The Weekly Line

Friday, February 20, 2026

Dear AMS Students, Parents/Guardians & Staffulty,

Presidents' Day, initially recognized by the U.S. government on Washington’s birthday, is now observed on the 3rd Monday in February to create a 3-day weekend, honor both George Washington's birthday (Feb. 22) and Abraham Lincoln’s (Feb. 12), as the date falls between both, and the office of the presidency. Valentine's Day honors Saint Valentine, a 3rd-century Christian martyr, yet has evolved from its religious origins into a celebration of romance, love, friendship, and gratitude popularized by the exchange of notes, cards, flowers and chocolates. But I don't think we need a federal holiday or cultural/commercial observance to share love, appreciation and acts of service. We can do that everyday at AMS if we choose. As Lebanese-American writer and poet Khalil Gibran said, "And all work is empty, if there is no love. And when you work with love, you bond yourself to yourself, and to each other. Work is love made visible." Shine on AMS F-A-M-I-L-Y (Forget About Me I Love You)!

All In,

Dr. Tom

Tom Dodd, PhD

#AMSAllIn #AMSF-A-M-I-L-Y #TheAMSDifference

CELEBRATIONS

AMS Spelling Bee Championship, Wed., 2/4, ASD Theatre

1st Place Gia Marosso (5th), 2nd Place Rio Metcalf (6th), 3rd Place Bella Maupin (8th), 4th Place Chloe Grosshandler (7th), Tie 5th/6th Place Parker Sherman (5th) & Eleanor Gorlach (5th)! After 21 rounds Gia won on “maquisard” after the 2nd and 3rd place spellers went out on “protege” and "sarsaparilla" respectively!

8th grade and 7th grade girls basketball (two teams per grade, red and black) wrapped up their seasons last weekend at Basalt High School and Middle School respectively, with our 8th grade going 2 - 1 and finishing 3rd after being seeded 5th in the PEG League Championship Tournament, and 7th grade finishing 6th in their tournament. Way to Go Skiers!

AMS Party, Fri., 2/27 Details

• AMS students only (no outside guests)

• Parents/guardians pick up and drop off at the designated times. Students can only leave during those times.

• 5th & 6th Grades: drop-off at 5:30pm and pickup at 7pm

• 7th & 8th Grades: drop- off at 7:30pm and pickup at 9pm

• Students may keep their iPhones and smart watches as long as they are responsible and respectful.

• Parent Volunteer Sign-up We still need parent volunteers to donate snacks and help with setup and teardown.

AMS Student Led Conferences (SLCs), Wed. 3/4 (8am - 4pm) & Thu., 3/5 (10am - 6pm)

Parents/guardians, please look for an email today from SignUpGenius to sign up for our upcoming AMS Student-Led Conferences. Each group of approximately 10 students will receive its own sign-up link, so families with more than 1 child at AMS will receive more than 1 email and link. Please use that link in that sign up email to select a 50-minute, in-person SLC session on Wed., 3/4 or Thu., 3/5.

You will sign up for 1 50-minute session per child. The first 20 minutes or so is your child’s student-led conference in his/her teacher’s classroom with his/her laptop. The next 30 minutes or so of that 50-minute session is your opportunity to visit your child’s other teachers’ classrooms and have short, informal check-in conversations with them. Through student-led conferences your child will learn how to talk you through a script/slide deck they created with 1-2 digital or hard copy artifacts representing their learning per the IB Assessment Criteria in each class, as well as, the Approaches to Learning Skills and IB Learner Profile Attributes they see as areas of strength and growth. SLCs are also an opportunity for our parents/guardians to visit teachers' classrooms in-person to check-in and chat as needed. Please click this link for more detailed information about AMS’s first ever spring student-led conferences: AMS Student-Led Conferences (SLCs) FAMILY PLAN 3/4-5/26.

AMS Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO), Tue., 2/24, 8:15am - 9:15am, AMS Conf. Rm.

AMS PTO Mtg. Agendas/Minutes 2025-26

AMS School Accountability Committee (SAC), Tue., 2/24, 9:15am - 10:15am, AMS Conf. Rm.

AMS SAC Mtg. Agendas/Minutes 2025-26

Standing Announcement Per the AMS PTO’s Request

This AMS Staffulty Favorite Things 25/26 document helps parents know teachers' birthdays, and what gifts or in kind gestures staffulty might appreciate around the holidays, during teacher appreciation week, etc.

