Cubs Newsletter

This will be our first "normal" bell schedule week with A Days on Monday and Tuesday followed by B, C, and D day on Friday. I have attached a copy of the bell schedules, in case you lost the one you got at Cub Palooza. 🙂

Every student - even those that have been in MSD schools since kindergarten - needs to have their digital registration forms filled out. Parents - you should have received a snail mail letter back in August, and many digital reminders. We are making good progress, but some parents have not yet completed this important process. If you have not yet completed your forms, please follow the link below to get to our website's PowerSchool for parents page to get started. If you get stuck, get confused, or get frustrated, please call our office at 208-882-3577. We would love to help you! (We can even help you get your kids in different schools done too 😁). Thank you so much!!

Parents - we sincerely want to work with you as partners. We know it isn't easy being a parent these days, and we want to help! Our district has an amazing Community Schools program led by Brian Smith, and we have our own Community Schools Coordinator, Melissa Godfrey, right here at MMS. Their focus is on providing support for our kids and families by working with our community partners. BUT...we need to know what you need! Please fill out this survey - it isn't long - and let us know how we can best serve you. From our CSC:

We want to hear from you! Our Community School initiatives are already making an impact by connecting students with opportunities to help them meet their goals! We want to know more about the needs you see and programs that can help your students! Please take a few minutes to fill out our survey so we can continue filling needs that are important in our community!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KOY2DFpyc9WHm0kLASsC_V-6YBgFXWANDR-RoOhZiGo/edit?usp=sharing_eil&ts=68a3317a

Only one more week until it closes! Thank you for your help!

It was awesome having the students together on Launch Day. Every class - the 6th graders, 7th graders, and 8th graders - spent a couple of hours in the gym getting to know each other a little better and working together with their Home Room peers and teachers. A lot of people worked really hard to make this day a success and I'm incredibly grateful for the staff at Moscow Middle School, our Community Schools program, and our community partners for making it a great day for our kids. I couldn't help but show you just a few pictures. There are more on our Cubs Facebook page.

I know there is a lot of Tech to think about and it can get confusing!! We have two programs that we use for grades, assignments, and communicating with parents and students - PowerSchool and Canvas.

PowerSchool = Powerschool is the OFFICIAL platform that can communicate and share data with the state of Idaho. We are required to use PowerSchool to share attendance data, academic credit data, and lots of other stuff with the state. (None of that data is individual student data!) In the end, the grade on PowerSchool is the official grade. You can find some information about assignments on PowerSchool, but not as much as on Canvas. As a parent, I felt like PowerSchool was not super user friendly. MSD has used PowerSchool for a VERY long time...like, since computers were a thing. Some parents just want to see the official data, and are more familiar with PS because it has been around longer than Canvas.

Canvas = Canvas came with Covid. When the Pandemic hit, we were required to provide a platform that students could use to access school remotely. PowerSchool couldn't do that, and we had to have something, and we chose Canvas. Kids and parents can see grades on Canvas, a calendar and to-do list on Canvas, communicate with teachers through Canvas, and every class a student has at MMS has a Canvas page. Some of our clubs also utilize Canvas too. Sometimes students complete assignments or take tests on Canvas - it depends on the teacher. Some teachers post tutorial videos and other useful information on Canvas. A parent can "pair" with their student's Canvas account and see everything their students sees. As a parent, I found Canvas much easier to use and way more helpful than PowerSchool for the day to day check-ins and homework with my own kid.

In theory, Canvas and PowerSchool "sync" every night. They get together and chat...share information...get on the same page. This doesn't always work perfectly. They sometimes argue and our Tech guys have to intervene. Some teachers prefer to update grades in PowerSchool, and when they do that, the PS grade changes in real time and is different than the grade in Canvas. Some teachers prefer to update grades in Canvas, and when they do that, the grades in Canvas change in real time and don't align with what you see in PS. It can be very confusing!!

My advice is to look at both, and decide which one you like better, and check that on a regular basis. Your student knows how to access both Canvas and PowerSchool. I promise. They do it every day at school. Every. Day. If you ask your student to open their Chromebook and show you their Canvas page - they could do that. They could probably also show you PowerSchool, although they don't access it as often as they do Canvas.

