The Middle Update 9/25/15

Parent-Teacher Conferences
Thanks for another good staff meeting Wednesday.  This will be our first go around with student-led conferences, and if all goes well, this will start a tradition of all students being a part of conferences in Poynette.  This time with our parents is really important for our communication goal.  Thank you for your efforts to make this an efficient and effective time.

During Homeroom next Friday, we will also have students complete a self-assessment reflection for each of the 5 Puma Pride expectations, which will be a part of the PT conference material.

Student of the Month Breakfast
We will be hosting our first Student of the Month breakfast next Thursday, 10/1.  Thank you to Mr. Frehner, Ms. Barnett, Mrs. Rogness, and Ms. Harms for your participation this month.  Congratulations to the following students on their honor:

Chad Tiffany, Tayler Korfmacher, Nik Feller, Peyton Gest, Rachel Yelk, Logan Wagner, Abigail Klink, Aika Bush

Next Carelli Cup Competition
The next Carelli Cup Competition will be a Puma Pride dress up day in honor of Homecoming Friday.  Please count the number of students wearing a combination of orange and black or Puma gear on Friday during Homeroom.

What it's all about...
Robert Marzano is pretty famous in the land of educational research.  This DOCUMENT is a compilation of years of research into a pretty short, readable document outlining what an effective school looks like.

Grading for Learning Meeting
Dr. Hoernke and I will host another Grading for Learning informational meeting next Tuesday evening at 6:00 pm in the High School IMC.  If you are interested in helping out or attending, anyone is more than welcome.

Twitter Post of the Week

1. Dan Rockwell ‏@Leadershipfreak  1h1 hour ago

   10 Ways to Say the Right Thing EVERY TIME: http://bit.ly/1wMEilY 

   
   

   

   
   

   12 retweets21 favorites

   
   

   
   

   
   

Duty Next Week
Morning - Harms
Bus - Barnett

Data
Attendance Rates up to this point
6th - 97.1%
7th - 95.6%
8th - 95.8%
MS - 96.2%

The Middle Update 9/18/15

First Student of the Month Breakfast!!
The first student of the month breakfast will be on Thursday, October 1.  Please send the names to Robin and myself by the end of the day Tuesday.  If you have them sooner, go ahead and let us know.  You can access the Student of the Month history document HERE.

Upcoming Parent/Teacher Conferences
At our next staff meeting, we will begin the conversation about how we structure our parent-teacher conferences.  Our first round of conferences will be on Thursday, 10/8 and Thursday, 10/15.  This is such an important time, and it warrants the discussion time.  To prepare for that discussion, check out this short article about another school's experience with Student-Led Conferences.  We will be discussing our action plan at next week's staff meeting.

Staff Meeting Next Week!
In Ms. Barnett's class this week, I learned a little about foreshadowing, and I tried to use a little foreshadowing in the previous note.  Anyway, this is a reminder that we have a Middle School Staff Meeting next Wednesday 9/23 at 2:50 in Room #3.

Instructional Round Thursday Coming Up
Next Thursday, 9/24 will be our first day of instructional rounds.  At the opening in-service we discussed the initial goals of these rounds.  The primary first goal is to get into each others rooms and notice all of the positive things that are happening in our building.  The visit should be about 10 minutes.  If any teachers have questions, please invite me to your Tuesday team meeting, and I'll stop in.

Fire/Tornado Procedures
It is never a bad time to review the fire/tornado drill procedures with your students.  If you haven't yet, this is a must, and it is good practice just to review the procedures about once a month or so.  We will be having a Fire Drill next Wednesday 9/23 at 1:30 to further cement those routines.

GFL Parent Meeting Update
Dr. Hoernke and I were all set to lead a Grading and Assessment parent meeting on Tuesday night, but we did not have any attendees.  We plan to host another session on Tuesday, 9/29 at 6:00 pm in the High School IMC.

Infinite Campus Evidence
As I peruse the grade book for individual students, it looks like we are pretty consistent with how we are reporting evidence into Infinite Campus.  Keep in mind that Infinite Campus is our primary communication tool for student progress.  If you have questions about what should or should not go into the grade book, please contact me or an Instructional Coach, and we can help out.

Another reminder to make sure we are putting the level of the assessment in the "Comments" box.  The format should be:  Level: AD or PR or DE.  This needs to be consistent building wide.

Twitter Post of the Week

John Gunnell ‏@gunnellAP  Sep 13Wisconsin, USA

A2: RTI is always a work in progress, but the heart of effective implementation resides in strengthening the core. #wischat

Duty for Next Week
Morning - Greer
Bus - O'Connor

Data

Fall 2015 STAR Results
Math (% At or above Benchmark)
6th - 67%
7th - 78%
8th - 78%
MS - 74.2%

Reading (% At or above Benchmark)
6th - 59%
7th - 57%
8th - 51%
MS - 55.9%

The Middle Update 9/11/15

Week 2 is in the books!  Check out below for the latest news and notes!  Have a great weekend!

Infinite Campus Evidence
We are at the end of week 2.  At this time, we should take a moment to review the evidence that we have entered in Infinite Campus.  Each student should have at least 1 piece of evidence reported out in Infinite Campus at this point.  Keep in mind that Infinite Campus is our primary communication tool for student progress.  If you have questions about what should or should not go into the grade book, please contact me or an Instructional Coach, and we can help out.

Another reminder to make sure we are putting the level of the assessment in the "Comments" box.  This needs to be consistent building wide.

Early STAR Results
Early STAR results are in, and it looks like are students have performed quite well on this assessment.  This data will give us more information that we will use for planning and monitoring purposes.

