The Middle School Falcon Files
Your Weekly Falcon Updates for Staff
February 10, 2020
Words of Inspiration
“Either you run the day or the day runs you.”
-Jim Rohn
A Special Applause To....
For the week of February 10th....
Monday, February 10th
- Last week's #fuelthepositive Awards will be given out during Falcon Time
- Please call parents of students you would like to meet with during conference night.
- 7th and 8th Grade will be dismissed today at 2:20 in order to leave for games at 2:30. Thank you for your flexibility!
- Don't forget to nominate your student for the #fuelthepositive award. This week, Katie Collett, Liz Marsh, Jim Brady, Nicolin Haines, Rebecca Montgomery, Sheila Fankhauser, and Dann Sternsher will be nominating students. Here is a link to the spreadsheet.
Tuesday, February 11th
- Happy Tuesday!
Wednesday, February 12th
- 2:15 pm - Kick off for our fundraiser. We will call classes down at 2:15 and dismiss them at 2:32 for the busses.
Thursday, February 13th
- Conference night - 3:30 until 6:30
- Current NJHS members will meet today at 2:40 in Mrs. Davis' room. This is not for applicants.
- Your #fuelthepositive nomination is due
Friday, February 14th
- Happy Valentine's Day - I know that some believe this is a Halmark Holiday but I will take any reason to hug a loved one or show my appreciation to others! Never take tomorrow for granted!
- Early Release - We will be working in groups: ELA will work together, Math will work together, Social Studies will work together, Science will work together, and Specials will work together. We will give more detail later this week.
- FALCON FRIDAY! Feel free to wear your jeans and Clinton-Massie spiritwear.
- #fuelthepositive awards will be given during Falcon time
Please Announce to Students
Washing Hands - In an effort to prevent illness....wash your hands! :)
Invention Convention - Jill Binau met with a group of students who are interested in being a part of this opportunity. If there are students that missed her organizational meeting, please direct them to cm-inventionleague.weebly.com to get an Invention Convention Program Packet and the Student Journal. Parent permission and intent to invent forms must be submitted to Mrs. Binau on or before March 15th. Our local Invention Convention day is April 28th at the middle school from 2:30 to 3:30.
Early Release on Friday - Students will be released at 12:34.
National Junior Honor Society - Applications are in. The committee will be reviewing the applications over the next couple of weeks. The induction ceremony will be on Friday, March 6th at 1:00 pm
Current 8th-grade members will meet in Mrs. Davis' room on Thursday, February 13th at 2:40.
Lacrosse - The Clinton Massie Lacrosse Club for middle school boys/girls in the 7th and 8th grades will be having sign-ups for a team this year. Flyers are in the office if you are interested in playing lacrosse.
Library Cards - Students and teachers wanting to check out books on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from the Clinton-Massie Branch Library will have to have their card with them. The library is switching over to a new circulation system and can't check out books without the actual library card. So please remember to bring your card with you to school next week!
#fuelthepositive Award Opportunities
*Take a moment to introduce what you will be looking for and what will happen. We start again on Monday and go through Wednesday. We will present awards during Falcon Time on Wednesday. We will announce the Falcon of the Month at the assembly on Friday.
Falcon of the Month
*This student will be chosen randomly from the pool of #fuelthepositive award winners. Next Falcon will be chosen on the 20th.
Staff Member of the Month
Remind students to nominate their Staff Member of the Month for March!
Library Events for our Students and Families
*Dungeon and Dragons for students and parents on Wednesdays from 2:45 - 3:45.
*Retro Cinema - Fridays in January from 2:30 - 4:00 pm
*Kanapy - Movie Streaming App - If you have a library card (which also include teacher and classroom cards) you can download the app and stream various movies and educational films for your class and yourself! The service includes not only entertainment films, but also instructional films and lessons for k-12 students, as well as teacher education development videos.
Just login through your computer or download the app to your tv streaming device, create an account with your library card and you're there! Click Here to sign in.
All Grades
* Snap-On Cases MUST be on computers at all times. If they do not have them on, warning first, then an after school detention, then up the discipline matrix. Why? The cases protect our warranty which is void if they are not on. This is a new policy for us all. Please help me spread the word. If you have questions, please ask Rachel or myself.
What is happening in the classrooms?
Invention Convention
Snow Day
What did you do on your snow day?
Middle School Falconettes
#fuelthepositive Award Winners for Last Week
Parents, please nominate a staff member for Staff Member of the Month next month!
Our One Word
Info For The Staff
Conferences - Conferences are February 13th from 3:30 until 6:30. Please reach out to parents if one of your students are struggling. This would be a great time to work on relationships and help provide support if needed.
Field Trips - Just a few reminders/procedures to ensure the safety of all of our kids! If any questions let the office or your team leader know.
Bring or have EMF’s accessible
Be aware of student allergies, epi-pen needs, etc
Sign out sheet if parents are leaving with their child before you leave
Remind parents to sign off on final forms permission slip and communicate date and time of field trip
Notify Nurse-the nurse will give you a first aid kit and other safety items needed
Notify Tracy Matthews-Food services
Notify Mr. Ford-transportation
Take attendance before leaving the field trip site
Fill out field trip form .
