SANTA MARIA MIDDLE SCHOOL UPDATES

Phone: 623 707 1100 Fax: 623 707 1110

Principal, Amelia Sanchez asanchez@fesd.org

Assistant Principal, Luz Vasquez lvasquez@fesd.org

Secretary, Marcela Lopez malopez@fesd.org

Attendance Clerk, Maria Carroll mcarroll@fesd.org

Office Hours: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm

School Hours: Gates open at 8:20 am

School Dismissal: M, T, W, F: 3:45 pm

Every Thursday Early Release: 1:45 pm

Visit our school website: https://smms.fesd.org/

November 11th, Veteran's Day - No School

Thanksgiving Break 11/23 - 11/27

M,T,W,F: 8:45 AM to 3:45 PM

Thursdays: 8:45 AM - 1:45 PM - Early Release Every Thursday!

Gates will open at 8:20 am M-F. Please do not drop off your student before 8:20 a.m. Morning supervision does not begin until 8:20 a.m.

Wishing your family a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving

11/5, 6th grade orchestra

12/2, 8th Grade Music Concerts

12/3, 7th Grade Music Concerts

12/10, 6th Grade Music/Choir Concerts

All SMMS students will participate in the annual SMMS Turkey Trot on Thursday 11/19. This will take place during their Specials time. Turkeys will be awarded to the first place boy and first place girl from each team. Eight additional turkeys will also be given out.

Turkey Hat Contest: The student with the best turkey hat will also win prize!

Todos los estudiantes de SMMS participarán en la tradicional carrera “Turkey Trot” de SMMS el jueves 19 de noviembre. Esta actividad se llevará a cabo durante su horario de clases especiales (Specials). Se otorgarán pavos a la primera niña y al primer niño que lleguen en primer lugar de cada equipo. Además, se entregarán ocho pavos adicionales.

Concurso de Sombreros de Pavo: ¡El estudiante con el mejor sombrero de pavo también ganará un premio!

Each year, SMMS hosts an exciting Science Fair in which all students are required to participate. This year, we are excited to invite our parents to be part of the experience by serving as Science Fair judges!

We are looking for five parent volunteers per grade level to help evaluate student projects and celebrate the hard work, creativity, and scientific thinking of our students.

Parent judges will be asked to attend two meetings:

Meeting #1: Rubric Review & Teacher Collaboration

• Meet with our science teachers.
• Review and become familiar with the Science Fair judging rubric.
• Learn about the judging expectations and process.

Meeting #2: Science Fair Judging

• Evaluate qualifying Science Fair projects.
• Use the rubric to provide fair and consistent feedback.

Important Reminder: To ensure fairness and avoid conflicts of interest, parents will not be able to judge projects in their own child's current grade level.

We appreciate your willingness to get involved and support our students! Your time and participation will help make this year's Science Fair a meaningful and memorable experience for everyone.

Thank you for being part of the SMMS community!

Wednesday, December 9th, 5:30pm - 6:30pm

We hope you can join us for our Science Fair Night! All science projects will be on display in the cafeteria. We will have 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners in each grade. Come see the amazing projects your child and other SMMS students have put together!

Miércoles 9 de diciembre, 5:30pm - 6:30pm horas

¡Esperamos que puedas unirte con nosotros en nuestra Noche de Feria de Ciencias! Todos los proyectos de ciencias estarán en exhibición en la cafetería. Tendremos ganadores del 1º, 2º y 3º lugar en cada grado. ¡Ven a ver los increíbles proyectos que tu hijo y otros estudiantes de SMMS han elaborado!

We need all families to complete this. This is for our Title I funding. Please use the link below.

Parents, please take a moment to complete this quick eligibility form to support our district in maintaining after-school tutoring and other Title I funded programs. Your participation ensures continued access to valuable educational resources for our students. Thank you for your continued support!

https://linqconnect.com/public/income-form/new?identifier=TARLF2

Couple of reminders regarding dismissal:

• If students are crossing the street, they MUST walk to the crosswalk and cross there.
• Because our buses arrive at different times, all bus riders are to remain in class until their bus route is called. If students are leaving class prior to their bus being called they will not be permitted to ride the bus.
• Student safety is our priority. We cannot have groups of students hanging out in the courtyard during dismissal time.
• The first group of students to be dismissed are those that walk home or are picked up. If bus riders are exiting with this group of students, they are communicating to staff that they are NOT a bus rider and therefore will not be allowed on the bus.

All students were given a copy of the login information for the parent portal. If your child didn't provide you with this please ask them for it. You can also call the front office to obtain the login credentials.

November 16 - 18

To remain eligible to participate in athletics, students must maintain good academic standing. This includes meeting academic expectations to be eligible to attend practices and compete in games. We appreciate your support in reinforcing the importance of balancing academics and athletics with your scholar.

