04 November 2013 MRMS

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A note from the principal . . .

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3

Main Office

303-387-1800

Fax

303-387-801

Attendance

303-387-1802

Athletics/Activities

303-387-1812

Bookkeeper

303-387-1808

Registrar

303-387-1820

Transportation

303-387-0415

Weather Hotline

303-387-7669

Twitter

follow@mountainridgems

Online Payments

dcsdk12.revetrak.net

What a great month we have had at Mountain Ridge! Our theme of paying it

forward has continued, and the students have done some amazing acts of

kindness. Mrs. Andriese’s RAM class decided that they wanted to find a way to

help the flood victims. They started a Penny War amongst all of the RAM

classes. MRMS raised over $1700! Our students also honored our Veterans on

November 11th. We had about fifteen Vets come and speak to our students about

what service means to them. Our students honored them through their respectful

questions and gratitude during this time - another great way for our students to

understand paying it forward. Additionally, we have another event coming up to

help out others in need. One of our 8th grade students, Rickey Cooper, has been

diagnosed with MS. This is a recent diagnosis and Rickey has experienced

numerous complications and continues to be in and out of the hospital. We will

be hosting a dinner at MRMS on December 13th to raise money to help Rickey

and his mom during this difficult time. Rickey’s mom has been unable to work

over the last two months during this battle. They could really use help from our

community to get through this time financially. Please be sure to check out the

poster for the event (it’s on the final page of this newsletter).

Our teachers continue to look for engaging and challenging opportunities for

students in their classes. We have several students who took on the challenge of

writing a novel in the month of November with Ms. Morgan! Our iLab classes

are looking for authentic ways to improve our Mountain Ridge community.

They are surveying, polling, and researching all the while learning the “gift of

struggle” as Mrs. Montague would say. Our STEM classes continue to learn

about energy, robotics, and circuitry. They will begin selecting their areas of

continue on page 2

P A G E 2

Mountain Ridge Middle School

A note from the principal . . . continued

interest to dig deeper. Our Multi-media classes have learned the art of writing,

directing, filming, and editing movies. Some of these groups even have Music

Lab students creating the sound tracks for their movies! These are just a few of

the great things happening each day at Mountain Ridge. This is also a good

reminder to nominate our staff members for the Apple Awards. Here is the link

to the nomination form. Thank you in advance for recognizing the great things

that MRMS staff members are doing for kids.

2nd Quarter ends December 19th. Please make sure that you are checking the

portal so that you and your student are aware of their progress as they approach

the end of 1st Semester. Many of our electives are semester long classes, so

students will be changing those electives when they return in January. We do

not have a lot of wiggle room in our schedule due to class sizes, but if there is an

extenuating circumstance regarding a change in elective classes, please contact

your student’s counselor to discuss available options.

I would like to thank all of you who attended our Parent Academy on November

20th. We are hoping that this is a valuable opportunity and that we will continue

offering sessions throughout the school year to answer questions and give

guidance about middle school students and their academic and social needs.

I continue to be impressed with the students day in and day out. They are

engaged, respectful, and caring. During this season of thanks, I want to again

thank you for your support of our school and our staff and for sending us your

amazing students each day.

Shannon Clarke, Principal

Mountain Ridge Middle School

November has been a month full of active learning for Team 7-1! For starters, we

took a fieldtrip to Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs. Students loved learning

about the science and myths behind the exceptional cave. Students also enjoyed a

beautiful hike to High Point.

Team 7-One Wonders!

continue on page 4

P A G E 3

Students in the beginning of the year created a T-Shirt, and then pitched their

product to the whole team. Here is the winner, voted on by the students. You can

purchase your T-shirt on RevTrak. Here is the link. I've also created a quick

screen cast on how to order if you are having trouble: How to order on revtrak.

