Robotics Team - Michigan State Championship Results

Congratulations to the Freeland Middle School robotics team for earning runner-up at the Michigan State Championship for FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC).  The team performed exceptionally by winning all of their qualification matches during the 2-day event at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek, held December 15-16th.  They earned the 2nd rank captains spot in the Edison Division of the tournament.  Each of the divisions, Edison and Franklin, consisted of 48 teams from across the state of Michigan.  These 96 teams were the best-of-the-best from more than 400 teams in Michigan competing in the 2017-2018 FTC Relic Recovery game.  After selecting robotic alliance partners from Kalamazoo and Troy, Freeland proceeded into the divisional playoff rounds.  Their alliance won every match including a win against the #1 ranked divisional alliance.  Those wins secured their alliance's spot in the final match against the Franklin Division winner, which was lead by 2-time state champion, The HexaSonics of Allendale.  The Fabricators' alliance lost the first match of the finals, but rebounded quickly by winning the second.  Going into the sudden death final match, Freeland's finest put up a great effort, but their partner from Kalamazoo had difficulty with a scoring element, and their opponents had just too much offense.  Freeland finished as runner-up in the event.  However, their performance in the Michigan State Championship did earn them a nomination to the next level of competition.  That event, the FTC North Super Regional, will be held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on March 15-17, 2018.  The team will be busy the next several months raising the necessary funds to make the trip, as well as improving their robot.  They will be competing against high school and middle school teams from across a 12-state region.  Best of luck to the Freeland Fabricators.  Thanks to all students and mentors for their dedication and hard work!

Tackling the big question... what will my child's future look like?

I am not sure if you have noticed recently, but our schools are changing. The focus is no longer on memorization tactics and how to get an "A" on the next science test. Instead, you should see some of the following things happening in your child's classrooms.

1) More focus on collaboration. Students are being put into various groups, for many different purposes, and are asked to solve problems together rather than in isolation.

2) Critical thinking is now the primary focus instead of just memorizing facts. Our students are being asked to think about the big questions in a classroom instead of attempting to become a human encyclopedia. Questions like "why" and "how" are much more common in our classrooms today.

3) Creativity is king. Our students are being asked more and more to think outside the box about solutions to real-world issues. Whether it is tackling constitutional rights in social studies, or analyzing a phenomena in science, our students must have the creativity to think of solutions, and work through problems in their current classroom setting.

4) Today, our students must learn how to effectively communicate to be successful. We are working on communication through our project based learning experiences where students have to present to authentic audiences on an ongoing basis throughout their projects. Additionally, teachers work on communication skills through day-to-day digital communication with Google apps and email, and we are even working with our students on becoming effective communicators through various technical support lines that support our students in the use of their digital tools.

The big question is... why the change? Freeland Middle School, and Freeland School District firmly believes that we need to continue to promote the "4 C's" of 21st Century Learning. In this ever changing world, our students need to be able to effectively communicate, create, critically think, and collaborate to truly be successful. Our world is changing quickly, and we are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist yet, and our educational setting needs to represent an institution that is thinking forward into the 21st century. Our system does not look like it did 20 years ago, but that's the point isn't it? We should continue to adapt and change to meet our student's needs to ensure they will be able to tackle their future with confidence and success.

I know that time is a precious commodity, but if you have five minutes, please take the time to read this article, (and the inspiration for my blog post today) "Students Must be Prepared to Reinvent Themselves" which has a focus on the world our children are about to enter, and what we can do to help support them with planning for their future.

Happy Friday!

November Happenings

The month of November has just flown by hasn't it! We have had a busy month of celebrating, learning, and growing together at Freeland Middle School.

After each marking period, we always celebrate with a SOAR assembly that brings our student body together to share successes, honor students, and have some fun! During our assembly this month we were able to honor two students who received the Optimist Club award - Jackson Vlassis and Ryleigh Roberts.

We also celebrated several students for being students of the month/marking period! Students are chosen for this honor when they continually show effort in their academics and follow our building wide SOAR expectations.

The Choir was able to serenade us once again with a few of their beautiful songs. We are super excited for their upcoming Choir Concert featuring many class Christmas carols on December 12th at 6:00pm in the auditorium. Immediately following the Choir Concert our Band will also be performing some holiday tunes for us!

