8th Grade Football Game

Yes the game vs Marine City Middle School at East China Stadium is still on for tonight despite Hurricane Sandy. Yes, it's going to be cold. Yes it's going to be wet. Yes, it'll probably be windy. But it's football and football is played in this type of weather. With all of that said.....if you're looking for me, I won't be there. Now before you jump to any conclusions about how can we still have the game in this type of weather if it's so bad the principal won't even be there, I teach a grad class on Tuesday nights and tonight happens to be the first class. If it wasn't the first class I could probably move it but because its the first class, unfortunately, I'll miss all the fun of the Saints victory tonight.

Office Phones...Timing is Everything

If you are a regular reader of this Blog, then you know that I get to work around 6:15. Unfortunately, my office is located in the back of the main office (and early in the morning I'm listening to music) I can't always hear the main phones...and when I do, many times (9 times this morning) by the time I get to the phone I get hung up on. Actually this morning it got to be predictable and funny. Almost like someone was standing outside with a cell phone waiting for me to walk into the main office so they could hang up on me. Anyway....the odds are that if you are calling the main line much before 7:30 am it won't get answered...sorry.

Yes....We're Open

Hurricane Sandy has caused a number of problems with high winds in our area, including knocking out power to SCHS, but we still have power and still open for business. Hopefully it will pass soon and hasn't caused anyone that is reading this too many problems.

More PTO News

I have found a great app called Remind101 that allows information/reminders to be sent out to your cell phone. All you need to do is to text @scmsp to 832-726-1535. It will invite you into the SCMS PTO group and ask you your name. It's pretty slick. It's a one way system so you don't have to worry about replying or seeing 100 different replies to a text that is sent out. So when you get a minute, type 832-726-1535 in the "To" part of your text and @scmsp in the message part. Then just follow the next few easy steps and you'll be part of the group.

SCMS PTO News

Please mark (or re-mark) your calendars. Our next PTO meeting has been moved. It was scheduled for Tuesday, October 30th...the same night as our last 8th grade football game vs. MCMS at East China Stadium. The meeting has been moved to Monday, November 5th, 7:00 pm in our Media Center. Please help spread the word.

District Phones are Down

Not sure about calls coming in but I know we can't make calls going out...at least from our land lines (we can still make calls with our cell phones if needed). I'm hearing that there are fiber optic cable cuts in Wisconsin and Indiana that are causing the problem. Just wanted to keep everyone in the loop. Hopefully it'll be fixed by tomorrow.

SCMS Choir

Outstanding....listening to them never gets old. Mr. Carlson does a great job and the best part is, as good as they sounded last night, wait until you hear them at their next performance. (I'm working on a way to post a sound clip of their performance.)

Kids in Distress Help

Every year around this time I ask for our SCMS family to help out Kids in Distress with donations of jeans and coats. Every year, SCMS comes through with flying colors. This year is no different. We have a number of local families that are in great need of our help. Kids in Distress focuses its efforts locally and are in need of donations. Please take some time to clean out closets and bring any clean blue jeans and coats/jackets to SCMS. We will have a donation box in our main lobby. Thank you in advance. Any and all donations will be greatly appreciated.

Box Top Drive Reminder

A reminder that SCMS is having a Box Top drive next week (the week of October 22nd). Please gather up all of your Box Tops and send them in. Our first hour classes will be collecting them. The class with the most collected will be in line for a prize (donuts/pizza...their choice).

Need Some Help

Every year during the days leading up to PTC and during PTC we have our Book Fair going on. I'm looking for some parents to help supervise the Book Fair. Here are the slots that we need some help with. Wednesday, November 14th from 11:00-1:30 and 1:00-3:20 Thursday, November 15th from 11:00-1:30 and 1:00-3:20 Friday, November 16th from 11:00-1:30 Also, during parent teacher conferences: Monday, November 19th from 12:30-2:00 and 5:00-8:00 Tuesday, November 20th from 12:30-2:00 and 1:30-4:00. E-mail me if you can help out and any of those times work with your schedule.

