Mr. O'Dea's Blog

Friday, May 29, 2015

For the Coming Year

Physicals

All student intending to participate in any athletic activity during the 2015-2016 school year must have a physical on file in the office before they can practice or compete. A student must get a new physical each school year.

Beginning on June 1st, both Spearfish Regional Clinics will be offering free sports physicals if a students sees a physician's assistant or nurse practitioner. If a student wishes to see a physician, the cost is $28. The necessary paperwork is available at the front desk of both the Spearfish Regional Medical Clinic and the Queen City Medical Clinic. Students need to pick up the paperwork prior to their scheduled appointment, fill it out, and return with a parent/guardian to the appointment. Call the clinic to schedule your appointment.

You may choose to see a medical provider outside of the Regional network. If they do not have the necessary paperwork, you can pick it up at the middle school office.

Schedules

Fall activity schedules are posted on my website. This information can also be found on the middle school activities calendar.

Impact Testing

Students participating in contact and collision sports, must complete the ImPact test for concessions yearly. This test is used to develop a baseline measurement of cognitive functions, such as memory, so that in the unfortunate event that a student suffers a concussion, additional tests can be taken as part of the process of clearing a student to return to practice and competition.

Volleyball players will be testing on Friday, August 21st at 3:30 pm in the middle school library. Football players will be testing on Tuesday, August 25th at 3:30 pm in the middle school library. All students participating in these activities must complete the ImPact test before they can begin practice. If students are unable to attend the sessions listed above, they will need to schedule a make up session with their coaches and may miss practice time.

Fall Activities Meeting

There will be an informational meeting for students participating in cross country, volleyball, and football on Sunday, August 23rd at 6:00 pm in the middle school gym. All students planning to participate in these activities and their families should attend. At this meeting you will receive your competition and practice schedules, learn about expectations for participating in activities, and meet you coaches. Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades can participate in cross country. Students must be in either 7th or 8th grade to participate in football or volleyball. No experience is necessary to participate in SMS activities.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

End of the Year Celebration

I can't believe it's the end of the school year already. It has been a fantastic year with many highlights including the Day of Understanding, the development of the Spartans for Spartans leadership group and mentoring program, and just recently a hole in one by Jenna Geist in the State Golf Tournament.

We have a fantastic program planned for tomorrow to celebrate all of hard work put in by our students, families and staff this year. The schedule of events is below. In the event of inclement weather we will recreate as much of the experience described below inside the school.

Theme: “Spartan Up”

Plan of Events:

Each START Group, per grade level, will organize activities in the stations rotation. Activities will rotate every 5-7 minutes. All students will participate within their START groups. Each grade will have a designated section of the field assigned to them. START teachers will be in charge of managing one activity.

Outside Good Weather Schedule:

8:15 8:30 START Time
8:35 a.m.-9:55 a.m., Time in your classrooms (create your own schedule)
9:55 get students ready to go outside and go to START stations (see attached diagram)
10:00 a.m. START Time Stations Activities on Middle school and High School practice fields (8 to 10 minutes for each station)
11:30ish Lunch served
12:15 Tug of War on the HS practice field
12:50 Return to School for dismissal

Each grade level will be assigned a class color:

6^th: Orange
7^th: Green
8^th: Blue

The Tug of War Activity: START Groups sit as grade levels on the hill facing the HS football practice field. Start Groups will be called down to compete in the Spring Tug of War Championships on the HS practice football field.

Friday, May 1, 2015

SMS Activities Update

2015 Spearfish Middle School Activities Banquet

The Spearfish Middle School Activities Banquet will be held on Sunday, May 17^th at 6:00 pm in the SMS gym. All students who participated in any SMS activity this year and their families are invited to attend. Please join us in celebrating the hard work our students, coaches, and advisors put in this year and in building community within Spartan activities.

The SMS Booster Club will be providing the main dish and drinks. Families are asked to bring a dessert or side dish based on the activity in which their student participated in as indicated below. If your student participated in multiple activities, you are only asked to bring one dish.

