Dear Beagle Middle School Families,
Here are some updates that we wanted to share at this time:
PTO Sponsored Fundraiser: This week, our Hayes/Beagle PTO kicked off their annual fundraiser, and our students were provided information about this in their CNC classes. On behalf of the PTO, we appreciate those that are able to participate in this fundraiser as the funds raised go directly back to supporting our school community at both Hayes and Beagle.
NWEA Testing Next Two Mondays: Grand Ledge uses the NWEA Math and ELA assessments to measure student growth and achievement over time. While NWEA is a benchmark assessment, comparing student progress to grade level standards, it is not a formal assessment like MSTEP or PSAT. While the assessment is taken seriously and Grade Level Teams review the data as such, it’s a screener for the aforementioned reasons. This year, we will be giving the NWEA in the fall and spring only; we are not giving the screener in the winter as we are now engaging in the DIBELs assessment. Next week on Monday, September 14th, we will be giving the NWEA Math screener. Students will report to CNC to take the screener in the morning in lieu of going to first hour. Once NWEA is over around 10:35 (most students finish by 9:45am), we will run an altered schedule, including lunches, for the rest of the day with students attending hours 1 through 6. The same process will apply on Monday, September 21st for the ELA screener. Students that need extended time to finish or those that are absent will be tested immediately the following day in the media center.
ParentPortal and Family Communication: We wanted to send along another reminder that our teachers communicate with family members regarding essential learnings, larger projects, and classroom updates through ParentPortal via the “Family Communication,” which can be found at the top of each teacher’s gradebook within ParentPortal. We encourage our family members, especially our 7th grade family members, to review ParentPortal on a regular basis as our students receive formal, traditional grades here at Beagle. Teachers update their gradebooks regularly, and the “Family Communication” section is updated every other week.
Building-Wide Grading Policy: While we follow a standards-based learning approach at Beagle Middle, we are a secondary school, and letter grades are necessary at the secondary level–especially at the high school level as they are part of a student’s formal transcript. Our teachers have a focused effort on documenting grades that reflect authentic learning of our essential learnings; therefore, not every entry will carry the same weight in the calculation of a student’s overall grade. In addition, when students do not submit work that a teacher deems appropriate to review and enter into the gradebook, students will receive a 50% for that assignment, and it will be marked missing. Students will have up to the summative assessment (test) to submit missing/incomplete work for up to full points. In short, missing or incomplete work is marked as a 50% and marked as missing, which gives the student an opportunity to catch back up before the summative assessment within the unit of instruction.
Hayes/Beagle PTO: Hayes/Beagle PTO Meeting: Our next PTO meeting will be held at Beagle Middle School in the Media Center on Tuesday, October 20th, at 6:30 p.m. If you’ve ever wondered how to get more involved at your student’s school—or how to stay up-to-date on what’s happening at Hayes and Beagle—the PTO is a great place to start. There is no cost to join, and attending a meeting is an easy way to hear updates, share ideas, and learn how fundraising supports programs and opportunities for students and staff. We’re also looking for volunteers, whether you can help once or several times during the year; we would love to have you involved. Come check it out and see how you can be part of supporting our school community. Here is a graphic that demonstrates that outstanding work of our Hayes/Beagle PTO: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17kifMBPZHOY2qEm60GP5IAF3uAMzGvha/view?usp=sharing
Students of the Week:Here are our Students of the Week: https://www.glcomets.net/ourschools/beagle-middle-school/studentoftheweek/
Upcoming Events, District News, & Community Information: To review what the school district shares in newsletters about events, news, and information, please visit http://GLcomets.net/Upcoming.
Important Upcoming Dates:
September 14th–NWEA Math testing in CNC AM; Hours 1-6 in the PM, altered schedule with lunches served.
September 21st–NWEA ELA testing in CNC AM; Hours 1-6 in the PM, altered schedule with lunches served.
September 24th–Curriculum Night at BMS, 6:30-7:30pm, families welcome, more information to come soon.
September 29th–Picture Retake Day
October 7th, Student Count Day per State of Michigan
October 9th, Teacher PD, no students. Classes resume on October 12th
These are all of the updates that we have at this time. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Take care,
Dave and Kelly
