SEMS Golden Eagles Newsletter
February 25th, 2024
Upcoming Important Dates
- Monday, 2/26: Color the Nest Fundraiser BEGINS! PEP RALLY AT LUNCH!
- Thursday, 2/29: Bike Permit Class (Rm 206 @ 2:30, Bring your signed contract with you!)
- Friday, 3/8: Color the Nest, Color Battle Field Games
Color the Nest Fundraiser is HERE!
Our Color the Nest Fundraiser is HERE! Our amazing PTO is organizing the entire fundraiser themselves. This means that every dollar you donate. goes DIRECTLY TO OUR SCHOOL! Your generous donations help to support the following:
- After School Tutoring
- Guitar, E-Sports, Color Guard, and other after school extra curriculars
- Vertical White Boards for Math classes
- Math Games for Math Nest Academic Support
- Santa Elijo Donations to families in need
- Each Department receives additional funds to purchase materials and fun prizes to enhance their classroom experiences for students
For our Color the Nest this year, we're using an awesome web based fundraising system that makes it much easier for you to request pledges from your family and friends, and for them to make secure credit card donations online.
Remember, our Color the Nest is February 26th - March 8th, 2024, so please register now to help our school raise as much as we can for academic enrichment, teacher appreciation and site enhancements. 100% of the proceeds go back to SEMS.
Using your computer's browser:
- Go to http://pledgestar.com/sanelijo
- Click “Not Registered For This Year’s Event”
- Enter your name and email address, then click “Submit”
- Follow the instructions on-screen to register Participant(s) and add family and friends
Using your Android or Apple phone or tablet:
- Go to the Apple App Store on IOS or the Amazon App Store on Android and search for "PledgeStar" to download the Family App, or go to https://pledgestar.com/sanelijo/downloadapp.html
- On the home screen enter your event code: “sanelijo” to locate your event
- Click “Not Registered For This Year’s Event”
- Enter your name and email address, then click “Submit”
- Follow the instructions on-screen to register Participant(s) and add family and friends
When you finish, the system emails pledge requests to your family and friends, and allows them to make secure credit card donations online. You get notified each time a pledge is made, and you can track your pledge progress online.
Call 1-888-598-7510 if you need help.
Golden Eagle Tickets!
We also want to acknowledge and celebrate our students who make positive choices to help our school community! Each staff member has a stack of Golden Tickets that they can pass out to students for demonstrating: Positive Behavior, Respecting our Campus, Respecting Others, Showing Empathy, Being adaptable, Being a good communicator, Being a creative problem solver, Demonstrating leadership skills, Taking responsibility. Students can turn these in for prizes!
Our next Bike Permit Class & Distribution Date is February 29th. You will bring a signed Wheels Contract to the course, complete the online course with supervision, and get your bike/helmet inspected all in the same afternoon. The Bike Permits Button above has all the details! Please don't hesitate to contact the Assistant Principals office for any questions. jazmin.andrade@smusd.org.
8th Grade Updates!
We are well underway in our planning to celebrate our 8th graders at the end of this school year. As information is confirmed, we will update this section with important dates.
Did your student tell you about the Knights that came to visit their History classes last week?? If not, ask them what they learned. The students shared about their favorite classes, ways to get involved in school, and where to eat lunch!
Upcoming Important Dates for our 8th graders:
March 6th: 8th Grade Family Knight at SMHS at 5pm!
March 14th: SMHS Field Trip!
End of the Year Dates:
May 30th: 8th Grade Party (on campus during the school day)
June 4th: Promotion practice
June 5th: 8th Grade Promotion
All Grades: Speak Up Survey
The Speak Up Research Project, facilitated by Project Tomorrow, is both a national research project and a free service to schools and districts everywhere. Since fall 2003, Speak Up has helped education leaders include the voices of students, faculty, parents and the community in annual and long-term planning. Our district also uses this information to help develop our LCAP. It is very important that we hear everyone’s voice in this survey. Speak Up will be open through February 29, 2024 for student, parent, and faculty participation. Please click here to access the survey link to share your feedback.
