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Principal’s Message:
As we continue to recover from the interruption in traditional schooling as a result of the global pandemic our teachers and students have been working hard and we are seeing a lot of promising data as we measure student progress throughout the year.
At Lakeside this year, we realigned resources to put in place a reading and math intervention team, changed our CHOMP period to exclusively have an academic focus, reintroduced an everyday math option in 8th grade with Core+, and welcomed in a new talent development resource teacher to a position that we were unable to fill last school year. Pairing these improvements with the outstanding work our teachers are doing day to day at Lakeside, we feel well positioned to meet the needs of our students.
Last month the State announced some additional financial and digital resources alongside some guidelines packaged as “All In Tutoring”. At Lakeside we compared our operations to the guidelines and found that with what we currently do. We were pleased to see that the State research and guidelines aligned very closely to our operations.
Our leadership team did identify some opportunities to leverage the State funding and to help meet the guidelines set forth by the All In Tutoring handbook. Below are the priorities the State set forth and our action steps.
Priority: Students who scored 440 or less on last year’s Math or Reading SOL need additional intervention.
Action: At Lakeside we adjusted our data monitoring to this higher threshold. Historically, students scoring around 440 have performed on grade level consistently on every measure. Moving forward we are including those students in our intervention planning while continuing to evaluate each individual student's unique needs.
Priority: Reduce the teacher to student ratio during instruction to 10:1 for 3-5 hours per week in both Math and Reading based on the students’ needs.
Action: We analyzed how much support students were receiving in small group instruction and found we were already coming close to this requirement. Looking at our courses where we already double the amount of instructional time (ELA 6,7 and Math 6,7), we have designed a system to provide additional teacher and tutor support for two of the five classes per week. Teachers will use this time to provide small group acceleration on grade level material. Additionally, students working above grade level will be paired with our talent development resource teacher for accelerated learning. In Math 8 we were already meeting this requirement and in ELA 8 we will use the same system that we have in Math by adding a Core+ Reading class. Eligible students will be notified next week.
While the State guidelines agree with our approach to provide as much support as possible during the regular school day, at Lakeside we will continue to offer free before and after school tutoring for students as we have always done. Interested families can contact Ms. Saulle in our main office to get on our tutoring schedule.
We appreciate your continued partnership in your student’s education and welcome any questions or feedback you may have.
96 Days until Spring Student Led Conferences
Wednesday, March 6th from 4:30-8:00 PM
This Week at Lakeside:
Monday, December 4th: Black Day
Winter Growth Testing: Reading
4:10 - 5:30: Parks and Rec. Soccer
Tuesday, December 5th: Teal Day
4:10 - 5:30: Parks and Rec. Flag Football
6:00 - 7:00 PM: 8th Grade Family Zoom regarding AHS Transition
Wednesday, December 6th: Black Day
8th grade transition lessons in LA classes
4:10 - 5:30: Parks and Rec. Soccer
4:00 - 6:00: YWLP / 7th and 8th grade Dungeons and Dragons Club
6:30 - 8:00 PM: Winter Band Concert
Thursday, December 7th: Teal Day
Winter Growth Testing: Math
8th grade transition lessons in LA classes
4:10 - 5:30: Parks and Rec. Flag Football
Friday, December 8th: Black Day
From the Counselors: Transition to High School
December is the start of the transition discussions with our 8th grade students as we start to get ready for the move to high school. We have a few dates that are coming before Winter Break to make sure you keep on your radar. We also have a lot of information about the transition process posted on the school’s website that we encourage you to review.
- Today: Friday, December 1st - Lab School lottery application process begins.
- Tuesday, December 5th 6:00 - 7:00 PM. Family meeting on Zoom hosted by AHS regarding the transition process. We highly encourage everyone to join and learn about all the things coming up in the next 3 months. We will send the Zoom link to 8th grade families in a separate email.
- Tuesday, December 5th: ParentPortal opens for students and families to register for classes at AHS. We will work on this with students in class, but families can log on to review classes or make edits. This sheet will help for those doing this for the first time: How to Register for Courses on ParentPortal.
- Wednesday and Thursday, December 6th and 7th: Through Language Arts classes, all 8th grade students will hear about the transition process, classes to take in 9th grade, and elective options. We will have students register on ParentPortal for 7 courses and two alternative electives for next year.
- Thursday, December 14th from 6 - 7:00 PM: Curriculum Expo at AHS. This is one of the best chances for students to learn more about courses they can take in high school. All core classes and exploratories will be on site to learn more about course selection.
We will send more information to families about other transition information, but these are the upcoming events in the next 2 weeks. Please keep an eye out for a communication from Ms. Hill with more details on the transition process and the Sign-Up genius links for family conferences.
From the PTO:
Five Below is hosting a fundraiser for the PTO Dec 2 - 9 at the Rio Hill Center. A paper flyer MUST be presented at checkout for us to receive 10% of the purchase. Flyers were sent home with students this week. If you need another flyer or want to share with friends and family, you can get additional copies in the school office or print copies from this link.
ACPS Family Council Update: The November meeting of Family Council (see Minutes with loads of summarized info) featured:
- High School Schedule -- Questions & feedback on potential change for Jay Thomas. (See our summary from Nov 20, and feel free to add comments before Dec 14.)
- Middle School -- Discussion of both Community Lab School plus challenges facing traditional ACPS programs. Follow-up advocacy is being planned.
- Following our Oct meeting, our members started an advocacy process (see letter) calling for improvements in reading intervention. In addition, we received the following Oct QnA from ACPS and continue to follow up for more.
- On our new Facebook page (please like & follow), Family Council is sharing valuable info on division-wide updates and opportunities to get involved, such as resources for reviewing the two options for a new ACPS elementary reading program.
Happy almost-winter holidays! Our next meeting will be in January, focusing on student mental health.
If you have questions or want more information, your Lakeside Middle School representative is Ann Livengood and you can contact her at lakesidefcrep@gmail.com
News from Lakeside:
- We are collecting nominations for the Lakeside representative for the Teacher and Staff Member of the Year Awards. You can nominate someone here. Nominations are due by December 6th.
- This winter, Mrs. Owney, one of Baker Butler's music teachers, will be hosting a winter theater camp December 18-22. Students will have the chance to learn a musical in one week and perform it on Friday evening. This is a wonderful way to learn basic acting skills, choreography, script reading, and so much more! If you are interested, please visit lightandjoystudios.com for more information!
- Spring 2024 registration for baseball with Northside Cal Ripken League is now open! Co-ed Baseball is available for ages 4 to 12. Practices start mid-March and the regular season wraps up by the beginning of June. Practices and weekend games take place primarily at Hollymead, Baker Butler, and Woodbrook Elementary. Further information, along with the registration link, is available on our website: https://www.playnorthside.org/
Lakeside Middle School
Main Office: 434-975-0599
Report Attendance: lsaulle@k12albemarle.org or call 434-975-0599
Administration:
Michael Craddock, Principal
Craig Smith, Assistant Principal
School Counselors:
Cabell Guy - 6th Grade
Heather Lindsay - 7th Grade
Anna Hill - 8th Grade
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