Addison MS/HS in the News

It is hard to believe that we will wrap up the third marking period by March 10th. But before the end of the marking period, the middle/high school will be having conferences. Parent/Teacher Conferences are scheduled for February 23, 2023, from 4:00-7:00 p.m. This is an open house-style conference to attend when it is convenient for you. I highly encourage each of you to attend Parent/Teacher conferences because the role that you play in your child's education is very important. As a reminder, you are able to access your child's grades and attendance daily through the Parent Portal on Infinite Campus. If you do not have access please email Mrs. Haag and she will help get you an account set up. She can be contacted at lisa.haag@addisonschools.us

Did You Know?

• Students should miss no more than 9 days of school each year to stay engaged, successful and on track to graduation.

• Frequent absences can be a sign that a student is losing interest in school, struggling with school work, dealing with a bully or facing some other difficulty.

• By 6th grade, absenteeism is one of three signs that a student may drop out of high school. • By 9th grade, attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th-grade test scores. Missing 10%, or 2 days a month, over the course of the school year, can affect a student’s academic success.

What You Can Do?

Make school attendance a priority

• Talk about the importance of showing up to school every day.

• Help your teen maintain daily routines, such as finishing homework and getting a good night’s sleep.

• Try not to schedule dental and non-Covid-19 related medical appointments during the school day.

• Keep your student healthy, and if you are concerned about Covid-19, call your school for advice.

• If your teens must stay home because they are sick or in quarantine, make sure they have asked teachers for resources and materials to make up for the missed learning time in the classroom.

Help your teen stay engaged

• Find out if your children feel engaged by their classes, and feel safe from bullies and other threats.

• Make sure your teens are not missing class because of challenges with behavioral issues or school discipline policies. If any of these are problems, contact the school and work with them to find a solution.

• Monitor you teen’s academic progress and seek help from teachers or tutors when necessary. Make sure teachers know how to contact you.

• Stay on top of your child’s social contacts. Peer pressure can lead to skipping school, while students without many friends can feel isolated.

• Encourage your teen to join meaningful after-school activities, including sports and clubs. • Notice and support your students if they are showing signs of anxiety.

Congratulations to the 2023 Winter Homecoming King and Queen: Nathan Sines and Emily Hicks

Students in Mrs. Freshcorn’s Spanish 2 classes recently studied the Hispanic tradition of the quinceañera. Quinceañeras mark a young woman's transition from childhood to adulthood and often feature energetic music, dancing, and food.

Each class then held their own quince where students designed creative invitations, participated in traditional dances, created authentic decorations, and organized a menu and food for the fiesta.

Mrs. Higgs’ band classes have been hard at work for several upcoming performances and have been having lots of fun in the process!

5th and 6th grade students are working on solos and learning how to perform music in small ensembles. This requires students to work together, communicate in new ways, and learn how to provide constructive feedback to peers. They will soon perform for their peers in class and also have the opportunity to attend a solo & ensemble night in March here at the school where there will be guest judges to praise the students for their accomplishments and give them a couple of things to improve upon.

In the midst of this, the 5th and 6th-grade classes competed in a Band Super Bowl event. Students split into two teams, gained yards by performing music accurately, and at the end of the week, the winning team received suckers!

Three students went and participated at solo and ensemble the first weekend in February. Jaden Davison and Nevaeh Edison received division 1 ratings and Allison Morris received a division 2 rating for their solos.

The 7th/8th-grade band and high school band have been working hard to prepare music for their upcoming band festival! This past weekend was their pre-festival concert where they were able to perform in front of friends and family as well as receive feedback from Mr. Dan Kesterke, Director of Bands at Siena Heights University. If you missed this performance you can attend their festival performance at Holt High School on March 2. 7th/8th grade performs at 10:15AM and high school performs at 1:30PM.

Teacher Name: Mrs. Nicole HIggs

How many years have you been an educator? " I am In my 3rd year of teaching. I Taught at Gull Lake Middle School prior to teaching at Addison."

What subjects/grade levels are you currently teaching? " I currently teach 5-12th grade band, 6th-grade general music, and middle school music appreciation."

Why did you decide to become a teacher? "I wanted to share my love of music with others and use the subject of music as a way to teach valuable skills to the next generation such as teamwork, dedication, and leadership."

What hobbies do you enjoy outside of teaching? "I enjoy hiking, watching Netflix, baking, and crafts."

What is the highlight of being a teacher at Addison Community Schools? "I appreciate the small town and close-knit community. The way everyone comes together to support each other both in the good times and the bad is really special."

We are excited to offer a way to give back to ADDISON MIDDLE SCHOOL! On 2/8/2023 we kicked off an event to help raise funds that will benefit all of our students and staff. Our Step It UP! program, will help with funding our Digital Wall of Fame, bringing our school's legacies to life. In addition to new technology, curriculum enhancements, and innovative learning materials.

