From the Middle: Student Involvement

Our Students Reach Others Outside Our Walls: 

For the past couple of years, Mr. Rude has been having student write letters to past soldiers who travel to Washington D.C. on honor flights.  We have gotten many letters back to our students from soldiers.  This past week, Jake Frahm received a letter from a soldier from Oelwein who just returned from on of these Honor Flights.  The soldier wrote back using an envelope and paper from his deployment to Vietnam.  We never know how our actions will impact others.

Many Spaces of Opportunity: 

As we close our first month of school, teachers and students are figuring out many different uses of our new space.  We have been able to use our large collaboration rooms for PE and other grade level activities while our gym is being finished.  Students spread out into the areas to work in small groups and even present projects.  Below are a few pictures of students utilizing the different spaces.

Students Spreading Messages of Kindness:

Mrs. Miller and her 6th grade intervention students came up with an idea to spread kindness in the Middle School.  Students are writing positive messages and posting them on the conference room windows on each floor.  Some messages are also being put on to lockers for students to see.  Both teachers and students are getting involved creating a positive caring culture in the Middle School.

FAST Testing Screeners Have Begun:

This past year our school was identified as a Targeted school based on the previous Iowa Assessments scores regarding our achievement gap in reading between general education students and special education students.  Our staff has taken a close look at how we identify, monitor, and provide interventions for all of our students.  In the past we have we screened all of our 5th and 6th grade students in math.  Through our work as a staff last year, we have decided that we need to monitor and evaluate all students in the areas of math, reading, and social emotional wellbeing.  We are taking these screenings three times a year on our iPads to help teachers identify areas of student strength and areas of improvement. We will then use this information to help focus our class time and intervention supports.  Students will be completing these three screeners by the end of next week.