8-3 Newsletter
March 21-25 2016
What's New?
This last week before spring break can be a challenging time for students to maintain focus and good behavior. Please help them remember to stay on track!
Spirit Week – March 21-25
Cost is $1.00 per day and must be paid in the cafeteria each morning to get a sticker to participate.
Monday – Super Hero Day
Tuesday – Favorite Sports Day
Wednesday – Pirate Day
Thursday – Alien/Martian Day
Friday – Red Out Day
Please help SMMS better serve you!
In the spring of each year, all Camden County Schools send out the Title I Parent Survey. ALL students in Camden County schools are Title I students. Each school uses this survey to adjust what services are offered to parents, how information is distributed, and many other things. The more parents who fill out the survey, the better information we get.
Please take just a few minutes to fill out the FY16 Title I Parent Survey at the link below for St. Marys Middle School. Answers are anonymous unless you want to provide your contact information. Next week, a paper version will be coming home with your child. Please only fill out one version of the survey.
Here is what is happening in our classes!
Dr. Bridwell- Physical Science
I will be out Monday and Tuesday so students will have independent learning activities on Electromagnetism. On Wednesday, we will review all aspects of Magnetism, Electricity, and Electromagnetism. They will have their last Mastery Assessment over S8P5 on Thursday. Friday we will bounce off the wall because it is the last day before Spring Break (just kidding!). We will have an enrichment activity to support what we have learned in this unit.
The grades in science will be weighted differently this quarter. Each standard will be reviewed before testing and so each standard (S8P1-4) will have a 5% weight. S8P5 will be weighted at 35% since this has been our first unit of study in this quarter. The mastery assessment will have the usual 15% weight. The last category will be projects and labs. That 30% will be covered through a special unit after testing. Many of the concepts in physical science will be reflected in that unit.
Mrs. McKinney- Math
Mrs. McKinney was out on Friday and unable to send an update.
Dr. Siekkinen- Georgia Studies
We will complete Ch. 26 this week with a test on Tuesday. Additionally, we will do some review and take the Mastery Assessment Thursday. We are very close to covering all new material and will go into total “review” mode after Spring Break.
Mrs. Richardson- Language Arts
This quarter we will not be having a mastery assessment. Because of this, the grade weights will be as follows:
40% Writing
40% Reading
20% Grammar/vocabulary
Blocks 2,4 and 5 will be reading a short story and pulling out various literary elements to review skills. We will be reviewing all of the grammar standards learned this year, and reading short passages with multiple choice questions and short answer responses to prepare them for the upcoming Georgia Milestones test. The Monday that they come back from spring break students will be given a “pretest” writing prompt. This will be used to help students understand the time that they will be given to complete the writing task for the test as well as a tool for us to look at and see what skills they still need to improve. They were given a new suffix packet on Thursday, and the quiz on these words will be on March 24th. If students have not turned in their To Kill a Mockingbird book, please have them do so this week. When we get back from spring break students will be given the novel “October Sky” to read. I will give them a reading assignment sheet just like they had with To Kill a Mockingbird.
Block 3 will be reviewing all of the grammar standards learned this year, and reading short passages with multiple choice questions and short answer responses to prepare them for the upcoming Georgia Milestones test. The Monday that they come back from spring break students will be given a “pretest” writing prompt. This will be used to help students understand the time that they will be given to complete the writing task for the test as well as a tool for us to look at and see what skills they still need to improve. They were given a new suffix page on Thursday, and the quiz on these words will be on March 24th.
We are here if you need us!
Best way to contact us is by email!
For conference requests, please contact the main office.
Email: contact@camden.k12.ga.us
Website: http://smms.camden.k12.ga.us/
Location: St. Marys Middle School, Martha Drive, Saint Marys, GA, United States
Phone: (912) 882-8626