Dust Devil Weekly

Once again this school year we will be focused on improving school wide attendance at JMMS! Each week we will report out our daily attendance rates. Our goal is to be above 96% each day...we can do it!

Monday 3/3: 92.00%

Tuesday 3/4: 94.75%

Wednesday 3/5: 94.25%

Thursday 3/6: 90.50%

Friday 3/7: 89.25%

Did you know that an Excused absence is the same as an Unexcused absence for a student? If your child is going to be out for an extended amount of time, you can request and Independent Study Contract. This contract acts as attendance for the time they are not in school, as well as, allowing students to stay on top of their studies!

- In Science, grade 8 students designed experiments on Newton's Second Law of Motion through hands-on projects and collaborative learning and showcased their work by doing a gallery walk.

- The rains led to a cool discovery by some of our students...an reptile friend!! Not to worry it was released back into the bushes to go along its merry way after the students got a closer look!

- Some amazing books created by Maestra Rincon's Dual Language 6th grade Social Studies students!

6th Grade Camp is only a week away and some parents might be wanting to see a little bit more about Camp Cuyamaca. Here is a link to a video with Mr. Dustin that tells students all about the exciting things that they will do at camp!

Camp Video.mp4

When we understand each other, we build a better world! Tune in to this episode of Around Alpine Union and discover how our students show empathy and help make our school community stronger.

Apologies for the link not being active last week! Here is an updated version. You can use the QR code or click directly on the ad to take you to the link!

We are excited to announce our first eSports Family Night on Wednesday, March 26 from 5:30-7:00pm at JMMS. Students will be able to sign up in teams to compete against one another in Mario Kart. Teams can have a family member if you have a gamer in the family, if not, students must be accompanied by one adult. More info to come!

Did you know that Alpine Union School District has a valuable online resource available to all students — the Sora digital library? Sora provides access to a diverse collection of books, including audiobooks, and can be accessed at any time. Here's how your child can make the most of this resource:

1. Accessing Sora:

• Log into their Google account

• Navigate to Clever (lower left side of Chromebook)

• Click on the Sora app

• Once in Sora, log in using your Google credentials. This is a one-time requirement, and subsequent logins will be automatic.

Note: If you're unsure about your student’s Google login information, please reach out to your child’s teacher.

2. Exploring the San Diego County Public Library:

In addition to our library, students can also access books from the San Diego County Public Library through Sora:

• After logging into Sora, click on the down arrow next to Alpine Union School District (under EXPLORE) on the top left-hand side

• Search for San Diego County Library and click on San Diego County Library Digital Media

• Choose your desired book

• Click "borrow"

• Select Alpine Union School District

• Click on the blue bar

• Click on your student's email address again

• Click on borrow again

• Access the book by clicking on “shelf” at the bottom of the screen

We highly encourage students to make the most of this resource.

This year we are excited to announce that our 8th Grade Promotion will take place on Wednesday, June 4th at 4 pm. As many families know, we usually have our Promotion on the last day of school early in the morning. However, this year that would fall at the same time as Granite Hills' Graduation ceremony. We know that many of our families will be celebrating their graduating Seniors that morning so we have decided to celebrate our promoting 8th Graders the afternoon before. We are excited to have our ceremony at a special after school event. We look forward to seeing you all there!

It is time for Open Enrollment at Creekside for the Dual Language TK and Kindergarten programs. Space is limited so if you are interested, contact Creekside to sign up now!

We appreciate your patience as we put all of the pieces in place to get our JOAN MACQUEEN PTA MEMBERSHIP DRIVE underway! And....it is time! Our Membership Drive has begun! You can join online beginning NOW for just $15 a membership. We have set a goal of 200 members and we are well on our way with already 50 members! Please consider joining our newly formed PTA. PTA is a vital part of any school community and JMMS is excited to have a PTA back on campus to support our students, staff and greater school community! We will be hyping up the students by hosting a little membership competition. The grade level with the most memberships will receive a MEGA ICE CREAM SUNDAE SOCIAL! The second place grade level will receive ice cream cone party and the third place will receive a popsicle party. We want to reward all grade levels as this is an exciting time for JMMS and our newly formed PTA! You can join by using the link here:

https://jointotem.com/ca/alpine/joan-macqueen-pta/join

As we begin the year, it is important to remind your student that they need to have their Chromebook each day charged and in their backpack. While we know that we want our middle schoolers to work on becoming more independent, we also know that it takes time. So, as they work to develop these skills, please help them by giving them reminders nightly to charge their Chromebooks and then to put it in their backpack in the morning. Thanks for your continued support!

JMMS is excited to offer Spirit wear for our Dust Devils! You can find offers and options here:

https://macqueenmiddlespiritwear.com/

- March 17 - March 21 : 6th Grade Camp

- March 19 Late Start Morning