The McAnally Minute September 9
A Weekly Newsletter for our MMS Community
A Letter From Your MMS Leadership Team
Howdy McAnally!
Happy Friday! I was reflecting this week on our start to the school year and wanted to again thank you for helping us to have such a great opening. It feels like we are finally hitting our stride!
Please save the date for October 10th. It is our inaugural McAnally Method event, where we will share the great work our students are doing and let you peek behind the curtain of our teachers' curricular design. Read below for more details and we hope to see you on the 10th.
Principal Jenkins
Student ID Badges are worn for the safety and security of our campus and district. A system has been put in place for Student ID Badge Expectations and a process for ID Badge and/or Lanyard Replacement. All students will review these expectations and process during 2nd Period on Monday, 9/12.
We will be conducting schoolwide badge sweeps beginning Thursday. What are sweeps? Sweeps will include admin coming into all the classrooms and having students hold up their ID Badges. If there are any students that are not in compliance, they will be issued a Lunch Detention for that same day. Sweeps will begin on 9/15 and be conducted randomly.
What should your child do if they do not have a badge? Get it replaced immediately, preferably Monday.
- Have students fill out the Replacement Student ID Badge & Lanyard Request Form
- Pay for replacement at the front office, cash only.
- Replacement ID Badges $5
- Replacement Lanyards $2
- BOTH $7
- Student will be issued a temporary ID Badge in the Front Office after they fill out the form and pay for replacement.
- Students will be notified when their badge is ready for pick up in the library.
Circle of Greatness
~Principal Jenkins
Campus Improvement Committee Interest Survey
UIL Eligibility
Six-week progress report card grades will be accessible in Ascender Parent Portal on Friday, September 22nd at 4:30 p.m. Progress report card grades are a snapshot of a student's grades that are recorded at a specified time period and UIL eligibility is based on the student's grades that are reflected on the progress report.
Click here for instructions for accessing progress report grades in the Parent Portal.
Progress reports will not be sent home since they are available digitally and will be posted every three weeks in Ascender. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you have any specific questions related to grades.
Staff Spotlight
Paige Park-6th Grade Science
I have been teaching 6th grade science for over 20 years. I love working in the yard and spending time with my family. I am excited to be starting my 3rd year in Aledo at the new McAnally Middle School with the best science team!
Kristi Creed- School Nurse
Mrs. Kristi Creed serves in her 13th year as the McAnally Campus Nurse. Before joining the Bearcat Family, her experience includes practicing Nursing at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas and Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando, Florida. Nurse Creed is a Board-Certified Pediatric Nurse and uses over 20 years of purely Pediatric Nursing experience in her daily care to children. She strives to provide students better understanding of medical diagnoses and proficiency in managing medical cares in the school setting while helping students and staff experience increased instructional time and healthy school days in the classroom. When away from the school clinic, she spends time with her husband and two children. She enjoys film and digital photography, everything Disney, and serves in her church. She is excited to help open the new McAnally Middle School!
MMS Counseling
Depression, Anxiety and Signs of Suicide
Students are preparing to learn and discuss these topics on Tuesday, September 27th.
Many parents are uncomfortable with the topic of suicide. We understand this is a heavy topic and can be a big decision for your family. We encourage you to consider the facts when deciding if your child will participate in the program.
Our district is responding to a national need. Our children are overwhelmingly reporting that they are experiencing stress and anxiety in record numbers. Their ability to manage this is not yet developed. In these transitional years, we would like to start developing those healthy coping skills and talking about things that go wrong when we don't manage our stress in a healthy way. We connect this lesson with strategies for help and support.
Even if your child never once thinks about suicide, chances are, they will have a peer that does. Statistics now show suicide as the second leading cause of death of children in the middle school age group. Just as you taught your child to buckle their safety belt, we also teach them coping skills for those times in life when emotions feel overwhelming. We teach them about all the people who are here to help them when they don't know how to help themselves. We remind them that things do get better and that things can be different.
For more information about the 6th grade Lifelines lesson and to view the form click here.
For more information about the 7th and 8th Grade SOS lesson and to view the parent form click here.
We are offering two parent viewing sessions for families who wish to preview lesson content prior to the date of the lesson.
Monday, September 12th at 4:00 PM
Thursday, September 15th at 7:30 AM
Student forms will be coming home next Tuesday. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to MMS Counseling.
Lacey McBride, 6th Grade Counselor lmcbride@aledoisd.org
Rebecca Ponder, 7th Grade Counselor rponder@aledoisd.org
Trisha Huffman, 8th Grade Counselor thuffman@aledoisd.org
Positivity Project
Positivity Project Character Trait of the Week: Open-Mindedness
Definition: You like to consider new ideas and try new things. You examine things from all sides and don’t jump to conclusions.
Quote: “Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.“
Watch this video together as a family and use the following questions as a guide to your discussion!
Video Link: https://youtu.be/3Q8nhsJQlSY
How can having an open mind help you connect with others?
How can having an open mind help you find your passion?
How are the character strengths of open-mindedness and creativity linked?
Families have access to P2 for Families! Go to: https://posproject.org/p2-for-families/ and use the password P2 to access the materials and learn and grow together and grow together at home!
MMS Bell Schedule 2022-2023
Attendance
Stephanie Snook- Attendance Clerk. Please send anything pertaining to attendance to ssnook@aledoisd.org .
- Teacher's record attendance every period. (8 periods)
- Student's must be seated at 8:40 for first period, to be considered on time. When planning drop off, please consider time to eat breakfast (if buying) and transition to class.
- If you drop your student off after 8:40, the student will need to come through the front office to get a tardy pass. A parent must accompany their child inside and sign them in if it is after 9:00.
- 9:45 a.m. is ADA time.
- 90% of each semester must be spent in class. An administrator will contact you if the minimum requirements are not being met and time missed needs to me made up.
- If your student is absent you must call or email in each day they are out. You only have 5 school days (counting the day of the absences) to call in the absence.
Nurse Creed's Corner
Stay Connected!
Sign up genius (for stock the lounge):
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0849A8AA2DA7F85-mcanally
If you would like to donate the cause go to https://aledopto.membershiptoolkit.com/login-form?r=%2F enter their amount and to choose "McAnally" for their staff appreciation donation.
McAnally Middle School
#GrowingGreatness
1% Better Everyday
Email: jjenkins@aledoisd.org
Location: 416 FM 1187 South Aledo, Texas 76008
Phone: 817-441-8347
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McAnallyMiddle
Twitter: @McanallyMiddle