Middle School Principal’s ReportMary Kay Thomas
September, 2013
Ambassadors at the Middle School -
Marshall Middle School has welcomed 61 new-to-district students to our building this school year. Our Middle School counselors and assistant principal added to the 12-13 Ambassador Program. Approximately 40 students from grades 5-8 were trained on ambassadorship at the Middle School to provide help to new students throughout the year. New students were introduced to their ambassador at Open House, given a tour of the building, and provided opportunities to meet one-on-one with their ambassador within the first two weeks of school. Ambassadors continue to check in with new students throughout the first semester of their enrollment.
ACT Explore -
This career and college preparation assessment will be administered by our counselors on Wednesday, October 16th to all of the 8th grade students. Results of the assessment will be given out at the student’s Qtr 3Student- led Conference with the help of a test interpretation tool.
Integrating Technology with (+65) Seniors –
Our MS technology teacher, Ms. Theresa McCoy, is beginning a new project with a population of senior citizens at the Senior Center. Ms. McCoy and approximately twelve MS students will visit the Senior Center on a weekly basis with Ipads in hand. A variety of activities are possibilities for this collaboration: 1. Creating video interviews with senior citizens on a favorite story from their memory of growing up in Minnesota, 2. Creating student blogs where the seniors are able to post comments and bring the blogs to a community level, and/or 3. Assist seniors with technology tools to help them stay connected with family and friends. We are looking forward to the production of this class as well as the relationships we will create.
Lifelines Suicide Prevention Curriculum -
School counselors Jen Hey & Krista Bjella will be collaborating with school nurse Lindsey Pelz & health teacher Cheri Buysse to teach Lifelines Suicide Prevention Curriculum in the 6th grade health classes. The four session comprehensive curriculum covers facts about suicide prevention including warning signs and intervention steps. Students will gain a better understanding of how to recognize when someone might need help and how to gain access to help in and out of school.
New Staff at Marshall Middle School –
We have a number of new certified staff members at MMS:
Christie Gergen is our new 5-8 choir instructor, Cheryl Jeska is our 5/6 music teacher (along with Christie Gergen), Amber Meulebroeck is our new 7th grade language arts instructor, Kelly Pochardt is our new 5-8 art teacher, and Jordan Swiontek is our new 5-8 instrumental band teacher.
We also have two staff people new to MMS, both joining us from another building: Penny Swope is our DCD special education instructor, and Krista Bjella is one of two counselors in the building.
In addition to certified staff, we have several new para-professionals in our building:
Becky Anderson is a para in the DCD special education services, and Brittany Bayuk is a special education para in our 5/6 core instructional area. Linda Larsen has joined the Middle School from West Side this year. JoEtte Swan is our media center assistant at MMS coming from MHS. And Jim Paradis has joined MMS in the custodial area.
NWEATesting –
NWEA testing for the fall of 2013 began last week with our eighth grade students. Fall testing is scheduled to be completed on or around September 20 with our special education population at MMS. Students receive instant results upon the completion of both the reading and math tests. Only eighth grade students are taking the NWEA fall reading test this year. Our special education students are scheduled to take both the reading and math assessments.
Math Counts -
The math team will start practice on Monday, September 16that 7:00 AM. Their first meet is October 14th.
Media Center –
Library classes have begun at MMS. The primary focus is Information Literacy. The first class focuses on our online card catalog and resource page which is accessible at school and at home.
From the school website
- go to the Departments tab,
- select Media Center,
- then Marshall Middle School Media Center
- then Marshall Middle School Resource page
This allows students to access websites and databases from the resource page. When you click on the Catalog tab students can log in (same username used to login on to a computer at school, with the password student) to place holds on library materials they would like.
Students are encouraged to read the Maud Hart Lovelace (MHL) Nominees. The Maud Hart Lovelace Award is a student choice award here in the state of Minnesota. The following link is the official website for the Maud Hart Lovelace Program. This link provides book talks for each MHL Nominee, check it out!
Parent Teacher Conferences –
Student-led Conferences at the MS for this quarter are scheduled for both Tuesday, October 1 and 8th. All parents/students will be scheduled with a specific time. We look forward to an excellent turn-out of parents and students both evenings.
PBIS -
PBIS is in full swing at the Middle School. Our concession stand will be open each Friday after school and during girls’ volleyball this fall. You can find the concession stand on the girls’ shelf. We’re also working on our new bus video to be rolled out to students in the next couple of weeks. In addition to all of this, the team is interviewing student applicants to be members of the student PBIS team. These students will help with celebrations, videos, the website, working concessions, and much more.
For more information about PBIS, please visit the PBIS section of the Middle School website.
RTI (Response to Intervention) or Reading Enrichment–
This month we have been working on testing our 5-8 students through AIMSWeb. Middle School students have tested, and interventions are being analyzed. AIMSweb testing looks specifically at the students’ comprehension levels and also at their fluency levels. The data from the AIMSweb testing will be used to determine which students will qualify for reading enrichment services.
Student Council –
Ms. Jennifer Chepa and Ms. Cheryl Henn are coordinating Student Council activities again this year. Students are in the process of applying and interviewing for Student Council positions. Results of interviews will be complete within the next two weeks. Their first meeting is scheduled for September 17th at 7:15 AM to discuss Homecoming activities.