December 18 Monday Letter
"Effort Creates Ability"
DECEMBER 18 - DECEMBER 22
Contact Administration
- Thomas @ (208) 881-4437
- Justin @ (208) 516-0278
- Scott @ (208) 270-7785
Principal Principles
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!
- Monday, December 18 - EXTREME RED AND GREEN DAY
- Tuesday, December 19 - PAJAMA DAY - The choir will be doing their "Angel Tour" and singing in the community. Students in Choir currently will be missing part of the day to participate in that. More information will be sent for which students will be absent.
- Wednesday, December 20 - DRESS LIKE A X-MAS DECORATION DAY - No School Leadership Meeting in the morning - Faculty party in the afternoon where there will be food, games, and a White Elephant gift exchange. Please bring a small, inexpensive, or free gift to exchange by TUESDAY to Kalli. She has an activity planned for all the gifts that takes some preparation. The gifts could be literally anything, whether it is something you think is nice, funny, something bought, something free, or something randomly found in your home or classroom. Our hope is to bond with laughter, friendship, and one another's company.
- Thursday, December 21 - CHRISTMAS CHARACTERS DAY
- Friday, December 22 - UGLY SWEATER DAY - Student Council will be putting on their holiday assembly that morning. The rest of the day, students will follow their normal scheduled classes participating in whatever activities teachers might have planned for them. We will be using the following schedule. Each class will be 50 minutes with the exception of 1st hour (which has three extra minutes) to help accommodate students leaving from the assembly and getting to class.
Assembly 8:40 - 9:40
1st Period 9:44 - 10:37
2nd Period 10:41 - 11:31
3rd Period 11:35 - 12:25
Lunch 7th 12:25 - 1:01
4th Period (7th) 1:05 - 1:55
4th Period (8th) 12:29 - 1:19
Lunch 8th 1:19 - 1:55
5th Period 1:59 - 2:49
6th Period 2:53 - 3:43
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!
- Monday, December 25 - Friday, January 5 - Christmas Break
- Monday, January 8 - School Resumes
- 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.
- Shaeleigh Trimble (near the pavilion)
- Alane McLing (center near the main entrance)
- Tayla Rothwell (south side of the building)
We will be modifying the previous bus schedule for the rest of the year following the return from Christmas break. Once we have those changes made, we will begin putting two weeks of bus duty assignments in the Monday Letter.
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, December 18 - 8:00 am - Conference Room - Nuckols, Hansen, E. Navarro, Anderson, Ashment, Shaffer (non-IEP parent meeting
- Monday, December 18 - 10:00 am - Conference Room - Trimble, Izatt, Cope, Belliston, Horman
- Monday, December 18 - 12:00 pm - Conference Room - Horman, Izatt, Trimble, R. Johnson, P. Dahlke, Cope
- Monday, December 18 - 3:50 pm - Rm. 32 - Hansen, E. Navarro, Seedall, R. Johnson, Anderson
- Monday, December 18 - 3:50 pm - Rm. 31 - Pipinich, Breeze, Gelave, J. Navarro, J. McLing
- Tuesday, December 19 - 3:40 pm - Rm. 232 - Durfee, Jessen, Skoien, Williams, Rothwell
- Tuesday, December 19 - 3:50 pm - Rm. 32 - Hill and Jones
- Wednesday, December 20 - None
- Thursday, December 21 - 3:40 pm - Rm. 232 - Joyner, J. Navarro, Jones, Bates, Durfee, Hill
- Friday, December 22 - None
Focus Team Meetings This Week
If you are on the following 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.
New 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.
- 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:
- 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.