September 30, 2016

October is going to be FUN!  We know it's cutting into your instruction days and we truly apologize for this.  We also know that these experiences are LIFE CHANGING for many of our kids!  The 8th Grade Career Fair, Cookie Dough lunch party, Cal Berkley visit, STEAM lab, Challenge Days, Superintendent's visit, new collaborative IPR, and more are all great experiences for our kids and we appreciate your patience, flexibility, and understanding as they miss class and you assist them in getting caught up! You are all AMAZING!!

I know that we have said this multiple times and we cannot stress it enough: giving information to parents and helping through the process of middle school helps everyone involved.   Why is it so vital you ask?  It has been proven to: increase student achievement, increase student attendance, increase graduation rates and more.  Check out THIS article to read more and it's extremely important!

Repost for those that missed it:

Have YOU ever really thought about being a student in your own classroom? How engaged would you be?  Would you be paying attention and taking notes? Stop and think about it for a minute.   If your answer isn't a confident yes, stop, take some time and think why.  Too much student down time? Not enough interaction between students?  Check out THIS ARTICLE about 8 easy ways to get kids talking more, with training by YOU the teacher!!

Thank you to those for submitting Student of the Month names on time so I don't have to hunt you down for them!  Much Appreciated!  Please note that we really don't want people to fill out months in advance.  Please just do one month at a time!  Want to get a jump on it for October so I'll leave ya alone? Click THIS LINK and names are due October 21 for "Caring"!

Thank you to Rosa, Mimi, Elizabeth, Susan, Kristy M., Ken, Cristina, Tamia, Dave F., Don, Liz, Sue, Lynn, Kristy L., Dalal, Kimberly, Katherine, Jason, Peckham, Christen, Sandy, Allison, Heather 1&2, Paula, Carol, Sara, Rochelle, Karen and Barb for writing Good News Referrals!!  LOVE THEM and please KEEP THEM COMING!

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

• SUPER shout out to ALL STAFF for making Monday SUPER awesome for me =)  Love you all!!
• SUPER shout out to our 6th grade super heroes for their amazing POD work and collaboration!  IT WAS AWESOME and made my HEART SO HAPPY!!!!!  
• SUPER shout out to Kristy, Barb, and Ken for working to have an NGSS pacing guide and text correlation for Science!
• SUPER shout out to Christine and Sue for creating the schedule for Tuesday and STEAM Day!
• SUPER shout out to Rochelle for tackling the 8th grade Career Fair!
• SUPER shout out to Dalal, Lynn, Katherine, and Heather2 for going after and GETTING the DonorsChoose $1500 for their classroom!!  YAY!!
• SUPER shout out to those that have already reached out OR sent up GOOD NEWS REFERRALS, especially to those that have NEVER written them before!! We have already had written 342 for August and September!!  Keep them coming!  Can't wait to see how POSITIVE and FABULOUS October is!!
• What to nominate a fellow SUPER HERO to be recognized at our next faculty meeting?  Click HERE!!  PLEASE!!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

*October 4- Career Fair for all 8th graders in FSUSD
*October 4- October Faculty Meeting in Library
*October 5- NextLesson demo in library
*October 7- Band Rock a Thon with Mr. Peckham
*October 10- No school!
*October 11- Cookie dough early lunch release/DJ in gym
*October 13/14- STEAM Assembly modified schedule coming soon!
*October 25, 26, 27- Challenge Days!  Sign up to come!
*October 28- Superintendent here!
*October 28- Halloween Dance
*October 28, 29- CUE Conference for 7!