NOVEMBER 2013

Main Office 303-387-1800 Fax 303-387-801 Attendance 303-387-1802 Athletics/Activities 303-387-1812 Bookkeeper 303-387-1808 Registrar 303-387-1820 Transportation 303-387-0415 Weather Hotline 303-387-7669 Twitter follow@mountainridgems Online Payments dcsdk12.revetrak.net

A note from the principal . . .

What a great month we have had at Mountain Ridge! Our theme of paying it forward has continued, and the students have done some amazing acts of kindness. Mrs. Andrieses RAM class decided that they wanted to find a way to help the flood victims. They started a Penny War amongst all of the RAM classes. MRMS raised over $1700! Our students also honored our Veterans on November 11th. We had about fifteen Vets come and speak to our students about what service means to them. Our students honored them through their respectful questions and gratitude during this time - another great way for our students to understand paying it forward. Additionally, we have another event coming up to help out others in need. One of our 8th grade students, Rickey Cooper, has been diagnosed with MS. This is a recent diagnosis and Rickey has experienced numerous complications and continues to be in and out of the hospital. We will be hosting a dinner at MRMS on December 13th to raise money to help Rickey and his mom during this difficult time. Rickeys mom has been unable to work over the last two months during this battle. They could really use help from our community to get through this time financially. Please be sure to check out the poster for the event (its on the final page of this newsletter). Our teachers continue to look for engaging and challenging opportunities for students in their classes. We have several students who took on the challenge of writing a novel in the month of November with Ms. Morgan! Our iLab classes are looking for authentic ways to improve our Mountain Ridge community. They are surveying, polling, and researching all the while learning the gift of struggle as Mrs. Montague would say. Our STEM classes continue to learn about energy, robotics, and circuitry. They will begin selecting their areas of continue on page 2

Advertising in this newsletter does not imply endorsement by Douglas County School District.

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A note from the principal . . .

continued
interest to dig deeper. Our Multi-media classes have learned the art of writing, directing, filming, and editing movies. Some of these groups even have Music Lab students creating the sound tracks for their movies! These are just a few of the great things happening each day at Mountain Ridge. This is also a good reminder to nominate our staff members for the Apple Awards. Here is the link to the nomination form. Thank you in advance for recognizing the great things that MRMS staff members are doing for kids. 2nd Quarter ends December 19th. Please make sure that you are checking the portal so that you and your student are aware of their progress as they approach the end of 1st Semester. Many of our electives are semester long classes, so students will be changing those electives when they return in January. We do not have a lot of wiggle room in our schedule due to class sizes, but if there is an extenuating circumstance regarding a change in elective classes, please contact your students counselor to discuss available options. I would like to thank all of you who attended our Parent Academy on November 20th. We are hoping that this is a valuable opportunity and that we will continue offering sessions throughout the school year to answer questions and give guidance about middle school students and their academic and social needs. I continue to be impressed with the students day in and day out. They are engaged, respectful, and caring. During this season of thanks, I want to again thank you for your support of our school and our staff and for sending us your amazing students each day. Shannon Clarke, Principal

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Team 7-One Wonders!

November has been a month full of active learning for Team 7-1! For starters, we took a fieldtrip to Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs. Students loved learning about the science and myths behind the exceptional cave. Students also enjoyed a beautiful hike to High Point.

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Team 7-1 T-Shirts

Students in the beginning of the year created a T-Shirt, and then pitched their product to the whole team. Here is the winner, voted on by the students. You can purchase your T-shirt on RevTrak. Here is the link. I've also created a quick screen cast on how to order if you are having trouble: How to order on revtrak.

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Team 7-2
Creating a Better Learning Environment (iLab & Math)
Students are using their Design Thinking and Math / Engineering skills in responding to an RFP (Request for Proposal) asking for ways to improve the physical, social, academic and affective aspects of the learning environment at MRMS. They are working individually or in small groups to research and design ways that MRMS can better support student success. In connection with the Better Learning Environment project, students are learning about scale and proportion in Math and will be creating 2 dimensional scale drawings and 3 dimensional models to support their proposals to improve the learning environment at MRMS. Scale drawings and 3D models are due in Math on Friday, Dec. 6th. Final proposals are due Dec. 9th and 10th and students will be presenting their proposals during the last two weeks of the quarter and perhaps into the beginning of 3rd quarter.

