Yelm Middle School          February 2012 

    PPositive Attitude

∗Try ∗Show School spirit

∗Inspire Excellence in others

RRespect ∗Be Safe

∗Show others consideration, appreciation & acceptance

IIntegrity ∗Be honest

∗Be responsible ∗Take ownership of your actions

∗Identify & report inappropriate

behaviors, bullying and/or harassment

DDetermination ∗Set goals

∗Give consistent effort ∗Learn from mistakes ∗Exceed minimum

expectations

EEmpathy ∗Walk a mile in someone else’s

shoes ∗Practice tolerance

∗Problem solve together 

Heidi Bunker - Principal Corrina DuRocher - Assistant Principal Athletic Director

360-348-3600 Fax: 360-458-6122

Visit us on the web at: www.ycs.wednet.edu

1

YMS HAPPENINGS

Thank You YMS Business Partners Yelm Rotary

Yelm Dental

Bullying has become such a dominant issue in school systems today, that it has propelled to the fore-front of social issues taking place in the school system. YMS is happy to host R5 Production Com-pany, who will be presenting their motivational Jr. High Anti-Bullying Assembly here on Friday, Febru-ary 24.

R5 Represents:

◊ Relevant Communication—connecting with students through a multimedia format

◊ Reconnect to Your Dreams—inspiring students to connect to their true selves and dreams

◊ Rethink Your Perspective—challenging students to analyze where their thoughts, feelings and be-liefs are coming from

◊ Rediscover Your Influence—calling on the “sleeping giant” or “silent majority” to set a positive tenor in our school

◊ Remembering Every Student—focusing on the value of each student as an individual

All YMS students will attend a morning assembly and then there will be meetings with different groups of students.

Yelm Community School district is committed to a safe and civil educational environment for all stu-dents, employees, volunteers and patrons, free from harassment, intimidation or bullying.

“Harassment, intimidation or bullying” means any intentional written, verbal or physical act, including but not limited to one shown to be motivated by any characteristic (race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or mental or physical disability) or other distinguishing char-acteristics, when the intentional written verbal or physical act:

Let’s work together to make Yelm Middle School a “No Bullying Zone”!

Mrs. Heidi Bunker, Principal

A n t i B u l l y i n g P r o g r a m C o m i n g t o Y M S

Harassment Intimidation

Bullying

Yelm Community Schools Educational Programs, Maintenance and Operations Replacement Levy 

Some interesting facts you may want to know… 

You can still register to vote for the Feb. 14 election 

If you are not currently registered to vote anywhere in Washington state, you can register in person at the County Auditor’s office all the way up until February 6!  Contact your County Auditor’s office for assistance and information: Thurston County Auditor, 360‐786‐5408; Pierce County Auditor, 253‐798‐7430. 

Save a stamp … 

Thurston County voters can drop off their ballots at one of the permanent drop box locations listed below: 

Yelm School District Administration Parking Lot 101 First Street North, Yelm 

Lackamas Elementary 16240 Bald Hill Rd SE, Yelm 

Rainier City Hall 102 Rochester Street West, Rainier 

Drop boxes are white with red and blue lettering. The boxes are open 24 hours a day from January 25 to Feb‐ruary 14, 2012. Boxes will be locked promptly at 8 p.m. on Election Night, February 14, 2012. 

       

♦ This levy will replace the levy about to expire in 2012.  It is not a new tax. ♦ Levy dollars help bridge the gap between what the state provides and what it actually costs to educate our stu‐

dents. ♦ The 2012 Replacement Levy makes up 18 percent of the district’s operating budget. ♦ Every school in our district benefits from levy dollars to support student learning. ♦ The levy helps pay for classroom teachers and student programs. ♦ If the levy does not pass, the district will have to cut up to $11 million from our programs, in addition to the $1.1 

million already cut due to loss of state and federal revenue. ♦ Our district continues to be fiscally conservative, setting our  levy amount well below the maximum allowed by 

the state (called the levy lid). ♦ Levy  dollars  support:  Teachers,  Athletics,  Extra‐Curricular  Activities,  Band,  Choir,  Teacher‐Librarians,  Library 

Books, Transportation. All‐Day Kindergarten, Visual & Performing Arts, Special Education, Custodians, English‐As‐A‐Second  Language,  Technology,  Curriculum &  Textbooks,  School Nurses,  School  Counselors,  Intervention  Pro‐grams,  Instructional  Assistants,  Professional  Development,  Community  Facility  Use,  Classroom  Supplies,  RTI (Response to Intervention), Facility Maintenance. 

