ROMS Family Newsletter
February, 2016
Principal's Update
ROMS Families ~
Halfway through the 2015-16 school year. What a great opportunity for ROMS learners to reflect on their accomplishments so far and to plan for their academic success for the rest of the year.
I am energized every day as I visit classrooms and observe students pushing each other to explore, investigate, and inquire. It has become more frequent that I hear students self-assessing their learning progress as opposed to asking teachers about grades. Students are making determinations concerning what they know--more specifically, what they can do with what they know--not asking, “What did I get?”
We are working to adjust and maximize communication with you concerning your children’s progress. By doing this, we are ensuring formative feedback is meaningful and grades, when recorded, are pure and include only academic factors. Our goal is to communicate honestly with you so that our kids can understand where to focus their efforts to grow.
Five months to go. Halfway through the 2015-16 school year. What a great opportunity.
TN
Important Dates
February 1: 7th Grade Locker Clean Out (LEAP)
February 2: 8th Grade Locker Clean Out (LEAP)
February 3: Late start for students (9:00 am)
February 3: 6th Grade Locker Clean Out (LEAP)
February 4: Mental Health Assemblies (Grade level assembly schedule)
February 5: Report cards go live
February 6: MSVMA MS Solo & Ensemble Festival
February 8 - March 25: WIDA testing
February 10: Count day
February 15 & 16: Mid-winter recess - no school
February 24: Late start for students (9:00 am)
March 2: Late start for students (9:00 am)
March 7 & 8: NWEA MAP testing
March 8: All City Band Festival at ROHS (7pm)
March 9: Late start for students (9:00 am)
March 9: All-City Orchestra Festival at ROHS (7pm)
March 10: ROMS Parent-Teacher conferences (4-7 pm)
March 11: ROMS/ROHS Vocal Pre-Festival Concert at TBD (7pm)
March 14 & 15: NWEA MAP testing
March 16: Late start for students (9:00 am)
March 21 & 22: NWEA MAP testing
March 21: PTA Meeting - Learning Commons (7pm)Learning in Action
Drama Club
Mrs. Davis's class
Mr. Sebastian's LEAP
On Wednesday, January 27, long-time Royal Oak resident and coach Michael Massucci came to ROMS to speak to Mr. Sebastian's LEAP class about the book he authored, An Elite Journey.
During LEAP, the students read coach's book that focuses on a young man as he transforms himself into an ELITE individual. The acronym "E-L-I-T-E" represents Education, Leadership, Integrity, Teamwork and Excellence. It was a great experience for everyone involved and will be implemented on a larger scale in the future.
Random Acts of Kindness Club
Jimmy's Kids event
Beaumont project
Washington, D.C.
Athletics
Informational Meetings
Registration for ROMS Track will be held on March 8th and March 10th from 3-4pm in the Cafeteria.
Character Education
Understanding mental health
Ms. Russell will also be hosting a similar event for parents on April 12, 2016 with a light dinner at 6:00pm and the workshop starting at 6:30pm. Thank you to the Royal Oak and ROMS PTA for their continued support of educational programs like this one for students and parents.
Building an engaged school
How a school engages a student academically in the classroom is vitally important for encouraging achievement and growth. Certainly, our teachers strive to provide research based, best practices in their classrooms, and these types of classroom activities and assessments can enhance student engagement. However, to limit our focus to increase engagement through instructional practices would in turn limit how engaged our learners become. Students must feel cared for as individuals as well. Opportunities to connect with adults and other learners outside of the academic setting is integral to creating truly engaged learners. Whether it be through athletics or one of our many club activities, encourage your child to find something that sparks an interest and get involved!
Our Character Education program has implemented many supportive, relationship-centered activities to enhance the ROMS Way. Dog Days Back to School Activities, Dawg Dollars and the Neon Dawg Store, Restorative Behavior and Discipline supports, Random Acts of Kindness Student Club, Fortis, Genius Hour, and Mindset/Success LEAP Lessons are yielding positive returns for many of our students. Our latest addition, Students of the Month, is a resounding success as well (see Ice Cream Social image below). We have more exciting projects to continue building productive, healthy relationships and keeping ROMS a safe, warm, and welcoming place for our learners .
Optimist Club Essay Contest
ROMS Talent Show
Tryouts for 6th grade: 3-5pm in the Auditorium on Tuesday, February 2.
Tryouts for 7th grade: 3-5pm in the Auditorium on Wednesday, February 3.
Tryouts for 8th grade: 3-5pm in the Auditorium on Thursday, February 4.
