The Dental Bus will be here September 11, 12, 13 & 16. Anyone interested in participating, pick up a form in the MS office. The form must be completed and returned to the office by Friday (9/6).
Any 6th, 7th, or 8th grader interested in Robotics; MS robotics will meet for 1 hour after school this Thursday September 5th. All you need is an interest and we can show you the rest. If you have any questions just email Coach Davis . (jdavis@shepherdschools.net) or stop by the Media Center, Behave Out room to chat with Mr. Davis.
This morning each class will be continuing to develop their Classroom Social Contracts which you started during SOAR yesterday. This is a process and may take a few days to finish.
Students will also begin developing their Social Contracts in their Science and Social Studies classes today. We will begin contracts in Math and Language Arts tomorrow and in Elective classes on Friday.
Students, SmartPass is now fully implemented and everyone must use the SmartPass to leave the classroom during class time. But let me be clear…students must FIRST get permission from their teacher to leave the classroom before filling out their SmartPass. If a student leaves the classroom without the teacher's permission, their SmartPass access will be revoked and they will not have the ability to create hall passes.
Get Permission from your teacher before filling out a SmartPass.
I want to remind everyone of our school cell phone policy. Cell phones are to be turned off and secured in a student's locker throughout the school day, 8am to 3pm. If a student has their phone during the school day, the phone will be turned over to a staff member and then turned into the office. Consequences for violating the cell phone rule is as followed:
1st Offense - Students will pick up their phone after school.
2nd Offense - Students will turn in their cell phone to the office for 2 weeks, receive a lunch detention will be given, and parents will be notified.
3rd Offense - Students will turn in their cell phone to the office for 2 months, receive a lunch detention will be given, and parents meeting will be scheduled.
4th Offense - Student will turn in their cell phone to office for remainder of school year, lunch detention will be given, and parents will be notified
This evening there is a meeting for HS & MS parents and students who want to be involved in this year's musicals. The meeting is at 6:00pm in the auditorium. We hope to see you there!
Any 6th, 7th, or 8th grader interested in Robotics; MS robotics will meet for about 1 hr after school this Thursday September 5th. All you need is an interest and we can show you the rest. If you have any questions just email Coach Davis . (jdavis@shepherdschools.net) or stop by the Media Center, Behave Out room to chat with Mr. Davis.
Today during SOAR, classes are going to begin developing their classroom social contracts, which are agreements amongst the class on how everyone in that classroom, adults and students are expected to treat one another. This is a process and may take a few SOAR class periods to complete.
Students, SmartPass now fully implemented and everyone must use the SmartPass to leave the classroom during class time. But let me be clear…students must FIRST get permission from their teacher to leave the classroom before filling out their SmartPass.
Get Permission from your teacher before filling out a SmartPass.
Students, if you still have any paperwork to turn into the office, please give it to your SOAR teacher and they will get it to the office.
Are you interested in being part of the MS musical “Charleston!”? There is a meeting on Today at lunch for people who are wanting to be part of the cast, crew, or tech for the production. After eating in the cafeteria, head to the media center.
On Tuesday there is a meeting for HS & MS parents and students who want to be involved in this year's musicals. The meeting is at 6:00pm in the auditorium. We hope to see you there!
Art Club will not begin until the beginning of October. There will be more information in the announcements when it gets closer.
Following announcements, 6th graders are to go to the MS gym for a school safety presentation with Chief Sawyer. This presentation will last until the start of 1st hour.
Announcements
Students, if you are not getting a breakfast here at school, then do not stand in the breakfast line in the cafeteria with your friends. Wait for them to get through the line and then you can hang out with them. Having people in line that are not eating causes confusion and does not need to happen.
Students, if you have specific schedule changes you must fill out a change of schedule request form, which you can pick up outside the counseling office. This form must be completed, signed by a parent and turned into the Counseling Office by this Thursday (Aug. 29).
Students, if you have any paperwork to turn into the office, please give it to your SOAR teacher and they will get it to the office.
Following announcements, 8th graders are to go to the MS gym for a school safety presentation with Chief Sawyer. This presentation will last until the start of 1st hour.
Mrs. Gall will be hosting Connection Days this fall. The first Connection Day is TODAY during both lunch periods! There will be water balls available outside for water dodgeball today.
Connection Days will happen about once a week. Pay attention to the announcements for more information about upcoming events or see Mrs. Gall for more information.
Expectations for the Hallway
Today we are going to review our Hallway Expectations again. This is how we expect all students and adults to behave while in our hallways.
In the hallways, being respectful means;
Walk and stay to the right
Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself
Use appropriate language and voice level (inside voices)
In the Hallways, being Engaged means;
Arrive on time
Follow adult directions.
Use a hall pass during class.