There was also an opportunity for staff and students to have some fun together with games that the student council planned.

Our students have also been hard at work with many project based learning experiences. This is a building and district initiative we started a few years ago to make sure our teachers were equipped with the tools and knowledge to engage students in 21st century learning that focused on collaboration, critical thinking, communication, and creativity. Mrs. Gotts' class did an incredible job with their project based learning experience and are showcasing their work in the pictures below. 

And, this month got even more amazing today when we had a HUMAN giving tree show up to kick off our sharing tree event. Every year, FMS students give back to local families in need by participating in the Giving Tree project. Thank you Mrs. LaFond for helping us to kick off this great event! 

What a great November our school has had, we cannot wait to see what December brings. 

Robotics

Freeland Middle School Robotics, FTC Team #5386 The Fabricators, competed on November 18^th in Marysville. The team went 4-1 in pool play earning the 3^rd place alliance captain in the playoff round. They won both semi-final matches against the #2 alliance and made it into the finals against #1. Although they did not win in the finals, their performance did earn them a spot in the state championship in Battle Creek on December 15-16. Congratulations to a great group of students from FMS!

Good Luck at States FMS Robotics Club!

Student-Led Conferences

On November 9th, our Freeland Middle School students and parents will experience their first student-led conferences of the 2017-2018 school year. Each year, Freeland Middle School hosts three different parent/teacher conferences. Two of these conferences are structured around a "student-led" conference, and one conference, in January, is a more traditional looking parent/teacher conference.

In preparation for the student-led conferences this year, our teachers have put together several helpful documents so that our students and parents understand how these conferences are structured.

If you are interested in a snapshot of what our student-led conferences look like, please watch this video which is a great example of how a student walks his/her parents through the conference to showcase strengths and weaknesses throughout the grading period.

To prepare for conferences this year, our students will have three homeroom sessions on November 7th, 8th, and 9th to finalize their portfolio of work, complete self-reflections on each of their classes, goal set for the next grading period, and practice their conference with one another. Students will follow this adjusted schedule on November 7th-9th to allow time to practice and prepare for these conferences. Students will complete a goal setting reflection form prior to the conferences to provide them a guide for talking about their progress this marking period. Additionally, on the night of conferences, they will utilize a student-led conference checklist to make sure they do not miss anything that needs to be discussed with parents.

This year, we have also created parent preparation documents to help all of our parents better understand their role in the conferences, and to help prepare for how they can support students as they walk parents through their work. We ask that parents review the parent checklist for student-led conferences prior to November 9th to better prepare for how to help your child with the student-led conference process.

We are so excited to partner with parents and students throughout the school year and hope that you enjoy the process of student-led conferences. If you have any questions in regards to the conferences please contact Mrs. Wulff at wulffr@freelandschools.net or 989-692-4032.

Parent/Teacher Conference Dates/Times:

• Thursday, November 9th 4:30-7:00pm (student-led conference)
• Thursday, January 25th 4:30-7:00pm (traditional conference)
• Thursday, April 12th 4:30-6:30pm (student-led conference)

New Advice on Smart Phone Use...

This is an excellent article from, the Michigan Association of School Administrators Marshall Memo Issue 708, on our teens and how to continue to guide them towards appropriate Smartphone use. Enjoy the read as we continue to grapple with device use in this current age of technology.

1. More Advice on Teen Smartphone Use

            “Due to the constant temptation to check their smartphones, today’s students are spending less time on their schoolwork, taking longer to complete assignments, and feeling more stressed in the process,” says Larry Rosen (California State University/Dominguez Hills) in this Kappan article. Have we reached the saturation point? “Sadly, I don’t think we are there yet,” says Rosen. “The smartphone is still only 10 years old, and many of us are still falling deeper into our obsessive relationship with these devices.” Some data from recent studies:

·  College students unlock their phones at least every 15 minutes, look at them about five minutes each time, and spend a total of 4½ hours a day glued to their devices.

·  Online conversations are teens’ lifeblood, accounting for much, if not most, of their social lives.

·  Teens are constantly multitasking, even though they know it’s not efficient.

·  When teens have their phones taken away, they become highly anxious.

·  Phone-related anxiety is closely linked to poor academic performance and sleep deprivation.

