Parent Newsletter
Nov. 18th - 22nd
THANKSGIVING BREAK IS NOV. 27TH - 29TH
Midterm has passed, time to Finish Strong
- A Look at the Week Ahead
- Key Steps to Improve from Midterm
- Using Tools Wisely: Microsoft Outlook Calendar
- Understanding the 7 Keys to College and Career Readiness
- STEM Night is 2/20/20
- Counselors Corner
Thanks for all that you do to support JMS,
Phil Cox, Principal
Chris Layton, Vice Principal
Jenifer Laurendine, Dean of Students
Talent Show is Friday Nov. 22nd at 6 pm at JMS
A Look at the Week Ahead
Monday-18
A day
Chess Club-Library 2:45-3:45
Atomic Eagles Lego League Team Meeting (Shanafield) Science Wing 2:45-4:45
RadioActive Brix Lego League Team Meeting (Davis) Rm 223 2:45-4:45
Master Builders Lego League Team Meeting (Scott) Rm 102 2:45-4:30
Cheer Practice 2:45-3:30
Basketball vs. Jacksboro HOME BJV—5:00, GV—6:00, BV—7:00
Tuesday-19
B day
5th/6th Grade Morning Homework Help (Martin) Rm 319 7:00-7:30
Written Spelling Test in ELA classes (to qualify for Spelling Bee)
Interact Club Meeting (Painter) Rm 311 2:45-4:00
5th/6th Grade After School Homework Help (Martin) Rm 319 2:45-3:30
Atomic Eagles Lego League Team Meeting (Shanafield) Science Wing 2:45-4:45
Master Builders Lego League Team Meeting (Scott) Rm 102 2:45-4:30
Girls Basketball Practice 3:00-5:00
Boys Basketball Practice 5:00-7:00
Wednesday-20
A day
Ski and Snowboard Club Meeting-Library 1:00-2:00
Atomic Eagles Lego League Team Meeting (Shanafield) Science Wing 12:45-3:00
RadioActive Brix Lego League Team Meeting (Davis) Rm 223 12:45-3:00
Cheer Practice 1:00-3:00
Talent Show Practice-JPAC 12:45-2:30
Girls Basketball Practice 3:00-5:00
Boys Basketball Practice 1:00-3:00
Thursday-21
AWAY
B day
5th/6th Grade Morning Homework Help (Martin) Rm 319 7:00-7:30
Library Club (Haverkamp) Library 2:45-3:45
Math Club (Tracey) Rm 203 2:45-4:00
RadioActive Brix Lego League Team Meeting (Davis) Rm 223 2:45-4:45
Robotic Sumo Bot Team Meeting (Franco) Rm 316 2:45-4:30
5th/6th Grade After School Homework Help (Martin) Rm 319 2:45-3:30
7th/8th Grade After School Tutoring (Hondorf) Rm 301 2:45-3:30
Basketball v. Soldier’s Memorial Middle School GJV—5:00, GV—6:00, BV—7:00
Friday-22
A day
Grades “yes” Spelling Bee papers due to Mrs. Fox
Youth for Christ 7:00 JPAC
Ms. Kala’s Class Community Trip 11:45-2:00
Student Council Meeting (Brewster) Rm 315 6th period
Talent Show-JPAC 6:00
Boys Basketball Practice 5:00-7:00
Girls Basketball Practice 3:00-5:00
Saturday-23
Cheer Practice 12:30-1:15
Basketball vs. Robertsville-ORHS (JMS home) GJV-1:00, GV-2:15, BV-3:30
RMS vs. JMS on 11/23 games are at 1 pm (Girls JV) 2:15 pm (Girls) 3:30 pm (Boys)
Get your JMS Gear and support JMS Cheer
Looking for Jefferson Eagles Gear? The JMS Cheerleaders will be selling Jefferson Spirit Wear at the Jefferson vs. Robertsville basketball game on Saturday! Go Eagles!
Lanyard—$5
T-Shirts—$15
Long Sleeve T-Shirts—$25
Hoodies—$35
Finish Strong from the Midterm
1. Remember, the midterm is just an update for progress at that point in the nine weeks. It means that at this point, this is your grade. The goal is to help students get a better idea of their grade and work to improve their grade over the remainder of the nine weeks.
