Today is Thursday, April 2, 2020

You probably didn’t get a chance to meet Stout’s newest family member before we had to leave school. Mrs. Alhassan is now our Parent Liaison; she replaces Mr. Sabra, who transferred over to Dearborn High. Even though she’s only been with us a short time, Mrs. Alhassan has been very busy. She’s been calling and emailing families to check in and to make sure students are able to access their online learning assignments.

She has also been busy creating Stout’s new newsletter and it looks fantastic! You can see for yourself by visiting Stout’s blog or by clicking this link: https://stout.dearbornschools.org/student-newsletter/

Remember, keeping washing your hands and practice social distancing! Have a great day!

Today is Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Happy Birthday to Kassem A. and Ahmed S.!

Last week, we held Google video hangouts. It was nice to be able to see so many of you. We were able to answer questions that some of you had but, mostly, it was nice just to talk and hear what everyone has been doing.

This week, we’re going to do a slightly different format. We will meet at 12pm on Friday. Get your lunch and then sit down in front of your computer! We can eat and catch up…just like when we used to go out to eat with friends.

To join the lunch chat, you’ll need to log into iLearn and scroll to Week Three. I will post a link to the chat and the name of the chat for you to join. I will not be sending an email like I did last time.

If you have questions or need help with any of your work, please continue to email me. Stay safe and be well!

Today is Tuesday, March 31, 2020

I have checked the completion of the work for Week Two. Congratulations to First hour for having the most students completing the work!

Some of you have emailed me about the status of the rest of the school year. Are we going back? Are they closing schools for the rest of the year? At this time, our legislature has not said definitively one way or the other. Our return date is still set for Tuesday, April 14th. If that changes, Dearborn Schools will send out notice to all families.

One way to get the most current information is to follow Dr. Maleyko’s blog. As Superintendent, he is regularly providing updates both in text and in video. You can find his blog at https://superintendent.dearbornschools.org/

Please continue to check iLearn https://moodle.dearbornschools.org/login/index.php and Google Classroom for all of your assignments from each of your teachers. We miss you and we want you all to be safe and healthy!

Today is Monday, March 30, 2020

For this week, please complete the following:

1) You will review parts of speech by watching a video about ADJECTIVES.

2) Then you’ll log into IXL to complete skill 7.GG.1 to practice identifying adjectives {Work to a Smart Score of 90 for full credit}

3) Next, we have an article to read about neighbors and kindness.

4) Finally, once you’ve read the article, click on the last item to enter the chat forum and give your response to the question.

You may work on these at your pace this week. As always, please email me if you have questions or find yourself confused with any of the assignments. On Sunday, I will begin checking your completion of the work. One way to check and see if I read your work is to look for a score on your Student Connect.

Stay safe and be well!

Congratulations to the Class of 2020! For those of you who were in my 7th grade ELA class, you may remember an activity we did at the end of the year. You wrote a letter to yourself as a Senior, sealed it in an envelope, and addressed it to yourself. I’ve kept those in a file cabinet for the past 5 years and, thankfully, I remembered to bring the letters home with me when the schools closed.

To hopefully send a smile your way, I just dropped those letters in the mailbox this afternoon. Your 7th grade greetings should reach you by mid to late week.

I am proud of each of you and I know, whatever your next step is, that you’ll go on to do great things! Remember to work hard, to always make yourself proud, and to be kind to others. This pandemic may have stopped your Senior year but it cannot stop your hopes and dreams that you’ll fuel with hard word and determination! All the best to all of you as you move on to your next adventures!

Today is Saturday, March 28, 2020

Do you remember in elementary school when your teachers would sit everyone together on the floor and read to you? Perhaps you listened to one or more stories by Mo Willems, the author of all the pigeon books like DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS!

Mo Willems is currently the artist-in-residence at the Kennedy Center. On their website, they are offering “Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems!”. Each day, they post a video and you can follow along to draw and create. Why not give it a try and then share some of your artistic talent with others? So grab some paper, some pencils, and some markers & crayons and then head to The Kennedy Center @ Home (just remember to scroll down a bit to find Mo’s videos): https://www.kennedy-center.org/digitalstage/Kennedy-Center-at-home/ to start making your masterpieces.