Side Dish	Dessert
Volleyball	Girls Basketball
Football	Boys Basketball
Cross Country	Dance
Wrestling	Drama
Knowledge Bowl	Jazz Band
Swing Choir	Track
Science Olympiad	Student Council

To RSVP, please go to http://tinyurl.com/2015-Banquet. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer please contact Kevin O’Dea at 717-1215.

SMS Weekly Activity Schedule

Week of: 5/4/15-5/9/15

Day	Event	Opponent	Location	Dismiss	Bus	Time
Tuesday	Track	West River Invite	Rapid City-Sioux Park		6:00	8:00
Wednesday	Band/Choir Contest		Belle Fourche
Thursday	8^th Grade Transition		SHS			1:30
Friday	Track	BHC Meet	Sturgis		7:30	9:00
Friday	All School Dance	Wicked Beats	SMS Gym			6:30

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Queen City Classic Concessions

The high school booster club is allowing us to run the concession stand at the middle school during the Queen City Classic again this year. This is a great fundraising opportunity for the middle school booster club. Funds raised in the concession stand are used to purchase equipment and supplies, send coaches to clinics, to pay for the annual activities banquet, and to help defray the cost of hosting tournaments.

We are in need of workers for the concession stand this weekend. There are shifts available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A detailed list is below. Please call me at 717-1215 or send me an email to sign up. This is our last big push for the year and we really need your held.

Friday 3/27

7-9:30

Saturday 3/28

7:30-10:30
10:30-1:30
1:30-4:30
4:30-7:30
7:30-9:00

Sunday, 3/29

7:30-10:30
10:30-1:30
1:30-4:30
4:30-7:30

Friday, March 6, 2015

2nd Trimester Celebration

2nd Trimester Celebration

Today we celebrated our students' achievements during the 2nd trimester. The 7th and 8th grade dance teams performed wonderfully and a flash mob of Spartans for Spartans leaders took over the court and dazzled the crowd. Our S4S leaders then led a discussion on what it means to be a leader and the actions that we all can take to build a culture of respect and excellence at SMS.

The celebration of community continued with a rock, paper, scissors tournament. The winners were Ms. Hinch's START class for 6th grade, Mr. Syman's START class in the 7th grade, and Ms. Case's 8th grade START group took home the 8th grade trophy. All students had a great time participating and it was a lot of fun.

The PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support) team reviewed our progress toward meeting our goal of 80% or more of our students not earning an office referral. We did not reach this goal. The data for each grade is below.

The good news is the vast majority of all SMS students did not earn a major referral during the second trimester. Our students are living our community core values of preparedness, respect, integrity, determination, and excellence every day. But we have a ways to go. We left the assembly firm in the belief that leadership is an action, not a position. All of our students play a crucial role in building the school community we desire. As we move into the final trimester of this school year, I believe our students will rise to the occasion and make it great.

Track Season

Monday, March 9th is the first day of the 2015 track season. Any interested 7th or 8th grade student can participate in track. Sixth graders cannot participate in track. Students must have a physical on file in the office before they can practice or compete. If a student participated in any other athletic activity this year, their physical is on file. Students do not need to complete the impact test for concussions in order to participate in track.

There will be an informational meeting for all students participating in track and their families at 5:30 on Monday, March 9th in the middle school gym. All students participating in track and their families should plan on attending. At this meeting you will meet the track coaches, receive information on practice times, expectations and get your schedules. Our numbers look great and it should be a great season.

Saturday, February 28, 2015

3.2.15-3.7.15

We are entering the home stretch of the boys' basketball and dance seasons. If you have not taken the opportunity to watch our 7th and 8th grade dance teams perform, don't miss out on your last chance on the 3rd. Mrs. Jeffery and the girls have been working extremely hard and the girls are performing at a very high level. They truly are grace in motion.

Also, Tuesday is your last chance to work concessions for an SMS basketball game this year. Please email me if you can help out.

I know it's hard to believe, but the 2nd trimester ended on Friday. Our students will be celebrating their success and building community next Friday during an assembly. As we work through a school year, it's important to take the time to recognize all of the great things our students do. It can be easy to fall into the trap of popular culture to characterize the middle school years as something to endure and survive. My experiences with the amazing students we have at SMS suggest that the middle school years are something to embrace, celebrate, and cherish. Our kids are awesome and thank you for sending them to us each day.