Monday, September 30, 2013
Hungry Howies Fundraiser
Every second Tuesday is now SCMS Day at Hungry Howies. For every sale our St. Clair Hungry Howies makes on the second Tuesday of the money, SCMS will get 20%. The only catch is that you have to fill out a form and turn it in when you pick up your pizza. These forms are available in our school office (and worse case, I believe Hungry Howies will have some one hand if you forget yours at home). Please help us by supporting this fundraiser.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Beat the MEAP Week
It’s everyone’s favorite time of year again….MEAP time. The MEAP starts on Tuesday, October 8th and goes through Wednesday, October 16th. Your help in making sure students are well rested, feed, in school and on time during the MEAP window is greatly appreciated. One thing that we started last year that I believe helped was a “Beat the MEAP” week leading up to the MEAP. It helps the kids get focused while adding in a little fun. We run it like a Spirit Week with each day having a theme that students can earn spirit tickets. Students can use those tickets to put themselves into a drawing to compete in some activities during our MEAP assembly. Here are the themes: Monday (September 30th) is Flip Flop Day, Tuesday is Sports Fan Day, Wednesday is Crazy Hair Day (please apply the color at home), Thursday is Anything But Jeans Day (Dress Code applies), Friday is Hat Day and Monday, October 7th is Saints Pride Day (wear Saints gear). Our hope is that by having some fun we’ll be able to draw a little bit of attention and focus to the test. May the force be with us.
Tuesday and Thursday Homework Help
We are expanding our after school Homework Help to Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 4:30. SCHS NHS students will be on hand to assist our students if needed. Many times students just need some extra time, or use of a computer to catch up or finish a project. Students and parents are encouraged to take advantage of this after school opportunity.
Box Tops and Labels for Learning
SCMS will be collecting Box Tops and Labels for Learning at various times of the year. Our first competition collection time will be during our Beat the MEAP Week, September 30th – October 4th. If you haven’t already, please start collecting those Box Tops (which seem to be everywhere) and Labels for Learning for your student to bring into school. Thanks in advance for your help.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Family Access, Student Access....Still Ironing Out the Bugs
If you’ve had a chance to get on Family Access (the new version of Parent Connect) you might have noticed a missing assignment (or two) for your child that they swear they’ve turned in. There is short version and a long version of the explanation for this. Here’s the short version. It’s a new system and we are still learning how to use it. If this happens and your student says they’ve turned it in, especially if it’s just a day or two from the due date, I’d take their word for it. We’re working on fixing this issue and appreciate your patience as we work our way through these bumps in the road
SCMS Hotline
Every year, a few times a year, I'll have a parent either come in my office or call me all upset and tell me about a situation has been going on for months and no one has done anything. After I calm the parent down, I find out that the student/parent hasn't told anyone and we had no idea that there was an issue. Now students have another tool to use. I've created a SCMS Hotline (810-637-1812) that students can text to. Here is how it works. A student has thoughts of wanting to hurt themselves, or know of a friend that talks about wanting to hurt themselves, or they know of another student that brought something to school that they shouldn't have, or they know of a bullying situation, or anything that they feel an adult needs to know, they can text that to the SCMS Hotline. These texts will be monitored by myself, Mr. Westerhof and our counselor Mrs. McElreath. Students do not need to leave their name. I see a HUGE upside to this. Being a Middle School, odds are we might get a few texts that I would classify under the "Middle School Drama" category, but if we can help one student by using this Hotline, then it'll be well worth the effort.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
SCMS PTO Meeting
Start spreading the word...our first organizational PTO meeting with be next Tuesday, September 24th, 7:00pm in the Media Center
Monday, September 16, 2013
Another Fantastic Washington DC Trip
I'm typing this entry for two reasons. The first one is to let everyone know that we just got back from our Washington DC Trip, and it was incredible. Once again, the kids packed a week’s worth of history in a little over 2 days. I can’t thank our chaperones enough for the effort in helping make this trip a success and our kids for their behavior. All in all, another fantastic life long memory was made (7th grade parents….start planning). The second is, as most of you heard, there was a shooting at the Naval Yard in Washington DC. We were not at the Naval Yard, nor were we anywhere near the Navel Yard when the shootings accrued. I just wanted to help set everyone’s mind at ease. I had heard that there was a Facebook entry or two that stated we were close to the shootings, which was not the case (I hate Facebook)
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Washington DC Weather
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Student Access (Formerly Student Connect) is Now Available
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Friday, September 6th is Detroit Lions Day
The Lions are undefeated (how long will be able to say that?). Friday is going to be "Wear Your Detroit Lion Stuff Day" at SCMS. Hats are allowed if they are a Detroit Lions Hat.
Class Meetings/Talk
If you’re ever looking for dinnertime topics, ask you student about my talk I had with them on Tuesday morning. Every opening day, I meet with each class for about 20 minutes to go over some school rules and outline my expectations. My talk varies a bit from 8th grade (young adults) to 6th graders (still transitioning from elementary school) but the message is basically the same. Do your best at everything thrown your way. Behavior, homework, cleaning your room….makes no difference what we’re talking about, always do your best. I used the example of the State’s Top to Bottom list. SCMS is ranked at the 67%. I told our kids that I felt that this was an embarrassment and if we got everyone to give their best effort; we will easily be ranked in the mid 80 percentile. With the MEAP right around the corner, I’m challenging our kids to give their best effort. Any help at home to reinforce the importance of doing their best on the MEAP would be greatly appreciated. We’ve got great kids and a great staff….we’re much better than the 67% ranking we received. I’m hoping our kids help me prove that.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
SCMS Open House
Our SCMS Open House is Tuesday, September 10th from 6:30 to 7:30. Hope to see everyone there.
Important Washington DC Meeting
If your student is going on this year's Washington DC Trip, we will be having a very important meeting on Tuesday, September 10th at 7:30 in our cafeteria (our SCMS Open House is the same night from 6:30 to 7:30). We will be going over flight times, itineraries, when to be at school, what to pack, chaperone responsibilities, etc.... Please, please, please, I know how busy everyone is but please make every effort to attend. This meeting is for students and their parents.
Change in Traffic Flow
We have changed the West driveway (toward Range Road) to be an Exit Only. This will help with buses and other vehicles trying to exit onto Yankee Road (being able to turn left and right at the same time). Thanks in advance for your help with this.
2013-14 Class Times
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