Switzerland Point Middle School
Raider Rap -January 6, 2023
From Ms. Carnall
Greetings!
Welcome back! We hope you all had a wonderful and restful break!
It’s hard to believe second semester is already here! We have had a very successful first semester to the 2022-2023 school year. Some of our celebrations include, but are not limited to:
· Coming together to help provide Thanksgiving meals for families in our school district
· 149 students were inducted into NJHS
· Celebrating 160 students from September to December who displayed the assigned pillar of character
· Girls Volleyball winning Middle School District Championship for the second year in a row!
· Collecting gifts for the Wolfson’s Child Wishlist
· International Thespian Society earning high marks at the district competition and having 16 students qualify for the state competition.
· Celebrating students’ daily successes with the Raider Store and Raider Buck Ice Cream days
· Being able to hold the Neon Bash with 500 students in attendance
We are thankful and appreciative of your hard work and support as families in these successes. Please be sure to take a minute to thank your students’ counselors, teachers, and support staff for their assistance in our Raider successes as well.
Since this is the start of second semester we are already thinking ahead to the end of the year and our grade level reward trips. We have held our behavior expectation assemblies Friday to review school policies and expectations and the code of conduct. We will also be outlining what the expectations are for earning the chance to attend the reward trip at the end of the year. In order to attend the trip students must not earn any one of the following:
·Any level 3 or level 4 discipline referral
· Any level 1 or level 2 referral that results in ISS (This includes ISS given for excessive tardies)
· Any referral that results in OSS
· More than 4 demerits
During the 1st semester we provided the students opportunities for growth and learning by allowing the demerits to restart at the beginning of 2nd quarter, wiping away any demerits previously earned. For 2nd semester all demerits earned will be cumulative for BOTH quarter 3 and quarter 4. Once the reward trip is paid for, we will be unable to give refunds or transfer the reservation to another student’s name.
Please review these expectations with your student if you think that the trip is something they might be interested in working towards.
Switzerland Point Middle School Staff thanks you in advance for your assistance with this manner.
Please keep reading below for important testing information and other updates.
Sincerely,
Ms. Carnall
Reporting Absences and Early Checkout Reminders
Reporting Student Absences
This is just a reminder about the procedure for reporting your students who were absent. Please utilize the school website and click on attendance on the left-hand side. This will ensure that your notes are received daily and not lost in the system. We heard your requests and appreciated your suggestions on placing this on the school website. When navigating to SPMS Website, you will see it on the left side toolbar. Please refer to the school planner for guidelines on the policy and procedures for absences. Please submit within 48 hours of your child being absent.
Requesting Early Checkout Procedures:
Complete the form on our website to request early checkout. It is located on the bottom left (side bar) of the website. The form needs to be completed by 6 AM the day you are requesting early checkout. After the 6 AM cut off, please send your child in with a note to the front office like normal. Please do not request early checkout more than 2 days in advance.
UPCOMING DATES
- January 5: Students' First Day Back
- January 6: Grade level behavior assemblies and drills
- January 9: Start FAST Progress Monitoring 2 Testing
- January 16: No School
- January 18: Report Cards Post
- January 19: Basketball VS RMS
- January 24: Basketball VS FCMS
- January 26: Basketball VS SMS
- January 31: Character Counts! Chats and Drills (Wednesday Bell Schedule), Basketball VS LMS
- February 6: Regular school day (Hurricane make up)
SPMS Donation Link
Testing Update: FAST Progress Monitoring 2
Testing update: FAST Progress Monitoring 2
Progress monitoring 2 (PM2) dates and the modified bell schedule are available. We will ALL follow the modified bell schedule from Jan 9-19th. Please see the link below for the modified bell schedule for your child’s grade level.
Students will be told of their testing room location by their 1st period teacher. Testing begins promptly at 7:30. Please encourage your child to do their best, bring a pencil, and eat a healthy breakfast.
7th grade students in Advanced Math will take the 8th grade Math FAST assessment for both PM2 and PM3 since this aligns best with the standards taught in the 7th grade advanced course. 7th grade Advanced Math students will still test on the 7th grade Math day on January 17.
Students in Algebra or Geometry do not take the FAST Math assessment.
Test dates for PM2 are as follows:
6th grade FAST ELA Progress Monitor 2 (PM2): January 9th
7th grade FAST ELA Progress Monitor 2 (PM2): January 10th
8th grade FAST ELA Progress Monitor 2 (PM2): January 12th
6th grade FAST Math Progress Monitor 2 (PM2): January 13th
7th grade FAST Math Progress Monitor 2 (PM2): January 17th
8th grade FAST Math Progress Monitor 2 (PM2): January 19th
Character Counts!
Each month teachers are able to nominate students who display the pillar of character for the month. Those students are invited to have donuts with us at the end of the month and receive their certificates.
In the month of January we celebrate the pillar of Respect. We look for students who:
- Treat others with Respect; follow the Golden Rule
- Be tolerant and accepting of differences
- Use good manners, not bad language
- Be considerate of the feelings of others
- Don't threaten, hit or hurt anyone
- Deal peacefully with anger, insults and disagreements
December Character Counts Winners
6th Grade
Nicolas Burt
Luke Carson
Julianna Cesar
Brayden Farhat
Halston Flack
Brody Fox
Andrew Jacobs
Ella Jenkins
Ashlyn McCollum
Joseph Murphy
Shayne Murphy
Colten Roberts
Ryan Strohm
Dashiell Tatro
Maddox Watson
7th Grade
Natalie Adams
Lara Barther
Rivka DeRoy
Chandler Meeks
Arman Semwal
Francesca Tapley
8th Grade
Emily Chavez
Lylah Futch
Sara Grochmal
Zach Hughes
Halle Hyman
Josie Janson
Audrey Mote
Evan Pallai
Ella Picklesimer
Jessica Roberts
Rylee Sliger
Makayla Slusher
Kaylee Steedley
Rohit Yellapragada
Hayley Wheeler
Book Drive
PTSO is kicking off the new year with the annual book drive! This annual book drive benefits a title 1 school here in St. Johns County! These books will go HOME with the students of South Woods Elementary School for them to enjoy! The PTSO has done the drive for the past 4 years and has donated over 6,000 books so far! The top 3 homerooms from each grade with the most books donated will earn a PTSO sponsored reward! Stay tuned to find out more!
