Attendance and Punctuality: The Key to Your Success By Mr. Keller

Transcription

1 Attendance and Punctuality: The Key to Your Success By Mr. Keller Schools are responsible for educating children. The teachers and staff at Willoughby Middle School are committed to providing our students with the very best educational opportunities. Two problems can damage student success: Frequent absences and frequent tardies. Schools cannot do their job when students are frequently absent. Every child of compulsory school age must attend their local school and participate in a learning program that is approved by the Ohio State Board of Education and the Willoughby- Eastlake School Board. Research shows that children who are in school most of the time do better on the Ohio Achievement Assessments. Students who are absent from school consistently score lower on State mandated tests. This is because learning builds day by day. If a student misses school, they miss a day of learning. If a student is frequently absent, those days of learning are extremely difficult to make up. A student can copy notes and make up assignments, but can never get back that which is more important: The questions, the discussion, the explanations by the teachers and the critical thinking skills that make learning come alive. Being late for school hurts learning as well. A student who is ten (10) minutes later every day will miss up to 30 hours of instruction during the school year! Many directions and important information are given at the beginning of class. Many times, being tardy to school is a problem that can be stopped by going to bed earlier and setting a good bedtime routine. Your success in school as a student at Willoughby Middle School depends on having a solid educational background that can only be gained through regular school attendance and punctuality. Please work on establishing a pattern of regular and punctual school attendance that will lead to success in both school and your future career. Go Warriors!

2 For most of us, it was our second year playing for the school. But, before we could start our second season, we had to get through two-a-days. We all put a lot of hard work and dedication into football. When the first game came, we were ready to play our hardest. You could see it in every player s eyes. We wanted a perfect season. Unfortunately, after a 3-0 start we lost our focus and lost two close games in a row. We felt like we let a lot of people down, especially our coaches. But, we still had three games left and we wouldn t give up. We got our focus back and won our last three games! We had a fun and exciting season and now we are ready to play for Coach Duffy and South next year.! "! # $ $ % $$ &$ $$ % $' $ $$ $# $ $! "( )$# $ # " %# $ * # $ $ # $ * # $ $ # " +,-,# $ #. / # 0 &$ $$ #$ $ 1 2 0! # $$ $ 0

3 ! Our 8 th grade WMS volleyball team has a record of four wins and six losses. Members of the team are: Michaela Federico, Sam Doyle, Kelly Rehberger, Brittany Brogan, Cheyenne Shrorb, Nikki Waite, Tiffany Grezmak, Jena Coles, Caitlin Skiles, Cione Belknap, Lauren Blasinsky and Molly Strausbaugh. Our coach is Mrs. Kilkenney. She teaches supports and helps us with volleyball and academics. Our team is working very hard. Everybody contributes to the team in their own way. Everyone works together to play a good game. When we don t work together, by not communicating or not calling the ball, we look bad. When this happens, our coach works with us at practice to make sure we get back on track. The best part of volleyball is not just playing on the team, but rather, it is being one big family off the court. We all care about each other and are always there for each other. No matter if its setting a good hit on the court, or being a friend off the court, we are all in it together. Warrior Volleyball By Jillian Livorse Being on the WMS Volleyball team has taught me many things. Volleyball not only teaches responsibility, but also taught me leadership and team work skills that I wouldn t have learned unless I played a school sport. During the volleyball season, I ve made new friends and talked to people I might not have otherwise talked to. This season has been a blast! We ve had some really tough matches. When we played Ridge, Chardon and Shore, we left out all the drama and really played as a team. The th grade team is undefeated and a great team, but we had to go through some difficult practices to make us that way. If you have seen us play, you can see that we laugh and joke around, but most of all, we love playing together and have fun! During the season, we all became such good friends and we love playing volleyball. I can t wait to try out for next year s team!

