In the Middle Newsletter
November 25-December 6
Principal Ponderings: Gratitudes
In honor of Thanksgiving next week (and no ITM newsletter next week), here are a collection of gratitudes in no particular order.
- Mrs. Sokol's payday popcorn.
- My wife's spaghetti sauce (she always has to spruce it up which Hayes destroys with mounds of parmesan)
- The spirit of Sydney B. in 6th grade
- Parks and Rec on Netflix
- Honest and genuine conversation that leads to continued growth
- Full tanks of gas (possibilities of where to go are numerous, like Morgan, TN)
- The small group so 7th grade boys who started busting out Let It Go this morning (there is safety in numbers in the hallway, not the parent drop off)
- Tom Izzo
- Learning opportunities (excited to present and learn at MEMSPA conference in a couple weeks)
- Tomorrow (regardless of what day it is)
Administrative Items
- Lunch Duty: Schau, Keim, M., Veldman
- Lancer Leader of the Week: on deck for December 4, 8th Science
- Late Start: Course
- P2: Gratitude and Kindness week of December 2-6
- Lunch Room Assistance December 4-6: If there are people interested in assisting in the lunchroom December 4-6, please, let Allison or I know. In my absence, it's good to have another body available in case Allison or Mindy get pulled away.
- December 9-10: Allison and I will both be at Adaptive Schools training at the HS on this day. Are you interested in filling in as acting administrator on one or both days? I will get a guest teacher to cover for your classes. If interested, please, see me.
Thank you to all the staff who donated either items to the stuff a truck event and/or raffle prizes as incentives for the students. Kudos to Mrs. Hooper and Ms. Ott and their student council kiddos for the significant time and effort that it took to pull off such an event.
We will continue our Friday jeans day for a $5 donation for the remaining Friday left in 2019. There is an envelope in the office on Jane's desk. Thank you in advance for your donations. All funds will go towards helping families in our community during the holidays. It is putting the #otherpeoplematter mindset into action.
Upcoming Dates and Events
11/25
- MSC Parent Meeting, 6:30pm, LHS MSC-room 111
11/26
- United Way Wednesday Jeans Day, $5 donation
- 8th grade guest speaker
11/27-29
- No School, enjoy your time and Go Lions!
12/3
- Admin Mtg, 1:15, Swegles/Arend at Central Office
12/4-6
- Swegles at MEMSPA Conference
12/5
- 7th grade TEAM Lancer Air Zoo trip
12/6
- 7th grade TEAM Lakeshore Air Zoo trip
Diane VanAntwerp, December 3
Two Resources Worth Sharing
"Educators want to foster meaningful and joyful engagement in learning, promote mastery of new concepts and skills, and support healthy, balanced students."
7 Approaches to Alternative Assessments
"The biggest challenge of your teaching career will be staving off burnout. And your students probably won't be the main contributors to your burnout. Adult negativity. Societal pressures. Diminished resources. Debilitating legislation. The dichotomy of over-involved and under-involved parenting. These are the rains that will threaten to extinguish your flame."
The letter is written with new teachers in mind, but I feel that this could be for any person, in any profession, at any time of their career.
Tweet of the Week
Congrats, Cvengros Family!
What I'm Reading: Dare to Lead, Brene Brown
Rereading (listened to it the first time) as part of personal PD Allison and I are working on together.