Warrior Beat
Student Focused-World Class
Word for the Warrior
We made it! It is amazing to me that we are half-way through our year! I am amazed at the work and progress we have made as a school. We have so much for which to be proud!
This memo has LOTS of information in it. Please take time to read it because there are many logistical pieces of information included that you will need for the coming week.
I do want you to know that I will be out of the building on Monday. We had a death in the family that is requiring me to be at a funeral in Ohio on Monday. I will be leaving immediately following the funeral to return to Kingsport and will be at school on Tuesday. Cookie Greer will be here in my place on Monday. A big THANK YOU to her for coming in at the last minute, so please give her a big thank you for helping us out!
We will have a brief meeting on Monday after school during our regularly scheduled time for faculty meetings. Our VIF has some exciting information to share and our Celebrations and Recognitions Action Team would like to share our plan to recognize both students and staff that will begin in January.
I hope that you can take time to enjoy the week, your students and each other as we celebrate a great semester during this happy season!
Proud to be a Warrior,
Holly
Week of the Warrior
MONDAY, December 12
Faculty Meeting-3:00-Library
Girls’ Basketball Tournament at Boone HS
--Sevier vs Boones Creek @ 4:30
NO Girls’ JV Practice
Boys’ Basketball Tournament at Boone HS
TUESDAY, December 13
Girls’ Basketball Tournament at Boone HS
--Game Time TBA
NO Girls JV Practice
Boys’ Basketball Tournament at Boone HS
Wrestling Practice 3:00-5:15
NO Student Council Meeting
WEDNESDAY, December 14
7th & 8th Grade Band, Chorus, and Orchestra students will start their day
-at Eastman Employee Center and arrive around 10:15 to JSMS
Girls’ Basketball Practice 3:00-5:00
Boys’ Basketball Practice 3:00-5:00
Wrestling Practice 3:00-5:15
THURSDAY, December 15
Christmas Concert at Toy Reid Employee Center @ 8:30-10:30 (approximate time)
**7th & 8th Grade Band, Chorus, and Orchestra Students will report to Eastman Employee Center (Night concert at 7:00pm at the Eastman Employee Center)
Boys’ Basketball Practice 3:00-5:00
Wrestling Practice 3:00-5:15
Bridge Club 3:00/Library
Students, please do not bring backpack and laptop to school on Friday/early dismissal
--Bag Lunch will be provided for those students who want lunch on Friday--
FRIDAY, December 16
School Dismissed at 11:40 for Christmas Break
8th Grade will have UT representative here to discuss summer stem program in Auditorium
--Time to be TBD
SATURDAY, December 17
Wrestling Tournament @ Hal Henard Elementary @ 9:00
SAVE THE DATE:
GIRLS INDOOR SOCCER-Sign ups will be after Christmas Break with Coach Potts.
Games will be every Tuesday/Thursday Starting February 7.
Spelling Bee and Geography Bee: More information to come in January
JSMS Students have an exciting option this semester. We will have a teacher from China at Sevier this semester who
will be teaching Chinese-Mandarin through our Related Arts’ Blocks. Please contact the office (378-2450) if your student is
interested by Wednesday, December 14.
The JSMS Jam...
- The TN Report Card is scheduled to be released by the TDOE on Tuesday, December 13.
- From the TEAM Update: You should be able to see your overall score in Compass. Please let us know if you can't access your score.
- One quick reminder, given the amount of traffic in our building right now… security is a must. PLEASE make sure ALL exterior doors are remaining secure at all times. At no times should exterior doors be propped open. Also, on your way in an out, please make sure all doors are closing completely behind you. Please let us know if there are doors that are not closing properly.
- Please help promote the postings of the KPD crossing guard positions, as you can. There have been several applicants thus far, and KPD is very appreciative of our help in spreading the word. AS SOON AS THESE POSITIONS ARE HIRED, WE WILL HAVE BRAD BACK IN OUR BUILDING FULL TIME.
