•  The Chess Club

•  YOGA BOOST

•  Grade Level Book Groups

• Be positive - Expect your child to do well. Focus on future goals, not past failures. Talk about what it will take to succeed. Praise them, and celebrate progress!

• Make rules - Help your child to learn good habits - studying daily, when and where to do homework, limits on TV time, phone calls and outside activities.

• Give responsibilities - Being independent helps self-esteem to grow - it shows children that they can succeed. Let them make their own lunches, manage a bank account, care for a pet.

• Make time - Make family meals a habit. Spend at least a few minutes a day discussing school, friends, and interests. You don't have to schedule this time. Talk at the supper table, in the car, while on a walk.

Homework: Teacher expectations for homework time commitment can be found in the Parent/Student Handbook. Counselors are available to families to help troubleshoot homework issues, which may include time management issues, home-school communication, and organization. Students can stay after school for homework help Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays (when there is not a staff meeting) and Thursdays. Check teacher’s web pages to get up to date assignments.

Absences:  Regular student attendance in school is essential to the educational process. Our state legislature strongly reaffirmed this principle by passing Public Law 91-303. With the passage of this legislation, school systems are now required to be much more aggressive in monitoring attendance and reporting students who are truant to an appropriate state agency. To help us carefully monitor attendance, we ask that you do the following:

• If you know in advance that your child will be absent from school, please send a note or call the school and let us know.
• On days when your child is sick and will not be coming to school, please call the school office between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. and advise us that your child will be absent that day. The absence line number for Mansfield Middle School is 429-5004 x 175. Calling the absence line eliminates the need for a note after an absence.
• In unusual circumstances, a family may wish to remove a child from school for the purpose of educational travel:

1. A written request, to be approved by the Principal, must be submitted no later than three weeks before the intended trip is to occur. The Principal will determine if the absences are excused or unexcused.
2. It is the child's responsibility to make arrangements to get and complete as much regular school work as possible.
3. At the teacher's discretion, such assignments may be modified to accommodate the trip setting, but should not be construed as a total replacement for classroom learning.