Evergreen Middle School
January 12, 2024
Message from Principal Collins
Hello Families,
Welcome back, I hope you all had a wonderful winter break. As we move into the year 2024 and take time to reflect on the holidays, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to our teachers, staff, students and our parents for your dedication to help make Evergreen Middle School an amazing place. I deeply appreciate your continued engagement in your child's educational journey. It’s January, I was hoping for snow and it looks like we might get some this weekend!
For the next two weeks scholars will be taking the reading and math iReady assessment. As I’ve stated before; -Ready is an online program for reading and/or mathematics that will help your student’s teacher(s) determine your student’s needs, personalize their learning, and monitor progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows your teacher(s) to meet your student exactly where they are and provides data to increase your student’s learning gains.
We are coming to the end of our second sport season, the 3rd season will begin January 29th. If your scholar already has turned in a physical form this year, they do not need to complete another physical. Good luck to all of our 2nd season athletes. I can’t wait to see our 3rd sport’s season athletes represent Evergreen.
USAgain
This is a great time to clean out your closets to make room for your new items. When you are ready to discard your slightly used items please come and place them in the green and white canisters in our parking lot. The canisters our from USAgain their goal is to help our community and save the environment. The collection of items are recycled back into our community.
Choice Enrollment Opens February 1 – March 15, 2024
The 2024-25 Choice enrollment Registration will be available for all grade levels February 1- March 15th. For more information, or to submit your online application visit www.fwps.org/Choice
Positive Thoughts for the New Year! The only way to make change is to see these challenges that we face as opportunities!
You can learn something new everyday if you listen!
“When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience.”
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful. Committed individuals can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, stronger that you seem, and smarter than you think!
“Although no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.” – Carl Bard
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Buddha
Your Partner in Education,
Mrs. Collins
253 945 5100
Health Screening (Vision & Hearing)- Wednesday, Jan. 24th
Dear 7th Grade Evergreen Parents and Guardians:
Students in the FWPS school district get hearing and vision screening in grades K, 1,2,3, 5, and 7th grades.
Evergreen MS vision and hearing screenings for scholars in 7th grade will take place on
Wednesday, January 24, 2024.
Vision Screening:
Our district uses Plus Optix Vision Screeners. This photo-screener allows for more accurate and complete screening including the following: Hyperopia (farsightedness), Myopia (nearsightedness), Astigmatism (blurred vision), Anisometropia (unequal refractive power), Anisocoria (unequal pupil size), Strabismus (Eye misalignment). The Plus Optix Screener will display either a “Pass” result, or a “Refer” result at the time of the screening. If we receive a “Refer” result for vision, or your scholar does not pass the hearing screening, you will receive a notice for referral. Resources for a vision provider will also be included in the referral.
Hearing Screening:
Hearing loss in children can cause problems with speaking, reading, school success, and social skills. Early detection for possible hearing loss can minimize these problems. Hearing screenings at FWPS are conducted by speech-language pathologists (SLP) using audiometers, which are instruments used to measure hearing ability at different frequencies (pitch) and decibels (sound intensity). Our district screens students’ hearing at 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz at hearing levels of 20 dB. If a student fails an initial hearing screening, they are immediately rescreened by a different SLP. Students who do not pass 2 consecutive screenings will be rescreened within six weeks. This window allows students to recover from congestion if that had been a factor in not passing the screening. The district audiologist will attend the third screening when possible and conduct tympanograms in order to determine if students need to follow up with full audiology sound booth testing or with their pediatrician/ENT.
This is a screening only. A note from parent is required to waive the screenings. Students who wear glasses should bring their glasses to the screening. You will receive a notice for referral to a vision or hearing specialist if the screening results note any vision or hearing discrepancies.
Thank you,
Mary Schneller RN BSN
School Nurse
Evergreen Middle School
253-945-5109
Centering the Pendulum
My job is to train teachers so that their instruction meets the needs of your child. One of the things that teachers tell me they tire of is the constant change in education. I totally agree with them! There are A LOT of buzzwords and “pendulum swings” in this profession.
First we tell teachers to teach directly, then we tell them to let the kids figure it out, then we say to focus on the tests, and the next day we change and say “don’t teach to the test”. It can get pretty confusing.
These days, I don’t pay attention to the edu-babble, nor the swings of pendulums. Why?
Because my guide is research and evidence. Sure, there are times when the available data is weak or insufficient. But there are also some findings that are particularly strong. For instance, practicing a topic in spaced out intervals is better than practicing the topic all at once and never returning to it. Feedback, modeling, and questioning students about their knowledge are some of the other “must haves” of effective teaching.
The best protection against pendulum swings is to center the “must haves” and to ignore the “sounds goods.” In my coaching, I encourage teachers to model the material succinctly, check their students’ understanding frequently, and provide them with a steady diet of feedback. These techniques rely on a teacher who is responsive to student behavior so that learning is allowed to take place in a calm and safe environment. When teachers get the fundamentals right, they set themselves up to get creative with their teaching!
Zach Groshell, Ph.D.
Instructional Coach
Evergreen Middle School