2

3

YMS School Counselors would love to hear your questions, concerns, comments:

Students last name A-K: Ms. Cove 458-2822 Students last name L-Z: Ms. Merlitti 458-6454

A word from your school counselors…

Choices Choices  is an interactive decision‐making workshop that empowers teens to achieve academic success in pursuit of their career and life aspirations.   Business and community volunteer, Kerry Prichard, came to YMS this fall to give students real world exercises o academic self discipline, time and money management and goal setting.  She will be return‐ing to YMS on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 to facilitate a booster lesson for all 7th grade students.  Counselor Class Visitations YMS counselors went  into all Freshman Tech Comm classes  in January to review high school gradua‐tion requirements.  The Power Point that was presented in available on the YMS website for parents to view.  Please contact your student’s counselor if you have any questions.  Attention Freshman First Semester High School Credits Posted  High school students can earn a total of three credits each semester (.5 credit per class). Your fresh‐man’s first semester report card indicates how many actual credits they earned out of the three credits possible.    If  your student did not earn all of the three credits, please encourage your student to meet with their school counselor and/or call the school counselor for credit retrieval options.

YMS Booster Club has been collecting “Box Tops for Educa-tion” since school began this year. The 8th grade Leadership class turned over 1700 box tops ($170.00 worth) to the YMS Booster Club and more are being collected. A variety of General Mills products now carry these Box Tops. Some of these are General Mills, Ziploc, Betty Crocker and Chex, to name a few.

Snow Make-Up Days Due to the inclement weather during January, we will be using our extra snow days. School will be in session on Tuesday, February 21 and Friday, May 25. The last day of school will be Tuesday, June 19.

4

& 

January Students of the Month - Empathy YMS honors you for consistently displaying empathy. You are supportive of others learning. You actively listen to your classmates and respond with encouragement. You appreciate the diverse needs of classmates and teacher. Congratulations from the YMS Staff!

Valentine’s Day Reminder Please do not have any

flowers, balloons or gifts delivered to the school

on Valentine’s Day.

Thank You Yelm School Board Members You are very appreciated! 

Report Cards  Report  Cards  will  be mailed home on  Friday,  February 4.  For 7th & 8th grade students it will be  for Term 2 and  for 9th  grade  they  will  be  for Semester 1.  

Help Us Fill The Bus! Annual Canned Food Drive

February 17 through March 9

Ayana Gindlesperger Alexis Gura Brittany Hall Dakota Hill

Gillian Moreland Jessica Mortland

Austin Platt Angela Rodriguez

Patrick San Nicholas Nathan Unruh

Zachary Whitehead

Jeremy Brewer Rachel Doles

Brittany Harguess Samantha Keeler

Jessica Martin Mia McElmurry Taylor McInroy Ashton Meserve Malik Mitchell

Essie Reed Ian Rose

Kaleb Smith Aiden Tardiff Taylor Wood

7th Grade

Katie Allowatt Alice Cutter

Stevie Dockins Kaileen Eden-Adamy

Mary Foster Katie Gruebel Caleb Harris

Cody Haywood Dani-May Laskowski

Kyle Myers Amanda Reed

Hailee Roe Cameron Stage

8th Grade

Thank You!  A BIG  YMS  Thank  You  to  all family, friends and community members who  donate  to  our various  fundraisers  through‐out the year.  

Fundraisers  held  in  January 2012  collected  the  following amounts:  

Jump  Rope  For  Heart—$539.03 Saul Haas—$496.44  

Proceeds from Jump Rope For Heart  goes  to  the  American Heart  Association  while  the Saul  Haas  fund  goes  to  help students  financially with  sup‐plies,  field  trips  and  athletic costs.  

Thank  You  again  for  all  your support! 

Dave Pratt Donna Edwards

Denise Hendrickson

Debbie Edwards Bill Hauss

9th Grade

Transfer and Nonresident Requests Student Transfer Requests for 1012—2013 The district will accept student transfer applications for the 2012—2013 school year from February 1 until March 15. Those applications received by the deadline will be notified of the district decision by April 30. Approval or denial of requests is based on criteria outlined in board policy 3131 for resident and 3141 for nonresident students. Requests received after the deadline will be considered as follows: • Applications received by the March 15 deadline will be notified by April 30. • Applications received by June 15 will be notified by June 25. • Applications received by August 15 will be notified by August 30. • Applications received after August 15 will be decided on a case-by-case basis and may have to wait until actual enrollment counts in September before receiving notification. The following forms are available at the district website at www.ycs.wednet.edu

Transportation Parents will provide transportation for students who voluntarily attend a school outside their attendance area.

Transfer Form (Within District): For students who live in the Yelm Community School District and would like to transfer from one Yelm school to another.

Day Care Verification Form: For students requesting a transfer based on the location of their day care.

Non Resident “Choice” Transfer Request Form: For students who live in a neighboring district (e.g., Eatonville, Bethel, North Thurston) and would like to attend a Yelm school. Please obtain a signed Release of Attendance from your home school district before applying for Non Resident status in Yelm.

