Heartland MS Family Newsletter

Greetings Heartland Families!

We've made it to the Labor Day weekend! This point is always the first marker of the school year. It's that moment in time when we stop thinking about the craziness of the beginning of the year and focus on the routine that will get us through December. Please be reminded that we will not have school on Monday Sept. 2nd in observance of Labor Day, as well as Sept. 3rd for our district staff development day. We are thrilled to welcome our students back on Wednesday Sept. 4th!

With another week in the books, I'm amazed at the progress our students are making. Hopefully all the 6th-grade students are now figuring out middle school life AND realizing that it's not as difficult as they thought it would be. For all our students - it's always a good time to be reminded that our counseling team is here to support them as they navigate a time in life that may come with complications. We have wonderful counselors that will drop anything they're doing to help serve our Hawks. Their contact information is listed below:

• Neika Jackson - 8th Grade Counselor
• Kim Treece - 7th Grade Counselor
• Cara Bowerman - 6th Grade Counselor (Maternity Leave) & Elaine Siemer (Substitute)

I want to give a big shout to out Heartland Thunderhawk athletics!! Our Thunderhawk athletes have been making us proud, not only within their sport, but with their sportsmanship, commitment to persevere and academically within the classroom! Congratulations to Softball, Volleyball, Football, and Cross Country teams for keeping true to our middle school mission of providing students with an opportunity to learn the game, develop in the game, and have fun along the way! It has been such a pleasure visiting with many of our Heartland families at the sporting events and cheering on our Thunderhawks together!

With sports in full swing, high school football season kicking off, and HMS Pink Out around the corner, here are a couple of reminders as your student attends a sporting event as a spectator. Students must wear their IDs and be accompanied by an adult. School behavior expectations continue at after school events. Please be sure to remind your student of your expectations as well. They will not be able to roam around as we all know that misbehavior heightens when there is no supervision. My "go-to" when situations begin to arise is to call their adult supervisor and require the student to stay with them. If the issue persists, I will have to remove the student from the event and they may lose the privilege of attending future events. Additionally, we remind students to call for their rides with lots of time left in the sporting events. We are experiencing a few students who seem to begin the process of calling home once we are already sitting outside after the game. Be sure to work with your student on your procedures and expectations so that we can all get home to our family in a timely manner.

Lastly, thank you all for your support in participating in Kona Ice Day last Friday! We have a great partnership with Kona Ice and a portion of their sales is donated back to the school to help fund other activities and events for our students! Mark your calendars, our next Kona Ice Day will be September 20th! Enjoy your long weekend and we'll see you on Wednesday (9/4) for a short week!

WE ARE...HEARTLAND!

Respectfully,

Veronica Johnson

Principal, Heartland Middle School

405-340-2972

Click HERE to view the 6th Grade Team Newsletter!

Click HERE to view the 7th Grade Team Newsletter!

Click HERE to view the 8th Grade Team Newsletter!

Click HERE to view the Electives Team Newsletter!

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!

Is your student interested in STEM? The Technology Student Association is a student-led organization for 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade students. We are dedicated to competing at the district, state, and national levels in many different STEM-related events. We spend time researching, planning, and working on our projects. We are the future engineers, scientists, mathematicians, technologists, computer scientists, and business leaders of the modern world. Please join us for TSA Parent Night at Summit Middle School to learn more about our program!

Let's take just a minute to talk about the "snack bar" at lunch. For those 6th grade parents who don't know...the snack bar can become an issue because students at this age are not used to financial freedom and free choice. It's difficult for them to spend out of an account as they tend to not understand that the money really exists and there is not an endless supply. I encourage you to have a conversation with your student about your expectations regarding spending at the snack bar. It is a common occurrence, especially in 6th grade, for a student or two to buy SEVERAL ice creams and pass them out to friends. We will work on our end to stop this practice but I also encourage you to check your account and make sure your student isn't spending beyond your expectations. Additionally - 6th-grade students will spend a LOT of time waiting in a snack bar line to get ice cream and then leave themselves little time to eat it. It's growing pains - they'll get through it as they always do.

