From the Desk of the Spreadsheet Sorceresses: A look back, a look ahead

Spreadsheet Sorceress llim provides us with this final look back at the Fall 2017 term! 

Before the new term heats up too much, let's take a moment to reflect on the Fall 2016 term, when Ravenclaw won the House Cup for the FOURTH time in a row!!  What can we learn from that historic victory? 

We earned about 59% of our 75148 points in classes, over quarter from Advanced Studies, and the rest from Quidditch and the HMC.

Compared to the other houses, we shone in our class turn-ins--clearly the most important category given the points available!  Of course 'Claws still had a dazzling display in Advanced Studies.  It's what we're known for, after all!  We also came on really strong in the HMC compared to other houses.  We really enjoyed those non-Rav crafts and taking care of our bodies and minds!

You may ask, Are we on track for an unprecedented FIFTH House Cup trophy??  Well, it is much too early to tell, but preliminary indications point to a very close race!  The number of Advanced Studies proposals is close, the first Quidditch round was close, class turn ins so far are close...  Are you sensing a theme? 

However, what we clearly see from last term's victory is:

• Classes are key!  Maybe get One More Class! in with a quick blanket square for the Blanket Brigade.
• If we keep our Advanced Studies completion rates up, that can give us an edge!  Even if the number of proposals is close, if we finish more NEWTs, OWLs, and Order Missions we get more points!
• Quidditch is not to be dismissed!  We got almost one tenth of our points from Quiddy last term, and this term's matches have more base points available than last term's!

Keep those needles, wheels, spindles, etc. flying, Ravenclaw!  Let's SOAR!!!

Advanced Studies -- Fall 2016 Wrap Up

Before we get too far into the term, we're taking a look at what made Ravenclaw champions this past term.  We've already had a look at Quidditch; today we are looking back at Advanced Studies.

The Tower started off its ultimately victorious term with a whopping 105 OWL students, 86 Order Agents, and 8 NEWTlings setting off to capture their respective beasts. A few of the more adventurous students even sought to catch more exotic dual-personality beasts, with 65 attempting to PhOWL and four crazy ambitous ‘Claws choosing to chase the elusive Flaming Salamander.

Magical creatures are tricksy things, though, and even the best laid plans sometimes just make the beasts laugh instead of coming in nicely. Getting close still earned points for the House, though! We had 16 partial Missions turned in (400 points), nine OWL students who at least met their 50% mark (675 points), four OWL students who buckled down after missing the 50% deadline and still turned in a complete OWL (500 points), and one NEWTling who didn’t hit her 50% or 75% deadlines but still managed to get the entire thing done by 30 Nov (250 points). This is how points add up, folks!

The HoH gets to hand out the individual shinies, but we had over half of our Agents – 47! - complete their Missions this term! When combined with the sixteen who turned in partials, 73% of the Order’s Ravenclaw Agents performed valuable service this term!

Sixty-five OWL students passed their exams with an Outstanding (presumably – that’s what I would have graded them as, anyway). That’s six more than last term! Woo hoo! Twenty-eight were able to catch the lovely and tricky PhOWL.

FIVE of our NEWTlings managed to capture the slippery devils, and mad props go to PickleMommy, KhenaSanskula, and Hreow for successfully trapping the elusive Flaming Salamander!

As always, a huge round of applause to our new OWL Mistresses – SarahAlderSign and fricknfrack!! What an accomplishment!

Please go visit the various AS Finals threads and marvel over the accomplishments of your class- and Towermates! Truly inspiring!

Soar, Ravenclaw!

Thank you to Kadiddly for that look back at our Fall Advanced Studies!

What's Happening This Week -- December 26 - January 1

Big Eagle Application -- Due midnight POT 12/27

Break Month Activities  --  Through 12/31
                                       Slytherin Advent Sock KAL

                                       Holiday Sparkle

                                       The Party Palace

                                       Cozy Color Retreat

First Year/Transfer Dorm Feedback Survey

Ravenclaw Feedback Survey

SORTING   ---  NLT Midnight POT 12/31!!!

January 2017 Classes -- Begin 1/1

OWL applications -- Accepted 1/1  -- 1/22

NEWT 50%  --  Accepted 1/2 - 1/31

What's Happening This Week -- December 19 - 25

SORTING SIGN-UPS! Through NOON POT 12/23

Break Month Activities  -- Slytherin Advent Sock KAL

                                       Holiday Sparkle

                                       The Party Palace

                                       Cozy Color Retreat

Big Eagle Application -- Due midnight POT 12/27

First Year/Transfer Dorm Feedback Survey

Ravenclaw Feedback Survey

Quidditch Stats -- Fall 2016 Wrap Up

Today's Quidditch Stats are presented by the illustrious founder of our House, Rowena Ravenclaw!

Greetings and salutations to all my dear Ravenclaws! I am so very happy to be addressing you today, and conveying my praise for your Quidditch achievements this past fall term 2016.

For my beloved House of scholars, devoted to the quest for knowledge, this strong third place finish in an athletic endeavor is admirable! Every single one of those Quidditch points counted toward our stunning win of the House Cup for the fourth consecutive term.

I am very proud of all of our Chasers, and I salute the team leadership for a job well done.

Squad honors go to the Abraxans, who pulled ahead of all the other Flying Horses in the contest for Quidditch points.

Blue - all matches; Red match 1; yellow match 2; green match 3; purple match 4

And here are the final House standings for Quidditch Fall 2016. I shall convey my hearty congratulations to my colleague Godric for his House's fine victory.

