Waggoner's Word - October 10, 2014

October 10th, 2014
Waggoner’s Word

Dear Parents,

Calendar of Events for the Week of October 13th-17th:
Monday, October 13th: RRISD Staff In-Service Day-No School
Tuesday, October 14th: 7th Grade FB vs. Grisham @ Dragon Stadium 5:30PM
Wednesday, October 15th: 8th Grade FB vs. Grisham @ Westwood HS 5:30PM
Thursday, October 16th: RRISD Cross – Country District meet
Thursday, October 16th: 7th & 8th Grade VB vs. Hernandez @ Stony Pt. HS 5:30PM
Friday, October 17th: Grade Level First 6 Weeks Awards Assemblies: 6th grade-10:00 am, 7th grade-8:25 am, 8th grade-1:45 pm all in the cafeteria

On Monday, October 13th during our RRISD Professional Learning In-Service day, the Hopewell teachers will be engaged in meetings throughout the day to plan lessons and activities, common tests, and look at STAAR data to ensure that all students are getting the instruction they require to be successful.  Our core academic staff (Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts) will be meeting in their specific departments to ensure that each designed lesson and assessments or tests include the appropriate level of rigor, are geared towards the interests of their students and are relevant to real world applications.  Additionally, our special education staff will be engaged in the core academic discussions and meetings to ensure that they are privy to the lesson and assessment designs in order to better  support their special needs students.  Our elective staff will be meeting with the elective staff at our sister school, Hernandez MS.  We will be hosting the Art, Spanish, Computer and Technology, and PE staffs for collaboration and lesson idea sharing.  Our Fine Arts Department will be meeting as a group in the morning to talk with me about next year’s scheduling and how to support our efforts of ramping up the rigor and relevance in all our school programs including the fine arts.  It should be a great day of collaboration, professional dialog and planning to ensure that your children are getting the best possible instruction.

On Wednesday, October 15th, Lulu Rubio – Hopewell MS 6th grader and 25 other visually impaired students from RRISD will be taking part in the White Cane Walk in Austin.  This Walk will raise awareness for the Blind and Visually Impaired Community.

The first week of our school-wide reading initiative has been a great success.  I have been in classrooms all week and the vast majority of our students had a book with them.  Students are reading when all assigned work is finished and during advisory each day.  We believe that this required reading will improve comprehension, fluency rate, vocabulary depth, as well as their writing skills.  We also believe that our students will be in the routine of reading stories in preparation for the STAAR assessments later in the year.  It would be a great help if you at home would ask your child about their book and ask them at dinner or at another convenient family time to summarize what their book is about or the chapter they are reading.  This will help them get in the habit of comprehending their reading which will help us out here at school.  Advisory teachers will also meet with students to discuss, summarize and reflect what they have read.

Our incredible Hopewell Librarian Michelle McLaughlin has a great system for our students to check out books online via an app.  MackinVIA is a program that students, faculty, and parents can use to checkout and download ebooks from the Hopewell Library.  Students will need to download the MackinVIA app on to their personal device and sign in with their username and password they use at school.  Ebooks and audiobooks can then be checked out and downloaded to their personal device and read offline.  All ebooks downloaded will be for a three week period.  Please contact Michelle McLaughlin at 512-464-5222 for more information.   This is a great opportunity for students to engage in our school-wide reading initiative.  IF you and your child make the decision to bring their personal device to school, remember the school or RRISD is not responsible if it is stolen, damaged or lost.


Reminder, please encourage your child to advocate for themselves when having an issue with a teacher.  If the problem persists and you need to further find out the situation then please contact the teacher prior to contacting an administrator.  I feel that it’s important that the teacher be given the opportunity to explain the situation since they have the details.  Thanks!

Please remember to join the Hopewell MS PTA.  Membership dues are only $8.00 and this money will help support our great parent – teacher association as well as the students and staff at Hopewell MS.  You may go to the PTA link on our school website for information and a donation form.  Thanks!

Our Hopewell Student Council is finalizing our Veteran’s Day Assembly on November 11th for our students.  They have secured a guest speaker, are putting together a program that includes our fine arts programs, and are implementing a Veteran’s Day essay contest in conjunction with our Language Arts department. ALL Veterans are invited to attend this important recognition event that will be tentatively held from 8:30 to approximately 9:15 on November 11th.  More details will follow.

