The Nest News- 10th Edition-October 20-24, 2025

Eagles Strong

INFO YOU NEED TO KNOW

VISION-

At Elko Middle School, we are committed to soaring from good to great by cultivating a culture of educational excellence, innovation, and community engagement. Our vision is to empower ever student to reach their full potential—academically, socially, and personally.

We will measure our success by:

Sustaining full accreditation through rigorous academic achievement and continuous improvement.
Expanding extracurricular opportunities that foster creativity, leadership, and collaboration.
Building strong partnerships with local businesses, community organizations, staff and student learning and real-world

MISSION

Elko Middle School is committed to fostering a growth mindset by providing a high-quality education and data-driven instruction within a safe and inclusive environment.

THE THEME FOR 2025-2026

MISSION imPOSSIBLE

ACADEMICS

Eagles,

We wanted to share an update on the exciting work our staff engaged in during our professional development day on Monday, October 13th. Our teachers spent the day diving deep into the science of effective student feedback.

We are thrilled to report that the "seeds" of effective feedback that we planted earlier in the year are truly starting to bear fruit! During our recent teacher observations, we are consistently seeing powerful feedback loops in action—from teacher to student, and student to teacher.

This feedback goes far beyond simple praise or identifying errors. Our teachers are giving students actionable techniques and clear pathways to solve problems. This critical practice allows students to truly understand the core processes within their content areas, empowering them to complete their learning tasks successfully each day. This focus is leading to deeper, more meaningful learning for all our students.

Important Date: End of the First Nine Weeks

The end of the first nine-week grading period is fast approaching on Friday, October 24th.

We ask that you discuss grades and missing work with your student this week.

It is the student's responsibility to:

Review PowerSchool immediately to identify any missing assignments or low grades.

Confer with their teacher to determine if the work can be made up.

Clarify the specific type of credit they will receive for any late or make-up work.

Please partner with us by reminding your student that proactive review and follow-up with their teachers is crucial for success.

Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff.

SCHOOL OPERATIONS

ATTENDANCE UPDATES

ID Badges

Please ensure that your students are wearing their ID badges every day. Students now need to scan their ID badges when they arrive to school late and when they have an early dismissal.

Transportation/Bus Information

If your student’s bus is running late in the morning, please call the Transportation Office at 804-261-9401. You can also download the Parent Portal Bus App to track the bus: https://www.henricoschools.us/page/parent-portal-bus-app

Contacts/Pick-up Lists:

Please make sure your student’s pick-up list is up to date by updating the Contacts listed in PowerSchool. You can do this by logging in to your Parent Portal account. Anyone coming to pick up a student for early dismissal MUST be listed in PowerSchool. If someone is not listed in PowerSchool, we will not be able to call the student down.

EARLY DISMISSAL: The cut off time for early dismissals is 2:30 pm.

REMINDER:

Attendance flyer -English

Attendance flyer- Spanish

TECHNOLOGY

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP

October 20-24, 2025 is Digital Citizenship Week! The goal of Digital Citizenship week is to promote a healthy, balanced, and positive approach to media and tech use. The Videos Shared on this document will also be shared with students on the morning announcements. Additionally, students will be completing Digital Citizenship lessons through their advisory class next week. We invite you to check out the resources under Family Extension to continue the conversations at home.

Click here to see flyer for more information.

MAKE UP PICTURE DAY

NOVEMBER 21ST

DEPARTMENT UPDATES

Counselor's Corner

NEW INFO

8th Grade Specialty Center and ACE Center Corner

The specialty center applications are now open! For more information about the Specialty Centers in HCPS please see this video. You must give permission to your students to apply by creating an account on schoolmint for them to apply.

Upcoming dates:

Ongoing: Donuts and Degrees program at Elko - your student can sign-up through the 8th grade Schoology page

Ongoing: 1:1 help for 8th graders during advisory - your student can sign-up through the 8th grade Schoology page

November 7th - Specialty Center Application Assistance with Central Office all day

November 14 - Application Closes

Please see this site for more information about specific open houses: https://www.henricoschools.us/page/student-timeline

The ACE centers allow our 8th graders to apply to study a trade in 11th and 12th grade. For more information, please see the ACE Recruitment Video and apply here (application opens September 29th).

Unity Day

Elko Middle School is going to be celebrating Unity Day on Wednesday October 22nd. Unity Day is a chance for us to build commUNITY and promote kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. It is also a message that bullying will not be tolerated at Elko Middle School.

Henrico Christmas Mother

Henrico Christmas mother is now accepting applications for help with Christmas present for school aged or younger children in your house. For more information, please contact Dr. Swingen at jkswingen@henrico.k12.va.us or contact Henrico Christmas Mother directly at applications@henricochristmasmother.org or 804.236.9741.

Click here to view the Frighteningly Fit flyer.

The Counseling Team

Ms. Fish stfish@henrico.k12.va.us

7th Grade - Counselor Rawls glrawls@henrico.k12.va.us

8th Grade - Jennifer Bolding jbolding@henrico.k12.va.us

EL and last names A-B - Dr. Swingen: jkswingen@henrico.k12.va.us

EVENTS

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferencs