This week our middle school students experienced some changes at lunch. Behaviors were escalating, and our team made the decision to have assigned seats during lunch. Students were grouped based on their first period classes and our posted expectations are that students will sit in their seats, eat lunch, and then clean up their tables before being dismissed to recess. We have adults assigned to each section of the commons who are there to help monitor and support positive behavior choices. Lunch this week has been much calmer and enjoyable for everyone. We will celebrate this on Friday students’ choice of popsicles, fudgesicles or ice cream bars! As students demonstrate the ability to regulate their behavior we will move to assigned tables (students choose their seats at the assigned table) with the eventual goal of allowing students to choose their seats again while still following expectations.
As we moved into a new semester, student electives changed. Mrs. Hamilton’s Family and Consumer Science class played “Question Ball” as a getting to know her and each other activity. Ask your child about their new elective classes, periods six and seven, and see what’s new! We also had our secondary writing assessment this week as a way of focusing on improving student writing skills. Staff will score these assessments and we will use our PLC time on late start Mondays to analyze the data and focus on writing improvement across all curriculum areas.
Finally, students should have brought home ski trip permission slips this week and the 65 students who qualified for the bowling trip for keeping their grades at “C” and above for the first semester of the year should have brought theirs home as well. Email Mrs. Vesneske at tvesneske@reardansd.net if you have questions or need another form. We are really excited to reward those students who are working hard and making good choices! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at dnewsum@reardansd.net or by phone at 509.309.8153. I look forward to hearing from you!
