EMS Monthly Update
September 4, 2022
Thank you and first month wrap-up!
Dear Excelsior Families,
In wrapping up our first full month of school I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for the warm welcome to the Excelsior community! As Excelsior's new principal, this first month flew by and I was able to learn so much about our EMS community. Memorable highlights for me include welcoming our families during Back to School Night, presenting to our entire student body at our first Huddle of the year (it's back!), our near-perfect very first fire drill, and getting to know our students through outside supervision and classroom visits. I wake up each morning invigorated by the work that we are doing at EMS and look forward to continuing our positive momentum with our students and their families.
In addition to thanking our families, I would also like to thank the very devoted teachers and support staff for all their help and patience while I continue to learn about Excelsior. I am continuously impressed by their knowledge, dedication, and willingness to go above and beyond for their students. Being a small school, we are extremely fortunate to have an abundance of amazing educators and I am so thankful for their continued partnership in supporting all of our students.
Each month, I will send out an EMS Monthly Update to share some highlights of campus life and notify our community of upcoming events!
It was so wonderful to kick off the year so positively and to finally meet our Falcons! I'm looking forward to another great month of school as we close out the summer season.
Sincerely,
Ms. Jamie Keith
EMS Principal
- September 5th - Labor Day (no school)
- September 7th - PTSA Meeting (7:00 pm) in the library
- September 8th - BUSD Board Meeting (5:30 pm)
- September 13th - Dinner Fundraiser Pickup at Discovery Bay Elementary
- September 14th - 17th - Fall Play Performance in Theater
- September 19th - BUSD Board Meeting (5:30 pm)
- September 21st - 24th - Fall Play Performance in Theater
- September 19th - 27th - Q1 Finals
- September 23rd - CJSF Luncheon
- September 26th - 29th - Bookfair in EMS Library
- September 28th - 30th - Fall Conferences, Minimum day: 11:55 am release
- September 30th - End of Quarter 1 (please note this date is incorrectly listed as 9/1 on the academic calendar)
EMS Learning in Action!
Penny Lab in science!
Library time!
S'mores plate tectonics lab!
Our first period TEAM classes are an excellent support for our EMS students as they provide a safe space for students to learn from one another and build a sense of community over time.
TEAM teachers work with students in all three grade levels and loop with their TEAM class yearly, building a supportive relationship with their students and families. When fall conferences roll around in late September, families will be invited to meet with their student's TEAM teacher to set goals for the year as well as take a look at student's present performance (more information on fall conferences later this month).
Students in our TEAM classes don't just work with their own teacher - throughout the year our EMS teachers will travel to different TEAM classrooms to introduce themselves and share a fun game or activity with the group. This "Moving Monday" structure allows all of our students and teachers to get to know each other over the course of the year, helping our school community bond over shared interests and activities.
This year our TEAM classes are embarking on a character development journey utilizing our new character education curriculum, Character Strong. This curriculum integrates social, emotional, and behavioral supports with academics. During our first quarter, students are learning about the importance of community, meeting new people, and getting to know their school.
In addition to our Character Strong curriculum, students also attend schoolwide Huddle assemblies once per month with their TEAM class. Our first Huddle was a principal welcome and expectations Huddle and our second Huddle focused on student activities as well as information about our own Veteran's Memorial Gym. In coming Huddles, our students will celebrate successes together and be recognized for being amazing members of our Falcon community. Huddle dates for the remainder of the year are:
- September 25
- October 31
- November 28
- December 19
- January 9
- February 6
- March 6
- April 3
- May 1
- June 5
Team in action!
Ms. Chavez's TEAM Class working on Character Strong
Huddle #2!
Huddle #2!
Fall Musical - The Little Mermaid (Junior Edition)
Come join our junior thespians in an under the sea adventure full of vibrant costumes, music, and song! Tickets on sale soon - we will send out a special email with the link to purchase tickets as soon as the ticketing site is ready!
Mark your calendars!
September 14, 16, and 23 at 7:00 pm
September 17 at 12:00 pm and 3:00 pm
September 24 at 12:00 pm
Students/Children: $10
Adults: $13
Matinee performance September 15 and 22 at 4:00 pm
All tickets to the matinee performances are $10
Student Safety
With the addition of construction out on Byron Highway, it is of utmost importance that we continue to drive safely around the EMS campus. Please help keep our students safe by following the speed limit and watching for pedestrians in our parking lot and in the roads surrounding our campus.
