Heartland MS Family Newsletter

Heartland Happenings - September 15, 2024

Greetings Heartland Families!

This week we had so much fun! With our Pink Out dress up days, Fall athletics Pink Out games, perfect attendance popcorn party, Thunderhawk RISE and the start of our first session of Hawk Hangout, it really was all about school spirit and positive school culture! It is so important to me that our Hawks value their time at school and can have fun while learning! Thunderhawk RISE is how Heartland does our students of the month! Each teacher selects one student that has gone above and beyond to show RISE at Heartland. We are all about showing Respect, Integrity, Self-Control and Effort in all things that we do! We celebrate the chosen students with a personalized certificate and pizza party with sweets and games during their lunch period! Hawk Hangout is an enrichment time where teachers host activities that our students get to sign up for and choose themselves. Some of the activities include: RZE Step team, pickleball, chess, bracelet making, card games, yoga, four square, coloring, origami, and anything else you can think of! This is just another way for our Hawks to feel a sense of belonging, make new friends, and connect with different teachers! Hawk Hangout happens on Wednesdays and Fridays during advisory time and the first session will last until Fall break. After break, they will have a chance to select something new!

A few other house keeping items:

We are having a wonderful time celebrating PINK OUT with our schoolwide dress up days! I have been blown away by the participation of our student body and teachers! We are looking forward to finishing strong with Pajama Day tomorrow (9/16) and PINK OUT on Tuesday (9/17)! Let's continue to bring awareness to the cause and support our Fall athletics! Be sure to plan to attend the PINK OUT volleyball game on Tuesday 9/17 at 5pm/6pm! You won't want to miss out!
Parent/Teacher conferences will be held in-person on Oct 10th & 14th. It will be come and go so stop by anytime from 3:30pm - 7:00pm on both days. It's also important to state that our deadline to turn in late/missing work for the first quarter will be October 16th. Students will not have the opportunity to turn in work from the first quarter once the 2nd quarter begins after Fall break.
Picture day will be on Friday September 27th. If your student must miss out on the first round of pictures...no worries! We will have a makeup picture day on Friday October 11th.
I know that many of you attended to Santa Fe vs. North EDLAM football game Friday a few Fridays ago! I just want to take a moment to thank our students and parents for attending and holding our kiddos accountable to the new sports regulation guidelines! The night went off without a hitch and our students were so well behaved! We have another EDLAM game coming up in October on Friday (10/4): Santa Fe vs. Memorial at the Santa Fe stadium! I'm looking forward to another great evening and a Wolves victory!
If you haven't already, please be sure to purchase the $20 Student Technology Protection Plan (STPP) for your student's chromebook. As careful as we are to ensure that our students are being responsible and taking care of their belongings, accidents happen and the cost to repair chromebooks can be expensive. The protection plan covers the first repair and 50% of the second repair. Definitely well worth the price! The last day to purchase is September 20th and you can do that through the link below.

Looking forward, Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) takes place September 15 to October 15 every year as a time to recognize and celebrate the many contributions, diverse cultures, and extensive histories of the American Latino community. I look forward to another great week!

WE ARE...HEARTLAND!

Respectfully,

Veronica Johnson

Principal, Heartland Middle School

405-340-2972

Hawk Hangout Started Last Week!

Grade Level Newsletters

6th Grade

Click HERE to view the 6th Grade Team Newsletter!

7th Grade

Click HERE to view the 7th Grade Team Newsletter!

8th Grade

Click HERE to view the 8th Grade Team Newsletter!

Electives

Click HERE to view the Electives Team Newsletter!

Congratulations To Our August 2024 Thunderhawk RISE Recipients!

PINK OUT FUN!

Thunderhawks RISE!

Now that we are a couple of weeks into the school year, I would like to take a moment to talk about our Reflect & Rise (R&R) form. You may have heard of this form from your students as they have all been briefed on what it is and what it means. Our R&R form is a way that we document student misbehavior at our school. We do our best to celebrate the great behaviors that our students exhibit daily, but it's almost inevitable that most students will make a mistake that may require a conversation with an adult.