In the Hallways, being Accountable means;
Keep all electronic devices off and out of sight
Act appropriately
Treat everyone with respect and kindness
In the Hallways, being a Leader means;
Help keep the hallways clean.
Keep a positive attitude.
Today, during passing time, we are ALL going to work on our hallway expectation of walking on the right hand side of the hallway. We all walk on the right side to prevent congestion and be safer for everyone.
This morning during SOAR, we are again asking everyone, including staff, to wear the stick on name tags. This has been so helpful, that after the weekend, we wanted to do it one more time to help everyone learn each other's names. Please wear these name tags appropriately for their given purpose.
Students, if you have specific schedule changes you must fill out a change of schedule request form, which you can pick up outside the counseling office. This form must be completed, signed by a parent and turned into the Counseling Office by this Thursday (Aug. 29).
Students, if you have any paperwork to turn into the office, please give it to your SOAR teacher and they will get it to the office.
Following announcements, all SOAR classes will watch a short video on our new SmartPass system for hall passes and then discuss it as a class. There will be a learning curve as we implement this new system, and we will help each other as we learn to use this platform.
Congratulations to Brogan Eisenberger (left) for being awarded the Outstanding Male Performance and Brayden Eisenberger (right) for being awarded the Leadership Award, as they were both a part of the Mt. Pleasant Police Department 2024 Summer Youth Police Academy Program.
Announcements
Today we are going to review our Hallway Expectations. This is how we expect all students and adults to behave while in our hallways.
Expectations for the Hallway
When walking in the hallways here at school we have very simple and clear expectations on how we all should behave. These expectations are broken down into four categories:
Respectful - which means we value ourselves and others.
Engaged - which means we stay focused.
Accountable - which means we take responsibility for our actions.
Leaders - which means we model expected behaviors.
Respectful, Engaged, Accountable and Leaders
In the hallways, being respectful means;
Walk and stay to the right
Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself
Use appropriate language and voice level
In the Hallways, being Engaged means;
Arrive on time
Follow adult directions.
Use a hall pass during class.
In the Hallways, being Accountable means;
Keep all electronic devices off and out of sight
Act appropriately
Treat everyone with respect and kindness
In the Hallways, being a Leader means;
Help keep the hallways clean.
Keep a positive attitude.
These are all simple and easy to follow expectations. If you forget or ever need a reminder, we have signs hanging throughout the hallway. When you are in the High School end of the building, the same expectations are expected. The high school has the same expectations as we do here in the middle school.
This morning during SOAR, all students will be given a sticker name tag to put on their shirt again. This has been very helpful and impactful to both staff and students. The expectation is that you will wear this name tag appropriately on your shirt throughout the school day again. I really appreciate everyone’s cooperation in following this request and honoring this process.
Students, if you have specific schedule changes you must fill out a change of schedule request form, which you can pick up outside the counseling office. This form must be completed, signed by a parent and turned in before next Thursday (Aug. 29) to the Counseling Office. If your schedule has a mistake on it; such as two of the same class or an incorrect grade level class, stop in the Counseling Office and see Mrs. Cahoon today.
Students, if you have any paperwork to turn into the office, please give it to your SOAR teacher and they will get it to the office
Girls signed up to play 7th/8th grade volleyball must be at practice Monday, August 26th from 3:15-5:00 to participate. All parts of Final Forms need to be completed to practice, this includes a student part, a parent part and a current physical. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Coach Dodick or Coach Blonairczyk.
Any 6th, 7th or 8th graders who are interested in signing up for cross country, see Mrs. Gimmey today in room 318. You can still sign up.
Welcome back, everyone! As we step into this new school year together, let's embrace the opportunities ahead with renewed energy and a shared commitment to inspiring our students. Here's to a year filled with growth, collaboration, and the joy of learning!
Join us for the BlueJay Bash on Tuesday, August 20th from 5 - 7pm.
Dear Stakeholder,
Shepherd Public Schools wants to communicate more effectively with our families and community. We need your help in understanding how we can better communicate information and through what platforms we use to communicate.
Why We Need Your Help:
We want to understand what is working well, identify areas for improvement, and explore new ways to keep you informed and involved in your student's education.
How We Will Use Your Answers:
We will look at all the answers to see what we need to do better. Your answers will help us make our communication better for all families.
How Much Time Will it Take:
The survey has 20 questions and should take less than 5 minutes to complete.
Thank you for your time and help.
https://forms.gle/DAxUJofB7s1qyzNt5
Dear Stakeholder,
Shepherd Public Schools wants to communicate more effectively with our families and community. We need your help in understanding how we can better communicate information and through what platforms we use to communicate.
Why We Need Your Help:
We want to understand what is working well, identify areas for improvement, and explore new ways to keep you informed and involved in your student's education.
