Blevins Bulletin

Hello Blevins Families,

Hard to believe, but our first semester has come to an end. I'd like to thank so many for supporting our staff with a recent coffee cart and a delightful spread of cookies today. Thanks for your generosity and appreciation of our staff. I echo those same sentiments to our students. They have had an outstanding first half of the year and I look forward to the spring semester to come with our Bruin students!

Please note that there will be new schedules for our students in the coming semester, so be sure to review that with your child before classes begin in January. We look forward to new electives and PBL classes, as well as potential adjustments to other periods of the day. Reach out to your child's school counselor with questions.

I hope you all have a joy-filled and restful Winter Break!

Proudly,

Joe Zappa, Principal

December 23rd- January 3rd:

• NO SCHOOL/Winter Break

Monday, January 6th:

• NO SCHOOL/Teacher Workday

Monday, January 13th:

• Bruin Club Starts 2:30-5:00
• Wrestling Pre-Season Camp 2:45-3:45 (See Information Below)
• 7th/8th Grade Girls Basketball Tryouts 2:35-4:10 (See Information Below)

❗Thursday, January 16th:

• SAVE THE DATE: Blevins Dining Night at Café Mexicali! (More information to come)

Monday, January 20th:

• NO SCHOOL/Martin Luther King JR. Day

Tuesday, January 21st:

• Wrestling Season Starts 2:45-4:15 (See Information Below)
• 7th/8th Grade Girls Basketball Season Starts 2:35-4:10 (See Information Below)

Wednesday, January 22nd:

• SAVE THE DATE- Parenting a Middle Schooler 6:00-7:30 (Blevins Library) Join Bruin Club at Blevins for an engaging session on cultivating healthy, sustainable habits to support mental health and build resilience. Click Here to Register. (More Information Below)

Thursday, January 23rd:

• Rocky Mountain High School counselors will be at Blevins to present information for 9th grade registration. Students will be given course registration document during this time.

Tuesday, January 28th:

• PTO Meeting 5:30-7:30 (Collaboration Café)

Friday, January 31st:

• 6th Grade Field Trip to the Lincoln Center Performance of Collision of Rhythm 9:45-11:15

Congratulations to the following students for being chosen as our December PAWS Students-of-the-Month. Students got to enjoy Donuts today!

6th grade:

P- Sarah Matin

A- Elliot Welch

W-Lena Rasmussen

S-Chris-Angel Herrera

7th grade:

P- Mayar Getlawi

A- Bri Phighetti

W-Drake Vanderven

S-Simon Lok

8th grade:

P-Aniyah Babbs

A-Sam Nye

W-True Parks

S-Eliza Ryken

The boys' basketball teams fought through a tough start and continued to improve as a team as the season progressed. They played hard and kept their heads up in adversity and learned some good lessons about sports and life. Thanks to all the parents for your support!

Blevins PAWS December Edition!

Blevins PAWS Newspaper Website!

Hello Bruin Family,

Winter break is upon us! If any of your kids are like mine, they have been counting down the days! Just a few items of news for the week:

Staff Appreciation Coffee Cart - A few of our amazing Bruin students took orders and delivered coffee to our wonderful teachers and staff on Monday! The needed, pre-winter break boost was much appreciated by all! Thanks to Cups Coffee and you all that donate money to make these things happen!

PTO/SAC (School Accountability Committee) Meeting - Held our last PTO meeting of the semester combined with the quarterly SAC meeting. Mr. Zappa updated us on a few really positive trends taking place at the school.

• First off, the administration and staff have really made it a goal to ensure every Blevins student feels connected to the school. They have taken kids that might at one time been at risk of chronic absenteeism and worked to minimize the barriers to getting to school as well as each teacher has been given a few kids to be in their “fanny pack” to ensure they are connecting with these kids on a daily basis.
• The staff and administration have focused on Restorative Discipline rather than Punitive Punishment (although that unfortunately is still needed from time to time). The goal is to enable students to work out conflicts before they escalate. Ms. Rajnowski is specially trained in this area and works with students to teach them to resolve issues in a positive manner before it escalates to a major problem. They are getting to the point that students will proactively request meetings with her to help work out issues ahead of time!!
• This has all resulted in the below wonderful trends this past semester and will only continue to grow as the year progresses!
• Absenteeism - 75% of students have an attendance of 85% days attended or better. This is up from 70% last year.
• Behavior requiring suspension as a consequence is down by 67% so far this year.
• Student Connections survey reflects an overall score of 86% for students feeling connected to adults at Blevins (up from 82% last year).
• Students feeling the activities at school reflect their interests is 76% (up from 70% last year).

