January 8 Monday Letter
"Effort Creates Ability"
JANUARY 8 - JANUARY 12
Contact Administration
- Thomas @ (208) 881-4437
- Justin @ (208) 516-0278
- Scott @ (208) 270-7785
Principal Principles
"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." -- Theodore Roosevelt
Important Upcoming Dates for the Week
If you see something that should be here but isn't, make sure to contact us to get it updated! For focus teams, please plan on being to the meeting prior to the start time so that the meeting can start on time. Your time is valuable and so is that of the other people on your team. If for some reason, you are unable to attend due to extenuating circumstances, please inform your focus team leader prior to the meeting.
- Monday, January 8 -
- Tuesday, January 9 -
- Wednesday, January 10 - RtI meeting in the morning, faculty meeting in the afternoon
- Thursday, January 11 -
- Friday, January 12 -
Important Things After This Week
If you see something that should be here but isn't, make sure to contact us to get it updated!
- Wednesday, January 31 - Parent/Teacher Conferences
- Saturday, February 3 - State Robotics Competition in Twin Falls
- Saturday, February 10 - Barnes and Noble Book Fair
Bus Duty Assignments This Week
TO BE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE POLICY REGARDING LOADING AND UNLOADING OUR STUDENTS FROM THE BUSES, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT ONE PERSON IS IN EACH OF THE FOLLOWING ZONES DURING YOUR BUS DUTY.
Morning (8:15 am - 8:35 am) - Cafeteria, Commons Area, and Outside.
Afternoon (Please come outside as soon as the bell rings.) - South end of the building, Right out front where you can see toward the south end and north end of the building, and in front of the pavilion near the bus loading. This allows all assigned for bus duty to see all of the major areas where students congregate to wait. The essential area to be monitored is the south end (side) of the building. The first few minutes are critical as far as the need for supervision. If there are four people assigned, the fourth person can help where needed.
- Paulette Durfee (near the pavilion)
- Lana Izatt (center near the main entrance)
- Kolby Skoien (south side of the building)
- Jeff Kenly (south side/center of the building)
The Following Week's Bus Duty Assignment:
- Cathy Joyner (near the pavilion)
- Colin Anderson (center near the main entrance)
- Mary Brown (south side of the building)
Upcoming IEP/504 Meetings
These meetings are on your Outlook calendar, but this is a reminder of what you have this week. If for some reason, you are unable to attend due to extenuating circumstances, please contact the person whose room the meeting is in prior to the meeting. Unless identified, meetings start as soon as possible after school.
- Monday, January 8 - 3:40 pm - Rm. 232 - Shackett, Cope, Trimble
- Tuesday, January 9 - None
- Wednesday, January 10 - 9:00 am - Conference Room - Cope, Powell, Moeller
- Thursday, January 11 - 3:40 pm - Rm. 232 - Rothwell, P. Dahlke, Williams, Shackett
- Thursday, January 11 - 3:50 pm - Rm. 32 - Shackett, Hansen, Seedall, E. Navarro
- Friday, January 12 - 3:50 pm - Rm. 31 - Butikofer, J. McLing, Breeze, Gleave, Pipinich
New Items to Be Aware of:
- Several scientists and colleagues at the INL will be piloting a new "Girls Who Code" club here at RMMS! Girls Who Code is a national non-profit working to close the gender gap in technology, and we will be the first school in our region to offer such a program! These clubs are free after-school programs for 6-12th grade girls to use computer science to impact their community and join a "sisterhood" of supportive peers and role models. To make this a reality, they are asking teachers to select several young women who might be good candidates for something of this nature. This would be in addition to, and as a support to, the great club Janelle is heading up during FLEX. These young women should have a general interest in technology already (gaming, social media, coding), but even if they do not and you think they would be interested, please forward them on to us. We are asking each team to provide the names of three young women for us to choose from. If you could discuss it in your team meetings when we get back, we would appreciate it. For the pilot, they are looking for 10-15 young women altogether, so they will be a bit selective at first. The club will be meeting on Wednesdays after school with the program running about 10 weeks overall. If all goes well, they will restart the program and run trimester to trimester.
- We are trying to improve our social media and communications presence as a school, so if you participate in social media, make sure to follow us on Facebook (Rocky Mountain Middle School Family & PTO), Twitter (@RMMSPanthers), and Instagram (RMMS_Panthers). The Facebook page is our PTO page with a lot of followers already, along with the Twitter account that has existed for a few years. The Instagram account is new. We will be attempting to cross-post as many things as possible, so as great things happen in your classes, let us know or send pictures/videos to us to get posted. Too many great things are happening in our school each and every day that we want others to share in!
Old Items to Be Aware of:
- As you can tell, the temperature is dropping and winter is upon us. As a reminder, we are required to complete one fire drill (no other drills count) randomly per month. Please remind your students to dress warmly as they will not be stopping by their lockers as they exit for a drill. Here is the link to the fire drill procedural map and the evacuation procedural map. Here is also an updated roster for who is in which zones as well.
- With many transitions happening this year and in coming years, the district would like all teachers to know that they can view all available job openings at www.d93jobs.com. Also for your information, they are updating the district hiring procedures so that jobs will only be posted for 7 calendar days.
- Click here for information about the Idaho Master Teacher Premium if you are interested in working toward that. Since our district will be following the state model, nothing is actually done through the school or district.
- JPAS observations have been underway. Your assigned administrator will let you know when your six-week window of opportunity will begin. Please use the following links to assist in your preparation: JPAS Annual Orientation, Color Coded Domains IV and V, Professional Development Materials by Indicator (JPAS). In addition, anyone who appears on this spreadsheet must complete Domains IV and V (the portfolio/interview portion).
Professional Development
Grants and Other Opportunities
The Idaho Humanities Council is opening applications for major and mini-grants, research fellowships, and teacher incentive grants for projects and programs exploring literature, history, law, cultural anthropology, and other humanities disciplines. Please find more information here and here.
If you are interested in starting an after-school program to help enrich our students' lives during non-school hours, the Idaho State Department of Education is accepting grant applications for next year. Click on the grant application for more information.
STEM Grants East Idaho Ultimate STEM Grants Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications to provide funding up to $10,000 to educators, schools or STEM stakeholders in East Idaho to transform your classroom, school and/or program into a 21st-century space. The grant will be awarded to a school, community-based partner and/or an individual educator. Applications are due January 10, 2018.
CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant Site- Through this program, pre-K through 12th-grade teachers in public, private and/or charter schools in CenturyLink local service areas are eligible to apply for a grant of up to $5,000 to implement innovative technology solutions in their classrooms.
- Go to CapEdFoundation.org for instructions on how to apply for a Teacher Grant. The deadlines are the 1st of each month from September until March.