I am in the process of setting up meetings with our four Hopewell feeder elementary school principals to discuss the important 5th to 6th grade transition process for our rising 6th graders.  In early February, I plan on taking three alumni to each feeder elementary to talk about school life at Hopewell, give a presentation, meet the principal, and answer their questions.  Additionally, I am meeting with the Stony Point HS counselors, along with our counselors, to talk about the 8th – 9th grade transition.  We will soon be planning a parent night for Hopewell’s rising 9th grade parents to review House Bill 5, now required Academy and endorsements, 4 year graduation plans, orientation information, and any other information that is pertinent to this huge transition from middle school to high school.  More information will be coming home soon with your 8th grader and also will be posted on our school website.

On October 15, 2014 all 8th graders in Hopewell Middle School will be taking the ReadiStep assessment, a test that measures reading, writing and math skills students learn in school. Your child does not need to do any special preparation for ReadiStep. However, it is important to eat a good breakfast and come to school focused on test day.  ReadiStep will help your child gain early insight into the skills he or she will need for success in high school and college. ReadiStep measures the same types of skills that are measured by the PSAT/NMSQT® and SAT®, tests students take in high school as they progress toward college.  Students participating in ReadiStep will receive a score report that shows how they performed on each test section and each question. Additionally, they’ll be able to see how their scores compared to those of other students across the country.  Your child’s ReadiStep results will be shared with teachers and administrators in our school district, but they will not be shared with colleges or other organizations. The results will be used to help us better understand students’ strengths and weaknesses so we can help them improve areas that need additional work as they make the transition to high school.


If you have questions about your school’s ReadiStep administration, please contact Mr. Meave - Assistant Principal. Additional information is available online at readistep.collegeboard.org/student.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Karl

Misc News:

RRISD recently switched to a new vendor and is no longer able to run criminal history background checks without a social security number. We are working towards a solution and appreciate your patience. In the meantime, any campus guest who does not have a social security number must log into Raptor as Visitor and will not be allowed to be unsupervised by district staff with a child who is not their own. Again, thank you for your patience. As soon as a solution is available, we will contact pending applicants and post instructions for future applicants on the district website.


Round Rock ISD Healthy Lifestyles invites you to our annual Healthy Living Celebration and FUN RUN
Activities include Fun Run, Rock climbing wall, mechanical bull, flash mob, board breaking contest, Yoga, "Amazing Race" obstacle course, face painting, facials, massages, reflexology, sports drills, nutrition, GMO and cooking demonstrations, healthy food samples, medical screenings and SO much more FREE fun.  Fun Run begins at 12:30 pm on the Westwood track, prizes for top finishers.  ADULTS you are invited too.
BRING YOUR BIKE for a free tune up, safety check and fun bike drills on the track.
WHEN
November 08, 2014 at 12pm - 3pm
WHERE
Westwood High School
12400 Mellow Meadow Dr
Austin, TX 78750
CONTACT
Leslie Cullers • pearlcullers@mac.com • 512-797-9961


If your student is on free or reduced lunch:
You can pick up a "Coats for Kids Flyer" from the school nurse.
*Every person must pre-register at the Round Rock Area Serving Center*
Pre-Registration Time: Monday - Friday from 10 am - 3 pm and Saturday 9 am -11:30 am
Location: Round Rock Area Serving Center, 1099 E. Main Street. Phone number:  (512) 244-2431.
All applicants must have the following to receive a voucher:
1. Coats for Kids Flyer
And one of the following forms of identification:
1. Social Security Card
2. Birth Certificate
3. Medicaid Card
4. CHIP Card

*Please bring information for ALL children in the family that are in need of a coat.
The coat distribution will be on Saturday, October 25th, from 8 am-11am.
It will be held at the Dell Diamond located on Highway 79 & Old Settler's Park. **Only families with a voucher will receive a coat on Distribution Day!!   ***Pre-Registration is required!***

Jamie Mayfield, BSN, RN
School Nurse
Hopewell Middle School
(512) 464-5217 -phone
(512) 464-5349 -fax