SCMS PTO is Off and Running

We had our PTO organizational meeting last night and I could not be happier with the outcome. Our board was elected and we have set our first official meeting for Tuesday, October 30th at 7:00 pm. Thank you to Lisa Jerry, Laura Karadimas, Carol Brown and Barb MacDonald for filling our board seats. Our focus is to support our school and expand the offerings to our students. We discussed Activity Nights, after school enrichment classes and various ways we could attack student support from an "out of the box" approach. In order for us to be successful, we need help. Please make every effort to attend our next meeting. I promise it won't last more than an hour. If you can't make it but want to be involved/help out with our PTO, please shoot me an e-mail. This is going to be great. To view last night's agenda click here. To view our SCMS PTO Bylaws, click here.

SCMS PTO Organizational Meeting

We will be forming a PTO at SCMS. Any and all SCMS supporters are invited. Our first organizational meeting is Tuesday October 16th at 7:00 pm in our Media Center. Please help spread the word.

Special Award to a Special Person

One of our SCMS parents, Debbie Nutt, is being honored by the American Kidney Fund by receiving the "Caregiver of the Year Award". Obviously this is quite an honor. Congratulations to Mrs. Nutt for this award. For a little more information, click on the following link: Caregiver

PTC For St. Clair High School Not SC Middle School

SCHS is having PTC next week. The early conferences are only for our two district high schools....not for SCMS (or Eddy, Gearing, Pine River). Just some clarification.

SCHS vs MCHS Football Game

Need a little help (I seem to say that a lot). Tonight (Friday) we have our yearly clash between our two high schools at East China Stadium. This year, the Saints are the home team. If your student is going to the game please help remind them of a couple of things. Stay on our side (the Home side) of the field. Wandering over to the visitor's side, wearing red and blue is asking for a bad situation. Also...please, please, please, remind them that if they want to go to the game, to find a seat and watch the game. Playing tag, running around, playing catch with some sort of football (which is not allowed) just causes problems. It looks like it's going to be a GREAT night for football. Lets all do our part to make sure everything goes smoothly.

MEAP Update

Week One of the MEAP is now done. From all accounts, things are going very well. Our challenge is to keep our momentum going in Week Two. Normally, this is where we see a drop off in effort. Any help you can give us at home to make sure we try our best will be great appreciated and I think it'll show up on our scores.

MEAP Assembly

Its 3:32, the buses just left and I'm sitting in my office after a MEAP assembly I just watched in our gymnasium. That was AWESOME. The kids had a blast, we had a number of fun activities and everyone was cheering BEAT THE MEAP, BEAT THE MEAP..... The gym was rocking with noise. If we attack the MEAP with half the spirit I just witnessed in the assembly then we are going to set State records for school scores. If you get a chance, ask your child about the assembly. Great job to everyone.

The MEAP is Here!!!!!!!

Trying a new twist this year to get a little boost to our MEAP scores. Every year we have a handful of students that just don't do as well as what they could. In many cases it's understandable when you think about it. We are not accustomed to taking tests that last more than 55 minutes. It's easy for the students to get or feel burned out. This year we are trying to dangle a carrot out there to get some extra effort. We are offering a reward this year to any student that takes their time, writes at least three paragraphs in the writing portion (intro, body, conclusion), double check their math work and has no discipline issues during the MEAP. The reward will be during the week of October 22nd, they will be able to listen to their I-pods before school, between classes, during lunch and in class if their teacher allows it. If this extra perk gets 5% of our students to give a little more effort then it'll be worth it. Any help promoting this at home is appreciated.

Box Tops

SCMS is having a Box Top drive the week of October 22nd. Please gather up all of your Box Tops and send them in. Our first hour classes will be collecting them. The class with the most collected will be in line for a prize (donuts/pizza...their choice).

The MEAP is Almost Here....

The leaves are turning, college football is in full swing and we have a month of school behind us. That means our favorite time of year is almost here.....MEAP Time. The MEAP test will be on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 9th, 10th and 16th, 17th for all middle school students. Current 7th graders, because they're special, get to also take an extra portion of the MEAP on Thursday October 11th. We desperately need your help at home to make sure everyone is pumped up and ready to attack the MEAP. A good night's sleep, a big breakfast and the right frame of mind when they come to school always pushes our scores in the positive direction.