5th Grade Transition
Who Should I Contact?
Administrators
- Steven Pelych, Principal, spelych@ccs.k12.in.us
- Jessica Tubbs, Assistant Principal (Scheduling, Counseling, MLL, Special Ed.), jtubbs@ccs.k12.in.us
- Dave Jennings, Assistant Principal (Safety, Discipline, Testing), djenning@ccs.k12.in.us
- Randy Hartog, Athletic and Activities Director, rhartog@ccs.k12.in.us
The administrative team works collaboratively to ensure the smooth and successful operation of Creekside Middle School.
Counselors & Social Workers
- Counselors (handle scheduling): Susan Schad (sschad@ccs.k12.in.us) and Leah Brough (lbrough@ccs.k12.in.us) work with sixth graders. Your student’s counselor will be assigned based on their academic team.
- Social Workers: Nicole Wolfe (nwolfe@ccs.k12.in.us) and Jessica Piechocki (jpiechoc@ccs.k12.in.us) are both available to problem solve and help students. Both social workers are available to sixth graders and are assigned based on their academic team.
- School Psychologist: Emily Yingling (eyinglin@ccs.k12.in.us) works with students as referred by the school or parent.
School Nurse & Immunization Questions
Leah Eckstein (crm_nurse@ccs.k12.in.us or leckstei@ccs.k12.in.us). You can also call her at 317-733-6420 Ext. 6001.
Meningococcal (MCV4) and Tdap are required. For questions, please reach out to the school nurse. Religious exemptions are available if applicable. For more information on medication policy, immunizations, and emergency plans, click here: https://www.ccs.k12.in.us/crm/student-services/nurse
IEP Questions
Mr. David Helder (djehlder@ccs.k12.in.us) is the Special Education Department Chair and can be reached to discuss your child’s IEP. Your child will also have a TOR (teacher of record) who will eventually become your primary contact.
School Resource Officer
Chad Wiegman (cwiegman@ccs.k12.in.us) is the SRO at Creekside. He keeps Creekside safe and secure and serves as a resource to students and families.
Academic Department Chairs
Department chairs oversee their respective departments for all grade levels. They provide professional development and curriculum support and serve as a resource to parents.
- Brandy Myers, World Language and Wellness
- Wendy Higdon , Performing Arts & Unified Arts
- Jennifer Carson, Social Studies
- David Helder, Special Education
- Cristen Cassler, Language Arts
- Angela Snyder, Math
- Chris Bartley, Science
School-Day Logistics
Carpool Drop-off and Pickup
Enter campus from 126th street. There are two crossing guards stationed here (126th and Tuscany Blvd.) to assist walkers and bikers. Upon entering, take an immediate right and use the long loop drive. Use both lanes. At the far east side of the loop, begin alternating to merge into one lane. All pickup and drop-off students should use the long sidewalk in front of the building. Cars must pull all the way down to the sign at door 39 in order to utilize the full amount of sidewalk and keep the line moving efficiently. Once stopped, quickly let your student out or into your vehicle. There are two supervisors out to monitor and direct traffic. Please follow their signals. Cars should not drop students off in the parking lot as this poses a safety risk. Only use the lot to park if you need to come into the building.
Unlike elementary school, parents do not need to use School Dismissal Manager to indicate if your student will ride the bus or go to carpool. It is your student’s responsibility to follow the relevant dismissal for transportation. Bus riders will enter and exit through Doors 34-35 near the cafeteria.
Bell Times
School begins at 8:25 a.m. and ends at 3:25 p.m. Students may begin entering the building at 7:45 a.m. through Door 1. On late start days, school begins at 9:05 am (40 minute delay). Office hours are from 8:00 am to 4:00 p.m.
Late Arrival & Early Dismissal Procedures for Appointments
For late arrivals, students should enter through Door 1 and go to the front office. Parents do not need to accompany students. For excused tardies, please have your student provide a note to the front office. Late arrivals can also be reported through School Dismissal Manager.
To pick your child up early, please park in the lot and enter at Door 1. Use the doorbell to the right to state your reason for coming into the building. Once buzzed in, enter the front office to sign out your student. Have a photo ID ready, and be prepared to have your photo taken. Remember to submit a note for excused absences as soon as possible.
Attendance Policies & Information
Reporting Absences
Please use School Dismissal Manager to report absences and late arrivals. This is preferred to phone calls.
Attendance Policies & Information
Communicating with your student
Students will have access to their cell phones at lunch and can check messages at that time. You can also send your student a message through Canvas using Inbox.
