Thursday Thriller
April 18, 2024
8th graders hanging their planet posters in the hallway. Madison and Nona excited for the picture, Felix not so much. :D Felix did explain why he chose the planet Neptune for his poster. It's always fun to talk with students in an informal setting. Definitely a BUCKET-FILLER, talking with students. :D
Nuts-n-Bolts
1. Thank you!!! The new discipline referral form gives the office more information. You are doing a great job of completing the form AND sending students out of the class when they are disrupting, disrespectful and defiant-the 3Ds. Good work!
2. In the staff lounge will be the posters from our Student Summit. Questions 4 and 5 are directly from the CEE student survey. Questions 1-3 while not directly from the CEE data do hit upon multiple questions from the survey results. GREEN sticky notes are 6th grade, ORANGE-7th and PINK-8th. The dots indicate how students voted. Each student (about 46) had three dots to vote on the topics they thought were most pressing. If they wanted to use all three on one question they could; we left the choice up to them. Next steps:
1 . Students from the Summit have the opportunity to apply to be on PAC for 24.25. There is an application and a contract.
2. First of May new members and returning PAC members (they too will complete the application and contract re-new their 'why' of wanting to be a part of PAC and understanding the contract) will review results from the poster, set goals for 24.25 and put together a short presentation to share with staff on what they learned and what support they need. In addition, we'd like to create a video to send to parents about what PAC is and what their goals are.
3. GC and admin will be working through the staff, student and parent CEE survey results to share with all of you.
4. BAB (Breakfast After the Bell) -Clarification-there will no longer be breakfast in the morning from 8:30-8:50. Breakfast will now be from the carts. The food choices are grab and go. There won't be the entrees that are hot, require syrup, etc. Starting date is Monday, May 13th we will have a staff meeting the week prior to go over details and answer questions. I asked Helen, the CIS person at Pioneer, to record a quick video of how it works at Pioneer to send us.
5. Counselors will be meeting with 8th grade students who have one or more F's. They will be giving students a grade check form, communicating with families and checking in with them. If you have not communicated with families of students-any 6th-7-8th grader-that are failing you need to be that first layer of communication. The progress reports set up is the way to go! Look back at TT APRIL 10th for details on how to set this up or ask Conor, Nicole D, Jen,Robin, Agnes for support. Yes, we have Skyward where parents can check daily. However, let's send them a life-line of a progress report.
6. Thanks for your flexibility with STAMP Testing, music rehearsals, and other needs for students to be out of class. All of these are pieces to the middle school experience. :D Happy note-one student shared with me that she got a 5 on the first part of the STAMP test! She was so proud of herself!! :D
7. If any of you are pros at navigating TicTok, can you do some digging around in regards to 'racism is cool?' I had a parent share with me that this is a new movement on TicTok. OR ask students. We know there is a Garrison Chisms which posts and makes fun of students and everything about GMS. I'm not sure how to report this to TicTok or who created it.
8. Another THANK YOU for staying consistent with the clinic pass and signing out for water and bathroom breaks. Admin will continue, when we are able, to be present in hallways and by the bathrooms. Please keep track of how many students you send to the bathroom or out for a drink of water at one time. Students are one step ahead and have made plans to meet up.
9. Tuesday, April 23rd is our Parent Information Night. Gang information, kids and social media, Attendance, Grades and School Information will be our topics. Dinner from 5:30-6:00, Event from 6:00-8:00
10. Tomorrow is the last day to respond to the survey sent out last week. There have been 7 certificated responses. SURVEY Results will be shared on Monday.
11. Here is the CLASSIFIED SURVEY LINK
Something to Ponder
Thrivers is a book that caught my idea because of this question: Why is the current generation of kids so anxious, depressed, and lonely? Jenn David-Lange interviews the author Dr. Michele Borab, Ed.D. This is a 35 minute podcast. In addition, here is a short summary and a discussion guide for a book study. Super interesting!! Hope you find a gold nugget!
