September 26, 2024
from Paul Errickson, Middle School director
Mark Your Calendars
- Friday, September 27: MS G5/6 MAP Testing
- Friday, September 27: MS Quarterly Coffee, 8-9 AM, PCR
- Friday, September 27: PreK-12 Spirit Wear Day
- Friday, September 27: G3-12 Homecoming Assembly, 2:30-3 PM, Lansing Sports Center
- Friday, September 27: Hall of Fame Dinner, 6-8 PM, Family Commons
- Saturday, September 28: Homecoming, information here >
- Monday, September 30-Wednesday, October 2: MS G8 Wolf Ridge Overnight Trip
- Tuesday, October 1: School Photo Retakes, 8-10 AM, Indoor Track
- Wednesday, October 2: MS G7 & New G8 Signs of Suicide Screening
- Tuesday, October 8: HeadSpace: Civil Discourse in a Polarized Society, Election 2024, 7-8 PM, via Zoom >
- Thursday, October 10: All School Evening Conferences, 3:30-8 PM
- Friday, October 11: No Classes, All School Conferences, 8 AM-5 PM, Panther Care >
- Monday, October 14: No Classes, Indigenous Peoples’ Day
- Tuesday, October 15: Election 2024 Through Civil Discourse: A Sample Lesson for MS/US Parents, 6-7 PM, PCR, register here >
- Wednesday, October 16: LS/MS Grandparents and Special Friends Day, 8 AM-3 PM, information here >
- Wednesday, October 16: LS/MS Grandparents and Special Friends Day Performance, 11 AM-12 PM, Nicholson Center
- Thursday, October 17-Friday, October 18: No Classes, Fall Break, Panther Care >
From helping students learn how to open their lockers and navigate Schoology to setting them into classroom routines, getting the school year up and running takes quite an effort.
Over the past two weeks (and into next week for our eighth graders), we have gotten to know many of our Middle School students through two diverse ways. With the fifth and sixth grade overnight trips, many of our faculty joined our students on hikes, in treetops, and even for a “polar plunge.” Teachers got to know students, students got to know them, and everyone got to know each other better. Through laughter and tears, smores and snores, our students were challenged in various ways, and their teachers and classmates were there to support them and help them learn from these meaningful experiences. You can see some of the actions captured by our teachers on the school’s Flickr page.
The experiences that our students have on these trips helps us to talk with them about stepping out of their comfort zones, challenging themselves, and supporting others. They also serve as metaphors for ways to take on challenges in the classroom, such as how scaling the climbing wall, one hold at a time, helps us to tackle a big project or homework load or how the team building needed for a group to orient through an unknown forest might encourage students to look to a peer for help when feeling lost or needing a friend. We are already reaping the rewards of this experience as we notice new friendships, new feelings of connection, and increased empathy.
Next week, our eighth graders will have their overnight trip to Wolf Ridge in Finland, MN; I’m excited to join and ask them to think about leadership skills and legacy as they spend their final year in Middle School.
Along with this valuable time together, our faculty are also getting to know their students as learners through the NWEA MAP testing that all Middle School has been a part of this and last week. This data helps us to see a different component of our learners than the overnight trips, as we will see their strengths and areas of potential growth in the areas of reading, mathematics, and language usage. Once we have completed all the assessments, we will share this information with our families, and the faculty will spend time inquiring into the data for possible ways to support learning and improve our instruction. If you would like to hear more about our NWEA MAP assessments, please join me for the Middle School Quarterly Coffee on Friday morning, September 27, at 8 AM in the PCR.
October 10-11: Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences
MPA will once again use Pick-A-Time for conference registration. The window to schedule your student’s conferences is between noon on Friday, September 27, and noon on Friday, October 4. Families with two or more students at MPA may sign up a day earlier, starting at noon on Thursday, September 26, to help you secure back-to-back conferences for your children. Please see the email sent on September 20 with conference sign-up links and further information.