Cafeteria Information - Paying for lunch/breakfast
Students can purchase lunch by utilizing an EZSchool Pay account.
Breakfast is offered daily before school. Bus riders enter at doors 34-5, which brings them directly into the cafeteria. Students from carpool enter at the front and can head to the cafeteria for breakfast.
At lunch, for the first few days staff will assist 6th graders in the cafeteria. We assign tables and release students by rows to get into the lunch line. Students need to bring their ID cards to keep the line moving efficiently. If a student loses his/her ID card, replacements are $5 (bring exact change). Table assignments can change each semester at the discretion of administration. Please note that students can be assigned alternative seats if behavior concerns arise.
EZSchool Pay, lunch menus, and the application for free or reduced lunch are all available on the Parent Portal.
Student Planners
Assignment notebooks are given to students at the start of each school year. There is information at the front of the planner for how to find the full student handbook with all procedures for Creekside Middle School.
Lockers
Lockers are assigned at the beginning of the school year. When your student receives his/her schedule prior to the first day, it will indicate a locker number and combination. Students should not share this information, including by sharing their schedules with friends. Lockers are 12” x 14” should you wish to purchase locker shelves. Students can come in during welcome days to decorate lockers and practice the combination. You can also practice how to use a combination lock at home if your student is worried.
Students have a five minute passing period between classes to allow time for locker visits if needed. Students are not permitted to carry backpacks between classes.
Navigating the School
Creekside Middle School is designed with grade level wings, so each of your student’s core classes will be in the sixth grade wing with the exception of Wellness and electives. The gymnasiums are adjacent to the cafeteria. If your student takes a performing arts class, they will go to the performing arts wing, which is also adjacent to the cafeteria. Other elective courses may be held in other centralized locations in the building.
Dropping Items for Students
If you need to bring items to your student during the school day, you may enter at Door 1. Before the second set of doors, there is a blue cart. Leave the item on the blue cart and use one of the stickers to label the item with your student’s name and grade level team. Items must be dropped off by 10:30 a.m. The items will be brought to the main office and students can pick them up from there. We will not deliver items to students throughout the day, rather they are responsible for picking them up during a passing period. The exception to this is that we will deliver Chromebooks.
Academics
Academic Teams
There are three academic teams in sixth grade: Jaguars, Pumas, and Panthers. Placing students on teams helps to create community and makes a large school building feel smaller. Teachers on each team share the same students and have a common prep time. There are five teachers per team: English language arts (ELA), math, science, social studies, and wellness.
Teams are noted as a number on the student’s schedule and correlate as follows: Team 61 = Jaguars, Team 62 = Panther, Team 63 = Puma.
Academic teams will change from one grade level to the next, so your student will not have classes with the same group of kids each year. Academic teams cannot be requested, nor can specific teachers. Families of multiples (twins/triplets, etc.) can request students be placed on the same or separate teams. We attempt to balance teams in regards to special services, honors classes, etc… so teams are very well balanced.
Block Scheduling Details
Carmel Clay Schools follow block scheduling at the middle school and high school levels. There are four classes per day that are approximately 90 minutes each. Classes meet every other day. At Creekside we refer to them as red and blue days (school colors). For example, your student may have math, science, an elective, and wellness on red days. Then on blue days, he/she may have social studies, English language arts (ELA), an elective, and Core Plus.
All electives are one quarter except for performing arts.
Core Plus is during block four on blue days for grade 6. This is teacher directed resource time, which allows for working collaboratively, providing enrichment and remediation as needed, guest speakers, team building activities, and meeting in groups with administrators or counselors as needed. Core Plus is time dedicated in the schedule for teachers to use to meet the academic and social needs of students.
Students pick up this schedule quickly with the support of the Wildcat staff.
advanced classes
The high ability offerings at the middle school are different then the elementary school. In 6th grade, we offer Grade Level and Honors ELA (English - Language Arts). We also offer Grade Level, Advanced (1 Level Above Grade Level), and Honors (2 Levels Above Grade Level) Math. All incoming 6th grade students are assigned into high ability programs by their elementary schools. The middle school administration will not make changes to placements until the 7th grade year, per district policy.
grades, Assignments, Lessons - CANVAS
Beginning in sixth grade, students will receive standards-based instruction that is evaluated with a letter grade for each course. A letter grade will be earned for each quarter of the school year. This will help prepare students for how they will be graded at the high school level.
