M 'n M
Mustangs in the Middle: 4/24/2020
Remote Learning
Dear Parents:
Below is an abbreviated communication sent out by our Superintendent that we wanted to include in this weeks M n' M. It has been abbreviated due to the recent news of the schools closing for the rest of the school year, however, the information is very important to ensure there is an understanding of the assignments and learning that we want to continue. Information about when/how students will be gathering the rest of their school items will be coming out soon.
(Sent 4-19-20) Everything Remote Learning can be found here or in multiple places on every building website. Below are links of the enhancements that have been made to our remote learning plans. It is important that you read through these updates, as they went into effect, April 20th. As you will read in the linked documents below, we have shared expectations for the completion of work, submission of work, teacher feedback on work submitted, documentation of submitted work, and how all of this will appear on the report cards. For our middle school and high school students, we have also specified the impact to a student's grades/credits if designated work is not being completed and submitted. Again, this all starts tomorrow. We are not applying these rules to work assigned during the weeks of April 6th and 13th.
Please click on the applicable links below that are broken down by level to learn more about our enhanced procedures and expectations for remote learning.
We appreciate all of the support you are giving at home. We are aware that the older our kids get, the more challenging it can become to get them motivated. Your efforts to create a schedule to support the completion of the weekly work and setting clear expectations at home will help to increase engagement levels at the secondary level. As you may have noticed, many of our secondary teachers are working to meet kids where they are at and have moved office hours or Google Meet times to late afternoon/early evening when our teenagers are rolling out of bed! We know that in addition to all of the other things on your plate, adding “at-home teacher” may not have been on the list. But we thank you for all you are doing to support remote learning.
If you have individual questions or feedback on ways that we can continue to improve our remote learning platforms, please reach out to your building principals. This will help to determine themes by level and these themes will be taken into consideration if other enhancements to our plan are needed in the future.
Sincerely,
Dr. Cameron M. Ryba
Superintendent
Changes to Schedule Requests for 2020-2021
As this school year nears its last month of learning, we are in the process of scheduling students for the 2020-2021 academic year using the course registration forms that were completed in February/March. If you would like to make any changes to your child's course requests for next school year (including dropping or adding honors classes, encore choices, etc.), please email your child's school counselor as soon as possible. (Their emails are listed below for your reference.)
As the master schedule and staffing needs for next school year are based upon the course selections made by students during the spring, changes are sometimes very difficult or not possible o make as we get closer to the start of the school year due to enrollment or staffing constraints. Therefore, the sooner you are able to inform your child's school counselor of any changes, the better. As noted in the SMS Program of Studies, change requests subsequent to the original schedule request may not be possible and are contingent upon the availability of space in the requested class and the judgment of the professional staff.
Additionally, if you are questioning whether your child should drop or add an honors course, please refer to pages 6-10 in the SMS Program of Studies for information regarding the rigor and requirements of honors classes. As explained in the Program of Studies, satisfactory completion of summer work may be expected to enter Honors courses. (Summer work for Honors courses will be communicated online prior to the end of the school year.)
Incoming 6th Graders (Current 5th Graders): Heather Coblentz (hcoblentz@scsmustangs.org)
Incoming 7th Graders (Current 6th Graders): Stacy Pietrocini (spietrocini@scsmustangs.org)
Incoming 8th Graders (Current 7th Graders): Elissa Ray (eray@scsmustangs.org)
PTA Meeting
-New PTA board members
-General Questions
-End of Year Award ideas
To join the meeting, click on this link or visit. https://meet.google.com/hup-ugip-reh
MakerSpace Units
If you are looking for a way to keep your student busy, Mrs. Battle has created weekly mobile Makerspace units that can be accessed on the SMS Media Center website or by clicking on this link
Weekly topics will include the Carvey CNC Router, 3D printing, Silhouette and Cricut Digital Cutters, and more. Instructional videos are print online resources are provided for your student.
Mrs. Wray Created an Art lesson This Week: Egg Carton Masks.
Mrs. Strong says, "Don't Stop Believing!"
Mrs. Strong lightened things up a bit with 6th grade and assigned them a "Mystery Song". She took the letter names of "Don't Stop Believing" and typed them out non-music notation, for them to figure out. I also made a hint slide at the end to help if they get stuck.
Here's the link: Click Here
7th Grade Math Meet
Mr. Mates Enjoys his 6th grade Class Online...And Gives out Gift Cards for Participation and Progress!
Check out the Learning Online with Mrs. Fitzgerald! Students are Showing Their Work to Show Their Understanding!
Ms. Otcasek's 6th Grade ELA Top Picks!
Ms. Otcasek met with her class and they shared their most favorite book that they have read. Maybe you'd like to read one or two also!
- Abhinav - Sink Or Swim by Steve Watkins
- Callie - Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
- Jack - Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Old School by Jeff Kinney
- Liam - The Tunnels Series by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
- Nick C - The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
- Vrunda - When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
- Carmen - I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor by Lauren Tarshis
- Samyu - The School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani
The more you read, the better you get!
Middle School 1.0 Teachers are meeting to plan lessons
Kahoot
Pear Deck
Exit Ticket
Shout Out to SMS Students
7th & 8th gr Orchestra students have completed over 2,000 music theory exercises in Breezin Thru Theory.
Caleb B. is the Student of the month in the 7th grade Cello/Bass class with 61 drills completed, all at 100% accuracy!
Orchestra Class Tracker
Strongsville Middle School
Website: https://www.strongnet.org/Domain/411
Location: 13200 Pearl Road, Strongsville, OH, USA
Phone: 440-572-7090
Twitter: @TheSMSMustangs