Southside Families-
Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year! We are looking forward to welcoming our
students back to the building, as we are excited to start a productive and
innovative school year.
The purpose of this letter is to
share some exciting updates on our master schedule, second chance breakfast,
advisory, lunch, Southside Reads (silent sustained reading), PBIS and RtI with
our families. We are reaching out to
share this information as we feel it is important to provide each of you with a
solid understanding of the improvements we have made to our master schedule and
components of our day.
Why did we make these
improvements? Our teacher leadership
teams have been working hard to review student work, grades and feedback from
our school community. This information
was used to better understand our strengths and areas for growth in the coming
school year. In addition to recognizing
our areas for growth we sought to find opportunities to refine and improve on
our current systems. What does this
mean?
Southside
Middle School is positioned to have a remarkable year.
First Day – Tuesday 9/1/17
On the first day students will meet in our lower front lot. Our staff will be out to assist with any questions our students may have as they start their first day. Please be mindful of the street signs for drop-off and pick-up. Our School Resource Officer (SRO) will be out to direct traffic.
At 7:30 AM we will welcome our students into the school in the following manner:
· Grade 6 will go first and head into the gym
· Grade 7 will enter second and report to the library.
· Grade 8 will head in once grades 6 and 7 are in the building. Our 8th graders will head to the café.
Our students will be meet in their respective locations by the team teachers who will provide the team assignments. Once the team assignments are completed our students will be following their daily schedule. Our staff will be available throughout the day to answer questions and to provide any help navigating the day.
Master Schedule
The
Scheduling Leadership team reviewed our 2016-2017 schedule, data and feedback
from our students, staff and families.
In the end this team proposed a master schedule that allows for an
innovative way to meet our current student needs. Our schedule has reduced the amount of
transitions throughout the building while increasing time on learning. Our schedule allows for an Advisory
Block, Southside Reads, RtI and Grade Level Lunches. While our teachers will continue to teach the
same amount of minutes during the school day, we have purposed each minute to
maximize time on learning. The new
schedule gives our teachers the multiple opportunities within the day to
provide intervention and extension opportunities for our students.
·
If you ever have a question on your student’s
schedule please reach out to one of the team teachers, guidance or
administration so we can assist you!
Second Chance Breakfast
We understand everyone performs
better when they have proper nutrition.
Over the past school year we have noticed students can be rushed in the
morning and often skip breakfast. In
order to provide an opportunity to meet the nutritional need of our students we
have added a Second Chance Breakfast program into our Advisory Block. This program will allow a second opportunity
for our students to have breakfast. Our
advisory teachers will have rosters available for students to sign-up for their
second chance breakfast. Once students
sign up for a second chance breakfast the amazing café crew will prep the totes
with the ordered breakfast items for delivery to the team/advisory
locations. We are excited to be able to
provide this program for our students!
·
The prices for the
year are as follows: Breakfast at all grade levels is $1.30 and
reduced price is $.30. All milk purchased without a meal will cost $.50.
Advisory
This will be our second school year
with an Advisory Block in our master schedule. The purpose of this block is to provide an
opportunity for small groups to work together on social skills development, a
major area for middle school development.
The advisory block will include a daily lesson on character development
along with small group discussions within the advisory. While we are in year two of the adoption of Advisory
we are looking forward to the addition of the Second Chance Breakfast
to our Advisory.
Grade Level Lunch
We are very pleased to announce the
addition of Grade Level Lunches for the coming year. Our students have asked for the opportunity
to have lunch as a grade level and we have been able to build this student
request into our daily schedule!
Students will have 28 minute Grade Level Lunches in the coming
year. In addition to the Grade Level
Lunches our students have been instrumental in the development of our café
menu. We are looking forward to the
continued partnership of the café staff with our student leadership groups –
their combined work to date has been key to our breakfast and lunch
programs. If you are curious about a
typical Southside lunch – click the link to watch our very own Mrs. Levesque as
she shared our Southside Stuffed Chicken on WMUR Cook’s Corner!
·
Lunch Prices for the year are as follows: Middle/high school
lunch meal is $2.55. The reduced meal price is $.40.
·
You have the option
of monitoring transactions and loading your student’s account by using the
following website: www.MySchoolBucks.com
Southside Reads (Silent Sustained Reading – SSR)
Our RtI leadership team noticed an
area for growth in the area of reading.
