On Friday, May 25 we will begin collecting the iPads and chargers of all students.  Please remind your student(s) to bring their iPad and charger to school on Friday, May 25.  As a result of the Valleyfair field trip, 7th and 8th grade band students will be turning in their iPads and chargers on Tuesday, May 29.  All other students will be turning in their iPads and chargers on Friday, May 25.  Thank you for your help and assistance in getting the iPads and chargers collected!

We just returned from our All-school field trip to Powder Ridge.  We had a fabulous day and were blessed with no major injuries and exceptional weather.  I'd like to thank our LFCMS PTO for sponsoring this trip.  It is truly one of the lasting memories our students will have when they think back to their middle school years.  Thank you to the faculty and staff that planned for and organized the day and made it a wonderful experience for our students!

We are continuing to implement Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in our school.  PBIS is a framework for schools to focus on teaching students expected behaviors and responding positively when we see students behaving appropriately. The District will be publishing a newsletter in April that describes our efforts at all of our school sites.  Specifically, at LFCMS our focus is on Respect, Responsibility, Positive Attitude and Safety within our Community, toward Ourselves, toward Others and in our Learning.  We have used the acronym C.O.O.L to help reinforce this idea.  Please look for the upcoming newsletter and read about the positive things we are doing with our students.

As a part of PBIS, we want to help students develop good habits and become Responsible young adults.  To help us achieve this part of our goal, we provide additional homework support called Morning Support and Power Lunch for all of our students.  We believe this additional support helps students develop the positive habit of Responsibility by completing their school work.  We have been collecting data to see if our efforts are positively impacting students.  Here is what we discovered.  From October until present, if a student was assigned to MS/PL, over 90% of the time, their assignment was completed.  Here is our data:
 
October 2011
Students Assigned:  547         Student Work Completed:  498          Completion Percentage:  91%

November 2011
Students Assigned:  653         Student Work Completed:  604          Completion Percentage:  92.5%

December 2012
Students Assigned:  713         Student Work Completed: 649           Completion Percentage:  91%

January 2012
Students Assigned:  605         Student Work Completed: 550           Completion Percentage:  91%

February 2012
Students Assigned:  826         Student Work Completed: 764           Completion Percentage:  92.5%

Again, our primary goal with MS/PL is to teach our students to be Responsible and we believe it is having an impact as evidenced by the data we are collecting. 

As we move forward with PBIS, I'd like to encourage you to continue using the words Respect, Responsibility, Positive Attitude and Safety with your student(s).  We are implementing PBIS to strengthen the culture of learning at LFCMS.  With your continued partnership we will have a positive impact on our community as well!

 Over the last three weeks, all 8th grade students received their individual results from the EXPLORE test.   The Explore test assessed students' ongoing preparedness in English, math, reading, and science and included an additional career exploration and planning component.

 

 The Little Falls Community Middle School students scored at the national average in English and exceeded the national average scores in math, reading, and science.  Great job, students!

 

In addition to their academic results, the assessment report contained a compilation of students’ Interest Inventory responses, which gave each student suggestions on possible career areas to research as well as courses to take in high school.  If you haven't done so already, we encourage you to talk with your student about their results.

Please come and join us for Parent-Teacher conferences from 4-7 p.m. on Monday, December 12 in the LFCMS Commons.  This will be the only night of conferences for 2nd quarter.  Hope to see you there!

In the previous post, I said we were working on a way to help you stay updated with your student’s DAILY homework.   We now have a solution to offer.  It is our hope that this solution will also help you become more comfortable using/accessing your student’s iPad.

 

As many of you know, we still offer Skyward family access as a tool to help you track grades, MISSING assignments, food service, etc.  In an effort to be more proactive and use the technology the community entrusted us with, we are using google calendars to show you CURRENT assignments in hopes we can prevent students from accumulating missing work.  

 

Here is how you can access the calendars.  Each of your student’s teachers (with a few exceptions) has created a google calendar and shared it with all of their students.  These shared calendars are viewable on your student’s iPad simply by pressing the calendar icon.  Your student can show you this icon.  When you open the calendar icon you will notice different assignments/descriptions/indicators for each of your student’s classes.  These are regularly updated by teachers and include DAILY assignments, activities and/or descriptions of daily work being done in each class.   It is also important to note that you DO NOT need wireless access to view the calendar.  When students leave school each day, the most updated information is captured on the calendar and that is the information you will be able to view when you open the calendar. 

 

Please begin viewing your student’s calendar frequently as it will help you stay updated with what is happening in each of their classes.  If you should have any questions or need assistance, please call our office at (320) 616-4200 and we’d be happy to help you.  

 

At LFCMS we respect Community, Others, Ourselves and Learning!

One of the questions/complaints/suggestions I have received from parents about Project Real and the iPads is in regard to knowing what homework students have each night.  How do I know if my son/daughter has homework?  How can I check to see if my son/daughter has homework?  First, I am extremely glad to hear parents are asking these questions and we want to help you with this issue by providing a solution.  One of the simple things you can do NOW on a daily basis is to have them use the camera on their iPad to take a picture of the agenda/assignment board in all of their teacher's classrooms.  We have begun doing this with several students and the response from both students and parents has been really positive.  In effect, the pictures serve as a daily planner that helps students remember their homework assignments.  It is a simple thing you can view each day to hold your student accountable for homework completion and provide support they might need.  As an example, before leaving their classroom at the end of a period, your son/daughter would proceed to the teacher's SMART board or white board and take a picture of the daily homework. 

Second, we are in the process of creating and implementing a simple, consistent way for parents to check their student's iPad on a daily basis to see if they have homework.  Our building technology committee will be meeting soon to identify the best way for ALL students to keep track of daily work. 

I am hopeful you will take advantage of this strategy and implement it with your son/daughter.  Again, we have found both students and parents have been pleased with the results.  Please check the website for future updates on this topic.  We will continue to communicate with you to address the needs of students and their learning.

At LFCMS we respect Community, Others, Ourselves and Learning.  

We were honored to be recognized by WCCO news in their Community Spotlight section of The Rally.  Each week they recognize a school and/or student(s) that they believe are impacting their school and community.  We are proud of our transition program WEB (Where Everybody Belongs) and of all the students and staff that make it happen every year.  Please take a look at the video below.  LFCMS is highlighted approximately 1:30 into the video clip.  Enjoy!

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6330530