From the Athletic Handbook:

Academic Eligibility

During the season of the activity, students must maintain passing grades in all classes in which they are enrolled. There will be grade checks conducted every week throughout the season. Each grade check will be based on the cumulative grading period. The first failure to meet the standard in any class will place the student into the INELIGIBILITY STATUS. Ineligible students will NOT be allowed to attend practices, or to participate in athletics events. They are expected to instead use this time as a study time. Students who fail to meet the academic requirements for the third time within a sport season will be removed from the team.

• Students' eligibility grade requirements: ONLY ONE D, and NO F's. Students who have more than one D or F will be ineligible for one week

• Students may return to competition after one week as long as they meet the grade requirement.

• Students will be notified of their status by the coach or athletic director

From the Athletic Handbook:

Playing Time

Some of the factors which are considered by the coach in determining playing time are the following: individual athlete's effort, attendance, participation in practice, teamwork, attitude, and the total number of students on the team. Every effort shall be made to maximize each participant's playing time. However, playing time is NOT guaranteed. Our goal is to strive for consistency and fairness within each sport. We want all athletes to have a chance to play in game situations and tournaments throughout the year. (Please refer to page 10, item B)

Our after school activities and late buses are only scheduled Mondays - Wednesdays. We do not have late (5 pm) buses on Thursdays or Fridays.

NotMyKid will be hosting 15 sessions to our 8th grade students on a variety of life skills. The first session will begin on 9/14 and will run through 11/13. Attached are some of the topics that will be discussed. If for any reason you DO NOT want your child to participate in these discussions, please send me an email at asanchez@fesd.org.

Have someone you want to celebrate? 🎉 Use this form to give a shout-out or recognize their hard work! Share the love as often as you’d like—there’s no limit to how many you can submit! Shout outs will be displayed on our office screen.

Please join the K-12 app to monitor your child's bus route and to know when they scan on/off the bus.

• My Ride K-12 – Apple App Store (iOS)
• My Ride K-12 – Google Play Store (Android)

A.R.S. 15-242.01 prohibits providing students with ultra-processed foods at any point of the school day. This includes student celebrations, birthday parties, prizes/incentives, class parties, and classroom snacks.

Any snacks with ANY of the following ingredients mentioned above are not permitted for distribution on campus. Please call the front office for more information.

Tops: Collared Shirt (White, Navy Blue, Light Blue)

Bottoms: Navy Blue, Khaki

Shoes: Closed toe shoes only. No crocs, slides or similar.

Dress Down Days: SMMS hosts occasional dress down days. Students may wear jeans on these days. For more dress code information please click on the following link: Dress Code Policy

Días de Vestimenta Casual: SMMS organiza ocasionalmente Días de Vestimenta Casual, durante los cuales los estudiantes pueden usar pantalones de mezclilla (jeans). Para obtener más información sobre el código de vestimenta, haga clic en el siguiente enlace: Dress Code Policy

All students 12 years and up must have Tdap and Meningococcal vaccines. Please refer to the chart. Todos los estudiantes de 12 años en adelante deben tener las vacunas Tdap y meningocócica. Por favor, consulte la tabla.

Where Can Children Get Immunizations: Click Here

Dónde pueden recibir vacunas los niños: Haga clic aquí

• All students interested in trying out for a sport MUST have a physical on file prior to attending tryouts. Todos los estudiantes interesados en participar en las pruebas para un deporte deben tener un examen físico vigente archivado antes de asistir a las pruebas.

• There is a $20 athletic fee per sport, per season. Students will only be required to pay the athletic fee once they have made the team and prior to the first scheduled game. Hay una cuota deportiva de $20 por cada deporte, por temporada. Los estudiantes solo deberán pagar esta cuota después de haber sido seleccionados para el equipo y antes del primer juego programado.

Buses will drop off/pick up students in the east parking lot of the campus. Parents, please do not use this parking lot to drop off students. This is for buses only. The student drop off/pickup is in the south parking lot (front of school).

Los autobuses dejarán y recogerán a los estudiantes en el estacionamiento este del campus. Padres, por favor no utilicen este estacionamiento para dejar a los estudiantes. Este estacionamiento es únicamente para los autobuses. El área para dejar y recoger a los estudiantes está en el estacionamiento sur (frente a la escuela).

Sign Up by clicking here. We highly recommend downloading the Class Dojo app as well.

Regístrese haciendo clic aquí. También recomendamos encarecidamente descargar la aplicación Class Dojo.

Our school utilizes the SchoolMessenger system to deliver text messages, straight to your mobile phone with important information about events, school closings, safety alerts and more. You can participate in this free service just by sending a text message of “Y” or “Yes” to our school’s short code number, 67587.

Nuestra escuela utiliza el sistema SchoolMessenger para enviar mensajes de texto directamente a su teléfono móvil con información importante sobre eventos, cierres de escuelas, alertas de seguridad y más. Puede participar en este servicio gratuito simplemente enviando un mensaje de texto con la palabra “Y” o “Yes” al número de código corto de nuestra escuela: 67587.