Tuesday, December 20, 2016

My teacher thought...



“My teacher thought I was smarter than I was … so I was.”
-6 year old-

Winfield Middle School
Parent Blog
December 20, 2016

We are almost there, but it will take patience to get us through to the end.  
Students may tend to be a bit excited, but we can do this!  
We have done it before and will get through this again!

Schedule for December 19 - 21  
Monday
  • Dec 19th - Middle School Band Concert - Book Fair open late - POSTPONED
    • Toys for Tots AC LAB Challenge hosted by the Winfield Fire Department -
Santa to “Pick up” on December 19th during AC LAB
    • R. King from the WFFD will bring “Thank you Treats” for participants on Tuesday
    • Blizzard Bum Day - Wear Comfy Clothes
Tuesday
  • Winter White Out - Wear all White
  • Board Meeting at 6:30 pm
Wednesday
  • Early Release / End of Quarter 2 & Semester 1
    • Ac Lab Challenge / Assembly at the Middle School
  • Christmas Craze - Ugly Sweater/ Christmas Attire
    • DART is hosting a Knockerball Event at the High School at 2:00 pm, after school is out,
on December 21st

BTW...
Another celebration…  Early scores from our MATH scores are VERY encouraging.  Great job everyone on teaching attention to detail, grit, and persistence!
2016/17
2015/16
Here at the Middle School, we are reaching into new territory, seeing student scores improve, and making content connections like never before. Thank you so much with your support and encouragement during this continued transition.

What do our students think?
STUDENT SURVEYS of our Teachers
Rigor, Relevance, & Relationship?
All vital ingredients facilitating student learning and engagement!  
Teachers build relationships, create relevance, and apply rigor to help mold and inspire the minds of our students. Together, we all strive to contribute to the future by investing in our children today.  
That sounds like a maximization of resources. Good for today AND good for tomorrow...

Student Behavior
Month by Month Comparison
Our discipline data shows our students getting in trouble and needing correction less than in years past. The chart below lists the types of infractions. It is here we see our events have been trending to the less serious, although there may be more of them. We view these opportunities as learning settings where we can help students with content as well as socialization.  
We call that a success as well!
Attendance Comparisons this year and last!

Mr Schultz has challenged Mr McCracken in an inter-building competition.  

#thatschool
A Rose, among…
Trying to get as much milage out of our ugly sweaters as possible.

We are so proud to be serving students, community and staff of Winfield Middle School and District. Together, we want to encourage patience and understanding during this STRESSFUL time of year. In case you have not seen this, our counselor shares some of her thoughts on the season as well:

“During this time of year we all hear the songs that boast of this being the “most wonderful time of the year”. However, as many of you know the holidays are not always the “most wonderful time”. This time of year brings time with family, special events and vacation, but there are also year-end taxes, stress, worrying if you bought the right gift, not knowing if you can buy a gift, spending extended time with family members you may not see throughout the year, and others may come to mind. As you experience this holiday season it is important to remember to use the “soft” skills. Soft skills are the qualities about us that help determine how we approach work and working with others. Please read the article “Academics Are Not Enough. The Importance of Soft Skills for Teens” by Mary Helen Berg found in Your Teen Magazine for Parents. https://goo.gl/OwsbhE
Remember also one of the best gifts you can give your child/children is the gift of “YOU”; take time and spend it with them. It can be as simple as just sitting down and playing a game with them, building something, cooking with them, etc. Taking time and spending it with each other and building memories are what they will remember the most.  Wishing you the best!”
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas,

Mrs. Mix

Monday, December 12, 2016

Great Celebrations here at WMS!


Winfield Middle Parent Blog
December 12, 2016

Special Shout out to all the Secret Santa students and teachers that participated in the activity. This shot during the “Reveal” shows some of the refreshments, smiles, and fun all of us had on Friday morning!

eValuate
2016 2015

Last Wednesday, the teachers gathered in our meeting to review data, complete training, and strengthen connections. This noticeable growth marks the first time we have ever achieved positive double digits.

What do our students think?
Students also followed a link to a website and took a 40 question survey about each teacher. It asked questions about content, classroom structure, and teaching skills. Interestingly, the average state score was a 72.6%, but our score beat it with a 75.5%. In other words, the students generally like their teachers, the school, and classes. Students feel their teachers care for them. Students appreciate classroom procedures and they like the way teachers make the activities pertinent and relevant to their middle school lives. Thank you teachers!

Middle School 7th Grade Boys Basketball / Cheerleaders

Address Questionable Grades Now
This last full week should be plenty of time for all of us to work together to finish and submit assignments, clean out backpacks finding late assignments, and bring those grades back up to an acceptable level. If you feel you may need to contact a teacher, please contact or e-mail those teachers directly. Our teachers are working hard as the year is wrapping up, and sooner is better than later.




Pepsi with the Principal Feedback
These notes taken during our Pepsi with a Principal meeting make more sense to those present during their recording.
Better attendance and increased engagement during our meeting made this year’s Pepsi Meeting even better than last year’s. We doubled our total attendance for the night and made good headway on a few items to follow up on and strategies for detailing. My handwritten notes are displayed here.  To all the parents that attended and the rest that could not make it, we want to thank you for your contributions towards this common end. A few parents even mentioned they were there “...because a staff member invited them.” Well done community.

