Our Mission Statement:
Volume 1, Issue 6
Emma Donnan Middle School empowers students by
fostering a positive school culture of lifelong learners
and critical thinkers. We implement a rigorous curriculum that holds our students to high academic, social,
and behavioral expectations. We develop leaders to
serve the local, national, and global communities on the
path to higher education.
Phone: 317-217-1979
Fax: 317-217-1984
www.EmmaDonnanMS.org
Work Hard. Achieve Greatness. No
Excuses.
Our Vision:
Emma Donnan will become the Model Urban Middle
School in the State of Indiana.
School Motto:
JANUARY 2015
Sun
4
11
18
25
Mon
5
12
19 No School
Dr. Martin
Luther King
Day
26
Tue
6 Students
return from
Winter Break
13
20
27 Health and
Wellness Night
5:30PM
Wed
7
14
21
28
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
8
9 Celebration
Assembly
15 Student Led 16
Conferences
22
29
23
30
10
17
24
31
EMMA DONNAN MIDDLE SCHOOL
Work Hard. Achieve Greatness. No Excuses.
Bear Tracks Newsletter
1202 E. Troy
Indianapolis, IN 46203
January 2015
1st Semester Reflection
As EMMA Donnan Middle
School reflects upon the first
semester of school, there
have been many successes to
celebrate. First the culture of
the school. Second is the
continuous improvement of
student instruction. Third is
the increase in parental
awareness and engagement.
The culture of the school is
focused on every student
growing in positive learning
behaviors through the use of
the character building
program of STRIVE.
STRIVE stands for ‘Students
Taking Responsibility for
Improved Values of
Excellence.’ Each month the
school promotes and
celebrates positive behavior
through the earning of merits
throughout each school day.
With the scholar dollars, the
students earn participation in
activities – such as the
student/staff basketball
game, hot chocolate café, or
the end of semester student
dance. The school has seen a
drastic decrease in tardiness
and an increase in attendance
from last school year. Emma
Donnan Middle School is
also building a culture of
learning by having every
student create academic
goals, review the goals on a
weekly basis, build an
understanding of why
benchmark testing is
important, and holding
student lead conferences
with their parents twice a
year. The students are
becoming more aware of
their responsibility for their
learning and are able to
celebrate their successes
through academic trackers
within classrooms,
celebration assemblies, and
shout out.
The administration and staff
are intrinsically motivated to
show continuous
improvement in student
instruction. On any given
day a person can hear
conversations among the
staff that surround the rigor
of increasing student
achievement. Through
Professional Development
that focuses on the needs of
the teachers and students for
higher achievement, the
teachers are learning about
effective instructional
strategies, high order
thinking questioning, and
effective co-teaching
classrooms. Through data
driven instruction, the
administration and teachers
review student progress
through benchmarks, ISTEP,
and mastery work within the
classrooms through team
meetings, data chats, and
monitoring of classroom
instruction. The data is
broken into learning
standards to determine how
to best help the students
increase their learning levels.
Everyone understands the
importance of meeting each
student where he/she is and
helping them grow from that
point.
The third area of growth is
the increase of parental
involvement. The Emma
Donnan family of students,
families, community
members is growing each
week. Throughout each
month various activities are
happening to involve parent
more in their child(ren)
education. This past
Hispanic Cultural night, the
first semester Art Gallery
Event, a Holiday Festivity,
Holiday Band Concert, and
sporting events.
Parent involvement is so
important to the continuous
success of a child and the
transitioning towards a high
school diploma and postsecondary education. So
much so that we have
created our V.I.P. program.
We use this parent group to
solicit ideas, and fundraisers.
Although Emma Donnan
Middle School has
experienced huge successes
in culture as seen by looking
in the classrooms of engaged
students, continuous learning
due to the dedication and
intrinsic rewards all
administrators and staff feel
from being a EMMA, and
building stronger
relationships with family and
community to ensure student
success- the school realizes
we have only just begun and
will continue to improve,
strive to do what is right for
the students and community,
and celebrate successes, but
also realize the challenges of
each day. Everyone at Emma
Donnan Middle School
works hard to better the lives
of students and realizes each
student is capable and wants
to succeed. Everyone here –
students, staff, and
administration – Works Hard
to Achieve Greatness with
No Excuses.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Emma Donnan M.S.
semester there have been a
variety of events – including
Important Phone Numbers
EDMS
317-217-1979
A&S Transportation
239-776-9908
Mayor’s Action Center
317-327-4622
IMPD Non-Emergency
317-327-3811
Animal Control
317-327-1397
Parent Center - Visions of a Great 2015
Happy New Year Emma
Donnan Families! I hope
that your holidays were
pleasant, and you all kept
warm. During the past
semester, our students and
families have accomplished so much. Goals
that were set were met if not exceeded.
That’s what we want to continue during
second semester is accomplishing and
exceeding goals.
And you energize the problems you
vocalize. Go on a 90 Day Complaint-Free
Diet. Enough said.
#3: Clean All Messes. Masters of Goal
Achievement are minimalists. They get that
The function of education is to teach one
to think intensively and to think
critically. Intelligence plus character that is the goal of true education.
For the new year I have found a list of
things By Robin Sharma Author of the #1
bestseller The Leader Who Had No Title
-you and your child could do so that you
help them meet and exceed their goals;
#1: Do a Daily Goal Review. Every
morning take just 5 pure minutes to reread
your goals. This will boost your focus
dramatically and imprint them with total
clarity on your subconscious mind.