- IA MEETING ON JANUARY 5TH AT 10:00 AM: There will be an IA meeting for ALL instructional assistants at 10:00 on January 5th in the library. It is our goal this year to have a meting in order to touch base, provide information and get your input each nine weeks. Instead of pulling you next week, we thought for the second quarter review, it would be easier to do it when we return.
- FRIDAY SCHEDULE: Friday, we will have an altered schedule with our half day with dismissal at 11:40. Students will be with grade level teachers for the whole day except for the time they will go to related arts. Each grade level has expressed different desires for the schedule that day for their grade level. Please work out with your grade level teachers and create a schedule for the remainder of the day outside of related arts times. Remind students that they should not bring their backpack or laptop to school this day
Related arts times:
6th grade – 4th – 8:50-9:15, 5th – 9:20-9:45
7th grade – 5th – 9:50-10:15, 6th – 10:20-10:45
8th grade – 2nd – 7:45-8:15, 3rd – 8:20-8:45
Lunch will be a bag lunch for those who want one.
Students will be eating lunch in your rooms, not the cafeteria.
6th grade – 10:45
7th grade – 11:00
8th grade – 10:30
- Below is the information for Thursday’s trip to the Eastman Employee Center for the concert:
No permission slip will be sent home – all students will be attending.
A school messenger will be sent telling parents to send a note or call the school if they do not want their student to attend. If you get a note from a student, please bring this to the office.
We will begin loading buses at 8:30 and will dismiss by grade level over the intercom.
Related Arts teachers, we need you to go early to the Eastman Employee Center to receive students and to help seat them – you can ride together if you like. Please be there by 8:30, rope off a section for Sevier students (roughly 800 seats) starting at the front and rope off 2-3 rows behind the Sevier rows to remain open and then begin seating for elementary students. This will give some space between the middle school students and elementary students.
Grade Level Teachers, please sit with your students at the concert and space yourselves out strategically around certain students to help them to be respectful during this time. Please instruct your students on appropriate behavior for this concert – when to applaud, what appropriate applause is and is not, when to stay quiet, etc.
When we return, 6th grade will report to 3rd period, 7th grade will report to 3rd period, and 8th grade will report to 4th period, dismiss to lunch, and return to 4th period. We will dismiss 8th grade to lunch by intercom once we return to the building. This should be roughly 10:30. They will all eat together this day and the regular schedule will pick up from there. There will be no Tribe Time activities. This time will be worked out by grade level.
Tribe Time, please work out with your grade level where your students will go for Tribe Time for this day and email the office and admin your plan.
We are excited about the opportunity to share our students’ musical talents with all students that day and know it will be an enjoyable time!
CANVAS TRAINING
We will be offering “Canvas Pop-In’s” beginning on Tuesdays in January. These are teacher-led, informal, after-school gatherings and we are looking for teachers to host and share what they are doing with Canvas in their classrooms!
Please share this flyer with your teachers so we can begin to create a schedule of offerings at a variety schools each Tuesday. A complete schedule with Pop-In locations and Canvas topics will be shared the first week in January. Please have teachers complete this form before Christmas Break if they are interested in hosting a Canvas Pop-In: https://goo.gl/forms/mGgYoQuG7M5PSwKn1
JSMS Hospitality Dues
From Tony Weaver:
Hello Sevier Family, Hope you had a great weekend. I have neglected to send out a note to collect our hospitality dues.
We use this money to celebrate life events and offer our thoughts and prayers in difficult times. We also use it for our Christmas breakfast.
We ask that all certified employees donate 20 dollars and all classified employees donate 10 dollars. This is absolutely voluntary on your part. I will be sending only one additional note at the end of the week as a reminder.
Marty Meade has graciously accepted the roll as treasure and will be depositing our money. She has also agreed to get our gift when the need arises. Thank you Marty.
You can leave your donation with me in room 228 or place it in my mailbox. I will get your money to Marty. Thanks again, and I will see you all tomorrow!
From the ASC...
- FROM LCA: It is my hope that your faculty and staff are also seeing that the commitments made to them have been taken seriously. I know that we have greatly reduced the number of times teachers have been pulled for meetings during the day. I hope I am correct in also saying that the amount of time we have asked principals to come to the ASC for meetings has been reduced.
