How time flies! We are already halfway through the first trimester and it is time for Student-Led Portfolio Conferences! Educational research tells us that children benefit greatly from having meaningful conversations about their learning with important adults in their lives. To that end, we hope that you can attend a Portfolio Conference where your child will present to you artifacts of his or her learning – work from each class that he or she has thoughtfully selected to demonstrate learning and growth.

In addition to presenting artifacts of academic growth, your child will also discuss their progress with the Habits of Mind we have been working on this year:  Citizenship, Persistence, Precision, Preparedness, and Flexible Thinking.

During the conference, House D teachers will be present to meet with you and answer questions.

For your convenience, we are scheduling conferences on the evenings of Wednesday November 5, Thursday November 6, and Tuesday November 11.  Anyone is welcome – parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors. Your child will be bringing home a form for you to fill out to request a time.

We look forward to seeing you!

Interested in why we hold Student-Led Conferences? Read here:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin112.shtml

http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/going-to-school/parent-involvement/student-led-conferences/

On Thursday, October 9th we will have our first 

House D Celebration of the year!

We are asking two students from each advisory to volunteer to bring in snacks to share.  We will have shortened classes (40 minutes) to allow for celebration time at the end of the day.  The celebration will include August/September birthday recognition, achievement recognition, announcements, and a whole house game (outside if nice weather).  

STAR Reading Assessment

House D is administering a reading assessment today, 9/24/14.

Students;
Please copy the following link, then paste it into your browser  to begin the log-in process:

https://hosted99.renlearn.com/12260/

Starting this week our schedule will be alternating between "A Week" and "B Week".  

"A Week" is the schedule we have been practicing since the first week of school.  It goes like this:

7:30-8:00  Advisory
8:05-8:55  Unified Arts 1
9:00-9:55  Core 1
10:00-10:55  Core 2
11:00-11:55  Core 3
12:00-12:30  Lunch
12:30-1:20  Unified Arts 2
1:25-1:35  D.E.A.R.
1:35-2:30  Core 4


On a "B Week" the core classes will go in reverse order. It will look like this:

7:30-8:00  Advisory
8:05-8:55  Unified Arts 1
9:00-9:55  Core 4
10:00-10:55  Core 3
11:00-11:55  Core 2
12:00-12:30  Lunch
12:30-1:20  Unified Arts 2
1:25-1:35  D.E.A.R.
1:35-2:30  Core 1

Teachers have noticed that most students are more focused and ready to learn in the mornings and can be more distracted in the afternoon.  The alternating schedule gives students the opportunity to experience their core-subject classes in a different order to take advantage of our more productive mornings.

Upcoming Events:
September 15- Community Dinner, MS Cafeteria, 4:00 - 7:00
September 22- School Board Meeting, HS Library, 6:00 - end
October 10- Progress Reports Due to Families
October 14- MS Boosters & PTS Meetings, Herrick Ave. Library, 5:30 - end

Dear Families

At the end of your student’s middle school experience, he or she will have the opportunity to participate in the 8th grade field trip to Boston.  This field trip is three days and two nights and for many students it is the highlight of their middle school years.  During this trip, students get to witness the culture of Boston, visit a few of Boston’s best museums, and they get to stay at Emerson College.  This is a unique opportunity that every student should experience.  In order to make this trip affordable for all families, we offer numerous fundraisers throughout the school year.  Each student is given a field trip account.  Students earn money for this account by fundraising.  This money will be put towards the cost of the Boston trip and can also be used to fund other school based field trips as well.  I have created these accounts so that students can earn their trip to Boston. This year the cost of the trip is $325, if your students participates in a couple of fundraisers each year, they will not have to fund raise all of the money during 8th grade.   I cannot stress enough the importance of fundraising early so that your family is not stuck with a $325 bill at the end of 8th grade.  Also, this account can be used for other field trips in the middle school.

I will be getting out a list of fundraisers that we will be doing shortly.  I just wanted to alert you to this excellent opportunity to earn money that does not involve selling something.

Christine Vaughn has given us a fun opportunity for parents to earn money for their students fundraising account.  If you help out for the 6.5 hours you will get $65 for you students account.  Here is the information:

For groups of 10-20 adult volunteers before or on event day, we will donate $10 per volunteer hour back to the field trip fund.  Our day begins at 6:30, and lasts about 6.5 hours.  The work is easy, either monitoring the course for fair play, working merchandise tables, or registration.  We also have some opportunities for set up and tear down.

Possible donations:
10 volunteers X 6.5 hours X $10 = $650 total donation
20 volunteers X 6.5 hours X $10 = $1300 total donation

If you are interested in running in the Zombie Run, you can get $10 off runner registration - and for each time the coupon is used, we would donate $5 back to the Field Trip fund.  The code for registering is MMS.

To register for the run [ https://zombierun.webconnex.com/register ]https://zombierun.webconnex.com/register

To register to volunteer and help with the run contact Joe Smith, at jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org or 893-5529, by September 11th.

To learn more about this even visit www.zombierun.com

Thanks,
Joe

Thank you House D students for a fabulous first day of school!  

Families:   Please ask your student for their planner and their field trip permission form.  House D is going on a hiking field trip this Friday, August 29 to Mount Mansfield.  We need permission forms tomorrow preferably or Friday morning at the absolute latest.  The cost is $9 which covers the bus and the state park entrance fee.  If this poses a challenge for your family budget, please speak with one of the teachers and we can work something out.  Here is the information your child received today:

Hiking Information for House D Field Trip:

Underhill State Park

We are leaving at 7:45 am on Friday, August 29, 2014. Be on time!

We will be hiking on Mt. Mansfield, which is Vermont's highest peak! It takes the average hiker 4-5 hours to complete the hike (with breaks). This means many students will reach the top to eat lunch and enjoy the view then hike back down. For people who would like to hike at a slower pace, there is a wonderful vista about half-way up where we can eat lunch, enjoy the view, take pictures, and then start hiking back down. There will be a variety of groups from our team hiking at a variety of speeds. Students may self-select the pace that is right for them. Regardless of how far you make it up before the turn-around time (12:00), here are some guidelines to ensure a fun and safe day:

-Take care of your feet! Wear sturdy, comfortable shoes and socks. Hiking boots are best . Sneakers work just fine as well. Do not wear sandals or flimsy shoes (such as Toms, Keds, or similar).

-Bring a comfortable backpack (not too heavy). You should pack a lunch, snacks, and water bottles. We recommend 2 water bottles per person. Please do not bring energy drinks or soda. Also, there are no trash cans so we will be packing all of our trash and wrappers in our backpacks to take home.

-Dress based on the weather but know that it is often cooler and windy at the top. You might want to wear athletic shorts and a T-shirt but bring a long-sleeve shirt or even a light jacket/windbreaker.

-Since it is a school event, all school rules still apply. We understand that many students use their cell phones or other electronic devices as cameras and that is fine. However, we are hiking together to bond with one another and enjoy nature so other cell phone uses will not be permitted. Bring valuables at your own risk as the hike may include puddles and rocky terrain.

-At least two teachers will have first aid kits (the leader and the caboose).

This is a fun field trip that often creates lasting memories for students. We all have different athletic abilities so it is important to remember to go at your own pace and have fun!

Sincerely,

House D Teachers