There has been a weird, but challenging issue with Canvas this year. Students transferring in from another school are having difficulties logging into Canvas. Lots of our smartest folks are working to solve the problem...we have made progress...but we have a few more bugs to get out. I promise we will sort it out!

We have some great tutorials on PowerSchool and Canvas on our MMS website under parent resources. I'll provide a link below.

Chargers - We have found, over the last few years, that the Chromebook chargers break easily in backpacks. They also get lost quite frequently when they are coming and going back and forth between school and home. So, this year, we are asking that the chargers stay at home. Kids should take their Chromebooks home each night and charge them up, then bring just the chromebook to school in the morning. We have charging stations here at school, if they run out of battery, and/or we will loan them a new chromebook for the day if needed. (If a CB can't make it through a day on a full battery, we will probably just replace it altogether). Thanks so much for your help. Our goal is to save money on charger replacements, and every charger counts!

We are excited to announce the newest sport offering at MMS by introducing the inaugural girls only wrestling season. Season runs Oct 20 through early December and is open to all 6, 7, and 8 grade girls of all skill levels (beginners to advanced are welcome)! Our goal is to continue to grow the great sport of wrestling! Have a daughter interested but need more information? Please reach out to AD Mitch Running directly. Have a daughter ready to join? Sign them up today on RegisterMyAthlete.com to help us gauge interest and prepare for the season. There will be a parent meeting at MMS in room 206 on Oct 15 at 5:30pm to meet the coaches and learn more about the season. Please join Coach Haley, Coach Skyla, and Coach Palmer in this newest Cub sport program!

I love our Cubs...and Bears. I enjoy going to our High School football games, and have a lot of respect for the High School staff that run and supervise those games. Middle School students are welcome to attend the HS games and can get in free of charge if they have an ASB sticker on their student ID card. So...a lot of middle school kids go to the High School football games. That's great. Except...sometimes they don't actually go to the High School football games. Not really. They buy snacks and "mess around" on school grounds with their friends. They are on the practice field, on the hill on the east side of the middle school, sitting on picnic tables, and hanging out in our new Cub Plaza space. Most of the time...99% of the time...that is just fine. They are safe, they are having fun, and they are no trouble. But please know that they are NOT being supervised. The adults are supervising the actual game...not all the kids doing other stuff in other places.

I don't want to sound like Miss Grumpy Pants, but sometimes the kids are leaving big messes, or they are breaking things, or they are being unkind & unruly, or they are even doing illegal things when they are hanging out, unsupervised, in the dark, not watching the High School Football game. If your student is attending the games, especially if you are not attending the game with them, please have a chat about their behavior while at these events and your expectations as a parent. I want them to be safe and happy...and I also want to come to work on Monday to a clean and undamaged school. 🙂

Next Week

• Next week starts our first normal bell schedule week of AABCD and the regular bell schedule.
• Tuesday: Our first Middle School home football game is Tuesday, September 9th, after school.
• Wednesday: The XC team is away on Wednesday, September 10th. They leave at 1:00 p.m.
• Wednesday: We have our first home A team VB matches on Wednesday starting at 4:30 at the HS.
• Thursday: Our B team VB girls will compete at home against Pullman starting at 4:00 at the HS.
• Friday: This is a grade check Friday. Teachers will have grades up to date in PowerSchool and eligibility for extracurricular activities is reported to coaches.
• Friday: We have our first fire drill of the school year. This will happen at approximately 8:30 a.m. If your student is late for school, they might need to wait to get into the building until after the drill is finished.
• Friday: sports photos are being taken during practices after school. Chat with coaches or contact our office if you have questions about sports photos.

Coming Up

• Picture retake day is Friday, September 19th.
• Oct 3rd is a no-school day for kids. Teachers have a required professional development day.

Below is a link to MMS Events on our webpage where you can stay up to date with all the goings on at Moscow Middle School. Go Cubs!

I'm leaving this here for one more week...because it makes me smile. Maybe it will make you smile too!