Weekly Top for 1-26-18

Folks,

Thanks for a great first half-
I am sure you are right with me on the fact that I can't believe we are half-way done with the school year!  Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to our students!  Your time, hard work, and patience go beyond measure!

Grades due-
Just a reminder that grades are due on Wednesday, January 31st at 4:00 P.M.  

National History Day in the Herald Palladium-
It was such a cool afternoon/evening at Upton Middle School!  The 6th graders were abuzz in the cafeteria, hallways, and auditorium as they proudly showed off their projects to their parents, grandparents, siblings, etc.  Ian, Marci, and John have done an awesome job guiding them through this history projects!  The Herald Palladium was here to report on it.  Click here:  HP article

School Improvement Meeting Monday-
On Monday we will have a two-part meeting for school improvement.  In part one we will have a presentation on practical things you may be able to do with your students.  This presentation will be by Kathleen Belonga. In the second part we (department leaders and I) will give an update of where we are in the school improvement process and reflect on a short article.  Click here to read the article before Monday's meeting:  Homework article

Quote of the week-
"If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm."  
- Mahatma Gandhi

Have a wonderful weekend,

Chad

Weekly Top for 1-19-18

Laurie Lardner-
Laurie is recovering well from her surgery.  We pray that this surgery takes care of her cancer and she makes a speedy an

d full recovery!

Technology Meeting Monday-
Please look at your email later this morning for more information from Amy about the meeting and your individual tech plans.

Exam Week-
As we all know Wednesday through Friday are half-days for exams. Wednesday is a normal day for teacher leave time, and Thursday and Friday are virtual record days in the afternoons.  Grades are due Wednesday, January 31st at 4:00 P.M.

Congrats to Joe Fralick and his Students-
Congratulations to Joe and Matt as they both had a ton of students once again win awards! Here is a link to the middle and high school winners of the Scholastic Art Awards.  Click here for the Link to awards

Battle of the Books-

The 30th annual Battle of the Books is underway!  The final battle will take place on Friday, March 2nd. Kristin, Deb, and our ELA department will put a lot of time in for our students over the next month plus!  Please encourage our 7th graders to read this entire Battle schedule.

Breakout Boxes Available-

Thanks to our very generous SJPS Foundation we have a set of breakout boxes available for classroom use.  Please check them out at the media center. It is great activity to get our students working as a team, and also get them thinking critically.

Student Ambassadors-

I want to thank Amy, Beth, Kara, and Torrey for working together to get student ambassadors off the ground!  I think this is exciting and has many possibilities in our effort to help students!  Thanks to all of you who made recommendations!

Early Heads Up

• The Math Counts team will be going to WMU on Friday,  February 2nd
• Student Count Day is Wednesday, February 7th
• Career Day for 6th-8th graders will be Friday, Feb. 23rd
• Spelling Team will be heading to Cloverleaf on Tuesday, Feb. 27th
• A making good choices assembly will be on Thursday, March 1st

Quote of the week-

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you."

 -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have a great weekend,

Chad