CHMS Parent Newsletter
October 16, 2020
Principal's Corner
Dear Students, Faculty, and Parents.
Happy Monday! I hope everyone had an amazing weekend. The first nine weeks of school have come and gone, and I must say, we are off to a good start. The students have settled in nicely with our Virtual Learning and we are excited about all the possibilities the remainder of the school year brings.
The month of October is a busy month for the Chapel Hill Middle School Community. We will have a Principal Advisory Council Meeting this Thursday, October 22, 2020. Members of the PAC will receive the Zoom meeting link for this session by COB on Wednesday. We will welcome the new members of the PAC, outline the meeting dates for the year, and review the Potential F2F Re-entry Plan for CHMS.
We will conduct our second Tech Café this Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 6PM. Our phenomenal teacher’s will be leading this session. We will be providing our parents with step by step instructions on using the instructional tools, such as: Teams, Google Classroom, Verge, and Zoom. Our goal is to provide our parents with the necessary tools to support your scholars during Virtual Learning. Our dynamic staff and faculty are working hard to ensure your scholar’s educational experience is amazing and rewarding.
Please join us on Wednesday for our SEL Wednesday’s at 10:30 AM. Please click on the Zoom link on our School’s Website to enter this conversation. Please look out for more information from our PBIS Team on monthly celebrations. During these sessions, we celebrate students, faculty, and staff for academic performance, improvement in behavior, and attendance improvements. We know that it is very important to celebrate our students for the great things that they are doing monthly.
Remember, it is imperative that your student is engaged in Virtual Learning daily to ensure they can receive quality instruction to support their academic growth. When students are not engaged or late to the virtual class setting, important instructional is lost. We want to maximize every instructional minute we have with our scholars each day and each week.
A student’s educational experience is influenced by the relationship between school, parent, and teacher. Please remember to keep in contact with your student teacher’s weekly through emails, Infinite Camus, or by scheduling a conference. Please allow teachers 24 to 48 hours to respond to your emails. Many of our teachers are homeschooling their own children and we want to ensure that we are being respectful of their time. If you are not receiving adequate two-way communication from the school, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly.
Students are currently completing our fall academic assessment entitled Measure of Academic Performance Test (MAP) also known as NWEA. Teachers use the data from the NWEA assessment to develop learning goals and objectives to help each student meet their academic goals. It is very important that you communicate to your scholar to take his/her time on this test. The administration of the NWEA MAP can be used in so many ways and we want to ensure that we have an accurate academic data point.
Upon completion of the NWEA MAP assessment, we will need to dig deeper and make the necessary improvements in our instructional practice (teachers) and our learning (students) to improve our academic outcomes. Our goal is to provide the best teaching and learning to our students each day. We need everyone, (Students, Faculty and Staff) present and healthy each day to accomplish this goal.
Again, thank you parents, students, and staff for working together to make Chapel Hill Middle School the premier middle school in DeKalb County School District.
Educational Yours,
Mr. Michael Alexander
Please see Zoom link below for CHMS Morning Announcements.
Morning Announcements Zoom Link:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87024253933?pwd=bnJ0bitBSUdEM3RSV1dIVHo4b2FNZz09
Meeting ID: 870 2425 3933
Passcode: Hr2bJi
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,87024253933#,,,,,,0#,,192929# US (New York)
+13017158592,,87024253933#,,,,,,0#,,192929# US (Germantown)
Dial by your location
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
Meeting ID: 870 2425 3933
Passcode: 192929
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc942I7t8F
Students should use the Virtual Learning Support site for support at:
https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/virtual-learning-support-ticket/
Hello Parents,
Parents your students can set up a date and time to "SEE" the counselor, when necessary. The link is provided on the document.
Parents, if you requesting a schedule change or make a correction for your child please fill out the form provided. Note, connections classes are limited.
Additional Information
Our 8th Graders will be participating in Project PAC with Morehouse College. Please see flyer below along with Parent Presentation and Parent Consent Form for Morehouse College.
Also, please see CHMS Virtual Schedule, CHMS Learning Bell Schedule, CHMS FAQS, Fall Support Newsletter, Principal's Coffee, Reading Bowl Information/ Virtual Media Center, Anime Club, PTSA, District-Wide Virtual Cafe, Atlanta Community Food Bank Meal Distribution information, School Picture, and FBLA information.
School Pictures
We know that many of our families are wondering about picture day and how that will work this school year. We will keep you all informed of plans and dates when we have them finalized. For the time being, please know that we are aware of the importance of school pictures and are working to make sure that they happen in the safest and most effective way possible.