Personal Learning Plan Important Information

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,

We are pleased to inform you of an exciting initiative that Milton Middle School is working on this year. Personal learning plans (PLPs) have been mandated by the state of Vermont as a key element of the Act 77: Flexible Pathways legislation. Beginning in the fall of 2015, students in grades 7 and 9 are required to have a personalized learning plan that documents their growth and learning as a student, identifies educational opportunities beyond the traditional classroom setting, supports student achievement of academic and personal goals, and demonstrates student proficiency with the Agency of Education’s Transferable Skills. Milton Middle School is embracing personal learning plans (PLPs) for all students in grades 6-8. This work will lay the foundation for the growth of their PLP as they progress through grade 12.

Using a Personal Learning Framework (see below), students explore their identity as learners, their supportive community relationships, and their academic and extracurricular goals. Additionally, students are given the opportunity to set goals, collect evidence of goal achievement, use technology to document and communicate their growth, and to explore opportunities of interest.

Each Milton Middle School student has initiated the process of developing his/her own PLP blog. This site is secure under the mymtsd-vt.org domain and the student has shared it with their House teachers and their adviser. We encourage you to ask your child about his/her blog. All students have written an About Me section and taken personality/interest/learning surveys. At our November conferences, the personal learning plan will serve as the basis for discussion with your child about his/her identity as a learner, his/her academic, extracurricular, and citizenship goals, and evidence of learning.  We would also encourage you to come to the conference with your hopes and dreams for your child. From this meeting, students will continue to work on both long term and short term goals.

As we progress through the year, we will continue using the Personal Learning Framework to help guide your child toward completion of his/her goals, collection of evidence identifying his/her growth and learning, and reflection on the strengths and challenges he/she works on as a member of Milton Middle School. The work students do on their PLPs while in middle school will carryover into the work they do in high school.

In advance, thank you for supporting this important student work. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, concerns, or comments. We look forward to our November conferences and using the personal learning plan as a key instrument in your student’s educational program.

MMS Curriculum Team Leaders

Nathan Caswell

Marcel Choquette

Jana Fabri

Maria Gordon

Amy Johnson

Josh Roof

Joe Smith

Lauren Talbot

Catherine Thibault-Cote

Milton Town School District

42 Herrick Avenue, Milton, VT 05468-3097 (802) 893-5400

www.mtsd-vt.org   www.mmshousebee.blogspot.com

HOUSE B
November 2, 2015

Dear House B Families,

It is time for the first round of Student-Led Parent Conferences! The 2015-16 school year is well underway, and this is an excellent time for you to see your child’s growth and progress. We know that you discuss school and learning with your child on a regular basis. We invite you to participate in this opportunity to have a more formal and structured discussion led by your child, to reflect on his or her successes, challenges, and growth during this trimester.

At the Student-Led Parent Conference, your child will share a portfolio of artifacts of his or her learning – work from each class that he or she has thoughtfully selected to demonstrate learning and growth. In addition to these artifacts, your child will discuss reflections on successes and challenges in each academic area, and the goals he or she set for the second trimester of the year. These goals encompass both lifelong learning skills and the Habits of Mind that students are striving to achieve in our Middle School: flexible thinking, preparedness, citizenship, persistence, and precision. While all teachers will be present during the conferences, please know that the purpose of the conference is for your child to share his/her learning experience with you, unlike a traditional parent-teacher conference. It can be difficult for each teacher to visit each conference. If you have specific concerns or questions prior to the conference, or that go unanswered at the conference, please contact your child’s advisor or any teacher.

We are scheduling conferences on the evenings of Monday, November 9th and Tuesday, March 10th from 4:00PM to 7:00PM in classrooms 212 and 213. We look forward to seeing you at this important event!

Sincerely,

Caroline Woodward - Consulting Teacher

Greer Krembs - Science
Francine Lemnah - Math
Josh Roof - Humanities
Ellen H. Taggart - Humanities


Additional members of House B available via email and phone:

Karen Allard- Math consulting teacher and House B Advisor

Tami Koester - Speech Language Pathologist


Please complete and detach the section below, and return to your child's advisor.

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*Please indicate your FIRST and SECOND, and THIRD choices for a conference time. We will confirm the scheduled time of your conference.*

____ 4:00–4:30pm on Monday, November 9   ____ 4:00–4:30pm on Tuesday, November 10

____ 4:30-5:00pm on Monday, November 9   ____ 4:30-5:00pm on Tuesday, November 10

____ 5:00-5:30pm on Monday, November 9   ____ 5:00-5:30pm on Tuesday, November 10

____ 5:30-6:00pm on Monday, November 9   ____ 5:30-6:00pm on Tuesday, November 10

____ 6:00-6:30pm on Monday, November 9   ____ 6:00-6:30pm on Tuesday, November 10

____ 6:30-7:00pm on Monday, November 9   ____ 6:30-7:00pm on Tuesday, November 10

____ 7:00-7:30pm on Monday, November 9   ____ 7:00-7:30pm on Tuesday, November 10




Student: _______________________ Attendees: _________________________________________

Best way to confirm the conference time (email or phone number): ___________________________

PLP BLOG ADDRESS:  Click here to add your blog address to the list.