Blue - all matches; Red match 1; yellow match 2; green match 3; purple match 4

My dear Ravenclaw students, enjoy your well-deserved break month, and I look forward to your endeavors on the pitch in Winter Term 2017.

SOAR EAGLES!

Thank you to Quidditch stats beater Greenheron and our dear founder for that wonderful summation of this term's matches!

Firstie (and Transfer!) Friday

It's Firstie Friday (on Saturday, because that's how we roll sometimes!) 

Our Firsties and Transfers had a PHENOMENAL first term in Ravenclaw! 

Huge congrats and Tower hugs to our Firstie Class: 

AFeskimo

BarnOwl

cn32

CymraesCrochet

delana75

Extraterrestrial

gardenmama

Laura909

Lettisia

Mellian

Mumblemee

scrappinrobyn

siouxsieshoe

And our Transfer class: 

ahanson08

TShaya

frithuswith

KhenaSanskula

PinkLemons

yarnfreak75

cubejelly

christinahwest

A big thank you to all our Big Eagles:

Specialkknits

Leahandthedragon

Twistedsticherfge

Snippybits

Morningwynd

Lateclematis

Bigsnakes

Bchapman1017

Wendebular

Lavendarblueskies

Jinxsa

Sumiregusa

Kaypendragon

S2five

Zisch304

Isilsartari

And an extra special thank you to Mama Eagle MissJaneJetson and Auntie Eagle Lash! 

Weekly Showcase Wednesday: Last Showcase of the Fall Term!

This term flew by!  I feel like it's still the beginning of October, and yet here I am doing the last showcase of the Fall Term!  It's been a great term, and I'm very much looking forward to the End of Term Feast to see how it all turned out.  Hopefully projects like these will help us do well in the race for the House Cup!

There were a ton of awesome projects turned in during the last few days of the term, and these have each earned a Golden Pickodile!

treesh spun a lovely purply-pinky skein of yarn for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

PoodleParade crocheted a charming pair of slippers (with a very sweet story to match) for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

lavenderblueskies knit a beautiful pair of lacy socks for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

Bijou3Owl was inspired by the mantis shrimp and spun a gorgeous skein of yarn for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

djmeurer knit three fabulous colorwork mittens with Latvian braids for Grooming of Magical Creatures:

Sonnenblumenimp knit a marvelous pair of lacy cabled socks for Grooming of Magical Creatures:

greenheron knit a wonderful lacy shawl for Grooming of Magical Creatures:

CacaoGoddess painted an awesome set of watercolor Pacific Northwest leaves for Grooming of Magical Creatures:

gardenmama knit another spectacular pair of socks for Grooming of Magical Creatures:

thtr4me knit a cute monster for Habitats of Magical Creatures:

SadieLou crocheted an adorable moomin for Safe Handling of Magical Creatures:

soprano1 made another delightful needle-felted creature, this time a mouse, for Safe Handling of Magical Creatures:

chrissyteenychan made a dazzling bracelet for Safe Handling of Magical Creatures:

bchapman1017 knit a lovely shawl for Healing:

Red knit a wonderful baby sweater for History of Magic:

rondaletts made a cute trio of snowmen along with a kitty ornament for Muggle Studies:

KnitWit685 made a very charismatic Christmas tree for Muggle Studies:

gothknitty knit a marvelous colorwork phone cozy for Muggle Studies:

s2five crocheted a delightful bear ornament for Muggle Studies:

christinahwest knit a lovable fox for Muggle Studies:

Sumiregusa made a charming turtle for Muggle Studies:

omeletsmom knit a cute collection of finger puppets for Muggle Studies:

SarahAlderSign crocheted an adorable toadstool for Muggle Studies:

Momtoaaandm made a wonderful collection of snowmen and gnomes for Muggle Studies:

electronjam knit a beautiful picture complete with a frame for Potions:

LeahandtheDragon knit a gorgeous pair of lacy socks for Potions and also made a stunning pendant which fits inside a clever bag for Quidditch:

caranam made a delightful unicorn cardigan for Potions:

TwistedSticherFGE spun a stunning skein of yarn for Potions:

As usual, several Ravenclaws did the unbelievable and successfully outran the Mallet of Sanity to earn the Pickle of Sanity Badge!

winemakerssister spun an amazing 2604 yards of singles for Grooming of Magical Creatures!

aknittingstory knit an entire sweater, using an unbelievable 1040 yards, in just five days for Safe Handling of Magical Creatures!

AngiePie18 crocheted an entire blanket, using an unfathomable 3255 yards of yarn, in under a month for Safe Handling of Magical Creatures!

jinxsa knit not one, not two, not even four, but an incredible 16 pairs of mittens, using 1149 yards of yarn, all for Safe Handling of Magical Creatures!

And there were some laughs this month as well, which earned the Darth Pickle Badge!

matematichica got me giggling over her story of a tiny totoro who cannot fly, but instead does a faceplant on the sand, for Muggle Studies:

Congratulations to all the badge winners!!!  This has been an incredible term, and everyone should be proud of all their work!  I'm excited to see what you have in store for Winter Term!

Fantastic Beasts -- And We Were Happy to Meet Them!

We're all done hunting Fantastic Beasts for this term.  Thank you so very much to our contributors:

Pumpahkin
PurplePigwidgeon
Kaos127
Allysonpickles
Kaypendragon
Gazebogal
s2five
knotmagic
Caranam
Kadiddly
Xamonster

for introducing us to the creatures that live in your houses. It was so much fun meeting your Ravenpets!