Brown MS Weekly Update

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Hello Brown MS Community,

We are excited to share that the information regarding team and homebase placement for the 2022-2023 school year is now viewable on Aspen! This time is exciting, but it can also create anxiety and stress for some students and their families.Much time and energy go into determining what team each of our 760 students are placed on. We are unable to honor requests for changes of team placement due to the many factors we consider as we create the teams. We encourage you to help your child face the new year with an open mind and positive outlook. Strong new friendships form in middle school, and meeting new people is an opportunity to grow. If your student does not have a friend in their homeroom or on their team who they were hoping to be with, please remind them that friends can connect daily at lunch, in the hallways, and through their multi-team classes.

Please log into the Aspen Parent Portal to view your child’s homebase and team assignment.

Instructions for families on how to review homeroom and team assignments:

• To review Homeroom and Team assignments click on Family tab at the top, and then click the name of your child if prompted. Homeroom and Team will be listed under the Demographics.
• If families are using a mobile device such as an iPhone, to get to the Family tab, click on the Menu icon first , then select your child from the top. Scroll down the details page to see the homeroom and team information.

Your child’s homebase will be shown in Aspen by two letters followed by a room number (example: RE124). This signifies Red team room 124. You can use the table below to find the names of the teachers for each team/homebase.

On Thursday, Sept. 1 we welcome our incoming 6th graders and their parents to a brief visit at Brown. They can come into the building to see where their homebase is as well as their team classes. Teachers will be here to help them find these locations. The visit is from 9:00AM - 9:45AM. The teachers have meetings to attend after 9:45, so we respectfully ask you to be sure to time your visit accordingly.

• 6th Grade Visiting Time: Monday, Sept. 1, 9:00AM - 9:45AM
• First Day of School: Tuesday, Sept. 6, 8:20AM - 2:50PM
• Brown PTO Family Picnic: Monday, Sept. 19 (Rain date Sept. 20)
• Back to School Night: Wednesday, Sept. 28
• School Picture Day: Friday, Sept. 30

Each week in this weekly newsletter, we will share some of our expectations for students during school. We hope that you can support your child to meet these expectations. Teachers will take time to review these expectations with students so they know what to expect.

Our first expectation centers on personal electronic devices such as phones, gaming devices, personal computers, Apple watches, etc. While not all students have these devices (and that is okay!), many do, and we are asking for families to partner with us in helping our students to disconnect from them during the school day.

Here is an outline of the expectations around personal electronic devices:

Expectations for Electronic Devices

(smart phones, apple watches, earbuds, etc.)

• Personal devices must be off and stored safely in a locked locker from 8:20 - 2:50 (Please bring in a lock for your locker.)

• Personal devices can be used only for educational purposes when teacher directed (i.e. earbuds to listen to videos, phones to take pictures for a project, etc.)

• If a student is using a personal device without permission, the student must give the phone to the adult who will take it to the office. Students will pick up the phone at the end of the day.

• 2nd time parent will be informed

• 3rd time parent must pick up the phone from office

• Beyond that student passes phone in at main office each day

• Personal computers should remain at home, NPS will supply Chromebooks for all students.

Chromebooks

• NPS provided Chromebooks are for educational purposes only.

• Chromebooks should be closed and in their protective cases unless directed for use by a teacher.

• Students must charge their Chromebooks every night and bring them to school each day.

We will be sharing a video with all students through their school email prior to the start of school to explain to them our expectations around personal electronic devices. You can view it here.

• Chromebook Loan Agreement

• If you have not already done so, please complete the workflow in Aspen for the Chromebook Loan Agreement.

  Directions for completing the loan agreement in Aspen.
• Optional Repair Fund
• Accidents do happen and Chromebooks are sometimes damaged, please consider opting into the Optional Repair Fund.

Finally, there are a number for families here 1:1 pages from the NPS website.

If you have not already done so, please be sure to update your student information on Aspen. It is important that we have correct contact information for school to home communication. Click here for Student Information Update instructions.

If you have not yet registered your child for a bus pass, please visit the NPS Transportation website for more information.

picture and instructions here