AMS Principal Newsletter
January 26
Welcome to Quarter 3!
As we enter the second half of the school year, please note some important changes to our practices and routines to better support our students.
Daily Attendance Calls: Please connect with Karin Wehse in the office every day your child will be absent. If a child is marked absent during the school day, you will receive an automated call. We need accurate information in the system and have many unexcused absences due to lack of notification. School starts promptly at 8:45am, please be on time.
Aspen School District Absences and Excuses (Click, here for Spanish)
Lockers: Teachers are beginning to allow locker use this quarter. This will take some time, please be patient as we begin these assignments.
Phones: All cell phones must be turned off and given to Community Teachers during the school day. Students do not need this distraction during their day, please help reinforce this with your children. Misuse of cell phones will result in disciplinary action.
Bus Passes and Bus Changes: If you need a new bus pass or want your child to catch a different bus home than usual, please visit the Transportation homepage. Links to the Bus Pass Replacement Form and the Bus Change Request Form can be found there. Students will not be allowed on a bus if they are not registered for a bus, and we will not be accepting handwritten notes or text messages from parents allowing students to ride a different bus.
Internet Safety Presentation: Please take time to review the parent presentation sponsored by AFC in response to parent interest. link to that recording on the AFC website.
Departing Staff: Please join us in saying farewell to Kamala Marsh. Kamala has been a long time member of the teaching staff at Aspen Middle School in our World Language Department. She will be missed! Congratulations on retirement, Kamala!
Secondly, we'd like to thank Margie Dye for joining our staff this year for the second quarter. Margie taught Visual Arts and Multimedia Design. While her time with us was short, students enjoyed the opportunity to create alongside Margie's encouragement. Thank you, Margie!
Upcoming Dates
January 25th: 3rd Quarter/2nd Semester Begins
January 27th: Virtual Parent Coffee from 8:30am - 9:30am (Parent Coffee Zoom Link)
January 31st: Quarter 2nd Grades available on PowerSchool starting February 1st
February 18th: No School Students ~ Professional Development Staff
February 21st: President’s Day ~ No School Students and Staff
Drawing of Caring by Charlotte Lemons
From January 25th ~ February 4th, Community class time will incorporate discussions about the IB learner profile attribute of caring. As a group and individually, students will explore how they can show caring in our school and then make a commitment towards a positive, caring action. Soon we will have a school artwork with each student's caring commitment!
In addition, as a school, we celebrate when students exhibit one or more of the ten learner profile attributes. Students that go above and beyond may be awarded a learner profile award from a staff member and entered into a weekly raffle. The raffle winners are announced over the school intercom weekly. There are so many positive student actions to notice and celebrate around our school!
The Second Semester Community time will launch instruction combining our IB Learner Profiles with the SEE (Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning) curriculum (Emory University). The first learner profile is ‘caring’ and the unit of work from the SEE curriculum is Compassion for Self and Others. Because of this new approach we have decided to revisit the purpose of community time.
- 1/25th - 28th ~ Question of the Week: What is the purpose of community time?
- 1/31st - 24th ~ Question of the Week: What does it mean to listen to someone with our
full attention? Is there someone in your life that listens to you that way?
COVID Update
This link is used to report at-home positive test results related to ASD. https://redcap.pitkincounty.com/surveys/?s=77XL989JH7N9FPDC
Click here to review the School Health and Safety Update (Jan 7th)
Click here to review the PCH Testing and Isolation Algorithm (Jan)
*Note isolation period is now reduced to 5 days. Rapid antigen testing prior to returning to school is recommended.