4 " # Welcome to WMS, Mr. Turchan! By Sarah Cummins Mr. Turchan is our new 8 th grade Intervention Specialist and football coach. He was a student teacher at Willoughby Middle School for Mrs. Shaffer. He previously worked at Eleanor Gerson Middle School in Lakewood. I interviewed Mr. Turchan and asked him his pet peeves. His response was, Quiet talkers, messy work and Michigan and Steelers fans. On a scale of 1 to 5, with five being the most, Mr. Turchan says he gives a 4 on the homework scale. His hobbies include coaching, watching and playing sports (baseball, basketball, golf, bowling and corn hole). Mrs. Turchan s most favorite hobby is playing with his 3 year old son, Jaxon. $% &'' Let me tell you about a great new teacher to our building, Mrs. Puntel. She joins our school from South High where she taught English. Mrs. Puntel is very excited to be teaching Reading at WMS. Everyone has been very nice and welcoming. She has been teaching for 8 years and her favorite subjects are Reading, English and Social Studies. Mrs. Puntel likes spending time with her husband, her friends and family. She enjoys shopping, walking and reading and has a pet goldfish named Walter. We are lucky to have Mrs. Puntel at WMS! ( Miss Focareto loves teaching Art at Willoughby Middle School. She says, The students are great and my colleagues are truly wonderful people to work with. Miss Focareto loves animals and has a cat named Kali. Her favorite animal is any type of cat, especially tigers. She also teaches Art at Grant Elementary and all of the elementary schools in our District. Someday, Miss Focareto would like to add Reading and Art History to the subjects she teaches.

5 # )) $)!*& +, $" $ $$"!! $$ 3 # $ Being the new kid can be difficult. If Willoughby Middle School is new to you, these tips should help you make a smooth transition to a new school. 1. Walk quickly on the right hand side of the hallways. But do not run. 2. Use your assignment book and do all of your homework. 3. Try to make friends by being you and being a friend to others. 4. Join clubs: Rocket, Art, Pep, Newspaper, Math, 5. Try your best and you will succeed at WMS! Bullying By Lizzie Masterson There s been a lot of recent news about bullying. Bullying is being cruel to someone, telling lies about them, talking about someone behind their back or making fun of someone. It is not right. Even adults bully others at work. Bullying really hurts people s feelings. The bully is not any cooler or better than anyone else. Recently, kids from schools around the country have committed suicide because they have been repeatedly bullied at school and online. This needs to stop! All adults, not just parents and teachers should take bullying more seriously. Not only are kids affected by it, but their whole family is as well. All schools should have an antibullying program and stop any form of bullying. Let s put an end to all forms of bullying. It begins with you and me to make a change for the better.

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7 1+ Red Pen Sports Editor The Cleveland Browns have only had one win to date. The Browns faced the Bengals on Sunday October 3, In the beginning of the game the Browns got a field goal and d a touchdown to make the score But then the Bengals came back and evened the score to make it At the end of the first half, Phil Dawson made a field goal, making the score In the third quarter the Browns ran it in for a touchdown and two minutes later made a field goal to make the score Near the end of the third quarter, the Bengals got a field goal. At the end of the third quarter the score was In the fourth quarter the Bengals scored a touchdown to end the game. The final score was 23-20, giving the Browns their first win of the season. The Browns record is now 1-5. OSU faced Illinois on Saturday October 2, Illinois started the game with a touchdown, but three minutes later OSU scored a touchdown tying the game 7-7. Then in the second quarter Illinois made a field goal to take the lead 7-10 at the end of the second quarter OSU scored a touchdown taking the lead Neither team scored in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Devin Barclay made a field goal making the score Just before the two minute warning, OSU scored a touchdown. The final score for this game was 24-13, OSU won the game. OSU is doing well, as they have only lost one game. The Indians played their last game of the season on Sunday, October 3 against the White Sox. In the bottom of the first inning, the White Sox hit a two run homer to take the lead. In the top of the second inning, the Indians scored a run because the Sox pitcher made an error. The White Sox had three RBI s in the bottom of the second inning and everyone knew the Indians were in trouble. The Indians fell short by one run and lost to the White Sox, 6-5. We were second to last in the AL Central Division and our overall record was

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