Science
What is a cell? What do cells do? How do cells function? How are plant and animal cells different? How are they the same? Cells are the fundamental building blocks of life. Students are exploring cells how they function and work. They will be drawing comparisons to demonstrate their understanding by doing the Cell Simile Project and will be working with 8th graders to study the comparisons between fire and cellular respiration.

Health
Carbs. Proteins. Fats. Vitamins. Minerals. Water. These words appear commonly in our discussions of health. What are they? How do they support good health? How much is enough and how much is too much? Working in groups, students will research these fundamental elements of nutritional health and create a skit or game show to present their learning. continue on page 6

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Team 7-2

continued

Social Studies & Language Arts

In Social Studies our topic of study is the continent of Africa and how environment (geography) and history of the various regions has impacted the development of the culture of the each region. Students are exploring the regional similarities and differences and identifying the cultural, historical, geographic and economic characteristics of each in order to gain an understanding of each culture. In Language Arts, students are creating travelogues and short stories that represent the cultures of Africa and what the students know about the influences that created these cultures. To support their stories, students will create illustrated maps of Africa in Social Studies. (This will also support the learning they are doing in Math related to scale and proportion.)

Team 7-2 T-Shirts

Reminder Order Now!
If you have not yet placed an order for our student Team 72 t-shirt, please do so as soon as possible. We need to get everyones order so we can place our group order and get the shirts soon! Follow this path to order online. MRMS Home Page Online Payments Middle Schools Mountain Ridge Additional Items and Events MRMS Misc MRMS Pod 72 T-shirt

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Team 7-4 Change Agents

Emily Huff
Emily Huff really personifies the idea of being the change you want to see in the world. As a member of Team 7-4, Emily always does her best and encourages every one around her to do the same. Leading by example, she helps any group she is in step up their game and perform to the best of their ability. Emily really brings positive energy to Team 7-4!

i-Lab Problem-based Info-graphic Project

Using the driving question, How can we, as change agents, create a positive sustainable change here at Mountain Ridge?, students in i-Lab classes went on a field trip inside MRMS and looked for problems that need to be addressed. After identifying problems they wanted to solve, students sorted themselves into groups based on the issues that inspired them. The groups then researched their problem, gathered data from stakeholders in the building and district, and are currently creating infographics to illustrate how the data they collected supports their efforts to create change. The goal is that students can create a positive change in the environment here at Mountain Ridge.

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Team 7-4 Change Agents

Exercise Videos

continued

Ask your son or daughter to show you the exercise video they created for PE class! Watch out, Jillian Michaels!

Upcoming Events
All 74 students will undergo vision and hearing screening on December 9th or 10th Bridging the Gap Meeting in Room 185: December 11th at 1:15 International Food Day: December 19th information to be sent later.

Quotables
What one word describes the feeling in our pod? Enthusiastic Jack S. Energetic Preston H. Crowded Emily S. Comfortable Macey F. Adventurous Eilyanna E. Action-packed Jack P. Majestic Matt P. Noisy Kenzie D. Exciting Megan D. Fantastic Ian S. Active Alex S.

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Hour of Code Announcement

The Hour of Code is Coming for All Mountain Ridge Students!

We are very excited to announce that this year every Mountain Ridge student will be exposed to a minimum of one hour of coding (much thanks to the leadership of Cassandra Stevens, her fantastic students Mats Dale & Henry Kaufman, and, of course, all MRMS teachers volunteers). Each core academic team has at least one teacher who has volunteered to lead the hour of code during the week of December 9-15th. We are very much looking forward to this opportunity for our students. Please see the Hour of Code handout on the next page of this newsletter for more information. Hour of Code Core Teacher Volunteers: Team 7-1: Beck Team 7-2: Fox-Gliessman Team 7-4: Foust Team 8-1: Andriese/Personett Team 8-3: Rasbach Team 8-4: Norton/Peters

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World Languages
Bonjour from French class! We are moving along in our learning and approaching December with a great activity that I wanted to share. Students in both 1A and 1B will be creating a digital story using all of the their new vocabulary. We will be working on these stories in class the second week of December and presenting our stories in class before winter break. Make sure to take a peek at your students WL Portfolio to see the latest performance assessments. Hola! from Spanish class! Students in 1B are busy working on learning family vocabulary along with adjectives to describe members of their own family. In 1A class, students are learning how to tell time and talk about their schedules. World Cultures class is comparing family and friendship norms in our country, as well as other countries of the world. These are great topics of conversation for the dinner table, whether your student is in French, Spanish or World Cultures. We wanted to share an interesting article posted on our VHL online textbook site that distinguishes between fluency and functionality of a language. Check it out:

