As we head into Winter Break and make plans to spend time with family and friends, it's important to remember to be diligent in protecting ourselves and loved ones from getting sick. As you all know, we are facing the triple threat this flu season, with COVID-19, the seasonal flu, and RSV. Nationwide, the CDC is reporting the highest rates of flu in over a decade and in San Diego, we're seeing an uptick in positive COVID-19 cases. At Marshall, we have seen an increase in positive COVID cases in both students and staff. You can monitor the case rate in San Diego Unified on our COVID-19 Dashboard. Here you'll see that our Scripps cluster is currently the 6th highest of the twenty clusters in SDUSD. As a reminder, here are some of the steps you can take to help protect yourself an others this coming week:

- Encourage proper masking, especially while in indoors.

- Testing Kits- You can pick up a free testing kit anytime in the front office. Don't forget we also have weekly testing for students every Friday from 12-3pm in Room C-103.

- If your student is experiencing symptoms, please keep them home and monitor.

We know that many students do not want to stay home if they have symptoms. Please know that our staff will be understanding and flexible when it comes to illness. We want to make sure we stay healthy and are able to spend time safety with our families over Winter Break. If you have any questions about what do in regards to symptoms or a positive test, feel free to email our Nursing and Wellness office (lmadariaga@sandi.net).

Have a safe week Mustangs!

Josh Way, Ed.D

This Fall, MMS 6th graders competed in a national Noetic Math Competition. 7 Marshall students earned National Honor Roll, 14 students earned Honorable Mention, and the overall team won a Team Achievement Award for our team score. We are so proud of our whole team for succeeding in this challenging competition.

National Honor Roll: Mihir Majeti, Itski Ng, Connor Clapp, Ty Marple, Shasvitha Gubba, Parker Rosenberg, and Sophia Velasco.

Honorable Mention: Hansini Mukthavaram, Isaac Hecht, Layla Frank, Maanya Parikh, Amalie Chan, Isobel Willis, Lucas Low, Evan Wheatcroft, Adam Hom, Suhan Arjun Alla, Wendy Cowart, Ryan Gogoi, Lily Clapp, and Arjun Jarapati.

On Tuesday, December 6th, the MMS Counseling Department presented high school planning information to 8th grade students and their parents/guardians. If you missed it, here's a copy of the presentation, as well as some additional resources:

4-Year Plan Presentation

High School vs UC-CSU Requirements.pdf

Math Pathways.pdf

CCTE- Course Sequence for Pathways.pdf

Don't forget! Information regarding the 8th grade matriculation will be routinely updated on the MMS counseling website.

MMS is excited to introduce you to Education Specialist, Andree Cranford. Not only does Ms. Cranford oversee a full case load of students with disabilities, co-teach in English and History classes, but she's also a department chair for the special education department. Here's more about Ms. Cranford:

How many years in education? The road I took to becoming a teacher was full of twists and turns, but that's a tale for another day! Suffice it to say that a number of those turns allowed me to a gain quite a bit of experience closely tied to teaching and the Education Specialist credential I have held for the last eighteen years. During college, I worked at Ellisville State School in Mississippi for two years. Later, while getting my Master of Arts in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling, I worked at Children's Outpatient Psychiatry as an intern and especially loved the adolescent groups I facilitated, so when I decided to make a switch to teaching, middle school was a no-brainer! I made a pit stop for a two year stint at Dingeman Elementary School prior to landing my current position here at Marshall, but middle school is definitely where it's at so I have no plans of any more stops along the road to retirement in nine years!

Why middle school?- I love the age. I can have deeper conversations with the kids, they get my jokes, and they still want to please their teachers whether they will admit it or not. ;)

What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend? I enjoy spending time with my children, traveling, gardening, cooking new and exotic dishes, and reading.

What impact do you hope to make at Marshall? I want to help build reading, writing, and critical thinking skills so students become more independent and successful in any endeavor they undertake in life.

Hello Marshall Middle Parents!

ASB has a big week planned!

Winter Spirit Week!
Monday, December 12th: Blackout Day (wear all black)
Tuesday, December 13th: Anything But a Backpack Day (bring your school supplies in anything but a backpack. However, items should not create major disruptions to classes)
Wednesday, December 14th: Cozy Day (wear your pajamas and bring your blankets and stuffed animals)
Thursday, December 15th: Disney Day (Wear your ears, Disney themed Tshirts or costumes)
Friday, December 16th: Snow Day (Wear your Winter outfits: beanies, scarves, ugly sweaters, gloves, Santa hats.)

We wish you all a Happy Winter Break, and we will see you all next year!

Need a holiday gift idea?

We just added new logos to our ApparelNow shop, so there are more options for customizing your Marshall Spirit Wear! All proceeds help fund ASB activities on campus, so be sure to check it out! Show your school spirit all year!

Website: https://sites.google.com/sandi.net/marshallmiddleasb/home

ApparelNow: https://apparelnow.com/marshall-middle-school-spiritwear

TikTok: @theactualmarshallasb

Instagram: @asb.marshall

Facebook: @Marshall ASB

Marshall students are invited to join Grand Classrooms Tours to go on the first ever 7th grade camping trip during spring break 2023 to Yosemite National Park. Registration is now open. To view travel dates, cost, itinerary, travel company information, and more, please visit our website: https://trips.grandclassroom.com/Trip/Index/ThurgoodMarshallMiddleYosemite2023

There are limited spots available and the registration deadline is Friday, 12/16. Please reach out to the lead teacher chaperone, Mr. Giertych (rgiertych@sandi.net), if you have any additional questions.

Can we be both demanding and supportive of each other? Are these terms mutually exclusive when working students or our own kids? Even though our conditional reactions may lead us to feel like we need to choose one over the other, growing research in this area is proving that you can have both. A key to holding high standards for performance, while maintaining a nurturing environment may rest in psychological safety. Psychological safety is when people don't feel like they'll be overly punished when they make mistakes. It allows for moderate risk-taking, speaking one's mind, creativity, and increased motivation. As we work on building psychological safety in our classrooms, it has its place in office teams and even in the home. This article shares more about how we can cultivate more psychological safety in the groups we work and live with. With psychological safety, "We become more open-minded, resilient, motivated, and persistent when we feel safe."