The Middle Update 10/30/15

Happy Halloween!  As we near the end of the 1st quarter, it is important to continually focus on the importance of our students feeling connected to school.  The best way to do this is getting to know what makes our kids tick...Your efforts aren't always rewarded at first, but they make a lasting impact in the life of a student.  Thank you for your efforts in this very important aspect of school life.  Check out below for some news and notes...

Student Progress Communication Update
Thanks to all for a solid collaborative meeting on Wednesday afternoon.  I'll be sharing the feedback and guidelines that we will use starting with the 2nd Quarter for updating Infinite Campus.  I will follow this up with a communication to parents and students early in the 2nd quarter.  Final 1st Quarter grades should be posted by end of the day on Monday, November 9th.

End of Quarter 1 is Thursday
With the end of the quarter coming, students that are in danger of not passing should be on our radar.  Students should know their status and we should be working to get these students in during lunch or after school to get the skills and knowledge necessary to demonstrate at the very least a passing level.  If you need help getting students during lunch, please contact me.

Assembly Thursday afternoon
We will be having an End of the 1st Quarter Celebration Assembly on Thursday afternoon.  Students should be dismissed to the gym at 2:05, and we'll get started at 2:10.  The MS Leadership Team will have a role in the assembly and another Carelli Cup event will take place.

Professional Rounds Reminder
A reminder for teachers to fill out the "Professional Rounds" form after you have gotten into another teacher's classroom for a short visit.  At the time of this writing, we had 10 entries...If you didn't get a chance on Thursday, pop in some time today.

Honor Roll??
Another piece that came out from the Puma Pride Committee this past June was establishing a recognition system for our students.  We will be experimenting with a system to recognize the high achievement of our students.  At this time, we will look at recognizing students that have a Proficient or above in each standard, along with scoring ME's in all 5 Puma Pride characteristics for recognition.  I am interested in a more unique title than "Honor Roll"...but I haven't thought of anything...if you have ideas, please let me know.  If this seems to be a solid system, we will communicate with students and parents about the official recognition starting with 2nd quarter grades.

Student of the Month Breakfast
The next Student of the Month Breakfast will be Thursday, November 19th.  Please get names to the office by middle of next week.  Thank you 7th grade team for submitting your honorees.

Twitter Find of the Week

edutopia ‏@edutopia  1h1 hour ago

How to motivate even the most unmotivated students: http://edut.io/JfmzBR .

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

Data
Attendance % through Week 10
15-16 - 95.68%
14-15 - 95.94%
13-14 - 96.4%
12-13 - 96.9%

The Middle Update 10/23/15

The early morning sun rise was a sight to see this morning on the drive to school.  A good start to a great Friday.  Check out below for some Middle School News & Notes.

End of the Quarter
This is a reminder that the End of the 1st Quarter is Thursday, 11/5.  Please take a moment early next week to ensure that students know where they stand in relation to the report card scores they are on track to receive in each standard.  We need to make sure students know that an NE score is really bad.  Please also ensure that any student in danger of receiving an NE in any standard has had supports put in place to get the feedback and assistance to raise their achievement in that standard.  There should not be any surprises come report card time.  Grades should be posted by end of day Monday, 11/9, and will be printed Tuesday morning, and mailed home.

Learning Goals Posted
In going from classroom to classroom, learning goals are posted in each room daily.  This is great because it communicates what the goals of instruction are for the class period.  As you write your daily learning goals, try to put these in student friendly language, and from the student perspective.  Students should be able to reflect at the end of the hour about whether they met the goal for that day's activities.

Connections with Kids
Making meaningful connection with our students is so important for that child, and the culture of our school.  As we go through our daily routines, take a moment to look for students that may need a little extra attention or support.  It is proven time and again that connected kids do better in school, and outside of school.  Take a moment to strike up a conversation with a student about anything but school.

Parent-Teacher Conference Wrap-Up
I have received some feedback from both parents and teachers about out PT conference session.  The Puma Pride Committee will review the feedback, and begin to plan for the spring conference session.  We had a great turnout!

Parent Conversation Tips
This short ARTICLE provides some good strategies to keep in mind to ensure that every conversation with a parent is meaningful and productive.  It is worth a quick read.

Staff Meeting Next Week
Reminder that we will have a Middle School Staff Meeting next Wednesday at 2:50 in Room #3.  We will hear reports from the Puma Pride committee and continuing to refine our systems and practices.

