Friday, October 11, 2013

Weekly Spartan Blog: October 14-18, 2013

Spartan PRIDE
Supporting our school community core values.

FLEX time is off and running.  The first two days of the Block 1 enrichment/intervention have been very successful.  Students are fully engaged in an activity of choice or receiving support to ensure academic success.  
The re-design of our schedule to include the FLEX period is tied to the fundamental purpose of our school; student learning.  Our school is working to become a highly effective Professional Learning Community.   A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in  recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve.   As a (PLC) we are working very hard to create structures, systems and attitudes that allow us to effectively answer the four corollary questions associated with a highly functioning PLC.

1.What is it we expect our students to learn? (standards)

2.How will we know when they have learned it? (evidence, assessments)

3.How will we respond when they don’t learn? (interventions—time and support)

4.How will we respond when they already know it? (differentiation)

We are in year two of a five year plan to create the school we desire.  There are many great things going on in our school.  The two most important parts of our school are the amazing teachers and extraordinary students.  There are no limits to what we can achieve together. 



Spearfish Middle School
Weekly Faculty Bulletin
October 14-18, 2013
“Empowering all students to succeed in a changing world.”
• Preparedness  • Respect  • Integrity  • Determination  • Excellence     




1)       October Student Birthday Celebration:  During lunches on Tuesday, October 15th
2)     AdvancED Surveys:  The survey links will be posted on Tuesday, October 8th
-Parent Survey:  Link is located  on the SMS website  home page (Claggett)

3)     Office Remodel Project Continues:  Contractors are making good progress.  Students accessing the band and choir rooms may encounter construction in the hall connecting the commons to the music area.  A rug will be placed over the area to allow continued access.  The main doors to the west will be off limits until further notice.  All visitors will enter through the north commons doors.

4)     Communicate alignment of lesson plans to the curriculum standards on your teacher web pages.  -This is tied to the K12 accreditation process.

5)     Parent/Teacher Conferences. Wednesday, October 21, 2013  (3:45 p.m. -7:00 p.m.)
-Computers will be made available for parents to complete the AdvancED survey
-I plan to send an email message to parents and a School Reach reminding 7th & 8th gr. parents of conferences.  6th grade conferences are scheduled.
-A brief parent feedback survey around conferences will be provided for you at your tables.

6)     8th Grade GPS/Ropes Course Field Trip,  Friday, October 18, 2013




Upcoming Activities:
October 19                   Saturday Spartan Learning Lab, 8am – 12pm  (if necessary)
October 21                   Winter Parents Meeting, 7pm – 8 pm, in  the SMS Gym for Wrestling and GBB
October 24                   7/8 Halloween Dance, 7pm – 9pm in the Multipurpose Room at SMS
October 25                   NO School, Elementary Conferences
November 5                 Team Leader Meeting, 7:30 a.m. Library Computer Lab  
November 6                 1 PM Early Release, Professional Development Time
November 7                 Monthly Faculty Meeting, 7:30 a.m. in the SMS Library
November 8                 AdvancED Survey Window Closes
November 11               Veteran’s Day, No School. Teacher professional development day
November 20               End of the 1st Trimester
November 27-29         Thanksgiving Break - No School








Brain Rule #7:  Sleep well, think well.
                                     - John Medina




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