Saline Middle School Hornet Highlights for Sunday, April 5, 2021

Principal's Message:  

The time has come for Blue and Gold groups to come together!  Please review the message sent from Dr. Schukow to families and students on Thursday, March 25th for specific details.  The schedule below is what both in-person and virtual students will be following beginning Monday, April 5th.  Also, this presentation from the beginning of the year reviews our safety procedures and protocols.

Also, as many are returning from Spring Break, you may be wondering if your student should quarantine for the week of April 5-9 or not. 

We leave that up to you and your family to determine if you feel that your student should quarantine or not. If your child was exposed to crowds, areas where social distancing without mask wearing was not possible, then you should consider quarantining.  The exception is IF your student was on an international trip or experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 then your student should quarantine

IF you do want to have your student quarantine, please let us know as soon as possible for attendance purposes.  Thank you for your cooperation and flexibility.  You are truly appreciated.

Finally, we could use a few more volunteers on Wednesday during 1st lunch and Thursday during 3rd lunch.  If you are available and willing to supervise and clean tables, we would ask that you fill out the following documents:

Survey

Ichat: Must be filled out before the first day of volunteering

Covid Workplace Screening: Must be filled out daily

Thank you for your flexibility, cooperation, and diligence as we enter into the 4 Day A Week Instruction.  We could not do this without you!!

SALINE MIDDLE SCHOOL WEEKLY SCHEDULE:

SALINE MIDDLE SCHOOL DAILY SCHEDULE FOR ALL STUDENTS:

New and Important Information for the Week:

NEW:  Here are the details for the Continuous 4-day/week learning plan. (Same as the link in the principal's message)

NEW:  Bring Your Own Device Presentation

Thank you to those who joined the BYOD+ Q&A session on March 24, 2021. Attached below is a copy of the presentation, which can also be found on our SHS BYOD+ page.

• BYOD+ 3/24 Presentation
• SMS BYOD+ Resource Page
• SHS BYOD+ Resource Page

NEW:  Current 8th Grade Football Players  

Starting Monday, 4/5, the 8th grader football players can come and condition with the high schoolers on Mondays and Wednesdays, 6am-7am.  They are to gather in the main gym area, at Saline High School, and can enter through the swimming pool entrance.  

NEW:  Introducing Middle School Rowing with the National Erg Education Program

Families, we are excited to share with you that we are partnering with the Washtenaw Rowing Center and their Erg Education program during the 2021-2022 school year. The rowing center won a national grant partnering with Ann Arbor Public Schools to incorporate rowing education into their district wide middle school PE curriculum. They are 1 of 12 locations Nationally which has this on offer. With Saline being in such close proximity and also offering High School rowing, AAPS and WRC felt it would be great to share the grant with Saline Middle School as well. WRC will be working to prepare Saline Middle School PE teacher's in time for the 2021-2022 school year, welcome to the family! 

If you would like to find out more information about Washtenaw Rowing Center and on water opportunities they have this spring, please check out the flyer below.

NEW:  SMS Builder's Club is excited to introduce "SMS Earth Month". Earth Month began with Earth Hour from 8:30-9:30pm on March 27th and concludes with Earth Day on April 22. 

During Earth Month, here are some activities you can participate in in order to support our environment. You could complete one small activity each day, or pick and choose which to participate in during the month. 

Thanks!

SMS Builder's Club

NEW-Are your students interested in engineering?  Click here for the link.

NEW- Washtenaw Area Council for Children Virtual Summer Camp Link

State Testing Information

The Michigan State Testing Window will begin after Spring Break.  Please click on this letter for further information. (La carta en español está aquí)

NWEA will be May 17th-20th (Not a state assessment, but a district assessment).

5th Corner Spring Event

Attendance Change for 3rd trimester in-person students:  In-person students are expected to be in-person to be marked "Present." In-person students will be marked "Absent" if they call in for any reason that is not related to COVID-19.  Students would still be allowed to Zoom if they wish, but they will be marked "excused or unexcused absent" depending on the reason if they are not physically present at SMS.

Hockey Information:

TRANSITION INFORMATION:

Please click on the link if you were not able to attend the informational

Webinars or missed emails.