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Team 7-1 T-Shirts

P A G E 4

P A G E 5

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Creating a Better Learning Environment (iLab & Math)

Students are using their Design

Thinking and Math / Engineering

skills in responding to an

“RFP” (Request for Proposal)

asking for ways to improve the

physical, social, academic and

affective aspects of the learning

environment at MRMS. They are

working individually or in small

groups to research and design

ways that MRMS can better support

student success. In connection with

the Better Learning Environment

project, students are learning about

scale and proportion in Math and will be creating 2 dimensional scale drawings

and 3 dimensional models to support their proposals to improve the learning

environment at MRMS. Scale drawings and 3D models are due in Math on

Friday, Dec. 6th. Final proposals are due Dec. 9th and 10th and students will be

presenting their proposals during the last two weeks of the quarter and perhaps

into the beginning of 3rd quarter.

Science

What is a cell? What do cells do? How do cells function? How are plant and

animal cells different? How are they the same? Cells are the fundamental

building blocks of life. Students are exploring cells – how they function and

work. They will be drawing comparisons to demonstrate their understanding by

doing the “Cell Simile Project” and will be working with 8th graders to study the

comparisons between fire and cellular respiration.

Health

Carbs. Proteins. Fats. Vitamins. Minerals. Water. These words appear

commonly in our discussions of health. What are they? How do they support

good health? How much is enough and how much is too much? Working in

groups, students will research these fundamental elements of nutritional health

and create a skit or game show to present their learning.

Team 7-2

continue on page 6

P A G E 6

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Social Studies & Language Arts

In Social Studies our topic of study is

the continent of Africa and how

environment (geography) and history

of the various regions has impacted

the development of the culture of the

each region. Students are exploring

the regional similarities and

differences and identifying the

cultural, historical, geographic and

economic characteristics of each in

order to gain an understanding of each

culture. In Language Arts, students

are creating travelogues and short

stories that represent the cultures of

Africa and what the students know

about the influences that created these

cultures. To support their stories,

students will create illustrated maps of

Africa in Social Studies.

(This will also support the learning

they are doing in Math related to scale and proportion.)

Team 7-2 continued

Team 7-2 T-Shirts

Reminder – Order Now!

If you have not yet placed an order for our student Team 72 t-shirt, please do so as

soon as possible. We need to get everyone’s order so we can place our group

order and get the shirts soon! Follow this path to order online.

MRMS Home Page → Online Payments → Middle Schools → Mountain Ridge →

Additional Items and Events → MRMS Misc → MRMS Pod 72 T-shirt

Emily Huff

Emily Huff really

personifies the idea of

“being the change you

want to see in the

world.” As a member of

Team 7-4, Emily always

does her best and

encourages every one

around her to do the

same. Leading by

example, she helps any

group she is in “step up

their game” and perform

to the best of their

ability. Emily really

brings positive energy to

Team 7-4!

i-Lab Problem-based Info-graphic Project

Using the driving question, “ How can we, as change agents, create a positive

sustainable change here at Mountain Ridge?”, students in i-Lab classes went on a

field trip inside MRMS and looked for problems that need to be addressed. After

identifying problems they wanted to solve, students sorted themselves into groups

based on the issues that inspired them. The groups then researched their problem,

gathered data from stakeholders in the building and district, and are currently

creating infographics to illustrate how the data they collected supports their efforts

to create change. The goal is that students can create a positive change in the

environment here at Mountain Ridge.

P A G E 7

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Team 7-4 Change Agents

continue on page 8

Exercise Videos

Ask your son or daughter to show you the exercise video they created for PE

class! Watch out, Jillian Michaels!

Upcoming Events

All 74 students will undergo vision and hearing screening on December 9th

or 10th

Bridging the Gap Meeting in Room 185: December 11th at 1:15

International Food Day: December 19th – information to be sent later.

Quotables

What one word describes the feeling in our pod?

“Enthusiastic” – Jack S.

“Energetic” – Preston H.

“Crowded” – Emily S.

“Comfortable” – Macey F.

“Adventurous” – Eilyanna E.

“Action-packed” – Jack P.

“Majestic” – Matt P.

“Noisy” – Kenzie D.

“Exciting” – Megan D.

“Fantastic” – Ian S.

“Active” – Alex S.

P A G E 8

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Team 7-4 Change Agents continued

P A G E 9

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Hour of Code Announcement

The Hour of Code is Coming for All Mountain Ridge Students!