Release of Attendance: For students who live in the Yelm Community Schools District and would like to attend a neighboring district. Once filled out and signed by the parent, bring it to our district office for a release signature. A Note About "Feeder" Schools Something to think about before requesting a transfer is that our elementary schools have designated "feeder" middle schools. If you request an elementary school that feeds into a middle school outside of your home attendance school, you will either have to continue to request transfers and transport your child to and from school, or your child will have to separate from his or her peer group when moving up to middle school.

State Laws on Family Choice Learning by Choice (a publication created by the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) Last Modified on 1/11/2012 05:43:26 PM

Fort Stevens Elementary

Yelm Middle School

Yelm High School

McKenna Elementary

Southworth Elementary

Lackamas Elementary

Ridgeline Middle School Mill Pond Elementary

Prairie Elementary

5

Drama Performance

On January 11, 2012 the 9th grade drama class performed “A Mid-School Night’s Dream” by Kamron Klitgaard. The play is based on

Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Family, friends and community members who attended the play had a very enjoyable evening. We would like to thank Mrs. Lorana Hoopes, YMS Drama Teacher and director of the play along with all those students involved:

Jared Braswell Elizabeth Chevalier

Ben Clark Robert Dennis

Jeremiah Donley Daniel Ganas

Lizzy Grey Katie Gruebel Jacob Guirell

Robert Hamilton Skye Harris

Arron Jewett Courtney Johnston

Caitleen Martin Jaden McMillan

Lacey Nelson Nicole Shafer

Presley Sytsma Alli Weikle

Haley Wheaton Nicci Wilson

You can now receive the

YMS Happenings Newslet-

ter through your email. If

you have not given YMS

your email or it needs to be

updated, please contact our

office at 360-458-3600 .

NEW

SmileMobile At YMS SmileMobile will be at Yelm Middle School, 402 Yelm Ave., Monday, January 30 through Friday, February 10. The SmileMobile is for children without access to dental care. During 2011, 111 children in Yelm received free dental exams and 54 of those children received dental treatment. SmileMobile is operated by Washington Dental Service Foundation and funded by Washington Dental Service in partnership with Seattle Chil-dren’s Hospital.

6

7

February At-A-Glance

Wednesday, February 1 Late Start - School Begins at 8:30 am

Thursday, February 2

Band Concert 7:00 pm YMS Gym

Friday, February 3 Report Cards Mailed Home

Monday, February 6

Parent Booster Meeting 6:00 pm

Wednesday, February 8 Late Start - School Begins at 8:30 am

Saturday, February 11

Mother Daughter Tea 9:00 am - 12:30 pm YMS Commons

Tuesday, February 14 Don’t Forget To Vote!

Wednesday, February 15

Late Start - School Begins at 8:30 am

Friday, February 17 Help Us Fill The Bus Canned Food Drive

Begins - Runs until 3/9/12 STAR Parties

February 20 through February 24

National FFA Week

Monday, February 20 NO SCHOOL - President’s Day

Tuesday, February 21

Regular School Day

Wednesday, February 22 Late Start - School Begins at 8:30 am

Thursday, February 23

Hoops For Heart in PE Classes

Friday, February 24 R-5 Anti Bullying Program Teen Night 7:00—9:00 pm

Monday, February 27

NAV 101 Schedule

Wednesday, February 29 Late Start - School Begins at 8:30 am

HEALTH WATCH Skin Infections

Skin infections start when bacteria gets into a cut or scrape. Bac-teria lie on everyone’s skin and usually cause no harm. But when staphylococcus bacteria gets into your body through a break in the skin, they can cause a “staph” infection. Staph infections may spread to other people by skin-to-skin contact and from shared items such as bedding, towels, soap, clothes and sports equip-ment.

Staph infections are becoming harder to treat. Penicillin and some other antibiotics used to kill bacteria may no longer work against staph germs. These staph germs are “resistant” to the antibiotics. They are called MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), and they are resistant to all penicillin-type antibiotics. Skin infections from MRSA can develop into more serious, even life-threatening problems such as infections of the heart, blood and bones.

MRSA infections happen most often in nursing homes and hospi-tals, where people are recovering from surgery. But more and more cases are showing up among people of all ages in the community. These “community cases” of MRSA can often be treated effectively with other kinds of antibiotics.

Some common skin infections caused by staph are:

Boils: tender, red lumps that swell and get white heads like very big pimples. Boils form on oily or moist skin. They may break open and ooze pus or blood.

Impetigo: blisters with fluid in them, which pop and get a yellow crust. Children often get in on the face. It can be spread by scratch-ing.

Infected hair roots: Small bumps under the skin at the base of the hair, which may cause itching.

Skin infections should be brought to the attention of your health care provider so they don’t spread or cause more serious prob-lems.

Only take antibiotics when they are prescribed by your health care provider. Taking them when they are not needed can create stronger germs, like MRSA. And if you get a prescription, always finish the whole bottle — the last few pills kill the toughest germs.