The Rise of the Polyglots

Melanie Ho is a writer living in Hong Kong. She reviews for the Asian Review of Books. Like many other kids in Ottawa, Canada, I started learning a second language at age 4, when I was enrolled in French immersion school. I studied French throughout school and learned Italian during a semester abroad. Speaking Italian has been fruitful for me, even in Hong Kong where I live now. Job opportunities have arisen because I have an understanding of and an interest in Italy and Italians. Maybe you don't need to be 'fluent' in multiple languages, but life might be more interesting if you were proficient in more than one. While I never learned Chinese growing up which some might argue would be most useful in my current situation Ive started studying both Cantonese and Mandarin. continue on page 12

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World Languages

continued

People often talk about the practical upsides to learning a second (a third, a fourth) language, like employability in this global economy. But learning a new tongue is important beyond that. A foreign language helps with the understanding of ones native language. The process of learning to communicate in a foreign language often forces us to learn how to listen. Language provides insight into another way of thinking, another mind-set. This is not to say that everyone must be fluent in multiple languages, just as not everyone is fluent in statistics. There is a difference between functionality and fluency; it may be enough to be proficient. And although English is common around the world, it is far from universal. A little while ago I asked a friend of mine from mainland China an affluent person who moved to Hong Kong a year ago if she would be interested in helping me with my Chinese, and in return I would teach her English. She said she would help me, but replied that she had no interest in learning English. If someone wanted to speak with her, she said, they could learn Chinese.

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What Students Are Saying - Electives: CFS

CFS is a unbelievable skills builder that will help me for the rest of my life. I know youre wondering how the heck does making food help build skills? Actually, CFS aids in building time-management, responsibility, and the 4 Cs (creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.) Shining throughout the midst of food and cooking you can clearly see these skills. When you cook within a certain time limit you need to know time-management so you dont knock your own group or the group after you off balance--we get 45 minutes in the kitchen. Currently, in CFS we are working on Iron Chef where we have to collaborate to create a food item with a certain ingredient: eggs. This is a major responsibility because if we dont do our work the rest of our group then becomes affected. This allows us to have the right amount of pressure to perform for our group and not leave our group hanging. We all have a job that is important to the group to get the food cooked and plated. CFS is going to teach many kids how to cook, clean and do many other things. We get to learn different ways to prepare different kinds of food, we learn how seasonings come together and add flavor to food. When working on "Iron Chef" we had to research the secret ingredient so that we would have a better understanding of how we could use the ingredient in our recipe.

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Team 8-1
Team 8-1 students will be involved in a Notables interdisciplinary unit that has already begun in language arts. They are currently composing a non-fiction narrative about their notable. Students will create a trip as a group of notables. They need to plan their destination, conversation, music choices, and budget costs to represent their particular group on their journey. This culminating activity where they share their trip will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

US History
Good news Patriots - We won the war! Unfortunately the Articles of Confederation did not work, which nearly drove us into a Civil War. Thank goodness for the Constitution - now we are truly united and our liberty has been secured.... Huzzah! Small groups of students are currently working to create a monument/memorial to an early American President. Students will have to communicate and collaborate to create a model of a proposed monument based on the critical events that occurred during the Presidents term of office. Creativity, and Critical thinking is an absolute must for this project. The best project in each class will be awarded a best proposal prize which will qualify the group to a pizza party to be awarded shortly after Thanksgiving Break. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Team 8-1
Health/PE

continued

In health, we are covering some very intense topics: violence prevention and S.O.S (Signs of Suicide). These topics have given our students a chance to see their responsibility with these topics and how they can prevent such tragedies from happening. Then, we had an FBI agent come into class and give us practical ideas and strategies to stay safe. Agent Grusing showed us simple protection tactics to keep ourselves safe and others safe. Good times. In PE, we are pushing our strength and fitness to new levels. We are in our Cross Fit unit that will challenge us to encourage others to be their best, as well as check our resiliency and strength to reach our fullest potential. This month is truly making us think critically and reach into our inner being to cheer on others and perform at 100%. Keep on working hard guys!

Algebra
We are busy studying equations and systems of equations playing Math baseball, creating concept maps, and finding evidence of their usefulness in our daily lives. We are also preparing to register for high school classes in January. Look for an email mid December from Mrs. Andriese that explains the different paths/classes that are available next year for your student.

