Monday Memo
May 7, 2018 @MMSCougarPride
MMS Calendar
Calendar link is above. Please remember to review it weekly for updates.
Welcome Mr. Howell!
Mr. Christian Howell joined us about a week ago to serve as a 7th grade LR Social Studies teacher for Ms. Jackson. Please welcome him and help him to get acclimated to MMS!
Faculty Meeting-Final CSN Walkthrough Prep
Greetings and Updates from Ms. Gronau
MMS Faculty and Staff,
First of all, Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! We have a great team at MMS and this place works because of our teachers and staff. We thank you for your dedication to the middle schoolers in our care. Your HSA has wonderful themed days planned for MMS this week. We thank them in advance!
Special shout out to Deb Silva for her wonderful work on MMS rocks (pictured here) from her Achieve Grant. What a wonderful way to beautiful our school!
Please stay up to date with preparing for your summative conferences. This is a super busy time of year for all of us. There's so much to get done at the end of the year. Here's a great article from one of my favorite resources. Just passing it along as resource on building resilience. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/resilience/
5/9/18 TLC Key Agenda Topics
Annual School Planning System/Goal Setting with teams (NJDOE)
Prepping for NJDOE Final Walkthrough (May 15, 2018)
Turnkey Info from Dara's Schools to Learn From Visit
Grade articulation prep/meeting schedule
Don’t forget to nominate a Cougar All Star as part of our PBIS Program. Here’s the form-Cougar All Star Nomination Form You can nominate individually or as a team.
The 5 Keys to Middle School Child Resilience and Success
The 5 Keys to Middle School Child Resilience and Success
The MMS faculty and staff ask that you support our work with your child in the following ways:
1) Encourage a Growth Mindset-Having a growth mindset fosters resilience. Use the language of yet. I don’t understand this “yet.” Emphasize the importance of hard work as opposed to innate intelligence. “I did well because of my effort. I’ll do better next time.”
2) Encourage 1-2 Good Peer Relationships-Friends should be a source of support. Often our middle schoolers try to maintain large groups of close friends and that is challenging for anyone of any age! Encourage your child to have 1-2 solid and supportive peer friendships and keep it light and simple with the larger groups.
3) Ensure 9-11 Hours of Sleep Please! Sleep is the best way to foster resilience. Research shows that kiddos this age need 9-11 hours to be at their best. When your child is well-rested, everything is better. Technology is the #1 enemy of sleep! As a school community, we recommend that you keep technology out of your child’s bedroom at night to encourage healthy and consistent sleep.
4) Encourage Coping Strategies-Coping is personal. Everyone does it differently. Encourage your child to think about healthy ways to relax and give them permission to do it!
5) Facilitate Time/Connection with a non-familial adult-Good connections with non-familial adults are very important for your child. They hear things differently from non-familial adults. Encourage your child to participate in a club or activity. Children need our perspective. They are always changing and growing. As adults we can attach a growth mindset to their personality development and their peer interactions.
Maplewood Middle School Remind App Code @k92d29
This year, the MMS Principal has added a school-wide "Remind App" as another way to communicate with families. Many of your child's teachers will share Remind class codes for you and your child to stay up to date about class events and assignments. As needed, the MMS Principal will periodically use the Remind App to share important info with our school community. Our Maplewood Middle School school-wide code Remind code is listed above (@k92d29). The link below explains how to begin getting notifications. It's a simple way to stay in touch. Join us!
https://help.remind.com/hc/en-us/articles/203179887-How-do-I-join-a-class-