October Principal Update
By: John Burkholder
As we move into the month of October, we do so knowing that this return to full school in-person learning is something that we all are continuing to get used to. Our mantra for addressing the educational needs of our students throughout this pandemic has been Reset--Reconnect--Resume. Our Reset piece was about establishing new protocols and ways of doing business as we returned to in-person schooling. Many of our Reset protocols have served us well, but we do continue to make adjustments as needed to help ensure the ongoing safety of our students. Jumping ahead, Resume is our work to return students to expected and at times accelerated rates of achievement. We worked hard in our largely all virtual 20-21 school year at Hamilton to provide our students with a full year's worth of instructional access by continuing throughout with our eight period day. While we do see some gaps in learning here and there for many students, our returning Hamilton students do seem to be in a good place overall in their academic trajectories. Our sixth grade students came to us from elementary schools where they had a variety of schooling experiences during the 20-21 school year, but recent assessment results indicate that our youngest cohort of students have come to us ready for the challenges of middle school.
The Reconnect piece of our work is currently on center stage. As a school we continue to be intentional about Reconnecting with our students, and helping to Reconnect them with the experience of being part of a large in-person learning community. Our Hamilton staff also continues to Reconnect with our work, re-familiarizing ourselves with lost and forgotten routines while at the same time getting used to more than just a handful of new procedures and protocols. This business of Reconnecting is important work, and is work that will quite likely extend through the entire 21-22 school year.
As we move through October our Hamilton staff members will continue in conversations about how we Reconnect with you and all our Hamilton families. We recognize the struggle of parents not being able to be in our building, and not being able to have in-person events such Open House and evening concerts. In the coming weeks please watch for information on connecting with us, including our plans for parent-teacher conferences that are scheduled for mid-November.
I hope your fall is off to a good start! Looking forward to connecting with you soon!
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Students in Ms Smith's and Ms. Nelson's 7th grade social studies classes recently created spaghetti towers. The goal was to create the tallest spaghetti tower in 15 minutes while helping to build community, communication, and collaboration. The photo at right and similar photos in this newsletter are from that activity.
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Reconnecting Students to Expected Behaviors
Part of our work to Reconnect students with in-person schooling were our "Cool Tool" rotations in mid-September. These rotations had students attending a variety of short and in-person sessions during their Advisory classes at locations around the school to learn about expectations and protocols. Rotations that all students attended included topics on lunch protocols, recess procedures, and behavior expectations. As follow up to the Cool Tool rotations, students in their Advisory classes watched a Loom video by yours truly where key points of the district's Behavior Education Plan were covered. Following this presentation, all students were sent an email link to the complete Behavior Education Plan for MMSD middle schools. You can access the Loom video that students watched at the below link, along with the middle school Behavior Education Plan at the second link.
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Telehealth Visits
Perhaps a good thing that we will carry forward out of the pandemic is the ability for people to schedule telehealth visits with their providers. We are happy to accommodate students who need a private space for a telehealth visit here at school. Keep in mind that these visits, when scheduled by the parent, still result in the student being absent from class. Moving forward, if your child will be participating in telehealth visits from our campus during the school day, there are two important things we need from you:
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If your child has a telehealth visit scheduled with a health care provider and will be accessing that visit during the school day, please call our main office to let us know so we can code your child's absence appropriately and plan to have a private space available for your child's appointment.
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We are asking parents who know that there child will be accessing telehealth visits from school to please contact our Hamilton Middle Social Worker, Kristin Ensminger, as soon as able to let her know that future visits will be occurring and at what frequency. We are asking for this second piece of information so we can get a better idea on how many students will be needing private spaces during the school day and can plan ahead to meet student needs. Kristin Ensminger's email can be accessed at this link.
Thank you!
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Reminder: PTO Meeting: Wednesday, October 13
Please consider joining us from the comfort of your own home for our next Hamilton PTO Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, October 13, at 6pm! See the below button for the Zoom link. Thank you!
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Reminder: Deadline Approaching for Free Chromebook Repair
The deadline for taking care of chromebook problems before the district starts charging the cost to your family is October 18. Just to clarify: the things you would be charged for are loss or actual physical damage to the chromebook or charger. You will never be charged for login problems or anything about how the Chromebook operates. Questions? Email our Librarian, Ms Phelps
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What Exactly is a "Secure and Hold"?
Last week an email was sent to all families notifying you that Hamilton had a secure and hold event. A secure and hold, sometimes simply called a "hold" is used to address two different types of situations. The first situation is when there is something taking place in the community that has the potential to jeopardize the safety of our students and staff members. An example would be a police search in the general neighborhood for a crime suspect. In that type of situation, a secure and hold means that we check to ensure that all exterior doors are locked and secure and that everyone is held inside the building--but other than that it is business as normal: students go to their classes, they change classes at the end of each period, they can get hall passes to go to the restroom, etc.; they just can't go outside. The second type of secure and hold is when there is something going on within our building where we need students to stay in their classrooms. During this type of secure and hold, teachers keep teaching, students keep learning, but no one can leave their classrooms for any reason. This type of secure and hold can happen for a few different reasons, such as when paramedics need to move through our hallways to address the medical needs of a person on our campus, or when our staff may be addressing the needs of a student who may be struggling. In both of these examples, a secure and hold would be primarily to protect the privacy of the student or staff member in need of support. While it was not the case last week, we could also initiate a secure and hold in response to an altercation between two or more students.
Lastly, please note that a secure and hold should not be confused with a lockdown. A lockdown involves more of a universal threat on campus where we want all students and staff to be in a locked and secure location and to take protective actions in those locations. Again, last week's event was not a lockdown, but was a secure and hold.
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Assignment Calendar Links
Below please find Assignment Calendar links for students in 7th and 8th grade.
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Upcoming Dates of Interest
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Mark your calendars for these upcoming dates:
October
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22-Professional Development Day, No School
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29-End of Quarter 1
November
- 1-Begin Quarter 2
- 4-Picture Day Make-Ups
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MSCR After School Programming
MSCR after school programming began this week. See the below links for more information. Keep in mind that all students have been given the opportunity to join a Google Classroom that will keep them up to date on after school programs.
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John Hawks, Anthropology professor at UW Madison, Zoomed in to our sixth grade classes this week to discuss early humanity with our students.
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Photo Finish
Sometimes it's all just a matter of perspective; just ask the sixth and seventh grade students in Sarah McRae's art classes!
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