Parent Newsletter
Riverside Middle School | January 2024
Dean Update:
Hello Riverside Families-
As we finish out our first month of school I want to take the time to introduce myself. My name is Josh Barnett and I am our new dean of students. Prior to this I was a special education teacher here at RMS and worked with all grade levels to support our students with IEP needs. I am excited to work with even more of our student population in this new role.
As our new dean I value the partnership and collaboration with our families. I plan to continue to do this through our newsletters, attending PTO meetings and meeting with families here at RMS.
As a school community we utilize Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) to support our students here with meeting school wide expectations along with student handbook expectations. We have completed six (20 minute mini-lessons) during the first two weeks of school on these expectations. Some of the topics covered were (classroom norms, hallway expectations, lunch/recess expectations, before and after school procedures). Over 40 students helped with the making of these mini-lessons with talking points that were recorded for the rest of the RMS students.
With the last two weeks of September we utilize our advisory to develop our students' social emotional understanding of kindness and the power of their words. We had the students complete a visual representation using toothpaste to see the power of their words and how once it's out there it is difficult to bring it back. Then we followed it up with a Kindness pledge that all students completed. Lastly we had the students further their understanding on what kindness looks like and mean to them through classroom circle discussions, small group discussion and poster activity and lastly school wide jam board with students putting statements on how to display kindness. This all can be seen on our facebook page as well!
As we continue into October I encourage you to have discussions with your children about how they display kindness to their friends? What does this look like? Maybe even how can they show kindness at home for you as parents?😁
As we continue throughout the year our goal is to ensure that you RMS families are hearing more on your child’s growth not just educationally but socially and emotionally as well.
-Mr. Barnett
