Progress Reports

I know that progress reports were the topic of conversation for many of you over this last extended. Overall, the 3rd Bryan girls did well on their progress reports. For those of you who are concerned about your daughter's grades, here are a few tips about how to bring up grades and improve study habits in general. If they come to you for advice, here are some good ideas to pass on.
~Use study hours and superstudy appropriately.
~Use study periods during the class day to get ahead on homework.
~Attend tutorials or office hours to receive help with class work.
~Talk to the teacher about what they think will help bring a grade up.
~Talk to the academic advisor and ask what suggestions they have.
~ASK FOR HELP!!
~Keep a planner to write down assignments and their due dates.
~Schedule specific times to work on large assignments-don't just assume they will get done.
~Get plenty of rest. Sometimes grades are lower than students expect because they are tired and have trouble focusing, not because they are not studying.
~Eat well. The brain needs fuel to work.

Keep in mind that it can be easy to get overwhelmed in the first few months here. With adjusting (or readjusting) to living on campus, having new classes, and balancing a social life with school work, many students let their grades slip. Just remember that teachers do progress reports to give students a chance to improve their grades. Encourage your daughter not to give up hope if her grades aren't what she wants. Instead, use progress reports as a learning experience and make improvements as she needs to.

Balloon Popping

Yesterday, as soon as classes were over, 3rd Bryan had a balloon popping party. We all gathered in the lounge, blew up different types of balloons, and stabbed, stomped, sat on, squished, or otherwise popped the balloons. It sounds silly, but it gave us all a way to blow off some steam from a rough week and get a good laugh. While there were a few tenderhearted souls who saved their balloons from certain death, most of the balloons perished for out entertainment.
Our next projects: bhangra and friendship bracelets...
Wish us luck!!

Thank You!

I would like to say thank you to the Gregory's for sponsoring our study break tonight! We had milk, cookies, grapes, potato chips, and apple juice. The girls really enjoyed having a break from studying and getting some tasty snacks. Thanks again!

3rd Bryan's Been BUSY!

And when I say we have been busy, I mean we have done 15 hall programs in 7 days! That is averaging more than 2 programs a day.
We made welcome back posters for some girls who went home sick...
Baked cookies...Played hall family feud...
Played Rock Band...
Played with the Giant Orange Frisbee...
Had Bedtime stories (and ate the cookies we baked)...Serenaded our brother hall for winning IM Soccer Championships...
Learned about Russian with Scott, and had our names written in Cyrillic. Can you guess who these are?...
All in all, we had a great time. It seems like many of the girls had an especially stressful week this week, but they are all hanging in there. To combat the stress we are having a balloon popping party on hall tomorrow after class. It should be lots of fun. Look for more updates soon!

Family Day Reception

Don't forget about the family reception on Saturday Sept. 12th. We will be in the 3rd Bryan lounge on hall at 4:00pm (or as soon after the last meeting as everyone can get there). Please drop by and visit, meet our hall parents for the year, and get some more information about hall events. We ask that you bring a snack or dessert to share with everyone. And don't forget that if you want to have a one on one meeting with me just drop me an email so we can set aside a time. Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you all!

IM Soccer

I hope everyone had a wonderful extended weekend. Things are back in full swing here. I wanted to update everyone and let you know that our hall will be playing in the playoffs for IM Soccer tomorrow!! YAY!! We came in second in our division and will be playing against 3rd Beall tomorrow at 4:40pm. Below are some pictures from one of our previous games. Wish us good luck for tomorrow!

Our brother hall cheering us on!

Waiting to sub in.

Exended Sign Out Procedures

I just wanted to write a quick note about how sign out procedures work for Extended Weekends in case your daughters didn't explain it all to you.

• Instead of using sign out cards, ALL students sign out on an extended sign out sheet posted on the hall door.
• If a student is leaving before classes end or coming back later than 10:30pm on Monday (for this extended, but generally after check for any extended), they need to sign out at the SLI office before leaving in addition to signing out on hall.
  
• If a student will be missing classes, they must do a prior approval of absence form to let their teacher know they will be missing class.
  
• If a student is going home (no matter how they will be getting there), they do not require any paperwork.
• If a student is going somewhere other than home, they need overnight permission paperwork, and need to sign out at the SLI office.
• Before students leave for extended, they must unplug all appliances except the fridge (it will have to be unplugged over long breaks), do their housekeeping assignment for the week, clean their room, and lock the windows and doors.
  
• All students should sign back in on the Extended sign out sheet posted on the hall door when their return to campus.
  

Hope that makes extended sign out crystal clear. Let me know if you have questions!

September Birthday Party

I just want to say a big thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Liang for sponsoring tonight's celebration of all September birthdays. The girls loved the vanilla cheesecake filled cake, veggie platter, grapes, chips and salsa, and hummus we had. Below are some pictures of the celebration.

It's my birthday party!

Yummy Cake!!Look I can make funny faces...Is that what I look like when I make funny faces?
Oh, no! That's a camera!
Huh?

Update your FOCUS

Please be aware that the following request for parents was posted to At A Glance:

Parents:

As we prepare for our emergency notification test coming up on September 14, we need to make sure we have all of your contact information correctly stored in our student information system. Please log into FOCUS (https://focus.ncssm.edu) by Wednesday, September 9, 2009 and confirm your contact information available at "My Child" --> "Child Info" --> "Addresses and Contacts."

Once there, please:

1) Confirm that your child's home address and home phone number are correct.
2) Confirm that you are listed in the "Contacts at this Address" list.
3) Click your name and confirm that the cell phone and e-mail address listed are correct.
4) Click the "Update My Information" link if anything is incorrect or data is missing. You will have the opportunity in that form to submit any other information we need to know in the "Notes" section at the end of the form.

If you have any questions or have any trouble logging into FOCUS, please contact Lauren Everhart, director of communications, at 919.416.2872 or everhart@ncssm.edu

Best,

NCSSM Communications
communications@ncssm.edu
919.416.2872
www.ncssm.edu