EXPLORER TEAM

Please plan on joining us at our 2005/06 Open House scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, August 23rd.

DEVELOPMENTALLY RESPONSIVE MIDDLE LEVEL SCHOOLS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY:
Educators committed to young adolescents
A shared vision
High expectations for all
An adult advocate for every student
Family and community partnerships
A positive school climate

THEREFORE, DEVELOPMENTALLY RESPONSIVE MIDDLE LEVEL SCHOOLS PROVIDE:
Curriculum that is challenging, integrative, and exploratory
Varied teaching techniques
Assessment and evaluation that promote learning
Flexible organizational structures
Programs and policies that foster health, wellness, and safety
Comprehensive guidance and supportive services

This We Believe

National Middle School Association, 1995

Teaming

A successful team is one in which students, parents, teachers and support staff WORK TOGETHER within a positive, productive learning environment.

In our middle school teams, a group of 4 core teachers make up your child’s teaching team. This is done to help build a sense of community within this large school setting and to promote the integration of our core curriculum.

A sense of pride and connection to their team is an important part of the middle school experience. Our team settings help to provide that for all of our students. Team E consists of approximately 120 seventh grade students, parents, teachers and support staff. When our team works together in a positive, productive manner, achievement is unlimited!

Teaming allows for the integration of subjects being taught. This means that logical connections between subjects can be provided for students; showing a world where learning is NOT a group of separate subjects, rather a world where knowledge and experiences are integrated. Team E integration of geography, language arts, math and science will occur in connected classrooms, allowing teachers and students to move easily in their learning environment. During music/elective, and lunch, Team E students will be mixed and can socialize with other teams of seventh graders.

Flexible Block Schedule

Teams in our school are provided the opportunity to divide our block time in a variety of ways to best meet the needs of our students. This year, as we have increased minutes for the team classes, we will be able to see every student on a daily basis for approximately 60+ minutes. We will be changing the order in which sections meet on a monthly basis so that students do not always begin or end the day in a particular classroom. A copy of our August/September schedule is included in this packet, and students will be provided a new schedule at the beginning of each month. Please feel free to review this schedule with your child before school begins, but rest assured that we will also go over it with them on the first day of school. We work hard to make sure that everyone is comfortable and knows where they are going.

Contact Classroom

While ALL adults working in our school are advocates for our students, in our individual contact groups, students will have one particular adult who knows and cares about them and who supports their academic and personal development. Contact teachers are not counselors, but they can identify behavioral changes in students that need the attention of counselors or others who can provide appropriate support. As the link between school and home, the contact teacher is the person whom parents will contact when communicating about the child.
On our team this year, each team teacher will be the contact teacher for approximately 30 of our Team E students. Our team teacher consultant, Melanie Scott will also be working with us in this capacity.

Parent Communication

There are many ways that the Explorer teachers will communicate with you this year. Some of those ways may be periodic classroom grade sheets, progress reports (4 weeks), report cards (9 weeks), open house, conferences, team newsletters, and web pages. It is important to note that 7th and 8th grade teachers have over 120 students and even more parents to contact. As a result, one-on-one reports or phone calls regarding a single missing homework assignment or a low grade on a test are not possible. This does not mean that we are not interested or concerned, it just means that we may use different techniques for communicating than was done in elementary school. In an effort to keep you as informed as possible, our team will be using schoolnotes.com to list indvidual class assignments, and a new web based grade program called teacherease.com. that can help to keep you up to date with your child's grades and assignments for each team class. Parents wishing to utilize teacherease.com, must send their email address to their child's contact teacher (Section 1).

We hope that you will continue to take an active role in supporting your child in his or her academic growth by: talking to your child about what they are doing in school, encouraging and helping them to utilize their student planner, reading the reports and newsletters that are sent home, enthusiastically participating in conferences, and contacting teachers through the contact teacher or counselor if you have a concern or something you feel teachers should be aware of. As your child continues to grow and mature, they will need to increasingly take responsibility for their own learning and success. As tough as it is, the old saying is very true – A parent’s job is to put themselves out of a job.

Student-Led Conferences

This year's fall conferences are scheduled for the afternoon and evenings of Thursday, November 10th and 17th.

