Panther Pulse
September 30, 2022
News from Parcells Middle School
Ken Milch, Principal
Debbie Redlin, Assistant Principal
Samantha McGrath, Assistant Principal
Counseling Office
Dr. Amy Macey, LPC: students with last names A-K.
Email: maceya@gpschools.org phone: (313) 432-4618
Carla Palffy, LPC: students with last names L-Z.
Email: palffyc@gpschools.org phone (313) 432-4620
The week of October 3 - 7, counselors will be visiting classrooms with our social workers (Nichole Washington and Neoshua Butler) and our school psychologist (Jenna Gower) to introduce our Parcells mental health team, our roles, and our many supports.
We will present important information regarding how to schedule an appointment, what situations may define an emergency and what to do in these cases. We will also review student confidentiality when working with the mental health team.
The Parcells Mental Health team is here to serve the socio-emotional needs of all our students. Please reach out to your counselor if you have any questions.
PBIS
We had such a great time with our Wild Wednesday! Kids simply loved it!! As a reminder, students need to listen to announcements and read all Schoology emails so they know when the next one is. We don’t do this every Wednesday!
We wrapped up September with students turning in their hard earned Panther Bucks for popsicles at lunch. What a big hit! Thank you to all that donated. It really helps when we don’t have to spend as much money to keep things fun at Parcells.
In addition to the popsicles, students were able to turn in Panther Bucks for a chance to win a raffle. Thanks to generous donations of our families, we were able to raffle off 3 Licavoli’s gift cards and we had generous donations for our “Pick-a-Prize”. Students love these! We even got to raffle off the chance to go to the front of the lunchline. Students LOVE that one!
For the month of October, we want to showcase a staff member. Our new Hall Monitor, Cherry Kimbel-Bolden. Cherry is new to the position of Hall Monitor but not new to Parcells. For the past few years, Cherry has worked here at Parcells as our daytime custodian. Our students love to see her smiling face as she scoots them along to class. Check out our October Panther Bucks to see her!
October rewards will be given at the end of the month. This month, students have the chance to enter 3 raffles. They are: 1. Amazon Gift Cards 2. Be my student helper for a Wild Wednesday 3. Pick-A-Prize. Also, at the end of the month, students can cash in 2 PantherBucks for a donut. They love having donuts on these crisp fall days. Please continue to donate. We appreciate all you do to help us fill our student days with excitement and pride for their school.
Be on the lookout for another BLACKOUT day coming soon!! Shirts that have been ordered should be in soon.
Student ID Cards - Important for families who missed fall pictures!
Picture make up day is October 13th. Students who already took fall photos received their ID cards in the past week. If your student is participating in make up day, IDs should be distributed by early November.
Fall Testing - NWEA & PSAT
All middle school students will participate in Fall & Spring NWEA testing. Please review the linked NWEA Schedule here:
6th, 7th & 8th Grade: Testing this week Tuesday 9/20, Wednesday 9/21 and Thursday 9/22 in assigned ELA classes.
Please talk to your child about the importance of taking their time, doing their best work and encourage a good night’s sleep!
PSAT TESTING- 8th grade students will take the Fall PSAT on Tuesday, October 11th beginning promptly at 8:15am. Stay tuned for additional information. Please reach out to Mrs. Redlin, Assistant Principal, if you have any questions at Redlind@gpschools.org
Bridge Club
This year, The Bridge Club is partnering with The Anti-Defamation League to promote our new initiative No Place For Hate. We will work together to make Parcells a school that will not tolerate any form of hatred towards anyone. Please help us out by taking 15 minutes to fill out a Parcells Climate Survey. We do not need your name, just your experiences and thoughts. Click the link below to help make Parcells Middle School a No Place For Hate school.
Arrival and dropoff at Parcells Middle School
The safety of our students and staff is our top priority. The Sunningdale entrance to Parcells can be frustrating when drivers choose to disregard basic traffic rules. Under no circumstances should drivers cut through the parking spaces to exit the lot.
When using the back parking lot for drop off, please pull all the way forward into the circular driveway as far as traffic will permit. DO NOT STOP in front of the Sunningdale doors if traffic allows. Traffic entering Sunningdale can become congested, resulting in a backup on Vernier. Students should exit vehicles quickly; vehicles should proceed all the way around the drive and may NOT cut through the parking lot to exit. Your student’s safety is our first priority.
