Jan 4, 2019

Southern Middle

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

PBIS Bingo ................ 1

School Ratings …..….. 2

Help Wanted……….…..3

Science Fair…………….3

Students/Month……...4

Positive Referrals…....4

Holiday Fun …………...5

Calendar .................... 6

Guidance News ......... 6

PTA News ……………....7

Let me Introduce you ……………………………...8

CREATING

CURIOUS AND

JOYFUL LEARNERS.

LEARNERS

Bulldog

Newsbites

THE LEGENDARY MR. HEISER READING NUMBERS FOR OUR VERY POPULAR BINGO GAME.

SMS CLUBS

INTRAMURALS

STRENGTH/CONDITIONING

SMS THEATER COM-PANY

CONCERT BAND

JAZZ/ROCK ENSEM-BLE

STRING ORCHESTRA

WIND ENSEMBLE

CHAMBEER ORCHES-TRA

SHOW CHOIR

DANCE

SEA PERCH CLUB

NAT JUNIOR HONOR SOCIETY

SMS NEWSPAPER

TERRAPIN CLUB

SGA

YEARBOOK

NAT JUNIOR ART HONOR SOCIETY

2

New School Evaluation Process

The state of Maryland, like many other states have

adopted a new manner of evaluating schools.

Each school will be assigned a rating, from a mini-

mum of one star to a maximum of five stars.

The factors that go into the rating include aca-demic achievement on the Partnership for Assess-ment of Readiness for College and Careers (the PARCC tests), the chronic absenteeism rate, the graduation percentage, the existence of a well-rounded curriculum and the achievement of Eng-lish language learners.

Next year, the rating system will include a stand-ardized school survey given to students and edu-cators asking how they view their school. When the state’s new social studies and science tests are added, those results will be added as well.

So as you can see this is a very thorough rating system and not just relying upon test scores.

So how did Southern Middle rate with this new process?

In AACPS there are 19 middle schools. Only 3 schools earned the highest rating; 5 Stars.

Southern Middle earned the next highest; 4 Stars.

Congratulations to all our students and staff for this great recognition!

Help Wanted

Substitutes

Southern Middle, like many schools are in dire need

for substitute teachers. Frequently we do not have

enough to fill the daily need and teachers have to give

up planning time to cover classes. If you think this

may be something you are interested in and are avail-

able anywhere form 1-5 days a week call Linsey

Abrams at the school; 410-222-1659 and she can dis-

cuss the position with you. Thank you.

Southern Middle Science Fair

Bulldog Scientists are alive and well. In our recent Science Fair projects

we had a good number of participants. The projects were impressive

with topics ranging from Electricity to Environmental Issues. On Jan 4

students presented their projects ot judges and those judged t0 be of

high quality will go on to the County Science Fair in the Spring. On Jan

8 there will be an Science Fair Awards Night held at the school at 6 pm

in the media center. Clear Shark H20, a local environmental group will

be presenting a special award to one participant. Congratulations to all.

Science Fair Judges

SMS December Students of the Month

Positive Referrals—Yes Positive!!!

The following students were recognized by teachers for showing their Bulldog

Pride and received positive referrals. All also had phone calls home.

6A (Wolverines): Jocelyn Perez and

Dainius Wayson

6B (Avengers): Amy Hill and Holden

Fontaine

7A (Caped Crusaders): Brenna Kadj-

eski and Dallas Apperson

7B (The Hulks): Marjory Bonilla and

Anthony James

8A (The Justice League): McKenzie Ennis and Noah Hall

8B (The Incredibles): Madelynne Reichard and Steve Smith

Avila-Morazan, Alejandro

Bernal Torres, Denisse

Brown, Lauren

Derrick, Emma Kate

Felix, Danny

Flaherty, Shaun

Heinrichs, Ace

Moore, Ricky

Perez-Santizo, Daisy

Robinson, Delonta

Slone, Payton

Thompson, Gavin

Timmins, Justin

Valle, Exael

Holiday Fun at SMS

Calendar of

Events:

Jan 8—Sci Fair

Awards Night

Jan 21—MLK B-

Day—Schools

Closed

Jan 29-30—

End of MP—2 hr

early dismissal

Jan 31—Schools

Closed

Feb 1—Start of 3rd

MP

6

It’s that time of year again . . .

2019-20 Scheduling! Through January and February,

Counselors will be working with teachers and students to

make appropriate course selections for the 2019-20

School Year. At the start of the 3rd MP, School Counse-

lors will be meeting with students through their Social

Studies classes to review course offerings, recommenda-

tions as well as the registration process. All registration

materials will be sent home with your student and you

all will have a week to review. Please make sure their

Student Course Selection Card is completed and re-

turned back to their Social Studies Teacher with your

parent signature No Later than Thursday February

7, 2019.

New Middle School Schedule for Next Year.

All AACPS schools will have a different schedule for

next school year. These changes impact Encore selec-

tions only but will impact each student’s course selec-

tions. A few briefs:

• Encore classes will rotate on an A-B schedule. No

more C Day classes.

• The 6th Grade “wheel” is eliminated.

• Students can earn 2 HS credits of foreign language

or not take any foreign language.

There will also be other specific changes impacting the

# of courses students can sign up for. More info com-

PTA NEWS

7

PTA is still looking for a volunteer to assist the PBIS teachers with the school store during all lunches on Wednesdays. It is easy and fun. If in-terested please email JLGates83@hotmail.com

Thursday, February 7--Next PTA Meeting at 6:30pm in the Media Center

PBIS Update:

Each grade level participated in PBIS events with their students during the month of December. Admission to each event was paid with Bulldog Bucks. Sixth grade held a lip sync battle while seventh and eighth graders participated in a holiday movie and snack. Our school-wide PBIS event for the semester took place on December 21 and was the highly popular BINGO.

SMS Representatives at the Student Leadership Conference

Every year, 3 students in the AVID program are selected to represent Southern Middle School at the annu-al Student Leadership Conference. This year Andrew Moomau, Jeevani Adams, and Keithan Tongue will be representing our school at the stu-dent leadership conference. Con-gratulations to those students!

mailto:JLGates83@hotmail.com

LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO…...

Where did you grow up?

Pasadena, MD

Attended college where?

What major?

Salisbury University

(GO GULLS)

where I majored in

Physical Educa-

tion

Any family info you

wish to share?

I have two brothers

and a three-year-

old Pit Bull named

Clyde

Matt Wojciechowski

Physical

Education

&

Health

I decided to become a teacher when I was about 18 years old because I wanted to help

young people build confidence through athletics and fitness the same as my high

school Strength & Conditioning coach did for me. In middle school I was fun and full

of energy and I enjoyed baseball, surfing and the great outdoors

Future goals of mine include working for a colligate strength and conditioning program,

seeing as much of the world with my significant other as I can & surf a wave on eve-

ry continent.

What else you would like to share?

Ravens are going to the Super Bowl. Heard it here first!

SMS is very lucky to have Mr. Wojciechowski

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