New Year, New You!

Some of you may recognize the slogan "New Year, New You" from a home shopping tv channel. Each January 1st, they make a fierce effort to sell exercise equipment, weight loss ideas, etc., using that slogan. In education, we are fortunte to be able to use that slogan on a yearly basis also.

The first student day this year is AUGUST 25th. Your student will have the opportunity to begin fresh!

I challenge Northview staff, parents, and students to pick THE ONE THING this year. What is the one thing you are going to do differently this school year? What is the one thing you are going to improve upon? What is the one thing you will fix? What is the one thing you are going to focus on? What is the one thing you will learn to do? I am asking you to just think about THE ONE THING.

Middle of the Year slump

As your student is in the middle of his 6th, 7th, or 8th grade year, you may begin to notice some apathy. As a parent, it is important to continue to help your child focus on academics. It is important, also, to remind your child that everyday choices all come with consequences, either positive or negative.

This month, we continue to focus on the Relationship Bank Account. At our recent Wake Up assemblies to honor student successes, we talked about relationships and their importance. We discussed that all of us make deposits into as well as withdrawals from all of our relationship bank accounts. As a school, we focus on building relationships with each student and we work on helping the students form healthy relationships with one another.

Please contact your child's teacher any time you have a question or simply want to check in on your child. If there are any relationship changes that your child is experiencing, it would be helpful for us to know those things since your child spends many hours each day with the adults at our school.

Thank you for the support you give your child, and our school.
Let us know ways we can help.

Support public education!!!

The 2010-11 school year begins

"Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them."
- Ann Landers

Students are presented with opportunities every day- all of us are. Opportunities come disguised in many different ways. It is important, as parents, to help children see the importance in taking advantage of new opportunities. In middle school, there may be more opportunities for your child to participate in after school activities than he or she has previously had.

Here are some of the many opportunities available to students here at Northview Middle School:

-Music: Band, Chorus, Orchestra

-Athletics: 11 sports (students must be in grades 7 or 8)

-International Club: all grades

-Photography Club: all grades

-Student Council: all grades

-Technology Student Association: all grades

-Battle of the Books: all grades

-Math Counts: all grades

Your child may be a little scared and worried, maybe even a little shy. He or she may be hesitant in joining a new group. Remember, however, that we all have to take risks. These risks often reap huge rewards. Parents can help their students realize the benefits of participating when opportunity knocks.

If we can help you with supplying more information about these opportunities, please give us a call. Welcome to the 2010-11 school year.

Deciding on Discipline

Disciplining middle graders can be difficult. They are not adults and they are not children.

Here are some strategies which may help:

*****BE CLEAR*****

Explain the rules and the consequences before your child breaks the rules so that he/she knows what is at risk. By explaining the rules and consequences before a bad decision is made, your child is making a choice. This system will also allow him to be in charge of his own behavior. At this age, students appreciate being given the opportunity to be in charge.

*****BE FAIR*****

Link the consequence to the behavior/action. For instance, if your child abuses his time on the family computer, he loses his privileges for a day. The punishment is correlated to the action.

*****BE DIRECT*****

Limit your comments to the specific situation occurring at the time. Try not to bring up previous things your child has done or label your child in a negative way ("lazy"). Being calm is also an important message to send. You are sending a message that you still love your middle schooler, no matter what.

The decisions you make as a parent today will effect your child's life for many, many years to come! Your child appreciates rules and boundaries and knowing consequences.

"I dont' know what to do to help my child."

Parents often ask what to do to help their child do better in school. Here are a few ideas that may help you be a more effective parent.
In recent years, there has been much research conducted about students who drop out of school. There are different factors involved in a child's decision to quit school, but one of the bigger factors is attendance. One of the most important things that you as a parent can do is to be sure to get your child to school every day! Attendance at school will help your child continue to be successful.
Sleep...how many hours does your teen or "tween" get each night? Have you ever considered keeping the cell phone or iPod with you after your child's bedtime to ensure that your child has no distractions to keep him/her from sleeping?
This year we are providing an agenda for each student in the building. Have a daily routine and plan a time to check the agenda daily. After dinner, after the students get home before dinner, any time is a good time to look over the agenda. Get into the habit of checking the agenda at the same time daily.
Finally, as a parent myself, I just want to remind you of the importance of talking with your child. Even if you don't get the response you want, and they don't want to sit around and tell you about their newest "crush", your child will still know you care. They need to know you care.
Please stay in contact with the staff here at Northview. Your child's success is important to us! Thank you for your support.

July is almost over!

As the summer is quickly drawing to a close, I hope you are feeling renewed and ready to begin our new adventures in 2009.
Some of our faculty members will be attending a Sheltered Instruction workshop this week in Enka, NC, in efforts to continue to learn new strategies that can be shared with all our staff to improve student learning. We are continually seeking new ways to help our students, all of them, realize success.

I am proud that we made AYP this past school year, with 29 sub-groups. We also made expected growth! Northview continues to be a great school for students to learn and grow.

We will be hosting on orientation session for our rising sixth graders on August 18th, 2009, from 9:00AM- noon at our school. Our OPEN HOUSE will be on August 20th, 2009, 5-7PM. Please come and visit with us any time during those hours. The exact schedule for that evening has not yet been finalized. I will post an update in the next week or so.

Enjoy the last few days of summer vacation!

Hello parents! It is my focus to continue to and find better ways to communicate with you so that you and your child will feel more connected to our school! We know that you want to be involved with your child and with his/her school. Here is another attempt to do just that.

School has been out a week already, and that is hard to believe.
Please remember that we have a SUMMER READING LIST posted on our school website that you can access via the Hickory Schools home page: www.hickoryschools.net
Go to the Middle Schools link on the left side, then proceed to Northview.

I am asking that you take a few minutes and offer me some suggestions on how we can improve our school and in turn, improve your child's education and experiences.
ANYTHING that comes to mind will be appreciated!!

Thank you for your time, and check back often for updates.
Have a great summer and enjoy!

Pam Helms, Principal
Northview Middle School
Hickory, NC