MMS Principal Newsletter
February 4, 2019 @MMSCougarPride
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Black Lives Matter Week of Action at School 2019/ Black History Month 2019
Black History Month 2019 began this past Friday. Our band director Chris Balas kicked off a musical history for our morning music. He will trace the current roots of Black music back to Africa and began on Friday 2/1 with an African drumming selection. Stay tuned for upcoming events at MMS.
2/6/19 Restorative Practices Event
The SOMSD Parenting Center and Elementary PTAs are sponsoring a parent info night on restorative practices. This is definitely a relevant event for middle school families as over 20 of our teachers and all of our administrators have received and will continue to receive training on this important topic from Tanya Lewis Consulting. We hope to see you there on Feb. 6, 2019 at 7:30pm at Marshall School.
Greetings and Updates from Ms. Gronau
Happy Monday MMS Families,
We had a blast this past Friday 2/1 at the 6th annual Trivia Night--our largest fundraiser of the year organized by your HSA. We thank the event chair Meredith Lambert who did a wonderful job organizing this fun and successful event. And I MUST shout out the MMS teachers and staff who attended--Mr. Brown, Ms. Porter, Ms. Duffey, Ms. Sudol, Mr. Degnan, Ms. Sebastian, Ms. Vorona, Ms. Varney, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Graham and Mr. Kaplan. They tied for 2nd place! Very impressive. But then I already knew I was surrounded by brainiacks!
Link here for Black History Month events in and around Maplewood-https://www.maplewoodartsandculture.org/mbhm?fbclid=IwAR0QtXa0jUk17E98-ELSfUVvX37-EyEFhLLqMSTE_na_6CTU1Xe5FfYvlWk
IMPORTANT NOTES
The MMS Musical "The Wizard of Oz" is February 22-24, 2019. Get your tickets! We can't wait! Link here: https://sites.google.com/site/mmsmusical/
Our guidance department is up and running as of the week of January 14! We thank the SOMSD Buildings and Grounds department for their work.
Marking period 2 grades are available for families to view on 2/5/19. Please reach out to team leaders should you have questions about interventions and supports available to your child. You may also follow up with the grade level administrator. Ms. Gronau supports grade 6, Mr. Patterson supports grade 7, and Mr. Brown supports grade 8. We are here to help!
We welcome our newest staff member 7th grade ELA teacher Ms. Johnson. We are thrilled to have her join our ELA department!
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!
1/25 MLK Peace March
Thank you for the Bagel Breakfast!
Peace March, cont'd
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-