PLP TEMPLATE DIRECTIONS:   CLICK HERE for the template directions

CAMPING TRIP FINAL DETAILS

September 30, 2015

Dear House B Families,

Our camping trip has finally arrived!  Here are a few final items we thought were needed:

DROP OFF AND PICK UP

If you will be driving to school to drop off and pick up camping equipment and supplies, please come to the horseshoe off Herrick Ave near the middle school entrance.  We will be loading the buses and chaperone cars between 7:15AM and 8:30AM.  Students will be back at school by around 1:30PM on Friday in time to help unload, return, and store equipment and be dismissed at 2:30PM on Friday.

WEATHER AND CLOTHING

The weather looks good for our trip -- no rain and maybe some sun, but it will be chilly.  Highs will be in the high 50s maybe 60 degrees and lows at night will be down to about 40 degrees.  Make sure your child has a warm hat, gloves, coat, layers, and proper footwear.

CAMPING TRIP ITINERARY

Thursday, October 1, 2015
7:30 - 7:40	Advisory check in	Review expectations for the trip.
7:30 - 8:30	Campsite Group Rooms and Loading Buses	Your camping group will be sent down to load your gear that is going in a car.  You will keep your backpack.
9:00 - 10:30	Arrive and Site Set Up	Unload and set up campsite then explore park with chaperone
10:30 -- 11:00	Whole Team Meeting	Common area between campsites
11:00 - 12:00	Whole House B Activity	Capture the flag
12:00 - 12:30	Lunch	Own bagged/brought lunch
12:30 - 1:00	Solar Ovens	Set up, collect data for 14 minutes, leave set up
1:00 - 2:30 Switch time is @ 1:40	Choice Time #1 and Choice time #2 -- Art, Hiking, Sports (Volleyball, Soccer, Football, etc.), Lawn Games, Fishing. NO GOING TO CAMPSITES	Each activity will run the whole time if there are people psyched to participate.  Opportunity to switch @ 1:40PM// New participants welcomed at 1:45.
2:45 - 3:05	Whole Team Meeting -- Creative Challenge with Camping Group	Night time expectations, Birthdays, Acknowledgements, Creative Challenge with Camping Group
3:05 3:45	Creative Challenge	Practice for challenge
3:45	Go to campsite	Prepare for quiet time
4:00 - 4:30	Quiet Time	At campsites 20-25 minutes of reading 7 minute write
4:30 - 6:00	Dinner (switch to creative challenge practice when done with dinner and clean up).	Start preparing, cooking, and eating dinner
6:00 - 6:30	Creative Challenge	Final practice
6:30 - 7:45	Evening Event -- Creative Challenge Performance by Camping Groups	Each camping group will have 2 minutes to perform their creative challenge piece.
7:45 - 9:00	Bonfire, Brownies, and S’Mores	Site TBA
9:00	Return to Campsite/ Prep for Lights Out/ Reading and Chill time	Get cozy and prepare for bed
10:00	Lights Out	This is a strict policy of the State Park
Friday, October 2, 2015
7:30 - 8:30	Wake Up and Breakfast
8:30	Clean up and Pack Up	Leave no trace at your campsite.  Bring all your stuff to the designated area near the parking lot.
9:30 - 10:15	Whole Team Meeting -- Schedule and Reflection	Sit with your Advisory Group.
10:15 - 11:30	Whole Team Meeting Activity -- Camoflage	Explain rules
11:30	Lunch -- Stone Soup and Lefties	Once you’ve eaten, help clean up, then you can play in designated area.
12:30	Load buses and cars
12:50	Depart Grand Isle State Park
1:30	Return to School	Unload, return and store equipment then go to your Core 4 classroom

EMERGENCY CONTACT

To reach House B Teachers call Ellen’s cell phone -- 802.922.7452

GRAND ISLE STATE PARK phone number -- 802.372.4300

We are looking forward to a great trip!  Thanks for all your help!

House B Teachers

House B Overnight Camping Trip 

October 1st - October 2nd

Dear House B Families,

The following packet of information should help you and your child prepare for our camping trip this week. Make sure you check in with your child about the items they will need to bring to be prepared to camp and to share with their lean-to group. They have an individual check list and camping supplies list with this information that should have come home on Friday. If you have any additional questions, please contact your child's Advisory Teacher. We are looking forward to a great trip!

