Student Schedules Explained

Student Schedules

School Counselors are now assigned by grade to best serve students. Counselors may be contacted for scheduling questions at:

Mr. Jason Katz, 7th Grade Counselor  [email protected]

Mrs. Lisa Hall, 8th Grade Counselor [email protected]

IE (Intervention/Enrichment) Period

In order to meet the needs of all of our students and ensure that all students are making growth, Southern Middle School has developed an Intervention/Enrichment (I.E.) period. This school year, all students will participate in a thirty-five-minute I.E. period which will run before or after lunch. Interventions support academic growth in the core subject areas, as well as include weekly character lessons. Specific instruction and lessons are individualized for each student, determined by the student’s team of teachers, and based upon the student’s assessment data.

Instructional ‘Teaming’
Teams provide a unique learning environment within a large school building to create a ‘school within a school’. The teams consist of the five core subject areas: English, Science, Social Studies, Math, and PE/Health.  Specialists, school counselors, special-education teachers, and elective areas teachers are divided among teams. SMS has four teams: 7th grade: Team Prepared and Team Respect; 8th grade: Team Integrity and Team Engaged.

This structure allows teachers to discuss the students they have in common and allows them to establish stronger teacher-student relationships based on an improved understanding of the students and their specific learning needs. The team teachers meet regularly to discuss curriculum, instruction, and students. The teams collaborate in order to meet the individual needs of their students and specifically plan interventions and enrichment for students’ Intervention/Enrichment (IE) period.

Benefits to Teaming:

• Breaks the larger school into four smaller ‘schools’
• Prevents students from slipping through the cracks
• Promotes open lines of communication
• Creates a sense of belonging to a group
• Assists with the transition to a middle school
• Allows for parent conferences with all core teachers
• Provides a forum for teachers to share best instructional practices and maximize collaboration for student success