Dear Merrill Families,

Welcome back to the spring semester! We are excited about the new year and all the fantastic learning that will be taking place. This Friday, our 7th graders had a wonderful Quarter 3 celebration at Sky Zone, and our 6th and 8th graders will be heading to Skate City next week for their celebrations. We will capture all the amazing moments in next week's JJ to highlight these festivities.

As we fully embrace winter, please ensure that students dress appropriately for outdoor recess. We prioritize movement throughout the day, and recess is a critical part of that.

We also want to remind everyone about our after-school parking zones. It is essential to be mindful of C3 pick-up spots and to avoid parking there before 3:50 PM to ensure a quick and safe pick-up for our students. Additionally, please refrain from double parking in the Cory parking lot while waiting for your child, as it has caused delays for our staff members trying to leave after school.

The attached map will help ensure a safe and smooth end-of-day pick-up for everyone at the Cory-Merrill Campus.

Thank you for your cooperation, and have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Merrill Leadership

1/15/25- Merrill Dine Out @ Goosetown Tavern 4-11pm

*Merrill's very own Dad Band plays from 8-10pm!!

Quarterly Celebration Field Trips this week~

-**8th Grade:** January 14th at Skate City

- **6th Grade:** January 15th at Skate City

1/17-2/13/25- Multilingual Learner ACCESS Testing

1/20/25- No School Martin Luther King Jr Day

Girls Volleyball has a doubleheader Tuesday 1/14/25 at Merrill. They will play Skinner at 4pm and Bill Roberts at 5pm.

6th grade girls volleyball practice is Tuesday and Thursday 7:30 am-8:30 am

Scrimmage against Slavens on Friday, January 17 at 4:00 at Slavens

Scrimmage at Merrill on Friday, January 24 at 4:00

Merrill scrimmage at Merrill on Friday, February 7 at 4:00

Volleyball practice team Mondays and Thursdays 7:30 am -8:30 am

Boys Volleyball has a doubleheader Friday 1/17/25 at Merrill. They play Bill Roberts at 4pm and Skinner at 5pm. Practices are still on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Its a fave!

Merrill has been presented as A Unified Champion School! One of only 3 Middle Schools in the entire state! A Special Olympics Unified Champion School has an inclusive school climate and exudes a sense of collaboration, engagement and respect for all members of the student body and staff. A Unified Champion School receiving national banner recognition is one that has demonstrated commitment to inclusion by meeting 10 national standards of excellence. These standards were developed by a national panel of leaders from Special Olympics and the education community.

In addition to receiving our banner, Ms. Wendy's MiS students gave a touching presentation on what empathy and inclusion mean to our school culture and how important it is to have a diverse student body with many learning styles. An added surprise was a heart felt congratulations from Denver Bronco, Alex Singleton, who received The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for his excellence on and off the field volunteering for over 20 years with the Special Olympics. Congrats, Merrill!

You can catch the news coverage on this amazing event on this Sunday's Channel 7 Sports Xtra during the 10:30pm show!!!!

Spring Auction Planning is Happening Now!

Join great group of people to help plan Merrill’s biggest party and fundraiser of the year!

We need volunteers to assist with:

*Decor/Set Up for Auction

*Request/obtain auction items (we have a list of prior year donors to work off of).

*Auction site set up and listing of auction items

*Entertainment

*Ticket Sales

If you are interested in helping out, please contact Joanna at

joanna_shear@yahoo.com

Save the Date!

We appreciate you!! Join us the evening of Thursday, January 23rd to connect, meet new people and celebrate a successful mid-point of the school year! Details to come!

Upcoming Dine Outs - Remember to Mention Merrill When Ordering!

February 6 all evening at Postino at 9th

March 10 all day at Ester’s

April 29 from 4pm-10pm at Campus Lounge

Dads at Merrill (D@M)

The rumors are over!

Dad Band IS returning again next year to help Merrill raise money for its teachers and staff.

On January 15, in addition to what will be a Merrill Dine Out night at Goosetown Tavern, 3242 E Colfax Ave, Dad Band will be performing a mix of new modern faves to the classics from past decades.

Performance time: approximately 6:00pm to 9:00pm.

Dads at Merrill (D@M)

Are you a Dad reading this?

Connect with other Jaguar Dads by emailing john.hesse@me.com

Click to gear up your Jaguar with 20% off code: SAVE20

Quick links to support Merrill:

Donate your Longmont Dairy Caps

in the Merrill Office

Longmont Dairy supports Merrill by

giving 5¢ back for every milk cap!

Start collecting and tell your neighbors

that Merrill is a drop off location for

Longmont Dairy milk & juice caps!

Enroll Merrill as your Community

Rewards Recipient under My Account!

Dear Family,

Beginning on January 13", Multilingual Learners (MLLs) in grades K-12 will participate in the ACCESS for ELLs state assessment. This assessment measures a student’s English language skills in the areas of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. ACCESS is used by classroom teachers to determine the level of language support that a student may need during instruction. With this information, we are able to monitor student progress on an annual basis and determine when a student is ready to be placed in

mainstream instruction.

Merrill Middle School will be administering the assessment between January 17, 2025 and February 13, 2025. Students best demonstrate what they know after getting plenty of sleep the night before testing and eating a healthy breakfast in the morning. To keep your child from missing instruction due to makeup testing, ensure that they arrive on-time for school and that appointments and vacations are planned for non-testing days.

Your support during ACCESS is appreciated as state assessments are vital tools that contribute towards student success.

If you have general questions regarding the assessment, please contact the school.

Thank you,

Patrice Underwood

School Principal

Greetings #FAMILY! Merrill Meals pantry provides free groceries once a month to Merrill families that would like to receive extra food. We understand that everyone could use some support from time to time, and we are here to help.

If you would like to receive extra groceries one-time per month, please complete this private and anonymous survey, so we can provide the food items that your family likes to eat and match your preferences. Please mark the items that you would like to have potentially included in your pre-packed backpack.

***NOTE: Not all items are available, but we will match your request with whatever is in stock! Thank you.

Form can be found HERE

The Merrill Store is designed to promote positive behavior and encourages students to make good choices. They earn Merrill Money throughout their time at school and use it to "purchase" items at the store during their recess. Items include snacks, chips, candy, sports equipment, Merrill gear, fidgets, toys, stickers and most importantly- gift cards! Please see the Sign Up Genius below to sign up to donate items and to volunteer at the store. It's so fun seeing your student during the school day! We will have the store open 2 Fridays a month and hope to see you there!

MerrillStoreSUG

Club Offerings 24-25

This new pilot program will provide 4,000 eligible Denver Public Schools middle school students with $1,000 to enroll in afterschool programs. As students enroll in participating programs, My Spark Denver will also invest $4 million in afterschool activities.

My Spark Denver gives parents the agency to decide how they want to use the money, which is provided to them in the form of a restricted debit card that can be redeemed across 100+ afterschool providers, big and small. Every kid is different and what parents really need are the resources to help their children pursue their sparks, whether it's fencing, football or fashion design.