We are very excited to announce that this year every Mountain Ridge student

will be exposed to a minimum of one hour of coding (much thanks to the

leadership of Cassandra Stevens, her fantastic students Mats Dale & Henry

Kaufman, and, of course, all MRMS teachers volunteers). Each core academic

team has at least one teacher who has volunteered to lead the hour of code during

the week of December 9-15th. We are very much looking forward to this

opportunity for our students. Please see the Hour of Code handout on the next

page of this newsletter for more information.

Hour of Code Core Teacher Volunteers:

Team 7-1: Beck

Team 7-2: Fox-Gliessman

Team 7-4: Foust

Team 8-1: Andriese/Personett

Team 8-3: Rasbach

Team 8-4: Norton/Peters

P A G E 10

Mountain Ridge Middle School

P A G E 11

World Languages

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Bonjour from French class! We are moving

along in our learning and approaching

December with a great activity that I wanted to

share. Students in both 1A and 1B will be

creating a digital story using all of the their new

vocabulary. We will be working on these

stories in class the second week of December

and presenting our stories in class before winter

break. Make sure to take a peek at your

student’s WL Portfolio to see the latest

performance assessments.

¡Hola! from Spanish class! Students in 1B are busy working on learning family

vocabulary along with adjectives to describe members of their own family. In 1A

class, students are learning how to tell time and talk about their schedules.

World Cultures class is comparing family and friendship norms in our country, as

well as other countries of the world. These are great topics of conversation for the

dinner table, whether your student is in French, Spanish or World Cultures.

We wanted to share an interesting article posted on our VHL online textbook site

that distinguishes between fluency and functionality of a language. Check it out:

The Rise of the Polyglots

Melanie Ho is a writer living in Hong Kong. She reviews for the Asian Review of

Books.

Like many other kids in Ottawa, Canada, I started learning a second language at

age 4, when I was enrolled in French immersion school. I studied French

throughout school and learned Italian during a semester abroad. Speaking Italian

has been fruitful for me, even in Hong Kong where I live now. Job opportunities

have arisen because I have an understanding of and an interest in Italy and

Italians.

Maybe you don't need to be 'fluent' in multiple languages, but life might be more

interesting if you were proficient in more than one.

While I never learned Chinese growing up — which some might argue would be

most useful in my current situation — I’ve started studying both Cantonese and

Mandarin.

continue on page 12

P A G E 12

World Languages continued

Mountain Ridge Middle School

People often talk about the practical upsides to

learning a second (a third, a fourth) language,

like employability in this global economy. But

learning a new tongue is important beyond that.

A foreign language helps with the understanding

of one’s native language. The process of

learning to communicate in a foreign language

often forces us to learn how to listen. Language

provides insight into another way of thinking,

another mind-set.

This is not to say that everyone must be fluent in multiple languages, just as not

everyone is “fluent” in statistics. There is a difference between functionality and

fluency; it may be enough to be proficient.

And although English is common around the world, it is far from universal. A

little while ago I asked a friend of mine from mainland China — an affluent

person who moved to Hong Kong a year ago — if she would be interested in

helping me with my Chinese, and in return I would teach her English. She said

she would help me, but replied that she had no interest in learning English. If

someone wanted to speak with her, she said, they could learn Chinese.

P A G E 13

What Students Are Saying - Electives: CFS

CFS is a unbelievable skills builder that will help me for the rest of my life.

I know you’re wondering how the heck does making food help build skills?

Actually, CFS aids in building time-management, responsibility, and the 4 Cs

(creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.) Shining

throughout the midst of food and cooking you can clearly see these skills. When

you cook within a certain time limit you need to know time-management so you

don’t knock your own group or the group after you off balance--we get 45

minutes in the kitchen.

Currently, in CFS we are working on “Iron

Chef” where we have to collaborate to create a

food item with a certain ingredient: eggs. This is

a major responsibility because if we don’t do

our work the rest of our group then becomes

affected. This allows us to have the right amount

of pressure to perform for our group and not

leave our group hanging. We all have a job that

is important to the group to get the food cooked

and plated.