• Class of 2028 (Current 5th Graders)
• Class of 2027 (Current 6th Graders)
• Class of 2026 (Current 7th Graders)
• Class of 2025 (Current 8th Graders)

Upcoming Dates:

For information about clubs, athletics and school events, subscribe to the Saline Middle School calendar or go to the Saline MIddle School Website.

Monday, April 5th:  Start of 4 day continuous instruction (see hourly schedule for all students)

NEW Friday, April 9th:  Early Release Day (Asynchronous Friday ends at 12:20 pm)

Tuesday, April 13th:  PSAT for 8th Grade Students

Monday, April 19th-22nd:  8th Grade M-STEP (Science and Social Studies)

Monday, April 26th-29th:  7th Grade M-STEP (Math and English Language Arts)

Monday, May 3rd-6th:  6th Grade M-STEP (Math and English Language Arts)

Covid-19 Related Items:

Covid-related absences:

• If your student is currently in quarantine for testing positive or having symptoms within the past 10 days or are awaiting test results
• If your student has been identified as a close contact to someone who has tested positive within the past 10-14 days   
• If you have traveled outside of the United States in the last fourteen days

The attendance line can be reached at:  734-401-4600; press #1 for attendance OR use the Google Form.  

Updated COVID-19 information from the Washtenaw County Health Department:  If You Test Positive, If You Test Positive (en español), Quarantine/Isolation FAQ, Saliva Testing Site

What Happens When Someone Gets Covid

Flowchart for Symptomatic Individuals

New Saliva test released

Here is the latest version of the SAS Connected Learning Plan. This includes updates to sample schedules and a new flow chart for health scenarios.

From the SMS PTO:

PTO No Hassle Fundraiser.  Please donate at this link:  http://mspto.weebly.com/fundraising.html

Box Tops:  Happy Holidays Saline Middle School Families! Have you downloaded the Box Top$ for Education app yet? Please keep box tops In mind while you are grocery shopping this holiday season. It is now easier than ever to submit box tops via the box tops for education app. Just scan your receipt within 14 days of purchases and the app will check for eligible items in order to give our school credit. If you’re shopping online for groceries or get emailed receipts, you can still earn Box Tops for our school. Download the app and start earning today.

Repeating Messages:

Attendance Reminder:  We are finding that students are electing to learn virtually on a given day for a variety of reasons unrelated to a COVID-19 situation and this is becoming very difficult to track for classroom attendance, particularly in 7th and 8th grade.  

If your student is currently attending in-person for hybrid instruction, please send them to school on a consistent basis UNLESS they are showing the symptoms in the COVID-19 health screener graph below.  If your child is showing symptoms of COVID-19, then we would ask that they either get tested for COVID-19 or see their pediatrician.

If your student prefers to remain virtual for the remainder of the trimester, please email Laura Washington at washingl@salineschools.org

Item Drop Off and Pick-Up Times:  The Saline Middle School vestibule doors will be open from 7:00 am-4:00 pm Monday-Friday this week for drop off and pick-up of items.   

Report Cards:  Report cards are now available in the PowerSchool Parent Portal.  If you are having difficulty accessing the Powerschool Parent Portal, please email  powerschool@salineschools.org.  Thank you for your patience as we have had difficulty sending report cards electronically this trimester.

NWEA Scores are now available in Powerschool!  Here are the directions to access them.

Food Pantry Locations: If you or someone you know are in need of food and food items during this difficult time, here is a list of food pantries in the area.

Need tech help?  The SAS Tech Department is here to help!  Fill this form out with your tech questions and problems.

Attendance:  Please remember that if your child is going to be absent, even remotely, please call the Saline Middle School front office to report attendance at 734-401-4600; press #1 for attendance OR use the Google Form.  

Grades:  Please check Powerschool or Summit Platform as many teachers have begun to enter grades.  Please contact the technology department here if you are having difficulty accessing Powerschool.

Breakfast and lunch continue to be free for ALL students as long as Federal funding allows.  

A new Covid-19 saliva test has now been released!  Here is the press release from the Washtenaw County Health Department.

Here is the At-Home Learning Toolkit released by the SAS Elementary buildings.  There is a lot of useful information that may also help our secondary students.

Michigan Family Alliance. https://www.michiganallianceforfamilies.org/upcoming-events/