Twin Peaks Middle School
Weekly RAM Newsletter
From the desk of Principal Mills - Sunday, March 27th, 2022
Happy Sunday, Ram Families!
It's been a beautiful weekend in San Diego - I hope this newsletter finds you all well and rested after enjoying some time in the sun! It's hard to believe that April will be here at the end of the week, and spring break is only 10 school days away!
This past Wednesday, March 23rd, we held our 5th Grade Parent Night for new and incoming TPMS students. The main presentation was recorded and can be FOUND HERE on the Twin Peaks website along with our informational slides from the night. Please make sure to share this link with any friends or neighbors who weren't able to join live!
The end of Quarter 3 was this past Friday, March 25th. Final quarter grades will be posted and available on ParentVue by Monday, April 4th. Please reach out to your student's teacher directly if you have questions or concerns about your student's progress in a particular class. The 4th and final quarter of the 2021-2022 school year will begin on Monday, March 28th.
Also on Friday, our ASB hosted the Spring Dance - "A Night at the Carnival". Our students had an amazing time playing carnival games, eating some great food, and dancing the night away in the quad! A HUGE THANK YOU to all of our TPMS families who donated items for the dance or volunteered their time to chaperone at the dance - because of your efforts, our ASB was able to organize and execute another successful event for over 500+ students on campus! Please check out some photos from the evening below.
Online Registration will close this week on Thursday, 3/31. Please log in and complete the digital registration packet online at the ParentVue portal: https://sis.powayusd.com/packet before this Thursday to ensure the proper placement of your student for the 2022-2023 school year. Please see the "Online Registration" section below for more information.
When we return from spring break at the end of April, we will begin our school-wide testing or CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress). These tests are incredibly important for our school and our community - student performance on these exams is a factor in determining school rankings, which influence local home values. In order to allow our students the best opportunity to be successful on the CAASPP, we are focusing our efforts around 4 testing days in their Ram classroom. This will allow students an opportunity to focus their efforts on the tests they will be taking without having to attend their regular classes. It is critically important that your students are present and ready for our 4 school-wide testing days - April 26th & 27th and May 3rd & 4th.
All students will need to have a set of wired earbuds or headphones for their Chromebook to use during testing. Please work with your student(s) to identify a set of earbuds or headphones that they can use and operate comfortably prior to our first test day on 4/26. We will have individual sets of wired earbuds available for students who do not have their own.
Finally this week, the Book Fair is back and happening all week long in the TPMS Library! Please see the flyer below for details and links to a preview of what books students can find at the Book Fair and a link for parents to sign-up to volunteer. All students will have an opportunity to visit the Book Fair during their ELA class and before school, during lunch and after school through Thursday. Please email our TPMS Librarian, Mrs. Uyloan at huyloan@powayusd.com with any questions.
In Partnership,
Steve Mills
Proud Principal
Twin Peaks Middle School
1(858)748-5131 x2806
Instagram: @principalmills_twinpeaks
TPMS - A NIGHT AT THE CARNIVAL!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
TPMS NEWS AND EVENTS - bit.ly/tpmsevents
March 28th-April 1st: Scholastic Book Fair in the Library
March 29th: Soccer vs BM, TPMS Field
March 31st: Late start Thursday, 9:15am
April 4th: Band/Orchestra Concert, 7pm, MPR
April 5th: School Site Council Meeting, 3:30-4:30pm Library
April 5th: 7/8th Grade Band Concert, 6-9pm, PCPA
April 6th: 7/8th Grade Orchestra Concert, 3:30-5:30pm, PCPA
April 6th: TBES/TPMS Equity Council, 4-5pm @ Zoom
April 7th: Late start Thursday, 9:15am
April 7th: Character Counts 3rd Quarter
April 8th: Day of Silence
April 12-16: SPRING BREAK
April 27th & 28th: Math CAASPP Testing Days
April 30th: Music Fundraiser Poway Community Center, TBD
May 3rd & 4th: ELA CAASPP Testing Days (minimum days)
Online Registration is Open!
PUSD 2022-2023 Continuing Student Registration is now Open! Online Continuing Student Registration will be open until March 31, 2022. We must receive a completed digital
packet for all returning students. This will allow for proper placement of your student for the 2022-2023 school year. This annual digital process will allow a family to complete one single “family” packet instead of completing one packet per student. Packets can be completed using any computer, tablet or smartphone with an internet connection.
Please ensure you can log into https://sis.powayusd.com. If you do not know your username and/or password, you can visit https://password.powayusd.com to retrieve your login credentials. Please log in and complete the digital registration packet online at the ParentVue portal: https://sis.powayusd.com/packet
Please email our Counseling Secretary, Donna Myers at dmyers@powayusd.com as soon as possible if you do not plan to return to PUSD for the 2022-2023 school year.
Thank you for your attention to this important process!
Scholastic Book Fair This Week!
We’re so excited to invite you to our upcoming Scholastic Book Fair! Hosted by our TPMS Library, this event is an opportunity for students to build their home libraries and further their love of reading. As always, all purchases benefit our school.
After missing out on many beloved traditions, our spring Book Fair will be a familiar, welcome, and safe event for our students. The fair will take place from March 28-April 1, and will be open before school, lunch, and after school. Students will also visit the fair with their Language Arts teachers. Click here for a list of books!
Click here to watch a book trailer video.
We are also in need of parent volunteers! Shifts are short and always fun! Click Link to Volunteer at our Book Fair
Attention 7th & 8th Graders!