2. Most failing grades are because of failure to complete assignments. Talk to your student about effort and submitting every assignment. We will continue each week on our TVs and through the newsletter to emphasize how a 0 on an assignment carries a big impact on a grade.
3. Check Skyward for grades weekly. The midterm is simply students grades as recorded in Skyward at the 4.5 weeks mark. Check Canvas weekly to see what assignments, major tests, quizzes, projects etc. your student has upcoming.
4. Contact teachers and work to get feedback on how your student can work to improve their skills. What steps can they take at home? What routines can they have to immerse themselves into the learning process outside of school?
5. Spend time speaking to students about the importance of YET! Promote a growth mindset and work to help them understand Grit. The resources below are great reminders as to how important our effort can be in the learning process. As stated above, it is often the lack of submitting work that penalizes students. Often students who are failing do not submit any work. Keep in mind, teachers want and need the work as a way to assess, "do they understand?" To simply omit this step in the learning process is cheating yourself. Give it your best effort and if it's not perfect, learn from those mistakes.
6. Take advantage of your resources early and often. In many cases, we will have students ask "what can I do to help my grade?" two or three days before the nine weeks ends. Often the answer is, nothing! It is important for students to take advantage of resources and opportunities as they are given to them. For example, will the teacher allow for corrections on a test or quiz to earn more points? Does the teacher allow you to submit work late? Does the teacher offer help before school, during lunch or after school? Ask those questions and find out how you can empower yourself to improve.
7. Use the picture below with your student to help motivate them to work on resolving their understanding of their school work. The steps below allow students to take reflection steps and learn and understand how to go through the learning process.
JMS Students do a Great Job at Band Junior Clinic Tryouts
Bobby Givens - Silver Band
Cassidy Galaska - Gold Band
Tagen Lowery - Silver Band
Liam LaRose - Bronze Band
Joseph Colberg - Gold Band
Jacob Mohr - Gold Band
Isaac Lowe - Gold Band
Lewis Niad - Silver Band
Mason Greenhalgh - Bronze Band
Sarah Hudak - Gold Band
Giada Sachitano - Gold Band
Elijah Sellers - Gold Band
Lilly Moore - Bronze Band
PTO News
Next PTO Meeting: Plan to attend the next PTO meeting on Tuesday, November 26 at 7:40am in the Eagles Nest. Meetings are kept short and are conveniently scheduled immediately after drop-off so anyone can attend. Refreshments will be served. Come and learn about what the JMS PTO has coming soon!
Help JMS PTO by Using the Kroger Rewards Program: If you shop at Kroger, your regular purchases can help the PTO’s mission to support teacher and student’s needs at JMS. By enrolling your Kroger Plus card in the Community Rewards program and having it scanned at checkout, Kroger will donate a small percentage of your purchases to JMS. It’s easy – just follow the instructions below to enroll your card at the beginning of each school year:
1. Go to https://www.kroger.com/account/enrollCommunityRewardsNow/
2. Click “I’m a Customer. Want to enroll in Community Rewards? View Details”
3. Sign into your Kroger account or create a Kroger account
4. Click on “Find Organization” and search for Jefferson. Select Jefferson Middle School PTO as your organization. That’s it!
Fundraiser Spotlight: Are you curious about how your fundraiser dollars are being used? Each week, the PTO section of this newsletter will feature a different department or classroom from JMS that was helped with money from our annual direct drive fundraiser! This week the spotlight is on Mrs. Wyatt’s class. Studies have shown that flexible seating options in the classroom enhance learning and help kids focus so she requested some new stability ball chairs, stools and beanbag chairs for her classroom. The kids are loving their new learning environment! Thank you JMS families!
Growing from Midterm to the End of the Nine Weeks
Maybe you didn't have the success you wanted in the first part of this nine weeks. The great thing about the midterm is that only signifies half of the nine weeks. Below are some strategies, goals, and ideas to help improve for the rest of the nine weeks. Remember, giving your best effort each and every time is not only a great goal for success in school, but also a goal to help you be successful for your future. As we work to help focus on 21st century skills we also want to help students and families focus on the 7 keys for college and career readiness. One major goal for ALL students should be to work to the best of their ability and refuse to have zeroes on assignments not submitted. Work the rest of nine weeks on the following goals below and turning in ALL of your work. Check out the picture below to learn more about how these goals and attributes apply to skills you will need when you finish school.