  • The NJHS Giving Tree for Lincoln County Adopt-a-Family is up in our Library
    • This year we also added the Camp Avery Boys and Girls Club

Schedule for December 12th - 16th  
Monday
  • 8th Grade Girls and Boys vs Frontier Middle School - HOME
  • Book Fair
Tuesday
  • Book Fair
Wednesday
  • Dec 14th - High School / Middle School Choir Concert
  • Book Fair
Thursday
  • 8th Grade Basketball - to South Middle School
    • Girls / Boys
  • Book Fair
Friday
  • Book Fair

By the end of the day, the Library was transformed into a plethora of options for our students to shop for themselves, or their friends and family for Christmas. 
Be sure and stop by!

It's the middle school!


Schedule for December 19th - 21st  
Monday
  • Dec 19th - Middle School Band Concert - Book Fair (open late)
  • Toys for Tots  AC LAB Challenge hosted by the Winfield Fire Department
    • Santa to “Pick Up” toys on December 19th during AC LAB
  • Blizzard Bum - Wear “comfy clothes”
Tuesday
  • Winter White Out - Wear all white
Wednesday
  • Early Release / End of Quarter 2
    • Ac Lab Challenge
  • Christmas Craze

Conclusion, in the form of a REQUEST:
Growing, improving, and getting better is a major focus here at the Middle School. We have an interesting request to help improve communication and feelings of insecurity and uncertainty so prevalent in these middle years.
If something happens on the bus or at school and your student comes home worried about it, call the school that afternoon! Please do not try and make it through the entire evening, or worse, weekend, with dinner, bedtime, and sleeping all night with a stressed teenager. We can talk to other adults. We might even be able to talk to the student and maybe add a few reassuring words of encouragement and consolation. We can gather complete notes the next day and everyone can get back to “normal” at home that evening. Call us. Please.

Tom McCracken




Sunday, December 4, 2016

Question du Jour - Question of the Day?

Winfield Middle Staff Blog
December 5, 2016

Grades coming out this week.
The last set before the semester. Talk with teachers about any issues now to get them cleared up before the end of the Semester.

eValuate Results and the “Question” du jour
2016
Same time in 2015
At the Middle School, we have added a single new intervention to help our students with their test taking procedures, question reading skills and confidence. A QUESTION OF THE DAY, we call it Question du Jour prompts students to understand, read and answer with assurance.
After only a few short weeks of reviewing the actual questions, we begin to see the fruit of our labor!
In the top Green Chart, we see solid growth throughout so much of the chart. As compared to last year in the Red Chart, it is substantially different.
For instance, when I went into a classroom and tried to answer the Question du Jour, I got it wrong! It wasn’t because I did not understand the word “redundancy” but because I DID NOT KNOW WHAT THE QUESTION WAS ASKING! I “read” the question and assumed I knew what it was asking but I missed the mark. The question was looking for the reader to identify two positive answers but I identified one negative. Yes, I had identified something, but it was not what they were asking! This gentle reminder verifies our simple yet effective intervention of the Question du Jour.
Attendance:

   
The Cold and Flu Season strikes with authority!
We are still above last year but it is tough to battle the seasonal trends.
We are bring back the Attendance Challenge with a Vengeance. We started on December 1st with the AC LAB classes. Once a class gets days of perfect attendance, we offer them a class-wide prize. We also reset the contest and move to the following class period for another round.
Families can help by planning vacations during days off, sending students to school unless they have a fever and not letting them stay home because of stress.

Pepsi with the Principal
**
Schedule for December 5th - 9th  
Monday
  • 7th Grade Basketball at Orchard Farm, Girls then Boys

Wednesday
  • Early Release
  • Pepsi with the Principal**

Thursday
  • Basketball against Clopton
    • Girls travel there
    • Boys at home
Friday
  • Basketball against Louisiana
    • Girls travel there
    • Boys at home
  • Items for Giving Tree due to Mrs. Hines in the Library
  • Breakfast Reveal for Secret Santa Students and Staff before school in the library


Upcoming/Ongoing
  • The NJHS Giving Tree for Lincoln County Adopt-a-Family is up in our library
    • This year we also added the Camp Avery Boys and Girls Club

Saturday, December 10

Schedule for December 12th - 16th  
Monday
  • 8th Grade Girls and Boys vs Frontier Middle School at home
  • Book Fair
Tuesday
  • Book Fair in the Library
Wednesday
  • Dec 14th - High School/Middle School Choir Concert
  • Book Fair in the Library
Thursday
  • 8th Grade Basketball travel to South Middle School
    • Girls then Boys
  • Book Fair in the Library
Friday
  • The Warrior Way Store will be open during lunch
  • Book Fair

Schedule for December 19th - 21st  
Monday
  • Dec 19th - Middle School Band Concert - Book Fair open late
  • Toys for Tots AC LAB Challenge hosted by the Winfield Fire Department
    • Santa to “Pick up” toys on December 19th during AC LAB
  • Blizzard Bum - Wear comfy clothes
Tuesday
  • Winter White Out - Wear all white
Wednesday
  • Early Release / End of Quarter 2
    • Ac Lab Challenge
  • Christmas Craze - Ugly Sweater / Christmas-y Attire


Bullet Points:
  • We are aligning many of our SPIRIT DAYS with the high school, allowing traveling teachers, our teachers and our students all the opportunity to celebrate together and develop connections with each other.
  • Our Daily Announcements contain highlights for upcoming and ongoing events as well. Please ensure you are on Mrs. Gross’ “list.”  
    • Frequent highlights include:
      • Attendance from the prior day.
      • Quote of the day
      • Sports schedules
      • Upcoming special events

Thank you, for EVERYTHING. I am honored to look out the back door and see the best skies. It is a reminder of our progress, growth and advancement as we strive together to make Winfield great again.

Tom McCracken

PS  (I am looking forward to sporting my new “Ugly Sweater!”  See you at the Winfield Lights?)