·  About 80 percent of teens say they rarely if ever sleep well, usually because they have a smartphone at their bedside and check it before going to sleep and during the night.

·  The average adolescent finds it difficult to study for 15 minutes at a time.

·  During a 15-minute stint of studying, teens spend at least five minutes in a state of distraction.

·  80 percent of high-school teachers and 63 percent of elementary teachers say technology is making students less able to sustain attention.

·  Office workers are interrupted (or interrupt themselves) every 3-5 minutes, take as much as 20 minutes to get back to work, and feel stressed by having to work faster to make up for the lost time.

Rosen has these suggestions for messages that educators and parents should be giving kids:

            • Your brain needs an occasional “reset.” Elementary-age children should spend no more than a half hour at a time on a device, followed by a break at least that long. Preteens and adolescents should spend no more than 90 minutes at a time with technology, followed by at least 10-15 minutes on an activity that calms their brain – going outside, exercising, listening to music, meditating, taking a shower, having an in-person conversation with a friend, playing a musical instrument, practicing a foreign language.

            • Build stamina for studying without technology. Treat this like any kind of strength training, says Rosen: start off easy and gradually increase the amount of time without a tech break. He suggests 15 minutes at first, turning off all websites and apps that aren’t relevant to the study topic, setting an alarm, and placing the phone within sight, face down. When the alarm goes off, the student can check for messages and notifications for a minute, then set another 15-minute alarm. When the student can tolerate 15 minutes, perhaps finishing a paragraph when the alarm goes off rather than immediately grabbing the phone, push the time to 20 minutes, then 25, and so on. During this strength-building sequence, it’s helpful for the teen to notify friends that there might not be an instant response to messages so they don’t keep texting.

            • Sleep is sacred. Nine hours is the recommended amount for high-school students, and kids should know that melatonin is naturally secreted in the hours before bedtime to produce sleepiness – unless they’re peering at a blue-light device. Ways to keep the melatonin pumping: use a pink-light setting in the hour before bedtime, or listen to familiar music or TV shows, read a paper book, and ramp down mental effort.

            • Cut down on the number of alerts and notifications. It may not occur to teens that they can de-activate apps that aren’t of strong interest, cutting down on distracting notifications. Rosen says he’s amazed at the number of apps he uses each day, often without even thinking.

            • Carve out tech-free zones. These might include the dinner table, restaurant meals, the car, the family den, and the bedroom. During the day, teens might need occasional one-minute breaks to check their phones and keep FOMO (fear of missing out) under control.

“The Distracted Student Mind: Enhancing Its Focus and Attention” by Larry Rosen in Phi Delta Kappan, October 2017 (Vol. 99, #2, p. 8-14), www.kappanmagazine.org; Rosen can be reached at lrosen@csudh.edu.

September Happenings

September was full of energy and excitement as students attended their first month of the school year. The month of September included many events for students, one of those being our Homecoming week. This year our students participated in many events during Homecoming week including a Spirit Week, Homecoming Assembly, and the Homecoming Parade.

This experience was one full of lasting memories for our students!

In addition to the fun we had during Homecoming week, our students were introduced to a wide variety of supports at the middle school including our H.I.P. program and Academic Support website.

The H.I.P. program stands for Homework Is Priority and is a lunch program that we offer every day during lunch to support students in making sure they finish their homework, and prioritize homework. Make sure to check out the H.I.P presentation for more information!

Another support that we utilize is our Academic Support website. Many of our middle school students struggle with tracking their day-to-day work, and while we work with them on building these skills, we want to offer a level of support for parents and students to better understand what is going on in class each day, and what homework needs to be done each night. This is an added support for students who need organizational help, however, we still encourage and support students in creating their own system for tracking and organizing work - either digitally or in a paper/pencil planner. You can access the Academic Support website here, or you can go the Middle School district page and click on the "websites" drop down link. Under this link you will see the "Academic Support" website.

We look forward to what the month of October brings for our students! Some of the things they have to look forward to include:

• It's OK to Say Assembly - Friday, October 13th
• Band Concert - 6:30pm, October 19th
• First Middle School Dance - 2:30-4:30pm, October 26th 

Outling our support services at FMS

Every year we receive many questions about how our staff supports the students here at Freeland Middle School.