Now that we've gotten into the swing of things, I thought I would take moment to explain how we do our grading at Heartland Middle School. This is different than what we have done in the past so please be sure to take note. In order to better prepare our students for success in high school, we've implemented a grading policy that stairs steps at each grade level to help encourage academic success.

Middle school truly is a transition phase in our student's lives and we want to ensure that our 6th graders feel supported as they transition into middle school and that our 8th graders are prepared for the rigor of high school. What we have learned is that when we send our students to Santa Fe, many of them struggle to meet the grading expectations because they are so use to the leniency they encountered in middle school.

Formative assessments are evaluations of someone’s learning progress in a classroom. Think of formative as their daily work and what helps teachers know if their students are learning the material. Formative assessments include:

• Quizzes
• Games
• Daily Assignments
• Projects
• Presentations
• Participation Activities
• Group Activities

Summative assessments are evaluations of what someone has learned throughout a course. Summative assessments almost always take place at the end of a course or at the end of a unit to break a course into more manageable chunks. They’re often cumulative, and they’re used to evaluate a student’s long-term information retention. Summative assessments include:

• Tests
• Final exams
• Papers
• End-of-class projects

At the top of each grade level box it says "50-Based, 25-Based, 0-Based." For each grade level, that is the lowest percentage grade they will receive on an assignment. For example, if a 6th grader turns in an assignment and gets every answer incorrect, they will receive 50% credit on the assignment but for 8th graders, if they don't turn in an assignment, they will receive a 0%. If an 8th grader turns in their completed assignment and gets all answers incorrect, they will receive 25% credit.

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.

Once again Heartland Media Center is partnering with local bookstore Best of Books to sell copies of books that students will read in their English and Literacy classes. Students are not required to purchase copies of these books - the school provides books that students will use while in class. Some families prefer that students have their own copy of these books so that they can highlight, underline and refer to the books at home. If this is you, and you would like to help support Heartland Media Center, you may use this link to order from Best of Books. You may choose to pick up the books in-store, have them delivered to your home, or have them delivered to your student at school. The media center will receive a portion of all sales as store credit, which will be used to purchase more books for the school library. Thank you for your support!

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.

Hold: Hold is followed by the directive: “In Your Room or Area” and is the protocol used when hallways need to be kept clear of occupants.

Secure: Secure is followed by the directive: “Get Inside, Lock Outside Doors” and is the protocol used to safeguard people within the building.

Lockdown: Lockdown is followed by the directive: “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight” and is the protocol used to secure individual rooms and keep occupants quiet and in place.

Evacuate: Evacuate is used to move people from one location to a different location in or out of the building.

Shelter: Shelter is followed by commands that state the hazard and safety strategy for the group or self-protection.

Honesty - Being truthful in what I say and do

Enthusiasm - Expressing interest and excitement in what I do

Attentiveness - Concentrating on the person or task before me

Resiliency - Recovering from adversity and finding the inner strength to withstand stress

and do my best

Tolerance- Demonstrating respect for others who do not share my perspective

Leadership- Knowing the way. Going the way. Showing the way.

Accountability - Accepting responsibility for my actions

Nice- Dude. Be Nice!

Discipline- Choosing behaviors to help me reach my goals and finish strong!

Veronica Johnson - Lead Principal, 6th Grade

Laura Brown - Asst. Principal, 7th Grade

Paul McQueen - Asst. Principal, 8th Grade

Kim Treece - 6th Grade Counselor

Neika Jackson - 7th Grade Counselor

Cara Bowerman - 8th Grade Counselor

Email: heartland.middleschool@edmondschools.net
Website: https://heartland.edmondschools.net/
Location: Heartland Middle School, Explorer Drive, Edmond, OK, USA
Phone: (405)340-2972
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heartlandmiddleschool