May 13, 2024
Dear Indian Hills Middle School Community:
We are excited for what’s ahead during the final three weeks of the school year. We have several performances and concerts that await us this week, and we encourage you to attend and support our students. We are looking forward to celebrating students’ academic achievements at our recognition and talent assemblies next week. We are happy that summer is nearly here.
As we look ahead to next school year, we are excited to introduce a new schoolwide disclosure. We hope that aligning our policies across grade levels and all classes will help students, parents, and teachers to all be on the same page. Such polices include an adjustment to our weighting system with more emphasis on assignments (40%) and less on assessments (60%). Our citizenship rubric has been clarified to encourage positive attendance and behavior in class. The disclosure will highlight schoolwide expectations and provide useful information for parents and students. Once it is finalized, the updated disclosure will be sent to our school community in August.
We also plan to update our personal technology policy to increase the feeling of safety at school, to encourage more sociality amongst students, and to increase student engagement during class time. To do so, we will ask students to keep personal technology, including cell phones, out of sight during the school day. This includes class time, passing periods, and lunch. Students will be permitted to use their devices before and after school hours as we realize that this is an important means of communication for many of our students. Exceptions to this policy may be made for students with specific health needs. We hope to provide an abundance of positive reminders next year to allow time for everyone to adapt as we continue to build a positive culture at our school.
We thank our School Community Council, our PTSA, our Building Leadership Team, and our PTSA student club members for providing feedback on this new policy and our disclosure. We will provide additional information as the 2024-25 school year approaches.
✔ Memory Books will be passed out on Friday, May 24th. If your student did not previously purchase through Skyward, they can buy a Memory Book during their lunch period that day for $30. CASH Only. Our PTSA is in charge of this event and we thank them for all their hard work putting together our memory books!
✔ Final PTSA Spirit Days! Show your school spirit and help IHMS raise some dough. This week will be our final spirit event of the year. The spirit event will take place at the two Sandy Papa Murphy’s locations May 15th-18th. Here is how it works: The students will be bringing home some fliers; keep one for your family and then you can distribute the others to friends, family and neighbors. Then take the flier in to Papa Murphy’s when you order your pizza and IHMS will get 15% of each order. We are hoping to have a great turnout for our final fundraising event of the year. Papa Murphy’s has even added an extra bonus for top performers. The top performer from each grade will receive a free pizza!
✔ Lagoon Day for 8th Graders is on Tuesday, May 28th. More information about this exciting field trip will be forthcoming.
✔ Digital Literacy for May: The American Academy of Pediatrics (2016) suggests that parents “develop personalized media use plans for their children that attend to each child’s age, health, temperament, and developmental stage.” Does your family have such a plan? To give you some suggestions on how to formulate and communicate that plan, please see the information at the end of this newsletter.
✔ May Library Events:
We had a very successful book club last week, as well as an introduction to next year’s books. We are looking forward to even more students joining us for our monthly reading and discussion!
Important Library Dates
There are several important library dates students will need to remember:
• May 10th – Last day students can check out books
• May 16th – Last day of Warrior Support
• May 17th – ALL library books are due
• May 20th – Library closes. No students will be allowed in the library before school, during lunch, or after school due to Chromebook collection.
Students and parent/guardians of students who have overdue library books will received another email this week letting them know. Thanks to those who have already turned in their books. Please keep them coming! Remember students can still use Sora to read all summer long!
YEAR-END CALENDAR 2024
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 5/13 MATH RISE | 5/14 MATH RISE Dance Company/ Dance 1 Concert 6:30 PM | 5/15 MATH RISE 4.0 Luncheon (by invitation) Beginning Choir 5:30 PM Concert Choir 6:30 PM | 5/16 MATH RISE Last day of Warrior Support Orchestra Concert 6:30pm | 5/17 MATH RISE make-ups **All books due to library |
| 5/20 ALL TEST RISE Make-ups in the Warrior Room **8th grade – turn in Chromebooks in science classes | 5/21 RISE Make-ups **6th & 7th grades – turn in Chromebooks in science classes | 5/22 RISE Make- ups **Recognition Assembly **Talent Show | 5/23 RISE Make- ups **Fine Arts Assembly Percussion Concert 6:00 PM Band Concert 7:00 PM | 5/24 Memory book distribution 2nd period 8th grade locker cleanout Memory book celebration 7th period |
| 5/27 MEMORIAL DAY NO SCHOOL | 5/28 Lagoon Day for 8th grade! 6th grade locker cleanout 7th grade locker cleanout | 5/29 Last day for 6th graders! (Alta Graduation) | 5/30 Last day of school for 7th & 8th grade. -12:05 PM Release (no lunch provided) | 5/31 |
We are better together at Indian Hills Middle School! Indian Hills Middle School Administration