We're SO excited to be hosting 7th and 8th grade Olympic Field Days this year during the last week of school!! Each grade level will have a different t-shirt design, and each RAM class a different color. Please fill out your grade-level T-shirt order form and return, along with $10 (cash or check to TPMS) to your RAM teach no later than Friday, April 1st. (Financial assistance available, when necessary).
- 7th Grade order form: CLICK HERE
- 8th Grade order form: CLICK HERE
8th Grade Families
Promotion is just around the corner and it's time to celebrate our 8th graders. If you would like to purchase a yard sign for your 8th grader, please fill out the google form before April 18th. Generic signs are $6 and customized signs with your graduate's name are $13. Signs will be delivered to the school during the first week of June.
Yearbooks are Still Available
Yearbooks are still on sale until May 13th. The books are $50 and can be purchased online https://tpmsyearbook.weebly.com/purchase.html or with an order form on campus if paying with cash or check.
Community Track Meet
8th Grade Harbor Cruise is back!
8th graders will have the opportunity to attend our annual end-of-the-year Harbor Cruise field trip on the evening of Monday, June 6th. We are excited to bring back this activity for our promoting students, but want to remind our Rams that participation in this event is a privilege that can be lost.
In accordance with our Student Handbook and Student Participation Guidelines, if a student has been suspended, earned multiple referrals, or a U in citizenship in any class during 3rd or 4th quarter, they will not be able to attend this event (page 12):
March 2022 Parent Education Courses
- Discover Your Personal Core Values – All Grades In Person
- Help Your Children Manage Stress and Anxiety – TK -5th Grade In Person
- Effective Strategies to Advocate for Your Child in Special Education - All Grades NEW Course Online via ZOOM
- Parenting Well Through Life Changes - All Grades NEW Course Online via ZOOM
- Nurturing Sexual Intelligence in Our Children – All Grades In Person
- Managing Parental Stress – All Grades In Person
Pilot Process for New Social Studies Curriculum
Poway Unified School District welcomes you to participate in the following curriculum opportunity: Secondary History Social Science Textbook Adoption
PUSD secondary schools are currently going through a pilot process for adopting a new History Social Studies (HSS) curriculum for our middle schools and high school United States History Course. Please visit our Secondary History Social Science Adoptions page for more information and directions on how to provide feedback. This opportunity will be available through April 1st, 2022.
The TPMS Choir is Back!
Any questions, please email TPMSchoirdirector@gmail.com
Sign up using this google form! https://forms.gle/NgqTSA8DeMXEmQxW7
COVID-19 Updates
On February 28th the Governor announced that starting on Monday, March 14, students and staff in TK-12 schools would no longer be required to wear masks while indoors on school campuses, although strongly recommended. At Twin Peaks MS, we value and respect individual choices on our campus. Some of our staff and students will continue to wear their masks, and some will choose not to. As a community, we need to respect the choices that each individual makes. I am requesting that over the next couple days, you speak with your child(ren) on your family’s expectations regarding masking, as well as, how to respect the decisions made by others. Our teachers will have similar conversations in their classrooms. Our counseling team is also available to support any students experiencing anxiety or difficulty with this transition in masking requirements.
Please Note: Staff and Students who have tested positive for COVID 19 will continue to isolate per the CDPH and SDCOE Decision Tree. If an individual tests negative on Day 5, they may return to school on Day 6 as long asymptomatic or symptoms are resolving and a mask must be worn that fits snugly over the mouth and nose while indoors and when around others outside. If one chooses not to wear a mask, they are required to return on Day 11.
Please continue to self-screen and take your temperature each morning before you come to work. If you feel sick or show any symptoms of being sick, please stay home. If you need to schedule a test, you can do so for you and your family members at Pharmatech LINKED HERE. Please continue to wear your masks indoors with students and require them to keep their masks up over their mouth and nose. If you are an unvaccinated adult on campus, you are asked to wear your mask at all times when indoors. If you have concerns about a student not wearing their mask properly or consistently indoors, please reach out to a member of our admin team so we can review the mask expectations with that student and their family.
For staff who have tested positive for Covid-19, per the California Department of Public Health updated guidance on isolation and quarantine as of December 30, 2021, PUSD staff may return to work when:
- 5 days from symptom onset (or if no symptoms then 5 days from positive PCR COVID-19 test date) AND
- Symptoms are not present or are resolving AND a negative COVID test (antigen test is preferred) taken on day 5 or later. (If unable to test or choosing not to test, and symptoms are not present or are resolving, isolation can end after day 10)
- Fever free for 24 hours (without fever reducing medication) AND
- Wear a well-fitting mask around others for a total of 10 days, especially in indoor settings
STUDENT CLOSE CONTACT
The updated CDPH K-12 guidance gives school districts the option of using the three quarantine model or the Group-Tracing Approach to Students Exposed to COVID-19 in a K-12 Setting. PUSD will be using the Group Tracing approach. Per the K-12 Guidance 2021-2022 Questions and Answers, tracking results from all exposed students is not required.
Parents should notify schools of positive results.
- Schools will notify group of students who spent more than a cumulative total of 15 minutes (within a 24-hour time period) in a shared indoor airspace (e.g., classroom) with someone with COVID-19 during their period of infectiousness.
- Notification will occur to "groups" of exposed students (e.g., classmates, teammates, cohorts, etc.) rather than contact tracing to identify individual "close contacts" (e.g., those within 6 feet).
- Notifications should be provided to all individuals, including those who are vaccinated and/or recently infected.
Please click HERE to access the updated Covid Guidelines and Protocols on the PUSD website.
Shop Amazon through TPMS Foundation
Twin Peaks Middle School
Email: chamilton@powayusd.com
Website: http://tpms.powayusd.com/index.html
Phone: 858.748.5131
Twitter: @TwinPeaksRams