The Au Gres-Sims School District
www.ags-schools.org
Hello Au Gres-Sims Families,
The first resource I'd like to introduce you to is THE MICHIGAN LEARNING CHANNEL. This is "a statewide public television partnership offering instructional content to support the education of students and to provide alternative resources for families and teachers." The content from this site is being live aired on public television, and is available on demand on the web. Lessons have been designed by educators for Kindergarten through 3rd grade in the subjects of English Language Arts, Math, English Learners, Health & Fitness, and Social Emotional Learning. The best news of all...IT IS A FREE RESOURCE! If you are looking for additional instructional supports, these 30-minute searchable lessons are great. There are also a number of educational shows posted to the site suitable for learners of all ages.
Access the MICHIGAN LEARNING CHANNEL Here
The second resource I'd like to share with you was created through the state legislature way back in 2004, but carries a very high significance now, the Michigan Child Protection Registry. This FREE resource allows parents to register their address and phone numbers and protects from messages that advertise pornography, tobacco, illegal drugs, alcohol, and gambling, offering another layer of protection for our children against cyber-predators. Our school devices and server offer a great level of protection against unwanted content, but additional levels of support are always welcome to keep our kids safe. To register your family's information, parents can access the AGS website and click on the PROTECTMiCHILD link in the parents column or navigate there directly with the link provided below.
Access the PROTECTMiCHILD HERE
The education of our students is everyone's responsibility. Thank you for doing your part to extend the walls of our school into your homes and for being a partner in your child's education.
Have a great weekend AGS!
-Mr. Ming
How often have you seen staff wear jeans at school? More than likely, it has been few and far between. That may change a little. Every other Friday all staff now have the option to wear jeans if they pay $5. All money received from the donation will go to support local businesses. We have determined that the best way to maximize our funds right now would be to support the community SOAR program and basically earn $3 for every $1 we donate. So, if you see a staff member wearing jeans on Fridays it means that not only are they having the opportunity to be a little more relaxed, but they are also supporting a great cause!
Since we’re on the dress theme, we have a fun dress up day coming up next Friday, February 5. Mrs. Hiveley had the great idea that we should have some district wide fun and that all staff and students should wear the colors/jersey of their favorite football team. This is in preparation for the Super Bowl game on Sunday the 7th and another opportunity to have fun and develop some camaraderie. Go Bucs...or is it go Chiefs?!
Not that we are without some little glitches, but I would like to thank everyone for their diligent efforts in helping maintain student safety by being patient and safety conscious when picking up and dropping students off at the beginning and end of the day. There can be a couple of small blind spots when students are making their way to parked vehicles and the caution that you have exhibited is much appreciated. To save repetitive stops, we will continue to have parents pick up all of their children at the stop location of their youngest child. Thank you parents!
And last but not least, I wanted to remind our elementary and MS students about the next couple of popcorn dates. These are Friday, February 19, and Friday, March 19. Money for these is due the day before.
From the Desk of Mrs. Socha
We are finishing up our second week of our three week NWEA testing window. Next week will be devoted to the language test in secondary and make-ups testing for all of K-12. It is a busy week, ensuring that all of our students are completing all sessions. Our virtual students have also been completing their testing as well and this will also be wrapping up next week. Once make-ups are completed, we will begin diving into the data to make adjustments within the classrooms and online to support the findings. Intervention groups will adjust and seminar placements may change in order to give students the extra assistance that they need. It can be a bit tricky this year with scheduling restrictions due to our COVID protocols, however, I feel that we have done a good job continuing to meet the needs of our students in each of these settings. We have already seen a lot of positive growth and success stories in many areas, which speaks volumes of the resilience and hard work of our staff and students. I think that it is important to celebrate every point of growth and share out the wonderful things that students are doing in the classroom, both in-person and virtually, every day!
For our students who continue to learn virtually, or who have just made the switch to 100% virtual learning, please remember that it is crucially important for you to stay connected with your teachers. Attend their Google Meets, respond to their emails, and reach out to any of us here at the school with questions. You should be engaging daily within Google Classroom to receive your assignments and keep up to date on your school work. This is important to keep you academically on track, as well as for attendance. Please stay in communication with us!
For our face-to-face students, just a friendly reminder that Chromebooks should be brought to school each day with a full charge. Keeping a charger in your backpack will help in case of an emergency, but it is important to start the day with a fully charged device. We do not have enough outlets in every classroom for every student to plug-in, so please make sure you are charging each night at home. Kindergarten and 1st Grade students should be bringing their OneTabs back and forth each day. These may seem like silly requests, but it makes a huge difference when every student comes fully prepared to participate in class each day. This is especially important as we finish testing, as Chromebooks are needed to complete those assessments as well.
As always, thank you for your continued support in your child’s education during this difficult year. It has been a challenge, but we are so grateful that we are able to bring students into our building each day. It would not be possible without everyone working together to support our protocols put in place to keep our students and staff safe!
