It is the season of love and we are starting to see more of it! This time of year everyone starts getting restless. We are starting to see an increase in several behaviors and really need you help. There is an escalation of disrespect and cursing here at school as well as cheating and inappropriate cell phone use. We have spoken to the students and I have also spoken with the teachers. I want to let you know as well so we can all continue to be on the same team and work together. Thank you so much for all your support.

One other really important item of note is our Valentine's Day Mayhem. We will be giving out "I see you" awards from second quarter. Something we are going to keep doing each quarter to celebrate who our students are as people. We will also have two public presentations that you will be getting more information about soon. We will send an opt out form for these so be on the look out. Grade levels will be split up to receive age appropriate materials covering internet safety given by our local police department. The other part of the public presentations will be given by our local public health and a community doctor. It will be covering healthy relationships, STIs, and will touch on pregnancy. You are more than welcome to join your child during the presentations or opt-out if you feel they are not ready for this content.

Finally, as I mentioned before in a previous newsletter, the staff reviewed our family and community feedback and came up with plans for communication, discipline, and academics. We will be covering discipline on our next PD day. We will explore scenarios to ensure that we are being consistent and using the same language. For communication, we will explore "Bring a Parent to School" days and a Spring parent teacher conference time. We also want to do an Open House to explore all the modes of communication as partners. As far as academics, we will be sharing with you all better with a staff spot light each month. This will allow you to get to know the teachers and the creative things they are doing in the classroom. We will also start new content days to extend the learning for all students. Follow Facebook and look for what new things we have going on!

It's concert month! Check below for dates.

Drama Club is in full swing and is getting close to our show date!

Boy's Basketball will be wrapping up this month! Go Dawgs!

This Month in Review:

Feb 6th - 7th and 8th Grade Boys Basketball vs Glenrock (Make up game)

Feb 7th – 7th and 8th Grade Boys Basketball vs Burns

Feb 9th – 7th Grade Boys Basketball vs Douglas 8th Grade Boys Basketball @ Douglas

Feb 13th – 7th and 8th Grade Boys Basketball vs Guernsey

Feb 14th – Valentine’s Day Mayhem Choir Concert at 7:00 p.m.

Feb 18th – 7th Grade Boys Basketball Tournament in Buffalo

8th Grade Boys Basketball Tournament in Newcastle

Feb 21st – Band Concert at 7:00 p.m.

Feb 27th – 8th Grade Honor Band

March 2nd – WMS Drama Club Presents

10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse @ 1:30 and 7:00 p.m.

March 3rd – WMS Drama Club Presents

10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse @ 7:00 p.m.

We are back at it with In Control this month! We took January off but are ready to get rolling again.

6th grade will be discussing Moods. Some takeaways: • An emotion is a feeling that arises when we evaluate a situation in light of what we want to happen. • Emotions ARE controllable...but the first step is recognizing our emotions, and what causes them to flare up. • We can’t change our emotions, but we can change what we do when we feel them. • 4 Steps to Emotion Regulation: Notice the Emotion, Regulate, or Distract Yourself. (NERDY!)

Things parents can do at home: • Encourage your child to write down triggers in real time. • Figure out WITH your child what helps them to de-escalate. • Allow your child time to physically de-escalate. • Allow your child to excuse themselves if escalated.

7th grade will be discussing Adversity. Some takeaways: • Adversity is a state of difficulty or misfortune. • It helps to know that nobody is immune to adversity. • We have the choice to either focus on the Adversity, or our ability to overcome it. • It’s important to ask ourselves while in a state of adversity, “Is my behavior making things better, or worse?” • Everyone is born with the ability to display resilience.

Things parents can do at home: • Align your home reward systems to reward displays of resilience. • Allow your child to be upset, but remind them that no one is immune from adversity. • Remind your child often that there is nothing they cannot overcome.

8th grade will be discussing Relationships. Some takeaways: • You don’t need to be dating to be awesome. This series is just in case you are. • It’s important to have CRITERIA when thinking about who you should date, and who you should not date. • Honor your parents if they don’t want you dating. THAT is the most important relationship you will ever have. • You make the rules for what is OK and what is not OK. If you feel like something is not OK, it’s OK to break up. • Remember your other responsibilities in life. It can be easy to get lost in a new relationship.

Things parents can do at home: • Keep open dialog with your kids! Give them a place that allows them to be honest, ask questions, and keep you informed.

Also this month, 8th grade will start transitioning to the High School! February 7th, Mr. Sandlian will be coming to talk to the 8th grade about registering for high school. On February 15th, the 8th grade will spend the afternoon at WHS, attending the course fair, registering for classes, and doing an activity with the Seniors. We are looking forward to having them start that important transition… it’s exciting!

Tina Neubrecht is our behavior specialist. She has the amazing opportunity to work with each and every one of our students to help them navigate the difficult decisions that middle schoolers face everyday. She is specialized in Responsibility Centered Discipline which helps students make choices and understanding the solutions to everyday issues. Everyone remembers how hard middle school is and Ms. Tina helps make it just a little bit easier.

Students think:

"She is gentle."

"Oh! She is awesome! I love Tina!"

"Very caring. Very nice. She always puts students before herself. She is always respectful."

Staff thoughts:

"Tina is a bright spot in the school. She always has the best advice, and is an amazing listener. She is amazing with the students and is a major piece of the puzzle that is WMS."

Tina:

"What I LOVE the most is learning from kiddos and I get to do that with an AMAZING staff who share the same goal – Helping students be their very best whether it is Academic, Behavior, or Life!"