A publication for the familes of H.E. Winkler Middle School A community committed to growing and learning together October 2016

From Mr. Williams Happy Autumn, Winkler Families! This month, I’ve had the opportunity to teach quite a bit around our school. I truly love getting the opportunity to work with students directly and model instructional strategies for our teachers. In my travels around the building, I’m always so impressed at the deep level of work and thinking in which our students are engaged! Here’s what I’ve seen (and helped teach) this month:  In all of our social studies classes, our students are learning to analyze primary sources to form historical arguments.  In language arts, students have moved into their fiction units and are learning to analyze different characters.  In sixth grade math, students are learning to apply factorization skills, seventh grade students are exploring the measurement of various shapes, and eighth graders are working with exponents.  In science, I’ve watched sixth grade students working with density, seventh grade students working on the layers of the atmosphere, and eighth grade students exploring physical and chemical properties. In all of this work, our phenomenal teachers have designed learning experiences that require students to meet the instructional expectations we hold at Winkler. As a school, we expect:  Our teachers to have strong conversations with each other about what to teach and how to teach it.  Each lesson to be relevant and have a clear objective students are to meet.  Teachers to provide students with the background knowledge they need to understand concepts.  Teachers to model how students should complete the tasks and provide students many opportunities to practice for mastery.  Students to read, write, think, and talk with each other daily. We will also be beginning our journey to becoming an IB Candidate school later this month. Last week, I met with our district’s magnet coordinator, Carrie Tulbert, the principal at Concord Middle School, and Kristy Bullock, the principal at J.N. Fries IB Middle School to begin carving out our IB transition plan. We have also selected an IB Transition team comprised of members of our Winkler faculty. Over the next two months, we will be visiting several schools across the state including Paisley Middle School in Winston Salem, East Garner Middle School in Wake County, and Piedmont Middle School in Charlotte. Then, in early November, an IB trainer will spend an entire teacher workday completing our first day of training for our faculty and staff. On December 6, 2016, Winkler Middle will host our first annual IB Open House! That night, we will showcase our school, give more information about the IB program, hold a band and choru s concert, and display plates for our annual Art Silent Auction. As always, I thank you for your tremendous support of our school! Please contact me if I might be of any help along the way.

FOR THE FIFTH YEAR IN A ROW, WINKLER MIDDLE SCHOOL’S TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS RATING IS “EXCEEDS EXPECTED GROWTH!” IN OCTOBER, WINKLER MIDDLE SCHOOL WAS NAMED A POSITIVE BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION SYSTEMS (PBIS) EXEMPLARY SCHOOL BY THE NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION! THREE SCHOOLS IN NORTH CAROLINA WILL BE VISITING WINKLER IN NOVEMBER TO INQUIRE ABOUT THE GREAT WORK BY OUR TEACHERS AND STAFF!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FANTASTIC FACULTY AND STAFF! Dawn White, a phenomenal seventh grade math teacher, was named the September Hilbish Ford Teacher of the Month for the Cabarrus County School District!

Brandon Wilson, an exceptional seventh grade science teacher, was named as the Winkler Middle School Spotlight Teacher of the Month for exemplifying our core characteristics of High Academic Rigor and Strong Community!

Lorna Grant, one of our teacher assistants in our Centralized Autistic Classroom, was named as the Winkler Middle School Spotlight Classified Staff Member of the Month for her outstanding work in reading and student support!

CONGRATULA TIONS Thank you to our students for contributing over 1,500 cans of food for our September Food Drive to support our Winkler Food Pantry and the Cabarrus County Meals on Wheels Organization! Special congratulations to the following homerooms for bringing the most items on each grade level: 6th grade: Mrs. Allen and Mr. Bilbo (a tie) 7th grade: Mrs. Kundla 8th grade: Mrs. Jackson

NOVEMBER’S SERVICE FOCUS This month, we will be support the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research. Later in the month, our Community Service WIN Group will be selling pink Winkler t-shirts for a HUGE pink out event and pep rally! All profits from the sale of the shirts will be donated to the Komen Foundation. Later in the year, our Winkler Lecture Series guest will be Von Kinloch, Emmy Award Winning Television Producer and Cancer Survivor.

NATIONAL JUNIOR HONOR SOCIETY SERVICE PROJECT The Winkler Chapter of the NJHS will be working on their fall service project from October 17 to November 1. They will be collecting candy Treats for Troops! Be on the lookout for more information later in the month.

FIELD TRIP ON THE HORIZON We are looking forward to sending our seventh grade students off to the Blue Ridge Mountains in late October! They will be visiting Grandfather Mountain to conduct weather experiments. Mr. Williams will be travelling with the students on the first day of the trip and Mrs. Phillips will be going with students who are assigned to the second day. Please contact your child’s science teacher for more information.

LEAN AND GREEN 5K AND CAMPUS CLEAN-UP On Saturday, October 8, we will hold our fifth annual Lean and Green 5K and Campus Clean-up. The

fun morning will consist of a 5K Fun Run beginning at 9:00 (registration begins at 8:30) followed by a school grounds clean up. For more information check out our website: https://goo.gl/JWijIY

Supply Fee Information

Dance Pick-up

The Cabarrus County Board of Education allows schools to charge a $10 supply fee to cover the cost of annual student materials. If you have not yet paid, you can do so online at www.lunchprepay.com.

Later this month, we will have our next school dance. At Winkler, our dances are from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. We end promptly at 6pm and move students to the rear of the building for pick-up. For safety reasons, we cannot allow parents to pick students up early or allow students to meet parents in the parking lot at the conclusion of the dance.

To expedite pick-up, please join the car line that runs around the bus parking lot to the rear driveway. From this point forward, we will not allow parents to park and walk around to get students. It will be very dark and we cannot ensure student safety under these circumstances. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation with these safety policies. Cafeteria Charges Per Cabarrus County Schools policy, students must maintain a positive (or zero) balance on their school lunch accounts. Each year, our school has to use instructional funds to pay any outstanding charges. As a result, at Winkler, when a student reaches $5 in charges, parents will get an automated phone call letting them know. When the charges reach $8, students will receive a substitute lunch consisting of a sandwich, fruit, and milk. If you would like to apply for free/reduced lunch, you can do so at this link: http://www.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/ccs-lunch. October Key Dates Date October 6 October 8 October 12 October 20 October 20 October 17-Nov 1 October 24 October 27 October 28

Event Community Outreach Event in the Brown Mill Community Lean and Green 5K and Campus Clean-up Eighth Grade Assembly to learn about High School Magnet Programs Winkler Lecture Series: Mr. Gary Weart Winter Sports Tryouts for 8 th Grade Basketball and Wrestling Treats for Troops Service Project Band Concert Early Release Day for Students Teacher Workday | End of the Quarter

Click here to see this month’s Athletic Schedule.