The Middle School Falcon Files
Your Weekly Falcon Updates for Staff
December 15, 2019
Words of Inspiration
A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard.
Eliphas Levi
A Special Applause To....
Professional Learning on the Go
This week's article looks at how to manage student re-takes. In education today, it's not if you are allowing students to re-take assessments, it's how you are allowing it. Our students are good at finding the loopholes and this article explores how to use assessments to measure mastery, regardless if it occurs before or after the initial assessment. If you have had this ah-ha moment and would like to help others understand how this looks, PLEASE share! That is how we all get better! If not, hopefully you will find value in this article! Enjoy!
For the week of December 16th....
Monday, December 16th
- 12 Days of Jeans - Show your Stripes!
- Holiday Concert at 8:00 am
- Don't forget #fuelthepositive Awards! Today is Rachel Starnes and Robyn King.
- Jen Molitor is in the building.
Tuesday, December 17th
- 12 Days of Jeans - Scarf Day!
- Don't forget #fuelthepositive Awards! Today is Sara Long and Sheila Fankhauser.
Wednesday, December 18th
- 12 Days of Jeans - Snowflakes, Jingle Bells, or Snowman Day!
- Don't forget #fuelthepositive Awards! Today is Tammy Mudd and Tyler Hayslip.
- 7th Grade TBT
- #fuelthepositive Awards will be given today
Thursday, December 19th
- 12 Days of Jeans - Christmas Hat or Headband Day
- 6th Grade TBT
- PBL Museum Gallery Exhibit - 4:30 to 6:00
Friday, December 20th
- 12 Days of Jeans - Falcon Pride Day
- Geography Bee - 8:00 am
- Award Falcon of the Month and Staff Member of the Month for January
- PBL Walkthrough - after Geography Bee
- Dance/Games - 1:00 to 2:30
We Need Your Feedback...
Thank you for your participation!
Please Announce to Students
December 16 - 20 - Holiday Spirit Week for Students:
See announcement below
Friday, December 20th
*Students will be with teams all day
*Geography Bee at 8:00 am
*PBL Walk Through
*Dance and Games at 1:00 pm until 2:30
#fuelthepositive Award Opportunities
*Take a moment to introduce what you will be looking for and what will happen. We start again on Monday and go through Wednesday. We will present awards during Falcon Time on Wednesday. We will announce the Falcon of the Month at the assembly on Friday.
Falcon of the Month
*This student will be chosen randomly from the pool of #fuelthepositive award winners. Next Falcon will be chosen on the 20th.
Library Events for our Students and Families
*Dungeon and Dragons for students and parents on Wednesdays from 2:45 - 3:45.
*Open House - December 19th from 3:00 to 7:00 pm
*Retro Cinema - Fridays in January from 2:30 - 4:00 pm
*Middle School Book Club - January 7th, from 2:45 to 3:45 pm
All Grades
* Snap-On Cases MUST be on computers at all times. If they do not have them on, warning first, then an after school detention, then up the discipline matrix. Why? The cases protect our warranty which is void if they are not on. This is a new policy for us all. Please help me spread the word. If you have questions, please ask Rachel or myself.
What is happening in the classrooms?
Writing Club
Mr. Hudson's 7th Grade Math Class
7th Grade PE
#fuelthepositive Award Winners for Last Week
A Christmas Carol Museum Gallery Walk
Teachers, there will be an opportunity to bring your classes through the museum after the geography bee on the 20th. Thank you for your support and help with this project.
What else is happening?
Elks Hoop Shoot Contest
Girls Basketball
Boys Basketball
Fun in the building....
Pen Exchange
Donuts and Hot Chocolate!
Info For The Staff
Safety Committee - We had a Safety Committee Meeting on Tuesday, December 4th. Here are a few agenda items that may interest you. Let me know if you would like further explanation on any of the items below:
A mock crash will take place on campus on April 29th. The elementary won’t be involved just the use of the campus.
We will review emergency procedures, discuss future ALICE training, and safety PD during an upcoming TBD BLT meeting
Sub aides will be wearing a lanyard to identify themselves
Field Trips - Just a few reminders/procedures to ensure the safety of all of our kids! If any questions let the office or your team leader know.
Bring or have EMF’s accessible
Be aware of student allergies, epi-pen needs, etc
Sign out sheet if parents are leaving with their child before you leave
Remind parents to sign off on final forms permission slip and communicate date and time of field trip
Notify Nurse-the nurse will give you a first aid kit and other safety items needed
Notify Tracy Matthews-Food services
Notify Mr. Ford-transportation
Take attendance before leaving the field trip site
Fill out field trip form .