CFS is going to teach many kids how to cook,

clean and do many other things. We get to learn

different ways to prepare different kinds of food,

we learn how seasonings come together and add

flavor to food. When working on "Iron Chef" we

had to research the secret ingredient so that we

would have a better understanding of how we

could use the ingredient in our recipe.

Mountain Ridge Middle School

P A G E 14

Team 8-1

Team 8-1 students will be involved in a Notables interdisciplinary unit that has

already begun in language arts. They are currently composing a non-fiction

narrative about their notable. Students will create a trip as a group of notables.

They need to plan their destination, conversation, music choices, and budget costs

to represent their particular group on their journey. This culminating activity

where they share their trip will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

US History

Good news Patriots - We won the war! Unfortunately the Articles of

Confederation did not work, which nearly drove us into a Civil War. Thank

goodness for the Constitution - now we are truly united and our liberty has been

secured.... Huzzah!

Small groups of students are currently working to create a monument/memorial to

an early American President. Students will have to communicate and collaborate

to create a model of a proposed monument based on the critical events that

occurred during the President’s term of office. Creativity, and Critical thinking is

an absolute must for this project. The best project in each class will be awarded a

“best proposal prize” which will qualify the group to a pizza party to be awarded

shortly after Thanksgiving Break.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mountain Ridge Middle School

continue on page 15

P A G E 15

Team 8-1 continued

Health/PE

In health, we are covering some very intense topics: violence prevention and

S.O.S (Signs of Suicide). These topics have given our students a chance to see

their responsibility with these topics and how they can prevent such tragedies

from happening. Then, we had an FBI agent come into class and give us practical

ideas and strategies to stay safe. Agent Grusing showed us simple protection

tactics to keep ourselves safe and others safe. Good times. In PE, we are pushing

our strength and fitness to new levels. We are in our “Cross Fit” unit that will

challenge us to encourage others to be their best, as well as check our resiliency

and strength to reach our fullest potential. This month is truly making us think

critically and reach into our inner being to cheer on others and perform at 100%.

Keep on working hard guys!

Algebra

We are busy studying equations and systems of equations playing Math baseball,

creating concept maps, and finding evidence of their usefulness in our daily lives.

We are also preparing to register for high school classes in January. Look for an

email mid December from Mrs. Andriese that explains the different paths/classes

that are available next year for your student.

STEM

We just finished up all of our LEVEL 1 units. Remember they were designed to

introduce and entice students in our three areas of learning; Global Awareness,

Engineering (electrical & mechanical) and Robotics. Students showed great

creativity and program design as they finished up their Robotics Dance programs.

Look for their exciting reflection and video on their student ePortfolio. As we

finish up this unit and get caught up with all the missing and late work, students

up to date are watching I-Robot. It’s never been so quiet in my classroom!

Looking ahead we will be starting the LEVEL 2 units after Thanksgiving break,

and then they will wrap up two weeks after we return in January. This next level

provides a great deal of personal interest and design as students learn more about

the topic of their choice.

On Saturday November 16th, two of our very own teammates; Jack Holland and

Henry Kaufman participated in the Douglas County Middle School Robotics

Competition. Both these young along with a host of other MRMS students

walked away with many awards. Be sure to ask them all about the competition

and building with LEGO Mindstorms. Way to go, Jack and Henry.

Mountain Ridge Middle School

continue on page 16

P A G E 16

Team 8-1 continued

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Jack Holland

and

Henry Kaufman.

Although they both

had other partners,

Team 8-1 was proud

to be represented

by these young men.

Henry setting up

for the

MINDSWEEP

Challenge.

Henry and his partner

sweep this challenge!

continue on page 18

P A G E 17

Team 8-3

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Career Expo

Recently, the students of 8-3 attended the Career Expo, where they had the chance

to gain knowledge on any field of work that they might be interested in. As a

teacher, I saw many students walk in and out of the doors with new ideas of their

future in the career Expo. From jobs in engineering to medical fields to military

opportunities, students saw it all. If a student asked a worthy question, they could

receive a golden ticket to enter in a raffle drawing for a prize. I heard many strong

questions like, “How was a physician’s assistant different from a nurse?” As I

walked around the Expo, I saw students interacting with successful adults. Not

only were they filled with dozens of interesting career ideas, but they were

inspired by the amount of opportunities that were presented before them in such a

short time. By the time they left that building, their minds were buzzing with

potential plans for pursuing several major fields of work throughout their high

school and college experience. The Career Expo sparked students’ interest, and

gave them a great preamble to what careers are in store for them as they move

through their collegiate years.

