Thursday, December 8, 2016

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Winfield Middle Staff Blog
December 8, 2016


I became so enamored with the eValuate scores during our PD time, that I let myself hijack the agenda and failed to get to the “acting” activity everyone was so excited to complete!  (sarcasm)  It was assuring, however, to compare our scores with the state averages on the NEE Student Surveys.  If I could regroup, and share some of the points from here to save us some face to face time, that would be beneficial.
  • Any students that are currently at risk for earning failing grades, please contact those parents by next WEDNESDAY to ensure the students HAVE every opportunity to take advantage of the situation and complete and submit assignments.  Please do NOT wait till the last week, December 19th for that call.  It no longer serves the purpose of notification sufficient enough to allow them to make a difference.  Thank you.
    • Please RECORD those parent contacts in SIS for tracking purposes.  In other words, when we see a failing grade being assigned, we EXPECT parent contacts to have been recorded along the way.  Our middle school students do not yet fully understand the concept of accountability and part of our responsibility is to give them every opportunity to learn it.
  • Please update the AC LAB Grades every quarter.
    • Update continue to maintain diligence and update student SIS grades every week please.
  • ALL Staff that might need a sub MUST sign up on theSMARTsub to begin to record any absences and request necessary subs and notify the office.
  • It looks like Ms Friendly is leading the attendance challenge for AC LAB!  
  • Great work on the TECH TIME TUESDAY! This team leads the district in many categories.  Technology is just another one!  
  • We need to step up our binder-team work.  We are behind in our pace with only a few teams submitting enough data so far.

BOOKMARK the attendance challenge to pull it up often.
What can we do about other classes not in the running during the current contest???

Anyone???
Schedule for December 12 - 16th  
Monday
  • 6th Grade ELA planning day
  • 8th Grade Girls and Boys vs Frontier Middle School at home
  • Book Fair
Tuesday
  • Dec 13 PBiS Tier 2 in the AM and PBiS Tier 1 in the PM with RPDC Rep
  • Book Fair
Wednesday
  • Dec 14th - HS/MS Choir Concert
  • Book Fair
Thursday
  • 8th Grade Basketball travel to South Middle School
    • Girls then Boys
  • Book Fair
Friday
  • 12/16 Warrior Way Store
  • Book Fair

Schedule for December 19 - 21st  
Monday
  • Dec 19th - Middle School Band Concert- Book Fair open late
  • Toys for Tots AC LAB Challenge hosted by the Winfield Fire Department -
    • Santa to “Pick up” on December 19th during AC LAB
  • Blizzard Bum- Wear comfy clothes
Tuesday
  • Activities Committee Meeting in Higgins Room
  • Winter White Out- Wear all white
Wednesday
  • Early Release / End of Quarter 2
    • Ac Lab Challenge
  • Christmas Craze- Ugly Sweater/ Christmas-y Attire
    • Stand up staff picture/celebration at 7:20 in the library on this last day

Upcoming/Ongoing
  • The NJHS Giving Tree for Lincoln County Adopt-a-Family is up in our library (See Emily)
    • This year we also added the Camp Avery Boys and Girls Club
      • Per request of our budding PTO.

Pepsi with the Principal...

Pepsi with the Principal
Better attendance and increased engagement during our meeting made this year’s Pepsi with the Principal meeting even better than the last. We doubled our total attendance for the night and made good headway on a few items to follow up on and strategies for detailing..  My handwritten notes are displayed here. We will pull them apart as appropriate but feel free to note how much the parents appreciate your encouragement, support, communication, frequently updated gradebook, Post Cards mailed home and all those little things you do that we may feel go unnoticed.  They were complimentary of the entire staff, telling us the middle school was a much better place than our “reputation.”  We came away energized and ready to serve.  Thank you for your contributions towards that end.  A few parents mentioned they were there “because a staff member invited them!”  Well done!

How’s that for brief?

Tom McCracken

PS. I heard the ELA team had a great day of PD on Thursday. I cant wait to hear their report back!

PSS. Remember there is a lot going on right now. See the Counselors Corner Note! It is especially themed.

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