The Firebird Flash
August 26, 2022
NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS
- Principal's Update
- Tutoring Available
- Taking Care of Your Chromebook
- Fall Fundraiser going on now!
- Yearbooks, Firebird Band Support, and FMS Facebook
- EmpowerFZ - Falcon Zone implementation review
- Military Minute
- Mark your Calendar
- From Nurse Nelda
- Firebird Nation Campus Expansion
- PTSA
- Purchase Firebird Gear
Updates from our Principal
Greetings Firebird Nation Families -
Happy Friday! We have completed our first full month of school! This means we are just about half way through the 1st quarter; time has gone by quickly!
In making my way around the building this week, I saw classes where students were setting goals based on their STAR test data. It was awesome to see students looking at how they performed on these assessments and determining where they needed to focus and work on to be better prepared for the next assessment in a couple of months. STAR Assessments are a great measure of student progress during the academic year and also serve as a predictor of how students will perform on CMAS in April. I would encourage parents to ask their students how they performed on their STAR Assessments along with what goals they feel they want to work on as the year moves forward.
CMAS Scores were released and we have provided all students with their score reports. Please ask your students to see this information. This was our first year administering CMAS since 2019, due to the pandemic. Our staff is working to dig through this data and identify places where additional content focus is needed along with areas where we can grow as a school. FMS had some areas where we outperformed the district and state and some others where we did not. It is important for us as a staff to look at all of this data and see where we can improve as a school. We will be sharing more about this at our upcoming School Accountability Committee Meeting on Monday, August 29th, at 5:30pm in the Learning Commons. This is open to any interested parents that would like to attend. We work together as a team to help determine steps we can incorporate into our school improvement plan for the year. We will share more on our CMAS Data in upcoming newsletters as we dig further. Don't forget to ask your students for the CMAS Score reports.
Overall, I continue to be impressed with our students this year and the positive behaviors we have been seeing. As we move into next week, we want to ensure all students are familiar with the student handbook and our expectations at FMS. The Grade Level Assistant Principals will be conducting their student handbook presentations on Thursday to review these expectations with students. We set a strict tone in these meetings so students know what is acceptable behavior and what is not. They also learn about the consequences involved when expectations in the student handbook are not followed. Our counselors have also been conducting their classroom guidance lessons on bullying versus peer conflict. The counselors talk with students about how to respect each other, how to help resolve conflicts when they arise, and how to report situations if they occur. Our Grade Level Assistant Principal and Counselor teams work together closely and welcome you to reach out to them if you ever have any questions about a situation or something impacting your student.
We hosted our first ever home Cross Country meet this past week! Wow...what an event! It was awesome to see all of the schools attend and run the first ever race on the Judy Connolly trail. Our Firebirds ran great races throughout the afternoon. I also got to see our Volleyball teams at their home matches this week as they won all of their games; nice job Lady Firebirds! Our 8th Grade Football team also won their away match at Fountain and 7th grade played a hard fought game. It is awesome to see so much Firebird spirit at these events as we cheer on our Firebirds! Don't forget, we have a Red and Gold event this next week as Falcon Middle takes on Skyview Middle under the lights on Wednesday, August 31st at 5:00pm (7th Grade plays first followed by 8th Grade). We want to invite everyone in Firebird Nation to attend and WEAR RED! Be watching for more of these events for each of our sports coming up!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! Just a reminder for next week that students do not have school on Friday, September 2nd as it is a professional development day for staff.
Sincerely,
Brian Smith
Executive Principal
Falcon Middle School
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Tutoring Available at FMS
Hello Firebird Nation Families,
We wanted to reach out to all of you as we begin our 2nd half of Quarter 1 during this 22-23 School Year. This year at Falcon Middle School, we are wanting to spend more time working with all grade-level Firebirds on the mastery of their core content. Due to this, FMS will be offering after-school tutoring and subject help.
FMS will be offering a 1-hr 15-min tutoring window Mondays through Thursdays from 3:15-4:30 pm. These times will be used to:
· Master current standards and concepts
· Master former standards and concepts
· Work on current learning plans and receive guided support
If you're interested in attending a tutoring day(s), please fill out the following this link:
Any students attending academic tutoring ARE REQUIRED to have a plan for being picked up at 4:30 pm. Please feel free to reach out to either of us or your child's teachers if you have any concerns or questions,
Carrie Clay
8th Grade Counselor
Corey Bates
8th Grade Gold Math Teacher
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Taking Care of Your Chromebook!
Students MUST take care of their chromebook and keep them in safe locations. When going to lunch, students should place their chromebook in their locker and not carry it around in a backpack. Students should also handle and treat them carefully so that they do not get damaged. Students are responsible for the physical damage that happens to their chromebooks. You can see the cost of repairs for some of the most common damages below. If you purchased the chromebook protection, it will cover some incidents of physical damage that occur, but the protection must then be renewed to cover a future incident. We have attached the device agreement again below for reference.