Aspen School District is accepting out-of-district open enrollment/school choice applications for the 2026-27 school year in grades K-8. Click here for ASD Open Enrollment/School Choice application. Applications are due March 6, 2026. If there are more applicants in a grade than available seats, a lottery will be held, and winners will be notified by email no later than March 11th, 2026. Priority is given to applicants with siblings already attending an ASD school. ASD does not provide busing/transportation to students who live out of district.

AMS is offering student shadowing and school tour opportunities to new families interested in enrolling in 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th grade at AMS for 2026-27. Email Principal Dr. Tom Dodd (tdodd@aspenk12.net) if interested.

American Sign Language (ASL) Club at Aspen Middle School
Aspen School District is exploring piloting an ASL Club this spring semester in collaboration with the Aspen Camp for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB). This supervised pilot club would provide students the opportunity to learn ASL fundamentals, common signs, the alphabet, and practice simple phrases during lunch and/or after school. If your student is interested, please complete this brief interest form: ASL Interest Survey, which will help the organizers confirm lunch or after school meeting times and club size.

Like the cafeteria, the AMS library is open before school at 7:45am when the building opens until the 8am bell sounds the beginning period 1/7. The library is also open after school from the 3:20pm dismissal bell until 3:45pm and is staffed by our library paraprofessional Karin Nostdahl (knostdahl@aspenk12.net) should you have any library questions.

AMS is also looking to hire a 5th/6th grade counselor, special ed. teacher and special ed. paraprofessional. If you know anyone who wants to play BIG at AMS have them apply here and email Principal Dr. Tom Dodd (tdodd@aspenk12.net).

Grades 5 & 6
As we move into February, students in Grades 5 and 6 will continue participating in weekly community time lessons using The Social Institute. These lessons will focus on topics like Helpers vs. Watchers and Striking a Balance with Screen Time, encouraging students to think about how their choices impact themselves and others- both online and in person.

Grade 5 will start receiving monthly counseling lessons after student-led conferences, focusing on healthy friendships, kindness, and how to be an upstander.

This month’s counseling lesson for Grade 6 focuses on boundaries and impulse control, emphasizing pausing before acting and acting in ways that are helpful. Students will work toward understanding what personal boundaries are, recognizing situations where impulse control is needed, and practicing strategies to pause and make respectful choices.

Grade 7
This month, seventh-grade students are participating in a counseling lesson centered on the Pause, Protect, and Choose strategy to help them establish healthy boundaries and think before they act. The big idea is that boundaries help relationships feel safe, and impulse control helps you stay in control. You won’t always get it right- but every pause is progress.

During weekly community time, students also engaged with The Social Institute, exploring topics such as Negative Thoughts Reframed and Sleep, Memory & Learning.

Grade 8
In February, eighth-grade students are taking part in a counseling lesson titled “Future Me: Exploring High School, Careers and Life After,” which connects to students being in the process of completing course registration forms for high school and thinking about life after middle school. During this lesson, students identify interests, strengths, and values that could influence future choices, describe what they want their high school experience to look like, begin imagining post-secondary possibilities (college, trade school, military, workforce, gap year, etc.), and set one short-term goal that connects to their future vision.

In weekly community time, students continued working with The Social Institute on topics such as New Year’s Resolutions and Reflections and Positive Role Models: Find Your Influencers. Family Huddle links are included with each lesson to help continue conversations and learning at home.

CMC Aspen Campus hosted our Best Buddies Club at AMS in a screenprinting workshop where students used stickers and ink to make a print on cloth. Best Buddies believes that everyone deserves a friend. The mission is to create a kind, safe, and inclusive environment where all students can be themselves, build meaningful peer relationships, and feel a true sense of belonging and connection within our school community. If you or your child is interested in joining Best Buddies, please reach out to Mel Thulin at mthulin@aspenk12.net

Add our AMS Family Calendar to your Google calendar and see important upcoming dates:

• Tuesday, February 24th ~ 5th Grade SKier Safety Day - Evan & Kari

• Wednesday, February 25th ~ Jazz Band Concert 6:30pm, Paul JAS Center Aspen

• Thursday, February 26th ~ 7th Grade Ski Day - Buttermilk

• Friday, February 27th ~ Aspen Middle School House Party, Cafeteria

• 5th & 6th Grades: 5:30pm - 7pm

• 7th & 8th Grades: 7:30pm - 9pm

• AMS Student Party Parent Volunteer Sign-up

• Tuesday, March 3rd ~ 8th Grade Parents and Students only ~ AHS Virtual Ex Ed Meeting

