Can you believe we are already at the end of October?! This year is going by quickly! But, I am so thankful that we have made it through almost an entire trimester without any COVID related issues. Praise God! We thank God everyday that we are in school together and continue to pray for his protection against the virus or anything that would force us to go virtual.
This week was a strange one, as it always is when we have testing. The schedule was a little weird, but the kids persevered through literal hours of testing and did great! Next week will be odd as well as we have school Monday, e-learning Tuesday, school Wednesday, and then no school Thursday and Friday. Nothing like constant changes to keep you on your toes! Announcements:
Important Dates: 11. 3 Election day, e-learning 11.4-5 Parent-Teacher conferences 11.5-6 No school 11.9 Picture Retakes 11.13 End of Trimester 1 11.20 Late start, report cards released via RenWeb 11.25-27 Thanksgiving Break Weekly news: Saturday Edition!
We all came back ready to go after fall break and hit the ground running! I was really proud of how quickly the 8th graders got back into the swing of things after being off for a week. That definitely shows some maturity! As crazy as it seems, we are nearing the end of October and, more importantly, the end of our first trimester! The whole class has been pretty on top of things lately and that is so good to see after such a weird end to our school year last year. Those good habits from last year came back quickly! I have a lot of information to pass on this week, so here it is: Mackinaw Update: Nothing yet. I'm waiting to hear back from our hotels about itinerary and costs for the trip. As soon as I get that info, I'll pass along the total trip cost to you. School News:
Extra-curriculars:
Calendar Items: 11. 3 e-Learning, Election Day 11. 4&5 Parent/Teacher Conferences 11. 5&6 No School 11.10 No Avon hot-lunch 11.13 End of Trimester 1 11. 20 Late Start, Report Cards Released 11. 25-27 No School, Thanksgiving Break We talked about diligence today - careful and hard work. It's something many of us (adults included) are lacking now! So, we planned ways to practice being diligent. Each student chose a goal of something they know they should do but don't always, or something they have been wanting to do, but have let other things get in their way. Then, we planned ways that we could accomplish that goal and how we would be diligent in working towards it. Ask your kid what their goal is and encourage them to have integrity and diligence as they work towards it!
Reminders:
Upcoming Dates: 10.7 Donuts with Dad 10.12-10.16 Fall Break! 10.26 Bible Quiz @ Lu-Hi I opened up our Weebly Site and realized I typed up the news from last week and never sent it out. So, you'll get bits and pieces from last week as well as this week this time around! Somehow, we are already at midterm! This school year, while we still have a lot left to do, is going by quickly. Now that we have reached midterm, you can expect a grade progress report in your inbox this afternoon. Because parent-teacher conferences have been pushed back, please feel free to reach out to me or any of the teachers if you have any concerns with grades or anything else. We will gladly meet with you either in person or over Zoom. So far this year, choice has mostly been as homeroom units, doing various activities. But, we are now slowly bringing back our "normal" choice classes. Students in the Middle School were paired up this week and tasked with building a model of a famous landmark. Some of them had some really interesting interesting ideas! I'm excited to see how they all turn out. Mackinaw Update: Last week, all students were given copies of all the information that was given out on Back to school night. I realize that was a long time ago at this point and some may need copies of the forms. Please have those returned ASAP! Thanks! Important Dates 9. 27 Pastor Lepley's final weekend at Our Shepherd 10.2 Late Start; Box Top Collection ends 10. 12-16 Fall Break, No School 11.3 e-Learning 11.4-5 Parent-Teacher conferences 11. 5-6 No School You would think a four day week would feel shorter, but between projects, tests, and sports, this felt like a long one. However, the whole class worked through it well, even making up a new game in the midst of it all! This group is so much fun!
We did take some time to remember the tragedy that happened on this day 19 years ago. Despite the fact that none of these students were around when this happened (and even I was pretty young), it is such an important thing for us to remember and reflect on. We watched some news stories, shared experiences that our families or we had on that, and tried the grasp that pain that so many people felt as a result. While many of us will, thankfully, never truly know that pain, we all did our best to empathize with those who lost and take some time to reflect on how grateful for what we have. Mackinaw Updates: I still have yet to get any parent forms or other forms back yet. Please do that soon so that we can begin planning! Important Dates: 9.14 PTL City BBQ Dine out event 9.18 Late start 9.21 NO EARLY DISMISSAL - Parent/Teacher conferences have been moved to Nov. 4-5 9.22 Midterm We've been in school for three weeks and things are finally starting to feel "normal" again. We've settled into our daily routines, figured out homework again, and our fall sports season is in full swing!