STEM
We just finished up all of our LEVEL 1 units. Remember they were designed to introduce and entice students in our three areas of learning; Global Awareness, Engineering (electrical & mechanical) and Robotics. Students showed great creativity and program design as they finished up their Robotics Dance programs. Look for their exciting reflection and video on their student ePortfolio. As we finish up this unit and get caught up with all the missing and late work, students up to date are watching I-Robot. Its never been so quiet in my classroom! Looking ahead we will be starting the LEVEL 2 units after Thanksgiving break, and then they will wrap up two weeks after we return in January. This next level provides a great deal of personal interest and design as students learn more about the topic of their choice. On Saturday November 16th, two of our very own teammates; Jack Holland and Henry Kaufman participated in the Douglas County Middle School Robotics Competition. Both these young along with a host of other MRMS students walked away with many awards. Be sure to ask them all about the competition and building with LEGO Mindstorms. Way to go, Jack and Henry. continue on page 16

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Team 8-1

continued

Jack Holland and Henry Kaufman. Although they both had other partners, Team 8-1 was proud to be represented by these young men.

Henry setting up for the MINDSWEEP Challenge. Henry and his partner sweep this challenge!

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Team 8-3

Career Expo
Recently, the students of 8-3 attended the Career Expo, where they had the chance to gain knowledge on any field of work that they might be interested in. As a teacher, I saw many students walk in and out of the doors with new ideas of their future in the career Expo. From jobs in engineering to medical fields to military opportunities, students saw it all. If a student asked a worthy question, they could receive a golden ticket to enter in a raffle drawing for a prize. I heard many strong questions like, How was a physicians assistant different from a nurse? As I walked around the Expo, I saw students interacting with successful adults. Not only were they filled with dozens of interesting career ideas, but they were inspired by the amount of opportunities that were presented before them in such a short time. By the time they left that building, their minds were buzzing with potential plans for pursuing several major fields of work throughout their high school and college experience. The Career Expo sparked students interest, and gave them a great preamble to what careers are in store for them as they move through their collegiate years. Submitted by: Maya Doane, Veronica Lennert, Isabel Vaughn, Max frain, Matt Heutmaker, Landon Nolta

Fall Festival
Not only did Team 8-3 get to visit the career expo, but on November 26, we get to put down our pencils and hop on the dance floor. This day is designed to give our brains much needed rest and address every middle school students favorite thing to do: eat! There will be a Thanksgiving feast, a talent show, a social gathering, and best of all, no school work! Our pod is unique; we take breaks throughout the year to have fun! These breaks help us to build relationships with each other, and socially interact. The talent show gives students on 83 a chance to show our nonacademic talents. The Fall Festival is an opportunity for us to relax a bit as we gear up for our next interdisciplinary unit. Submitted by: Annie Chambless, Kersti Kammerer, Barak Morris, Griffin Barnard, Audrey Shearer, Luke Riechert

Upcoming Interdisciplinary Unit

Unlike the fall festival, the end of quarter interdisciplinary unit brings much stress and anticipation. The majority of students agreed that our previous unit was stressful but enjoyable. We have a new unit coming up at the end of this quarter that will involve inventions and the pros and cons they created over time. Students will come home with knowledge of inventions tracing back to the 1800s. They will demonstrate their knowledge by planting their knowledge on a timeline using QR codes. This unit will be truly unlike any other, and team 8-3 will continue to knock your socks off! To calm the stress of the ID unit students can sit in armchairs and contently read a book, recommended by their peers via book reviews. Submitted by: Gabe Barnard, Emily Humes, Emerson Zamensky, Jacob Riffel, Kendall Crepeau continue on page 18

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Team 8-3

continued

Rave Reviews
Here at 8-3, were just a bunch of bookworms. This month, weve burrowed through stories of all different genres. Unlike many years before, we had to think deeper into the book. Also, we had to come up with higher level questions, character analyses, and predictions. We also have learned to break rules of writing in our book review. Did you know that you're not supposed to indent in a book review? Neither did we. We learned that reading more advanced fiction helps people with human interaction, and reading people's emotions. Throughout the month, Ms. Montague gave us the gift of struggle, and it was the nicest thing we could have received. Submitted by: Allie Chipman, Abbi Cobb, Ara Anner, Tyler Pontius, Joshua Hoffman