A majority of the time, the conversation between the student and the adult is all that the student needs to be reminded of proper behavior at school and that nips the behavior in the bud. But sometimes the misbehavior continues and our teachers will begin to document the behavior so that we can track the data and administrators can intervene if necessary. It is protocol for our teachers to speak with the student and let them know that they are going to fill out the R&R, provide them with strategies to better handle the situation in the future, and contact a parent/guardian if misbehavior persists. Once the form is submitted, teachers have the ability to forward the form to parents so that you can read about the incident.

To learn more about R&Rs, CLICK HERE. The linked slide show is what was presented to our students as we taught them about our expectations. I wanted to be sure to introduce the concept to our families so that you are aware of the process should you have one forwarded to you from a teacher. If you have any questions, or need more clarification, please reach out to your grade level administrator. We hope that this communication will help to provide transparency as we all work together to ensure the best possible learning environment for our students!

First 15 Days Perfect Attendance Popcorn Party!

Heartland Backpack Program

The Heartland Backpack Program provides a monthly delivery or pick up
of nutritious food for Heartland students and their families in need of
extra support.

Missing Assignment Reports

Every Monday during advisory, teachers make it a point to have conversations with their students regarding their grades and missing assignments. Our teachers have access to the weekly eligibility reports and are working diligently to ensure that your student is making a plan to complete and turn in their missing work. In an effort aid in this process, every Monday each advisory teacher will hand out missing assignments reports to all students missing 1 or more assignments in total for all of their classes. If a student has 10 or more missing assignments, they will be instructed to take the report home, have their parent sign it, and return it back to their advisory teacher the next day. Your student's ability to complete this task will help to determine their "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" grade in advisory. Our goal is to ensure that there is transparent communication between school and home and that we are all working together to ensure the academic success of our students. Thank you for your support in this matter.

Heartland Middle School Facebook Page

Join/Like our page for the latest on all things Heartland Middle School!

Chromebook Protection Plan

EPS offers a $20 “Student Technology Protection Plan” (STPP) to help cover the cost of damaged devices such as loss, or damage caused by abuse, dropping, spills, etc. If the device is stolen, students must submit a police report with the claim to use their STPP (Student Technology Protection Plan). Visit Edmond Public Schools’ Technology webpage and select STPP-Student Protection Plan for the most recent information. Chargers are not covered by the STPP plan. Replacement chargers are $35.

Heartland Thunderhawk Sports Information 2024-2025

Heartland Athletics Update

Click the link to find out more about Spring sports: Baseball, Track, Tennis & Golf.

ATHLETIC ELIGIBILITY

Now that we are in the process of running eligibility for OSSAA activities - there always tends to be some confusion as to when a student can and can not participate. Here are some bullet points to help define when a student can and can not participate.

Eligibility is run mid-week. For example - we run eligibility on Thursday morning based on grades posted on Wednesday evening. If a student is listed as "ineligible" - that means they can not participate in any OSSAA games scheduled for the next calendar week of Sunday - Sunday. By OSSAA rules - students can still practice during that time. However, individual coaches may have other team rules regarding practice.
Probation vs. Ineligible. The first week a student has a grade that qualifies them for the eligibility report - they are listed as "on Probation"... At that point in time - they can still participate and play in games. (Again - team rules may be more strict) If the student raises the grade by the next eligibility report run - their name comes off the list and they are good to go. If there is still a grade in question - the student becomes ineligible.
If a student is listed as ineligible - AND - raises their grade (yay!!) the next time there is a grade in question -- they move back to the probation category. Therefore, there is always a week of grace after a student has worked to get their name off of the list.

Please feel free to contact Heartland Athletic Director Laura Brown with questions as I know it can be confusing.