  Google Meet: Virtual Ex Ed Meeting - Tuesday, March 3rd 5:30pm – 6:30pm

  Google Meet joining info
  Video call link: https://meet.google.com/fxr-kjei-uzr
  Or dial: ‪(US) +1 508-694-3517‬ PIN: ‪635 554 641‬#
  More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/fxr-kjei-uzr?pin=1340559419846--

  The meeting will be recorded and available on the AHS Ex Ed website after the meeting. Closed captioning will be available in Spanish.

• Wednesday, March 4th (8am - 4pm) & Thursday, March 5th (10am - 6pm) ~ AMS Student Led Conferences (SLCs)

• Wednesday, March 4th ~ Empty Bowls, 5:00pm - 7:00pm Buttermilk

AMS Outdoor Education Spring Dates:

6th Grade ODE Hut Trips

• February 23rd - 25th / Katherine Gleason’s Group

• February 25th - 27th / Matt Field’s Group

• March 9th - 11th / Tara Marolda’s Group

• March 11th - 13th / Ivette Mejia’s Group

7th Grade ODE River Trips

• April 27th - May 1st - Week 1

• May 4th - 8th - Week 2

Pre - Order AMS 2025 - 2026 Yearbook for $32.00. Students will not receive until May 2026.

Please submit a baby photo electronically to our Yearbook Coordinator, Hannah Baker at hbaker2@aspenk12.net. Please include in the email your child's name. Best format to send in is jpeg. Hannah will confirm she’s received your electronic submission.

You may also submit a hard copy photo to the front office. Please write your child's name on the back of the photo when you submit.

Along with the photos, it is customary to submit a congratulatory statement, no more than two sentences long. Please submit your baby photo, congratulatory statement by March 20th.

Please keep your students home if they are sick. They should be free of fever, vomiting, and diarrhea for at least 24 hours without the use of medication, and symptoms should be improved before returning to school.

Per school policy, all medications including prescription, over-the-counter, creams, and cough drops require a physician’s order signed by a parent or guardian before administration. Medications must be delivered directly to the health office by a parent or guardian. Students may not transport or self-carry medications. When in doubt, please contact the health office for clarification. Thank you.

Thank you for caring about the health of your students and our school community.

The Empty Bowls dinner at Buttermilk is about three weeks away! Please mark your calendars for the annual Empty Bowls dinner on March 4th from 5:00pm - 7:00pm at Buttermilk Mountain Lodge (formerly known as Bumps), Buttermilk. $10 at the door, cash, check or credit. Consider donating $20 for over 20 years of this amazing event to support Lift Up! The entry price includes dinner, a handmade bowl, live music and your money being donated to help others! Wow what a DEAL!

The Empty Bowls dinner brings together 2 schools through art to raise money for hunger awareness. This event is being hosted by the Aspen Community School, the Aspen Middle School and the after school program at Anderson Ranch. Please join us at Buttermilk Mountain Lodge for a night of art, live music and fun. Students have made hundreds of handmade bowls from Aspen Middle School, Aspen Community School, and Anderson Ranch to raise money for Lift Up. Come enjoy a simple meal of soup and dessert and connect with others in our community.

Last year we were able to donate over $4000 to Lift up from this fundraiser! This event would not be possible without the generous donations from local restaurants, a grant from the Aspen Thrift Shop and YOUR HELP. We need people to volunteer the night of the event as well as donate desserts for the event.

Click here to sign up to volunteer your time and/or to bring dessert

You will be given a job from our volunteer coordinator the night of the event for your shift. Desserts can be dropped off at school the day of the event or brought to Buttermilk the day of the event by 4:30pm.

Thank you!!!!

From the event organizers Hilary Forsyth, Hannah Baker and Georgina Levey
(Aspen Art teachers and AMS 5th Grade Teacher)

Plunge into this stunning all-singing, all-dancing, dynamic stage show! When the citizens of Bikini Bottom discover that a volcano will soon erupt and destroy their humble home, SpongeBob and his friends must come together to save the fate of their undersea world. With lives hanging in the balance and all hope lost, a most unexpected hero rises up. The power of optimism really can save the world!