Weekly Spartan Blog: September 30-October 3, 2014

Spartan PRIDE

Supporting our school community core values.

We had a nice turn out for our first Parents as Partners meeting of the school year.  The discussion and presentation focused on our action plan to create a culture of respect and excellence.  Student Council Leaders, Kolin Baier and Taylor Hersch, delivered an outstanding presentation to our parents and teacher reps.

As discuss in a previous blog, one of our significant steps in our plan is the Expect Respect Curriculum.  The students described the roles of perpetrator, recipient and bystander in disrespect and/or bullying situation.  They shared the stop phrase we use to communicate our expectations in response to disrespectful behavior.  The stop phrase agreed upon by students and staff is "STOP." This may be accompanied with the palm out hand gesture.  See the link below to review other actions steps in our plan.  We are very excited about the Day of Understanding scheduled for December 1 and 2.  This activity, sponsored by the Spearfish Foundation for Public Education, is focus on leadership development and capacity building.  In the spring, we will be training selected incoming 8th grade students to serve as mentors for next year's 6th grade class.  See action plan below:

Our next meeting is Monday, October 20th from 6-7 p.m. in the SMS Library.  The main topic of discussion will be Essential Study Skills needed for success in middle school.  We will share skills that our staff will be utilizing with students to help prepare them for high school and beyond.

Culture of Respect and Excellence Action Plan:  H:\Web Site\Creating Culture of Respect Action Plan 2014.pdf

Spearfish Middle School

Weekly Faculty Bulletin

September 29-October 3, 2014

“Empowering all students to succeed in a changing world.”

• Preparedness  • Respect  • Integrity  • Determination  • Excellence    

Math PLC Team utilizing the instructional design process to impact student learning                            

(See link)     https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/guide-instruction-with-cfas

1)       FLEX Block 1 Begins:  Monday, September 29th

2)       1 PM Early Release, Wednesday, October 1^st -Meet in the SMS Library at 1:15 PM

Agenda:  1) 30 minute writing workshop  2) Teacher work time on SLOs & SMART Goals

3)       Spartan Learning Lab, Early Release, Wed., Oct. 1^st  from 1:00-3:30 p.m. (Names to Kevin)

4)       BLT Meeting, conference room, Wednesday, Oct. 1, Conference Rm,  3:20-4:00 p.m.

5)       Staff Meeting, 7:30 a.m. Thursday, October 2nd in the library

-May postpone/cancel  (We’ll discuss in on Oct. 1)

6)       Newspapers in Education:  Pick up your papers on Wednesday morning from the Lounge. 

7)   Saturday Spartan Learning Lab (If needed), Saturday, October 4^th 8 AM-Noon

-Get Names to Kevin by Thursday.

    11)    FLEX Block 2 Course Descriptions Due:  Monday, October 6th

Upcoming Activities October 7                              Team Leader Meeting, 7:30 a.m. in the conference room October 8                              PBIS Team Meeting, 7:30 a.m. in the conference room October 6-10                        Homecoming Week & and Dress Up Days! …a staff favorite. October 10                            Homecoming Pep Rally (Full class periods and No Flex) October 10                            1st Trimester Midterm October 15                         Parent Teacher Conferences 3:45 – 7:00 p.m. October 17                            Scholastic Book Fair at SMS October 18                            Spartan Learning Lab Saturday School, 8-Noon October 20                            Parents as Partners, SMS Library, 6-7 p.m. November 5                          1 PM Early Release

Make it a great week,

Shane