12 Days of Jeans for Christmas - See the announcement below.
Writing Club - Jen Molitor kicked off the writing club on Monday during study halls. As mentioned in the TBTs, this is just an opportunity for students to write, collaborate, peer review, and explore their inner writer. This is extra-curricular that is student-paced and to be done once their school work is complete. We are really excited to see what happens with this and see where it goes!
National Junior Honor Society - We will be starting NJHS near the end of January. More info to come. Jana Davis will be the advisor.
#fuelthepositive Awards - We begin again on Monday with new nominations. Please use the spreadsheet to let us know who is up for the award each week. You can find the spreadsheet HERE. If you can get the names in here by Tuesday evening this week, it would be helpful. I try to print the certificates if possible the night before.
This week the following will be nominating: Rachel Starnes, Robyn King, Sara Long, Sheila Fankhauser, Tammy Mudd, and Tyler Hayslip.
Schedules - BLT will have a work session in January to hopefully finalize a daily schedule. What would you like to see? Dedicated time during the day to plan? 1 hour for lunchtime (not the hour and a half we have now)? Intervention time once a week? Throw out your ideas! Club days like the elementary?
Clinton-Massie Letterhead - If you are sending anything out to parents, please use the Clinton-Massie Letterhead located in our templates.
#fuelthepositive Website - Don't forget! Our day to post things is Tuesdays! 1st Tuesday is Admin, 2nd Tuesday is 6th Grade (Kate is with them), 3rd Tuesday is 7th Grade (Nicolin is with them), and 4th Tuesday is 8th Grade (Tammy and Robyn are with them). You all can decide if one person is responsible for the media that day....maybe do it once a month? Tell our story! It helps our culture! Please send to Lorinda and David.
A Couple of Dates you should know about:
- December 16th - Holiday Music Assembly - Middle School - 8:00 am
- December 17th - Holiday Chorus Concert - 7:00 pm
- December 19th - 8th Grade PBL Gallery Walk (no 8th-grade specials except exams)
- December 19th - 8th Grade PBL Community Show - TBA
- December 20th - Geography Bee Finals Assembly at 8:00 am
- December 20th - 8th Grade PBL Show for our building in the morning
- December 20th - Holiday Dance/Games after lunch 1:00 pm to 2:30
- December 21st - January 5th - NO SCHOOL
- January 6th - Flex Day
- January 7th - #fuelthepositive Assembly - 7:30 am - more info to come
- January 13th - 15th - MAP Testing
- April 15th, 16th - AIR English
- April 22nd, 23rd - AIR Math
- April 29th - AIR 8th Grade Science
- May 4-6 - MAP
Helpdesk - A reminder to please send your technology requests to helpdesk@cmfalcons.org. There is no need to send an email to helpdesk, Michael, and David. In fact, it makes it more confusing on their end as to who needs to provide support. They are making a concerted effort this year to be more timely and responsive to helpdesk tickets. The start of the year is always tough but as they fill out their Tech Team and the Oaks Interns, they need their process to be clear. Thank you for your attention to this.
Digital Citizenship Discussions
Professional Learning Opportunities
Restoritive Practices
Rapid Fire Google
Blended and Personalized Learning Tips
Storytelling through Animation Creation - February 26th - For ELA and History Teachers
Come talk to me about this if you are curious.
Storytelling through Animation Creation -
Storytelling through Animation Creation is intended for Middle and High School Language Arts teachers and Social Studies teachers who are interested in providing students alternatives for demonstrating understanding.
Use code to tell fun and interactive stories.
Program a conversation between two characters to explore the role of dialogue in storytelling.
Provide details about a character and use code to describe the character's actions, thoughts, and words.
Take an existing story and explore it from a first person and third person point of view.
Create a presentation using animation
You will also learn how to access Google's CS First lesson resources and how to access Scratch's lesson resources.
Important Session Information:
In this workshop, you will learn how you can leverage Google's CS First along with a free online program called Scratch to help your students tell stories by creating animations using code. You do NOT need to know how to write code! Scratch is an easy to use "drag-and-drop" program that is very intuitive and allows students to quickly create animations and stories. Furthermore, Google's CS First curriculum has lesson resources, videos, and how-to guides for you and your students to use that are aligned to the ISTE (International Society for Technology Education) standards and to the CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) standards.
Bring your own laptop. Lunch will be on your own.
2019-20 Student Handbook
Birthdays
Matt Hudson - December 10th
Cindy Running - December 29th
James Brady - January 7th
Matt Baker - January 15th
Nicolin Haines - January 20th
Our Gold Standards
Our Gold Standards
Email: lorinda.ottaway@cmfalcons.org
Website: cmfalcons.org
Location: 2556 Lebanon Rd, Clarksville, OH 45113
Phone: (937) 289-2932
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clinton-Massie-Middle-School-169983643627883/
Twitter: @CMFalconsMiddle