Winfield Middle School Parent Blog
April 4, 2016
#Twinning
“Nice shirt!”
“Ditto”
Serving others pulls the attention off ourselves and focuses it onto others around us. Serving with others tightens the bonds among friends and solidifies relationships. On Tuesday,Winfield Middle School sent a squad to serve at a St. Louis food pantry, moving over three tons of product in preparation for disbursement. Their common challenge and overcoming of obstacles brought this group even closer together.
Hey Parents,
Visit this site to hear what other professionals are saying about all the MIDDLE SCHOOL DRAMA.
#youAREnotALONE
“Did you hear what she said about…?”
“Look at this snapchat from…!”
This article on EMOTIONAL or SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE seems to make sense when we think about the struggles our students carry with them, everywhere! A few questions we consider: What is drama? Why is it so prevalent? How does impulse control fit? What can we do as professionals to address it? Read the article.
FLAT STANLEY
“The ELA teachers at Winfield Middle School are hosting a Flat Stanley Event for over the SPRING BREAK. All students and staff at Winfield Middle School are welcome and even expected to play along. Three categories make up the project.
1. Geographic setting - How far away does your Flat Stanley travel over the Spring Break?
2. Looks - How well does your Flat Stanley look in his Winfield Gear?
The best decorated Flat Stanley will win.
3. Character development: How developed is your Flat Stanley’s character?
4. A big map will grace our wall with locations and destinations.
Classes will host the preliminary choices and the best from each class will be entered into the finals. These finals will be entered to win big now that we are all get back from Spring Break.”
Attendance Numbers
From the data, it appears the Pizza Challenge made an impact on our attendance. We are also focusing on those students in the 88-90% range as well. We expect this to have an impact and are looking for ways to support our wards while they are with us.
Upcoming Calendar Events
Tuesday - APRIL 5th
- With way too many connections to the area to ignore, we welcome Sgt. Chris Bosley of the St Charles Cyber Crime Task Force as he presents information about cyber crime to the parents and community of Winfield in our very own Middle School Gym. Celebrity Status right here at 6:30 pm
Wednesday - APRIL 6th
- Early Release -
- Middle School CHEERLEADER TRYOUTS
Thursday - APRIL 7th
- Middle School CHEERLEADER TRYOUTS
Friday - APRIL 8th
- Chess Club Trip to the Central West End
- Middle School CHEERLEADER TRYOUTS
- The Board of Education Meeting is moved up a week due to the election. The rescheduled date is APRIL 12th.
- The A Team Visit - Details to follow here in this BLOG.
Saturday - APRIL 9th
- Middle School Track Meet in Louisiana - Depart at 8 AM
SUMMER SCHOOL
This year, we will be inviting students to summer school based on attendance and achievement in MATH and ELA. Candidate lists are being compiled right now.
SUMMER ACADEMY
Another transition program to ease students into the high school routine is called the SUMMER ACADEMY. Eighth Grade candidates will be selected, invited and hosted to participate in this outstanding, acclaimed program. Activities at the High School build connections, relationships and prepare the students with a boost and head start as they transition to the complex world of high school. FACT: a student with a poor freshmen year is far more likely to drop out and never recover from the setback of the credit system. High school students must earn over 22 high school credits to graduate. Successful completion of the SUMMER ACADEMY gets students off on the right foot with their first .5 credit, before they even enter August!
SIx Flags - May 12th
We are assembling a trip to invite students from ALL THREE grades to spend a Leadership Day at SIx Flags. Students were invited on Thursday, then have until FRIDAY APRIL 8th to pay their fees. They can get an admission and meal ticket as necessary and listed on the flyer. Possible candidates will have had to reach their eValuate goals as well as behavior and performance benchmarks for March to be considered.
Looking at the CITY MUSEUM from the west, with the sun setting behind us, we managed to spend a few hours exploring the true re-purposing of so much of St. Louis.
Stay tuned for more about this ST. LOUIS LANDMARK.
Teachers invest some of their summers in planning for success.
NOTHING IS AUTOMATIC!
Some of our tasks surround these activities:
Align the standards with our Pacing Guide to
continue to build an outline and framework for assessments.
Connect the standards with DOK, SWBAT and other meaningful activities,
ANOTHER VIEW OF eValuate DATA
In both these groups, nearly 25 students have climbed out of the Below Basic and up into the other categories. Well done, Team.
We do see our below basic population shrinking. The little blue stripe is a possible expectation of students scoring advanced or proficient on the MAP test in May.
Conclusion
We had a lunch discussion Wednesday about finding an injured wild fox and what it might say. We speculated over some options and what could happen if we took the wild animal home and tried to nurse it back to health and strength. Besides the legal implications of owning and keeping wildlife in the State of Missouri without a permit, we thought only of ourselves. We enjoyed the emotional or sentimental response that doing this good deed might illicit in inside ourselves. We thought bringing something back from the brink of impending doom held a certain mystique, or power behind it. Then we considered the fox and the necessary struggle it needs to grow, get strong, learn how to find water and food. It will also need to learn from its mother how to avoid predators, roads and civilization, including mankind and possible negative outcomes. At the onset, we felt like it would have been nice if we took care of the abandoned animal but at the end, all we did was postpone reality.
So how can we reconcile this cynicism and still teach school? Schools deal with children, communication, growth and feedback? How can we allow a certain amount of struggle necessary to increase stamina, strengthen skills and learn resilience? For one we must allow some failure, but not too much!
Teachers often times know how much to push, blending the right amount of encouragement with a little bit of wait time and some wrestling with the concepts before they even think about giving an answer. Often times they answer student questions with a question of their own, not wanting to give away the answer but make their wards work to get theirs. Teachers walk this fine line with every conversation, supporting a tender reed in one instance and replying with firm yet compassionate clues in other settings.
It’s not what we do! It’s who we are!
Tom McCracken
Winfield Middle School
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