Mythbusting Depression and Anxiety
How much do you really know about depression and anxiety? Here are some questions to test your knowledge and understanding. You may be surprised by how much you know, or do not know, about these conditions. Test your knowledge by answering true or false to these 13 statements:
1. Statement: Most teenagers who struggle with depression or anxiety get treatment.
Answer: False • Actually up to 80% of people in need of mental health services never get treatment. Even further, many teens “fake” it very well for a long time and no one ever even knows that they are struggling.
2. Statement: Depression and anxiety are partially caused by our biology.
Answer: True • Both biology and life experience play a part in whether or not individuals develop depression or anxiety. People without a family history of depression or anxiety develop it, especially after stressful life events, but many people also have a family history/genetic predisposition for depression or anxiety.
3. Statement: Our feelings of anxiety are tied to our fight-or-flight system.
Answer: True • We are wired to react to danger or stress very quickly and without thinking. That’s our fight or flight system. When faced with a stressor, we get an upset stomach, racing heart, shortening our breath, etc., to prepare us to move to safety. This is true of all animals. With humans, however, sometimes this reaction can go a little too far and get stuck in the “on” position, where we feel nervous even without a stressor or danger.
4. Statement: If you have depression or anxiety, it’s your fault.
Answer: False • Absolutely not! That’d be like telling people that having asthma or diabetes or a difficult time reading is their fault! Everyone’s brains and life experiences are unique and it is never someone’s fault to have depression or anxiety. If you look at pictures of anxious brains or depressed brains, you’ll see that these brains are truly operating differently.
5. Statement: If your life is super stressful, it’s pointless to try to feel better.
Answer: False • That’s what you’ll see in this group. Even if you can’t change all of the stressful things about your life, you don’t have to turn EVERYTHING around to feel better. Try just taking very small steps and, together, they will make a big difference. If you want a corny little quote to go with this, “What is the ocean but little drops?"
6. Statement: Depression is the same thing as being really sad, like after someone dies.
Answer: False • Depression has many symptoms and while sadness CAN be one of them, it doesn’t even have to be. Depressed people can feel just gray and detached, like there is no color or life in anything, or they may seem very irritable – sadness is not a pre-requisite. At the same time and on the other hand, everyone feels sadness. Sadness is an emotion and is NOT the same thing as depression, which is an illness.
7. Statement: Approximately 25% of teens struggle with an anxiety disorder.
Answer: True
8. Statement: 5% of teens have depression.
Answer: False • We know that up to 20% of teens experience depression before they reach adulthood, while 10-15% of teens are experiencing depression right now.
9. Statement: When we talk about anxiety, we are referring to worry thoughts AND physical symptoms.
Answer:True • Anxiety can cause racing thoughts, “what ifs,” self-doubt, and all kinds of challenging thoughts. People with anxiety also experience physical symptoms, including a racing heart, stomach aches/headaches, muscle tension, fast breathing, sweating, shaking, and fidgeting.
10. Statement: Anxiety will never get better. Once you have it, you’ll have it for life.
Answer: That’s a tricky one... It’s not really true or false (TRICK QUESTION!) • On the one hand, it’s important to remember that all humans experience anxiety at one time or another because anxiety is a basic emotion and part of our fight-or-flight response. But on the other hand, anxiety that interferes in our lives and is beyond what is typical is highly responsive to treatment, especially with the types of tools we will be learning in this group!
11. Statement: Depression is treatable.
Answer: True • The majority of people with depression get better with treatment. We know that CBT is a very helpful treatment. Medication can be helpful as well!
12. Statement: Suicidal thinking is a symptom of depression.
Answer: True • Just like having little energy, being irritable, or losing your appetite can be part of depression, thinking about death or even about killing yourself can also be a part of depression. If this is a symptom you experience, it is very important to be open with trusted adults about your suicidal thinking. And if someone doesn’t give you a helpful response, tell someone else.
13. Statement: If you’ve “always been this way” (anxious or depressed), things aren’t likely to improve.
Answer: False • Actually, teenagers are at the perfect age to learn the skills necessary to manage thoughts and emotions, and choose adaptive behaviors to feel better. Over and over and OVER research shows people who thought things would never get better find a way to improve things for themselves.
You have finished the Q & A. Hopefully you have reaffirmed what you already knew to be true, and picked up some new information along the way. Having accurate information is key in overcoming these obstacles for our students.
Athletics Update
The latest extension of the emergency orders were a surprise to us. In the last week we have rebounded from that shock and made adjustments that will allow for our middle school girls to play their volleyball season.
We are happy to announce that volleyball practice started on Thursday this week. If you are interested in joining, please contact Coach Christie.
Mark Your Calendars
- Feb 1: Special Board of Education meeting, 5pm (Zoom)
- Feb. 3,10,17,24: Virtual days of instruction for all students
- Feb. 15: Regular Board of Education meeting, 6pm
We've changed format!
Au Gres-Sims School District
Email: web@ags-schools.org
Website: www.ags-schools.org
Location: 310 South Court Street, Au Gres, MI, USA
Phone: (989) 876-7150
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuGresSims/?ref=br_rs
Twitter: @agsschools