Winfield Middle School Parent Blog
October 10, 2016
Boat Floating
“When the water level rises, all boats float up together!”
In the same way: “As things get better for some, they get better for all!”
Agreed!
Winfield Middle School had a guest in the building all day on Wednesday touring classes. When she commented that we had “some of the best middle students” she had seen in a long time, I knew she wasn’t kidding. We cherish the support, trust, and positive outlook we see so regularly from folks at home. In fact, so far this year we have had only 36 visits to the office for behavioral issues, which is less than 1 per day. Thank you. This increased time in the classroom can only help students learn more, get more out of their time at school, and contribute to the improvement for all of us, just like the boat that floats. The water lifts all boats the same!
Sunrises over Winfield
Is it me, or have we had some terrific sky paintings recently. This sunrise made great impressions on many of us on Thursday. But like beauty, it is often in the eye of the beholder.
Here at Winfield Middle School, we try and enjoy as much of the subtleties that we can on any given day.
Getting ready for the Brunswick Trip, we see so many great things happening at this school and it is hard to pick them all out! This past week, teachers made a concerted effort to give students a specific shout out, just for them. Often times, they are almost hidden. For instance, when serving milk and cookies, I get to listen to so many students display their best manners. They say things like “Thank you,” or “Please.” Students acting like that motivates all of us to do a little bit better. Thanks for sending us such well behaved children.
Attendance Data
Great start to this year! Students must be so excited to be here at school. I hear, “I’m glad to be back!” on Monday morning and “I wish we could come to school on Saturday!” on Friday afternoon.
In fact, the numbers look solid. Here are last year’s attendance percentages as compared to this year!
Brunswick is right around the corner!
We have over two hundred students that have earned the privilege to be invited to the MAP Celebration at Brunswick XL ZONE in O’Fallon. We are going to split them into two groups.
- The 6th and 7th will go on October 19th.
- The 8th and 9th graders will take their trip on November 9th.
- Some students will be bringing home permission slips on MONDAY. Please sign them ASAP!
Middle School Fan Club
At any random evening, you’ll never know who will be there! Thanks.
“See the ball!? Be the Ball.”
High Stakes Drama at all these events.
We have some real gamers on our hands! Well done Ladies & Coaches.
These cheerleaders are encouraging!
Fundraiser Sales
Great work on getting all our paperwork together. We have just a few students remaining that still need to turn in their REVISED Acceptable Use Policy. (AUP)
October 10th - 15th
This week:
Monday
- BRUNSWICK FORMS: 6th and 7th Graders only
- Cross Country at Clopton @ 4:00
Tuesday
- Football vs. Wright City @ home (5:00)
Wednesday
- End of 1st Quarter
- Middle & High School Choir Concert performed at the High School
- 8th Grade FOOTBALL Equipment Turn-In
Thursday
- Volleyball @ Wright City at 5:00 & 6:30
- 7th Grade FOOTBALL Equipment Turn-In
Friday
- Football Banquet in the Commons has been moved to Oct 27th
Saturday
- 8th Grade Hannibal Volleyball Tournament (8:30)
Ongoing
- Brunswick - Oct 19 - for 6th & 7th
- Nov 9th for 8th & 9th
SAVE THE DATE:
- Parent / Teacher Conferences 10/17 & 10/19
One of our participants in the 6th grade CRIDER presentation wrote this afterwords as a reflection about her experience with these tough topics. We are so honored and impressed to serve these children and this community here at Winfield Middle School. Here’s one reason why!
