Hello, WMS Demon Families,

Thank you for starting the year off with a smoother pick up and drop off. We'll continue to work on any confusions or misunderstandings. Due to the start of the school year and different routes, our buses were a little late. They are learning too! Thanks for your patience.

We had a great first few days with our students! We are looking forward to the week ahead.

As school begins, there is always paperwork to be filled out. We know that this can be overwhelming. However, communication is so important. We want to make sure your student's information is accurate and up to date. Also, we want to be transparent in the procedures and processes in our handbooks. The links to our handbooks are also shared at the end of our newsletters.

Please do your best to return your students' paperwork with your student as soon as possible.

With gratitude,

Katy Kennedy

Principal

Washington Middle School

When adults or older teens look back on their middle school years, they aren't always remembered with positive emotions. Why is that?

During the middle school years, there is so much happening with our students socially, emotionally, physically, academically, and mentally. It is the second most important time of brain development in our students' lives. Their brains are rewiring, making new connections, and literally growing.

Students are trying to figure out who they are. This can include peer relationships, choice of clothing, hobbies, and academic performance.

As I am sure you know from your experiences at home, middle schoolers can either be asking for help all the time or tentative to ask for help/accept help. We work hard with our middle schoolers to advocate for themselves. We want them to try their best first before we provide more support.

If you feel like your middle schooler is pushing you away, it is when they need the adults in their life the most. Letting them know you are there looks differently for each student. It can be a smile, terrible joke, sitting near them not talking, offering to listen, holding them accountable for expectations, sharing a snack, etc. As long as they know you are there that is the most important thing.

Our Academic Support Center is open Monday-Thursday 7:30 till the bell rings. Student who want to go to the Academic Support Center (ASC Room) may ring the front door bell and share that information to make their way to the ASC Room.

The ASC Room is also open Monday- Thursday afternoons from 3:45-4:45. Students may go there as soon as they have gotten their items from their lockers.

Students do not need permission to go to the ASC. Student any time and are welcome to leave early if they have accomplished their task. The ASC Room is great for help with homework, class assigment, class project, getting organized, working on a task that was left at school, study for a test, review concepts learned in class.

All are welcomed!

Thank you to those who have volunteered to help with our 2nd Annual Back to School Bash! It's not too late! We are in need of some more volunteers!

Last year, we kicked off our school year with our 1st Annual Back to School Bash. Due to construction that occurred over the summer, we are going to push our back to school celebration to a few weeks later. Don't worry! We will have our celebration of the new school year! Our Back to School Bash will be August 27th, from 5:00-7:00 at WMS.

To make this event a success, we need your assistance! There are various ways to volunteer such as helping with stations, gather prizes, etc. If you would like to volunteer to help, please reach out to Mrs. Kennedy by emailing her at kennedyk@glendiveschools.org or by calling the Main Office at 406.377.2356.

Last year, during Homecoming week, we gave out spirit awards each day for the students in each grade level that showed the most spirit! The kids were so excited to pick their trophies and showed them off with pride. Here is a picture of a few examples!

We are looking for volunteers to use their creative juices to create fun and crazy trophies for our students. Last year, a couple of parent volunteers work together on the project and made Homecoming week one to remember.

Please email me if you have any interested in helping out! It really meant a lot to the students.

If something has been lost and been found, we put it in our Lost and Found. You can find the WMS Lost and Found in the entry way to the Gym if you are entering from our main hallway.

We are a 6th-8th middle school in addition to a Special Education Pre-K program in Glendive, MT. GO DEMONS!

Email: wms@glendiveschools.org
Website: https://www.glendiveschools.com/o/wms
Location: 505 North Meade Avenue, Glendive, MT, USA
Phone: 406.3772356
Facebook: facebook.com/wmsglendive