Middle School Notes

Greetings from "The Mile High City!"

I am currently attending the 35th annual National Middle School Association conference in beautiful Denver, Colorado.  Much like your children, I have spent the last couple of days in class, and have learned some exciting things that I plan to bring to Trinity.  The highlight of the trip so far was a motivating keynote address by Jim Collins, author of the best-seller entitled Good to Great.  Jim took his landmark five-year study on what makes corporations go from good to great and showed us all how that can be accomplished in our schools.  We all left feeling pumped!

Additionally, I have attended classes on topics such as organization and time management for administrators, what brain research tells us about the learning styles of middle-schoolers, writing across the curriculum, teacher observations, incorporating technology into every class, and how to have a culture of academic achievement in a school.  Tomorrow, I'll be attending three more classes plus a closing general assembly featuring Academy Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin.  

Needless to say, this has been time well spent, but I am looking forward to getting back at it Monday morning!  

I hope you and your family enjoy a wonderful weekend!   

PS - You can see a report on the opening day of this conference by clicking here.

Middle School Notes

Happy Friday!

Congratulations to the following art students who received awards last night from the Montgomery Advertiser’s “Design an Ad” contest: Madison Cornett won 2nd place in the 4-6th grade category for her ad designed for McPhillips and Shinbaum, LLP, of Montgomery. Mary Elizabeth Newman won 3rd place in the 7-9th grade category for her ad for Hardee’s Restaurants. Both students received US Savings Bonds as a prize.

Of the 1,202 students who entered the contest, 150 were from Trinity. Considering these numbers, we should be very proud of Mrs. Bricken and these two talented students!

I should also mention that Josey Aughtman, a 5th grader in our Lower School, had her ad selected for publication by Southern School and Medical Uniforms. Way to go Josey!

You can access a full article detailing the “Design an Ad” contest here.

We’ve had a good week here at Trinity. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Tests next week:

6th Grade:

Monday – None

Tuesday – Social Studies, Math

Wednesday – None

Thursday – None

Friday – Social Studies

7th Grade

Monday – None

Tuesday – Geography (Part I), Science

Wednesday – Geography (Part II)

Thursday – None

Friday – None

8th Grade

Monday – Science

Tuesday – U. S. History (Franklin)

Wednesday – Christian Studies

Thursday – None

Friday – U. S. History (Weeks)

Middle School Notes

Happy Friday!

Please give your children a big pat on the back for their cooperation as we administered a round of standardized testing Tuesday and Wednesday. The students seemed to take the test seriously, so I feel like they earned their two half days!

I am also happy to report that we have no middle school students assigned to Detention Hall this week. Overall, discipline referrals are down sharply from last year as are deficiencies. Translation: We’ve made great strides with respect to classroom discipline and academic success. Way to go!

As we continue through the year, please encourage your child to read, read, read. This skill is perhaps the single best indicator of future academic success. Our Accelerated Reader program is designed to help students develop a life-long love of reading. I encourage you to turn off the TV, crack open a book yourself, and model this for your children. Believe it or not, they still watch what you do and really look up to you. This is just one more way that you can partner with us as we work to educate your child.

Along this same line, please help us out with respect to attendance. It is most important that your child be in school as much as possible. If it becomes necessary for your child to miss for family reasons, please notify my office in writing at least one week in advance. This also applies to check-outs. Rather than simply making arrangements with the last period teacher, please follow the procedure of written notification to the principal’s office one week prior if at all possible. Thank you so much for your cooperation.

Again, we’ve had a great week here at Trinity! I hope you enjoy your weekend!

Here are our tests for next week:

6th Grade – None

7th Grade –

Monday – Geography (Map)

Tuesday – Old Testament

Thursday – Math, Pre-Algebra

Friday – Geography

8th Grade –

Monday – English

Wednesday – U. S. History (Weeks)

Thursday – French

Friday – U. S. History (McLemore), Algebra I

Middle School Notes

Happy Friday!

Check out these pictures of our Rolling Tones ensemble field trip to Atlanta to see Wicked. The day started Thursday at 6:45 a.m. as we had a brief organizational meeting followed by prayer in the Choral Room. We then departed for Atlanta, and arrived in time for lunch at the world-famous Varsity. After lunch, we headed a couple of blocks over to the historic Fox Theatre for the production which was absolutely fabulous!

Immediately following the musical, several actors and tech personnel met students from several schools at the foot of the stage for a brief question/answer session. Following this, we all piled into our cars and headed for home, arriving almost exactly twelve hours after we left.

Several of our seventh grade students joined Miss Head’s evening Pizza and Parts of Speech study session as seen in this picture. This was a creative way to prepare for an important test!

Here are a few important reminders and announcements:

1. Please help us by giving at least a one-week notice for any absences that require prior approval by the administration. You may submit your request to me in writing.
2. Please help us in the carpool line by pulling as far forward as possible when picking your child up from school. This will help prevent cars from backing up onto East Trinity Blvd.
3. Monday is a holiday, and we will dismiss at 12:00 noon on Tuesday and Wednesday due to standardized testing.
4. Please ensure that your child gets plenty of sleep, eats a good breakfast, and comes prepared for testing Tuesday and Wednesday. Students are required to bring two #2 pencils and a calculator, as well as a snack for our sessions.

Here are our tests for the upcoming week:

All Grades

Tuesday & Wednesday: Standardized Testing – Noon dismissal

6th Grade

Thursday – English (Holes)

7th Grade – None

8th Grade

Friday – English

Have a GREAT Weekend!

Creative Learning

Students in Mrs. Bowden's Old Testament class came up with some pretty cool depictions of the Creation, as well as a couple of outstanding scale models of Noah's Ark, for a recent assignment. Students used their math skills to make these models to scale.

These projects were presented in class today, and I was very impressed with the presentations.

I'll have more pictures when all of the projects are in and on display. Great job, kids!

Middle School Notes

Happy Homecoming!

Thanks for your support of our Homecoming activities this week. The kids seemed to have fun with each of our daily themes. As this is being written, we are gearing up for our parade, pep rally, and early dismissal.

Here are a couple of important reminders:

1. Our Homecoming game vs. the Beulah Bobcats will be tonight at 7:00. Come early as parking will be limited.

2. Please encourage your children to attend our 5th Quarter immediately following the game tonight in Willett Hall. This event, sponsored by three local youth pastors, will begin immediately following the game, and will end promptly at 11:00 p.m. Please make every effort to pick up your child as close to 11:00 as possible. Admission to this event is free, and is open to Trinity students in grades 6-8.

3. Please remember that we are back to normal dress code for next week. As I said in last week's post, our kids have done a great job in this area this year. Please help us get a more "normal" week off to a great start Monday morning.

4. Please keep in mind that we have a school holiday Monday, October 13, followed by half-days for testing on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 14 and 15. You will be given more information regarding our standardized testing next week.

Here are the upcoming tests for the week ahead:

6th Grade

Monday - Science

7th Grade

Tuesday - Math/Pre-Algebra

Wednesday - Keyboarding

Friday - English

8th Grade

Tuesday - Pre-Algebra, Algebra I

Thursday - US History (McLemore & Franklin)

Have a great weekend! GO WILDCATS!!