In order to better support our students we have incorporated Southside
Reads otherwise known as Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) into our daily
schedule. This block will allow every
student a 17-minute reading period in order to read a book, magazine or article
of his or her choice. In addition we
have added a Reading Teacher to our staff that will allow for assistance with
selecting reading materials and/or assist a struggling reader. We believe that incorporating reading into
our school day will enable our teams to model reading for both purpose and
pleasure.
·
Please feel free to assist your student with
selecting books or materials outside of school.
If you ever have a question on reading level or options please reach out
to the team teachers, guidance, media specialist or administration so we can
help. We hold two book fairs during the
year. We will post the dates once they
are secured.
PBIS
Our PBIS leadership team has
developed and refined rollouts in order to share the Spartan Pride expected
behaviors in the following areas of our school:
Hallway, Café, Bathroom, Classroom and Arrival/Departure areas. In addition, rolls-outs address our dress
code, code of conduct and active test taking as a means to help our students
perform to their highest during our school day.
We believe clear expectations allow for a reduction in confusion and/or
off task or inappropriate behavior drawing away time from those who are
invested in their learning opportunities at Southside. The rollouts are
combined with celebration assemblies so we can recognize the achievements of
our students, teams and staff throughout the school year.
Over the past year cellphones
became a major distraction in our school.
In order to maintain an orderly building and reduce distracting
behaviors we will use the following plan:
Students should have their cell phones safely stored during the school
day as outlined in the student handbook.
The only exception to this plan is when a teacher has an academic
connection for the use of a cell phone in a class. These exceptions will be under teacher
direction and will have a direct academic link.
As always, if a student needs to
use a phone to contact home they can use their cell phone in the main office
and/or use a school phone. If you have
the need to dismiss your student from school please send in a note. Your notes allow us to provide students with
a dismissal slip, which in turn reduces the need to disrupt the classroom
environment with a phone call from the office for a dismissal.
·
Please take a moment to review your student’s
agenda as it contains the code of conduct, student handbook and an agenda for
the year. Many questions, resources
and/or policies can be found in this valuable agenda.
·
We look forward to partnering with you as we
work with our students in the coming year!
Response to Intervention (RtI).
Our RtI leadership team has
completed an in-depth review of our student data in order to understand how to
best meet our student needs. Throughout
the year we review student attendance, behavior and academics as a means to
support student growth within our school.
This leadership team understands learning is individual and strives to
meet each student at their current level while also setting high expectations
for growth. Our RtI leadership team
works hand in hand with our team and UA teachers to provide data to guide
instructional decisions in the classroom.
This partnership allows our staff the ability to understand areas for
growth, remediation and extension for all of our students.
We also
offer after school help days to support our students in their learning. If you note your student is experiencing
difficulty in a course, please talk with the teacher, guidance or administration
and have your student attend an after school help session(s). We are here to help and guide your student
through their academic journey.
·
The after school dates are available on our
webpage(s).
·
If you ever have a question on our RtI or after
school help program please reach out to the team teachers, guidance or
administration so we can help secure a schedule of support for your
student. In the past we have had low
attendance for this program – we are hopeful to increase student attendance
this year as a means to continue the learning opportunities for our students.
Open House – September 26, 2017
We will
hold our fall open house on Tuesday September 26, 2017. We are looking forward to welcoming you into
our school to learn more about Southside and from the Teams.
·
5:00-6:00 – 6th Grade families are
invited to listen to opening remarks from the administrative team, UA teachers
and visit our team locations.
·
5:30-8:00 – Community Forum in the Gym. This will be our second year facilitating
this forum for our community. The
purpose of the forum is to share community resources and information as we have
many amazing community partners ready to work with you and your student. In the past our PSG (including Spirit Wear
sales), the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, Bring It, Our Food Services Crew and 21st
Century have been available to answer questions and provide registration
materials.
·
7:00 – 8:00 – 7th and 8th
Grade families are invited to listen to opening remarks from the administrative
team, UA teachers and visit our team locations.
Thank you for taking the time to
review this information, as we are hopeful the information contained can serve
as a guide/resource in the days ahead.
Again, we are looking forward to our partnership with you as we strive
to provide every opportunity for our students to grow and achieve in the coming
year.
Welcome
to Southside for the 2017-2018 school year!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Gillis
Proud Principal of Southside Middle School
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