Spooner Middle School News

Hello Spooner Middle School Families,

Welcome to December! I hope you all had a relaxing Thanksgiving break. For our hunters, I hope it was a successful season with wonderful memories made. It was great to welcome our students back to the building last week. We are grateful for the opportunity to build relationships and work with them every day! As we look ahead at the calendar, December will prove to be a busy and quick month at SMS.

On December 19th our Music Department will be hosting their annual Band/Choir concerts at Spooner High School. The concert begins at 6:00pm. Our students and staff have been working hard and will no doubt leave you impressed with their performance. Thank you to Mrs. Linton and Mr. Scaffidi for their hard work and dedication in putting together our concert.

Our SMS winter sports are underway and games have begun. We have many students participating in extracurricular activities and research continues to indicate a strong positive correlation between involvement in school activities and school performance / attendance. We hope you will be able to join us at a game to cheer on our students!

As we roll into winter, please review our current set-up for our recess time so that your student can plan accordingly.

• 5th and 6th grade → students go outside daily for their recess unless temperature/conditions indicate it is not safe to do so. Please make sure to clarify with your child what your expectations are for their outside dress. Recess can be chilly if not dressed appropriately for weather conditions.

• 7th and 8th grade → they have the option of inside or outside recess. We have the gym and lounge space available at those times.

We have 3 weeks until our Holiday break. Here are 5 quick reminders for students surrounding our culture at SMS that will help them stay successful:

1. Respect - Treat others how you would like to be treated.

2. Integrity - Right is right. Choose the difficult right over the easy wrong.

3. Attitude - Stay positive and positive things will happen.

4. Effort - Do your best. Best effort no matter how small the task.

5. Grit, - Keep going, keep growing, never quit. Don’t be afraid of working hard to accomplish tough things.

A reminder that there is no school for students December 25th - January 2nd. We look forward to welcoming them back to the building on January 3rd.

We have appreciated the mild start to the winter. I wish you and your family a wonderful Holiday season. I hope you are able to enjoy quality time with family and friends.

Sincerely,

Mr. Fizel

SMS Principal

Holiday Greetings from the SASD Health Office!

I’m sure everyone wants to know what bug is going around - Influenza, COVID-19, RSV, Strep? Unfortunately, I don’t have the super-power to know what is causing every illness in our school halls, but I can tell you we have seen a little bit of everything this year based on family and student reports. Regardless of the illness, our health office standard practice remains consistent:

1. Students with fever are contagious. If your child has a temperature, they need to stay home until they are fever free for 24 hrs without medication (tylenol/acetaminophen & ibuprofen/advil can mask the fever).

2. Students who are throwing up or have diarrhea with a stomach related illness must be throw up free and/or diarrhea free for 24 hrs.

3. I would also add, if your student is ill and unable to properly contain body fluid, they need to stay home, as they are more likely to share germs.

In addition to quality hand washing, covering coughs, and cleaning highly touched areas, I want to mention some ways we can stay healthy and help our bodies fight the germs that cannot all be washed/wiped/scrubbed or elbow coughed away. Sleep, nutrition and activity are three great ways to build our body defense:

- Getting good sleep is extremely important as this is when our body rids itself of toxins and heals- for most middle school kids - this means 9 -10 hours every night!

- Nutrition - Healthy foods give nutrients to the body - fruits, veggies, nuts, and whole grains are the best ways to get nutrients that defend against germs. Students should have a (minimum) of 5 servings of fruit and veggies every day. On the contrary, Sugar and simple carbs - can actually cause your body’s systems to become more inflamed - increasing the burden on your immune system. Please think about this with holidays coming up and challenge your friends & family to think BIG with veggies and small with sugar treats.

- Physical activity boosts metabolism & makes your whole body stronger. Our kids need to be off the screen and outside - even in the cold - to run and play and move (Movement/play goal - 30-60 min every day)! Please let any office staff know if you have needs for winter gear and we can work on meeting that need. Additionally, we are planning a winter clothing swap at Spooner Elementary, so if you have gently used/water resistant gear and boots or just want to come and see if there are things your student might need, please check the School facebook page & website for more details.

Please don’t hesitate to call the health office or email if you have any questions about illness, winter gear, or keeping your child healthy. You can find my info on the Health Services Page of the Spooner School District Website.

Wishing you all a healthy holiday season!

Nurse Foley