SMS Middle Ground
Connecting Home and School: September 2019
Welcome to the Middle Ground!
The SMS Middle Ground newsletter is produced at the mid-point of each academic quarter. It is designed to connect parents and guardians to school with information not typically shared in the weekly Scoop. Every issue of Middle Ground should serve as a reminder that it is time to check mid-term grades! Log in to Harmony Family Access and review progress this week and make a plan to attend our conference event next week!
Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences September 19th and 23rd
SMS invites all parents and guardians to join us for our annual Parent-Student-Teacher Conference program on Thursday, September 19th and Monday, September 23rd. Our doors will be open from 3:30-6:30 each night. Our program, different from elementary school conferences due to the sheer volume of students per teacher, allows families to 'drop in' at the time of their choosing.
Students will play a starring role in the event by first delivering an individual performance review to their parents/guardians. They will share details about their academic, behavioral, and standardized achievement test performances, along with their goals and other school year information. After the individual student review, parents/guardians will be encouraged to ask questions about student performance, behavior, etc. of teachers which can be summoned into classrooms for short discussions.
Each teaching team has approximately 100 students. To help us balance the attendance load and access to teachers, we are encouraging last names A-K to attend on September 19th and last names L-Z to attend on September 23rd. If your assigned date does not work for your family, feel free to attend on the alternative night. Students that attend and lead their conference will earn Warrior points for ACCOUNTABILITY and INVOLVEMENT and will also get a free slushie ticket!
Park on either side of the building and be prepared to spend 30-45 minutes at school. Please bring your student and his/her iPad. Performance review materials for families that are unable to attend either conference night will be sent home with students on Tuesday, September 24th.
We hope you can join us on September 19th or 23rd!
SMS ILEARN Performance
SMS scores are much lower than our previous pass rates from the ISTEP+ exam. But an analysis of the scores in relation to our neighboring schools sheds a more positive light on our outcomes. It is also helpful to view performance in relation to socio-economic status. A primary influencer of student achievement scores is socio-economic status. The infogram linked below shows SMS outcomes compared to neighbor schools and according to socio-economic expectations. The purple bar on each graph is SMS. The yellow bars are school neighbors that, according to research, are supposed to outperform our kids. The green bars are neighbors that we should outperform. As you can see, only rarely did that happen! In fact, neighbors expected to outperform SMS did so in only 5 of 21 instances in the three proficiency charts below. (The fourth and final chart is our IDOE-reported percentage of paid lunch students.)
Congratulations to all SMS students and staff for this relatively strong initial ILEARN performance!
What's New @ SMS?
Project Lead the Way
All SMS students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade are going to have a dedicated Project Lead the Way STEM course. These engineering design courses are taught by one of the two grade-level science teachers. To provide access to all students regardless of team, students will 'flip' teachers for instruction in another grade-level science concept.
Sixth graders will take Design and Modeling course with Mrs. Raichel where they study the engineering design process and create two design prototypes. Mrs. Wright teaches the flip course- digital literacy. All 7th graders will have Energy and the Environment with Mrs. Zeigenbein where they will study the design process and create alternative energy sources. Mrs. Fryfogle teaches life science as the flip course. All 8th graders will take Computer Science for Innovators and Makers from Mr. Jeffries. In CSIM, students design and create wearable technology items. Mr. Zeigenbein will teach genetics as the flip course.
We are excited that our kids have access to these new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) challenges! And we appreciate the commitment of SCSD2 and Mrs. Raichel, Mrs. Zeigenbein, and Mr. Jeffries in completing their PLTW instructor courses!
Homeroom Clubs and Remediation
SMS has changed the focus of our homeroom program to dedicate two days a week to club time and two days a week to remediation/work time. Teachers are creating and hosting 'clubs' such as sign language, poetry, golf, crafting, walking, fantasy sports, and more! This will give kids another opportunity to learn, connect, and have fun. Two additional homeroom days per week are now dedicated to remediation. Teachers will select students for review lessons based on their NWEA results. Students not needing remediation will be provided additional learning opportunities from science and social studies teachers.
News to Know!
- School picture day is Wednesday, September 18th. All students will be asked to sit for a picture as these photos will be used for our spring yearbook and our student IDs. Families that want to purchase pictures can do so with the traditional photo flyer/envelope that was distributed last week or via the Lifetouch web link on the main SMS web page.
- Our annual SMS fUNdraiser will be held October 1st through 11th. We have one school-wide fundraiser per year and it's a change of pace from typical product sales. In the fUNdraiser, students collect donations. Period. Have you ever looked at a catalog of overpriced chocolates and wrapping paper and thought "I wish I could just give money" instead of purchasing stuff that I don't need for a kid that I love? Well, now is your chance! We'll share more information on launch week. Get ready to put the UN in fUNdraising!
- Quarter 1 report cards will be available in Harmony Family Access (HFA) on Wednesday, October 23rd.
- Keep your demographics up-to-date! Got a new email? A new phone number? Please make sure you update your demographic changes in HFA or by calling SMS and sharing the information with an administrative assistant.
- SMS basketball tryouts will be scheduled the week we return from fall break. If you have a student planning to tryout, please make sure that he/she has a physical on file with Mrs. Manns in the SMS office before you leave for break. Students without physicals will not be able to participate in tryouts.
- Put on your dancing shoes! The fall dance will be held on Friday, November 15th. All SMS students are invited to attend and all parents/guardians are invited to chaperone! We typically have over 400 students at our dances and we hope for a minimum of 75 adults. Watch November Scoop newsletters for more information about the dance and the chaperone process.
Calendar Updates: Dates to Know!
Wednesday, September 18- School Picture Day
Tuesday, Oct. 1-Friday, Oct. 11 - SMS fUNdraiser
Tuesday, Oct. 8- Fall SMS/SHS Choir Concert 7 PM @ SHS McClain Hall
Friday, Oct. 11- End of Quarter 1
Friday, Oct. 11- Fall Award Assembly 1:30 PM
Monday-Friday, Oct. 14-18- Fall Break
Friday, Oct. 25- Fall Play 6 PM
Tuesday, Oct. 29- SMS Dodgeball Tourney 3:15-6 PM
Friday, Nov. 15- SMS Dance 6:30-9:00 PM
Wednesday, Nov. 27- No school (potential make up day)
Thursday-Friday, Nov. 28-29- No school, Happy Thanksgiving
Monday, Dec. 9- SMS Band Concert 7 PM
Tuesday, Dec. 10- Winter SMS/SHS Choir Concert 7 PM @ SHS McClain Hall
Friday, Dec. 20- End of Semester 1
Monday-Friday, Dec. 23-Jan. 3- Christmas Break
Monday, Jan. 6- No School- Teacher Professional Development Day
Tuesday, Jan. 7- School resumes, semester 2 begins
Scottsburg Middle School
Website: www.sms.scsd2.k12.in.us
Location: 425 South 3rd Street, Scottsburg, IN, United States
Phone: 812-752-8926
Facebook: facebook.com/ScottsburgMiddleSchool
Twitter: @ScottsburgMS