Twitter Post of the Week

edutopia ‏@edutopia  21h21 hours ago

In their own words: http://edut.to/1W4ycVs . #EmotionRevolution

215 retweets147 favorites

edutopia ‏@edutopia  55m55 minutes ago

10 Things Every New Teacher Needs to Know: http://edut.to/1GiuplB . #ntchat

73 retweets78 favorites

Duty Next Week
Morning - Lendobeja
Bus - Harms

Data
Parent-Teacher Conference Attendance -
230/258 - 89.1%

The Middle 10/16/15

With 3 weeks left to go in the 1st Quarter, it seems we are hitting our stride and routines are becoming routine.  The hard work that goes into making our school excellent does not go unnoticed.  Thank you for your important contributions to our school, and the efforts really make a difference in the lives of our students.  It is really special to see our adults making positive connections with all of our students.

Check out below for the latest...

PT Conference Wrap-Up
With the last round of parent-teacher conferences wrapping up last night, it seems like things went well.  Please keep me in the loop on any conversation with parents that have any concerns.  Our Puma Pride Committee will take a look at the model that we used for this round of conferences, and be looking at ways to make this very important time as dynamic as possible.

Weekly Team Meetings
I wanted to take time to thank the teams for keeping minutes of their weekly team meetings.  The documentation is really helpful for reviewing students that need extra support or behavior intervention.  Another topic on the Puma Pride Committee agenda will be to analyze our communication system, and plan for growing or maintaining our system to ensure no students are falling through the cracks.

SLO Meetings
As we head through October, I will be using Bi-Weekly meeting time to review SLO's.  If you have a draft that you feel is close to being approved, send me an email, and I'll set up a time to review and approve the SLO.  SLO's should be approved by the end of October.

Fire Drill Notes
We conducted another successful fire drill on Tuesday afternoon.  Our goal is to make evacuation or any emergency procedure routine for our students.  I appreciate how everyone treats these drills seriously and takes time for student questions.  We will be conducting a Hold drill later in October...more information to follow.

Student Grades
As we near the end of the 1st Quarter, please be mindful of students that may not be on track to pass a standard for the term.  If a student is in danger, we should be working on plans for the student to put in the time necessary to gain the knowledge required to show, at the very least, Beginning level work.  The parents of any student in question should be knowledgeable about the situation, and we should be utilizing every avenue we can to get our students to the highest level possible.  After school or lunch time work sessions may need to be set up.  Please contact me if you have questions for specific students.  An NE in any standard means a student does not pass the class for the term, and there are eligibility implications.

Puma Pride Committee Meeting
As mentioned above, there will be a Puma Pride Committee Meeting on Wednesday, 10/21 from 2:50 to 3:30 in Mrs. Hendrickson's room.  We will check in on our progress after implementing several new ideas that stemmed from last year's work.  We will also begin the process of tackling the issue of "communication" not only from core teachers to applied teachers, but also within grade levels.  Anyone is welcome to attend and be a part of the group.

Staff Share
Once again, I am looking for staff members that are willing to present a "best practice" from their classroom at a staff meeting.  Let me know if you when you are ready to present.

Twitter Find of the Week

MiddleWeb ‏@middleweb  1h1 hour ago

MiddleWeb Retweeted Colleen Toth

Smart move! See some of his written wisdom in these articles by & about him: http://www.middleweb.com/tag/rick-wormeli/ … #AMLE2015

This is a good read from the Middle Web site, seems like old news for us, but an interesting read none the less...

ARTICLE

Duty Next Week
Morning - Kallungi
Bus - Smith

Data
Unexcused Tardy Data by Week (total # of tardies)
Week 1 - 5
Week 2 - 40
Week 3 - 60
Week 4 - 65
Week 5 - 35
Week 6 - 49
Week 7 - 39

Total - 293

The Middle Update 10/9/15

Our professional development morning has gotten off to a great start.  It is really exciting to hear and see the results that come out of professionals working together!  Check below for some news and notes.

Safety Drills
We will be conducting a fire drill on Tuesday, October 13, 2015.  We will practice an Administrative Hold later this month.  Please review these procedures with your students.

Parent-Teacher Conferences Round 1 Update
It appears that our work to be more effective and efficient in our parent-teacher conferences paid off after round 1.  Most people reported almost perfect attendance at the conferences.  Click HERE to view the perceptions of MS teachers about the first night of conferences.