Submitted by: Maya Doane, Veronica Lennert, Isabel Vaughn, Max frain, Matt

Heutmaker, Landon Nolta

Fall Festival

Not only did Team 8-3 get to visit the career expo, but on November 26, we get to

put down our pencils and hop on the dance floor. This day is designed to give our

brains much needed rest and address every middle school student’s favorite thing

to do: eat! There will be a Thanksgiving feast, a talent show, a social gathering,

and best of all, no school work! Our pod is unique; we take breaks throughout the

year to have fun! These breaks help us to build relationships with each other, and

socially interact. The talent show gives students on 83 a chance to show our

nonacademic talents. The Fall Festival is an opportunity for us to relax a bit as we

gear up for our next interdisciplinary unit.

Submitted by: Annie Chambless, Kersti Kammerer, Barak Morris, Griffin

Barnard, Audrey Shearer, Luke Riechert

Upcoming Interdisciplinary Unit

Unlike the fall festival, the end of quarter interdisciplinary unit brings much stress

and anticipation. The majority of students agreed that our previous unit was

stressful but enjoyable. We have a new unit coming up at the end of this quarter

that will involve inventions and the pros and cons they created over time.

Students will come home with knowledge of inventions tracing back to the

1800’s. They will demonstrate their knowledge by planting their knowledge on a

timeline using QR codes. This unit will be truly unlike any other, and team 8-3

will continue to knock your socks off! To calm the stress of the ID unit students

can sit in armchairs and contently read a book, recommended by their peers via

book reviews.

Submitted by: Gabe Barnard, Emily Humes, Emerson Zamensky, Jacob Riffel,

Kendall Crepeau

P A G E 18

Team 8-3 continued

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Rave Reviews

Here at 8-3, we’re just a bunch of bookworms. This month, we’ve burrowed

through stories of all different genres. Unlike many years before, we had to think

deeper into the book. Also, we had to come up with higher level questions,

character analyses, and predictions. We also have learned to break rules of writing

in our book review. Did you know that you're not supposed to indent in a book

review? Neither did we. We learned that reading more advanced fiction helps

people with human interaction, and reading people's emotions. Throughout the

month, Ms. Montague gave us the gift of struggle, and it was the nicest thing we

could have received.

Submitted by: Allie Chipman, Abbi Cobb, Ara Anner, Tyler Pontius, Joshua

Hoffman

STEM

(This group attempted to use as many of the assigned vocabulary words as

possible)

With Mrs. Rasbach, STEM has seemed more like an odyssey that challenges our

thinking than a banal class. Just when we think the class might be deteriorating,

BOOM! We’re ascending into a new challenge. The projects are very open ended,

allowing us to move at our own pace. We’ve been able to explore the expanse of

basic engineering, global awareness, and robotics. During these projects, we

explicitly collaborated with our partners and gingerly improved our projects.

When things were about to go awry, we used our critical thinking to postulate.

Moving into the advanced studies of our choice is incipient. We affix our studies

from STEM in math and science, and vise-versa. We are very grateful for all that

we have learned so far this year. We are also grateful for our wonderful teacher

and the supplies we have.

Submitted by: Lauren Yocom, Natalie Higham, Colter Giem, Regan Lavallee,

Trevor Price

Thankful Thoughts

As the holidays approach and we stuff our turkeys, bake our pies, and mash our

potatoes, we begin to think about how fortunate we are. Many kids don’t have a

school to go to due to the floods that swept them away. Although, sometimes we

wish we didn't have to go to school, we know we are truly fortunate to have a

great school in a perfect location with caring

teachers. We are blessed to have people that

volunteer their time to prepare us to have a

successful future. Even though 99% of the time

we are stressed during school, we are lucky to

have those that support us and challenge us to do

our best. Knowing that many people around us

are less fortunate, we realize what we have and

how thankful we really are.

