September Update

What an incredible start to our school year! Learning is in full swing across the building and fall athletes have all kicked off their seasons. Thank YOU for your help in making August go so well.

The new pickup line process in the afternoon has been smooth with your help. A reminder if you are a parent using the pickup line - students are safest when you pull into the line, get your student in your vehicle, and pull to the left to exit. All exiting traffic should go straight past the auditorium and field house so traffic doesn't back up in the pickup line.

We are exceptionally thankful for a record-breaking school fundraiser. With your help, we raised just over $30,000. Students with either 5 donations or a total of $150 in donations will be heading to Rascals sometime this month to celebrate. The entire school will enjoy BMX stuntmen visiting us in October. The entire staff is excited to dream up some fun activities for our students this year.

This year we are piloting the new state assessment - ILEARN Checkpoints. Students will be taking a checkpoint test three times throughout the year to provide you and our teachers data about student achievement ahead of the end of year ILEARN Assessment. Click the button below for more information about the new test.

September 7th - 7th Grade Student Hearing Screenings

September 30th - ICMS School Picture Re-Take Day
& ICMS Fall Concert @ 7 p.m.

If your student is not yet registered for the Washington, D.C. Trip but you are interested in the opportunity, please join us for a call out meeting on Monday, September 9th at 6 p.m. in the ICMS LGI Room.

If your student is already registered and you would like to participate in a candle fundraiser to defray the cost of the trip, please join us on Tuesday, September 24th at 6 p.m. in the ICMS Library. We partner with MiddleDavids Candle Shop in Franklin each year to give students the opportunity to sell candles and earn money towards their trip. Tauria Catlin will be joining us to discuss the fundraiser and distribute candle kits.

Hello from the ICMS Counseling Department!

As the school year continues, we hope to be a resource for both students and parents. If you are ever concerned about your student, please do not hesitate to reach out and contact us.

We will be running or coordinating several small groups throughout the year including:

R.E.A.C.H. Sports Edition (8th Grade Only)

- Designed to provide student athletes with the essential skills needed in achieving success while incorporating specialized modules for athletes to help them soar. This 10 week program will address achieving goals in Growth Mindset, Self-Efficacy, Understanding Skill, Will, Regulation and more. This is our Pilot year for this program and we are Partnering with Reach for Youth to provide this curriculum to student athletes. We will have our first group starting the second week of September and hope to run subsequent groups after. Students will meet during Homeroom and first period. Mrs. Crouch will be contacting students and parents selected for this inaugural group.

Student Success Skills (Crouch)

- This group will focus on helping to equip students with study skills, positive decision making, organizational skills, and more. Students will meet once a week for 8 weeks during homeroom one day a week.

Positive Skills (Glover)

- Students in this 6 week group will discuss a weekly topic and learn various coping skills for each topic. Topics include worries, building friendships, normalizing making mistakes, and combating negative thinking. Students will meet once a week during homeroom.

Additional Groups planned for later in the school year:

- R.E.A.C.H. Sports Edition

- Social Skills

- Girls Self-Esteem

If you see a group that your child might benefit from being a part of - please email Mrs. Crouch or Mrs. Glover.

Braves Time

Once a month - students will receive a short lesson during their Homeroom class that focuses on a different Character Trait, College/Career Skill, or Healthy Habits. These lessons are only 15-20 minutes long but the theme will be highlighted the entire month through bulletin boards, morning announcements, and poster reminders created by our Student Council.

This month's theme is Good Study Habits

The Family Dinner Project offers creative ideas to help families connect during mealtime. September is a great time to set a family goal to eat more meals together!

Absolute Value, Integer, and Reciprocal have been our “Big words for Elmo” so far. In both 7th and 8th grade it is very important that we understand our math vocabulary. We need to be able to understand instructions both verbally and written, then be able to perform the math skill required.

7th grade Integer rules have been the main topic. Understanding how positive and negative numbers work, relating them back to money and some real life situations.

8th graders have had a quick review of integer rules, fractions, decimals and order of operations. They have quick reference sheets for these topics that I strongly encourage them to use throughout the year to help them on all math topics in the future.

Below is a challenge question for parents. We spend a day working on problems like these. We talked about how they may look intimidating, but if we break them down and only focus on one part of the problem at a time they are very doable.

If any of you are interested in knowing if you have the answer correct - I will post it in Parent Square during the first week of September. I will Try to remember to post reminders of Tests and major due dates for larger projects in Parent Square - however, please remember that our daily agendas with all things curriculum are posted in Canvas. As a parent you are able to have an observer role in each of your student’s classes.

All the Best!

Mrs. Emenhiser

Welcome to our new STEM Teacher, Mr. Robertson!

He was spotted in the gym last week helping students prepare for their egg drop this coming week. We are thrilled to have Mr. Robertson in our building this year. He has taught STEM at a neighboring district for a number of years. His passion for hands on learning and Star Wars is no secret when you walk into his classroom.