Lastly, all the teachers and staff appreciated the Holiday Treats everyone contributed today! Thanks to everyone that made that happen!

Have a wonderful Holiday and a Happy New Year!

Shauna Moffatt

PTO President

Shauna_moffatt@excelfg.com (Please reach out!)

OPEN MAT

Open mat will begin 12/2/24 -12/20/24 2:45pm-3:45pm on school days in the Auxiliary Gym.

*Please bring a water bottle, tennis shoes, shorts/sweatpants. Please bring inhalers, if needed.

Students will need their silver card prior to the first official day of practice 1/21/25

This is a non-cut sport available to 6th, 7th and 8th grade students.

Preseason Camp

Open mat will begin 1/13/25-1/17/25 2:45pm-3:45pm on school days in the Auxiliary Gym.

*Please bring a water bottle, tennis shoes, shorts/sweatpants. Please bring inhalers, if needed.

Students will need their silver card prior to the first official day of practice 1/21/25.

This is a non-cut sport available to 6th, 7th and 8th grade students.

Official Practices

Official Practices will be from 2:45pm-4:15pm on school days and non-meet days in the Auxiliary Gym.

To receive their silver card, they need the following items:

-Sports Physical (once per year)

-Registration (for each sport)

-Payment of fees/Shared waiver of fees (for each sport)

A silver card is required prior to tryouts and first day of practice. For more information on how to complete the above requirements, please visit our Blevins Middle School Athletics page at https://www.psdathletics.org/blevins

Also, feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.

Thanks,

Coach Ben Rees

brees@psdschools.org

A silver card is required prior to tryouts and first day of practice. For more information on how to complete the above requirements, please visit our Blevins Middle School Athletics page at https://www.psdathletics.org/blevins

Preseason Camp: No preseason camp.

Tryouts: 1/13-1/15 2:35pm-4:10pm in Gym 200. Cuts will take place on 1/15/24. Please wear athletic clothing/shoes and bring a water bottle. Please pick up students promptly at 4:10pm.

Practice: Practices will be 2:35pm-4:10pm in Gym 200 on school days and non-game days.

Also, feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.

Varsity/JV Schedule

Varsity/JV Coach-Trey Cormia

fcormia@psdschools.org

C1/C2 Schedule

C1/C2 Coach-Ken Hartley

khartley@psdschools.org

The time for 9th grade registration has begun! No matter the high school your 8th grader will be attending, we will be working at Blevins to best support students in the big transition ahead. We wanted to make sure we communicated our plan, as well as provide resources for the registration process at each high school. Please see our 9th grade registration information page on the Blevins counseling website for important upcoming dates and additional information.

Parenting a Middle Schooler January 22nd, 6:00-7:30 (Blevins Library)

Join Bruin Club at Blevins for an engaging session on cultivating healthy, sustainable habits to support mental health and build resilience.

Order a yearbook now so you don’t have to worry about it later! ✔ Check it off your to-do list today: https://www.jostens.com/yearbooks/students-and-parents/about-yearbooks

Bruin Gear Store

#BruinStrong Shirts Available for Purchase

Thank you to Ed Carroll Motor Company for Sponsoring our

Lego Robotics Team. We appreciate your support!

RMHS GBBALL is hosting a MS girls basketball prep camp to help get players ready for their MS season. Come join us for two exciting days of basketball skill-building and teamwork! This camp is designed to prepare middle school girls for success on the court.

Regardless of what high school your students eventually attend, this camp is open to ALL girls 1st - 8th grade. Our goal is to have camp style learning with our players and coaches for the first two hours followed by open scrimmages and awards. Family and friends are welcome to watch!

Here is the link to the December Camp Registration Form

https://forms.gle/dBugw8HJiunENyQz9

Joe Zappa, Principal

970-488-4001

jzappa@psdschools.org

Dusti Sanger, Assistant Principal

970-488-4002

dsanger@psdschools.org

Scott Schreiner, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director

970-488-4036

scotts@psdschools.org

Michele Trujillo, Office Manager

970-488-4004

mtrujill@psdschools.org

Kirsten Bovbjerg, 6th/7th Grade Counselor

970-488-4010

kbovbjerg@psdschools.org

Anna Burris, 7th/8th Grade Counselor

970-488-4091

annab@psdschools.org

Erin McCain, Academic Dean* & School Counselor

*Guidance for academic supports for Blevins students

970-488-4009

emccain@psdschools.org