Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Mandarino Minutes Bonus for 12-15-20

 Dear Parents/Guardians,


Reminder on the BookHub Tomorrow and Thursday-

Tomorrow night and Thursday night is our BookHub pickup.  We would love for your son/daughter to read over the break.  Please click here for more details:

BookHub Link



If you haven't done the survey please do -

Parents, as we approach the end of the calendar year we are starting to turn our attention to the second semester.  We would ask that you complete this survey for EACH of your students that attend either Upton or SJHS.  If we do not have a response from you by January 8th, we will be continuing  the student in their current choice,  Face to Face(remote) or the Virtual school.  Thank you for your attention to this matter. 




Free Tutoring Opportunities-

If you daughter/son is in need of some academic support please consider the following resources:

St. Joseph High School National Honor Society Students:

https://forms.gle/J18HhF5Gx5mTJN7U8


Grand Valley State Virtual Tutoring:

https://www.gvsu.edu/k12connect/





Continue to Report the following Two Items -

1). If your son/daughter will miss a teacher's class have the student email the teacher and the parent should please call (269) 926-3400.

2). If you daughter/son is quarantined or is COVID positive, please let us know as we still must report our student data.





From the Guidance Department-

Please click on the following link for the latest guidance information:

Guidance Blog Information




UNPLUG -

As we approach the holiday break, we would like to ask for your partnership in reviewing the Digital Learning Agreement all students signed during their bootcamps this fall. We encourage you to talk with your middle school student about setting limits with technology use at home, especially over the holiday break.  An excellent resource that may be helpful for your family is Common Sense Media.  Our Digital Learning Agreement was adopted from their educational materials, and they have numerous resources available for families.  You may find their Family Media Contract or Customizable Device Contract to be helpful as you set limits and guidelines for technology use at home.  As always, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Mandarino or Mrs. Dirlam if you have any questions or concerns.  Thank you and have a wonderful holiday break with your family.    







Quote of the week-



From the staff at UMS we wish your family a wonderful holiday season! Enjoy your family time, relaxation, and unplugging a bit!

Mr. Mandarino




Friday, December 11, 2020

Mandarino Minutes for 12-11-20

 Dear Parents/Guardians,


Holiday Book Drive-Through and... - 

Please take a look at this link on from our media center regarding a wonderful opportunity:


Holiday Book Drive-Through Link





Please Report Even During Remote Learning - 

Especially during remote learning it is extremely important that you call your child’s school if they have been exposed to COVID and need to quarantine or have symptoms and are being tested.  We need to track our individual students (per building) for state reporting purposes.   For Upton students please call 269-926-3400 and choose option 5, to leave a message.  Leave us as much detailed information as possible.  Thank you for your assistance!




Thanks for the Donation-

Even during remote learning your generosity was very much appreciated!  Thank you from Mosaic for your donations!  This will help many local residents this winter season!


Retake Pictures in office-

If your child had picture retakes, we have those in the Upton office.  Feel free to stop by between 8am - 3pm if you would like to pick those up.  Otherwise, we will hand those out to students when we return to in-person learning.



Schedule Next Week-










UPTO -




















Dear Parents,

UPTO is coordinating efforts to say thank you and happy holidays to our Upton teachers and staff while supporting struggling, local businesses this holiday season.

Please consider purchasing a gift card in the amount of $10 from a LOCAL business in St. Joe.  This could be a local coffee shop, restaurant, clothing or home store or even our local supermarkets. Any amount is welcomed and donation of the gift cards are optional.  If you are buying multiple gift cards, please get them increments of $10.

Gift cards will be given to staff at their holiday breakfast hosted by the PTO on Thursday, December 17th.

Please drop off gift cards no later than Monday, December 14th, at the Upton Middle School’s drop box, located on the brick wall outside the office entrance.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact UPTO at uptonmiddlepto@gmail.com.

Thanks in advance and happy holidays!


Remote Spirit Week-

We would like have had a spirit week next week if we were face-to-face, so we are going to continue regardless.  Please encourage your daughter/son to participate with the following themes below.  