Assignments are tracked in Canvas courses, and often a grade is assigned in Canvas. However, final grades are recorded in PowerSchool, and Canvas grades may not reflect all assignments/grades in a given course. Download the PowerSchool app or login to the PowerSchool Parent Portal on a browser to view grades. Find more on Canva and PowerSchool via the CCS Parent Resource page.
Parents can learn about what students will be doing in class by attending the fall open house where you can meet the teachers and hear an overview of the courses from them. You can also view grade level curriculum maps here: https://www.ccs.k12.in.us/crm/academics/curriculum In addition, CCS uses Canvas as its learning management system (LMS). Your student will have a Canvas course for each of his/her classes. Parents can create an observer account to view information within the Canvas courses.
Materials Fees
School fees vary by course. They can be viewed and paid in PowerSchool.
Chromebooks
Each student is issued a Chromebook that will be used throughout all three years at Creekside. If a current 5th grade student in Carmel Clay Schools, it will be the same device. Students can get technical assistance with Chromebooks in Creekside Commons Media Center.
Electives
Electives are each one quarter long with the exception of performing arts, which are year-long courses. Students have eight spots for electives. Each quarter is one spot. Students are required to take one world language class (six options), one art class (two options), and digital citizenship.
PE Uniforms
All Creekside students will receive a t-shirt that is required during PE classes as part of their fees. Additional shirts can be purchased for $5. Students will have a wellness locker in which to store their shirt, a pair of gym shoes, and appropriate athletic bottoms (shorts, leggings, etc.). It is strongly recommended that these items be brought home on a regular basis to be washed.
Performing Arts
Creekside offers band, choir, and orchestra. These are year-long electives that meet every other day for all four quarters, meaning four of the eight elective spots are needed to enroll in a performing arts course. Performing arts students will pick four additional quarter-long electives (world language, art, digital citizenship, and one additional choice). No experience is necessary to join. About 75% of sixth graders join each year.
Band includes woodwinds, brass, and percussion (flute, clarinet, French horn, euphonium, oboe, bassoon, saxophone, trumpet, tuba, trombone, baritone, and percussion). Orchestra includes string instruments (violin, cello, string bass, and viola). More information on performing arts is given in fifth grade music. Students can choose to take performing arts during course scheduling and choose an instrument later. Instrument try-ons are held early in the spring semester. If a student changes his/her mind later in the spring, we can help make that change.
Arts Information (Select "Incoming Fifth Graders)
AVID
AVID is a program designed to support students in learning how to academically perform at their best, participate in challenging curriculum, and prepare for entrance into a four year college or university. Sixth graders can take a one quarter exploratory class to learn more. In seventh and eight grade, AVID is a year-long elective.
Media Center
Athletics & Extracurriculars
Sixth grade options in the fall include spell bowl, cross country, and boys tennis. In the winter season, options include wrestling and academic bowl. Spring options are track and field and girls tennis. Track and field, cross country, and wrestling are non-cut sports, so any student who wants to participate is automatically on the team; tennis is a cut sport (all 3 grades) with 24-26 students per team.
Participation requirements are: a 2.0 GPA, no more than 1 failing grade, and a health physical completed on or after April 1. Parents/guardians should use Register My Athlete (RMA) to register athletes, electronically sign consent, and upload the completed physical. The Athletics Director will send information via email prior to the start of each season.
Creekside Clubs are student generated. Each year we have a wide variety of choices. The only limitation is your student’s imagination. To start a club, a student needs to first think of the club, find a staff member to sponsor it, and then find at least three friends to join. Staff can hold a call out meeting to recruit club members. More information is provided to your student in the daily announcements at the beginning of the school year. Clubs typically begin starting in September. School transportation is not provided for clubs. Students must be picked up promptly after club meetings.
Stay Connected
Weekly News
Mr. Pelych sends a Top Five email at regular intervals with timely and relevant announcements and current event information. The Creekside PTO also sends a newsletter, Creekside Connections, about twice per month. Be sure your contact information is up to date in PowerSchool.
Join the PTO & Volunteer
The Creekside PTO helps to support numerous educational initiatives each year. All Creekside parents are automatically members of the PTO with no membership fee necessary.
Important Dates
Fifth grade activity nights are held during the winter sports season. Fifth Grade Welcome Night is held in January. Performing arts try-ons are held in February. The due date for schedule changes in Online Course Registration (OCR) is March 1. Welcome Week dates happen just prior to the first day of school. More information will be sent by email this summer. Cross country and boys tennis begins in early august; more info on that will be sent mid June. Be sure your contact information is up to date in PowerSchool.