School. This initiative provides students with a valuable opportunity to experience the format and types of questions found on the 8th-grade HSPT.

Event Details:

• Date: Saturday, May 3, 2025

• Location: Bishop O’Dowd High School

• Arrival Time: 8:30 AM (Please follow parking directions from security personnel)

• Testing Begins: 9:00 AM

• Duration: Approximately 3 hours

• Pick-Up Time: 12:00 PM

Practice Test Information:

• This is a practice test designed to familiarize students with the HSPT format.

• Scores will not be reviewed by O’Dowd Admissions and are for personal use only.

• LD accommodations are not available for this practice exam.

• Student scores will be sent directly to families by Scholastic Testing Service after the exam.

Registration:

To participate, students must complete both:

• O’Dowd Registration
• STS Registration: A STS (Scholastic Testing Service) link will be available after the O’Dowd registration has been completed. Please follow instructions.

Optional Parent Information Session: Enjoy breakfast while learning about the O’Dowd admissions process and what to expect when applying.

• Time: 9:00–10:30 AM

• Location: Theater at Bishop O’Dowd High School

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Bishop O'Dowd Admissions Office at admissions@bishopodowd.org.

We hope this opportunity will be beneficial in preparing your child for future academic success!

Best regards,
Kerryn Pincus Gallagher
Director of Enrollment and Admissions
admissions@bishopodowd.org

From March to April this year, STEMpathize is launching our virtual STEM workshops, in which elementary school students explore Sustainability and Climate Change, and middle school students venture into Artificial Intelligence.

Learn more and sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/stempathizespring2025 or visit stempathize.org

UC Berkeley's Academic Talent Development Program (ATDP) offers challenging and intellectually stimulating summer courses to high achieving students who are currently completing 7th through 11th grade. SD courses are offered online or in-person on the UC Berkeley campus and are fast-paced yet rich in content, typically spanning 4-6 weeks.

ATDP’s Pathway Scholarship is a competitive scholarship program reserved for exceptionally brilliant and hardworking middle and high schoolers. The Pathway Scholars Program provides a full tuition and fees scholarship for one on-site course. Below are the requirements for application.

1. Must currently be in 7th through 11th grade

2. Must be applying for an SD On-Site course with ATDP this summer

3. Must be hardworking, academically motivated, and have demonstrated resilience and perseverance in the face of significant hardships

4. Must have demonstrated a need for financial assistance (e.g. FRLP eligibility)

The deadline for students to complete all components of the application, as well as for school’s to submit student nominations, is Monday, March 18, 2024, find more information here!!

If you have any further questions, feel free to email Jackie Lopez Santiago, ATDP Academic Counselor: jaquelinelopez@berkeley.edu.

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We Are Montera. We Are One.

Email: communications@monterapto.com | Website: https://www.ousd.org/montera

Location: 5555 Ascot Drive, Oakland, CA, USA | Phone: (510) 531-6070

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