Manitou Springs Middle School
Friday, January 27th, 2023
Dear Mustang Community,
We had a blast celebrating our 2nd quarter honor roll students on Thursday afternoon. Students received a Popcorn Party and certificates of achievement. Another highlight this week was Enrichment classes began on Thursday. Some new Enrichment classes this semester include Student Council, Friendship Bracelets, and Origami. These classes are not for a grade. They are all about having fun, building relationships, and learning in creative ways. Please reach out to me with any questions, concerns, or celebrations.
Sincerely,
Mr. Cady
Principal, MSMS
Dates for your Calendar
January 30th: Wrestling begins
January 30th: SAC Meeting, 5:30 to 5:30 PM, Manitou Middle School (all parents welcome)
In the school
MSMS SWAT Team:
MSMS received a Tobacco Free Mini Grant from the El Paso County Public Health Department. SWAT stands for Students Working Against Tobacco. Students in the group meet once or twice a month. Students reviewed signage at MSMS to see if we needed more signs stating that it is a Tobacco Free Campus. They have also put up flyers and posters around the school promoting various messages about the dangers of tobacco and nicotine. On Wednesday mornings and Friday mornings, SWAT members are guests on the student morning announcements promoting these same types of messages and resources available for people to quit using tobacco and nicotine products. The group will be getting t-shirts and will be participating in outside activities to promote their messages.
SWAT Team Advisors are:
Janie Anderson (Safety and Security Director)
SRO Strider (School Resource Officer)
Tiffany Allen (MSMS PE/Health Teacher)
SWAT team members are:
Scarlett Huffman
Katie Hanchey
Ezra Rasmussen
Evelyn WOlfe
Meadow Bayless
Ady Landon
Maggie Kowal
Ayden SIres
Acacia Gilmore
Emma Wall
Cade Cunningham
Bryce Frazier
Kylie Moore
Stillhouse Junkies Band:
We had some special guests Wednesday afternoon. Stillhouse Junkies from Durango stopped by the SILC and put on a Bluegrass performance for our students. They are currently artists in residence up at GreenBox and wanted to come in to play for our students and share about their lives as working artists. -- Thanks for visiting!
Art:
Here we have some wonderful clay projects from Ms. Leskee's class!
¿Cómo estuvo Perú? (How was Peru?):
7th grade Spanish students are reading a book that takes place in Peru. Mr. Cady took the time to tell each class about his experience living and working in Peru when he was in college. ¡Gracias, Mr. Cady!
Honors Orchestra:
Mateo Racho Pluth and Vincent Scharer performed with the Pikes Peak Honor Orchestra on Friday at Mitchell High School. Their performance was incredible, and they did an outstanding job representing the Manitou music program! They performed classical pieces such as Mozart, and contemporary pieces by Susan Day, and under the direction of Susan Day as their conductor, which was an amazing experience for the students. Mateo sat fourth chair in the violin section out of all the middle school violinists in the Pikes Peak region!
Wrestling begins soon!:
p.m. in the high school wrestling room. Once the high school season is over practice will be held from 3:30-5:00 p.m. We will have a parent meeting in the HS commons after the first practice on January 30th at 7:30 p.m. Please plan on attending to get further details and meet the coach.
In addition to wrestling skills, we will also be stressing sportsmanship and the proper conduct of an athlete. We would ask you to review our student handbook, under athletics, to become
familiar with our requirements for a student to participate in our athletic programs. We do expect our students and adults to be proper models of sportsmanship.
turned into the middle school office before January 30th. Athletes will receive a mandatory “pass to practice” from the office upon receipt of the required documents. Please contact Ms. Guynn at 719-685-2127 or jguynn@mssd14.org with any questions about the required paperwork.
As the season progresses, we will communicate wrestling information through the SportsYou
app. The code to join MSMS Wrestling on the SportsYou app is VYCUPJ93. Athletes may
join but I would recommend parents/guardians joining as well. The season schedule will also be posted on this app.
Sincerely,
Cameron Jones
Athletic Director
719-685-2058
A Virtual Tour:
Want to tour Manitou Springs Middle School? Check it out below!
Upcoming Events
Yearbooks
Scholarships for Middle School Students
Did you know that scholarships are available for all grade levels? There are scholarships that you can apply for in middle school. Check out this website: Scholarships for Middle School Students
6th Grade Snack Sign-up:
6th graders eat lunch early, at 10:05am, so they tend to be hungry towards the end of the day. PAC is helping organize snacks for the 6th graders so they can focus on their afternoon classes. The big boxes of snacks they sell at Costco or Sam's are perfect. Please consider signing up HERE.
Employment Opportunities
Community
Mustang Tech Tips!
Striking the perfect balance:
How do we ensure we keep a healthy balance in our digital and regular lives?
With phones and other digital devices, we have technology that gives us access to media any and everywhere. We all love easy access to entertainment, and we need technology to keep in contact and communicate with each other. It's important that we help our kids utilize these tools and explore their independence, but also make sure that they don't overdo it. There is an abundant amount of stimuli we can consume without noticing with things like auto-play, scrolling short video apps, and mobile games, but it's also easy to keep tech in check with a few simple practices.
5 great tips to help that precarious balancing act:
- Set specific times of the day when electronic devices must be turned off, such as during homework or family time.
- Create a digital detox schedule where you spend some time each day without any electronic devices.
- Prioritize real-life activities that you enjoy and make time for them, such as sports, hobbies, and spending time with friends and family.
- Use apps or tools that track, monitor and limit your device usage, so you can become more aware and reduce the amount of time you're spending on your devices.
- Establish a healthy balance between online and offline social interactions. Instead of only communicating with friends through social media or text messaging, make plans to meet up in person or talk on the phone.