Remote Spirit Week

December 14 - December 18


Monday Grade Level Colors

8th grade - Wear Red

7th grade - Wear Green

6th grade - Wear White


Tuesday Flannel Day/Ugly Sweater


Wednesday Pajama Day


Thursday Dress Up Day

Wear Your Sunday Best


Friday Holiday Overload

Wear Everything Holiday related



Winter Break-

Winter break will begin at the end of the day next Friday, December 18th.

School will resume Monday, January 4th.





Quote of the Week -


Quote by: Anthony Brandt




Have a wonderful Friday & weekend,
Mr. Mandarino







Friday, December 4, 2020

Mandarino Minutes for 12-4-20

 Dear Parents/Guardians,


Next week's schedule-

As of this time we have not heard what next week will bring as far as whether we are back face-to-face next Wednesday.  Below you will see the schedule for Monday and Tuesday (it will be the exact same schedule as this past Monday & Tuesday).  If we return face-to-face next Wednesday the district will be following the one hour delay schedule and begin school at 8:45 AM.  I am sure you will hear soon what next week brings.





Absent-

If your son/daughter is going to be absent from a remote class session they should email the teachers of the classes that they will miss.  We would also like a call to Upton Middle School at 926-3400 from the parent/guardian to report the absence as well.  If you get the answering machine, please leave the reason for the absence.  Thanks!




Mosaic Coat Drive -

We have a box that is located just outside the office doors for the donations of winter coats, mittens, gloves, hats, etc.  These winter clothing items will be given to those people in Southwest Michigan who are in need.  Please consider dropping those off any gently used or new items.  The boxes are being picked up very soon, so please consider a quick drop-off.




National Computer Science Week Opportunities- 

Next week is Computer Science in Education Week and the annual Hour of Code.  Upton Middle School has been a proud participant in the Hour of Code for many years, and we plan to continue that tradition this year.  All middle school students are invited to join the fun!  Several sessions will be offered Monday, December 7th in the afternoon beginning at 1:00.  Choices for coding projects will include Artificial Intelligence, Minecraft, Harry Potter, Scratch Name Animations, App Creation and much more.  Details for joining the sessions will be posted in the student grade level Google Classrooms on Monday morning.


Add caption



The SJPS Foundation-

Our wonderful SJPS Foundation has a blog (aMAIZEing Times) that they would love if you would take a few moments to browse.  Here is the link to view it:

SJPS Foundation Link





Food opportunity pickup -

We wanted to remind you again that SJPS will offer meal pick up opportunities on Monday evenings from 5-6 PM for the students when we are remote.  This is open to all families in SJPS.  Meal pick up is located in the back of St. Joseph High School off of Lakeview Avenue.   Please email me Mrs. Youngquist (dyoungquist@sjschools.org) to reserve their meal packages. 








From the desk of our Guidance Department-

Guidance News

Please remember we are still here to support our students and families even during remote learning.  We know that this can be a challenging time and we appreciate all you are doing to support your student’s success!

Shout out to our Upton & HS Students for expressing their gratitude to staff and local healthcare workers through virtual video activities last week - 

they did a wonderful job!

 

On Monday 11/30, we are offering another fun activity for the students to connect with one another outside of the classroom 

(a game of werewolf at the HS and a pet show & tell at Upton).  

And on Monday 12/7 there will be a panel of SJ alum to talk to students about “what college is really like”.

We are sharing these opportunities with students through their school email and grade level google classrooms.  These ‘fun activities’ are optional, but we may have some required SEL lessons in the future.

 

Please remember to check our family google site regularly for updates.

What's New This Week in COVID-19, Guidance & SEL:

In the Counseling Resources section there is an update from Andrews Univeristy about FREE counseling available starting in January 2021.

In the Community Resources section there is an update from Spectrum Lakeland about more free COVID testing opportunities at BH High School

In the Parent Resource section there are several articles on navigating the holidays this year - including Holiday activities to promote positivity




Quote of the week -

Zig Ziglar


Have a great weekend,
Mr. Mandarino










Mandarino Minutes for 6-9-23

  Dear Upton Middle School Families, Thanks! - We thank you for sharing your daughter/son with us this school year!  We also appreciate your...