Student Reflection on Crider Presentation
My week with Crider
9.26.2016
Today we had the privilege of having Crider come in and talk to us. Our speaker’s name was Mrs. Brown she was really nice, but she was straight to the point. We learned about conflicts and how to resolve them. In the lesson we talked about how to gain respect, trust, and privileges from our parents. We also talked about hot messages, cold messages, and cool messages which are three different ways that people solve conflicts. They told us that the correct way to solve a conflict is the cool message. In the cool message you use something called I message which is a polite yet effective way to resolve a conflict. These are skills that if practiced could be useful later in life in many situations. Such as, at school there can be lots of petty little disagreements that can escalate quickly so if you use I message then you can be ready to not let these things escalate. Another place you can use I messages later in life is at your job. Maybe you get into a disagreement with a co-worker. If you use I message you can handle the situation professionally and hopefully it won’t escalate, because if it does the consequences could be awful. We are very lucky to have Crider be able to come in and talk to us about these important topics.
9.27.2016
Today in Crider we got to learn about stereotyping and how to not stereotype. There are four steps, the first step is to examine your feelings. The second step is to empathize with others, the next step is to understand the source of your feelings. The last step is to reach out to others. The steps for how not to stereotype are very useful for now and later in life. If we work and practice these steps it will be easier for us to remember these steps and use them. Ways we can use these steps now is, for example if there is a new kid maybe instead of being uncomfortable and awkward you can make a new friend by using these steps. I am really excited that I get to go back and learn more tomorrow.
9.28.2016
In Crider today we learned about addiction. We focused mainly on alcohol and drug addiction. The thing Mrs. Brown really emphasized about if your parents, family member, friend, etc. is an alcoholic or is addicted to drugs it is never ever your fault. She said that when people are drunk they say things they don’t mean and most the time don’t remember. If this information is ever needed it can be incredibly useful because you can see signs of if a friend is addicted. Mrs. Brown also said that when someone is addicted you can’t do anything to help except tell them your opinion, they have to change themselves, they have to want to not be addicted, they have to want help.
9.29.2016
Today we covered the five stages of denial, depression, and if depression gets too far. We learned that when you are sad it is important to let it out because if you don’t it can lead to depression which sadly can lead to suicidal thoughts. It is okay to let out your feelings because when you are in the five stages of denial it’s the best thing you can do for yourself. If someone says something about how they hate life and they wish they were dead it is NOT okay, if that does happen it needs to be handled seriously don’t just shrug it off or tell them they’re being dramatic. What needs to happen is you need to ask them why they feel this way, persuade them to talk to someone, ( if they don’t you will ) and tell them you will be with them the whole time. This is a very serious thing that needs to be handled correctly and cautiously.
9.30.2016
In Crider today we talked about abuse, physical, verbal, and sexual. Physical abuse is when you are under the age of eighteen and someone such as a parent hits you hard enough to leave a bruise. It doesn’t matter if they hit you for punishment or anger if it left a bruise it’s physical abuse. Verbal abuse to some may be even worse than physical abuse. Verbal abuse is when people say really mean things, but they usually don’t mean what they’re saying or sometimes they don’t even remember it. Sexual abuse is when someone that should not be touching your privates does. A doctor has medical reasons to touch you in that area, parents sometimes have reason to, but not often. People that sexualy abuse people are called molesters. If you have been abused in any way you need to tell someone.
Recap
This week in Crider we covered these five topics, conflicts, excepting people, addiction, five stages of denial, and abuse. From this week I learned about ways to earn respect from my parents, to put myself in other people's shoes, (to not stereotype/judge people) that if someone is an alcoholic only they can change there ways, to let my feelings out when I’m sad, and that if I am being abused I need to tell someone. I appreciate this information so I can be better prepared for events that can arise in life.
-Student
Pot of Gold
The same morning we took that top sunrise picture, we turned around and saw the rainbow. Many people posted shots of the full arc on their social media! At school, we try and cover as much as possible. We try and solve as many issues as we know how. But without everyone's input, we can only reach part of the concerns. Next week, our Superintendent Mrs. Nancy Baker will be hosting the first of a series of roundtable discussions. If you feel motivated and called to participate in something like that, contact Mr McCracken at the Middle School for more details. It will only help to complete our circle of services for the students and the community!
Serving students, community and staff of Winfield,
Tom McCracken
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