Highland Middle School

December/January

Newsletter

Dear Highland Middle School Parents:

As we prepare to end the 2007 calendar year, we will have many events to showcase our talented student body.

• Our sports teams, 7^th& 8^th grade boys and girls basketball teams will be kicking off their seasons in December.  Boys wrestling will also start in December. All home wrestling matches will take place at UL Light. Please get on barbertonschools.org and click on “athletics” to get all the schedules, dates, and times. Please come out and support our athletes.

• Our 7^th & 8^th grade girl’s basketball teams will have their first home games vs. Green at 4:00 PM on December 4^th.

• Our 7^th& 8^th grade boy’s basketball teams will have their first home games vs. UL Light at 4:00 PM on December 6^th.

• The Highland Middle School Holiday Choir concert will be at BHS at 7:00 PM on December 10^th.

• First Home Wrestling Match December 12^th- 4:00PM (all home matches are at UL Light ) vs. Green

• The Highland Middle School Holiday Band Concert will be at BHS at 7:00 PM on December 17^th

• Our Holiday Break December 24^th – January 4^th

• No school on January 18^th- Teacher work day

• No school on January 21^st – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

• 7th graders to see The Odyssey at Barberton Magical Theater January 29^th.

• Currently and throughout the remainder of this school year we will be preparing our students to take the Ohio Achievement Tests.
• 6^th graders will be taking the Reading and Math OAT
• 7^th graders will be taking the Reading, Math, and Writing OAT
• 8^th Graders will be taking the Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies OAT

  ·        It is extremely important that your children are here everyday and giving their best effort in class. Our staff is working extremely hard to prepare your children to take and pass these Ohio Achievement Tests. Please stress the importance of these tests to your children and continue the open lines communications with all staff at Highland Middle School. It takes a combined effort from all of us to ensure your children’s success.

• The success of our Positive Behavior Support program continues to grow.  Mrs. Reis and I are receiving more Magic Messages than ever. Our staff is catching your children doing great things and reporting them to the office for a reward.  Our entire staff and students received Highland Middle School t-shirts with the Magic 5 rules on the back. The staff and students signed a contract promising to follow the Magic 5 to get a t-shirt. It was a great success. The contract with the signatures from the entire student body and staff is displayed in the cafeteria.  We received grant money for Character Education from PPG. This money was used to purchase the t-shirts and continues to support our Positive Behavior program.

• The rules are:

The Magic 5

Be respectful

Be responsible

Keep hands /feet to yourself

Follow Directions- The first time given

Be there- Be ready

As you can see, these are very simple rules everyone can follow.

• We are very busy in the Counselor’s office this month.  Several students in grades six through eight are participating in a weekly study skills group at lunch time to help them increase their performance in the classroom and on our yearly standardized testing.  Our peer mediation program is up and running as well.  Our peer mediators are attending training at the high school this month where they will learn the skills necessary to help themselves and others resolve conflicts, peacefully.  With Interims just around the corner, I am also working with many students to help them reach their academic goals for the second grading period.  As always, if you have any questions or concerns, I can be reached in the Guidance office.  Have a wonderful Holiday season!  Mrs. Lewis

• I would like to thank PPG and the HMS PTSA for their support of our Positive Behavior Program.

• Please send in ACME receipts and Box Top for Education. We are collecting these to receive extra money for our classrooms.

• If you shop at Giant Eagle, please register your savings card for Highland Middle School. You can get on gianteagle.com or Call 1-800-474-4777 to register your card. The Highland Middle School ID number is 2350.  We can get extra funds for our classrooms through this program as well.

• Please continue to look at the Highland website on barbertonschools.org for updates to this newsletter and articles from our outstanding staff.

 Always consider yourself welcome at Highland Middle School. Please call or stop by with any questions or concerns.

Thank You,

Mr. Ramnytz                                           

Principal

Mrs. Reis                                                

Assistant Principal

Mrs. Lewis

Counselor