Talon Talk

Hello Parents!

We are right in the thick of first semester and it's so fun to see the kids get involved with things in and out of the classroom. Student activities are starting and our students are ready to begin competing in winter sports. The last two months of the year are always the shortest months of the semester. Our students are excited about break coming up for Thanksgiving and will be even more excited for the holiday break in December.

As we move into the end of the semester, I want to remind parents about the fastest three weeks of school that follows Thanksgiving break. The students will be finishing up their Explo courses and finishing the first half of the curriculum in the rest of their courses. During the last 3 weeks of the semester, you should have iReady diagnostic testing on your radar. The students will have a midyear diagnostic to evaluate their growth in the key subjects of Math and ELA.

Another fun even for our kids is the chance to have our first assembly of the year in December that will be a great experience for our students. Finally, we will have our last dance of the semester on Dec. 6th, 2024. This will be the first Friday after Thanksgiving break. It is a holiday dance and I know our student will be looking forward to it. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving break and we are all ready for the final 3 weeks of our 2024 Fall semester following break!

6th Grade Students of the Week: James L., Casen M., Rylie B., Eizley F.

7th Grade Students of the Week: Izzy C., Korben W., Aiden W., Jenna S.

8th Grade Students of the Week: Luke T., Ana S., Charli B., Ollie K.

Students must be enrolled in 80% percent of maximum allowed classes in order to participate in extra curricular activities. Students with two F’s at the end of the quarter will be ineligible for the next quarter. If the student has one “F” or less at the end of the suspension, they would be reinstated to participate in activities or athletics. During a suspension, students need to attend practices and home games only, still sit with the team, go to team meetings, etc., but they cannot represent the school in any contest or activity until the suspension is over, and they have one “F” or less. Academically ineligible students are not allowed to travel with a team or organization to away events.

No student will be allowed to participate in an activity, athletic event, or practice unless he/she was in attendance for all periods of that school day, except in cases of medical/dental appointments, family emergencies or prior approval by the administration. They must check in before 8:30. This does not include a tardy. This rule also applies for the day prior to an event scheduled on a weekend. Furthermore, the student may not be certified eligible to participate on any subsequent date until the student attends a full day of classes. It is important to be in attendance the full day following an event. Do not use activities as an excuse to miss school.

The Holden School Foundation presented over $12,000 worth of Teacher Impact Grants this month to 11 deserving teachers. The grant recipients did an excellent job of filling out grants and the Holden School Foundation is thrilled to fill these educational needs for our students. These are the teachers from the middle school.

Brandon Pemburlin: Middle School, Calculator Upgrade. $1901.78

Janine Ferguson: Middle School, T shirt Screen Printing equipment. $415.00

Amanda Orton: Middle School, Science Olympiad. $315.40

Mendy Brewington: Middle School, Robotics and 3 D printing. $1793.00

Dustin Orton: Middle School, Powerful Learning Conference. $785.40

Amy Fennewald: Middle School, Stand up desks for learning. $960.00

Meet the 7th grade team! From left to right: Ms. Page (Civics), Mrs. Sweeney (ELA), Mrs. Schuetz (Math), and Mrs. Orton (Science)

Here are 4 things you can do to help your middle schooler succeed:

1. Be OK with your child’s mistakes. “Let your child manage their own agenda and calendar,” says licensed therapist Jody Baumstein, LCSW. “It might be tempting to do it for them, but the only way they will learn is to try themself. It’s OK if they fail! Experiencing failure, and learning from it, is an important part of building resilience.”
2. Help your child learn from their mistakes. Baumstein says, “Once failure occurs, have a sit-down and talk it through together: ‘What happened? What can we learn from this experience?’”
3. Set firm limits and boundaries, and stick to them. It may not seem like it to your child, but children (even at this age) thrive with rules and limitations. The limits you set create a sense of predictability and comfort, and they can help reduce stress and anxiety.
4. Enforce rules consistently. Although it can be uncomfortable at times, consistent enforcement of rules teaches kids to respect order and authority, and it gives them “ground rules” for how to behave as adults.
   

(From: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at https://www.strong4life.com/en/parenting/schedules-and-routines/parenting-a-middle-schooler-welcome-to-the-club)

To increase communication about after school activities, we have started a Google Calendar for parents and families to access. If there are activities that you do not see on this calendar, please send an email to Mrs. Fennewald at afennewald@holdenschools.org so that we can add these items.

6th Grade Student of the Week: Colton C., Timmy R., Finnley S.

7th Grade Student of the Week: Corbin S., Bryna S. (not pictured: Easton T.)

8th Grade Students of the Week: Spencer A., Nevaeh D., Azure B.

It just seems impossible that we are ending November already, but here we are! It has been a busy month of fun and learning at HMS.

We celebrated Red Ribbon Week and learned about the dangers of drugs and the science of addictions. We had dress up days, had a speaker from First Call, a Division of Behavioral Health Prevention Resource Center in Kansas City, and also learned about what a Natural High is. If you are interested in learning more about some of the Natural High lessons and mindset, please explore their website.

In Advisory, we have talked about the qualities of being a good citizen in your school, community, state, and country to make the world a better place to live. We learned about Veterans’ Day and welcomed veterans into the school for breakfast. We continue to focus our mindfulness on gratitude with our daily journals, learning calming and coping strategies to help us in our stressful lives and conflict resolution.

Our final November lesson was to invite Country Crossroads Counseling team in for their 4Keeps Suicide Awareness and Prevention presentations. Missouri mandates that public schools offer education on suicide awareness and prevention during middle and high school.

As we end November and head into Thanksgiving break, we at HMS want you to know how very thankful we are to have the opportunity to work with your child(ren). Have a great holiday!