Winterguard UPDATE
The season kicks off January 21st with the FFCC Premier Competition at Deland High School! The team is excited!!
The SPMS Winterguard team invites you to come and see the team perform during the SP Winterguard sponsored Friends & Family Event!
If you are interested in finding out what winterguard is all about or interested in trying out for the 23-24 season, COME AND CHECK IT OUT!
There will be food trucks, baked goods and lots of amazing programs to see!
Upcoming Competitions/Events:
1/21/23 Premier Competition - Deland HS 1:47pm
1/25/23 Community Event - Valley Ridge Academy 6:00pm
2/1/23 SPMS Friends & Family Community Event - SPMS 6:00pm
2/11/23 Oakleaf Competition - Oakleaf HS
2/18/23 Flagler Palm Coast Competition - Flagler Palm Coast HS
3/11/23 Fleming Island Competition - Fleming Island HS
3/22/23 State Competition!
4/6/23 SPMS Night of Arts
Want more info??? Email Dawn Evans @ spmsguardteam@gmail.com
Special Message on the Marquee
SPMS National Junior Honor Society is sponsoring an opportunity to send a special birthday or congratulations message to your student via the marquee in the front of the school. Cost is $25. Complete the form here to submit your request (there's a separate link in the form to pay via Schoolpay upon submitting your request). Requests are due the Friday prior to the event and will display the following week (Tuesday through Monday). Example: if you turn in the request on Friday, September 17 then your message will be displayed on Tuesday, September 21.
SPMS PTSO UPDATES
PTSO Meeting Info:
- Next meeting: 1/23/2023 @ 10:00am @ SP in the MPR
Join your PTSO board as planning for the year continues! Please check in at the front desk and you will be directed to the meeting room. You will need to be a cleared SJCSD volunteer to be on campus.
Sunshine Cart
Thank you to all those who have donated! Check out the PTSO FB page for fun picture updates!
The PTSO has a Sunshine Cart that is taken around the school to bring special goodies to the hard-working staff!
Please consider donating a few items to help the PTSO bring lots of fun stuff to them!
Thank you for ALL of your support! 🌟The PTSO will reward those students whose family donates with Raider Bucks!🌟YOUR help is desperately needed to keep the Raider Store open! Volunteers are needed for upcoming dates, especially January 13, 2023! Please check out the volunteer link and sign up today!
🌟The PTSO will reward those students whose family donates with Raider Bucks!🌟
Check out the Raider Store wish list! Your donation is greatly appreciated!
Want to volunteer in the Raider Store? It is loads of fun! All of the store dates are on the sign up, be sure to scroll through!
JOIN PTSO
The SPMS PTSO is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance the learning and work experience of the students and staff at SPMS.
Our membership includes teachers, administrators, parents and students.
What do we do?
Student Initiatives:
- Neon Bash-Fall Dance for students
- Raider Store-Rewards for students who earn Raider Bucks for academic and behavioral performance
- Field studies sponsorships
- Character Counts! Rewards
- 8th grade Formal Dance and 8th Grade Awards Funding assistance
Staff Initiatives:
- Classroom grants-teacher members are eligible for up to $100 in a classroom grant to purchase items to enhance their classroom
- Staff luncheons and breakfast
- Teacher Appreciation
- Annual Donation to the school for technology and other needs
How do we pay for these initiatives?
- MEMBERSHIP-this is our biggest fundraiser. By simply joining PTSO, families help us reach our goals
- Spirit Wear-PTSO sells spirit wear each fall
- Fall/Spring Fundraisers-examples include Nothing Bundt Cakes and Poppin' Box
- Business Partners-our area business help SPMS through our Partners in Education program
- Corporate Donation Matches, Amazon Smile, Box Tops and private donations
How do you join?
- A family membership is $20 for the school year. The membership includes parents and any sibling at SPMS.
- Membership form can be found at https://switzerland-point-middle-school-ptso.square.site/
We have the best volunteers at Swiss. We are excited about a wonderful and busy year 2022-23 school year making a difference at Swiss.
If you are interested in finding out how you can help contact Dawn Evans at dawnevanswebpto@gmail.com
OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT PTSO
AmazonSmile - Shop through the PTSO link AmazonSmile! https://smile.amazon.com/ch/59-3741022
While you do your regular shopping on Amazon thru AmazonSmile, .5% of your purchase will be donated to SPMS.
SPMS has earned $ 92.15 so far this year.
Box Tops – Download the Box Tops app and scan your receipts for SMPS PTSO to get Box Top credits.
Keep an eye on the PTSO website, Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on what is coming up throughout the year!
Questions/concerns?? spmsptso@hotmail.com
For up to date happenings LIKE us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/SwissPointPTSO/
SPMS PTSO is on INSTAGRAM! Follow us at https://www.instagram.com/spmsptso/
Check the PTSO website for all the latest news! http://www.swisspointptso.com/