Welcome to Mills Park Middle School BORN IN A SPIRIT OF - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Welcome to Mills Park Middle School BORN IN A SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION ESTABLISHED 2010

Middle School is a Time of Change! ● Change for students: physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially ● Change for parents: developing evolving relationships with their student, supporting their child’s growing independence and responsibility, interacting with a team of teachers ● Change in school experience: subject area focus with core teachers, class changes and locker use, interaction with a larger number of students, evolving special talents

Typical Daily Schedule for 6 th Grade ● 7:45 Enter Building (Gymnasium) ● 7:58 Released to Lockers and Homeroom (8:10 first bell, 8:15 tardy bell) ● 8:15 – 9:15 Core Period 1 ● 9:18 – 10:18 Core Period 2 ● 10:21 – 11:21 Core Period 3 ● 11:21 – 12:11 Lunch/Leopard Time ● 12:14 – 1:14 Core Period 4 ● 1:19 – 2:08 Elective 1 ● 2:11 – 3:00 Elective 2 ● 3:00 Dismissal

Attendance and Tardies In your child’s best interest, attendance is expected every day. ● Please send a note when your child is absent. ● E- mail your child’s teachers re: absence(s) ● Absences can also be reported online by: ○ - Going to the MPMS website ○ - Clicking on the Parents tab ○ - Attendance ○ - Report an Absence Being on time is very important. Losing just five to ten minutes of class instruction can be detrimental to grades, can impact self-confidence and interrupts the instruction and learning for other students. ● Ensure your child is getting proper amount of sleep ● Breakfast (at home or school) provides the fuel to make it a great day ● Plan for carpool

Carpool Plan for carpool lines - Plan to arrive by 7:50 AM to avoid long lines that could result in your child being tardy. ● Carpool Map - Morning ○ Follow the blue lines through the elementary school AND middle school parking lot ● Carpool Map - Afternoon ○ Follow the blue lines through middle school parking lot ● Carpool Video If your child plans to ride the bus at any point throughout the school year, it would be a good idea for them to ride the bus within the first week of school. WCPSS Transportation Website

Middle School Team Model ● 5 Teams of 4 Core Teachers ● 2 Counselors for the Grade Level ● Approximately 120 students per team Jaguars Pumas Bobcats Tigers Lion s

Grading Policy & Honor Roll Recognition ● At MPMS, we believe that grades should accurately reflect a student’s knowledge of the Standard Course of Study and communicate this performance to stakeholders. ● 10 point grading scale: • A - 90-100 • B - 80-89 • C - 70-79 • D - 60-69 • F - 0-59 ● Grading Policy AND Honor Roll Recognition ● Honor Roll - ○ All “A” Honor Roll - Student received A’s in every class for the quarter ○ Honor Roll - These students received a 3.0 GPA or higher for the quarter (total quality points earned, divided by 6 classes) with no overall grades lower than a C.

Core Classes All students participate in 4 core classes each day and we follow the Common Core and Essential Standards. ● Language Arts ● Math ● Science ● Social Studies

CORE CLASSES What our 6th grade teachers want you to know...

Math 6 Math 6 Plus Sixth Grade Math Your placement is based on 5th grade teacher recommendations and WCPSS guidelines Compacted Math Math 7 Plus

Math ● Common Core Math 6 – An on grade-level math course covering 1 year of content. ● Common Core Math 6 Plus – An accelerated math course that offers roughly 1.3 years of content in one school year. It includes all sixth grade math standards and roughly one-third of seventh grade math standards. To be placed in Common Core Math 6 Plus, a student needs to have an EVAAS Probability of 70% or higher, and an EOG Score of Level IV or higher. ● Compacted Math 6 Plus / Math 7 Plus – A highly accelerated math course that offers roughly 2.5 years of content in one school year. It includes all sixth grade math standards, all of the seventh grade math standards, and roughly one-half of eighth grade math standards. To be placed in Compacted Math 6 Plus / Math 7 Plus, a student needs to have an EVAAS Probability of97% or higher, and an EOG Score of Level V. ● Math 7 Plus will be offered only to students who successfully completed Math 6 Plus in 5 th grade.

Over the Summer... -Practice standard algorithm for multiplying and dividing -Math study habits should be practiced Learn how to take notes Learn how to work practice problems independently Learn how to advocate for yourself -Be prepared for daily homework -Relax and enjoy your summer before the school year takes off! :)

6th Grade Science:Units of Study • Safety and Lab Procedures • What’s the Matter – Structure, classifications, and physical properties of matter • Catch a Wave – Wavelike property of energy in earthquakes, light and sound waves • The Land Beneath our Feet – Structure of earth and how interactions of constructive and destructive forces have resulted in changes in the surface of the Earth • Space Invaders – Study of the earth/moon/sun system and celestial bodies in the Universe • Growing and Flowing – Understanding the flow of energy through ecosystems and the structures, processes and behaviors of plants

How We Learn Hands on and Inquiry based learning as well as Cross-Curricular Connections to other core subjects

6th Grade Science Tips • Keep your science notebook up to date and organized • Don’t be afraid to ask questions • Review science concepts/vocabulary on a daily basis

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Language Arts Our writing curriculum requires students provide textual evidence in order to support a stance. Students must understand that the skills taught in Language Arts will be applied in all other content areas. Therefore, it is important that they take these literacy skills seriously in order to be successful in all of their classes. Students will be reading a variety of texts in class. Students should also be reading text of their choice at home. We use rubrics to grade all major assessments. They must be used as a checklist while writing, and then as review before submitting, an assignment.

Special Education ● MPMS Special Education Department is collaborating with Elementary Schools to support the transition process and attend IEP transition meetings. ● All Special Education Students receive a case manager to support their learning throughout the school year. Case managers will contact parents at the beginning of the school year.

SPECIAL EDUCATION SUPPORT PERSONNEL ● 2-3 Special Education Teachers certified in Math or Language Arts at each Grade Level ● Autism Support & Behavior Support Teacher (AST/BST) and Teacher Assistant ● Teacher Assistants that support in the special education resource classrooms

Special Education Course Offerings ● In-class resource (ICR) Language Arts ● In-class resource (ICR) Math ● Resource Literacy and Math • Connections • Essentials ● Decoding ● Curriculum Assistance (serves as an elective)

Academically and Intellectually Gifted Program Service Delivery Options May Include… ● Appropriate classroom grouping (cluster classes) ● “Push - in” model – students are not “pulled out” for AIG services Content Differentiation May Include… ● Differentiated instructional projects/investigations/units of study ● Tiered activities and assignments ● Varied questioning strategies, use of various texts and materials ● Increased complexity and challenge

Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) ● Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) is the practice of assigning a students to a higher- grade level than is typical, given the student’s age, for the purpose of providing access to appropriately challenging learning opportunities. ● It is an accelerative practice that allows students to show mastery of the content of a course without having taken the course. For example a parent could nominate his/her child to skip a grade level of content in either Language Arts OR Mathematics. ● SSA Nomination and Testing Windows are set by the county based on the school calendar. For additional information on SSA, please contact your elementary school or use the link below. WCPSS Single Subject Acceleration Link