Dennis MS December Newsletter
Principal's Message
The holiday time is just around the corner and we officially mark the halfway point in our school year! We have a lot to celebrate as well as continuing to work on the reconfiguration of our building. I hope that your families find time to enjoy time with each other this season and your students come back in January with a renewed sense of purpose for the remainder of the year!
Happy Birthday Dennis!
Dennis is celebrating its 100th birthday this school year! We are celebrating with donations from our students to our community. Each advisory class is giving back "100" of something to their community.
Here are just a few ways that students are giving back:
- 100 cards to local nursing homes
- $100 worth of fleece blankets to Genesis
- 100 letters to health care workers
- $100 collected to charity
- walking 100 miles in honor of a personally selected cause
- $100 to be donated to a local animal shelter
- 100 canned/boxed goods to the food pantry
Ask your student what their advisory class is giving back for our 100th Birthday!
Upcoming Events and Happenings
December is full of events in our building. We invite all students to join in our December Days of Joy each day in December. Please click this LINK for our building calendar for December.
What is SEBW (Social Emotional Behavioral Wellness)?
As a part of our CAREs plan, our Advisory time every morning provides students with an opportunity to learn more about their brain, self-awareness, and work through the More than Words Curriculum as a part of our partnership with the United Way.
- December's SEBW focus is Service, Gratitude, and Reflections
- December's More Than Words Curriculum focus is Service
Athletics
Winter sports are underway!
Please note that all 5th -8th grade practice and game schedules can be followed via Eventlink.com by selecting "Richmond Intermediate Schools" then selecting the respective sport team that you wish to follow. News on all teams can be found at richmondreddevils.com
Parent Involvement Opportunities
Looking for ways to get involved?
- December 9th 6:00-7:00 in the Dennis Library. Please park in the parking lot and come to Door #4
RCS Band Boosters
- December 15th 7:00pm via Google Meet. Please email jstsjones143@yahoo.com to request an invite
Communities in Schools needs mentors! CIS is currently seeking friendly, enthusiastic, and dependable community members to meet with Wayne County students to serve as positive influence and inspire good decision making. Mentors meet with a paired student once a week during the student's 30 minute lunch period to talk, do activities, and foster encouraging relationships.
If you have any questions to are interested in becoming a part of the the CIS mentoring program, please call Community in Schools of Wayne County at (765) 983-2263 or email Susan Miller at susanmiller@ciswaynecountyco.org
What are teachers and staff learning?
Currently Dennis Teachers are working with the National Institute of Excellence in Teaching through our School Improvement Grant. We are working on:
- curriculum maps (ensuring every student has instruction on the most essential state standards)
- research-based components of successful lessons
- building a cohesive staff as a part of the reconfiguration
We also had teachers take part in trainings on Nearpod and Edcite.
Just a few reminders . . .
Students need to bring a water bottle daily. Our water fountains are all converted to bottle fillers due to covid. Students have milk available during breakfast and water during lunch, but many are forgetting their water bottles.
If you have a hardship providing your student a water bottle or winter weather clothing, please reach out to Mrs. Scott, our CIS coordinator at kscott@rcs.k12.in.us
Student Behavior and Incentives
- disrespect/defiance
- keeping hands to self
- tardies and hallway behavior--Dennis Tardy policy can be read HERE
- vaping/smoking
- inappropriate language
- conflicts between students
- hoods/masks/phones
Phone Use--Student phone use has been problematic at school. Our school policy is that students are not to be using phones during the instructional day. Students are permitted to use phones during their lunch period and to check any messages during the last few minutes of the day. If teachers have to remind students to put away the phone during class repeatedly, students may be required to place the phone in a designated area of the classroom until the end of the period or the phone may be taken to the office for the student to get at the end of the school day. If the student has their phone taken to the office a second time, the phone will be held in the office until a parent picks up the device.
Live School--LiveSchool is a tool to help our whole staff track behavior and reward positive behavior for students. During the 2nd grading period all students received a code for themselves and parents to track their LiveSchool Points. Every other week, students can spend their LiveSchool points at the LiveSchool store during lunch. If you need another copy of your student's LiveSchool parent code so that you can see their daily progress, please email adams@rcs.k12.in.us. For more information see the videos below.
December Positive Behavior Incentive--The December Incentive for students is a holiday movie and The Skate trip on December 17th.
The following criteria apply to The Skate:
- no more than 1 missing assignment per class
- no more than 4 tardies
- no more than 1 referral (no suspensions)
The following criteria apply to the holiday movie incentive:
- Entry to the movie--(using time wisely at least 60 minutes) during NWEA testing, no rapid guessing.
- Students may earn choice of popcorn/snack/drink option for with the following: appropriate and non-distracting behavior in the testing session and/or meeting goal score for Winter session
Staffing
We have the following positions available at our building. If you want to work with a wonderful team and a great group of students, apply online at: https://www.werrichmond.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1666981&type=d&pREC_ID=1818766
- SEL Para
- Title Para
- Building Sub
- Science Teacher
Dennis Middle School
Email: nvandervort@rcs.k12.in.us
Website: http://dennis.werrichmond.com/
Location: 222 Northwest 7th Street, Richmond, IN, USA
Phone: (765) 973-3495
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RCSDennis