Our middle level students are unique students who need supports in many areas including:

Social/Emotional Support

College and Career Readiness Support

Academic Support

Behavioral Support

and More!

It is our pleasure to support every child in these areas, and we want to make sure that as parents and students in our building you fully understand how we are supporting students at FMS.

We utilize lots of acronyms in education and below outline a few you may hear at FMS...

• MTSS - Multi-Tiered System of Support... this is just a big word that essentially means, "everything we do at school to support your child's diverse needs."
• PBIS - Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports... these are all the things we do to celebrate students at school, from assemblies, to daily incentive drawings; we strive to celebrate each student as often as possible. 
• SOAR - Show Respect, On-Task, Always Safe, and Responsible... these are our district wide expectations for behavior in each building. Our FMS theme this year is to make sure we are always "SOARing Above the Line".
• PASS - Positive Alternative to School Suspension... we have partnered with The Rock in Midland to provide this program as a resource for students who would normally be disciplined through an out-of-school suspension, and can instead attend a day or more of PASS to engage in behavior intervention which will help to make long term changes to negative behavior for the future.

When it comes to our behavioral and social/emotional supports for students, we make sure to utilize a variety of resources including counseling services, behavior intervention plans, and utilizing our PASS program, when appropriate. 

When it comes to our academic supports and college/career readiness, we offer a wide variety of supports including counseling services, college/career advisory training and mentoring, intervention classes for math and reading, differentiated instruction to meet individual needs, and various progress monitoring tools to truly know where our students are at academically. 

Our goal at FMS to live by the idea that no one student is the same. We believe that developing an individualized plan for students is always the best approach to their success at school! 

For information on our PASS program (Positive Alternative to School Suspension) take a look at this link!

For more information in regards to our supports, please review our Multi-Tiered System of Support outline, or contact Mrs. Wulff at wulffr@freelandschools.net with any questions! 

A new year, a fresh start, an exciting week.

Well, our middle school students made it through the first week, and had a great time last week! There were so many moments throughout the week that made me proud to be a Freeland Falcon. Our students did an excellent job settling into the routines of the middle school, and things are running smoothly.

Students are loving our lunch set up, and like that they have lots of variety in food and seating in the cafeteria!

Students are also getting used to their new classes, and doing many new things in their classes to work with one another, get to know their teachers, and utilize the technology we have available at school! 

Students are learning what it means to SOAR Above the Line at Freeland Middle School, and have posters and reminders all throughout the school to help them better understand our building theme! Students also walked to each of our shared spaces in the school to review our SOAR expectations for shared spaces in the building. 

And, a successful first week cannot happen without a great pep assembly! On Friday, we celebrated with the rest of the community as we prepared for our Clash for the Cure game. Students had a great time participating in many different activities that focused on building awareness around supporting those impacted by cancer.

What a great week to be a Falcon. Go Falcons! Go Freeland Middle School!

Fall is in the air, and it is a great day for the start of a new school year!

Can you believe it? The start of a new year already. Wow did time fly this summer! Between the full eclipse, vacationing with family, and preparing for the school  year, I hope that you all had just as amazing of a summer as I have had!

A few updates below...

If you missed the open house and are an incoming 7th grade student, please review this slide show that goes over many important start of the year happenings.

If you did not pick up your Chromebook and are in the 7th grade then you can expect to pick it up during your homeroom on the first day of school. You are required to have your Acceptable Use Form filled out and signed on the first day of school, otherwise you will not be permitted to pick up your Chromebook. You can print an extra copy by clicking the link above, or your teacher will have an extra copy for you on the first day of school. 

What to expect on day one...

The first day of school we will be running an assembly schedule. ALL students should report to the gym at 7:40am for a welcome assembly. Just bring your supplies for first hour to the assembly - a planner, notebook, and pencil should be perfect for your first house on the first day! The assembly schedule for Tuesday, September 5th can be found at this link.

Your teachers will escort you to your first and seventh hour the first day of school if you are in a high school class for your exploratory. 

If you are in Mrs. Whealtey's World History class, or Mrs. Howson's English 7 class during 2nd or 6th hour, they will also be escorting you to class on the first day so you know where you are going!

Athletics announcement...

