Feb 3 - feb 7

#DMSLevelUp

Shout out to gifted teachers, Mrs. J Hill and Ms. Sims. Gifted teachers and students did a phenomenal job representing DMS and DCS at the Future City Regional Competition held at the USSRC. Our teams won "Student Choice Award" and "Best Use of Safety Systems."

Reminders and Announcements:

Monday, Feb 3:

Elementary Schools Visit

Monitored Severe Weather Drill - 2:15pm

Tuesday, Feb 4:

Elementary Schools Visit

Curriculum Fair - 6pm - all teachers expected to participate

Wednesday, Feb 5:

8th Grade Tours Career Academies

Grades updated for progress reports

Thursday, Feb 6:

6th Grade Registration (Social Studies)

Friday, Feb 7:

Progress reports go home

Girls and Boys DMS Soccer vs Austin (Home)

7th Grade Registration (Social Studies)

UPCOMING EVENTS

Feb 10 - 13

Gifted field trip

Feb 10 - 12

5th Grade Registration

Feb 13

Wellness screening

Strategic Teaching Walkthrough #3

Feb 18

Strategic teaching review

Feb 20

Black History Month Program - 1:55

Feb 25

Faculty Meeting - Testing Season

Strategic Teaching Walk-through #4

SPED Referral Day

Feb 26

Attorney General Safe Schools Award Ceremony

Feb 27

Group Picture Day

Feb 28

AR March Madness Kick Off

Feb 29

Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast

Decatur Middle School Staff Calendar

I will keep this calendar up-to-date of all of the events and activities specific to the teachers and staff of DMS. Please keep an eye on this calendar to stay informed.

Decatur Feeder Pattern Athletics Calendar

This calendar is kept up-to-date by Watt Parker, our district Athletics Director. This calendar will keep you informed of all DHS and DMS athletics events.

strategic teaching

Overview

Strategic Teaching Overview

Student Friendly Outcomes

Student Friendly Outcomes Sept 23

Before strategies

during Strategies

During Strategies PD

After Strategies

O'Hare Station.mov

Stricklin Station.mov

Millwood Station.mov

Shipley Station.mov

Thrower Station.mov

Wise Station.mov

Mrs. Smith's Curriculum Corner

SHIELDS SAFETY SEGMENT

Coaching with cooper

Coaching with CooperImportant Dates Feb. 3-4: 5th Graders visitFeb. 4: Curriculum Night @ 6 pm to 7 pmFeb. 5: 8th grade tours Career AcademyFeb. 6: 6th...

Common planning

We will meet in the Raider Room/Data Room in the bottom of the library.
Please bring your data from our previous PD, your pacing guide(scope and sequence), your chromebook, and any activities/resources/assessments you plan to use over the next couple weeks.
Please be prepared to discuss the following: Standards, Objectives, Activities, and Assessment

Family Meeting Dates 19-20

the broken windows

Our school-wide discipline is off to a great start! Thank you for working together to fix those broken windows. Students are starting to understand that misbehaviors and civil unrest will not be the norm and will not be accepted. We truly have some great kids!

5-step discipline plan

Remember to have students sign the behavior log for breaking one of your classroom rules.
If a students continues to sign the behavior log he or she should move up your ladder of consequences.
Consequences will reset every week unless a student consistently signs on a Friday. Then the consequences can continue into the next week.
If a student is consistently signing the behavior log he or she will be placed on a RED Card.

RED Card

We have about 20 students on a RED Card.
Remember the top portion of a RED Card is for positive comments only.
The bottom portion is for consequences: 1- Warning, 2- Immediate 30 minute timeout in ISS, 3- Immediate visit to the office where admin will complete a discipline referral

Supervision

There is no procedure, policy, or program that works better than diligent supervision. Please continue to monitor the hallways and stairs between classes.
Please continue to adhere to our duty schedule. We will revisit the afternoon duty schedule to see if we can reduce the amount of supervision.

DMS in the news!

Students work to solve real world problems through civil engineering competitionOne of the biggest benefits of the competition is exposing youth to endless ideas and opportunities in the world of STEM.

Here are Alabama’s 2020 ‘Standout Schools’There are all sorts of lists of the best schools, covering things such as academics, athletics, quality of teachers and more.

Three North Alabama schools win Safe Schools Awards from Alabama attorney generalSAFE SCHOOLS: The Alabama AG's Safe School Awards are out, and a North Alabama school is one of three statewide that's getting a new honor!

Blood donors help middle school student liveDecatur Middle School student Bolu Fawole is a walking endorsement for blood donations.

Bicentennial mural to serve as teaching toolA huge mural on a wall outside the auditorium at Decatur Middle School is not only a colorful piece of art, but a teaching tool, school officials said as they

Just 'one of the boys': Decatur Middle has three girls playing footballOne of the few times Yamilet Ortiz questioned her decision to play football at Decatur Middle School was when she arrived for summer camp and looked at Kate Parker.

Students focus on improving Decatur for robotics competitionA group of students at Decatur Middle School is on a mission to identify areas where Decatur can improve and is doing so through an annual robotics competition.

DUTY SCHEDULEs

Morning Duty 2019-2020

Afternoon Duty 2019-2020

Assistant Principal Responsibilities

Teacher Non-negotiables

Teach the standard
Bell-to-bell instruction
Provide Tier II instruction
Own the data
Love all kids

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS TO GUIDE DECISION MAKING

Does the activity align to our mission?
Does the activity align to grade-level content standards?
How will this lead to higher student achievement?
Does the activity align to grade-level content standards?
Is the the best use of instructional time, or a good use of instructional time?