PORTER PRIDE MONTHLY

Dear Porter Caregivers,

First, thank you for logging in and filling out the MRA survey. We had a large number of caregivers, students, and staff participate. We exceeded our expectations! We will use this data to evaluate next steps in our building and continue to grow many of our successful programs.

As the weather begins to change, please remind your students to bring their coats, hats, and gloves to school. We want to ensure students stay warm as temperatures drop. If you need assistance with these items, please contact Jen in the FRC.

Girls basketball sign ups for 7th and 8th graders start Monday, December 9th. The season starts with tryouts when we return from Winter Break. All paperwork and payment need to be turned into the office before the first day of tryouts. If your student is needing support with payment for the program, please reach out to Ciana or Ariel Cornelius. More information regarding the season will be sent out shortly.

We are looking for volunteers! We are looking for caregivers to come into our school to help with dances, morning crosswalk duties, and even our Zero Waste Initiative. If you are interested in helping or volunteering, please reach out to Ciana for more information.

We have had some amazing opportunities for our Porter students. Recently, the University of Montana men's basketball team visited our 6th graders during lunch, and we hope to expand this to all grade levels, possibly culminating in an assembly. Additionally, we are working on offering a culturally diverse assembly featuring some of our wonderful native dancers from Porter, as well as a session on bullying with Miss Teen Montana.

Please continue to check your student's grades and engage in conversations about their learning. We encourage you to ask: What are you learning? Why are you learning it? How will you know that you learned it? These questions can lead to meaningful discussions about their academic progress.

On Wednesdays, our student services team hosts organizational and homework help during lunchtime. If you would like your student to receive support, please reach out to their homeroom teacher to get them signed up.

We recently held an all-school announcement covering our goals to Be Safe, Respectful, and Responsible. These traits are crucial for our school and community. We also want to remind everyone that every student and staff member at C.S. Porter deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. We are grateful for those students who have reported mistreatment. Please remember that you can work anonymously; reporting does not mean your identity will be shared. If you see something, say something. Our goal is to reinforce expectations for a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all students, which can be supported through our online Bullying and Harassment forms and the Safer Montana tip line.

It has come to our attention that some students have experienced hurtful comments and behaviors both within and outside our school. While some may feel their actions are harmless joking, we take all instances of mockery and harassment seriously. We encourage students to report these occurrences so we can provide appropriate learning opportunities, mediation, or school consequences when necessary.

Lastly, we want to celebrate some achievements! Our Boys 8th Grade A team is currently ranked #1 and will be entering the Copper League basketball tournament the week of the 9th. Additionally, our music staff is putting on fantastic concerts throughout December, and we encourage you to attend as many as you can.

Let's finish December strong! Our last day of school is December 20th, and we will resume on January 6th.

Thank you for your continued support!

Ty Solberg and Ariel Cornelius

Principal and Assistant Principal

CS Porter Middle School

Missoula County Public Schools

tasolberg@mcpsmt.org

accornelius@mcpsmt.org

728-2400 ext. 4601

Click here to Schedule a Meeting

At CS Porter, we are committed to maintaining a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment for every student. Racism, bullying, and any form of discrimination will not be tolerated under any circumstances. We believe in the importance of kindness, empathy, and understanding in all our interactions, and we expect everyone to contribute to a positive school culture. If you or someone you know is experiencing or witnessing inappropriate behavior, please reach out to a teacher, counselor, or school administrator. Let’s work together to ensure our school remains a place where everyone feels valued and supported.

• Baby it's cold outside! We are always in need of new or gently used gloves, hats, boots, hoodies or jackets in adult sizes. Please consider donating to us before going to Goodwill!

• If you are in need of winter gear assistance, please email Jen at jpfeiffer@mcpsmt.org with items and sizes requested. We will do our very best to accommodate you.

• As the holidays approach we will have opportunities for food and gift donations as well! Please check out our Giving Tree Sign Up Tags below if you're interested in helping.

• We are now accepting donations through December 12th of gently used items for our annual Gift Thrift! This is a fantastic event where every student has an opportunity to do holiday shopping for their families using Cougar Coupons and cash. Every item is only 25¢! Donations of jewelry, toys, games, and puzzles are very popular! Books and clothes are not. This event takes place from December 11-13 and every class will have the opportunity to shop for their loved ones.

• In addition to donations, we would love some volunteers to help out with the Gift Thrift! Examples of tasks could be cashiering and gift wrapping. If you are interested in helping, please contact Jen.

Kids EmPower Pack is Missoula Food Bank and Community Center's weekend nutrition program that helps students to stay healthy and nourished when school is not in session. Each Friday, a bag of food is provided to students who experience chronic hunger over the weekends.

Their Fresh Food Box program has boxes of food delivered to your home on the last Thursday of the month for a low cost.

Please contact Jen in the FRC for more information.

Reserve your yearbook today for $25 at yearbookforever.com, or at the office. Yearbooks will be delivered the last week of school. We always sell out, so ordering early is the best way to make sure your child receives one!

Thank you for supporting the library by shopping at our Scholastic Book Fair. Thanks to you, we were able to raise nearly $1,500 for library programs, including keeping our book vending machine stocked with brand new books.

Sign-ups for Battle of the Books are open now through December 20. Interested students need to sign-up in the library and have a permission slip signed by a caregiver. Please visit the library website for more information.

Our afterschool Parks and Rec programs are already underway! These programs are completely FREE for our Porter students! There are still some openings for this first session. We have Tuesday, High Ropes Adventures, and Wednesdays, Skate and Scooter, still available for this session.

Signups are open for all sessions. Please refer to the flyer on sessions, activities, and signing up.

Porter is building more partnerships with parents, caregivers, and community members. Please sign up on our Volunteer Portal for many opportunities to be a part of our school community. We are currently looking for support with: Cross Country, Volleyball, Soccer, and lunch support. You can sign up for individual days of the week or weekly. We look forward to seeing you soon! Please reach out to Ciana Kelly with any questions or support.

Our Porter Parent Council will have their next meeting on Wednesday, December 11 from 6:00-7:00pm in Mr. Edge's PLTW room. We really need as many people as we can have attend these meetings to help build collaborative relationships between our staff and our caregivers. You are so crucial to our success!

Student Council meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:00 am in Ms. Pierce's room 705.

Porter families may already be familiar with the Zero Waste programs at Jeannette Rankin, Hawthorne, Franklin, and Lowell Elementary schools. We are now preparing for the Zero Waste program to come to C.S. Porter! Starting this fall, we will join the MCPS Zero Waste schools that have been reducing over 90% of lunchtime waste every day by reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting. These programs not only teach students about sustainable materials management, but they also save our schools money on collection and disposal costs. It’s a win-win!

Learn more about Zero Waste at MCPS!

If you are curious about the origins of the MCPS Zero Waste program, take a look at the MCPS Zero Waste Plan: https://www.homeresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MCPS_ZW_Plan_withAppendix_062018-1.pdf

Information about Missoula’s community-wide Zero-Waste efforts can be found here: https://www.zerobyfiftymissoula.com/