We are very limited on the number of extra chromebooks that we have. We are waiting for a new order to arrive. If students have a damage that must be repaired, then it is possible they will be without a device during the repair. This makes it even more important for students to take care of their device at all times.
Chromebook Repair Fees
Note: FMS students use the 14-inch screen Chromebook
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Important Links!
Order your Yearbook Today!
Yearbooks may be ordered at www.jostensyearbooks.com or by calling 1-877-767-5217.
Until September 16, the price will be discounted at $45!
Help Share this info on social media for the FMS Bands
The Firebird Bands are working to raise funds for a set of chimes through Donors Choose. We still need help reaching $5,000 by Nov. 29th. We would be grateful to anyone who shared our project link via social media and/or donated. Every contribution helps! Thank you!
Like us on Facebook!
Watch our page to learn about the great things taking place at Falcon Middle School.
Click above and follow FMS's new Facebook Page!
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Take a look at these videos from past years in the Falcon Zone to learn more about many of the processes we have talked about in the past weeks:
Empowering Learners
EmpowerFZ Celebration of Teachers and Students
The Learner Profile
Teams continue to work on the Student Learner Profiles. This is where students take a personality inventory related to the True Colors personality test. Students will determine whether they are Gold, Orange, Blue, or Green. All of us exhibit characteristics of all of these colors, but we each have a strong personality color that drives our actions and learning behaviors. Students are entering their True Color into the Learner Profile within PowerSchool. Once completed, we will share instructions with you on how to access this for your student. You can see characteristics related to your student's personality style along with information on how they best learn both inside and outside of the classroom. Mrs. Siemsen, our Choice and Success Advisor, is planning to work with students further on these to help them see what potential careers and pathways could be of interest to students. She will be using a program called YouScience to help students explore various skills sets and possible careers for their future.
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Military Minute
Any Questions? Ask Ms. V 719-639-3671
Military and Family Life Counseling at Falcon Middle School
Child and youth behavioral military and family life counselors are available to meet with military children and their families to discuss self-esteem issues, relationships at home and school, behavioral issues, and changes at home such as deployment, reunion, divorce and grief. Children and teens can learn how to put their military-life strengths to use in their everyday lives.
PLEASE FILL OUT THE PARENT CONSENT FORM BELOW.
RETURN FORMS TO THE FMS FRONT OFFICE.
Military Resource for Academics
What is Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families? Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families (Tutor.com/military), funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Coast Guard Mutual Assistance (CMGA), is a program that allows eligible students in grades kindergarten through college to connect to a live tutor online at any time (24/7/361) for one-to-one help with homework, studying, test prep and more, at no cost.
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Mark your Calendar
August
29: School Accountability Committee (SAC) Meeting in the FMS Learning Commons (5:30pm)
31: Falcon vs. Skyview Home Football Game under the lights! Wear RED and help us pack the stadium!
September
2: Professional Development Day - NO STUDENTS
5: Labor Day - No School
22: Picture Re-take Day
22: Pie with the Principal - Come chat, celebrate, and ask questions with our Admin Team!
30: End of 1st Quarter
Check the FMS website calendar often for the most up-to-date information.
All dates/events are subject to change.
FMS & BRES School Accountability Committee
Monday, Aug 29, 2022, 05:30 PM
Falcon Middle School, Towner Avenue, Peyton, CO, USA
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From Nurse Nelda
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Firebird Nation Campus Expansion
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PTSA (Parent, Teacher, Student Association)
Thank you to the parents and staff members that attended our last meeting! We have elected our new officers! Be watching for more information from them soon on some exciting things for FMS!
President - Alicia Froke
Secretary - Karen Hobson
Treasurer - Bobbi Lehman
We are looking for volunteers on Fridays to help with the PBIS store during lunches at the school. Use this link to sign up.
Looking for volunteers to help with concessions. Use these links to sign up:
More opportunities for concessions will be posted soon on Signup Genius.
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Looking for Firebird Gear?
Falcon Middle School
6th Grade Assistant Principal: Joy Kovanda
7th Grade Assistant Principal/Athletic Director: Elena Forehand
8th Grade Assistant Principal: Tim Scheck
6th Grade Counselor: Amber Villani
7th Grade Counselor: Lisa Murdock
8th Grade Counselor: Carrie Clay
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FMS Office Hours
7:15am-3:30pm
Email: fms@d49.org
Website: https://www.d49.org/fms
Location: 9755 Towner Avenue, Peyton, CO, USA
Phone: 719-495-5232
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FalconMiddleD49
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