Miner Minutes
February 17, 2018
The Week Ahead
Tuesday: MTSS Team 730am
Wednesday: Student Expo Committee 8am; Happy birthday to Ms. Miranda!
Thursday: SIT meeting 7:45am; Give out progress reports B day
Friday: Mentor/Mentee 7:30am; Give out progress reports A day
As Miners - how can we MINE FOR GOLD like this teacher did? Excellent article!
Preserve YOUR instructional time!
Please do not allow students out of class to "find their laptops." Our students need to learn to keep track of their laptops. If they "lose" it, then they just have to go without during class and hope it gets returned to their 4a teacher, or they can search for it between classes and accept a tardy to their next class. We have found that students are missing significant class time "searching" for their laptops. Your class is IMPORTANT. Do not let your students think anything else by allowing them to be gone for long periods of time unless it's an urgent social/emotional/physical issue. Students should only be in the hallways during instructional time to go to the bathroom, nurse, or office with a PASS. We are trying to decrease the random skipping, and therefore we need all staff to protect their instructional time with these expectations. THANK YOU!
Three (or more) Thank Yous - a week of celebrating LOVE ;-)
IB Reminders - Prepping for our BIG VISIT!
What are Global Contexts? When we select a global context for each unit, we are answering • Why are we engaged in this inquiry? • Why are these concepts important? • Why is it important for me to understand? • Why do people care about this topic?
Please continue to work on Unit Planners. Email Shanna when you are ready to get feedback on the one you are submitting for the IB Visit.
Reminder of meetings with Ms. Meehan on Monday
8th Grade Community Project
1A - Burrell, Horgan, Patton, Torain - Horgan's room - very beginning of 1st
2A - Harding, Walters, Heck, Sergent - Walters' room - very beginning of 2nd
3A - Azzarello, Farrell, Miranda - Miranda's room - very beginning of 3rd
4A - Clifford, Landon, Treadaway - Landon's room - very beginning of 4th
8th Grade “Other” Group
2A - Berryman, Driver, Tartal, Udu - Driver's Room 11:30
3A - Green - Green's Room 2:00
4A - Huang, McCraw - McCraw's Room 3:30
February is still going...
- February- Caught Being CARING- We are trying to catch students being CARING!!!
- Examples of what this might look like around CMS: Students who are kind to other students by loaning a pencil, holding the door for others, picking up something they dropped, asking how they are today.
- You have 3 CARING trading cards to give out during the month of February. Please try to give out all of your cards and send selfies to me!!
- February Miner Time Calendar
Student Expo - March 1 - 6pm-7:30pm - all staff present
The goal of this evening for CMS students to have the opportunity to SHOW OFF their learning. It replaces the traditional “curriculum night” that tends to not focus on the students. It’s meant as a showcase for students in which they proudly share with their families the “good things” of their learning facilitated by Concord Middle!
Safety Updates - Important
Concord Scoop Announcement Submission
Technology Updates and Reminders (important!)
- Many of you inquired about laptop monitoring software: We were going to purchase this in the early fall, but then CCS said that LanSchool would be coming back and would be able to work with Chromebooks. But no movement has happened on LanSchool year. We are unsure what the holdup is at this point. Ms. Redmond said she would ask about this to CCS tech folks.
- Badges: We have had many unexpected issues with the badge maker this year (mostly the printer). Because of this, our student badges will just be used for the chromebook cases this year, and we will not ask our students to WEAR them consistently since it's so late in the year and it's not really enforceable at this point. Staff still need to wear badges, please.
- If you have questions on unblocking or blocking sites, games, etc - please email Ms. Redmond.
- When Ms. Redmond is off campus, her backup is Ms. Gascoigne when it comes to Chromebook questions. But the solution is to put in a work order, and Ms. Gascoigne then is the first responder on the work orders for our 1:1. Anytime there's a login issue, broken screen, etc, please submit a work order.
- Many of you expressed the opinion that if a student did not return a Chromebook agreement that they should not be able to use the Chromebook at CMS. CCS policy states that ALL students have technology access, so we cannot deny a chromebook to a student bc they did not return the form. Although we are one of 3 schools that have gone to 1:1, this is currently the expectation. This may be re-examined pending how we manage the financial impact of this throughout the year.
- Thank you for your questions and feedback! We just want to be transparent with communication!
Early Warning System
Early Warning System Presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eBY0klj5IlOmDDZtDSyHbY7uJGegl9SxQaaFs7MDXQs/edit?usp=sharing
To access the Early Warning System…
- Go to https://www.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/Page/22815
- Sign in to the CCS webpage by clicking the link in the top right corner of the screen.
- Make sure you are connected to “CCS Registered” Wifi (it will not work if you are connected to CCS-guest)
- Under “Quick Links” click on “Data Portal”
- Under “Discipline”, click “EWS_MTSS Student Info”
- Click “EWS MTSS Student Rosters”
- You can also sort by clicking the arrows at the top of each column.
Extended Calendar
Feb 27 7:30 – 8:30am PBIS Committee meeting
March 1 6:00-7:30pm Student Expo and Silent Auction (all staff required to attend)
March 3: Happy birthday, Mr. Speelman!
March 5: Happy birthday, Nurse Lisa!
March 6 7:45-8:30am School Leadership Team; Happy birthday, Ms. York!; 8th grade trip to visit CHS and Robinson HS
March 7 2:45pm CabCo Arts for 7th grade: Michael Velsey
March 8: Happy birthday, Ms. Burrell!
March 9: 8th graders travel to Irvin for Community Project work - flip 1st and 3rd blocks
March 12-19 Spring book fair
March 13 Uncapped workday
March 14-16 DC Field Trip -8th grade
March 16 7:30-8:30am MTSS Committee
March 18: Happy birthday, Ms. Royster!
March 19-20 Counselors visit our feeder elementary schools
March 20 7:30 – 8:30am Faculty meeting
March 22 7:45-8:30am SIT Meeting
March 22-29 Benchmarks
March 23 7:5-8:30 Mentor/Mentee meeting
March 23 8th grade field day (Studco)
March 27 7:30-8:30am PBIS Committee
March 29 PTSO March Madness (pep rally schedule)
March 30 Holiday (and beginning of Spring Break); Happy birthday, Ms. Davis!