September 21, 2023
from Jenn Milam, Middle School director
Mark your Calendars!
- Monday, September 25: Yom Kippur, No School
- Thursday, September 28: MS Parent Coffee, 8:15 AM, PCR
- Friday, September 29: MS Homecoming Games, 8 AM-2 PM and Homecoming Assembly, 2:20 PM, LSC
- Friday, October 6: Picture Retake Day
- Monday, October 9: Indigenous People’s Day, No School
- Thursday, October 12: All School Fall Conferences, 3:30-8pm
- Friday, October 13: All School Fall Conferences, 8 AM- 5 PM (No School)
- Wednesday, October 18: Grandparents and Special Friends Day
- Thursday, October 19-Friday, October 20: MEA/Fall Break, No School
I am happy to report from the middle, that we are having a wonderful start to our year! Our sixth-grade class had an incredible adventure at Eagle Bluff and our youngest middles are currently fully immersed in their overnight at Osprey Wild. The seventh-grade class is deep into their biomimicry unit and will be visiting the Minnesota Zoo next week to extend their understanding of animal behavior and natural adaptations to solve human problems. And our eighth-grade class is well on their way to designing sustainable and fully electric cities for their Future Cities project.
A hallmark of exceptional middle level education is experiential learning and transdisciplinary learning. Each of the above experiences set the stage for a year of personal growth, social development, and academic learning. A middle school student’s brain is enriched by engaging in multiple ways, across multiple settings, with not just ideas, but concrete opportunities to test their understanding, take risks, and learn about themselves. I hope you’re finding your car ride or dinner table conversations expanding with each passing day – to know a (pre)teen, is to love them and to embrace all the things they are thinking, feeling, and wondering. It’s a wonderfully beautiful, and sometimes crazy ride!
MPA Homecoming 2023–Wild with Panther Pride!
Celebrate our Panther Pride by joining in on this year’s Homecoming activities.
Students are invited to show their school spirit throughout Homecoming week, culminating in athletic contests and activities on Saturday, September 30! The annual Middle School HoCo Games will be on Friday, September 29 from 8 AM-2 PM in the middle school, on the south lawn, and more! If you’d like to volunteer for this, or any activities on Saturday, please click here and sign-up!
We also invite your students to participate in spirit dress-up days next week!
- Monday–No School, Yom Kippur Observance
- Tuesday–PJ Day
- Wednesday–Character from a Film/Movie
- Thursday–“Anything but a backpack” Day (carry your stuff in anything but a backpack – get creative!)
Friday—Spirit Wear
MPA provides Panther pride Homecoming themed t-shirts for all students! They will be distributed to your child during Homecoming week.
For a full list of all of the awesome things happening on and around campus, please visit our MPA Homecoming site.
All School Fall Conferences
We are looking forward to welcoming you to campus for in-person parent-teacher conferences this fall. Registration and scheduling information were sent to all Middle School families on Friday, September 15, and conference scheduling opens on Friday, September 22. If you did not receive this information or need assistance, please reach out to the Middle School office.
Fall conferences are scheduled for the following dates, for all divisions!
- Thursday, October 12, 3:30-8 PM
- Friday, October 13, 8 AM-5 PM (No School)
We are also offering sessions for support with Schoology. Please look for “Schoology” course to schedule time with Mr. Moran, our director of academic technology, or feel free to drop by the Middle School office and we can assist you, too.
Grandparents and Special Friends’ Day, October 18
We will welcome Grandparents and Special Friends to campus on Wednesday, October 18. Students may invite their grandparents and special friends to share in their MPA experience with some classroom time, a performance, and some fun!
You can learn more about the special day and RSVP for your guests here! We kindly ask for RSVP no later than Friday, October 13 so that we may plan accordingly for the large number of guests on campus.
MAP Growth Assessment for Middle School
As many of you are aware, during and after COVID, MPA lower and middle school refrained from standardized testing as we were focused on supporting young people through an unprecedented time of unpredictability, various hybrid modes of learning, and holding at the forefront of our efforts keeping all safe and well. While we still feel the lingering impact of COVID, the Middle School faculty and I have determined that it is time to return to some standardized assessment to measure our student’s progress in formative ways that can inform our instruction and student support.
We will begin administering the NWEA MAP GROWTH assessments in the coming weeks. You can learn more about MAP GROWTH assessments by watching this short video. You will note that this computer-adaptive assessment is given three times a year to measure academic growth. We will be sharing both the first and second administration data with you during winter conferences in February.
If you have questions or would like more information, please let us know!
Athletic Practice and Game Schedules
As we are all I the midst of fall seasons, practices and games can be a challenge to keep track of. Please bookmark the MPA Athletic website to your computer and smart device so that you can regularly check the schedule. We do our absolute best to give families as much advanced notice as possible when schedules change, but it can be last minute.
Please bookmark the MPA Middle School Athletics website and select the sport for your student! You can also find Upper School Athletics schedules, as well, on our MPA website! ? Roll Pants! ?
Absences, Late Arrivals, and Early Dismissals
As a reminder, if your student will be absent, arriving late, or leaving early, please notify the Middle School office at your earliest convenience. Our phone number is (651) 748-5565. You can also email Ms. Lassonde (jlassonde@moundsparkacademy.org), Ms. Meras (pmeras@moundsparkacademy.org), or Ms. Milam (jmilam@moundsparkacademy.org).
Be well and take care of one another!
