Principal's Message 11/16/18

11/16/18

TGIF...Twin Groves it’s Friday!  There will be no Principal’s Message on 11/23/18. The next message will be on 11/30/18.

Just a reminder...Monday, November 19th is an early release. Students are dismissed at 1:30PM.

We are not in session on November 20th through November 25th.

School resumes Monday, November 26th.

Illinois School Report Card Designation

Beginning in 2018, each Illinois school is receiving a Summative Designation, a measure of progress in academic performance and student success.

Four Designations:

• Exemplary – Schools performing in the top 10 percent of schools statewide with no underperforming student groups.

• Commendable – A school that has no underperforming student groups, a graduation rate greater than 67 percent, and whose performance is not in the top 10 percent of schools statewide.

• Underperforming – A school in which one or more student groups is performing at or below the level of the “all students” group in the lowest performing 5 percent of schools.

• Lowest Performing – A school that is in the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools in Illinois and any high school with a graduation rate of 67 percent or less.

Twin Groves Middle School has earned an EXEMPLARY DESIGNATION for the 2017-2018 school year. YEAH Twin Groves!!!!!

An Important Note About Student Progress Reports

Your student’s progress report is available for you to access online today–Friday, November 16, after 3 p.m. If you need assistance, please CLICK HERE for instructions to view your student’s progress report, to switch between your children’s progress reports, and more.

Counseling Corner

November begins, holidays loom, and we feel another year starting to come to a close. As adults, we naturally start to reflect on this past year and plan for what we will change and who we want to be in the year to come. You may have noticed that your pre-teen/teen is starting to show a level of self-awareness that allows them to do the same. Parenting in adolescence can be a time full of worry about problems that arise, but it is also an opportunity to support your child in developing strategies to bolster their overall happiness. True happiness is not simply the opposite of depression and anxiety. Instead, think of happiness as a general sense of overall life satisfaction. Happiness, or what scientists refer to as “subjective well-being”, is one of the most powerful protective factors in combating mental health challenges at all ages.  

Martin Seligman, one of the lead researchers in the field of positive psychology, explains happiness with a formula:

The science shows that 50% of our happiness is inherited- genetics influence a set range for our capacity for positive and negative emotions.

Surprisingly, only 10% of our happiness is influence by the circumstances in our lives. To a parent of a teenager, this statistic may seem insanely low; we see day to day circumstances impact our students dramatically, right? However, research is consistently clear: In less than 3 months, even the most major negative life events lose their lasting impact on happiness levels. And on the flipside, we quickly learn to take good things for granted, our expectations rise, and these things no longer make us happy- we need even more, better, to boost happiness again.

So what’s left? 40% of our happiness is actually under our control. This means that we can help our teens bolster their overall life satisfaction and happiness!

The most recent research on happiness indicates that the biggest impact can be gained in a practice that takes less than 3 minutes a day. Taking time to reflect on 3 good things from your day, or that you feel grateful for each day, has a stronger influence on overall life satisfaction and happiness than literally any other intervention designed to boost subjective well-being. Many people use a quick bullet journal to list their “3 good things” each day. To take this happiness-boost potential to the next level, research suggests we stretch out the savoring experience by sharing out our “3 good things” with someone else.

Work this quick 3-minute question into your daily conversations and get ready to see the benefits over time- in both your teens’ and your own sense of happiness. In the car, at the dinner table, or right before bed, share out your own “3 good things” and then ask your teen:

“Hey- what were three things that were really good about your day?”

or

“What were you really grateful for today?”

Conferences

Conferences are Monday, November 19th from 5-7PM &  Tuesday, November 20th from 2-7PM.

HERE is the link to sign up.

Parent Workshops

New to conferences this year are Parent Workshops!

Parent Workshops:  Instructional coaches will provide learning opportunities for parents during each day of conferences.  Please click on the link provided to learn more about the workshop sessions and times.

Twin Groves Parent Workshop Schedule

Current Patriot Consortium Mathematics Placement Process

Over the last few years, Stevenson High School and the feeder middle schools have created a scope and sequence and aligned the curriculum to the Common Core Standards for Mathematics, as well as created common benchmarks for the end of each unit for both the Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 courses. The consortium has created criteria that defines the four strands of mathematical proficiency to highlight the attributes of a proficient mathematical thinker. The criteria are grouped into three categories (See chart on second page):

• Procedural Skills & Fluency (How well you can correctly use mathematics.)

• Conceptual Understanding (How well you utilize mathematical ideas, transfer your knowledge into new situations, and apply it to new contexts.)

• Problem Solving with Adaptive Reasoning and Strategic Competence (How well you can apply strategies and sound reasoning.)

Over the course of the year, the mathematics teachers will be discussing these criteria with the students in class to create a portrait of each student. This portrait will be used to recommend the students into the mathematics course at Stevenson High School that matches their content knowledge as well as level of mathematics proficiency at this time.

As a district and consortium, it is our vision that each student move on to the next course in the sequence providing that there are not significant gaps in content knowledge. If there are significant gaps in content knowledge and a change in recommendation occurs, we will contact you. We feel that this process allows a mathematical picture of the student to develop over time, which will provide a more informed recommendation.

Daily Announcements

The Daily Announcements will be posted each morning. Please see Twin Groves website for up to date school announcements.  The announcements let you know what exciting activities and clubs are going on at Twin Groves. Please click HERE to access the Daily Announcements.

PTO

FALL BOOK FAIR 2018:

Our Fall Book Fair is November 19th and 20th. We're so excited about the fantastic books and items coming our way!

We hope you'll stop by to check out the latest books for kids, purchase those holiday gifts, and find some interesting books for yourself too:

Monday, November 19th from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, November 20th from 2:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Our online Book Fair is already open, you can place an order by following this link! http://www.scholastic.com/bf/twingrovesmidsch1
 

Upcoming Events

-Special Lunch is on November 28th

-Dessert Day is on December 12th

-Special Lunch is on December 19th

-Dessert Day is on January 23rd

-Special Lunch is on January 30th

Please click HERE to access the Membership Toolkit. All items for sale from the PTO will be available on this website.

Band & Orchestra Boosters

Please click the BLOG to access the latest news from the Band & Orchestra Boosters.