Qtr 2
Hello Rattler families,
Welcome back to the second quarter! I hope you enjoyed the two week break and spent the time recharging your batteries. The second quarter is from October 14th and concludes with two half days on December 19th and 20th. It is the time of the school year that gets “REAL.” The grades we earned in the first quarter continue right on until the end of this semester. The only grades that will reset will be 7th grade mini electives as those classes are 9 week courses. Many of our performing arts groups will have performances and competitions, and the second season of athletics will begin.
As a school we have identified the students and the areas that will require additional academic attention. We teach the 7th and 8th grade standards and we do what we can to add in interventions for math and reading skills that are below grade level. It is imperative that our students are reading for 30 - 60 minutes everyday outside of school. It is also important that our students in Math 7 and Math 8, and students in Honors Math 7 complete a minimum of 3 “MY PATH” lessons per week. These lessons are based on your child's current needs and deficiencies. These strategies are for families to discuss and make habits now that can make a significant improvement for free.
Student behavior in classrooms is an immediate concern for myself and our teachers. Unfortunately, students who continue to disrupt the learning in our classrooms will be removed to work independently for 1-5 days, and they will be assigned lunch detention. Please support our school and our teachers when they call home to let you know. We are not calling to place blame on you, but we want you to be aware that the warnings we have set in place for students were not enough, and we could use your support with your child.
Please continue to talk with your child about their academics and their grades. Every Friday, our students complete a “Friday Form” in their student agendas during their Advisory period. The students are very well trained on how to look at their Infinite Campus grades and to find missing assignments and low or missing test scores. These family conversations will only benefit your child. They need the confidence and the planning to know what to say when reaching out to their teachers. We know how important and empowering it is when a student grows because of their own “productive struggle.”
It is now that good habits are formed between families, their students, and communication with the teachers and counselors. Many students use before school, during lunch, and after school to get help from teachers on missing work or work that may need to be redone. We provide transportation after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:30 after our school tutoring ends. We have teachers available from 3:30 - 4:30 to help students in need, or to be available to students who just need time to work on school work independently. Unfortunately, some students are using this time as an excuse to stay after school and have become disruptive. We will send them home or to the front flag pole to wait for their rides. We also offer Saturday school from 8 AM - 12 PM at least 3 times each quarter.
GRADING
Our classrooms have practice that is either not graded or more for participation, “Formative Assessments” which are anything like a quiz, a worksheet, or maybe even a few problems that tell the student and the teacher how they are PROGRESSING based on the instruction and practice work. These formative assessments are weighted heavier as it is a progress check on what standards the students need to show mastery in. The final category is “Summative Assessments.” A summative assessment is the final grade for that unit/standard. The formative assessments provide the student and teacher an idea of how the student will do on the summative assessment.
The sun will begin to set earlier each day and temperatures will continue to drop. It may be cold in the morning and get warm as the day progresses. Classroom temperatures will slightly shift from a 72-76 degree setting to a 74-78 degree setting. Some students will be chili in classrooms as fall turns to winter. We ask students to layer their clothing and to dress appropriately. Students should continue to bring water and drink it all day. Washing our hands and coughing into our elbows will help keep the spread of germs in our classrooms.
We are enjoying the culture of Desert Ridge Junior High this year. Our student council has set the tone with positive leadership and incredible school spirit. This quarter our National Junior Honor Society students will host our “Curse of the Campus” haunted house for the 2nd quarter dance on Oct 25th. These two groups of student leaders will continue to join the many amazing students who attend our school. Our students and staff have been respectful of others and continue to treat others the way we would like to be treated. We are a public school and we open our doors to all our neighborhood students, and we welcome in other students through “open enrollment.” Our Rattler family works hard each day to make Desert Ridge the premiere jr. high school in our area. We are proud of our school and our students.
Due to medical reasons, we will be looking to hire a new 8th grade counselor. Our school will continue to support our 8th grade students during this hiring process. We are so appreciative of Mrs. Jana Brekan and all of the hard work she has done the past few years to become a part of our Desert Ridge community. We wish Mrs. Brekan the best of health.
We will continue to work as a school and our PTRO to partner with our community to provide the best educational experience we can for our students. “Because of you, this is the place where “Rattlers Reign!”
Mr. Mike Davis
Principal
Reminders:
Please check your schedule, some rooms have moved and some classes have changed.
Please charge Chromebooks every night.
Gates open at 8:10 AM
Please respect our neighbors and obey road signs (waiting for students)
All students leaving our school that need to cross the road should cross with the crossing guard.
Always pull forward - majority of our morning drop off students should enter the campus at the portables. This is to keep traffic moving.
Students have no access to their phones from Bell to Bell.
Communicate with the attendance office when your child is going to be absent.
Complete the “Annual Update.” We still have 300 families who have not completed this vital task. This is how families are reached in an emergency.
Many students do not eat breakfast or lunch, please send them with a snack - sometimes they get “H-angry”
Compliment your child often, the jr. high years are not easy or kind. Your positivity is appreciated even if they do not let you see it!
~ Important Reminder for all Bus Riders ~
Dear Parents and Families,
Thank you for all of your efforts to ensure your child wears their student ID badge. We appreciate your support with this important safety and security initiative.
As we communicated at the beginning of this school year all of our students who ride a bus must have their Student ID Badges to ride the bus to and from school every day.
To support our students in remembering this at the beginning of this school year we have been actively reminding our students and families. Once students return from Fall Break, if a student does not have their Student ID Badge when getting on the bus to return home from campus at the end of the day they will not be able to ride the bus. They will instead need to be picked up from the school office by an approved parent or guardian.
Thank you in advance for your support of our efforts. Please continue to work with your students to ensure they bring their ID badge with them to school every day.
We are also excited to remind you of ‘Here Comes the Bus’, a service for our families whose students ride the school bus.
With ‘Here Comes the Bus’ parents can:
View the real-time location of their student’s school bus
Ensure their student gets to the bus stop at the right time, every time
Know when and where their child boards or exits the bus - Students ID badges are scanned when they board and exit the school bus.
New ‘Cancel a Ride’ Feature on Here Comes the Bus
Please check out the new Skip Ride feature on the Here Comes the Bus App that allows parents to cancel a bus rIde with the click of a button.
Parents can easily download the ‘Here Comes the Bus’ app. Once downloaded select whether you would like email, push notifications or both, regarding your student’s school bus. You can also select what you would like to be notified of.
Thank you in advance for your support of these important safety initiatives in our schools.
