EMS Raider Student and Family News

Hello Raiders Families,

Thank you for your continued support of our incredible Raider students! While we faced some challenges this week with low attendance on Tuesday, we are optimistic and focused on improving. Let’s work together to raise our attendance to 96% or better. Though we came up short in the attendance challenge against Del Valle Middle School, I’m confident that with your help, we’ll come out on top for the month of September.

At EMS, the safety and well-being of our students and staff is always our top priority. We are proud to have two armed Defender Security Officers and two unarmed officers on campus at all times. Rest assured, there will always be at least one armed officer dedicated to keeping our school safe and secure.

We are also excited to announce that our Campus Educational Improvement Committee (CEIC) is now complete! A huge thank you to our dedicated committee members. Our first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 25th at 5:00 PM in the library. During this meeting, we will outline the purpose of the committee and set expectations. While all parents are welcome to attend, please note that only CEIC members will have voting rights and be able to participate in discussions.

Next week is homecoming week, and we invite all Raiders to participate in the EHS Spirit Week dress-up days. Please scroll down to the EHS homecoming dress-up day flyer for more details on the week's attire. On Thursday, Sept 19th, we will have several student groups participating in the homecoming parade and Burning of the E. We look forward to seeing you all there!

A quick reminder that all visitors to the campus must present a valid ID at the visitor center to ensure everyone’s safety. If your child has a doctor’s appointment, especially during lunchtime, please plan ahead. With over 400 students in each grade, it can take a considerable amount of time to locate your child. Arriving a few minutes early to sign your child out as well as bringing a doctor’s note upon returning to campus will help us code absences correctly so your student doesn’t lose credit for their classes.

Thank you for your cooperation, support, and understanding. Together, we’re building a strong, safe, and successful school community!

If you would like to recognize a faculty or staff member, please use the link below to submit your recognition form. I will ensure the recognition is delivered to the teacher or staff member in the upcoming week. https://bit.ly/EMS-Shout-Out-24-25

Below are our weekly reminders:

• Please read the entire newsletter for weekly updates.
• Progress report 2 is now available for viewing in HAC.
• If you have been locked out of your HAC account, please visit the front office during regular business hours, and our office staff will assist you in resetting your account.
  
• Students must be in their school uniform. If you have any questions regarding the student dress code, please scroll down the newsletter for clarification.
  
• Due to safety concerns, every student must wear their ID each day, without exception. Every student has been issued an ID.
• The first student ID is free, and every replacement ID is $5.
• Tardy sweeps will continue. If a student is tardy before lunch they will serve lunch detention on the same day. If the student is tardy after lunch, they will serve lunch detention the following day.
• Continue to pick up your child after school at 4:00 PM daily. The campus does not have adult supervision outside after 4:30 PM.

Have a fantastic week,

Steve Zubiate

Principal

WEEKLY TIP: Excused vs. Unexcused Absences
Did you know? When a student is absent, parents/guardians have 72 hours to notify the school to excuse the absence. If the school doesn’t receive a call or note within that time, the absence will remain unexcused. Be sure to reach out as soon as possible to help keep your student's attendance record on track!

What we are learning this week:

6th Grade:

• Reading Language Arts: Unit 2-Fiction & Narrative Writing (August 05-Sept. 20)

• Social Studies: Unit 2 U.S and Canada (August 26- Sept. 20)

• Math: Unit 3: Operations with Positive Rational Numbers (Sept. 09-Sept. 25)

• Science: Unit 2: Elements & Chemical Change (August 28-Sept.23)

7th Grade:

• Reading Language Arts: Unit 2- Fiction & Narrative Writing (August 5-Sept. 20)

• Social Studies: Unit 4: Mexican Colonization & Empresario System ( Sept.09-Sept. 20)

• Math: Unit 3: Graphs, Equations, Inequalities (Sept.09- Sept. 25)

• Science: Unit 3:Motion (Sept.09-Sept. 24)

8th Grade:

• Reading Language Arts: Unit 2-Fiction & Narrative Writing (August 5-Sept. 20)

• Social Studies: Era 2 American Independence (August 28-Sept. 20)

• Math: Unit 3:Functions ( August 29-Sept. 20)

• Algebra 1-Linear Functions & Inequalities (Sept. 04-Sept. 24)

• Science- Unit 3: Forces & Motion (Sept. 03- Sept. 20)

Fast food deliveries or drop offs are not allowed at EMS. Our cafeteria is fully staffed and able to serve a full meal to every student on campus. We also have four student microwaves available. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Good luck to our Algebra students who are taking their checkpoint this week! No other testing updates

Art/Advanced Art - Mr. Alaniz

I’d like to recognize Art l, ll and lll students on their Texture Drawings!