We have also recently heard from Grosse Pointe Woods Police that traffic on Sunningdale Park during dismissal is causing a major traffic concern on EB Vernier. Cars are not allowed to stop and park on Sunningdale Park to pick up students during dismissal. Impeding traffic on any street may lead to ticketing.
6th Grade
PLEASE return the Christmas Carol permission slips as soon as possible. We have tight deadlines with the theater and bus company. (Fingers crossed with the bus company!) It is a fantastic play and the kiddos love getting dressed up and eating at McDonalds with friends. It really does help with comprehension when we dig into the novel. Our hope is that 100% of sixth grade students attend.
PLEASE review the new parking lot procedures. It takes all of us working together to make it bearable in the morning. When you cut through the parking lanes or drop off students before the last set of doors, it creates an unsafe and frustrating environment. Be a team player and model patience and respect for the children.
7th Grade
We are now in our regular routine of two advisory classes a week. Everything is feeling normal and we are chugging along with ease. With standardized testing and back to school housekeeping wrapped up, normal day to day learning is occurring and assessments and projects have begun. Now is a good time to check Schoology! Grades are hitting the gradebooks, check in to make sure your child is completing work on time. Remember it is always better to be proactive than reactive!
8th Grade - PSAT
Band
Family and Friends!
It has been a wonderful start to the school year and I am so happy to be making music alongside your children every day. At this point please make sure your learner is bringing home their instrument daily and practicing. Our first concert will be November 2nd and it is extremely important that all 6-8 grade members are preparing.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns!
Mr. Torrento
Choir
This week in Room 127,
All singers dueled in the “Wild Wild West” to test their accuracy and speed of solfege hand signs. Pictured below, Anna N. and Ronan S. battled in the final round of the 1st hour duel (Spoiler alert, Anna won!)
7th and 8th graders are preparing to sing the National Anthem at the Oct. 11 home volleyball game (4pm). Please encourage your singer to listen to their practice recordings on Schoology for ten minutes each day.
7th and 8th graders are also preparing to sing with Grosse Pointe North on Oct. 18 (7pm). Uniforms will be sent home shortly.
6th grade singers are making great progress with their treble clef note naming skills, sight reading short exercises, jumping into new music and making memories! (Pictured below, 6th grade A day choir at the end of Wednesday’s rehearsal after successfully singing three pages of a new tune!)
Family & Consumer Science
All students need to be completing one of the practical life skills from their chart each week. An adult needs to sign or initial. These charts are due back November 4, 2022.
7th and 8th Grade Life Skills students should be involving you in their “Family Fun Project” planning. These are due on Tuesday October 11.
Here’s what we made this week- Apple Cinnamon Baked Donuts
News from the PTO
Advisory
5th Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child will learn how to reflect on their experience working toward a goal.
Staying Connected at Home Questions:
Ask your child to tell you about their goal-setting journey, including what worked, what didn’t work, and what they could do next time. Tell your child about a goal that you set and worked toward. What worked, what didn’t work, and what did you learn?
6th Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child will learn how to identify and set achievable goals by making them specific.
Staying Connected at Home Questions:
Ask your child to tell you about a specific goal they’re interested in working toward and what makes it specific.
7th Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child will identify and distinguish between internal and external obstacles (or “roadblocks”) that can get in their way when working toward goals.
Staying Connected at Home Questions:
Tell your child about a roadblock you encountered when you were working toward a goal, and if you had control over the roadblock.
8th Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child will choose something they’d like to get better at and think about how they could apply their unique strengths to do that.
Staying Connected at Home Questions:
Help your child make a list of strengths they have. Ask your child about how they could use these to get better at a new skill.
FYI for 5th grade & families new to Parcells:
Panther bucks are an important part of our PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) program! Bucks are earned throughout the school day for making positive choices and demonstrating leadership- all staff have bucks to distribute to students. With these bucks, students can enter monthly raffles (raffle boxes are in our main office) to earn a chance at a special prize and can also “buy” special rewards or treats each month. We will communicate what these are as the year progresses.
If you haven’t already gone into K12 to make a family donation of $25.00 please do so! This goes under the PBIS heading! We use this money to create a budget for the entire year for the bigger things our kids would like to participate in, such as PantherPalooza!! But it’s not just the Palooza! Thank you to those of you that have already done so!!! Here's the link to K12 to make it easier! Thank you in advance