Weekly Top for 9-24-21

 Folks,

A Tough Week -

It has been a very trying week at Upton Middle School. 😢 I want to thank you for being the rock for your classes.   It is such a heavy time trying to plan and teach after the loss of Sylas.  Your students, colleagues, and I appreciate your compassion and empathy.  I also really want to commend the job the crisis committee did to pull together and be there for our kids!  We continue to keep Elliot, Ashley, and their entire family in our thoughts and prayers. It is not too late to give Laura a donation from the Upton Middle School staff.

School Improvement Meeting Monday-

This Monday, September 27 at 2:55 in the media center is a school improvement meeting in the media center.  

The End of an Era -

Next week will be Karon Ross's last week at Upton Middle School.  Karon will be retiring after many years in our kitchen staff and lunchroom supervisor staff.  Karon is a person that is just wonderful with people, but especially our students.  She is always positive, upbeat, and caring.  She will be greatly missed by our Upton family, but we wish her the best as she spends time in Florida and Northern Michigan!

Flower Fund-

If you haven't had the chance to get your flower fund money into Laura, please try and do that today.  Much appreciated!

Picture Retake Day Next Wednesday-

For those staff and students that were not at startup day we will have picture day next Wednesday, Sept. 29th in the auditorium.  

Laminator Take 2 -

We will have an area in the office where you can put things to be laminated.  Only a few people will be doing the laminating.  It was a costly repair and we want to preserve the life of it.  Thanks for your understanding!

P2 Next Week-

The word for next week is "teamwork".  I think the UMS staff will do a great job of relaying the tenants behind this word as you often exemplify it! 

Teamwork Link

 

Spirit Week -

Thanks for your participation in the district spirit week!  I know the students always get a kick out of seeing you be a part of it!  If you have any neat pictures, please pass them on to Amanda Wallace at awallace@sjschools.org. Enjoy the homecoming night as our Bears hopefully remain undefeated!

Recycle when you want-

I wanted to just let you decide as a teacher what day and when you want to recycle in your classroom.  It is always good to send at least 3 people (2 for the barrel and 1 to stay back by the door).  The recycling company emptied a very full dumpster this morning which is a great thing!

Quote of the week- 

Happy Friday and have a great weekend,

Chad

Weekly Top for 9-17-21

 Folks,

Great Back to School Night-  

What a great night it was at Back to School Night!  Parents that came were happy, positive, and loving the experience.  I attended two  sessions myself and the presentations were wonderful!  Thanks for all the work you put into it!

Attendance Each Hour-

We would appreciate if you would take attendance each hour of each day.  It helps the ladies up front out so much and also helps to avoid our automatic callout system sending an errant phone call.  

All District Spirit Week Next Week -

All across the district next week each level will be participating in a spirit week.  Please consider joining in each day.

The Laminator-

The laminator is down and a repairperson has been called in.  It had major damage.  Moving forward we will have the laminator in the office.  Next week I will announce a system we will follow for getting something laminated.  It is an expensive tool and so we will be making a few changes.  Thanks!

Positivity Project-

It is always a good idea to just take a glance at the day's slides a little before you present them.  Anne MacDonald and I had a wonderful time with our group on Tuesday.  The 7th grade videos and discussion was very rich!  It was the best part of my day Tuesday!  It's all about relationships and making "our students" feel like Upton Middle School is a place they like to be to learn.  😀

BLT-

We will have our first BLT meeting of the year after school on Tuesday, September 21st in the conference room.  Your department leaders do such a great job of representing your department and work hard to facilitate great PLC teams.

PLC-

Speaking of PLC's, next Wednesday, September 22nd will be your first official PLC Wednesday.  This year they will all be held in person, but someone who is out could remote in if your department chooses to.  

Positive Vibes-

Each Friday by 10:00 AM if you have a positive vibe please submit it to the bucket, so Laura can type them up before the day ends.  I really enjoyed reading last week's vibes.  We have a lot of great people doing really amazing things!

Quote of the week-

Have a great Friday and weekend,

Chad

Weekly Top for 9-10-21

 "Upton Family",

Thanks for a great first week -

I so appreciate this staff and the positive attitude you have shown this first week.  I know that with the new bell schedules this year, the new advisory, the new school improvement, and P2 you have had a lot thrown your way, however we do things together and together we can do anything!  (Or almost anything!). Please come and see me if something is bothering you.  

School Improvement Meeting Monday beginning at 2:55 PM-

• Part 1-  Positivity Project Tutorial for Week 1
• Part 2- Circles for the advisory Thursday, Sept. 16th (and going forward)

Back to School Night Tuesday-

Next Tuesday, September 14th is Back to School Night.  It is an an evening when the parents are excited to meet you and get to know a little about your personality and what experience their daughter/son will get from your class this school year.  Doors will open at Upton at 6:10 PM.  If your health will allow, please park in the church parking lot across the street.  We will start announcements as close to 6:30 PM as possible.  

Congratulations to Matt Waters-

Matt spent close to 33 hours this summer getting trained for student restraints at the Berrien RESA.  His TCIS certification was done through Cornell University.  Matt is a certified trainer and will now be the district lead in training the administrators in this endeavor.

Board of Education meeting at Upton this Monday, September 13th-

The board of education meeting will take place this Monday, September 13th at 6:00 PM in the Upton Auditorium.

Hallway Vote -

Craig and I are open to staff input as you know.  (Time schedules, advisory, etc.) In an effort to obtain more staff feedback some have mentioned we should obtain your input on hallway flow.  We did this to avoid traffic clogging with lockers back, but we are open to changing it.  Please vote on the Upton Middle School staff google page.

Postive Vibes-

Every Friday we will collect the week's positive vibes and those will be sent out.  Continue bringing them to the office!  I can't wait to hear the positivity this week!

https://classroom.google.com/w/NDI3MzQ4MjczOTda/t/all

Have you? -

-  Turned your seating charts into Laura?

-   Done your self-monitoring health screening in Skyward?

-   Put your seating charts in your sub binder?

Just for you JB!

Quote of the week-

Have a wonderful weekend,

Chad