There will be a short FMS Softball club meeting for 7th and 8th grade girls and their parents on September 5th at 6pm at Freeland Middle School. This meeting will discuss signing up for softball for the 2017-2018 season. If you cannot make the meeting but want to play softball, please email the middle school coach, Mike Rybicki, at michael.rybicki@yahoo.com.

It was a great pleasure meeting with everyone during the Open House earlier this week, and we cannot wait to get the year started and to "SOAR above the line" together this year! Have a great start to your 2017-2018 school year.

Welcome to the 2017-2018 School Year!

Welcome back to school students, parents, and the Freeland Community. We are so excited to start the 2017-2018 school year at Freeland Middle School! This year, our theme is SOARing Above the Line. Each marking period we will focus on a word that defines SOAR. We will be using the acronym SOAR to guide us through this year - SOAR stands for Show Respect, On Task, Always Safe, and Responsible. We will also be reading through the book by Urban Meyer, Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season to guide us in our work with SOAR and what it means to stay "Above the Line" at Freeland Middle School.

There are some important dates coming up that you may want to be aware of:

• Monday, August 28th from 5:00-6:30pm Freeland Middle School Open House
• Tuesday, September 5th is the first day of school! School starts at 7:40am and ends at 2:28pm
• Tuesday, September 12th is Picture Day

Wondering what to purchase for the school year? Attached is a welcome back packet that has open house information, a middle school checklist, and a supplies list that you can use to help you prepare for the school year. This packet and additional back to school information will be sent home in the mail the week of August 14th.  Middle School Welcome Back Packet.

Anxious about your schedule for the year? All schedules will be available electronically on Wednesday, August 23rd. Schedules will NOT be sent home in the mail. Simply go to your Skyward account and you will see your schedule for the year under the schedule tab. If you need a printed schedule, we will have them available for you at the open house on August 28th, or you can come into the office anytime after August 23rd to pick up your schedule.

As always, email us if you have any questions!

Mrs. Starr, Secretary - starrb@freelandschools.net
Mrs. Wulff, Principal - wulffr@freelandschools.net

Or, give us a call at 989-692-4032.

Transition Day... Semester Exams... and SUMMER!

It has been one busy month for us during the month of May. So busy, that a blog posted just never happened for our middle school! Because of this, we have many updates, in this fairly long blog post!

Transition Day
First, we hosted our third transition day for all 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. Our 6th grade students came up to the middle school and were greeted by all of their incoming 7th grade teachers. Each teacher provided a snapshot of what is to come in their classes, and this year, we even had a blow up obstacle course. A huge thank you to Castle Entertainment in Midland, MI for providing this for us!

Our incoming 8th grade students participated in leadership sessions in the morning with their 8th grade teachers. In the afternoon, we had students all over the community participating in a service learning project with the goal of helping our students understand what it means to be a leader. I am SO proud of our 7th grade students and heard from multiple sites that this was the hardest working group of students that they have ever had!

Once our students were done with their service learning project, they were greeted back at the school with an ice cream party. Thank you to Pat's and Freeland Dairy for your yearly contribution to Transition Day!

Our incoming 9th grade students (current 8th grade) spent the day at the high school learning all about what to expect as they begin their last stage of school here at Freeland!

Exam Schedule
It is hard to believe that we only have a few short days left of school. I for one feel that the 2016-2017 school year has been the fastest year yet, but maybe this is because I have a busy one and four year old at home currently! Below is our exam schedule for June 14th, 15th, and 16th. The last day of school will be June 16th. We will start again in the fall on Tuesday, September 5th. Make sure to save the date for the middle and high school open houses on August 28th and 29th - more information will be released on times for these open houses over the summer!

Wednesday,  June 14th

• 7:35-7:50 1st hour exam review
• 7:50-9:25 1st hour exam
• 9:25-9:30 Break
• 9:35-10:34 report to 2nd hour to review for upcoming exams
• 10:34-11:08 Lunch
• 11:08-12:43 2nd hour exam
• 12:43-12:48 Break
• 12:48-2:23 3rd hour exam

Thursday, June 15th 

• 7:35-9:15 4th hour exam
• 9:15-9:25 Break
• 9:30-11:10 5th hour exam

Friday, June 16th

• 7:35-9:15 6th hour exam
• 9:15-9:25 Break
• 9:30-11:10 7th hour exam

Exploratory classes not giving an exam should either have a test day or a regular class day.