SLO's
As we get to know our students, we will begin looking at data, and setting our SLO's for the year.  Our Staff Meeting this month will focus on this task, but we all should be starting the goal setting process.

Each Classroom Minute
One of our Guiding Principles for us to get our students to achieve our goals is that each minute of class time is crucial for our student's achievement.  Continue looking for ways within those class minutes to deliver specific feedback to students on their work.

IE Time
Next week will be our first full 5 day week.  We will make one slight modification to our IE plan to better facilitate our goal oriented focus.  I spoke to those directly involved already, but for our Enrichment Groups, we will run the "Non-Fiction Article" and "Math" activity with our A Day groups.  The purpose is to be consistent with a steady group of kids with the activity.  This means that Silent Reading Day could be a Monday or Tuesday, and Advisory Day could be a Wednesday or Thursday depending on when the A Day falls. Groups and schedules remain constant.  As always, Friday will be a Homeroom Day for all grades.  Homeroom groups will not change during the year.

On Monday, all Enrichment groups should be reading the non-fiction article with your groups, and doing the corresponding activities outlined in the lesson plans.  On Tuesday, it will be a silent sustained reading day.  Wednesday will be a "Math" day, and Thursday will be an Advisory Day.  Please see me with any questions right away.

Updated Lesson Plan

Grade Level Blogs
Thank you for providing brief glimpses into what our students will be doing in your classes.  I have received many positive comments and questions about how to access these blogs.  This is another solid communication tool.

Step Ladders
Currently, we have 3 step ladders in our building.  They will be located in the following locations: Mr. Lendobeja's Room, Multi-Purpose Room, and the IMC.

Twitter Post of the Week

John Gunnell ‏@gunnellAP  Sep 9Wisconsin, USA

I believe that the comments on our report card hold far more value than the numbers, if done right. Provide actionable feedback. #sblchat

Duty for Next Week
Morning - Frehner
Bus - Rogness

Data
STAR Results (Fall 2015)
Reading
% of Students at or above benchmark
55.3%

Behavior Referrals (through the first two weeks of school)
14-15 - 10 Events, 9 Students
15-16 - 2 Events, 1 Student

The Middle Update 9/4/15

Homeroom

After receiving some feedback from teachers about our progress with Homeroom lesson plans this week, it appears different teachers are in different places and have different needs to finish the Handbook Review.  Each teacher needs to be sure that we finish the Handbook Review, and gets the students to take the "Acknowledgement Sheet" home, and return a signed copy.  Please emphasize to your Homeroom that we need this sheet returned.  I will present any Homeroom that has all of their forms turned in with a "treat".  Please let me know when your Homeroom has all forms turned in.  When you have all of the forms, please turn them in to Mrs. McNicol at the office.

Also, please have your Homeroom students sign a Puma Paw, indicating their commitment to follow the school rules.  Puma Paws can be returned to the office, and will be displayed on the bulletin board in the entrance hallway.

IE Time Next Week

More information will be coming from Mrs. Morrissey about the specific daily lesson plans for IE, but on Tuesday, we will be meeting in Homeroom groups.  IE Groups will start on Wednesday.  We will use Tuesdays IE to explain to students the purpose of IE.  Mrs. Morrissey will be sending a script to outline this discussion.  Also on Tuesday, we will share the IE Groups.  It is very important to review the goals of IE.  We plan to give the lessons a clear focus based on student data (see below) to give the students a goal to work toward.

Enrichment groups during IE

Part of the script that Mrs. Morrissey will be sharing is about the purpose of our IE activities.  Each day will have a specific goal, and we all must be invested in guiding our students towards growth.  In analyzing last year's STAR data, we were able to identify a weakness for our students in both Reading and Math.  We will target our Enrichment work on Tuesdays and Thursdays to improve in those standards.  I think it is really important to share with the students the purpose of our activities, and that we will be looking at the results of the January STAR assessments to determine their success in these areas.  It is my hope that by providing direction and a goal for students during our Tuesday and Thursday Enrichment activities, we will see students working with purpose.  Look for more detailed information about this from Mrs. Morrissey.

Blogs

The posts I have seen so far have been great.  These can be short posts with assignments and due dates.  I have heard students reference checking the blog out in their conversations.  This has been much appreciated by our parents as well.

PMS Master Schedule

This year's master schedule has seen a little adjustment since last year.  Please take a moment to review the SCHEDULE, and note the end times for each grade.  As a reminder, please use your phone or computer time to ensure that we are all on the same page.  It does throw things off a bit when students are dismissed early.  We've been really good, just a couple hiccups from time to time during the first week. Thank you! 

Puma Pride Training Camp

It was a successful Puma Pride Training Camp.  Thank you for your leadership in guiding our students to the proper stations, and getting all of us the chance to revisit our expectations in each area.

Student Thoughts...

I had the chance to check in with two of our new students who came to us from a district to the north. When I asked both of them what the biggest difference has been so far, between their old district and ours, they both said, "the teachers are better here."  I think that is pretty cool.

Parent Privacy

When sending emails to multiple recipients, please enter the email addresses in the BCC line.  Using the BCC function allows parent email addresses to remain confidential.  Thank you!

Twitter Post of the Week

1. ASCD ‏@ASCD  4h4 hours ago

   Beginning with the end in mind helps keep the focus on students' understanding: http://ow.ly/RLBBp  #teaching

   

   12 retweets13 favorites

 

Duty for the Week
Morning - Deans
Bus - Rogness

Data

Attendance Rate after 1 week of school: 96.74%