Thursday Newsletter 3/24

Hi, All!

As we wrap up the 3rd quarter, questions about the middle school are starting to arise. Who better to answer some of these questions than Mrs. Margo Bloomquist, WHMS guidance counselor for this class. Here are some pearls for you to ponder.

· Organization is one of the most important components to success in middle school.



o All students are required to have an assignment notebook (WHMS provides them to students). Students use them to record assignments (daily and monthly) and use them as a pass to go between classrooms. Parents should monitor their child’s assignments each day – this can be done via the assignment notebook or via an online calendar each week – that can be checked regularly.





o Regular locker cleanouts are quite helpful – maybe do this once a week or every two weeks to keep items in order and “easy” to find. House teachers will build these into the school day – about one per quarter during STP. Parents will come after school – sometimes – to help their kids do this when they have more time to get it done.



· A typical 6th grader spends 60 minutes a night on homework – focusing on assignments, studying for a future test, or reading. Students should have a place at home (free from the tv) to complete work. Students should refer to their assignment notebook, homework calendar, or infinite campus to determine what is to be done in an evening.



· Students have a study period (STP) every day - except Thursday – to work on homework. This is 26 minutes in length.



· Parents may want to get their children to bed earlier – try this a week prior to starting middle school. Then, have the kids get up earlier as well. This may help them transition to our early start time. Just remember, the adults struggle with this too J Eventually, they will make the adjustment – we all do…it just takes a couple of full weeks of school. Then, stick to a regular bed time – this will help the kids’ systems to adjust…



o We have an ACE Transition Class first quarter for all of our 6th graders. At this time, they will be given another tour of the building and will learn how to take notes, tests, set-up lockers, etc. In addition, teachers will help students determine a system for organization – color coded folders and notebooks, one accordion folder for all assignments, morning binder vs. afternoon binder, etc.





· At registration in August, students will get 2 locks. One lock is for their school materials (near their house classes) and one lock is for their gym clothes (in the locker room). The combinations are the same so that they only have to memorize one combination. Students should write down the combination in their assignment notebooks. Students should practice this combination at home – over and over – so that when they have to do it at school, they are better at doing it at school.



· The building will be open in August (dates will be published to parents at registration) for students to repeatedly “walk” their schedules. Students can then become more familiar with the set-up of WHMS – which is really made up of 2 rectangles - side by side. At the beginning of the year, teachers will give 6th graders more time (on top of the 4 minute passing time) to get to their classes. So, they do not have to worry about the time in between classes – for a little while…



· We encourage parents to get their children involved in activities at WHMS. We recommend each child to be involved in at least one afterschool activity per quarter. We want them to meet new friends and to be connected to our school community.



Just remember, students come into our building at different places (developmentally) with these things in place – we work to support them throughout their middle school journey. WHMS is a wonderful place and if families need help along the way, there are a lot of people here to help them. If students/parents are not sure what to do to help their children, tell them to call their child’s house teacher or counselor next year. We help families with these things all of the time! We know that the middle school years can be difficult. In order to make these years easier, we will be a partner with them in this endeavor.



Thanks, Margo!

Parents, please let us know if there is anything we can help with!

Cindy Stemper