Summer Practice

Recently, there have been many news broadcasts around the idea of a "summer slide", and as a school, we want to make sure we are providing you great resources to reduce the "summer slide" that at times takes place with our students who have the summer off of learning. To help your child continue their learning through the summer, below are a few great resources!

• All 8th grade students have uploaded their PSAT scores to the College Board site and Khan Academy. This is a great tool to help students practice skills over the summer, and practice for the SAT that they will take in 11th grade. To practice using Khan Academy go to www.khanacademy.org. 
• NewsELA is a resource that many of our teachers use throughout the school year because it offers students informational reading at their reading level. They have recently come out with a Summer Reading Club program that looks great for encouraging students to continue reading over the summer. To access the club click on this NewsELA Summer Reading Club link. 
• The Michigan E-Library (MEL) is another incredible resource for our students over the summer, and during the school year. It provides students a place to play educational games, practice reading informational text, and more. Here is a letter from MEL in regards to their summer programming options. 

Happy summer learning! 

Incoming 7th grade Parent Transition Presentation

If you are a 6th grade parent who missed the incoming 7th grade transition meeting at Freeland Middle School last week, make sure to review the PowerPoint presentation below. If you have questions in regards to your child transitioning to the middle school, contact Mrs. Wulff at wulffr@freelandschools.net.

Parent Transition Night Presentation

Rewarding weeks always have their roots in hard work.

Educationally, this was one of the most rewarding weeks I have had to date. This week, our staff, students, parents, administrators, and more planned and implemented the following events:

• A SOAR assembly to celebrate third marking period students who have done an incredible job persevering this year. 
• We hosted a cafeteria full of parents and students to begin discussions about the transition to the middle school. 
• The middle school had a Career Day for 7th and 8th grade. 7th grade hosted a Career Fair at the middle school and 8th grade went on a field trip to Bay Arenac Career Center.
• FMS staff hosted our first student-led transition focused conference for parents and students. 
• All students in the middle school met out in the halls to cheer on our students attending the Special Olympics taking place. 

When I reflect on this week, and think about how much work Mrs. Gotts and her Life Skills class as well as FMS Student Council put into the SOAR assembly, I am once again amazed at what our students and staff can do. Then, I reflected on the fact that we had 100% of our staff participate in a staff vs. staff basketball game just to help students have some fun celebrating each other! Mr. Shaw has now gone down in FMS history for his incredible basketball skills!

I think about all the parents and students in the community who took time out of their evening to come and learn about the transition to the middle school, and I am full of gratitude and excitement as we begin to welcome the next group of students into our building. 

Then, I take a look at what our staff accomplished on our Career Day, and I just can't help but smile, because I know that in this building, we have staff that, every hour of every day, go above and beyond to meet the educational needs of our students. A special thank you to the 7th grade team for making our first 7th grade Career Fair such a huge success. And of course, we could not have made our Career Fair happen without the following participants: 

• Kelly Netzly - Photographer
• Jamie Rivette-Yeo & Yeo partner 
• Hillary House - State Trooper
• Kara Ellis - Super Cute, owner
• Paul Bork - Dow Chemical
• Brad Phillips - Dow Chemical
• Emmy Lucas - ABC 12 news
• Jason Furst - Parole Officer
• Dr. Thomas - Orthodontist 
• Jason Fielder - TV5
• Cletis Wellnitz - Environmental Health Safety
• Henry Edwards - Air Force
• Tony Soave - DNR Officer
• Chris VanLoo - Fire Chief 

Additionally, a thank you to our students who showed Falcon Pride during their field trip to the Bay-Arenac Career Center. Everyone participated, was positive, and showed respect while on this field trip! 

And, the end of the week was a special day for all of us. Many of our students in 7th-12th grade went off to attend the Special Olympics today. Our staff came up with a plan to line the halls prior to the students walking to the bus to cheer on all students on as they left for the Olympics. What an incredible moment for our middle school staff and students.

There are those moments that stick with us forever. I am so proud to serve this community, and am grateful that every day, as I walk into Freeland Middle School, I know that I am walking into a place that is not just a school, we are a true family. Go Falcons! Go FMS!