Have a super Saturday! Stay safe and be well!

Today is Friday, March 27, 2020

KINDNESS CHALLENGE: Take time to actively listen to someone today…just listen…whether you’re speaking face to face or via video chat, make eye contact. Give the person your full attention. Don’t try to solve their problems. Just give the person the chance to share his/her feelings, thoughts and concerns. Perhaps someone will, in turn, do that for you.

One thing most middle school students say they wish they still had was RECESS! During this closure, YOU CAN HAVE RECESS!

If you enjoyed the games and activities your PE teacher used to plan for you and your classmates, you can still have that fun. An organization called Playworks is live streaming Monday through Friday at 12pm, 2pm, and 4pm. You can access the live stream via their webpage: https://www.facebook.com/MakeRecessCount/. You can also find a collection of videos on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/playworksorg/videos

Now go enjoy some recess! It is Friday after all! Stay safe and be well!

Today is Thursday, March 26, 2020. Happy birthday to Riley D.!

KINDNESS CHALLENGE: Once we’re through this isolation period, there is going to be an even greater need for donations. Use this time at home to go through your closets and drawers. If you have younger siblings, pass down the clothing items that no longer fit you. If there’s no one to pass it down to, put it in a bag and consider donating it to a local organization in the future. #WEaboveme

As I wrote yesterday, kudos to all of you for sticking with us and keeping up on the assignments. As I entered the marks in Student Connect, I thought about our Thursday raffle and how we’re missing that. I know your real reward for doing the work is that you’re retaining all of the learning we’ve done so far and, for some of you who are doing more, you’re actually getting a bit smarter and learning new skills! However, it is fun to get other rewards sometimes too, so, I decided that each week, I’ll figure out which hour had the largest number of students completing the work. Once we’re back in class, that hour and I will discuss what the reward should be.

For week 1, here are the results:

1st hour: 46.2% completion

2nd hour: 35.7% completion

4th hour: 20% completion

6th hour: 60.9% completion

7th hour: 29.6% completion

So congrats 6th hour! You’re the winners for week 1! Will 6th hour be able to repeat again this week? Is there another hour that will do better? Keep up the great effort. And remember that you can always email me with your questions or confusions. Stay safe and be well!

Today is Wednesday, March 25, 2020. Happy belated birthday to Ali H!

KINDNESS CHALLENGE: Write an encouraging poem to someone. Use your writing skills to share how much you believe in the person and to share what you hope will happen. It doesn’t have to be long and, as we are learning in class, it doesn’t have to rhyme. Just share your thoughts and feelings!

We know you’re working hard at home during the school closure. We appreciate all of your efforts. We also know that many of you are helping out more at home with chores and with caring for your younger siblings. If you are spending more time with younger family members, why not try being their teacher for the day.

Sesame Street just launched a new site devoted to helping younger children cope with and better understand the current health crisis. There are videos to watch, songs to sing along to, and coloring sheets that can be printed. My favorite part is the welcome message from Elmo! You can search up the site or access it by clicking this link: https://www.sesamestreet.org/caring

Thank you for all of the work you’re doing at home and for helping out a bit more. We all need to work together and do our part! Stay safe and be well!

Today is Tuesday, March 24, 2020

KINDNESS CHALLENGE: Take some time for yourself…just for you! Many of you are doing so much right now from school work to watching younger siblings to preparing meals and caring for family members. You can’t be there for others if you don’t take care of yourself first! On your schedule for today, give yourself sometime to just rest or to enjoy an activity you love. Remember to take some deep breaths and to relax. Then you’ll be more ready to return to all of your other responsibilities. Today and each day, be sure to be kind to yourself!

With all of our work online and now the Governor’s orders to stay at home, having access to other materials is even more difficult. The Dearborn Public Library system offers many items digitally. All you need it a library card! You can access the library’s website here: https://dearbornlibrary.org/

Don’t have a library card? No worries! The library system will allow you to sign up for a temporary card by clicking this link: https://dearbornlibrary.org/wordpress/need-a-temporary-library-card/

Now, maybe you’ll find a good book to enjoy online! Be kind to yourself and others. Stay safe and be well!