TDOE Seeking Textbook and Instructional Materials Advisory Panelists
The department will begin accepting applications for advisory panelists to serve on the statewide textbook and instructional materials review for Section C. The materials to be reviewed are in the following subjects: science; PE/wellness and health; fine arts (art, music, theater arts, dance, and media arts); CTE arts, A/V technology and communications; and anatomy and physiology. Panelists will gain a deeper of Tennessee standards and will be tasked with the evaluating instructional materials bid for statewide adoption. Application information may be found here. The application window closes Jan. 6. Compensation will be based on numbers of materials reviewed by each panelist. There will be two days of training in Nashville on April 29 and 30 and possibly two additional days in Nashville for publishers’ hearings and commission meetings (dates TBD based on need). If questions, contact Alison Gower.
Feedback Sought re: World Language Standards
The TDOE is seeking feedback on current K–12 World Language Standards for all grade levels and courses. All world language educators, instructional coaches, school administrators, and district-level supervisors are encouraged to complete the survey by January 13, 2016. Survey results will drive revisions of World Language Standards, which will be implemented in classrooms during the 2019-20 school year. If you have questions, please contact Kadie Patterson@tn.gov.
2017 National Geographic Bee
The state-level competition of the National Geographic Bee will be held on Friday, March 31st, 2017, at TN State University’s main campus in Nashville. The process for participating in the Tennessee Geographic Bee starts with school-level bees that take place in late fall through early February, using materials provided by the National Geographic Society. Schools may register on line and receive instructions at www.NatGeoBee.com from August 3 – January 23. Once the school-level bee is held (for grades four through eight), school winners then take a qualifying test to determine participation at the state level. Students with the top one hundred scores from across the state will be invited to participate in the state bee on March 31st, 2017. State champions go on to compete at the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C., May 15-17, 2017. The year’s top three finishers in the state-level competition in Nashville will be vying for $10,000 in scholarships ($5,000 for 1st, $3,000 for 2nd, and $2,000 for 3rd)! Contact cgkelly@comcast.net for questions about the National Geography Bee or for more information. TDOE conctact person is Kadie Patterson@tn.gov.
Upcoming Webinar re: Classroom Discipline
edWeb.net is hosting a webinar, Beyond Consequences: A New Look at Fairness and How to Reduce the Use of Discipline Techniques in the Classroom, on Monday, December 12, from 3-4 p.m. Early Childhood Consultant Nancy Bruski is to be the presenter for this webinar, designed for preschool and kindergarten educators. Click here for more details.
Nominations Open for 2017 Outstanding Social Studies Teacher Awards
Nominations are now open for the 2017 Tennessee Council for the Social Studies (TSCC) Outstanding Social Studies Teacher Awards in the areas of elementary level (grades K-6), middle level (grades 5-8) and secondary level (grades 7-12). Award winners will be recognized at the TSCC State Conference on March 9-10, 2017 in Gatlinburg, TN. For more information and eligibility guidelines, please click here. Contact Patsy Brooks if questions. DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS JANUARY 16, 2017.
Warrior Whoop! (celebrations and recognitions)
*Celebration: Hope Hall will be joining us again in January....this time in 7th grade Science. Please give her a big Warrior welcome!
*Thank you to Amanda and Jessica for doing a training for JSMS admin on Friday! They are WONDERFUL and I encourage everyone in the building to share your professional needs with them. They can help in a variety of ways. Admin are figuring out how they can help US and we are putting ourselves on their calendars!
*OUTSTANDING combined musical concert by our 6th grade Band/Orchestra/Chorus! A big thanks to Hunter, Lydia and Angela for their collaboration and hard work! Looking forward to the big show this Thursday!
*Thank you to Marty Meade for all of her hard work to make our Parent Expo a success!
*Thank you to Nick Roebke, Sharon Ware, Julie Potts, Megan Roop, Leslie Hardin and Sean Golden and ALL of our world-class RTI assistants for the work going on in RTI and our work in our RTI data conferences! Also, thank you to regular ed teachers for your participation in these meetings as the connection between tier one and RTI is critical.