STEM
(This group attempted to use as many of the assigned vocabulary words as possible) With Mrs. Rasbach, STEM has seemed more like an odyssey that challenges our thinking than a banal class. Just when we think the class might be deteriorating, BOOM! Were ascending into a new challenge. The projects are very open ended, allowing us to move at our own pace. Weve been able to explore the expanse of basic engineering, global awareness, and robotics. During these projects, we explicitly collaborated with our partners and gingerly improved our projects. When things were about to go awry, we used our critical thinking to postulate. Moving into the advanced studies of our choice is incipient. We affix our studies from STEM in math and science, and vise-versa. We are very grateful for all that we have learned so far this year. We are also grateful for our wonderful teacher and the supplies we have. Submitted by: Lauren Yocom, Natalie Higham, Colter Giem, Regan Lavallee, Trevor Price

Thankful Thoughts
As the holidays approach and we stuff our turkeys, bake our pies, and mash our potatoes, we begin to think about how fortunate we are. Many kids dont have a school to go to due to the floods that swept them away. Although, sometimes we wish we didn't have to go to school, we know we are truly fortunate to have a great school in a perfect location with caring teachers. We are blessed to have people that volunteer their time to prepare us to have a successful future. Even though 99% of the time we are stressed during school, we are lucky to have those that support us and challenge us to do our best. Knowing that many people around us are less fortunate, we realize what we have and how thankful we really are. Submitted by: Hannah Lovell, Maisie Paulson, Nick DiGiulio, Madeline EIlert, Caden Foster

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Team 8-4
Science and Language Arts
Students have finished their consumer product testing projects in science and carried their work into Language Arts, where they chose an authentic audience with whom to share the results of their work. Many students have written product reviews for magazines and newspapers, written letters to the companies whose products were tested, and some have even created videos about their test results, to be posted on Mrs. Nortons vimeo account. Through this interdisciplinary study, students have learned about using scientific thinking to become critical consumers as well as how to use Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to communicate their perspective with a variety of audiences in the real world. Students are aware of the ways that advertising claims are used to promote goods and services, not necessarily in the most honest ways. They are also realizing the relationship between producers of goods and services, and the consumers who influence the market both with their purchasing dollars, and the influence of consumer feedback.

Language Arts
Students read novels highlighting adversity to begin to understand and apply how the obstacles in our lives give us strength. This reading connected to our team theme of Foundations, Disequilibrium and Change, as students analyzed what happens when a persons foundation is cracked--this also allowed them to connect their learning to Health and the social/emotional, mental, and phsyical aspects of the Health Triangle. In Advanced Language Arts, students are devouring books and creating novels as we tackle the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project, and our very own NaNoReadMo counterpart. As of November 15, this group of voracious readers and inspired writers had written over 125,000 words and read 39,000 pages. Despite their struggles with writers block and demanding schedules, these students are working hard to achieve their goals. Along the way, they are also rediscovering their love for creating stories and getting lost in a good book.

Math
In Math 8 we have been finishing up our unit on variables, algebric expressions, and equations. Students have been learning how to find a missing variable, writing equivalent expressions and combining like terms. Next unit, we will be learning about Pythagorean Theorem! In Algebra, we are finishing up our unit on data analysis. We saw how data and statistics were used by watching Moneyball and we made a class blog making recommendations for Fantasy Football teams. Next we are learning about the distributive property and solving equations. continue on page 20

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Team 8-4
STEM

continued

Students have officially wrapped up Level One of each the rotations of Electrical Engineers, Global Issues, and Robotics. In the Electrical Engineering students learned about what is electricity, how it flows, open and closed circuits, simple and series circuit, and using electrician tools like a multimeter. In level Two, the students will learn more in depth concepts like parallel circuits, resistors, potentiometer which will end with a project called the Hidden Buzzer. For Global Issues, students researched one energy resource (Coal, Natural Gas, Oil, Nuclear, Hydropower, Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Biomass, Biofuels) and then had to have an interesting presentation that will wowed their audience. In Level Two, students will complete an Energy Audit at school and home to come up with a proposal to get off the grid using one of the resources that they learned about in Level One. In Robotics, students used the Lego NXT Mindstorms to learn about basic programming, applying their math skills, and using problem solving skills to complete the basic challenges. In Level Two, they are diving into more indepth challenges and using more of the programming functions like sound, display, and loop.

Social Studies
Students are wrapping up a study of the causes of the American Revolution and are examining ways in which these events united and divided the colonists in what was about to become a new nation. Next, the colonists fight for freedom will begin as we study the American Revolution.

