JMMS Weekly Update
October 16, 2020
Principal's Message
Good afternoon Alpine,
This is Joan MacQueen's Proud Principal, Casey Currigan.
Students are starting to feel the urgency of turning work in at the end of the quarter. We can feel the increase in everyone's anxiety. Please check your child's grade using ParentVUE. If you need support in activating your account, please send me an email.
If you see that your child is missing ten assignments, create a list and assign two items from the list each day, so the workload doesn't look daunting. If your child needs homework assistance, we have tutors for Math, English, Social Studies, and Science available every day. Please email me for assistance.
As the quarter comes to a close on October 23rd, you may want to move your child from 100% distance learning to face-to-face learning, or you can go the other direction. Now is the perfect time to make that change. Please let me know ASAP if you would like your child to change the learning models.
Lastly, we encountered our first confirmed case of COVID 19 in AUSD this past week. We could not be more proud of the AUSD staff, students, and community for coming together to support one another. We are all in this together. Keep up the excellent work stay healthy and safe.
Free Desktop Computer
ParentVUE
How to Manage Feelings of Uncertainty
We are living in uncertain times. No one knows exactly how or when this coronavirus pandemic will end — or what it will mean for our lives and the lives of our loved ones in the future.
There's so much to worry about: health, finances, even our social fabric.
I know I'm not the only one lying awake at night asking myself how we get through this and what the world will look like when it's over — or waking up wondering how to get through another day of dealing with all the normal life stuff with constant uncertainty whirring in the background.
This pandemic that we're all going through feels unprecedented — but the feeling of uncertainty is not. People live through all kinds of scary things all the time. (Read More).
The Great California ShakeOut
JMMS participated this past Thursday in the Great California ShakeOut. This Safety Drill ran very smoothly and all students and staff observed the Drop, Cover and Hold On protocols. Below is a button for an App called MyShake. MyShake is the citizen science project brining users together to build a global earthquake early warning network. This app keeps you informed about earthquakes and monitors for them using
data from your phone's sensors. If interested, click on the MyShake button below and scroll to the bottom.
Ballot for JMMS School Site Council
Just in case you missed our email communication, the link below is for our JMMS School Site Council Ballot 2020. Deadline to submit is Wed., Oct. 21st. Thank you!
Sora
We are so happy to share that we have 2000 new titles in SORA for students to check out. Please help your child get online and start reading! Click on this link for instructions:
We will be highlighting some of the new novels that we have in both English and Spanish. Here are just a few for Grades 6-8....
Free Tutors
Most of these students are high school upperclassmen or college students who are not returning to their physical classrooms. Fill out this interest form to learn more.
Entering Campus and Staggered Start
To provide social distancing upon entering and leaving campus, we are asking that families adhere to the schedule above (click on to enlarge). We are also requiring different grade levels to enter campus, by last name, in different locations. Those locations are:
6th Grade - Main Gate by JMMS Office
7th Grade - Gate at the top of the stairs by the gym
8th Grade - Enter through the blacktop
Once on-campus, students are expected to move directly to their Learning Strategies Classroom.
Safe School Ambassador Training
Safe School Ambassador training started this past Wednesday. Thank you to the JMMS staff and students who participated in the training.
The Safe School Ambassadors® Program relies on the “inside-out” approach to improving school climate. Student bystanders see, hear, and know things adults don’t, can intervene in ways adults can’t, and are often on the scene of an incident before an adult. They are a critical and necessary resource for positively impacting the crisis of bullying in our schools.
Face Masks
Joan MacQueen Middle School
Email: ccurrigan@alpineschools.net
Website: https://www.alpineschools.net/o/jmms
Location: 2001 Tavern Road, Alpine, CA, USA
Phone: (619) 445-3245
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Joan.MacQueen