With this new sense of normal, comes a feeling of comfort. We have started getting more comfortable with one another, which makes class time and school in general so much more enjoyable! But, this feeling of comfort also has a downside - we can get to relaxed in taking care of what we know we need to. For the most part, everyone is staying on top of things, which is great! As we get further into the year, we will all have more things to take care of, so establishing good habits and keeping our priorities in check will be important. Mackinac Island Update: Parent forms and forms for anyone else wanting to join us are due in about a month. Make sure to get those in so we can begin planning! Calendar items to watch for:
Well we did it! We made it through our first week of school! I am so thankful that we are able to be back together again, despite the annoyance of masks, the extra time needing to be spend on table wiping and hand washing, and the need to socially distance. I'm so happy I get to spend my days back in this building and with your kids.
We spent some time this week talking about the theme verse for the year "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. "(Romans 12:12). We can to the realization that the best way for us to be patient in our current affliction is to be joyful in hope and faithful in prayer. This verse so perfectly applies to this school year and I pray that the students remember that verse every time they are faced with a new affliction this year. We also got to spend a good amount of time just as a homeroom class. This is something we don't always get to do, so it was a great way to start the school year. We were able to acquainted with one another as well as this whole "school" thing. Now that we've had a week to settle in, we're getting down to business next week and moving to our normal schedule. I know the kids will do great things this year and I look forward to getting to know them all better as the year goes on. REMINDERS:
IMPORTANT DATES:
For anyone following along with The Red Letter Challenge at church, Wednesday was the Day of Prayer. As a class, we went down to the sanctuary and spent about 10 minutes on our own with Bibles and prayer prompts. It was a good time to rest and reflect on God's word and all he has done for us!
As we are settling into the third trimester, there are some students that are starting to fall behind. All students who are missing work have been made aware of what they are missing, but if you have any questions, you can have them show you their google classrooms or you can email any of their teachers to see what work is missing. With that said, we are nearing the end of 8th grade, which means high school is coming up quickly! This is the time for students to really build those good habits of studying and getting work done and turned in on time. Encourage and check in with your kids to help them form those good habits. We all are acutely aware of the coronavirus and its spread. Know that we are doing all that we can here to keep germs from spreading: encouraging kids to cover coughs, disinfecting various surfaces, and making sure hand washing is being done throughout the day. However, the biggest way to keep germs from spreading is to keep kids home when they are sick - that means fever free, without medicine, for 24 hours before coming back to school. I know missing school is a huge pain, but it really is better to stay home and get healthy and then come back. Teachers will work with students to get them caught up. Finally, be sure to check RAM NEWS for other school announcements! Dates to Remember: February 28th-March 6th: Book Fair open before and after school as well as between services on Sunday and Wednesday March 9th: PTL meeting 6:30 PM April 3rd: Walkathon 12:15-3 PM April 20th: Portillo's dine out 5-8 PM May 5th: e-learning Day The third trimester is off and rolling!
Report cards for second trimester went home today. In each envelope you will see your student's report card, results from NWEA math and reading testing earlier this year, and a balance sheet for the Mackinaw Class trip. There is also a pink sheet attached to the outside of the envelope - please sign and return that after you have a chance to review your student's report card. In regards to the balance sheets - if I happened to miss something or do any miscalculation, please be sure to let me know! If you have any questions regarding that, please reach out. As the we are nearing warmer temperatures, we, as middle school teachers, wanted to send a reminder about dress code. When wearing leggings or close fitting athletic pants, girls need to be sure that they are wearing appropriate-length dresses, skirts or tunic tops over them, as our dress code states. Please be sure that shorts are long enough too! I know many girls have done some growing over the winter, so checking to be sure shorts are still school appropriate would be a good thing to do right around now! Boys and girls alike need to be sure athletic shorts are fitting them properly as well. But, until it gets warmer, students need to be dressing for the weather. We had a fire drill today and students who chose to wear shorts and t-shirts to school today were quite chilly for those few minutes we were outside! Be sure to check RAM NEWS for any other events and school news. Dates to Remember: February 28th-March 6: Book Fair open before and after school as well as between services on Sunday and Wednesday March 4th: Muffins with Mom 7:45 AM March 9th: PTL meeting 6:30 PM April 3rd: Walkathon April 20th: Portillo's dine out 5-8 PM May 5th: e-learning Day |