EMS

Welcome Back to EMS and Happy New Year! I hope everyone is looking forward to the new year of 2024!! This is the time when we can forget the past and have a fresh start to be the best we can be this year! Just as Albert Einstein said, "Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today, Hope for Tomorrow." I wish the best for all of you in this new year!

As we come back to school today (January 3), we have a few more days in this grading period. The first semester ends on Friday, January 12 and the students are out of school on Monday, January 15 and Tuesday, January 16. Please encourage your child to talk to their teachers about missing work to turn in before January 12th. Report cards will be ready for access on Powerschool on Monday, January 29, 2024; if you need a paper copy, please contact Ms. Morris or Ms. Comer in the main office.

I hope all of you will come out to our Winter Sports events for basketball on Mondays and Thursdays and wrestling on Tuesdays. Our students are working hard and love to have a crowd here to support them!

Elkton Middle School will be hosting the School Board meeting on Monday, January 22, 2024 at 7:00pm- we invite all of you to come out to see a board meeting and meet the new school board members. The meeting will be held in our auditorium and will begin at 7:00pm.

Lastly, I want to let parents know that our winter growth assessments (mandated by the State) will begin January 24 and January 25 for all middle grade levels. It is important that students are rested and ready for the winter assessment on these days to do their best. I also want to remind parents that daily school attendance is critical and important for student success! Please make sure your child is present for school and ready to be an EMS Elk!

As always, if you need anything, feel free to call me at 540-298-1228. Again, Happy 2024 to all of you!

Emily Holloway, Principal

Each month Ms. Beam and Ms. Stratford’s classes run the Short Stop Cafe. This is a fun and engaging opportunity for students to develop life skills while giving back to the overall school community by offering different themed lunches. Each month they highlight a different MLB team and food that each of the MLB cities are known for. We have enjoyed seeing how proud and excited the students get when they make and serve their special treats each month. Thank you Ms. Beam and Ms. Stratford for this new initiative!

Ms. Muterspaugh and Ms. Campbell

This past nine weeks the golden tickets have poured into Student Services! Over the month of December we did daily drawings of golden tickets in addition to our weekly prize drawings. Over 50 students received prizes the last three weeks before break. We have been so proud and excited about the large participation from all grade levels.

Due to the large number of golden tickets we received, we are switching to smaller tickets for the next nine weeks (see picture below). This means there will be MORE opportunities for students to earn golden tickets for their ELKS behavior.

January 12th marks the last day of the 9-weeks and we will celebrate with our second ELKS pep-rally. Students will be recognized for perfect attendance, Exceptional Elks awards will be given out, and golden tickets will be drawn to see which students get to participate in a relay against the teachers. We can’t wait to celebrate all of this great ELKS behavior!

We’re excited to announce that all RCPS 8th graders will be participating in a field trip to Blue Ridge Community College. EMS will be going on January 19, 2024. We will be leaving EMS after school starts and returning prior to dismissal, and lunch will be provided by BRCC. There is no cost to attend this trip.

The Exploring College project will introduce the opportunity to explore a college campus and receive information about possible career interests, both during high school and beyond. The experience includes a series of short (10 minute) career exploration presentations as well as a Domino’s pizza lunch. Information about college, majors and programs, college supports and resources is included. Especially important is the opportunity it provides for students who have not experienced a college campus the access to do so.

Your student will be coming home this week with a permission form. There is also a link to the form below if you'd like to return it electronically.

Feel free to contact your child’s School Counselor, Laura Ogden (last names M-Z) at logden@rockingham.k12.va.us or Ellie Hershberger (last names A-L) at ehershberger@rockingham.k12.va.us or (540) 298-1228 with any questions!

Permission Form

2024 can you believe it? We’re back and have a short week but looks like some excitement maybe coming up with snow?? We shall see!! Who wants to build a snowman? Sometimes a little snow can help rid us of those nasty germs that seem to be hitting everyone.

I love a little about each season except the sickness that seems to come with the cold months. I hope you and your families are staying well and that you were able to spend some good quality time together over the break.

As we move into this year please keep doing all the things that I’ve continued to share with you each month as a reminder to help you stay well.

Make sure to continue checking your child before sending them to school if they are not feeling well. Check temperatures and keep them home if they truly are sick due to some illnesses. If it’s your normal seasonal issues please be sure to treat them at home so they can be ready for their day once at school and ready for class. If they need to see their doctor please make an appointment and take them in to be seen.

MEDICATION

OTC medication is the same policy as last year. All parents have to bring in what they want their child to take and fill the “permission to give medication” form out. The bottles have to be brand new, sealed, unopened, and brought in by the parent/guardian. I do not have many who have done this yet. Per policy we are not allowed to keep what was brought in last year so that has been discarded. I still have many students coming wanting to take things and I don't have anything unless a parent/guardian has supplied it for them.

LUNCH TIME

I have a lot of medical needs this school year. We have numerous students with health needs that need to be in the clinic at certain times for assistance, numerous daily medications and other health emergencies that can arise. So they do take priority. Lunch time is super busy with these daily medical needs, so I do ask that unless a student is actually physically sick or has an emergency during the time of 11-1pm that they’re not sent during those lunch shifts. Please understand why that time is allotted for this and know that emergencies will still be addressed as needed for all students.

CARE PLANS

Care Plans and knowing things about our students. I am still continuing to work on putting all care plans into the system as I get information from you, making teachers/admin aware of needs. As a reminder if you do not make us aware of your child’s medical needs, we are not aware of them! If they have asthma, allergic reactions, are diabetic, take daily medication and so on we will need paperwork from their physician with orders regarding this and how they are to be treated at school. The parent/guardian is to bring this information from the doctor along with the emergency medication and talk with me so we can get things updated for your child. PLEASE DO NOT EVEN ASSUME WE KNOW FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR! Things MUST be updated each year as information can change over the summer. **Please continue to do this as things change and need to be updated throughout the school year!**

As always thank you for hanging with me through all of the information.

If you have any questions about any of the above please feel free to call the school and ask for Nurse Julie.

I am at the school this year from 8-4pm unless I’m here a little later in the evenings, then I come a little later in the mornings. (p) 540-298-1228.

You may also email me @jshifflett@rockingham.k12.va.us Blessings,

Julie A. Shifflett
Nurse (Elkton Middle School)

~ Nurses dispense comfort, compassion and caring without even a prescription!

As we approach the end of the second grading period, we'd like to congratulate our students who are working diligently to earn the distinction of the Honor Roll. At EMS, students are considered for the Honor Roll based on their total GPA (the average of their end-of-term grades for each class). Students who are on the A Honor Roll have a GPA of 4.0. Students on the A/B Honor Roll have a GPA between 3.0 and 3.9. We're excited to acknowledge our Elks who are demonstrating that they are Leaders in Learning!

Please follow this link to see both A Honor Roll students and A/B Honor Roll students. There are 2 tabs on this page: Click Here.

Hello, and Happy New Year!

I wanted to share that again this year, The GIANT Company is partnering with Rockingham County Public Schools to support students facing food insecurity. From January 1 through March 31, everyone who shops at Martin's in Harrisonburg will be invited to "round up" at the register and donate the round-up amount of their bill to support Feeding School Kids. The GIANT Company will directly support customers' generosity by matching all donations up to $100,000.

Last year, RCPS Food & Nutrition Services received a generous $6,985.67 to reduce outstanding student meal debt and received numerous non-perishable food donations donated by Martin's customers that were distributed to families in need around the district.