Dear Middle School Parents,

It was great seeing 6 grade students last Friday while celebrating the beginning of the new-year transition into middle school!  I hope you are as excited for them to return, as we are to hear their voices again in the classrooms.
 
I asked Mr. Miller to open the scheduling feature for middle school parents this past Monday and I hope you have had a chance to view it.  One of the major changes will be moving to trimester rotations in order to accommodate the growing number of special course offerings in addition to the growing number of middle school students.  This means, your children will be attending a specials class for about 60 days, five days in row, and then they will rotate to a different specials class and so on. Some students, particularly seventh and eighth grade students, will have study hall on the “open” periods of their schedules. The schedule that you will receive on the first day will have study halls shown, as well as where their study hall will be.
 
When I explained schedules to 6 grade students, I let them know that there were still a few glitches to resolve. First, I have not yet scheduled all students who requested both band and chorus. Their new schedule will have these classes listed as Bnd/Chr to indicate that they are in both.  Second, some students need hybrid schedules based on their individual placement in other classes.  I am working on adjusting those schedules, but please check their schedules the last week in August to see if I missed anything that you and I talked about earlier in the summer or spring regarding placement.  Call or email Bobbijo at 920-322-8062 or bamerling@smsacademy.org to ensure that your child is correctly placed in their classes.
 
You will also notice a few new classes on the schedule. Workshop is the second half of English, in middle school, teachers will continue the Reading/Writing Workshop model; having two periods in which they will teach your child.  STEM is a new class targeting the engineering design process, giving students the opportunity to apply what they are learning in Math and Science.  Sixth and seventh grade students will have Health incorporated with their PE classes.  Coach Krueger will instruct eighth grade students in health.  This health class satisfies the state requirement for a high school health class that must be taught between eighth and twelfth grades.

We look forward to welcoming you to the ledge next week!  It’s going to be a great year!

In Christ,

Julie