We are very proud of the fact that all of our 7th grade teams at Saline Middle School participate in student-led conferences. In this type of conference setting, students come to a team classroom with their parents at a scheduled conference time. After introductions, students will present their carefully constructed portfolio to their parents. Though the contact teacher will not be there for the entire conference, he/she will sit down with families for a portion of the conference to answer questions and clarify anything that is unclear or confusing. Other team teachers will also be available to briefly answer questions about their classes.

What student-led conferences ARE:

-An opportunity for all students to show and discuss with their parents what they are learning and experiencing at school in an official setting - not unlike many job interviews
-An opportunity for all parents to listen, ask questions and discuss their child’s work with them in that same setting
-An opportunity for all students to take responsibility for their own learning, with the love, support and encouragement of their biggest fans! We cannot emphasize how important a positive parent attitude is at this time and thank you in advance for providing that to your child.

What student-led conferences ARE NOT:

-A way for teachers to avoid meeting with parents – Team teachers make the attempt to accommodate all 120 families in the limited time that we have for conferences, as this is not always possible, we offer the opportunity for parents to sign up to meet with individual teachers or the entire team, at another time. We are also available by email, phone and appointment.
-Easier than traditional conferences – though the setting is usually more relaxed as families have an appointed time, a great deal of work is put into the preparation for these conferences, both by students and teachers. After the conference is over, parents and students are expected to continue conferencing periodically through the remainder of the year. Communication between students, parents and teachers is continuous.

Homework Policy

Homework provides students with an important opportunity to practice what they have learned, review information, and involve families in their daily work. In addition, healthy homework habits will help prepare students for success in high school and beyond.

Responsibility

This is an exciting time for your child! She is in middle school now and well on her way to growing up. With growing up come many responsibilities. One of your child’s biggest responsibilities this year is turning in homework and in-class assignments on time.

Keeping Track of Assignments

The best way for your child to keep track of assignments is to record them daily in his or her planner. Many teachers use a school website or a homework site called schoolnotes.com to list assignments.

Late Work

Late work, if accepted at all, is subject to a penalty of up to 50%. If students are absent or miss an assignmentfor some other reason, they are responsible for inquiring about missed work and turning it by the next class period.

Discipline Policy

The goal of our team discipline plan is to help create and keep a safe learning environment for all students as Saline Middle School while maintaining a sense of dignity and self-worth for the individual student.

We feel it is important to take a pro-active approach to discipline not only by modeling acceptable behavior and praising good behavior, but also by setting clear and consistent boundaries that are enforced team-wide. While each classroom may have different rules pertaining to the specifics of the subject being taught, our team policy is simple: No one has the right to disrupt the learning environment. With this in mind, as specific behavioral problems arise, team members can compare the behavior with our team goals. Team teachers will use the following steps:

1. Verbal or non-verbal warning, such as saying the student name aloud or making direct eye contact with the student who is misbehaving.
2. One-on-one discussion with the student regarding the specific behavior and why it was a problem.
3. Student must thoughtfully fill out a Behavior Modification Form that is to be signed by both the student and their parent, then returned to the teacher the following day. In addition, students may be assigned a lunch detention.
4. Student is referred to the office with a written Referral Form outlining the present behavior and noting that steps 1-3 have been completed.

*Please note that some behaviors may result in students receiving an automatic referral.

Rewards for good behavior, of course are intrinsic, but we realize that extrinsic rewards are also important. With that in mind, individual teachers will determine rewards for their classes. These may range from occasional small treats to games or homework passes.

Parent Involvement

Parent involvement in school is vital to student success. We are looking for enthusiastic parent volunteers, also called team parents. As a team parent, there are many important ways you can volunteer. Some of these are:

-Assist in specific classes
-Plan / chaperone field trips
-Plan / chaperone special events (Bring in treats on special occasions, etc.)
-Make phone calls
-Send out emails
-Organize the team newsletter
-Help organize book orders
-Become our TPC (Team Parent Council) representativeIf you are interested in volunteering, please contact one of the team teachers.

Learn more about our Team Parent Council at: http://www.salineschools.com/sms/TPC/abouttpc.html