Step 1: Create Goals for yourself
Create a goal and make it one you know will challenge YOU. It's YOUR goal, not your friends goal. Make it personal, share it with a friend, your parents or keep it to yourself, but make a goal.
Example: "I won't make less than a B this nine weeks" or "I won't have any missing assignments this nine weeks" etc.
STEP 2: GIVING YOUR BEST EFFORT CONTINUOUSLY
You have your goals, now it's time to achieve. It will take work, true hard work and it will take time to continuously work to reach your goals. This is Grit! A continuous pursuit of your goals and constantly adjusting to new goals once you reach your first goal.
What does "Best Effort" look like?
1. For no reason, should you allow yourself to NOT submit any assignment. You should care more about yourself, your grade, your success, and your goals than to have a ZERO in your academic progress.
2. You should try EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM, QUESTION etc. EVERY SINGLE TIME! You may fail, but remember to FAIL is to have a "First Attempt In Learning"
3. Don't use Excuses because you fear Failure. Take a chance and have a "First Attempt In Learning". This means you have to try, you have to ask questions, you have to take responsibility.
STEP 3: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
In order for YOU to achieve, YOU have to start with taking responsibility. Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. If you have a zero for an assignment YOU never turned in, it's on you! Not your teacher, not your device, not Canvas, not your laptop.....You have to begin to focus on you. What can you do to submit that assignment? How can YOU remind yourself? Can I write it in my planner? Can I check my Canvas Calendar?
2. Ask for help, it's okay, you will probably find something someday you will need help with. Who do you ask?
- Your teachers
- Your parents
- Your friends who you KNOW understand the topic
- Find Educational resources to help you understand
- Communicate what you don't understand
- If you don't understand or you have a question, take the time to find an answer. This is a part of Growth Mindset
3. When you FAIL (First Attempt In Learning)....figure out why and try it again! If you have a teacher who allows you to make corrections, DO IT! Don't dwell on how "your teacher didn't teach it the way you like it!" or talk about "how it's someone else's fault you didn't prepare or study". Roll up your sleeves, study your mistakes, put in effort to make corrections, ask questions, seek answers and give it another try. GRIT! Never Quit!
Developing 21st Century Skills
We are bombarded each and every year, month, week and day with new ideas, resources, strategies in education. It feels as if there is a constantly moving target. As we continue into testing we often see student frustrations rise, anxiety increase and overall stress peak for students and staff. Often as the new ideas for education particularly those in technology unfold we often forget to apply a critical question, "why?". This week we wanted to share the following video below as a glimpse of the future workplace and economy that many believe is inevitable for our students. The video itself helps to show "the why?" and helps to explain the need for the amazing things you do as educators every day.....the things well beyond a standardized test!
You challenge students to think, design, innovate, collaborate, communicate, think critically, creativity, pursue new ideas, solve problems etc. The video highlights what industry leaders and companies envision the future of work force with the advent of AI and Machine Learning. At first glimpse, the appearance is that many jobs will be replaced and human beings will be out of work. However, one perspective to keep in mind is that we have seen shifts in society due to technology before and often where one market closes a new one is created. Many company owners, corporations, industry leaders and market predictors have compiled the skills needed for future employees as we often discuss "the 4 C's of 21st century learning".
As you watch the video, on the surface you see things that show replacement of human jobs. However, beyond that we can begin to see that much of the AI and machine learning will need humans with new skills in order to make it all work. As Henry Ford once discussed as he worked to design a vehicle, he referenced the fear that horse shoe fitters would lose their jobs. His comment to that idea was that horse shoe fitters could learn to fix engines. The video highlights this idea as it shows the Easter Parade in 1900 vs. the Easter Parade in 1913 and the growth of automobiles as the main mode of transportation.
There is still a lot that we do not know about future careers and the future of the economy in which our students will work, but we are working to build skills to help them be prepared. As technology continues to enhance it is incumbent upon our school to work with all stakeholders to provide students with great opportunities to learn, share and grow. We want to make sure we work to provide our students with the skills they will need to be successful in the pathways they choose.
