Spreading Holiday Cheer

The middle school was really in the festive mood this week. We had a spirit day today where students could wear whatever festive outfit they want. We have students dressed in holiday PJ's, ugly Christmas sweaters, Santa hats and more!

We also had the privilege of our middle school choir singing carols for us this morning during 1st hour. Thank you Ms. Williamson, and all of the middle school choir for brightening up our day today with some classic holiday tunes!

Ready, set, DODGE BALL!

Yesterday, Freeland Middle School had an extremely successful dodge ball tournament. The middle school student council put on the Feliz Navi-Dodge Ball tournament as a way to earn money for the council, and also have a fun activity for students to do before we go on winter break. Our winning team, the Pancakes, included Jaden DeBeau, Evan Dubuque, Tyler Bauer, Jack Dreyer, and Aiden West. Congratulations on your win! Our teacher team was unfortunately eliminated from the tournament early on. A special thanks goes to Mr. Schwedler, Mr. LaFond, Mrs. Hannon, Mr. Townsend, and Mr. Shaw for participating in our tournament yesterday. Thank you to student council for a great event for our middle school!

AND THE WINNERS ARE... THE PANCAKES!

Freeland Fabricators Robotics Tournament

The Freeland Robotics Club hosted their inaugural FIRST Tech Challenge tournament at Freeland Schools this past weekend. 32 middle school teams from across the state competed for only five advancements to the state level. The FMS Robotics team, FTC #5386, the Freeland Fabricators, received the Connect Award which honors a team that has proven their efforts in community outreach. During robot play, they won 4 of 5 matches, placing 6th thereby qualifying for the playoffs.  Although they narrowly lost in the semi-final match, their hard work paid off as their final overall rank put them just a single spot away from qualifying for the state championship!

Freeland Robotics Club would like to thank Nexteer Automotive, Dow Chemical, and FIRST in GLBR for sponsoring the team and this event.  Additionally, we would like to thank our many volunteers including FRC Team 5166, robotics club parents, FCSD, Freeland Boy Scouts, FAA, & Hungry Howie's for making our event a huge success!

Congratulations Freeland Fabricators!

PSAT, MiPhy, and More!

Assessment Update

Last Wednesday our 7th grade students successfully completed the MiPHY test to provide the county with data on our students social and emotional needs, as well as basic health needs in the county. This data is completely anonymous, and will be used at a county level to look at trends seen in our students throughout all of Saginaw County.

The 8th grade students also had a big testing day last Wednesday. They completed their first ever PSAT experience! The test began right at 7:30 and ended just in time for lunch at 11:30. The test assesses three key areas - reading, writing, and math. The areas of social studies and science are embedded throughout each of these three areas.

Click the below links to learn more about some of the key elements in each of these areas:

• Reading Test
• Writing and Language Test
• Math Test
• Key Content Changes to be aware of

We should receive the results from this test sometime in January or February. These test results will guide our building wide goals on ensuring our students are career and college ready. Parents will also be provided the SAT results for their children. 

M-Step results are continuing to be processed by the state and district. We expect to mail these results for both 7th and 8th grade students to you sometime in January. 

Fun happenings around school

Check out Mrs. Bain's classroom working on a close reading activity in 7th grade English. 

Plan on joining us for TWO concerts on Tuesday, December 15th. Our choir concert will be performing at 6:30pm, and our band concert will follow at 7:00pm. Both concerts will be held in the high school auditorium.

Please make sure to complete the parent survey for all middle school students when you get a chance. This will only take about 10 minutes of your time and contains very valuable information for us to use to continue to improve the school. 

http://www.advanc-ed.org/survey/public/section/response/begin?surveyConfigId=476524

And... one more announcement

We have our first dodge ball tournament of the year scheduled for next Tuesday, December 22nd at 2:30pm. Teams of 5 can sign up in the middle school office before Thursday. Each team will pay a $10.00 entry fee. Admission into the tournament will be $1.00 for all students not participating in the tournament, and is free for those who are in the tournament. Be prepared to compete against our teacher team next Tuesday! :)

Middle School Parent Survey

Thank you to those of you who completed the middle school parent survey during our first conference of the year. We will have the parent survey open until we go on winter break. Please take 10 minutes to complete this survey before December 24th. To access the survey simply go to www.freelandschools.net. Click on the Middle School tab, and at the bottom of the middle school home page you will see a link titled "Middle School Parent Survey". You can also access the survey by simply clicking this link, 

http://www.advanc-ed.org/survey/public/section/response/begin?surveyConfigId=476524. 