Submitted by: Hannah Lovell, Maisie Paulson,

Nick DiGiulio, Madeline EIlert, Caden Foster

Team 8-4

Science and Language Arts

Students have finished their consumer product testing projects in science and

carried their work into Language Arts, where they chose an authentic audience

with whom to share the results of their work. Many students have written product

reviews for magazines and newspapers, written letters to the companies whose

products were tested, and some have even created videos about their test results,

to be posted on Mrs. Norton’s vimeo account. Through this interdisciplinary

study, students have learned about using scientific thinking to become critical

consumers as well as how to use Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to communicate their

perspective with a variety of audiences in the real world. Students are aware of

the ways that advertising claims are used to promote goods and services, not

necessarily in the most honest ways. They are also realizing the relationship

between producers of goods and services, and the consumers who influence the

market both with their purchasing dollars, and the influence of consumer

feedback.

Language Arts

Students read novels highlighting

adversity to begin to understand

and apply how the obstacles in

our lives give us strength. This

reading connected to our team

theme of Foundations,

Disequilibrium and Change, as

students analyzed what happens

when a person’s “foundation” is cracked--this also allowed them to connect their

learning to Health and the social/emotional, mental, and phsyical aspects of the

Health Triangle.

In Advanced Language Arts, students are devouring books and creating novels as

we tackle the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project, and our very

own NaNoReadMo counterpart. As of November 15, this group of voracious

readers and inspired writers had written over 125,000 words and read 39,000

pages. Despite their struggles with writer’s block and demanding schedules, these

students are working hard to achieve their goals. Along the way, they are also

rediscovering their love for creating stories and getting lost in a good book.

Math

In Math 8 we have been finishing up our unit on variables, algebric expressions,

and equations. Students have been learning how to find a missing variable,

writing equivalent expressions and combining like terms. Next unit, we will be

learning about Pythagorean Theorem! In Algebra, we are finishing up our unit on

data analysis. We saw how data and statistics were used by watching Moneyball

and we made a class blog making recommendations for Fantasy Football teams.

Next we are learning about the distributive property and solving equations.

P A G E 19

Mountain Ridge Middle School

continue on page 20

P A G E 20

Team 8-4 continued

Mountain Ridge Middle School

STEM

Students have officially wrapped up Level One of each the rotations of Electrical

Engineers, Global Issues, and Robotics. In the Electrical Engineering students

learned about what is electricity, how it flows, open and closed circuits, simple

and series circuit, and using electrician tools like a multimeter. In level Two, the

students will learn more in depth concepts like parallel circuits, resistors,

potentiometer which will end with a project called the Hidden Buzzer. For Global

Issues, students researched one energy resource (Coal, Natural Gas, Oil, Nuclear,

Hydropower, Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Biomass, Biofuels) and then had to have

an interesting presentation that will wowed their audience. In Level Two,

students will complete an Energy Audit at school and home to come up with a

proposal to get off the grid using one of the resources that they learned about in

Level One. In Robotics, students used the Lego NXT Mindstorms to learn about

basic programming, applying their math skills, and using problem solving skills to

complete the basic challenges. In Level Two, they are diving into more indepth

challenges and using more of the programming functions like sound, display, and

loop.

Social Studies

Students are wrapping up a study of the causes of the American Revolution and

are examining ways in which these events united and divided the colonists in what

was about to become a new nation. Next, the colonist’s fight for freedom will

begin as we study the American Revolution.

PE/Health

Health wrapped up its last rotation with some honest

conversations about social media and the ask.fm website.

Currently, students are finishing up a rotation in PE with a

Badminton tournament. All athletes get a chance to play

for the win in this two-tiered tournament. After a round-

robin format, teams moved into seeded brackets for

tournament play.

P A G E 21

General Announcements

Parents

Thank you, so much for your support of helping our

students “Pay it Forward” to help the Colorado Flood

victims! The Penny Wars generated more than 31,000

pennies and with all of the silver sabotage, checks, and

cash, we raised over $1500.

QUICK Healthy TIPS

From Healthy Schools Team: Earl, Hill, Hutchings, Lopez and Knutson

In the classroom, after dinner or while watching

your favorite team Trot, Stomp or Jive but bust a

move from time to time to give your brain a break

as well as energize it!