Royal Oak Youth Assistance Bowl-a-Thon
Royal Oak Youth Assistance Bowl-a-Thon
Sunday, Mar 6, 2016, 12:00 PM
24211 Hughes Avenue, Hazel Park, MI, United States
Free Study Skills Workshop
Learning Commons
ROMS Royalbery Reading Challenge
ROMS Royalbery Reading Challenge is your student’s chance to get involved in a great reading program where reading, communicating, and creating combine for a one-of-a-kind experience. Students will be challenged to read at least 3 out of the 13 books on the challenge list and to join the club for book chats and to compete in fun book-related contests. The challenge runs from December through May, and the Royalbery Award Celebration will be held in June for all who have participated. Reading Club will meet every Monday from 3-3:30 beginning on January 4. Reading Club meetings are optional but the experience is highly suggested. Additional information will be available on the ROMSLearningCommons.weebly.com website.
Here is the list for our 2015-2016 ROMS Royalbery Reading Challenge:
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose
Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley
Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan
The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaby Hunt
Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar
I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlyn Alifrenka and Martin Ganda, with Liz Welch
The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
Threatened by Eliot Schrefer
Parent Workshops
Parent series
All workshops are at Royal Oak Middle School and begin at 6:00 p.m. For more information, including how to register for the workshops, please click here.
MYP Corner
Greetings ROMS families:
Happy New Year 2016!
Last month, I shared information about our the Global Contexts used in IB to help students see the relevance in what they are learning. This month, I’d like to take the opportunity to share with you about Academic Honesty and the IB Learner.
Academic Honesty is a core value of most schools and a cornerstone of the IB as well. Academic Honesty is especially important for a program that prizes inquiry like IB, because so much of the student’s inquiry will involve research and utilizing learning skills to inquire into a variety of source material. Students at ROMS need to begin to understand what academic honesty means both in doing their own original work and in avoiding plagiarism by learning how to recognize valid, reliable and relevant resources and to cite them properly when the work belongs to someone else.
Teachers work in each class to share our academic honesty policy as it relates to their subject, and our Teaching and Learning Specialist, Mrs. Hill, has a number of resources and tutorials for staff and students on Academic Honesty as well. When students leave ROMS and head to the high school, they will have learned a great deal about academic honesty and will be prepared for their coursework there and for work on their Personal Project as 10th graders.
As IB states in Academic Honesty in the Educational Context: “The relationship between the teacher, student achievement and the learning process is a critical part of the MYP, so it is natural to develop academic honesty in positive ways that stress respecting the honesty of all student work and recognizing the shared benefits of properly conducted academic research.”
I wish you all a wonderful new year, and I hope you will take a moment to discuss the importance of Academic Honesty with your child as they complete their schoolwork.
Mia Gutierrez (gutierrezm@royaloakschools.org)
IB MYP Coordinator
Royal Oak Schools
Contact us
Mrs.Bockhausen@mrsbockhausenro
Mrs.Bosley@jenniebosley
Mrs. Brueckman@k9brueckman
Mr.Conklin@romsartmrc
Mr.Corridor@michaelcorridor
Mrs.Davis@MrsDavisROMS
Mrs.Derminer@MrsDerminerROMS
Mr.Duncan@K10Duncan
Mrs.Durham@durhamroms
Mrs.Ernatt@ROMS6_7science
Mr.Foreman@mrforemanroms
Mrs.Gutierrez@KaramiaG
Mrs.Harper@HarperHarperj
Mrs.Hill@jmgardyhill
Mrs.Hugel@KatieHugel
Mr. Icsman@IcsmanROMS
Mr.Jankowiak@tim_jankowiak
Mr. Jones@WilliamJones222
Mrs.Kendall@MsKendallROMS
Ms.Khaleel@MsKhaleelArt
Mrs.Knapp@Knappk1
Mrs.Kocis@MrsKocisROMS
Mr.Kohring@TFD205
Mr. Noonan@TBN_Education
Mr.Noroyan@anoroyan
Mr.Quinlan@MRQ_ROMS
Mrs.Quinn@mrsquinnscience
Mr. Rose@MrRoseOrch
Mr.Sebastian@mr_sebastianj
Mr.Sopata@bmsopata
Mrs.Taylor@MrsTaylorROMS
Mrs.Weir@weir7_8science
Mr. White@Mr_White_ROMS
Mr.Wright@wrightsci1122
Mrs. Schultz@Mrs.SchultzROMS
Mrs. Mehringer@mimishug13
Learning Commons@ROMS_Learning
Website: http://www.royaloakschools.org/middle-school/
Location: 709 N Washington Ave, Royal Oak, MI, United States
Phone: 248-541-7100