How We Will Use Your Answers:
We will look at all the answers to see what we need to do better. Your answers will help us make our communication better for all families.
How Much Time Will it Take:
The survey has 20 questions and should take less than 5 minutes to complete.
Thank you for your time and help.
https://forms.gle/DAxUJofB7s1qyzNt5
Tonight's Boys Basketball Regional game has been pushed back to a 7:30 start time. The following information is from the MHSAA - Your BLUE ticket is good for the Shepherd vs Powers Catholic game ONLY. Game one – Saginaw vs Arthur Hill – is sold out.
Game two fans will not be admitted until the conclusion of game one. Game one starts at 5:30.
There are plenty of seats available for your game, so there is no need to arrive early.
In order to have a smooth transition between games and give fans plenty of time to exit and enter the arena, the game two starting time has been adjusted to 7:30.
The 65th annual Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival will be here before we know it and preparations to make it a safe and enjoyable experience for all is an ongoing effort.
As many of you are aware, BOGO Buddy Night (buy one get one free Thursday only) has grown to be an extremely popular and, therefore, overly crowded evening. The uptick in attendance has forced us to make some changes to aid in crowd control and to ensure the safety of all who attend.
In collaboration with Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival, Shepherd Police Department, Shepherd Public Schools and Elliott‘s Amusements LLC, the following changes have been made:
● The BOGO offer, for Thursday, April 25, will be available to Shepherd Public Schools
students only. Must present coupon to redeem offer
● It’s not a requirement that the “Buddy” be a SPS student
● The website will no longer show the BOGO offer on Thursday
● No more than one coupon per student is allowed
● Coupons will be distributed to the following buildings the third week of April
○ Shepherd Elementary - Friday Folders
○ Winn Elementary - Friday Folders
○ Shepherd Middle School - SOAR classrooms
○ Shepherd High School - Office
○ Odyssey Middle/High School - Office
This month we highlight Shepherd Elementary School. Thank you again to GI-TEC students, in the Digital Media program, for the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eERn9dH1IXQ
Later this month, January 20th, Shepherd Public Schools is playing host to the a day of Special Olympic basketball. If you, your family, or your friends are available to volunteer some time that day to help make this an incredible event, I know a lot of Special Olympians would be grateful. Check out the link to sign up:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0845AFA628A2FCC25-45687902-area?fbclid=IwAR3MKvicTmYo9IBqob0i1v4P6wnV71XfKSOyFwCduEuWlI0YEgT2dUx_jhg#/
The Shepherd MS Robotics - FTC Team 15399 - Blue Steel competed at Bullock Creek this past Saturday against 35 other teams from around Michigan. They have been building , testing, and coding this robot for the last 8 weeks. They performed well and their robot performed well when everything was working as it should. A few lessons were learned about checking wires, connections, and mechanics after every match and especially after you have had to fix a part on the bot, like a broken winch spool. The team had 2 wins and 3 losses in the 5 matches they competed in.
This was the most complex robot we have made so far since the inception of the MS Robotics Team in 2018. When you have 8 motors and one servo controlling 4 tires, 1 winch, 1 drone launcher, 1 linear slide, a pivot for a claw device, and a claw device, driving can get hard. There is a big challenge getting two drivers to communicate to control all those moving parts at the same time. Driver one controls the drive wheels and the direction of the robots travel, as well as the drone launcher, and the winch mechanism for climbing, while the second driver controls all parts involved in scoring pixels, the pixel claw, the pivot, and the linear slide. I am confident that with more practice driving and controlling the mechanisms on the bot that perform would be much improved.
Check out the some of the highlights and action around Shepherd High School's Community Clean-up 2023. (Video credit: Shannon McNier, SHS Senior) https://youtu.be/1imVNYMVmIE
Check out the some of the highlights and action around Shepherd Public Schools during the first month of the 2023-2024 school year. (Video credit: Shannon McNier, SHS Senior) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6i3aTutFEw
The Shepherd Middle School will be hosting a blood drive on Thursday (9/21/2023) from 9:00 to 2:00. See the graphic for details and a QR code to make an appointment.
Back to school shopping? Don’t forget to buy some Shepherd Middle School apparel!
SMS Student Council and Sandlot Sports have an online store that sells Shepherd Middle School merchandise. We have three Shepherd Middle School designs printed on a variety of apparel - shorts sleeves, long sleeves, crew sweatshirts, hoodies and more - there’s something for everyone.
Click here - the online store is up and running. It is set to close by the ordering deadline of September 10th and orders are estimated to be complete after September 25th and will be distributed at Shepherd Middle School.
https://shepms2023.itemorder.com/shop/home/?fbclid=IwAR0XGTzoj7PFZbgEYA88Tygvkc-kBUNfdmoU-K25aPV3BhQazDVkwnzEBGU