We celebrated students who demonstrated the character trait of RESPECT with an assembly last Friday. We learned what it means to be a Gold Star Family and about the sacrifices military members and their families make while serving. Tegan Marrs presented on behalf of the Travis Manion Foundation, and she shared about her experience of growing up in the military and the loss of her father who was killed in action. Mr. Perlyberg’s students tied this presentation to one about Joe Mann who made the ultimate sacrifice as he served in the 101st Airborne in WWII and whose unit, the Screaming Eagles, we take our mascot’s name from. We also celebrated no office referrals for cell phone infractions with Italian Sodas for everyone. Thanks to our ASB for planning this fun event! At the end of October we will have a Halloween Social for all students with grades of “C” and above and NO office or bus referrals. We are focusing on students who are doing it right and working hard every day.
October is also Mental Health and Disability Awareness Month. We are planning to have a guest speaker from Only 7 Seconds come and talk about positive mental health and follow that up with an afternoon of fun, stress relieving activities.
Speaking of stress–middle school is often a time of stress and anxiety as students attempt to figure out who they are and where they belong. We are piloting a student coaching and support program starting in October called Clayful. Clayful allows students to access on-demand, chat-based, non-clinical coaching for students. Grades 7 and 8 will have access to a community of Certified Coaches to help them build healthy habits for success. This service will be provided for FREE to all Reardan-Edwall students. Check out Clayful's parent video to learn more! This video includes great information about what Clayful offers, how it is structured and monitored for safety, and more. Where can you get more information or ask questions about Clayful? You can click here for Clayful's frequently asked questions resource for families. As the video states, families can opt out of Clayful if they choose to. Please email MS Principal Debi Newsum with any questions or concerns or to opt your family out of Clayful. dnewsum@reardansd.net
This week was busy with an 8th grade field trip focused on careers in the medical, construction, and manufacturing fields, a spirit week where MS students dressed up each day, Pep Band students got to play at the HS HoCo assembly and a school-wide writing assignment about the topic of local hero Joe Mann. Students are practicing their writing skills and our staff are practicing including writing prompts across all curricular areas. Staff will work on scoring, data analysis and next steps for improvement during part of our Friday, October 6th Professional Development Day. We are all working to improve our teaching and learning so we can support our students in their educational journey. Mid-quarter grade reports were mailed home along with your child’s state test scores. Students are setting academic goals during homeroom related to their test scores and current grades. Please ask your child about their academic goals for this year and don’t hesitate to reach out to teachers or Principal Newsum with questions or to communicate about how we can best support your child.
