Saints Day Thoughts a Few Days Later

Now that I have a weekend between me and our first Saints Day and the dust has settled, here are a few thoughts.

We had a GREAT turnout. We only had 56 students that were not able to attend and many of those we knew about before hand (scheduled family vacations, etc...). That is outstanding. What a great community.

Next year we already have plans to make the day run smoother. Photos will be in the Main Gym, not the Aux Gym, four photographers (still not happy with the fact they only sent two this year to start with), two seperate lines with more help in the picture area.

Spreading out the schedule distribution/form collection area so it doens't become a bottle neck.

There are a few other minor changes that we'll make but all in all it was a great success. Thanks again to everyone that helped and to all the parents and students that particiapted.

Saints Day Thoughts

Anytime you try something different or new you can almost expect something will not go as smoothly as you would like, regardless of how much planning you put into it. Soooooooo.....when you're expecting 4 cameras and photographers for your first annual Saints Day and only 2 show up, what do you do? You do the same thing you do in life when you're dealt a bad hand. You make the best of it, and that is exactly what our parents and students did. To be perfectly honest, our parents handled this 500% better than I did.....(I was not happy). The lack of photographers made for a long line for the first few hours to get photos and student ID's taken. Once a thrid photographer showed up things ran much better. Our kids and parents were great.

Bump in the road number two occured when we ran out of textbooks that were barcoded. The barcodes have been on order and will be here before school, assigned to the books so that they can be passed out the first day of school. Other than those little bumps in the road, Saints Day was a HUGE success. Having this activity before school opens allows us to hit the ground running when school begins in September. Thanks again for all your help and patience and a special thanks to everyone that helped out.

(If this is the worse day of the year for me then I've got it made.)

Saints Day Tomorrow (Friday)

Getting a little nervous....which is my nature. Will everyone show up? Will everyone show up at the same time? Will no one show up? Will the cameras for the photo company work? Will the book distribution run smoothly? Will it rain? Will I win the Mega Millions? Ahhhhhhhhhh......

Hoping that everyone can make it and it runs smoothly. Had a good question that I can clear up. If you have a couple of students, say a 6th grader and an 8th grader...do you have to come back twice? The answer is no, one trip is fine. We'll make things work if we have an 8th grader during the the 6th grade time slot.....of course with that said, I hope I don't get 200 8th graders show up during the 6th grade time slot (just another worry).

Fingers are crossed. Hope to see everyone Friday

Incoming 6th Graders.....

Please, please, please read the post two spots below. In a nutshell, if you don't have your required shots, you will not be able to attend school. Please don't make me the bad guy. I can almost bet that the first day of school we'll have a few students that I'll have to send home.

I hope I'm wrong....

DC Fundraisers

GREAT Job...not good, but GREAT Job this year's DC parents did with our Texas Hold'em fundraisers. Our last one was last night and the check to our tour company will be in the mail today that gives every parent that worked credit toward their child's trip. There were a few bumps in the road this year but our parents stepped up and handled it without a problem. Once again proving we've got the best kids, best parents and best community around. Thanks to everyone that helped out.

Required Immunization Information

Due to state requirements, all schools are required to report the immunization status of all 6th grade students at the beginning of each school year.

Required for all children entering kindergarten, all 6th grade students, and all children changing school districts:
• Two doses of Varicella vaccine or history of chickenpox disease

Required for all children 11-18 years of age who are changing school districts or who are enrolled in the 6th grade:
• One dose of Meningococcal vaccine
• One dose of tetanus/diphtheria/accellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine (if it has been 5 years since last dose of tetanus/diphtheria vaccine).

Please check your incoming 6th grade child’s immunization records to ensure he/she has the correct doses. Documentation of this information is required before your 5th grade student may enter the 6th grade. Failure to submit this documentation will result in your child NOT being able to start school on the first day of the 2011-12 school year.
If your child is lacking any immunizations, please have them completed and provide documentation to the SCMS Office before the start of school.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact the SCMS Office.

District Academic Honors

I hesitate to even post this. I've seen over the years many kids that put waaaaaay too much pressure on themselves at an early age when it comes to grades. My philosophy in school, and at home with my sons, has always been to do your best. If a B- is your best, that's GREAT, but on the other hand, if you were a slacker and got an A- then you shouldn't be happy (because I'm not and I didn't keep it a secret that I wasn't happy). Where this rambling is headed is every year our District hosts an Awards Night for grades 6 - 12. The criteria for a middle school student to be invited to attend is all A's on his/her report card for the first three marking periods (no A minuses). Setting high goals is something every parent and child should do. The District Awards Night is a nice night, but not making it isn't the end of the world as long as everyone is trying and doing their best.