STEM Night is 2/20/20
STEM Night: 2/20/20 We hope to see you there
This is a message to Save the Date for STEM Night which will be from 6 pm - 8 pm on Thursday February 20th at Jefferson Middle School. The goal of STEM night is to invite our families and students in to our school to learn more about STEM, careers in STEM and applications both at JMS and the world in which our students will work, live, and thrive in their futures.
If you have any resources or you work for a group that may want to be a part of the STEM night, please contact either of our STEM coaches Callie Painter at clpainter@ortn.edu or Alex Goldberg at agoldberg@ortn.edu.
We will keep reminding everyone of this date as we hope to have a HUGE turnout like we did last year!
7 Keys to College and Career Readiness
Counselors Corner
Important Dates:
Thanksgiving Break - Nov. 27th - 29th
December 20th - Final day of the Nine Weeks
Good Evening! We hope that you had a great weekend! This week we will continue with careers and how to help our students to begin preparing for future. One important part of getting a job is developing a strong resume. I am sure your student(s) think all the time why they need to think about a job this early in life. This week we will help your student understand why have a resume and how to build a resume that will help them get the job they want.
Why Do We Have a Resume?
1. It places students different from one another. Most likely our students will not be looking for a service-oriented job, but they will be looking for internships to a more professional job and will need a resume to impress a potential employer and will help them to stand against other candidates.
2. It shows they are more responsible. Employers want to know that an employee is doing to dependable. On this resume, it can show prior experience as well as activities and volunteering opportunities that indicate commitment and responsibilities.
3. It highlights their ambition. One other important aspect of a resume is to show outside activities that the student has participated in. Participating in extra-curricular activities and volunteering shows employers that a student has passion and dedication, which every employer wants to be impressed by. Also, if your student is on honor roll it shows they are hard-working.
4. It is helpful to have letters of recommendation. When it is time for students to ask teachers, counselors, and previous employers for a reference or letter of recommendation, a resume will help them to remind them of all the hard work your student has done and why they are qualified for the job.
How to Build a Resume That Will Help You Get the Job you Want.
A resume as a student will look different then a professional resume.
1. Objective. The smart way is to tailor your resume to each individual job. The objective should be worded so that it is very close to fit the employer's needs, outline the qualifications that that the student has the position.
2. Experience. If the student has worked in jobs previously, then they need to make a point that they are responsible and able to handle the workload of the job.
3. Skills. Students will naturally have applicable skills towards a job, such as computer and online research skills, while they use these skills at school and on a personal basis. Skills learned at other jobs can be mentioned in this section such as, customer service, interpersonal communication, and being detail oriented.
4. Activities. Extracurricular activities and volunteering can alone set your student apart from other candidates. Even if your student volunteered for a semester that is still an impressive experience to include.
5. Education. Students can just list the school they attend but should also list their achievements such as honor roll or taking advanced courses.
Another important part of writing a resume is to use action verbs such as assisted, helped, arranged, managed to describe the student’s experience. These words will show that the student is actively involved.
After the resume is completed it is advised to ger a neutral person such as a teacher or a counselor to proofread for typos and their thoughts to make it more impressive if any.
Writing a Winning Resume: https://youtu.be/siEUBvxPRfc
Community Resources and Information
- Family Resources Fair (flyer below) November 18th 5 pm - 7 pm at Oak Ridge Boys and Girls Club
- CASA of the Tennessee Heartland is a non-profit that provides court-appointed special advocates for children in the court systems of Anderson, Blount, and Scott counties. CASA has fundraising events every other month so they can to raise more money for our organization so that we can reach more children that are in need. They are having an event on December 14th this year called Waffles with Santa at the Centennial Golf Course in Oak Ridge.
The event is run by our non-profit organization CASA of the Tennessee Heartland that advocates for children in the juvenile court systems of Anderson, Blount, and Scott County. The event we're hosting is called Waffles with Santa and is on Dec. 14th from 10am-12pm. There will be waffles with tons of toppings, as well as Santa that parents can have their children take photos with. It will be held at Centennial Golf Course here in Oak Ridge. Tickets for children 5 and older will be $5.