Mead Middle School Weekly Update:
3rd Quarter Grades:
Final 3rd quarter grades are now posted in Infinite Campus.
4th quarter fees have been posted. Please check RevTrak.
Yearbooks:
Yearbooks will be arriving in May. Be sure that you have PAID for yours (in person or on Revtrak) before then to ensure that you get a yearbook.
Did you know that St. Vrain Valley Schools….
-Have won 22 National and International awards in the past five years
-Have won 66 State-level awards in the past five years
-Have approximately 60 business and corporate partners that support students, teachers and programs in the St. Vrain Valley Schools.
Parent and Community Update Night:
Please see the attached flyer for our Mead Feeder Parent and Community Update night. We hope you can join us.
Upcoming Events:
Spring Testing April 12-22, 2016
All students will be taking the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) tests for English language arts (ELA) and math.
In addition, 8th graders will take the CMAS (Colorado Measure of Academic Success) test for science.
The testing window will be April 12-22, 2016. Attendance is vital during this time. We wanted to let you know early so that appointments and vacations are not scheduled during these days.
We have attached a schedule of when the tests will be administered to students.
Thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation.
Spring Testing Schedule
Follow Mr. Barnett on Twitter:
@MeadBulldogs
Mead Middle School has a new and active Facebook page. Please like us on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/MeadMiddle
We do collect Box Tops for Education as well as Milk Caps from Longmont Dairy. Please turn those into the office.
8th Graders:
Spirit Tryouts – Cheer and Dance Teams (Mead High School)
April 12-15th 5-7 pm
Check out the Flyer for additional details. No Experience required!
If you have any questions, please email [email protected]
Mead Middle School PAC News:
Hey Bulldogs,
Another BIG THANK YOU to all of the Mead families that collected, hoarded and stashed their pennies to make the penny war such a great success and so much fun!!
-Apparel is available for ordering online at shop.fishesstreetwear.com. You can find a link to our school in the menu. We also have Mead Middle Trucker Hats and the Fitted Flat Bill Hats available for purchase in the office.
-The next PAC meeting will be on May 9th at 5:45 p.m. in the Library. Please join us!!
Bulldog Den Update:
NOT ABLE TO GET YOUR KIDS AFTER SCHOOL?
Mead Middle School has an after school ENRICHMENT program called Bulldogs Den that begins at 2:50-6:00 pm in the Cafeteria. We are open Monday-Friday (when school is open). We provide snacks, homework time, activities, games, free-time, and friendships. Bulldogs Den provides a safe place for them to grow and enjoy networking with other students.
For Clubs and Athletics, please check out the calendar of upcoming events.
Kim’s Corner:
Counseling Corner with Kim Styles, LCSW
Mental Health Counselor, MMS
Anxiety and the Brain Part I: What’s up with all the anxiety?
As the mental health counselor, I hear more and more about this from students these days. What does this typically look like in our youth? And more importantly what can we do to help? We also need to reflect on how young people describe their experience, and help them provide the most accurate “labels”. Using the right language helps one figure out what they need to do to address the emotional state they are having.
There are different causes of anxiety and stress. The symptoms that students often report when they say they are feeling anxious are very similar. Physical symptoms such as stomachaches and headaches are pretty common, and may bring your student to the health office without realizing what is causing the symptoms in the first place. When students are feeling intense anxiety, they often report things like increased heart rate/pounding heart, trouble breathing, sweating, worrisome thoughts and sometimes dizziness or even loss of vision. Worrisome thoughts can “spin” in their heads, causing anxiety all on their own, and typically lead to physical symptoms.
When someone is experiencing anxiety, or an anxiety attack, the most important thing is for the person to calm down the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for things like heart rate and breathing. Often times, we may need to help guide and support someone through this process. Once the anxiety is reduced, it is easier to process through what may have led to the rise in anxiety in the first place.
There are many ways to reduce the intensity of the anxious thoughts as well as the physical symptoms. One of the most effective things to do is to slow one’s breathing, which in turn will alleviate symptoms like a racing or pounding heart. This can be done simply with focus on lengthening the duration of breath going in and out through the nose (in 1, 2, 3. Hold. Out 1, 2, 3). The intent is to lengthen each breath, while continuing to focus on ONLY the breath. Breath should fill the chest so you are able to see the chest rising and expanding. Using some sort of cadence can be helpful to keep time for the breath, such as gently patting one’s leg while counting or having someone count for you. Starting with about a 3 or 4 count is usually manageable for most people, and many can get up to counts of 8 or higher as their system restores to a calmer state. When one does this, it is amazing how quickly other systems in the body can return to a more comfortable state.
Practicing breathing exercises at a time when one is not experiencing anxiety helps to increase mastery over the skill. We often take breathing for granted, but we really do need to focus on it purposefully in order to increase its benefits for our mind and body. The simple act of breathing can be our simplest, easiest to use tool to reduce anxiety and stress…
Like the Anna Nalick song says….JUST BREATHE.
Next: Anxiety and the Brain Part II: How we can help our brain respond to stress, and how the movie Inside Out has helped youth understand brain chemistry.
Kim Styles is our Mental Health Counselor and Interventionist. Periodically she will be sharing information about mental health issues facing middle school age students.
Please look at the district website for any flyers for sports, fundraisers, etc that are approved by the district. Here is the link to the flyers.
MYSA