"You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world's problems at once but don't ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own."

Welcome to the month of February, Senator Family!

We have four months of school left and as usual time is flying by. This time of the year is always unique as our school team reviews ways to maintain engagement and push students to finish the year off strong. This year is definitely shaping up as we are seeing students perform numerous activities that place them in the most successful light. Our Senators are stepping up and are becoming the scholars we knew they could be. As we conduct classroom walk-throughs, we are seeing evidence of strong student participation that corresponds to teacher efforts to support all learners. Our RMS Team is very proud of our Senators and look forward to seeing them continue to give their very best.

About two weeks ago, our students took the second round of NWEA MAP Assessment. As the data is coming in, we have been very impressed with our students as many went into this assessment with a positive attitude. RMS ELA and Math teachers took the time to review student data individually and helped students set goals based on their fall performance. In having these conversations with students, we helped them understand what their scores meant as scholars (to get a more accurate picture of where they are), and the impact their efforts have on potential academic success. Many of our students made growth beyond the national average because of focused classroom instruction as well as the simplicity of students’ taking the MAP Assessment seriously. The chatter in the hallway after the assessments was infectious as students were very proud of their progress made! So, please check with teachers during conferences on how your child performed on the NWEA MAP. “If it doesn’t Challenge you, it doesn’t Change you”!

Lastly, we have some wonderful activities taking place during the month of February. Please read the message below from Ms. Meadows (Secondary Gifted & Talented Facilitator) about RMS’ 1st Math Challenge (Woohoo!). I am definitely looking forward to watching our kids have fun as well as shine! What else is taking place? RMS Mentors are putting together Black History Celebration on February 24, 2022. They plan to have a talent show-case, gospel choir, poetry, stepping and more. It is always great to see student led performances that show off the amazing talent of our Senators! RMS Mentors are led by Ms. Jackson-DeLoach.

Enjoy the month of February!

Robinson Middle School is proud to announce the first ever RMS Math Challenge. The RMS Math Challenge will be a math problem solving contest for teams of up to 8 students. The competition will consist of a preliminary individual and team event, with the top 8 teams qualifying for the head-to-head tournament. This competition will teach multiple strategies for out-of-the-box problem solving, develop mathematical flexibility in solving those problems, and foster mathematical creativity and ingenuity. In the weeks leading up to the start of the RMS Math challenge, teachers will practice problems with their classes. The Individual event will be held on Thursday, 2/24/2022, the Team problem solving event will be held on Thursday, 3/3/2022, and the Head-to-head finals will be held on Friday, 3/11/2022.

The RMS Math Department identified the top 5 priority focus skills for the preparation of the upcoming ACT Aspire Summative Assessment 2022. The math team will create the custom-designed test-prep math tasks (RMS ACT Aspire Math Test-Prep (Grades 6-8). The focus math concepts are as follows:

• Fractions Word Problems (JE and IES: Computational Skills)
• Percents Word Problems (JE and IES: Computational Skills)
• Decimals Word Problems (JE and IES: Computational Skills)
• Graphing and Plotting Coordinates (Geometry)

• Algebra and Functions Word Problems (JE: Expressions and Equations/Number Sense: Multiplication & Division)

  (Note: JE means Justification and Explanation & IES means Integrating Essential Skills)

Thank you for continuing to play a positive and vital role in your child’s educational experience. I wanted to take the opportunity to take you for not only the support of your child but also making positive contributions to all students at Robinson Middle.

All students learn in different ways and speeds. Children perceive learning concepts differently, and develop earlier and later. For example, a teacher will be providing an instructional concept in September to a group of students and will find that four out of ten will grasp it. But, in October the same concept will be taught and three more will grasp it, and then finally all will eventually get it! IF, the teacher is persistent to reteach, and IF the teacher studies the data to know what students don't know, and IF the teacher varies the delivery of instruction! That is a lot of IF's! Everything I have been talking about so far is related to differentiation, or the need to differentiate. We know that your child has a specific learning style that works best, and they are their own unique person. We love each and every one of them! At RMS, we believe that every student can learn, and we are pushing teachers to do what is described above. Differentiate instruction! No one is the same. I remember when I was in school, and I would catch on pretty quickly at times and then other times it would take me a while to grasp what was going on. We are providing interventions for all students because they all need it. Regardless of the achievement level, everyone needs small group instruction, extra practice, and varied learning strategies to learn. We are heavily focused on consistent implementation of small group instruction in our English and Math classes, and are encouraging the widespread implementation to all content areas because they are effective. The small group instruction is a differentiated teaching model that utilizes data driven instruction so that all students are receiving what they NEED. Every student has different needs, and we care about every student. Everyone is growing at RMS from the highest achieving to the struggling students. Talk with your students about instruction. You can help by having conversations about what they are learning, and what they enjoy about their classes. It will be encouraging to them when you have those conversations. Go Senators!

A huge shout-out to our RMS Guidance Department. This team is awesome as they support the school in a plethora of ways (scheduling, counseling,registration, and student /parental support are just a few of the things that they help us with). Thank you for all of your hard work! Senator Families, feel free to show love to the counseling team this week as we celebrate National School Counselors Week!

RMS Guidance Team:

Jennifer Coats- Lead Counselor

Beverly Glass - Counselor

Toni Scott- Counselor Secretary

Brooke White- Registrar

Email: ymcnulty8711@pcssd.org
Website: http://rms.pcssd.org/
Location: 21201 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, AR, USA
Phone: 501-868-2410
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JTRobMid
Twitter: @JoeT_RMS