PE/Health
Health wrapped up its last rotation with some honest conversations about social media and the ask.fm website. Currently, students are finishing up a rotation in PE with a Badminton tournament. All athletes get a chance to play for the win in this two-tiered tournament. After a roundrobin format, teams moved into seeded brackets for tournament play.

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Activities and Athletics

The winter sports season is going strong. Wrestling has been taking down their competition and continues to improve their skills and endurance. The district tournament is January 11, 2014 at Mountain Vista High School from 8am 12pm.

8th Grade girls basketball has their season ending tournament December 7, 2013 at Douglas County High School. The girls have had a very successful season so far and will assuredly find success at the tournament. 7th grade girls basketball starts December 9, 2013.

The students have numerous opportunities to participate in the many clubs that are ongoing. Please encourage your student to pursue a passion. Students only need an adult in the school to sponsor their club in order to get the ball rolling.

General Announcements
Parents
Thank you, so much for your support of helping our students Pay it Forward to help the Colorado Flood victims! The Penny Wars generated more than 31,000 pennies and with all of the silver sabotage, checks, and cash, we raised over $1500.

QUICK Healthy TIPS

From Healthy Schools Team: Earl, Hill, Hutchings, Lopez and Knutson In the classroom, after dinner or while watching your favorite team Trot, Stomp or Jive but bust a move from time to time to give your brain a break as well as energize it! Keep moving and Stay healthy!

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General Announcements - Office Notes

Cell phone usage
Please remember that students cell phones are to be silenced and stored out of sight at all times during the school day, unless they are using them in class for a teacher-directed, class-related purpose.

Dropping off items and delivering notes to students

We realize that from time to time everyone forgets something. Items such as forgotten homework, lunches, money, clothing, etc., that parents have dropped off will be kept in the office for students to claim. Please remind students that if they have forgotten something, they should check with the office staff between classes to see if their item has been dropped off. As well, please share information with your child regarding dental and doctor appointments, after-school plans and transportation plans before school. Both of these practices save us from having to interrupt a class to call students or deliver items.

Bus passes
If your student wishes to ride a bus other than the one to which he or she is assigned, please send a note to the office with your student giving your permission to ride an alternate bus. Please include the bus number your student will be riding, as well as your signature and a phone number where you can be reached.

Medications at school
The health room does not keep medications such as Tylenol, Benadryl or cold preparations to dispense to students. However, students at the secondary level may carry a single dose of this type of medication in their backpacks. Please note that these medications must be over the counter and in original packaging.

From the Staff at Mountain Ridge Middle School

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General Announcements Tech Ed Teacher Flight Program

MRMS is proud to announce that we will be recognized at Colorados Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum for MRMS Tech-Ed teacher Cassandra Stevens involvement in the museums Teacher Flight Program. Please email Ms. Stevens (Cassandra.Stevens@dcsdk12.org) if you would like information about education resources, special activities, website communications, and museum student boarding flight passes that will correlate with this program at the Lowry facility.

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Counseling
Kathy Sheehan Registrar Catherine Scholz 7-1 & 7-2 Counselor Paula Moore 7-4 & 8-3 Counselor Jennifer Hutchings 8-1 & 8-4 Counselor

8th Grade Explore Test Results

We hope you have had the opportunity to look at your child's Explore test results. Counselors visited individual 8th grade classrooms to explain and answer questions about how to interpret their scores and find meaning with the results. The Explore test offers students and parents helpful information when thinking about future goals for high school and post secondary options. MRMS has many reasons to celebrate our results. One data indicator of the test is the college readiness scores. This standard measures the probable readiness for entry-level college work by the time they graduate from high school. Overall, MRMS students scored at least 20% higher then the National Average on College Readiness Standards.

Follow-up from the Career Connect Expo

Attending the Expo on Nov. 13 proved to be a successful event for our 8th graders. Our students showed up dressed professionally and were prepared to ask useful questions. Some of the businesses supporting the Expo included: Lockheed Martin Kaiser Permanente The Colorado School of Mines SkyRidge Medical Center Parker Police Dept. Ameribiotics Colorado National Guard Frontier Airlines. Many students reported that the Expo was helpful and interesting and that being able to meet with professionals in a variety of careers gave them ideas to consider.

Tip of the Month

Check out this healthy living campaign to encourage a healthy family. 5210 Let's Go 5 - servings of fruits and vegetables per day. 2 - hours or less of recreational screen time per day. 1 - hour or more of physical exercise. 0 - sugary drinks, more water and low fat milk.

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