St. Clair Middle School

Mr. Alley

 

No Zeros......Do your best to be your best

 

e-mail: malley@ east-china.k12.mi.us

Phone: 676- 1201

 

Education is definitely a Team Sport.  Communication is the key.  Please don't hesitate to contact any of your child's teachers, counselors or administrators with any questions of concerns.  With that in mind, I've jumped into the 21st Century and created a SCMS Blog that is meant to not only give updates but also give parents and community members a chance to give us feedback and ideas that we can use for improvement.  Check it out and join the member list.

 

SCMS BLOG        http://scmshappenings.blogspot.com/

 

New (somewhat) Saturday School Procedure

Ahhhhhh....the leaves are changing, college football is here and it's the start of Saturday School. Does it get any better than that? Today is our first Saturday School...as a matter of fact, I'm typing this as I sit in Saturday School. I've spent every lunch hour and countless P.A. interruptions explaining our somewhat new Saturday School procedure...but there still seems to be a little confusion (Middle School kids...confusion???? Hard to believe). The main thing that I'm trying to get across to the kids (young adults) is that it's not a punishment. It's meant as an aid to complete assignments and increase their overall grades. That's a tough sell that it isn't a punishment after having to get up early on a Saturday. It does turn into a discipline issue if a student skips Saturday School. Here are the nuts and bolts.
 

  • I post the master lists of missing assignments in the cafeteria Monday through Friday
    Any student with 2 or more missing assignments on Thursday is assigned Saturday School. The way out is to complete all assignments by Friday. If they have 5 missing assignments and they only complete 4, they still have Saturday School.
     
  • I'm asking kids with missing assignments to turn them into the teacher that assigned it on Monday through Wednesday.
    On Thursday and Friday I'm asking the kids to turn their missing assignments into the Office. Mrs. Schweihofer will have a Master list so she can check off assignments. This will help me know who should be showing up for Saturday School.
     
  • There is no question we will have a few bumps in the road...kids that have turned in assignments late but haven't been put into Zangle yet and it's still showing up as a referral, kids with absences, etc....not a big deal. If a student that has a referral in a class and asks their teacher about it and the teacher knows he/she has turned it in but they haven't had a chance to enter it yet into their gradebook, they just shoot an e-mail to Mrs. Schweihofer and she'll check it off the list
     
  • I'm trying to put as much responsibility on the students as I can to follow up on this. It's all apart of growing up (added responsibility). They might suffer a few bumps in the road, but in the long run it'll pay off.

 

  • Here's the big question that I get from the kids....what are we going to do with the ones that skip Saturday School? To be honest, we are limited to what we can do. They will be taken out of the mix for "extras" (dances, etc...) for this marking period, 8th graders will receive discipline points toward Cedar Point and (as of now) all students that miss Saturday School will be assigned homework help all of the following week...whether they have homework or not.
This is something that is still in a state of flux and we'll continue to update and try to make it run smoother.
 

 

 

If you ever have any questions about anything, please do not hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an e-mail.  

 

 

 

 

 

Ever wonder what a GLCE is?  GLCE stands for Michigan’s Grade Level Content Expectations.  When you get a chance, here is a website that is a great resource for parents.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

 

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Form_B_Intro_138683_7.pdf

 

 

 

The majority of problems that we run into at the middle school level usually centers on organization, or the lack of.  We have found that one of the biggest mistakes a parent can make is to purchase their child a trapper keeper.  It seems like a good idea but in reality they become a black hole for assignments.....and I speak to this from first hand knowledge of being guilty as a parent of buying one of these for my my sons and then being amazed when we would go through it and what we would find.  We have found that using a separate colored folder for each class is a much better way to stay organized.   We use a school wide color system for folders.  

Math is Green

ELA is Yellow

Social Studies is Blue

Science is Red 
 

 

 

 

 

Just a Head's Up

  • If you haven't already, please sign up for Parent Connect.  It is an outstanding communication tool to stay on top of how your child is doing in each of their classes.  Go to the East China School District main page (http://www.ecsd.us/) and click on "Parent Connect".  It'll explain the hoops you need to jump through.

  • To access Parent Connect click here

  • An Online Textbook link is available on our main page.  The user names and passwords are generic.  Check it out, it has some very useful information

 

 

 

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