Please do not use the lot in front of the theater and gym as a drop off location unless you pull directly into a parking spot. This will help keep traffic flowing and we have observed vehicles blocking traffic in the parking lots. If you would like to simply drop your student off, please use the drop off loops.
PTSA Information
Excelsior Middle School PTSA welcomes all students, teachers, parents & grandparents to be part of an inclusive group supporting healthy student activities at EMS...go Falcons! Join today, we'd love your input! Please click on this text to join.
Our PTSA meets the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00 PM in the school Library. If you can't make it in person, you can also join the meeting via our Zoom Link (button below). Our next PTSA meeting is Wednesday, September 7th at 7:00 pm.
Community Service Promotion Requirement
As part of our commitment to providing students with a well-rounded education, we believe that service learning can enhance academic outcomes, help students develop the skills and knowledge necessary to become informed and responsible citizens, and aid in individual career development. Service learning experiences also helps motivate students by providing them the opportunity to apply their studies to school and community needs and showing them that they can make a contribution to their community through involved citizenship.
Because of the value we place on service learning, each Excelsior student must complete one hour of community service for each semester of enrollment (two hours per year). If students do not successfully complete their community service requirement, they will not receive a certificate of promotion at the end of 8th grade. Your child’s TEAM teacher is responsible for helping your child keep track of their service learning requirements. We have developed two forms for keeping track of these community service hours. These forms are available for download from our school website and are also available in our Parent/Student Handbook.
In order to help support students towards completion of their community service responsibilities, we have included a list (on the back of this document) of possible volunteer activities. Please note that community service activities are not limited to this list. In fact, students can be creative in ways that they can complete their community service requirements as long as it meets with the approval of their TEAM teacher.
EMS August Highlights!
The snack bar area! Special thanks to our volunteers!
The snack bar area! Special thanks to our volunteers!
Wii at the dance!
WIi at the dance!
Leadership's amazing decorations!
Let's Glow!
PBIS Corner
Our school is participating in an important district initiative. It is called Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS).
What is Positive Behavior Interventions and Support?
PBIS is a process for creating safer and more effective schools. It is a systems approach to enhancing the capacity of schools to educate all children by developing research-based, school-wide, and classroom behavior support systems. The process focuses on improving a school’s ability to teach and support positive behavior for all students. It is an approach to creating a safe and productive learning environment where teachers can teach and all students can learn.
What is PBIS at our school?
We have adopted a unified set of schoolwide rules and expectations. These can be found on the first page of your student's planner or by clicking here. These rules define our expectations for behavior in our school. Our unified school rules, found in every classroom and non-classroom setting in the school, are as follows:
- Be Safe
- Be Respectful
- Be Responsible
Each of the above rules looks different depending on the student's setting. As an example, a student following "Be Safe" rule within in the classroom would:
- Enter and exit respectfully
- Walk at all times
- Keep hands, feet, and other objects to themself
- Stay seated in assigned area
- Use classroom items as intended
A student following this same rule within the restroom would:
- Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water
- Keep hands, feet, and other objects to themself
- Immediately report any unsafe behavior to the nearest adult
There are some rules and expectations on our campus which we started off the year strong with but now could use extra support from our families on. They are:
- Horseplay is now allowed (Be Safe!)
- Keep hands, feet, and other objects to yourself (Be Safe!)
- Use kind words and be courteous to others (Be Respectful!)
- Respect school and personal property (Be Respectful!); particularly in our boys restrooms where this rule is not being followed
- Keep all food and drink in the lunch area, clean up after yourself (Be Responsible!)
- Gum is not permitted on campus (Be Responsible!)
Please speak with your students about following these rules/expectations so we can continue to keep EMS a safe and clean place for all of our students!
Recording and Cell Phone Policy
Cell phone, Smartphone and Smartwatch use is prohibited at Excelsior. Cell phone usage disrupts and impairs the teaching process. If your child brings a cell phone to school it shall be turned off in class and left in your child's backpack. Any device with a camera, video, or voice recording function shall not be used in any manner, which infringes on the privacy rights of any other person. The school District and employees are not responsible for loss or theft of personal property. School authorities will confiscate unauthorized devices. Confiscated devices will be returned to the parents / guardian not to the student. Please support our efforts to have a safe, distraction free learning environment.
Excelsior Middle School
Email: jkeith@byron.k12.ca.us
Website: https://ems-busd-ca.schoolloop.com/
Location: 14301 Byron Highway, Byron, CA, USA
Phone: 925-809-7530
Twitter: @EMSFalcons