January 22 Monday Letter
"Effort Creates Ability"
JANUARY 22 - JANUARY 26
Contact Administration
- Thomas @ (208) 881-4437
- Justin @ (208) 516-0278
- Scott @ (208) 270-7785
Principal Principles
"Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence." -- Abigail Adams
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 22 - Honor Society Inductions from 5:45-6:45 pm in the RMMS Auditorium (last names starting with A through Job...) and 7:00-8:00 pm (last names from Johnson - Z).
- Tuesday, January 23 -
- Wednesday, January 24 - Team Leader meeting in the morning, interdisciplinary team meeting and content team meeting in the afternoon
- Thursday, January 25 - Literacy Focus Team meeting in the library at 8:00 am, massages offered by Untapped Health Fitness & Recovery from 10-2 in the faculty lounge, basketball versus Sandcreek in the RMMS Gym @ 4:30 pm (boys play first)
- Friday, January 26 - Group Picture Day for all Extracurricular Groups @ 2:00 pm in the Gym, Kelly Canyon Ski School Program from 5:00 - 9:00 pm (bus leaves from RMMS)
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!
- Tuesday, January 30 - Band Concert @ RMMS Auditorium @ 7:00 pm
- Wednesday, January 31 - Parent/Teacher Conferences from 5:00 - 8:00 pm
- Friday, February 2 - Kelly Canyon Ski School Program from 5:00 - 9:00 pm (bus leaves from RMMS)
- Saturday, February 3 - State Robotics Competition in Twin Falls
- Wednesday, February 7 - Collegial Walks (more details to come)
- Friday, February 9 - Day Trip to Kelly Canyon Ski School Program for students
- 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.
- Megan Toone (south side of the building)
- Mikki Nuckols (center and south side of the building)
- Kirsten Bates (center near the main entrance)
- Deidre Farnam (near the pavilion)
The Following Week's Bus Duty Assignment:
- Patti Horman (end near the pavilion)
- Leslie Egbert (center near the main entrance)
- Desiree Jessen (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 22 - 3:50 pm - Rm. 31 - J. McLing, Gleave, Pipinich, Breeze, J. Navarro, Ashment
- Tuesday, January 23 - 12:30 pm - Conference Room - Butikofer, Jones, Moeller
- Tuesday, January 23 - 3:40 pm - Rm. 232 - Hansen, Seedall, Elordi, E. Navarro
- Tuesday, January 23 - 3:50 pm - Rm. 32 - Farnam, Kenly, Haws, Powell
- Wednesday, January 24 - None
- Thursday, January 25 - 3:40 am - Conference Room - J. Navarro, Pedersen-Murri
- Thursday, January 25 - 3:50 pm - Rm. 32 - Butikofer, Hansen, E. Navarro
- Friday, January 26 - 8:00 pm - Rm. 232 - Butikofer, Toone, Pedersen-Murri
- Friday, January 26 - 3:40 pm - Conference Room - Toone, Butikofer, Pedersen-Murri
New Items to Be Aware of:
- The Board voted on Wednesday night and approved a bond to build a middle school and to fund essential projects including a new parent drop-off loop at Falls Valley, replacing the roof at Iona, and beginning the design work to renovate Hillcrest and Bonneville. The election for the bond will be Tuesday, March 13th.
Chelsea Odell, owner of Untapped Health, Fitness & Recovery in Idaho Falls, and her husband will be available January 25th from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm offering massages to faculty members in the faculty lounge. There is a flyer and sign up sheet in the faculty lounge as well, but feel free to head down when you have time if you are interested.
- Several scientists and colleagues at the INL will be piloting a new "Girls Who Code" club here at RMMS! Please see previous newsletters for more information. 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, 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. If you have not turned in the names from your team to us, please do so immediately. 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.
- Beginning this week there will be no "second chance" breakfast. Students should be on time to their second-hour class without the excuse that they were getting breakfast. Students will still be able to eat breakfast before school. The cafeteria stops serving at 8:40. If there are students who are late to school who need breakfast, please let us know and we will help them. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we tried to provide this service for our students.
- Students will have the opportunity to attend Kelly Canyon Ski School Program through the coming weeks. For the next three Fridays, students can go to Kelly Canyon on a bus that will leave from RMMS for night skiing from 5:00-9:00 pm. On February 9th, they will have the opportunity to be gone from school for the day to ski at Kelly Canyon. A permission slip, fee sheet, and liability form can be picked up by students from Kalli in the office. It will also be sent home to parents of course as well. All fees need paid and forms returned by the Wednesday of the week they are planning to go, and for the day-long trip, a student's grades would need to be C's or better by the Tuesday before the 9th. Students that would like to go, but do not want to ski, are still welcome to attend; they will just pay the busing fee. Teachers - if you are willing to go and help for all three nights, the school will cover your substitute for you to attend the day-long trip on February 9th. Please let Jeff Kenly know if you are interested in that. There will also be opportunities for parents to assist in making this successful.
To recap about Parent/Teacher Conferences, on January 31, we will have conferences from 5-8 pm. Remember, our goal with conferences is to positively involve parents as we strive to support every students' success. Dinner will be provided before conferences. The conferences will be held in your individual classrooms. You are welcome to meet just outside your rooms or in your rooms. If you are in an upstairs classroom and you have a parent that may find it difficult to make it upstairs, please be prepared to visit with them downstairs. Please coordinate with your teams to decide how you would like to arrange it. You are welcome to prepare a work sample for students to show off, but that is optional. If students come with parents, they will know where your class is. If the student does not accompany parents, then we will provide maps to assist in locating your classes. Students will still have a folder in your advisory bin in which there will be a grade report, a map, and the bingo sheet. Students will be encouraged to turn in their bingo sheet for a treat and the grade level with the most turned in will get an extra lunch the next day.
We are in need of judges for Regional History Day which is hosted by Rocky Mountain Middle School each year. This is a regional competition for all East Idaho students from 4th-12th grade. They choose a historical topic based on a theme (This year its "Conflict & Compromise in History"), do tons of research and create a performance, exhibit, paper, documentary, or website to showcase their topic and research. We need judges! You don't have to have any historical knowledge, just a willingness to help. We will train you on what to look for and what to ask. We would need a time commitment from you from 8am-1pm on Friday, March 2nd. We will even serve you lunch! We know this is a teacher workday, but we would sure appreciate anyone who would be willing to help us out. Let Rona Johnson or Jami McLing know if you are interested and willing. This is a great opportunity for student teachers as well!
Old Items to Be Aware of:
- We have received the annual car raffle tickets that clubs, groups, and classes can use as a fundraiser. These are really awesome because the group keeps 100% of their ticket sales! If you need some or are interested, contact Thomas in the office.
- 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.
- Please use the following links to assist in any preparation you may need for JPAS: 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.
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.