Linden Middle School

January 2025 Newsletter

Dear LMS Families,

Happy New Year! It was great to see all the kids back in the building. I hope you had a great holiday break and are ready to start the new year with energy and enthusiasm. This is the perfect time to set new goals, take on exciting challenges, and make the most of your time at school.

January is a busy month and the 17th also marks the end of the first semester. It is hard to believe, but we are almost halfway through the school year. Please continue to monitor your child's progress through Parent Vue and encourage your child to do the same on Student Vue.

Important Dates

January 6 - Back to school!

Winter Season #2 Starts - Boys' Basketball and Competitive Cheer

7th/8th Grade Boys BB Tryouts 2:45-4:15 pm in LMS Gym

January 8 - Half day for students / Teacher PD

January 16 - LMS Parent Group meeting - 8:15 a.m.

January 17 - End of Q2

January 20 - No School / Teacher PD

January 21 - 6th grade State Trooper Visits- Cyber Safety

January 22 - 7th grade Sate Trooper visits - Human Trafficking

January 23 - 8th grade State Trooper visits - Vaping and Cyber Safety

January 24 - 6th grade field trip - Sky Zone make-up date

Staff vs Students volleyball game

January 28- LMS Class Meetings-6th Grade-During Eagle Time

January 29 -LMS Class Meetings-7th Grade-During Eagle Time

SOAR meeting 7:15 a.m.

January 30 - LMS Class Meetings -8th Grade-During Eagle Time

6th grade SOAR Leader Lunch

January 31 - LMS Band Party 6-8pm @LMS

Zero Referral Club celebration

LMS Parent Meeting

We will have our next parent meeting of the 2024-2025 school year on January 16, at 8:15 a.m. here at Linden Middle School. Please check in at the main office and you will be directed to the meeting location. If you are interested in being part of this group please email me and I will add you to the distribution list. kenders@lindenschools.org

Congratulations to Shianne Jerome, LMS Student of the Month for December!

LMS Math Department News

WHY DOES MY CHILD HAVE TO DO ALEKS?

LMS has been using ALEKS as a supplemental tool to reinforce Math concepts taught in class and to provide additional, targeted, practice for students. Two days per week, in your students SOAR class, are dedicated to completing ALEKS topics. As we continue to push students academically, please reinforce to your student to use their ALEKS time wisely and stay up to date on the topics so they are ready for concept checks.

Aleks is purposely designed to:

Identify instructional gaps
Personalize learning paths
Track the progress of student learning and mastery.

Through the use of Aleks, students achieve mastery more than 90% of the time.
Backed by twenty years of analytics and research, Aleks has helped over 25 million students and counting.

In order to be successful with the use of Aleks, students are expected to complete 10 Aleks topics each week, in addition to an assigned Knowledge Check every 3 weeks. The Knowledge Check is part of a continuous cycle of mastery and knowledge retention.

The information above was taken from aleks.com. Watch the video to learn more about how Aleks works.

Assistant Principals Corner

LMS Families,

I hope you all enjoyed your much needed break and were able to spend some time with family and friends. As we get back into the swing of things here at LMS, there are a few things I want to bring to your attention. We will continue to hold class meetings where we address the student body within the next few weeks at their quarterly gatherings going over expectations of the school and how things are going. Please do not hesitate to talk to your children about these meetings and get their thoughts on them. It is very beneficial for us to have each grade level in one place to have an open discussion on what is and what is not working here at LMS. We will continue to focus on the positive behaviors that the majority of our students demonstrate on a daily basis.

As we move along in the year, you will be hearing more and more about field trips. I would like to point out a few key reminders regarding participating in field trips this year. If a student has 2 major referrals they will not be allowed to attend. They will also not be allowed to attend if they have 5 or more minor referrals with the discretion of an administrator. We started implementing this procedure last year and it has really made a difference in our building. We want our students to be making good decisions throughout the whole school year with high expectations for all. Another quick reminder regarding field trips is all of the student fines need to be paid before students are able to go on end of the year field trips. Please pay any fines you may have regarding chromebooks or any other piece of school equipment so we don't run into issues in the spring.

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions. I am looking forward to finishing the first semester strong!

Lance Belill

LMS Assistant Principal

810-591-0782

Counselor's Corner

Later this month, the Michigan State Troopers will be visiting all grade level Social Studies classes to present on some important and relevant topics.

Tuesday 1/21- 6th graders will learn about cyber bullying and cyber safety.

Wednesday 1/22 - 7th graders will learn about the dangers and signs of human trafficking. They will also learn how to protect themselves with their online behavior.