Advanced Art students finished with their Chihuly inspired sculptures. Great job!

Thank you for supporting Eastwood Middle School Fine Arts!

Art - Mr. Marquez

This week students worked on anatomy drawing, the hand and eye, and making mystical drawings. Here are the best examples this week:

Art - Ms. Moeller

This week, we continued our journey with Color. We practiced colored pencil techniques and we are going to use them to do some still life artwork. Here are our practice spheres.

Band - Ms. Candelaria

Parents! We still have several students without the red Standard of Excellence book 1. It is imperative that every student has their own book to make any improvements in their musical journey. You can purchase this book at any music store in town, such as Olivas Music, Strings and Things, or Bertie's Music, or order online. Please make sure your child has this book, and all supplies. We will be doing random supplies checks regularly. If you need a refresher on what supplies your child needs, please refer to the band handbook under "Supplies". The Handbook is located in the Google Classroom.

We still have a little over a week of our fundraiser left! We have made HUGE gains and want to keep working to surpass our goal! Please keep sharing our link!!

http://vraise.org/NsLPDh

Guitar - Mrs. Prado

I would like to recognize third period guitarists for their outstanding work this week!

We will continue to work on music for performances throughout the next few weeks.

Advanced guitar will have rehearsal next week Tuesday, Wed and Thursday of next week at 8 AM. There is also tutoring for beginners on Friday mornings at 8 AM.

Choir/Piano - Ms. Arreola

Choir- We have a few upcoming dates!

Sept. 19th - Evening, Homecoming Parade (if you sign the permission form)

Sept. 25th -7:50 am, National Anthem in front of the flagpole

Sept. 25th – 4-6pm , Moc Auditions for Region

We have been blazing through region music. I am so proud of you! Keep it up!

Piano- Thank you for all the hard work, we will start working on holiday music soon!

Dance - Ms. Chavez

Hello Raiders!

Let's see those Jazz Hands!! Dance I and II classes have been learning about the History of Jazz dance. This week's focus was theatrical jazz and how the genre is used on Broadway. Just a reminder that all dance classes need to bring suit out clothes and jazz shoes every day we are dancing.

Great job to the Raiders Dance Team for their performance at the Trooperette Spirit Night!

Here is a list of other Raider Dance Team Performances:

• September 18th: EMS Volleyball Game

• September 19th: EHS Homecoming Parade

"Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle." –Wilma Rudolph

7th Grade

Football: The boys fought hard, but fell short against Del Valle Middle School, 6-7. Strong efforts from Joziah Walker and Adrian Soriano fell short of leading the team to victory.

Volleyball: The volleyball team had a huge win against Hanks M. S. Kessia Valerio had 15 straight points and Dylan Tarango had 8 straight points. Great job on playing as a team. The team is now 5-0 and will play in the Championship tournament on Wednesday September 25th at Eastwood M.S.

Cross-Country: Our athletes this past Saturday took 2nd place overall at Riverside Middle! Come support us this Saturday 9/14/24 at Del Valle Middle.

Cheer: Cheer just finished learning their competition choreography for Competition season! We are expecting to bring back first place trophies! Wish us luck 😊

8th Grade

Football: Our boys lost a hard fought game to Del Valle Middle, with Zenin Nunez scoring the Raiders' only touchdown on a kickoff return.

Volleyball: The volleyball team won against a tough Hanks M.S. on 9/11/24. Way to come together as a team to Make those Gains for the win. The team is now 5-0 and will play their last home game against Immanuel on Wednesday, Sept. 18th. Come support your lady Raiders.

Cross-Country: Our athletes this past Saturday took 2nd place overall at Riverside Middle! Come support us this Saturday 9/14/24 at Del Valle Middle.

Cheer: Cheer just finished learning their competition choreography for Competition season! We are expecting to bring back first place trophies! Wish us luck 😊

Students come check out any type of book in the library, work on a makerspace or you can also come to chill after you eat your lunch.

Tardy Sweeps will continue.

