MMS Principal Newsletter
April 22, 2019 @MMSCougarPride
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City Challenge!
MMS at Dr. Emdin's Presentation
Right before Spring Break I attended an amazing presentation from Dr. Chris Emdin. Many educators from SOMSD, but MMS had a particularly impressive showing. Ms. Amaral, Mr. Stewart, Ms. Chilimintris, Ms. Kleinwaks, Ms. Graham, Ms. Gibbons-Williams, Ms. Hwang, and Ms. Laing all attended! Our own Ms. Laing is participated in a demonstration that reminded us to address students' human needs before content. It was amazing. MMS hopes to start a book study using Dr. Emdin's works next year.
Greetings and Updates from Ms. Gronau
Greetings MMS Families,
I hope you had a wonderful break! Mr. Patterson I attended the Special BOE meeting on April 11, 2019 during which we welcomed our incoming Superintendent Dr. Ronald Taylor (pictured here). We look forward to working with him!
Math Info Night is 4/23/19 at 7pm at SOMS and 4/25/19 at 7:30pm at MMS. The information is the same each night. Come learn about Math course selection for rising 6th-8th graders. Scroll down for flyers and information attached. See you there!
Reminder:
The Hub/Family Connections is a wonderful resource we are fortunate to have at MMS through a Maplewood Municipal grant. If you would like your child to participate in individual and group sessions during the school day or in the social support through recreation after school programming, please contact Ms. Candice at cebbesen@familyconnectionsnj.org.
IMPORTANT NOTES
-Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10, 2019
-NJSLA Dates: Week of April 29-Grade 6
Week of May 6-Grade 7
Week of May 13-Grade 8
May 21 and 22-Grade 8 Science
-Reminder to please send Ms. Gronau your good news/recognition worthy events of your child's academic, social, social activism, community service, and artistic achievements. We would like our MMS kiddos to be recognized at upcoming board meetings! Email at dgronau@somsd.k12.nj.us!
The Versatility Tour at MMS!
We are so grateful that Mr. Degnan worked in partnership with the SOMSD library team leader Ms. Lattimer to bring Kwame Alexander and Kip Wilson to MMS right before Spring Break. Author visits remind our children the importance of literature as it teaches us about empathy and expands our perspectives!
Me and Kwame!
MMS Kids and Kip Wilson!
SOMSD Diversity Job Fair
8th Grade ELA
Women and the Word
The 5 Keys to Middle School Child Resilience and Success
The 5 Keys to Middle School Child Resilience and Success
The MMS faculty and staff ask that you support our work with your child in the following ways:
1) Encourage a Growth Mindset-Having a growth mindset fosters resilience. Use the language of yet. I don’t understand this “yet.” Emphasize the importance of hard work as opposed to innate intelligence. “I did well because of my effort. I’ll do better next time.”
2) Encourage 1-2 Good Peer Relationships-Friends should be a source of support. Often our middle schoolers try to maintain large groups of close friends and that is challenging for anyone of any age! Encourage your child to have 1-2 solid and supportive peer friendships and keep it light and simple with the larger groups.
3) Ensure 9-11 Hours of Sleep Please! Sleep is the best way to foster resilience. Research shows that kiddos this age need 9-11 hours to be at their best. When your child is well-rested, everything is better. Technology is the #1 enemy of sleep! As a school community, we recommend that you keep technology out of your child’s bedroom at night to encourage healthy and consistent sleep.
4) Encourage Coping Strategies-Coping is personal. Everyone does it differently. Encourage your child to think about healthy ways to relax and give them permission to do it!
5) Facilitate Time/Connection with a non-familial adult-Good connections with non-familial adults are very important for your child. They hear things differently from non-familial adults. Encourage your child to participate in a club or activity. Children need our perspective. They are always changing and growing. As adults we can attach a growth mindset to their personality development and their peer interactions.
Maplewood Middle School Remind App Code @k92d29
This year, the MMS Principal has added a school-wide "Remind App" as another way to communicate with families. Many of your child's teachers will share Remind class codes for you and your child to stay up to date about class events and assignments. As needed, the MMS Principal will periodically use the Remind App to share important info with our school community. Our Maplewood Middle School school-wide code Remind code is listed above (@k92d29). The link below explains how to begin getting notifications. It's a simple way to stay in touch. Join us!
https://help.remind.com/hc/en-us/articles/203179887-How-do-I-join-a-class-