Assessment Update

This year, we have many shifts in the assessments that will be administered for students. Because of this, I wanted to make sure to communicate to you what your child will be assessed on throughout the year. If you have any questions regarding any of the below assessments please do not hesitate to contact me.

7^th grade MiPHY (Michigan Profile for Healthy Youth)

This is a research survey that asks about health behaviors for 7^th, 9^th, and 11^th grade students. If you have a 7^th grade student, a letter will be included in this envelope covering all details about the MiPHY. Student privacy is a key part of this survey. It is completely anonymous, and used to simply look at a range of health risk behaviors and attitudes that as a district and county we need to be aware of when it comes to our students. 7^th grade students will be taking the MiPHY on December 9^th in Mr. Kevin Townsend’s Health class.

8^th grade PSAT

Last year, the state of Michigan made a significant shift in testing when they adopted the new Redesigned SAT as the college and career readiness tool to be used for students. This test replaces the ACT that has been taken in previous years. To help students prepare for the shift, Michigan is offering schools the option to take the Redesigned PSAT in 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th grade. Freeland Middle School 8^th grade students will be taking the redesigned PSAT on December 9^th. There are many tools available to your child when it comes to practicing for this new test. Please visit the website below for more details on how to support your child as this testing transition takes place for students in Michigan.

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/state-partnerships/michigan

M-Step

During the 2014-2015 school year, Freeland Middle School successfully tested all students on the new state test, the M-Step. Tests were administered online in the spring of 2015. The state of Michigan has communicated with schools that individual student test results will be made available to students and parents sometime in the near future. Further communication for the distribution of these individual test scores will be communicated to you as we gather more information from the state.

This year, the M-Step testing will take place for 8^th grade students between April 11^th-April 29^th. 7^th grade testing will be between May 9^th-May 27^th. The testing cycle is three weeks long for each grade level; however, your child will not be testing during the entire three weeks. Last year, we were able to create a schedule where students only tested for 2.5 days, and then were able to resume classes as normal. Please plan on making attendance a priority for your child during the testing period. A testing schedule will be sent out to you in the spring. The M-Step test this year will cover Math and English/Language Arts for both 7^th and 8^th grade students, and will test 7^th grade Science, and 8^th grade Social Studies. State test results for the 2014-2015 school year have been released, and can be accessed at the link below if you are interested in how the state performed on the M-Step.

http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140--368037--,00.html 

2nd marking period starts off with a... pie.

This Friday, we had our first SOAR assembly to celebrate student's who showed positive and respectful attitudes first marking period, as well as maintained good academic standing. The 7th and 8th grade teachers selected several students to recognize at this assembly, and the student council executive board planned many fun games to celebrate the end of a very successful first marking period. The best part of the assembly was the continued tradition of incorporating PIE! A special thanks to Ms. Heckman for participating in the pie contest to find the hidden gummy worm in the mud pie!

Students also had a make up decorating contest that was a huge hit, and had the audience laughing a ton!

The best part of the SOAR assemblies is always celebrating the students in 7th and 8th grade who are showing great leadership in the building. Below are the 1st marking period SOAR recipients. Each recipient received a certificate, recognition in front of the entire school, and a choice prize to celebrate their success. Thank you for all you do middle school student leaders!

This marking period the focus was all about RESPECT. In every class students learned about how to show respect. For second marking period, students will be learning about HELPFULNESS. The focus will be on how to help others, how to ask for help, and how to be a helpful person. The key question we will be asking students is, "How have you helped today?". All homeroom activities, pep assemblies, and positive incentives will revolve around being helpful.

2nd Marking Period General Announcements

• Thursday, November 19th - 7th Grade Vision Screening
• Monday, November 23rd - 7th Grade Holocaust Trip
• Tuesday, November 24th - Helpfulness Homeroom
• November 25th-27th - No School: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
• Tuesday, December 8th - PTO Meeting 7:00pm in the high school office (CIC room)
• Wednesday, December 9th - 7th grade MiPHY test administration
• Wednesday, December 9th - 8th grade PSAT test administration 
• December 24th-January 1st - No School for winter break