If students are tardy BEFORE lunch, they will have lunch detention that same day.

If students are tardy AFTER lunch, they will have lunch detention the following day.

Parents please complete and return your child's SIF Form. We need to reach 100% completion! Your support in this matter is greatly appreciated.

CAMPUS SAFETY PROCEDURES

As some of you may have noticed, the district is currently improving our front visitor's vestibule area. As the work progresses, we will need to make some adjustments to ensure we keep our campus safe. Please read the procedures outlined below so you are prepared in the event you need to enter our school building during the school day.

1. All visitors must have a valid picture ID.
2. Be prepared to show your ID outside of the campus after notifying the receptionist you have arrived, and to have it scanned in our Hall Pass system for a quick background check.
3. The doors on the right-hand side are to ENTER the campus only. Doors on the left-hand side are to EXIT the building.
4. Should you need to sign your child out for an appointment or the day, you will do so inside of the visitor's vestibule. You may wait inside the vestibule or just outside the front doors for your child.
5. The receptionist will check to make sure the person picking up your child is authorized to do so as listed in our student information system.
6. Your child will be called down to the visitor's center. As they pass through the area our receptionist will note they are ok to leave, at which time they will exit the building out of the exit only (left-hand side) doors. As you see them come through, you can meet them just outside the campus doors.
7. Should you need to come inside the campus at or shortly after dismissal, you will be stopped at the door by an adult who will ask you the reason for your visit. They will communicate with the front office to make sure you are approved entry and you will be permitted to make your way to the front office for further assistance.
8. In order to comply with state mandates to safely and effectively control a single entry point for our campus, we are unable to accept food deliveries for your student during lunch. Our visitor center receptionist must remain focused on the task of monitoring entry, check in and processing of identification, monitoring student sign-outs and so on. Again, this is to ensure the safety and security of our single campus entry point. Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you for your flexibility and understanding of our new visitor's area procedures. It is up to all of us to help keep our campus (students & adults) safe, and we appreciate your support and partnership in doing so.

If you have any questions or concerns, please make campus administration aware and we can assist you.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out by calling our main number 915-434-4300 or calling the numbers listed below from 7:45 am - 4:15 pm .

Office Clerk & Nurse Contact Information:

6th Grade Students

Alicia Lopez

(915) 434-4367

alopez382@yisd.net

7th Grade Students

Heather Borrego

(915) 434-4368

hborrego@yisd.net

8th Grade Students

Ana Cadena-Medina

(915) 434-4310

amedina79@yisd.net

Front Office/Discipline Clerk

Susana Jimenez

(915) 434-4300

sjimenez20@yisd.net

Sched/Registrar Clerk

Melissa Franco

(915) 434-4392

mfranco22@yisd.net

Nurse's Office

Lizeth Dehghan

(915) 434-4311

pdehghan@yisd.net

SPED Nurse

Christine Cisneros

(915) 434-4311

ccisneros7@yisd.net

Counselors & CIS Contact Information:

Counselors' Clerk

Maricruz Ramirez

(915) 434-4300

mramirez83@yisd.net

6th Grade Students

Melissa Alvarez

(915) 434-4321

malvarez27@yisd.net

7th Grade Students

Rose Ponce De Leon

(915) 434-4319

rleon4@yisd.net

8th Grade Students

Susana Medina

(915) 434-4315

smedina5@yisd.net

Communities in Schools Coordinator - Student Last Names A - L

Ricardo Lomeli

(915) 434-4313

rlomelli1@yisd.net

Communities in Schools Coordinator - Student Last Names M - Z

Claudia Ortega

(915) 434-4320

cortega24@yisd.net

Administrative Office Contact Information:

6th Grade Students

Assistant Principal- Ryan Marquez

(915) 434-4302

rmarquez22@yisd.net

7th Grade Students

Assistant Principal - Yolanda Melendez

(915)434-4326

ymelendez2@yisd.net

8th Grade Students

Assistant Principal - Tanya Vega

(915) 434-4304

tvega@yisd.net

Campus Oversight

Principal - Steven Zubiate

(915) 434-4301

szubiate@yisd.net

Website: https://www.yisd.net/eastwoodmiddle
Location: 2612 Chaswood Street, El Paso, TX, USA
Phone: (915) 434-4300
Facebook: facebook.com/EastwoodMSRaiders
Twitter: @EMS_Raiders