Monday Memo
February 10, 2020 @MMSCougarPride
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Student Voice Fishbowl
Our students will participate in a fishbowl discussion for the first part of next week's faculty meeting. We will listen to them for about 25-30 min and then as a faculty/staff we will debrief afterwards. Our restorative practices consulting group has helped us to design this experience. Please use the previously sent survey sent here if you have questions you'd like us to ask students. We will share the questions with staff members in advance! Reach out to Dara with questions should you have any! Teacher voice matters!
Student Behavior Support link and attendance reminder
Remember to please use the document linked above for significant behavior support issues with students.
This is part of our data tracking for our district and also helps us to keep better/ more accurate records of incidents. Please be mindful of tier 1 teacher interventions as per the SOMSD Code of Conduct.
Reminder-Please keep accurate period attendance. This is important data for us.
Greetings and Updates from Ms. Gronau
Happy Monday MMS,
Please remember to share photos of what you are doing for Black History Month! I went to the MAPSO Freedom School event last week at Montclair State featuring author Dr. Bettina Love as she discussed the need for abolitionist educational practices. I was thrilled to hear from this author and get her book signed. Can't wait to share what I am learning from this book: We Want to do More than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom.
Ms. O'Sullivan has asked for you to email her photos of yourself as a middle schooler in honor of the upcoming MMS production of "13." Please check emails for upcoming full cast rehearsals as opening night nears.
You are invited to attend the MMS students in their Alvin Ailey Dance Residency performance on February 19, 2020. The performance is at 7:00pm at SOPAC. Tickets are free but must reserved in advance. Please reach out to Ms. Ogando with questions.
If there are students who you feel may benefit for I&RS, please reach out to a team leader or to the school-wide I&RS team (Dara/Suzanne Fein-6th grade, Taylor Harris-7th Grade, Dallas Duffey-8th Grade. Taylor and Suzanne are there to consult on literacy and academic intervention school-wide and Dallas for Math school-wide as well).
Our previously shared resources for Black History Month are linked below. Thank you for the beautiful bulletin board MMS Beautification PLC!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JiwuT3q7CwtAxOYExy6_uBzvwzApnJ7uR8kiZkc-Oio/edit
**Reminder of Interventions that do not require the I&RS Process
-Drafting a behavior plan
-Saturday Academy
-Recommend a Social Worker Intern
-Differentiated Assessment→ students don’t need a 504/IEP for extended time, differentiated questions, etc
A few notes
Women's History Month will continue the theme of story telling. Our goal is to honor female authors who are telling their stories. More to come!
2/12/20 TLC Agenda Focus Items
February 12, 2020 TLC agenda will be a work session with deliverables for your grade level administrators. Focus of work session--Review of behavior plans, I&RS action plans, updating all I&RS trackers, prior interventions and requests for assistance documents and students of concern on the team for behavior, attendance, and/or academics.
If you have students who you believe may need to be referred to I&RS, please contact your team leader and copy the grade level administrator. (Gronau-6, Chiles-7, Brown-8)
-Please remember to send updated lesson plans every Monday or every other Monday.
*Inclusion plans are due on Wednesdays.
*Please note differentiation and intervention in your plans.
We love our counselors!
Climate and Culture Assemblies
We continued our series of climate and culture assemblies last week for 6th and 8th grade. We engaged our students using a restorative approach. In teams we discussed what kids as a team are doing well, what they can work on, and using fair process we discussed fair rewards and fair consequences. Keep the conversation going in your classrooms and tell us what our kids are saying. Student voice matters!
Lesson Plans
Winter Orchestra Concert 2020
Winder Band Concert 2020
Women and the Word
Ms. Laing
6th Grade TCRWP
8th Grade TCRWP
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.