St. Francis Middle School

Our students have been busy settling into the new year. We have enjoyed welcoming our 7th and 8th graders back into the school year and getting to know our 6th graders. During the first month of the school year, we focus on establishing routines, forming relationships, and understanding expectations.

To help meet the needs of our learners, our middle school has an advisory program called "Saints Time." An advisory program is designed to build relationships between students and adults who advocate for them. During advisory time, we focus on relationship building, study skills, time management, organization, intervention, and team building. Please reach out to your child's Saints Time advisor if you have questions as the advisor is your connection between home and school.

Please make sure to check our website for updates and important information. We will regularly post to our live feed section. If you have questions, please contact me at heidi.critchley@isd15.org or 763-213-8501.

SFMS Conferences are Thursday, Oct. 12th and Tuesday, Oct. 17th from 3:00 to 7:00. Please use this link My Conference Time to sign-up for conference times. The link is open for scheduling starting on Monday, Oct. 2 at 3:00 p.m. Walk-ins are not available so please make sure to sign-up. Please indicate if you will be joining virtually or attending in-person. Each conference is seven minutes long so if you need additional time, please contact the teacher to make arrangements. The counselors and social workers are available to make appointments also. Lindsay Pakola is the blue counselor and Christine Anderson is the yellow counselor. Lauren Anderson is the general education social worker. We look forward to seeing you.

On Monday, November 13th at 8:00 a.m., SFMS will have our first Veteran's Day Assembly! We will have a speaker who is a veteran talk about her experiences. We will also provide additional information to help educate our students and honor our Veteran's. All Veterans are invited to attend. Please check in at our front office when arriving at school. We would love to see you there!

St. Francis Area School is committed to providing quality education that equips each student with the knowledge and skills they need to reach their full potential. Our district faces significant challenges in meeting this goal, as funding for education has not kept pace with the educational needs of our students. Please visit the website www.sfStrongFuture.org for more information.

Families who do not have a computer or internet access at home may be eligible to check out a computer from the middle school. If your family has the need, please email todd.bergeson@isd15.org or nicholas.jacobs@isd15.org.

Every month the teams will select students to be honored. Students earn this honor by exhibiting our P.R.I.D.E. characteristics. SFMS uses the Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) program to promote Saints P.R.I.D.E. which stands for p - (prepared), r - (respectful), i - (inclusive), d - (determined), and e - (engaged). Prepared helps students understand how to be ready for different parts of their day. Respectful reflects on how we treat others. Inclusive encourages students to accept and to include others. Determined is following the rules and trying your best. Engaged means being focused on the task at hand. We are excited to celebrate students showing Saints P.R.I.D.E.

This unit 6th grade Minnesota Studies classes have been competing inside the classroom over Lesson Completion Rate to earn the coveted “Paul Bunyan Axe”. Students helped their yellow or blue team win by using their time wisely to complete daily assignments during class. Absent students also played an important role in the competition by completing the daily lesson at home using the class Schoology page or by stopping in for help prior to the start of the school day.

“Each day Ms. Gravdahl and I posted the percentage of students who had the lesson practice completed prior to the start of class and students really got into it,” Gehring stated.

This year, SFMS implemented EVERFI, a new program during Saints Time. Students will utilize this program each Monday during Saints Time. EVERFI is a website that provides character education resources and skill building lessons, designed to equip each student with important skills including empathy, leadership, conflict resolution, and self-awareness. In addition EVERFI provides a variety of courses for students including financial education, character, health/wellness, and Science Technology and Engineering and Math (STEM) and career readiness.

St. Francis Middle School will be honoring Indigenous People's Day on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Each grade level will have an activity designed to share information about the day. It is a holiday in the United States that celebrates and honors Indigenous American peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures.

Students are currently working on a project in which they learn and understand the essential parts of a map. We use the acronym TODALSS (Title, Orientation, Date, Author, Legend, Scale, and Source) to help remember these essential parts. Students are putting what they learned into practice by making maps of Mr. Libby's Room. The following pictures are of 8th grade students working hard in class.