DRMS' Principal Message
Hello Dolphins! This is Kristen Faircloth, the proud principal at Durant Road Middle School, with your 8.30.20 Family Message.
We hope you had a wonderful weekend and were able to rest after a busy two weeks of school. We are so excited the 2020-21 school year is underway. The past two weeks have brought many successes. We want to thank you for your continued support, patience, and willingness to partner with DRMS to be the best we can be.
The DRMS' Family Message has a lot of great information including a sign up link for Facts with Faircloth, numbers regarding connecting with students, updated Web-based schedule, the DRMS Attendance Plan, Yearbook information and much more. Please take a moment to read the Family Message.
As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns. Our goal is to support families, challenge our students, and provide the best learning environment for all of our Dolphins.
Facts with Faircloth: Our recent principal chats (Facts with Faircloth) have been a huge success as we continue to focus on communicating with our community. We have scheduled another Facts with Faircloth on Monday, August 31, 2020 at 5:00 PM. The format will be a google meet that will be recorded and can be watched at a later time. Questions submitted from families will drive the focus of the Facts with Faircloth. Please sign up using the following link: Facts with Faircloth Signup Form . A link for the google meet will be emailed to families who register. We hope you find this community engagement session informative!
Connecting with our Dolphins: We are excited to share we have connected with 99% of our Dolphins! Materials pick up has gone very well with 95% of materials being retrieved. We have approximately 40 bags of materials to get in the hands of Dolphins to ensure new learning takes place and students are set up for success. If you have not picked up your materials (ELA Workbook, Math Workbook, Student Agenda, etc) please come to the school between 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
- 6th Grade
- 8:30 AM - 9:10 AM - 6th Grade Core I Live Lesson
- 9:10 AM - 9:30 AM - 6th Grade Core I Work Time
- 7th Grade
- 8:20 AM -9:10 AM - 7th Grade Core I Live Lesson
- 9:10 AM - 9:30 AM - 7th Grade Core I Work Time
- 8th Grade
- 8:30 AM - 9:10 AM - 8th Grade Core I Live Lesson
- 9:10 AM - 9:30 AM - 8th Grade Core I Work Time
DRMS Attendance Plan: Student attendance is taken in each "live Google Meet". This includes core and elective classes. Please review the DRMS Attendance Plan for students and parents here.
Promoting Organization for our 6th grade students:
This week’s focus for our 6th grade students is centered around organization; utilizing their agenda and how to make a split screen on their computer. As students are navigating our virtual learning setting, we believe the more organized a student is the better prepared they will be for upcoming due dates and deadlines. Therefore, I created two videos to help parents and students navigate this process virtually. To celebrate student organization on a weekly basis, students will have an opportunity to share their agenda completion for the week to their homeroom/Core 1 teacher and attend “Heart to Heart” with Ms. Hartman on Fridays during their lunch time! Starting Friday, September 4th at 11:00am students who earn this reward will be invited to engage in fun activities to meet their peers and playing virtual games. We are excited to provide this opportunity and to promote organization for the first quarter of middle school! Please utilize the links below to learn ways to keep organized.
How to create a split screen on your computer
Using your agenda as an organization tool on a daily basis
Mr. Kleiber, 7th Grade AP: Congratulations on two great weeks of learning! We continue to be impressed with the work our students are doing.
We are excited about students completing their choice board during Dedicated Dolphin Time! In order to help our parents and students better understand Dedicated Dolphin Time and the reward opportunity to earn as an invite to Kleiber’s Korner, we have several videos that discuss this process. First, please view a video by Mrs. Fahnestock-Sutton about how to complete your choice board. As a reminder, students in Math 7 classes should complete 4 Dreambox Lessons per week and students in Math 7+ or Math I should complete 6 Dreambox Lessons per week for their choice board.
I have made a video that explains options for students to complete with their choice board. If you only have a few minutes to watch (and need a little laugh), you can see the “Dedicated Dolphin Time - Fast Forward” video, here. If you would like to watch the same video at regular speed, you can view it here.
In order to help promote the most success, please read 6 Tips for Setting Up Your Learning Space and watch our video here. Also, we have a video that discusses our Student Agendas here. Please review with your student these important reminders to be successful and organized.
Ms. Edwards, 8 Grade AP: Congratulations on successfully completing your second week of remote learning! Our goal is to provide the most successful learning environment for all students. Therefore, we have incorporated student agendas in the classroom to enhance student learning. Durant Road Middle School implements the use of agendas in the following ways to enhance learning:
Improves Organization DRMS student agendas provide an easy and creative method of taking note of their commitments and deadlines. It gives students a systematic approach to recording necessary information on a daily basis.
Enhances Student Responsibility Students are able to write their assignments, tests, projects, and activities, etc. for each class in a designated space. Students have the opportunity to take full responsibility and accountability for completing their work.
Promotes Communication DRMS student agendas serve as an excellent communication tool. Teachers can write notes to parents regarding assignments or any school information, while parents can use the agenda to inform teachers about any need or concern regarding their child.
I encourage all students to utilize your DRMS agendas daily to help with your organization! As always, if you have any question or concern, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at 919-870-4098 xt. 26100 or email me at dedwards3@wcpss.net. Dawn Edwards 8 th Grade Assistant Principal
Coming Soon: Our Media Center is working hard to create a process for checking out our print collection. In the future, students will be able to place a book on hold using the library catalog. Requested books will be available for pickup. If students have books still checked out from last year, they can be returned to DRMS. Be on the lookout for additional information coming soon.
Tdap & Meningococcal Vaccine - 7th Graders!: If you have a 7th grade student, please be sure you are familiar with the immunization and health assessment requirements. It is still required for 7th graders, whether you are face-to-face or in the Virtual Academy, to receive Tdap and Meningococcal vaccines. Most medical providers in Wake County are seeing appointments for health assessments and immunizations. Please take this time to make an appointment with your provider. You may scan/send the document to DRMS or drop it off at the school.
Thank you for supporting DRMS,
Kristen J Faircloth
Principal