The Weekly Line
Aspen Middle School Family Update
"OFF TO A GREAT START"
Friday, August 15th
Dear AMS F-A-M-I-L-Y (Students, Parents/Guardians & Staffulty),
We’ve had a great start to the 2025-26 school year! Check out these Pics! Our staffulty is creating their classroom cultures and establishing routines and procedures with students for a productive, efficient and exciting school year. The best example of routine and procedure setting may have been the 5th grade teams Bathroom Slide! Thank you to everyone who attended the AMS “All In” Back-to-School Night (B2SN) Monday evening. You can view the slide deck Here. What was most noticeable these first 3 days, is how many of our teachers genuinely like their students and want to really know them. That should be a given in the education business, right? Well sadly, it's not. You can't just tell someone you care about them, they have to feel it, and I could feel it. All learning happens in the context of relationships, healthy ones preferably over unhealthy ones, and we are actively building a healthy F-A-M-I-L-Y (Forget About Me I Love You) here at AMS. How do we do that? Check out these 8 ways:
CONTRIBUTE - Do your work.
BE KIND - Be pleasantly helpful and generous where you can.
BE PATIENT - Approach people and situations calmly with a soothing presence.
BE HONEST - Tell the truth. Get out of your own way.
ENCOURAGE PEOPLE - Give them your confidence and support.
APOLOGIZE - When you make a mistake, or forget to love your people.
FORGIVE - Give others the break you’d like them to give you.
THANK PEOPLE - Have an attitude of gratitude. Say it. Write it. Show it.
That’s what you need to know from week 1. Only 35 weeks to go! It’s going to be awesome!
Shine on,
Dr. D
Tom Dodd, PhD
#AMSAllIn #AMSF-A-M-I-L-Y #TheAMSDifference
Reminders
BUILDING ACCESS
AMS opens at 7:45am for breakfast in the cafeteria. Students are dismissed from the cafeteria or the blacktop to class by our 7:55am bell. Period 1 begins at 8:00am. Students are not to be wandering the hallways or building unsupervised before or after school.
DRIVE SAFE
Please stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk at our main entrance, pull as far forward as possible in the drop off/pick up line to keep the line moving, obey traffic signs and speed limits, do not park in handicapped spaces, double park, or leave a vehicle unattended.
STUDENT SCHEDULES
Students who lost their class schedules, or missed B2SN may go to the front office to have a new schedule printed.
AMS ATHLETICS
Visit our AMS Athletics page for fall sports info.
Important Information
AMS Upcoming Dates
- Monday, August 18th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Volleyball Parent Meeting - 5:30pm AMS Cafeteria
- Tuesday, August 19th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Football Parent Meeting - 6:00pm AMS Cafeteria
- Monday, August 25th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Football Games @ Carbondale - 4:30pm
- Tuesday, August 26th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Volleyball Games vs Basalt - 4:30pm 7th Home / 8th Basalt
- Wednesday, August 27th ~ EF - Spain Summer Tour Information Meeting - 5:30pm / AMS Library
- Thursday, August 28th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Football Games@ Grand Valley (Parachute) - 4:30pm
- Thursday, August 28th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Volleyball Games vs Rifle - 4:30pm 7th Rifle / 8th Home
- Monday, September 1st ~ Labor Day ~ No School Students & Staff
5th - 8th Boys & Girls Cross Country practices start Monday, August 18th
AMS Outdoor Education
8th Grade ODE Maroon Bells Wilderness and Marble Base Camp
- Mandatory student attendance week prior to ODE
- Thursday, Septmber 4th - Friday, September 11th - No school for 8th Grade Students Friday, September 12th.
- Start breaking in your hiking boots and start collecting items from the 8th Grade ODE Packing List
5th Grade ODE Arches Camping
Monday, September 29th - October 2nd
Monday, October 6th - October 9th
Spain Summer 2026
Spain Summer 2026
EF - Spain Trip - Information Meeting
Wednesday, August 27th ~ 5:30pm - 6:30pmTHE AMS DIFFERENCE
The opportunity to make AMS better is everywhere if we choose to act. Better is seeing a void and filling it. Hearing a call for assistance and answering it. Taking a wrong and making it right. Empowering each other. Better is a call to action. A rallying cry. Determined. Disciplined. Passionate. And connected. It is searching within. Reaching out. And doing so with purpose. So when the sun sets and we think about what tomorrow will bring, we understand that better is not what we do. It is who we are.