Students will take the survey in their Elective classes between February 20th - February 29th, 2024. Student survey questions can be previewed here.
Counseling
As our middle schoolers continue to grow and develop, is it important to understand what is happening in their brains. The article “Science of Learning & Development: Stages of Brain Development and Learning Needs” from NCEE describes the 5 states of brain development. Our students are in stage 4 of brain development which is “the most dramatic period of brain development” since infancy.
Early to Middle Adolescence—This is the most dramatic period of brain development after infancy. Connections are being strengthened between children’s frontal lobes, which are responsible for higher-order thinking and emotional processing in the amygdala. Growth in the amygdala leads to heightened sensitivity to social cues, as well as social hierarchy and physical appearance. These developments lead to initially fragile capacities for emotional regulation, long-term planning, and abstract thinking that continue well into one’s 20s. Youth are also at risk for depression, anxiety, and risk-taking; adequate physical activity, social connection, nutrition, and sleep buffer the impacts of stress and improve well-being. Optimal development is enabled by deeply exploring and expanding on personal interests and connecting learning in the here and now to big-picture ideas… (Excerpt from NCEE Article)
Our students are going through a lot of developmental changes and they don’t always reach out to adults for support. Communication during this time can be difficult, but it is important to connect with students at this age. The Counseling Department talks with many students regarding their academic, social, and emotional concerns. We always encourage them to discuss their concerns with their parents/guardians, but here is the feedback we hear often.
They don’t listen
They don’t hear me
They always want to fix everything
They won’t understand
They will talk about themselves
They will yell at me
They don’t care; I’m not important; they are too busy for me
Middle school students want someone to listen to them even when adults may think their concerns are trivial. Listening and asking questions (try to stay away from why questions) about their thoughts and feelings can build a bond of understanding and support that students need as they enter adolescence.
Our challenge to all parents and guardians of middle school students is to spend at least 10 minutes listening to them about any topic. This might be hard at first and the topics may be very simple, like talking about music, hobbies, sports, etc… Your student may push back, but keep trying. When students know they can talk to adults and be understood and supported, they will reach out to that adult even more.
- Please check out our full club list posted on our website and thank you to our student leaders for starting these awesome clubs on campus.
- BC Tutoring Option: Free, online Math Tutoring from SMHS Juniors and Seniors for community service. SEMS alumni!
- Brainfuse Free Online Tutoring: This is in students' apps in ClassLink! It's a free resource provided by the State of California.
- After School Tutoring and Extra Curricular Sessions will begin again January 29th. AFTER SCHOOL OPPORTUNITIES FULL LIST HERE
SEMS Sponsorship Banner Program
Thank you to all past and current sponsors, as your donations really help our student athletes in more ways than we can tell you. The corner of San Elijo Road and Schoolhouse Way is the place that our community gets to see your donations at work. The drop-off circle is the second and where our parents get to see your business names up close and personal, on a daily basis.
Donations are $500 and are handled through the SEMS PTO website.
Contact our Athletic Coordinator at geoffrey.gilpin@smusd.org, with any questions!
Future Ready Parent Workshops
See Something, Say Something
Safety Reminder - See Something, Say Something
As you may recall in the last District Safety Update, all SMUSD schools seek to foster a culture of see something, say something.
This means if you see any behavior, images or overhear something said that is concerning, whether in person or online, please say something by sharing it with a trusted adult. It takes all of our collective vigilance to keep our students, staff and SEMS community safe.
Stay Connected!
Want to keep up to date on all the happenings on campus?
Check out our Twitter/X account @SEMSEagles or on our new Instagram page sems_golden_eagles (scan the qr code).
For more updates, please also follow our PTO on social media (Instagram, Facebook) or through PTO linktree website or SEMS PTO website. The PTO's Instagram page gives a weekly look at all the upcoming happenings on campus!
San Elijo Middle School
Email: patricia.storey@smusd.org
Website: https://sanelijomiddle.smusd.org/
Location: 1600 Schoolhouse Way, San Marcos, CA. 92078
Phone: 760-290-2800