So…What Do I Need To Know About Middle School?

(A Guide to Starting Hightower Trail Middle School)

General School Information

 Mascot: Husky
 Feeder schools: Mountain View, Murdock, Shallowford Falls and Tritt Elementary School
 All students in Hightower Trail’s attendance zone feed into Pope High School
 Grade levels are separated by individual halls

Schedule

 9:05 – 4:15 School Day

 Classes are approximately 55 minutes each
 Lunch is approximately 35 minutes
 All students read during daily morning hours in homeroom
 Students attend 5 academic and 2 connections classes daily
 Students begin each day in homeroom

Academics

 Students remain in the same academic classes all year

 Academic classes include Science, Math, Social Studies, Language Arts and Reading
 Students must meet criteria to enroll in advanced content classes. Information can be found on our
website: AC Matrix

Connections

 6th graders begin the year with only the 5 CORE classes on their schedule
 Throughout the first 2 weeks of school, 6th graders will rotate through the various connections classes for
the purpose of deciding if they want to join a music class (band, orchestra, or chorus)
 Music classes are yearlong commitments
 Although it is not a requirement, students are highly encouraged to join a music class (over 90% of our
students do!)
 Students can join 2 different music classes, but only 1 instrumental class (Ex: band and chorus or orchestra
and chorus. Not band and orchestra.)
 Joining a music class will NOT interfere with being able to take our other non-music classes (PE, health,
art, Project Lead the Way, and business.)

Homework

 Expect homework daily, averaging approximately 40-60 min. per night

 CTLS is used by all teachers
 All students receive an agenda to track homework, projects, and tests
 ParentVue is used for parents to track grades and attendance
 Parents can opt in for students to receive a county issued laptop in sixth grade

Attendance

 Daily attendance is critical to keep up with work; Student are responsible for making up missed work
 Cobb County School District’s attendance policy is available on the county web site
 Absent notes must be turned into the school within three days when student returns
Organization

 Students use their agendas to keep track of homework, projects, and tests
 Help your student develop a system for organizing
 Teach your student how to master big projects by breaking them down into smaller ones
 Encourage a “neat” book bag to prevent being late to class. Sit down with your child to sort and
organize/file/discard as appropriate

School Wide Discipline Plan

 All students follow a school wide behavior plan

 Points are deducted from the student’s behavior card when students do not adhere to class rules
 Consequences are clearly defined according to the number of points lost
 Classroom consequences include parent contact, detention, and office referral
 Refer to CCSD Policies and Procedures for student discipline policies for infractions more serious than
those addressed by behavior card

Clinic

 Full time nurse on staff during school hours

 Available to students requiring medication at school (meds must be in original packaging, with signed
parent permission on file) and for illness/injury at school

Breakfast/Lunch

 Breakfast and lunch are offered for students. Breakfast is optional

 Teachers eat with their class; students sit with their class
 Several healthy lunch choices offered. Menus are posted on the website: cafeteria menus
 May purchase additional items (chips, ice cream, fruit drinks, cookies) to supplement lunch
 Set up account at school or online using the My Payment Plus website
 Student ID number used to debit from lunch account

Buses

 Bus numbers and bus stop information can be found on the county website
 Ride the bus the first day of school! Helps students to recognize their bus driver, location of bus at
afternoon dismissal, and to know where their bus stop is!
 Students can only ride their assigned bus to and from school (Even with a note, students will not be
permitted to ride another student’s bus.)

Parent Involvement

 While it may seem to be a natural progression to allow your student more independence, your
involvement in the middle school years is still important!
 A parent’s involvement in their child’s education has positive impact on student attendance, grades,
behavior, and motivation!
 Volunteer in the school, participate in PTSA meetings/activities, attend your child’s performances at
school, check ParentVue, have daily conversations with your student about their school day, maintain
communication with teachers, check your child’s agenda and get to know your child’s friends!

A copy of this form with active links can be found on the Hightower Trail Counseling website