#2: Go Complaint-Free. You empower
everything you complain about. You
strengthen the negative things you speak of.
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
messes create distraction. And distraction
reduces your power to achieve every goal
you set.
#4: Become an Incrementalist. Bottom line:
5 little goals done a day lead to 1850 goals
achieved by December 31, 2014. An
awesome work and personal life is more
about evolution than revolution. Get serious
about the small wins.
Health and Wellness Night January 27, 2015
“If every single thing you want to happen
over the next 12 months happened, what
would it all look like?” Fast tip: Clarity is
Power. Write out your answer in a single
paragraph. Review it DAILY. You’ll go
from distracted to massively concentrated.
On the few things that count.
#6: Join A Mastermind. You can’t do it
alone. You need to partner with other
people. To get their encouragement. To
feed off their energy. To share your hopes
and dreams with theirs. Emma Donnan
Staff and Teachers are happy to be you
and your child’s support system.
#7: Outlearn Last Year’s Self. The real key
to executing flawlessly on every one of
your goals is to outlearn and outthink who
you were last year. As you think better,
you’re certain to perform better. And all
it takes is one new insight or idea–
strongly acted on–to take you to a
completely different place.
year and these parents exceeded my expectations.
So thank you SO much to the following parents:
Audrey Kelshaw
- Thank you for
being an involved parent, who visits the
school often, to keep your child on task!
- Miss Webb
Donya Carter - Thank you
for
helping decorate for our winter dance, and
donating extra food , also. The students
had a great time.
instructed by our very own
assistant principal Mr. Tyler
Small.
As the new year begins we here
at Donnan would like our
students, staff, and families
jumpstart their journeys to being
healthy individuals. Please join
us for our health and wellness
night on Tuesday January 27th,
at 5:30PM, as we learn our target
weight, BMI, weight loss goals,
and enjoy a fitness class,
School Bus Safety
Do:
• Do use the handrail when boarding or
exiting the bus to prevent slipping and
injuring
yourself on icy road surfaces or steps.
• Do keep your head and arms inside the
windows when riding the bus to prevent
frostbite
and other injuries to your limbs and face.
• Do dress in warm winter clothing - hats,
mittens, and boots.
• Do move away from the bus to a place
where the driver can see you and you can
see the
• Do be on time at the bus stop.
driver after you get off the bus.
• Do wait for the bus several feet further off the
road in a safe place in winter weather.
• Do cross 10 feet in from of the bus, but
wait for the "all clear" signal from the
driver before
leaving the curb.
• Do keep all pagers and articles in a
backpack.
Don’t
• Don't stand or play on snow piles at the
bus stop - you could slide into the street in
the
path of oncoming traffic.
• Don't attempt to retrieve your books or
lunchbox from around or underneath the
bus until
after it has cleared the unloading zone.
• Don't push or shove when getting on or
off the bus.
• Don't chase after the bus or attempt to
grab the rear bumper.
CALLING ALL VIP’S
Winter Dance
Being a parent volunteer can definitely
make the difference in the success of the
school. We continue to say at Donnan
that we are a family, and because of that,
it is important to have parents be a voice
in the school. That is why this year we
have decided to start a parent group
called VIP, or Very Important Partners. It
is important that early on we build partnerships with parents because together,
we all have the same goals when it comes
to a child’s education and academic suc-
On Wednesday December 17th, Emma
Donnan rolled out the red carpet for our
students with our evening with the stars
dance. Students were able to come to
school, dance , eat and socialize, while
experiencing a Hollywood feel. Thank
you to all the parents who allowed their
child to attend, we look forward to host
more events similar to this in the future.
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Starting a fitness program may
be one of the best things you can
do for your health. Physical
activity can reduce your risk of
chronic disease, improve your
With extremely cold temperatures, snow storms,
and icy walk ways it is important that we keep
our students safe and warm during the winter
months. A lot of our students have to ride the
school bus, which means it is important that
they follow important do’s and don'ts to keep
them safe on their rides to and from school.
Please read and follow the following;
#5: Imprint Your December 31 Statement.
Super Star Parents
It is important, that we recognize things that
our families do to give back to the school.
Emma Donnan has some of the most amazing
parents willing to come and help whenever
needed, volunteering without hesitation, and
doing it with a smile. All of our parents are
wonderful, but there are some who have gone
over and beyond by donating items to the
school, volunteering countless hours to set up
for events, or making food for our events.
Some have even taken it a step further and are
active with our VIP program here at the
school. I have asked our parents to donate just
one hour of time throughout the entire school
balance and coordination, help
you lose weight — even improve
your sleep habits and selfesteem.
B E A R T R A C KS N E W S L E T T E R
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6
cess. The VIP group will meet the
first Tuesday of every month at
11:00AM. The meeting will usually last
30 minutes to an hour. The focus of the
group will be to help fundraise, prepare
family events, increase parent involvement, volunteer, and aide teachers where
needed. I look forward to having each
one of you sign up and receiving input
from each of you. As these meetings
commence, it is my hope that we all remember how important it is that we listen
to everyone’s point of view and remain
respectful as we work toward the benefit
of all our students. If you would like to be
a part of this group or would like more
information, please contact Miss Parker.
Also, if you are unable to meet at that
time but would still like to be a part of the
group, please send an e-mail to
[email protected].
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