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September 27, 2015

Dear House B families,

We are very excited for the House B camping trip to Grand Isle State Park this week on Thursday, October 1st to Friday, October 2nd.  Here is more information about the trip for you and your child.

PERMISSION SLIPS and MONEY

Please submit a permission slip and payment for your child by Tuesday, September 29th if you haven’t already ($7 cash or check to MMS).  The permission slip is included if you need it.  If money is a hardship, please contact your child’s advisor.  

If you and your child decide that your child is not attending the camping trip, your child will stay home on Thursday and Friday and will be expected to complete work at home to make up for what they will be missing on the school field trip.  If you have concerns about your child attending the camping trip, please contact his or her advisor to discuss them.

CHAPERONES

We are still looking for chaperones!  Each campsite group will have an adult supervising the group- either a student’s family member or school staff.  We welcome you to come for the entire trip, just the overnight portion, or the overnight and either Thursday or Friday.  Documents are included with important information about the expectations for chaperones, and the paperwork that you need to complete to be a chaperone.

If you are interested in chaperoning, please email Greer Krembs as soon as possible (gkrembs@mtsd-vt.org) to let her know and complete the included paperwork.  The paperwork can be emailed to Greer, or brought to school with your student (have them bring it to Ms. Krembs) by Tuesday, September 29th.

CAMPING EQUIPMENT and FOOD

Your child has a list of the camping and food equipment that they will contribute to their campsite group.  Please look it over with your child and prepare the needed supplies.  We are not expecting any families to buy large and expensive items such as tents and sleeping bags!  If your child needs an item, we will have extras (from other students or from teachers) that can be borrowed.  The list of personal items your child needs is also included.   Please contact your child’s advisor if you need to borrow any of the items (such as a sleeping bag).

HEALTH and EMERGENCY

Please make sure the contact information the school has is current in case we need to contact you (call the MMS office at 893-5400).  Francine Lemnah will be in charge of giving any prescription or over-the-counter medications your child needs.  Please complete the included medication list, have your child return it to their advisor, and on the day of the camping trip, bring only the necessary doses of medications in ziplock bags with your child’s name.

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

All school policies will be followed on the camping trip and situations will be handled accordingly.  Members of the student support team, including principal, guidance counselor, and behavior interventionist, will be joining us to have fun together and help navigate any situations that arise.  You will be asked to come get your child immediately if a situation occurs and your child needs to be picked up (for medical or behavior reasons).

Students are allowed to responsibly use electronics on the trip.  We will be following school policy for electronics and making some changes because the camping trip is a different setting.  Students can use their phones during mealtimes, like they can during lunch at school.  Additionally, students can use them at their campsites to read (in the afternoon quiet time and at night), call or text home in the evening, and to listen to music to fall asleep.  The reason for these guidelines is to keep our trip’s focus on building our House B community and enhancing what students are learning in school.  

Please contact your child’s advisor with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

House B Teachers

Individual Checklist of personal and additional items needed

Clothing:

____Rain Coat and pants ____Hoodie/Fleece ____Light Jacket/Windbreaker

____at least 2 pairs of socks ____ 2 changes of clothes ____ 2 changes of underwear

____Warm hat ____Sweat pants ____ Pajamas

____ 1 pair of sneakers/comfortable walking shoes ____1 pair of rain boots/hiking boots

Sleeping:

___Sleeping Bag ____Bug spray/mosquito tent ____ Flashlight

___Pillow (optional) ____Camping mattress pad (optional)

___Tent (only 1-2 students per campsite group will need a tent)

Toiletries/Miscellaneous:

____Independent reading book _____Inspiration Journal ____Quarters (for showers)

____Towel _____Pen/Pencil

____Bathroom articles (toothbrush, toothpaste, soap etc.)

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Camping Supplies

Please return the bottom part of this sheet to your child’s advisor.  List what your family is willing and able to lend to students and what your child needs to borrow.

Child’s name: _________________________________________

Items our family can lend (label items with your name)

____Sleeping Bagt ____Tent (for 4-6 people) ____Camping mattress pad

Items my child needs to borrow

____Sleeping Bag ____Camping mattress pad

Field Trip Student Medication List

Student Name ______________________________________________________

1)  Medication: ______________________________________________________

  Dosage: ______________________________________________________

  When taken: ___________________________________________________

  Condition: _____________________________________________________

2)  Medication: ______________________________________________________

  Dosage: ______________________________________________________

  When taken: ___________________________________________________

  Condition: _____________________________________________________

3)  Medication: ______________________________________________________

  Dosage: ______________________________________________________

  When taken: ___________________________________________________

  Condition: _____________________________________________________

Notes (optional):