Greetings Margaret Mead Community,
At Mead, our simple and focused goals are Fostering Academic Achievement and a Creating a Positive Culture. During the month of December, our focus on Fostering Academic Achievement for our students and Creating a Positive Culture at Mead is on full display. Starting this week, our students will take their winter MAP tests in reading and mathematics. Winter MAP tests allow our teachers and your student to see the progress they have made this school year. We will use the Winter MAP results to plan for specific and individualized instruction for each student the latter half of the school year. During our Advocacy lessons, our students and staff continue to take valuable time away from typical daily instruction to learn about being “Mead Made” by engaging social-emotional learning lessons/experiences around integrity, problem-solving, responding to conflict, and seeking help. We encourage you to discuss with your student their take-aways from what they learn during Advocacy. This month, our students are focusing on the importance of kindness—our hope to is to spread the positivity that comes from helping others. We are hosting our annual Penguin Pals Program to benefit Mead families-in-need this holiday season—our Penguin Pals Program is the ultimate project of kindness! These events are powerful reminders to all of us what it means to be “Mead Made”. Please read below for more information about our goals to Foster Academic Achievement and Create a Positive Culture at Mead.
Fostering Academic Achievement
Winter MAP Assessment: Starting Monday, December 2, we will be testing seventh and eighth grade students using the computer-based MAP assessment tools. The purpose of MAP Growth is to inform teachers of the immediate instructional needs of students. MAP results equip educators with key data to help personalize instruction and pinpoint individual student needs. Please see below for our Winter MAP schedule:
- Students will take their MAP-Mathematics assessment December 2-4 in their mathematics class.
- Students will take their MAP-Reading assessment December 4-5 in their language arts class.
Academic Support: If your student requires support with mathematics, language arts, science, or social studies or just help with organization, then please see below on various ways that we provide support at Mead to ensure your student’s success.
- The D54 Infinite Campus Parent Portal provides access for parents and students to information including viewing assignments, attendance, grades, academic schedule, and teacher comments. If you currently do not have a Parent Portal account, please email [email protected] or you can call our front office at 1-847-357-6000 and our secretaries can assist you. If you have previously created a Parent Portal account and cannot recall your username or password, then you can reset them yourself from the parent portal by selecting “forgot password”. You can also pay for optional instructional device insurance through your parent portal account.
- Chromebooks: We use the organizational tools on the Google platform via Chromebook to help develop your student’s organizational skills and learn responsibility. This platform also serves as a communication tool between home and school. Please remind your student to charge their Chromebook nightly and to bring their power cord with them to school every day. For more information about Chromebooks, please click here: What is a Chromebook? In addition, please click on this link: Parent/Community Instructions for Accessing their Child’s Google Calendar for helpful information for you to help your student manage their Google Calendar.
- Mead Homework Website: On a daily basis, you can see what assignments your student has to complete and to see when they have upcoming tests/assessments by visiting our Mead homepage and clicking on our Mead Homework Website—you can click on this LINK to begin using it now. Be sure to bookmark this site to stay up on your student’s assignment list!
- After-School Academic Content Study Halls: Our language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science teachers will be hosting after-school content study halls that will be open to all students who either need academic support from content specialists or just want a quiet place to study with peers at Mead. The study hall schedule will be provided to your student soon—we encourage them to take advantage of these opportunities. Please know that teachers are also available by appointment by emailing your student’s teachers to request extra help either before or after school.
- Class Work/Flex Support Program: Starting soon, if your student has 5 or more missing assignments, then your student will take part in our Class Work Support Program to support their missing assignment completion. The Class Work Support Program includes some or all of the following:
- Weekly missing work notices for students to remind them of outstanding assignments past due.
- An Afterschool Class Work Support Study Hall may be required for your student to attend after-school on Thursday to provide a protected time afterschool to hold them accountable and support them in completing their missing assignments.
- A daily Homework Check-In and Check-Out with a Mead staff member may be required to review a daily homework sheet to support your student’s organization.
Eighth Grade High School Transition: District 211 is in the final stages of updating its comprehensive transition guide for the high school graduating Class of 2029. The transition guide highlights important information for families of current 8th grade students. Each District 211 high school has a unique version of the Class of 2029 Transition Guidebook. When available, electronic copies of each high school’s guidebook are on the District 211 webpage devoted to incoming freshman information. Please contact your student’s prospective high school for more information about the high school transition process:
Creating a Positive Culture
Mead PTA: Please join us for our next PTA meeting on Wednesday, January 15 at Starbucks in Elk Grove Village at 7:00 pm. We have an absolutely amazing and dedicated PTA that works diligently to support our students. Our PTA website will be updated frequently with information about how you can support Mead. The Mead website, PTA website, and our community emails serve as wonderful forms of communication to send out regular updates. Please visit our Mead PTA Facebook page for information including how to join the PTA and how to sign up for volunteer opportunities through our PTA. Thank you to the following wonderful volunteers for giving up time this past week to come and serve our students pizza and hot lunch for the first time this school year:
- Volunteers Needed:
- We need volunteers to serve our students hot lunch—if you are interested, then please sign up HERE. If you have any questions, the please email the PTA Hot Lunch Team at [email protected]
- If you are interested in volunteering to serve pizza slices on Tuesdays to our students, then sign up HERE and choose the time(s) you prefer!
- Mead Spirit Wear Shop: Thank you to our wonderful Mead PTA for facilitating our Mead Spirit Wear Shop! To access the online shop, please click on this LINK and shop away–the spirit wear shop is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year! Once you have placed your order, your items will be delivered to Mead JH. For current Mead students, we will send your ordered items home with your Mustang. A portion of the purchase will support the Mead PTA.
2025 Multicultural Event: Each year, the Department of Language and Culture, along with the Schaumburg Park District, presents a Multicultural Event that showcases the diversity represented by the students of District 54. We are looking for groups and individual students who are interested in performing at this year’s event on Saturday, March 8, 2025! If you are interested in applying, please complete the application by Thursday, December 12
Boys Basketball/Cheer/Poms: Boys basketball, cheer, and poms play/perform on 12/3 vs. Eisenhower, 12/5 @ Keller, 12/9 vs. Addams, 12/10 vs. Lincoln Prairie, 12/13, 12/16, & 12/17 @ D54 Conference Tournament. Good luck, Mustangs!
Clubs/Intramural Sports: Please encourage your student to get involved in these upcoming offerings: Tennis Club, Soccer, and Mead TV. Please visit our Clubs and Intramural Sports page on our website for more information and downloadable permission slips for these clubs and intramural sports!
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, December 2-Wednesday, December 4: Winter MAP-mathematics test
- Monday, December 2: Band Concert
- Wednesday, December 4-Thursday, December 5: Winter MAP-ELA test
- Wednesday, December 11: Orchestra Concert
- Friday, December 20: Staff vs. Student Basketball Game
- December 21-January 5: Winter Break
- January 6: School resumes
- January 20: No school
Please visit our Mead JHS Website for the building calendar. Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and watch our YouTube Channel to stay updated with the latest news and information about the great things happening at Mead. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to ensuring your student’s educational success.
Have a great week,
Scott
Mead Junior High