For Adults Only

Bet that title grabbed most of your attention. For those that are still climbing the hill....just wait. For all of us that have reached the top and have started down the slope, I'm sure you can relate to my recent revelation. This has been going on for a while but the light just came on and I was able to qualify it. When I mow the grass, go for a bike ride, work out...anything physical, I've reached the 2-1 ratio in my life. For the time that I'm active, it takes me twice as much time to stop sweating. If I jump on the elliptical for 20 minutes, I can count on 40 minutes after I stop before I cool down and can take a shower (few things are worse than getting out of the shower and still be sweating). Just thought I'd pass that on to those of you that haven't reached this point yet....something to look forward to.

2011-2012 Transportation/Bus Info

School bus stop information will be available on the District website from approximately August 29 until September 6th. The link on the District website is:
http://www.ecsd.us/busstops/
You can cut and paste the link above or use our District's website. With that said...here's a problem we run into every year. We have a lot of parents that drop off their student in the morning...which is great but they need to ride the bus home. Many of those kids, because they didn't ride the bus to school, have no idea what bus to get on to ride home. Please write a little note with the bus number on it and have them put it in their pocket (no need to pin it to their shirt....this is middle school).

Saints Day

We are trying something new this year that you hopefully have already heard about. We are going to try to get many of the opening week distractions out of the way before school starts. Below is an overview that is also included in your welcome back packet that was mailed out last week.

SCMS SAINTS DAY
Friday August 26th

Photos taken, Student ID’s, Schedules, Locker information and Books Passed Out, Touring the Building, Student Book Store Open….

6th Graders 11:00 am until 1:00 pm
7th Graders 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm
8th Graders 3:00 pm until 5:00 pm

Hope to see everyone on the 26th. For any student that can not make it, they can pick up their schedule/locker information the morning of our first day of school.

Supply Lists

Note to self.....put the supply list out sooner. I forgot that many stores start their back to school specials in June.

Anyway, here is the suggested supply lists. Many problems that middle school students have revolve around organization. Because of that we use a colored folder/notebook system. Math is Green, Language Arts is Yellow, Social Studies is Blue and Science is Red. Please do not purchase anything that resembles a "Trapper Keeper". Those tend to become Black Holes for assignments and notes. If possible, having a second set of supplies at home and a quiet place that your student knows is their homework area will also help in the process. Remember that these are recommended lists....with the economy the way it is and things being tight, if you can not afford some of the items, we'll find a way to make it work.

6th Grade Supply List:

Scissors erasers
lined paper box of Kleenex
Six one inch binders (one for each class)
dividers for each binder
red pens for correcting 4 pack of dry erase markers
colored pencils 1 old sock (to use as an eraser for the markers)
glue sticks One Green spiral notebook for Math
highlighters One Blue spiral notebook for Geography

7th Grade Supply List:
Colored Pencils #2 pencils and erasers
Glue sticks ruler (English and metric)
Highlighters box of Kleenex (turned into your Math teacher)
TI-30X-IIS calculator pens
One Green (Math), one Blue (Geography), one Yellow (Language Arts) and two red (Science …one for notes and one for labs) spiral notebooks.

8th Grade Supply List:
Colored Pencils #2 pencils and erasers
Glue sticks ink pens
Highlighters box of Kleenex
TI-30X-IIS calculator
One Green (Math), one Blue (Geography), one Yellow (Language Arts) and one red (Science) spiral notebooks.

Monday August 8th

Yes....I'm back to work. Hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather and the kids at home. As much as most of us joke about wanting school to start again so the kids will be out of the house (been there), enjoy these days.....they go by way to quickly. We've had our kids/grandkids coming and going most of the summer which has given me a chance to appreciate how lucky I am. Also...from a middle school parent perspective...as I was reflecting I remembered that all three of my sons were knotheads to varying degrees (depending on the day) and they've turned out pretty good. Just something to keep in mind the next time one of your kids leaves you scratching your head.

The start of school is right around the corner.....woo hoooooo