Updated Website
If you have visited our website recently, you'll notice that it has been updated.  The website is such an important tool for people looking to learn more about our district.  In my opinion, the changes project a fresh, progressive look.  Thanks to Ms. Niemeyer, who worked hard during the last 6 months on the transition.  Check it out!

Puma Pride Committee Meeting
There will be a Puma Pride Committee Meeting on Wednesday, 10/21 from 2:50 to 3:30 in Mrs. Hendrickson's room.  We will check in on our progress after implementing several new ideas that stemmed from last year's work.  We will also begin the process of tackling the issue of "communication" not only from core teachers to applied teachers, but also within grade levels.  Anyone is welcome to attend and be a part of the group.

Staff Share
Once again, I am looking for staff members that are willing to present a "best practice" from their classroom at a staff meeting.  Let me know if you when you are ready to present.

Wipes in Classroom
Recently we ordered Klorox wipes for each classroom.  These can be used to disinfect any areas where germs and bacteria can commonly be distributed.  You will be seeing them in your classroom soon.

Twitter Find of the Week

ASCD ‏@ASCD  3h3 hours ago

Find great resources for innovations in assessment during #CE15. http://ow.ly/T0dh3 

4 retweets4 favorites

 

 

 

For all the Math Teachers

WI DPI Mathematics ‏@WisDPIMath  6m6 minutes ago

More on writing in mathematics. Using questions and prompts to facilitate the writing process. #MyWIStandard http://bit.ly/1VJaYnF 

Duty Next Week
Morning - Johnson
Bus - Frehner

Data
Behavior Referral Data (through 6 weeks)
13-14 - 40 Events, 39 Students
14-15 - 61 Events, 21 Students
15-16 - 21 Events, 18 Students

The Middle Update 10/2/15

We are already 5 weeks into the school year, and October is here...wow, it goes fast.  I am continually impressed by the work that each of our staff members put in to make this school the best.  The work that students are doing in the classrooms is consistently engaging and rigorous.

Congrats to our September Students of the Month

Posting Mid-Term Grades
Please review a copy of the mid-quarter grade email I sent earlier (copy is below)...

Teachers should report on standards that students have worked on thus far in the quarter.  The report should give parents a snap shot of student progress within each standard.  You can write in comments within a standard as well.  Please keep in mind the following points when assigning grades.

-Only report on standards that students have had opportunities to demonstrate Advanced level work.  (on my note to parents alerting them that student progress grade have been posted, it will say that mid-quarter and quarter scores are all out of Advanced)

-Use the evidence from the student work to assign a score.  You should weigh recent evidence more heavily within a standard.  A rule of thumb (If you asked a student to perform in this standard right now, what level would they produce) - this level should be reported at mid-quarter and end of quarter.  

Parent-Teacher Conferences
We will be hosting our Parent-Teacher conferences starting next week Thursday.  Today in Homeroom, students will be filling out a reflection about their progress on the Puma Pride rubric.  In today's note to parents about mid-quarter grades, I will remind parents that students need to come and will take the lead talking about their progress.

Grading for Learning Parent Meeting
Dr. Hoernke and I hosted another parent meeting on Tuesday night; presenting about the assessment process.  We had about 8 sets of parents attending.  The meeting went really well.  The parent concerns generally seem to focus on different areas of communication.  We discussed our efforts of what we are doing to enhance communication.  I also shared our PT Conference plan, and they seemed to really like the idea.  At the end of the meeting, parents were appreciative of the efforts made by all of you to help guide their children to maximum preparation by the time they leave us.

Professional Development Day next Friday 10/9
We are excited about the professional development opportunity that will be held next Friday.  We will be tackling SLO and get the opportunity to work in departments to refine our practices.

Twitter Find of the Week

Brad Currie ‏@bradmcurrie  3h3 hours ago

Love seeing our teachers sub plans simply say: go to #GoogleClassroom and follow the instructions.

Joe Kuzo ‏@KuzoJoe  10h10 hours agoChicago, IL

Will kindergarteners today need to know how to drive in their lifetime or will driving be obsolete as technology drives for us? #SchoolCIO

Duty Next Week
Morning - Hendrickson
Bus - Deans

Data
Attendance Rates
6th - 96.91%
7th - 94.95%
8th - 96.04%

MS - 95.97%