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