SSMS Weekly Update
December 10, 2021
Dear SSMS Families,
Final exams will take place Tuesday December 14 through Friday December 17th. We will have an early release on Friday December 17th at 1:00 p.m. You can see the final exam schedule here. Have an outstanding weekend!
Dan Diehl
Principal
Sycamore Springs Middle School
STAAR INTERIMS DURING EXAM WEEK
Semester Exams and Course Grade Calculations
In ELA (6-8), Math (6-Algebra), and Social Studies (8th grade only) teachers will be using the exam time to give the STAAR interim exams. In all other classes students will have a final test, project, presentation, or other measure that will count in the gradebook for the SE1 exam grade. This grade will be averaged in with the 4 quarter grades and the SE2 exam grade for a final grade at the end of the year.
During final exam week students will not be allowed to check out prior to the end of the scheduled testing time. All students are expected to stay the entire testing window for each class. Tuesday December 14th through Thursday December 16th, dismissal will take place at the normal time, 4:15 p.m. On Friday December 17th dismissal will take place at 1:00 p.m. Buses will also run at this time and the campus will be closed for student activity so that our staff can work on finalizing semester grades.
Gift Cards for our Custodians, Please bring $1 on Tuesday or Wednesday
Our custodians do an amazing job of keeping our campus clean. They are literally like elves who largely work behind the scenes and late into the evening sanitizing the desks and tables, shining all the floors, and ensuring our campus looks great. On Tuesday and Wednesday we’ll have parent volunteers collecting a suggested donation of $1.00 per student in the cafeteria during lunchtime. All the donations will be pooled together to purchase gift cards for our custodial staff. Thank you for making the holidays a little brighter for our amazing custodians.
YEARBOOK SALE ENDS SUNDAY
Happy Holidays from the yearbook staff!
Lost and Found - Last Chance to Make Claims is Friday December 17th
Counselor's Corner
Happy Holidays Everyone!!
Wow, this year is flying by!! We want to remind you that if you have a 6th grader who wants to make a difference in our school please encourage them to apply to be a Tiger Leader. We will be opening up a new section of 6th grade Tiger Leader in the Spring semester!! Our Tiger leaders just completed their first Better Together activity in all the Tiger Win classrooms!!. If you want to work with your sixth grader to apply for Tiger Leaders you can click on the link here to have them fill out our google form. If they are selected their Tiger Win time will be changed to Ms. Wright for the Spring Semester.
8th Graders will be completing the Choices 360 activity as soon as we return in the Spring Semester. We will be meeting with them in their Social Studies classrooms. Choices 360 is a comprehensive career planning program. Students will have an opportunity to do an interest inventory and they will have time to search up matching careers that might interest them. They will be able to locate information on the pay rates of positions in these career choices as well as the predicted availability of job openings. This program is very powerful and students will be guided to use the program into their high school years. They can even look up universities that have programs in their interest area if they want to delve deeper after our introduction to the program. If you are interested in seeing the results of your student interest inventory please ask them to show you as they will maintain access to the program through Canvas.
Please keep a watch out in January as we will begin to start discussing our registration for 2022-2023 sometime in late January or early February.
This has been a challenging semester for sure but Together we have encouraged and inspired our students into a successful half year and we know that with our combined commitment, all of our students will succeed and move forward with confidence into the future.
As always we are here to help. Let us know if you need our support.
LaDonna Caroselli Counselor 2021-2022: All of 7th Grade and 6th Grade A-K
ladonna.caroselli@dsisdtx.us, 512-858-3623
Jennifer Burks, Counselor 2021-2022: All of 8th Grade and 6th Grade L-Z
jennifer.burks@dsisdtx.us, 512-858-3622
Check Out This Week's SSMS News Student Broadcast
News from SSMS PTA
Sugar Shack
Spelling Bee - January 12 @ 6PM
SSMS PTA is excited to host the Spelling Bee once again! SIGN UP HERE! After registration, you will receive the study list. Study ALL.THE.WORDS.
Questions? Contact Margarita Davis, SSMSBeeChair@gmail.com with any questions.
SIGN UP HERE! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1BfZb-3KhMdv8x0pqwl-Hjz0GJgnzUheBCCVtSB0OEmY/viewform?edit_requested=true
SSMS Teacher/Staff Favorites
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FjzLO_c4T49xqhh7LhDKCT5qJFwtjsvl-5IHF9kPDlQ/edit?usp=sharing
General Meeting
Events of the Week
12/13 - Girls Basketball vs Lake Travis MS (Away) 5:15 PM
12/13 - 7th & 8th Grade Bands Winter Concert 6:30 PM
12/13 - DSISD Board Meeting 6:30 PM
12/16 - PTA Sugar Shack for staff
12/16 - Staff Meeting 8:00 AM
12/16 - Ugly Sweater Contest
Upcoming Events
01/03 - 01/04 - Staff Day/Student Holiday
Staff Birthdays
12/29 - Megan Hulett
12/30 - Eri Contreras
01/03 - Ricky Reid
01/04 - Chyloe Fife
Sycamore Springs Middle School
Website: https://www.dsisdtx.us/domain/12
Location: 4451 Sawyer Ranch Rd, Austin, TX 78737, USA
Phone: 512-858-3600