Writing Club - Jen Molitor kicked off the writing club before break during study halls and will continue for the rest of the semester. As mentioned in the TBTs, this is just an opportunity for students to write, collaborate, peer review, and explore their inner writer. This is extra-curricular that is student-paced and to be done once their school work is complete. We are really excited to see what happens with this and see where it goes!
National Junior Honor Society - Jana is having a meeting with the current members this Friday. Applications are available for 7th and 8th-grade students who would like to apply to be a part of this organization. The deadline to turn in the application is February 5th. We are looking for one more teacher to join the review committee. Please let Jana know if you are interested. We will have an induction ceremony on March 6, 2020 at 1:00 pm.
#fuelthepositive Awards - We begin again on Monday with new nominations. Please use the spreadsheet to let us know who is up for the award each week. You can find the spreadsheet HERE. If you can get the names in here by Tuesday evening this week, it would be helpful. I try to print the certificates if possible the night before.
This week the following will be nominating students: Beth Beam, Patty Ratliff, Sara Long, Robyn King, Sandra Holland, Michael Stewart, Dan Walker, and Jen Gantz.
Schedules - The BLT worked hard to create a schedule that met the needs of the students and provided some unique opportunities for our building. We are trying to tie up a few loose strings and will share our findings soon. Rachel and I are planning on using online scheduling for the schedule next year and would like to have student schedules complete by May.
Clinton-Massie Letterhead - If you are sending anything out to parents, please use the Clinton-Massie Letterhead located in our templates.
#fuelthepositive Website - Don't forget! Our day to post things is Tuesdays! 1st Tuesday is Admin, 2nd Tuesday is 6th Grade (Kate is with them), 3rd Tuesday is 7th Grade (Nicolin is with them), and 4th Tuesday is 8th Grade (Tammy and Robyn are with them). You all can decide if one person is responsible for the media that day....maybe do it once a month? Tell our story! It helps our culture! Please send to Lorinda and David.
A Couple of Dates you should know about:
- February 12th - Fundraiser Kick-Off at 2:15
- February 13th - Conferences - 3:30 to 6:30
- February 14th - Early Release - Professional Learning
- February 17th - Presidents Day - NO SCHOOL
- February 26th - 28th - Project Trust
- March 12th - End of third quarter
- March 13 - Professional Learning Day
- March 16 - 20 - Spring Break
- April 13 - NO SCHOOL -Conference exchange day
- April 16 - NO SCHOOL - Flex Day
- April 15th, 16th - AIR English
- April 22nd, 23rd - AIR Math
- April 29th - AIR 8th Grade Science
- May 4-6 - MAP
Helpdesk - A reminder to please send your technology requests to helpdesk@cmfalcons.org. There is no need to send an email to helpdesk, Michael, and David. In fact, it makes it more confusing on their end as to who needs to provide support. They are making a concerted effort this year to be more timely and responsive to helpdesk tickets. The start of the year is always tough but as they fill out their Tech Team and the Oaks Interns, they need their process to be clear. Thank you for your attention to this.
Digital Citizenship Discussions
Professional Learning Opportunities
Grant Opportunity for Professional Learning Opportunities
American Wilderness Leadership School
Storytelling through Animation Creation - February 26th - For ELA and History Teachers
Come talk to me about this if you are curious.
Storytelling through Animation Creation -
Storytelling through Animation Creation is intended for Middle and High School Language Arts teachers and Social Studies teachers who are interested in providing students alternatives for demonstrating understanding.
Use code to tell fun and interactive stories.
Program a conversation between two characters to explore the role of dialogue in storytelling.
Provide details about a character and use code to describe the character's actions, thoughts, and words.
Take an existing story and explore it from a first person and third person point of view.
Create a presentation using animation
You will also learn how to access Google's CS First lesson resources and how to access Scratch's lesson resources.
Important Session Information:
In this workshop, you will learn how you can leverage Google's CS First along with a free online program called Scratch to help your students tell stories by creating animations using code. You do NOT need to know how to write code! Scratch is an easy to use "drag-and-drop" program that is very intuitive and allows students to quickly create animations and stories. Furthermore, Google's CS First curriculum has lesson resources, videos, and how-to guides for you and your students to use that are aligned to the ISTE (International Society for Technology Education) standards and to the CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) standards.
Bring your own laptop. Lunch will be on your own.
Rapid Fire Google
Blended and Personalized Learning Tips
2019-20 Student Handbook
Birthdays
Nicolin Haines - January 20th
Stephen Ford - February 14th
Kayla Brown - February 21st
Our Gold Standards
Our Gold Standards
Email: lorinda.ottaway@cmfalcons.org
Website: cmfalcons.org
Location: 2556 Lebanon Rd, Clarksville, OH 45113
Phone: (937) 289-2932
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clinton-Massie-Middle-School-169983643627883/
Twitter: @CMFalconsMiddle