Every donation, big or small, will help our school. Please help us reach our goal of 100% participation so that we can continue to fund and support our students’ bright and amazing futures! Please reach out to a middle school student if you would like to make a donation. The fundraiser ends on 2/27/2023. The goal is for each student to raise a minimum of $50.00 so that they will be able to participate in the Day of Awesomeness. Check out this video for the Day of Awesomeness https://www.pop4kids.org/video/d-of-a

Please take the time to review the website that will provide further information on the Digital Wall of Fame https://vitalsignswalloffame.com/

As of 2/15/2023 we have raised $4,350.00

Congratulations

Ashlynn Thomsen, Aaron Wesche, and Mark Beougher! These three teachers were selected by the Cement City Free Masons to receive a $300.00 scholarship for classroom needs.

On March 17, 2023, the middle/high school students are scheduled to attend an assembly titled Social Awakening presented by Max Stossel. Later that evening Max will also be hosting a community presentation from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the auditorium. All are invited.

Before working with CHT and founding Social Awakening, Max was a media strategist with an extensive background in social, running social media for multinational brands, and later working for a social media company where he designed some of the notification structures to distract people that he now raises awareness about.

He has spent the past six years speaking with 100,000+ students, parents, and educators around the world about social media's impact on our lives, and creating resources to help manage that impact. Max provides a unique and much-needed perspective on the role of technology in our homes, schools, and in our society.

You can watch this less than 2 minute video of Max helping 800 students realize they’re using social media in ways they don’t actually like. It’s one of many powerful moments in his presentations, and I hope we can share them with your community as well.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is up and running at Addison Middle and High and we are excited to share our accomplishments

While our student behavior has always been pretty good, we saw a need for consistency--not only across grades 6-12, but lots of times within a grade, too. The way Teacher 1 would allow students to act in her classroom and in the halls was likely different from the way Teacher 2 would allow his kids to behave, and that was also probably different from the expectations in gym class, at lunch, the bus, etc.

PBIS creates a common dialogue, common vocabulary, and common goals for Addison and allows us all to be on the same page.

Not only does PBIS help with behavior issues, it helps build a deeper sense of community among students and staff. This was something that our staff worked together to design in a way that would work for Addison Secondary, and kids learned the expectations together, too.

And, as the name suggests, PBIS works by recognizing the positive aspects of what we are looking for, which has been an awesome experience for all of us!

Our teachers taught lessons on how to show Personal best, Act responsibly, With integrity, and Show respect (Our PAWS Pledge) in many different areas of our school. Moving on from those lessons, students attended the Kick-Off Assembly, and began to earn PAWS Tickets!

So, HOW is it going so far?

To be honest, it has been better than we had hoped! One of the main ideas when PBIS is brought to a school, is to recognize every example of positive behavior we can--we knew they would reach their initial goals quickly, and we were ok with that! We have seen a decrease in tardies, and the number of referrals per day.

Students have been able to cash in their PAWS tickets once a week in our PBIS cabinet filled with everything from candy, drinks, homework passes, gift cards, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc.

So far, students have earned their first two of four marking period goals. All students were rewarded at the end of the first marking period with a free fun day outside on the lawn. For the second marking period, students who had zero office referrals enjoyed a movie in the auditorium with popcorn and snacks.

And, we are well on our way to our third marking period celebrating students with zero failing grades on any report card so far.

HOW CAN PARENTS HELP?

Talk with your kids about how they can show their Personal best, Act responsibly, With integrity, and Show respect.

Use that vocabulary with them at home--these are not just at-school behaviors, they are life-long behaviors.

As mentioned above, this program is usually supported by grants. However, with this district-wide initiative, some clever budgeting, and a lot of extra work by our teaching staff, we were able to pull this off. But we could always use help and support from our parents and community. IF you would like to help out with this aspect, simple $5 or $10 gift cards, boxes of candy bars, individual snacks, drinks, etc would be greatly appreciated!

1. Kahlen Wheaton 4.2372
2. Ava Mitchell 4.0880
3. Nathan Sines 4.0872
4. Emily Wright 3.9935
5. Zachary Fulk 3.9876
6. Karlee Witte 3.9627
7. Isabella Leonard 3.9235
8. Zeb Marowelli 3.7141
9. Sidney Arledge 3.6794
10. Emily Hicks 3.6090

Tutoring is offered every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00-4:00 p.m. in Ms. Davis' classroom and on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:15-7:50 a.m. in Ms. Davis' classroom.

Thursday, Feb. 23 – Red Cross Blood Drive; Parent/Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:00

Thursday, March 2 – Band Festival at Holt HS (7th & 8th grade and HS Band) 8:00-3:20

Wed., March 8 – National Guard visit to HS lunch

Friday, March 10 – End of the 3rd Marking Period

Wed., March 15 – 8th Grade to Central MI Univ. 8:05-2:50

Friday, March 17 – MS/HS Assembly 12:30-1:30 HS;1:45-2:45 MS; Community assembly 6:30-7:30pm

Wed., March 22 – Juniors & Seniors who sign up to Career Connections at Siena Heights Univ. 8:05-11:30

Friday, March 24 – Half Day; Students dismissed at noon

March 27-31 – Spring Break