March 31, 2015

Moran School Climate Survey Reminder

Attention Parents and Guardians!

Please take a few minutes to complete the Moran School Climate Survey, which can be found here.  Your answers to these questions let us know what is working and what can be improved upon to better serve Moran students and families.  Thank you in advance for your feedback.

¡Atención Padres y Guardianos!

Favor de hacer click en esta encuesta para informarnos del clima escolar de Moran.   Sus respuestas a las preguntas comunican lo que funcciona sobre nuestra escuela y lo que podemos mejorar para servir los estudiantes y familias de Moran.  Gracias por adelantado por su comentario.

Thank you!

March 31, 2015

Attention 6th graders: Wallingford Health & Fitness Fair

Attention 6th graders

If you are interested in participating in the 2015 Wallingford Health & Fitness Fair, please read the following:

Moran will be presenting a scooter fitness activity from 6:30pm to 6:40pm at the Fair, if you would like to be involved, please see Ms. Neary.

The Fair will be held on Wednesday April 22nd at Sheehan HS

We will practice during the 6th grade flex period and O block.

I need 16 volunteers.

Thank you!

March 30, 2015

Yearbook reminder

The yearbook staff has been working hard to meet their deadlines.  Photographers have been completing multiple assignments. They have been photographing Moran staff, winter sports, school activities and the Moran community.  Meanwhile, the design staff has been hard at work designing pages, writing captions, collecting technology data and documenting Moran’s 2014-2015 memories.  For those who have not yet ordered a yearbook, yearbooks are still available.  There are a limited number of books left, so order now to guarantee a copy.  Order ONLINE at WWW.JOSTENSYEARBOOKS.COM  or pick up an order form in the café on the table in front of the art room.

Thank you!

March 30, 2015

8th grade Dodgeball

8th grade Dodgeball night will be held this Tuesday, March 31st from 5:00pm to 6:00pm in the Moran gymnasium.  Every participant MUST have an adult present for the entire hour, encourage your parents to come and participate.

Any questions, please see Ms. Neary.

Thanks!

March 27, 2015

Boys’ & Girls’ Track & Field Tryout Information

Boys’ & Girls’ Track & Field Tryout Information

Tryout Times & Dates:

  • All tryouts will be right after school until 5:00 (except April 9th – till 3:00)
  • Please have rides ready at that time!!!!

Throwers: Monday March 30th– Tuesday March 31st – Thursday April 2nd

Sprinters: Monday April 6th-Tuesday April 7th

Distance: Wednesday April 8th-Thursday April 9th (till 3:00)

 

Additional Tryouts may be needed for selected individuals: Friday April 10th.

March 25, 2015

After School Activities

Parents/Guardians:

Attached you will find a permission slip for our spring After-School Activities.  Please go over this with your son/daughter to see if there is anything that they are interested in participating in after school.  There are some fantastic offerings from our teachers.  A lot of the activities are held on a day when a late bus is offered as well.  The permission slips are due back to the main office no later than April 9th.  Thank you.

Permission slip: After School Activities – Spring 2015

March 19, 2015

Student Recognition

Greetings from Moran!

If you have been in our building recently, you may have noticed our main hallway, which is adorned with displays from each team, recognizing student contributions to their team and to our school.  If you were with us last year, you may remember Student of the Month or our end of the year award ceremony by grade.  Last year 2 students of the month were selected for their academic achievement each month and 5 students per year were selected per content area to be honored at an end of year awards ceremony.  While those were nice tributes, discussions with students, staff, and parents reflected that our students were contributing much more than academic prowess.  We wanted our student recognition to honor the breath of those accomplishments.

To be more specific, when I talked with students informally in the café they said things like, “It seems like the same kids get recognized over and over again.” and “It is kind of humiliating to sit in an awards ceremony and know your name isn’t going to get called.”  When we spoke with parents at PTAC, parents said things like, “My kid’s job is to be a student and get good grades.  I don’t want my kid recognized for good grades, I want to know they are a good person.”  Finally, when we spoke with teachers during a faculty meeting and monthly admin meetings, many teams felt too constrained by only selecting 2 students per month.  One teacher actually came to me in tears after last year’s award ceremony and said, “I just kept looking out into the audience and seeing so many great kids and I am just heartbroken that I could only give awards to 5 kids.”

In short, after speaking with all of our stakeholders we decided to try a different approach to student recognition this year at Moran.  Knowing that our district has been trying to make the shift in philosophy to a growth mindset for the last 2 years, as well as moving toward more of a proficiency based model relative to academic accomplishments and habits of work, we have taken the following approach this year:

– All teams nominate a minimum of 2 students to recognize each month.  Nearly all of our teams have chosen to exceed this number.  Our main hallway contains a display recognizing why those students are being recognized.  If you have an opportunity to stop in you will see that each team’s personality is reflected in what they are honoring in students and what values they purport as a team.

– All teams are communicating with the individual families of students being recognized

– We have reached out to a different local business every year for the last 3 years to award a gift certificate to that establishment for students being recognized.  This year’s sponsor is Elizabeth’s Bakery.  Previous sponsors have included Alyssa’s Bakery and Mr. D’s & GoGo Froyo.

– Students that are recognized are announced via our MVP News Program.  This year, because many teams have chosen to recognize well beyond the 2 student minimum, the gift certificates are being handed out as a raffle and winners are announced each month on MVP News.

– Many of our teams hold monthly team meetings in the Library Media Center to announce the students being recognized that month and to share their contributions.

Though we have made a move to recognize student contributions beyond academic excellence, academics are indeed, our bread and butter.  Because of this, our approach to recognition for students making honor roll is as follows:

  • The names of students making the honor roll are posted in our cafeteria
  • Certificates are mailed home and student names are sent to the Record Journal
  • At the end of the year we have an ice cream truck for students earning the honor roll distinction for 2 quarters or more

The response from teams, students, and parents has been positive overall.  As always, we invite you to be in touch to share your thoughts and opinion.  We care deeply for the students, staff, and community of Moran and welcome your constructive feedback as you are comfortable sharing.

Sincerely,

Moran Administration

March 12, 2015

Moran School Climate Survey

Attention Parents and Guardians!

Please take a few minutes to complete the Moran School Climate Survey, which can be found here.  Your answers to these questions let us know what is working and what can be improved upon to better serve Moran students and families.  Thank you in advance for your feedback.

¡Atención Padres y Guardianos!

Favor de hacer click en esta encuesta para informarnos del clima escolar de Moran.   Sus respuestas a las preguntas comunican lo que funcciona sobre nuestra escuela y lo que podemos mejorar para servir los estudiantes y familias de Moran.  Gracias por adelantado por su comentario.

March 10, 2015

7th grade Dodge-ball game

7th grade Dodge-ball will be in the Moran Gymnasium on Monday March 16th from 5-6pm.  Every participant MUST have a parent or guardian present the entire hour.  Any questions, ask Ms. Neary.

Thank you!