Keep moving and Stay healthy!

The winter sports season is going strong.

Wrestling has been taking down their

competition and continues to improve their

skills and endurance. The district

tournament is January 11, 2014 at

Mountain Vista High School from

8am – 12pm.

8th Grade girl’s basketball has their season ending tournament

December 7, 2013 at Douglas County High School. The girls have

had a very successful season so far and will assuredly find success at

the tournament. 7th grade girl’s basketball starts December 9,

2013.

The students have numerous opportunities to participate in the many clubs that are

ongoing. Please encourage your student to pursue a passion. Students only need an

adult in the school to sponsor their club in order to get the ball rolling.

Activities and Athletics

Mountain Ridge Middle School

P A G E 22

General Announcements - Office Notes

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Cell phone usage

Please remember that students’ cell phones are to be silenced and stored out of

sight at all times during the school day, unless they are using them in class for a

teacher-directed, class-related purpose.

Dropping off items and delivering notes to students

We realize that from time to time everyone forgets something. Items such as

forgotten homework, lunches, money, clothing, etc., that parents have dropped off

will be kept in the office for students to claim. Please remind students that if they

have forgotten something, they should check with the office staff between classes

to see if their item has been dropped off. As well, please share information with

your child regarding dental and doctor appointments, after-school plans and

transportation plans before school. Both of these practices save us from having to

interrupt a class to call students or deliver items.

Bus passes

If your student wishes to ride a bus other than the one to which he or she is

assigned, please send a note to the office with your student giving your

permission to ride an alternate bus. Please include the bus number your student

will be riding, as well as your signature and a phone number where you can be

reached.

Medications at school

The health room does not keep medications such as Tylenol, Benadryl or cold

preparations to dispense to students. However, students at the secondary level

may carry a single dose of this type of medication in their backpacks. Please note

that these medications must be over the counter and in original packaging.

From the Staff at

Mountain Ridge Middle School

MRMS is proud to announce that we will be recognized at Colorado’s Wings

Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum for MRMS Tech-Ed teacher Cassandra

Steven’s involvement in the museum’s Teacher Flight Program. Please email

Ms. Stevens ([email protected]) if you would like information

about education resources, special activities, website communications, and

museum “student boarding flight passes” that will correlate with this program at

the Lowry facility.

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General Announcements

Tech Ed Teacher Flight Program

Mountain Ridge Middle School

P A G E 24

Mountain Ridge Middle School

Counseling

8th Grade Explore Test Results

We hope you have had the opportunity to look at your child's Explore test

results. Counselors visited individual 8th grade classrooms to explain and answer

questions about how to interpret their scores and find meaning with the

results. The Explore test offers students and parents helpful information when

thinking about future goals for high school and post secondary

options. MRMS has many reasons to celebrate our results. One data indicator of

the test is the college readiness scores. This standard measures the probable

readiness for entry-level college work by the time they graduate from high

school. Overall, MRMS students scored at least 20% higher then the National

Average on College Readiness Standards.

Follow-up from the Career Connect Expo

Attending the Expo on Nov. 13 proved to be a successful event for our 8th

graders. Our students showed up dressed professionally and were prepared to ask

useful questions. Some of the businesses supporting the Expo included:

Lockheed Martin

Kaiser Permanente

The Colorado School of Mines

SkyRidge Medical Center

Parker Police Dept.

Ameribiotics

Colorado National Guard

Frontier Airlines.

Many students reported that the Expo was helpful and interesting and that being

able to meet with professionals in a variety of careers gave them ideas to consider.

Tip of the Month

Check out this healthy living campaign to encourage a healthy family.

5210 Let's Go

5 - servings of fruits and vegetables per day.

2 - hours or less of recreational screen time per day.

1 - hour or more of physical exercise.

0 - sugary drinks, more water and low fat milk.

Kathy Sheehan Registrar

Catherine Scholz 7-1 & 7-2 Counselor

Paula Moore 7-4 & 8-3 Counselor

Jennifer Hutchings

8-1 & 8-4 Counselor

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Mountain Ridge Middle School