H.I.P. Lunch Group

We are thrilled to announce that we have a new lunch group beginning second semester. This lunch group will be known as the H.I.P. group. H.I.P. stands for “Homework is Priority”. We are offering this group to students who have a missing assignment or an assignment in which they scored a poor grade (60% or below). The lunch group will be facilitated in the cafeteria four days a week on  Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and  Friday. Mrs. Kostrzewa, intervention supervisor, will work with students on Thursday. Mrs. Townsend, K-8 counselor, will work with students on Monday and Wednesday. Mr. Andrew Keeley, counselor intern for the middle/high school, will be working with students on  Friday. Mr.  Keeley comes to us from Central Michigan University and will be working with  students during our lunch group, as well as being available for middle school students Thursday morning, and Friday afternoon.

There is a five step process to our H.I.P. lunch group that students will go through when utilizing this extra learning opportunity during the school day. Our goal is to encourage students who have a H.I.P. slip to complete their late/missing assignment at home the night they get the slip. If they complete their slip at home, they will not need to meet with our lunch supervisors to work on their missing work during lunch. Students in our lunch group will still eat during lunch, they will just sit at the H.I.P. table to work on their missing assignments. 

Please see the below PowerPoint presentation so that you have all the information you need on the details of our H.I.P. Lunch Group. Email Mrs. Wulff with any questions you have at wulffr@freelandschools.net.

H.I.P. Lunch Group Presentation

5 Step Process to follow when you receive a H.I.P. Slip

Exam Information

It is hard to believe that we are already talking about 1st semester exams, but they are here! All 7th and 8th grade students will take exams this semester. These exams can be, but are not required to be cumulative in nature. Please make sure to have all of your semester work organized to make studying for exams easier. Each teacher will provide students with an exam study guide to ensure they are prepared for these tests.

Key details about the exams that are important to note:

Middle School Exam Schedule

Wednesday, January 20^th               7:35-7:50 1^st hour exam review

                                                                7:50-9:25 1^st hour exam

                                                                9:25-9:30 Break

                                                                9:35-10:34 report to 2^nd hour to review for upcoming exams

                                                                10:34-11:08 Lunch

                                                                11:08-12:43 2^nd hour exam

                                                                12:43-12:48 break

                                                                12:48-2:23 3^rd hour exam

Thursday, January 21^st                     7:35-9:15 4^th hour exam

                                                                9:15-9:25 break

                                                                9:30-11:10 5^th hour exam

Friday, January 22^nd                         7:35-9:15 6^th hour exam

                                                                9:15-9:25 break
                                                                9:30-11:10 7^th hour exam

After the 5th and 7th hour exams, students will be released for the day. They will be expected to take the bus or be picked up at 11:10am. If a student has an Incomplete in a class due to not finishing necessary work for the marking period, the student's teacher may ask him/her to stay after school during the half days to get caught up on necessary missing work.

Exam Cram Details

The Middle School/High School Freeland Parent Support Organization (FPSO) will be hosting their second annual exam cram on January 19th from 2:30pm-5:00pm. The exam cram will take place in the middle school, and will be hosted by parent volunteers. It will be a time for students to study with one another, and have parent support in the studying process. A sign up sheet for exam cram will be available the week of January 11th-15th. All students planning on attending the exam cram MUST sign up in the middle school main office. Food will be provided to students who attend the exam cram. Please watch the announcements for more details. 

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.