Dear VCMS Families,

Welcome Fall! And welcome to term 2. By this point, your children have begun their second quarter connection classes and are well underway in their core academic classes. Clubs are in full swing and we are getting ready to start Basketball season. Football, Cheerleading and Cross Country are behind us with lessons learned and memories made. Band and Chorus have held their Fall performances showcasing the musical abilities of our students.

Most communication regarding grades and assessments can be found in Parent Portal. Information about assignments and upcoming assessments or what students covered in class day-to-day can be found in ItsLearning. ItsLearning is also a great communication tool between your child and their teacher. As a reminder, academic courses in middle school have continuous grades throughout each semester. This means that if a student is not doing well during the first quarter, they still have time to make improvements before the end of the 2nd quarter (or the end of the 1st semester in December). It takes a village to provide the needed supports for students during this time period. Your continued partnership with the school is vital to your child’s development as they learn the life skills to wrestle with challenging assignments and growing into adults.

We are lucky to have such a supportive PTO! Thanks to their dedication, our Fall Festival was a huge hit. Be sure to look at the pictures in this newsletter. At the beginning of November, students who have demonstrated consistently the 4R’s (Responsible, Respectful, Ready to Succeed, and Reflective), will be awarded by having the opportunity to attend our 1st quarter FangFest. This will be time for those students who have not received any minor or major office referrals to be recognized. Any students who are not able to attend will have a normal PowerTime. Each quarter this resets so if your child did receive a pink slip or behavior infraction, they can try again for 2nd quarter!

We are also busy preparing for our annual International Food Fest on December 9th. Students are working hard creating their “booth” and preparing for this night of celebration. We hope to see you there! Doors open to the public at 5:30. More information can be found in this newsletter.

Mr. Feldkamp also would like to remind our community that he will be more than happy to attend Homeowner Association meetings for subdivisions who reside in the Vickery Creek Middle School district. During these visits, he will share information about Vickery Creek Middle School and provide insight to middle school life. If you are an HOA board member and would like to have him attend one of your monthly, semi-annual, or annual HOA meeting, please click on the link below.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vXIWsOu78WpXbLRmgpTM221x3TrGLQnQXuqbdeYarjU/edit

As one of the assistant principal’s at Vickery Creek Middle school, it is my honor and privilege to serve our community. If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please contact me anytime. I look forward to seeing you this month as we continue to celebrate the holiday season!

With warm regards,

Elizabeth Ihle

Assistant Principal, VCMS

VCMS students dressed for success on their recent visit to Lanier Tech for the 2022 Career Exploration and Pathway Discovery field trip. Students were able to meet with representatives from all Forsyth County high schools to discuss career pathways and talk to several employers about job opportunities.

Attention 6th and 8th grade parents,

Scoliosis screenings will be completed on Tuesday November 8th.

ALL students will be screened unless a parent has completed the refusal form. Refusal forms can be found in parent portal. You can also read more about the screenings and find a printable copy of the refusal form at the website below. All refusals must be on file by Friday November 4. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. Thank you, Nurse Jackson https://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/Page/55257

The Viper Football, Football Cheer, and Cross-Country teams wrapped up their seasons in October. All three teams had fantastic seasons and represented VCMS with pride! GO VIPERS!

Our VCMS XC runners ended their season with 30 runners going to the Middle School Championship XC Meet in Bleckley County. We had 7 varsity boys and 7 varsity girls and a mixed race of 15 JV boys and girls representing Vickery Creek. This is one of the toughest races all year. We look forward to another great season in 2023.

The VCMS E-sports is up and and running for the fall season and have a lot of wins already under our belts with it's Rocket League and Brawlhalla teams. I'd like to congratulate all of our team members: Zak P., Nicholas S., Cameron M., Elijah L., Sawyer M., John C., Ben M., Ritvik S. and Johan K. I'd also like to thank Mrs. Tina Propes and her son Nick for all they do to make the practices and competitions easier for our team. We look forward to the rest of the season that will last through November. Our practices are after school on Mondays and our competitions are after school on Thursdays in the Savage Lab.

VCMS is hosting its first ever Fangfest to celebrate our fang-tastic students! Look forward to some fun and games on Nov. 2nd. Students may attend if they have not received any major or minor referrals (pink slips) during Q1—but fear not! Eligibility starts over with each quarter. So keep up the amazing work with the 4 R's, Vipers!

The International Food Fest (IFF) is an event sponsored by Clubhouse each year and will be held this year on December 9th - 5:30-7:30. This event celebrates different cultures all over the world. The IFF consists of students creating booths with information about the country (typically a tri-fold board) as well as bringing sample food to share with the community. The IFF also features a performance to showcase various cultural aspects including music, dance, and other displays of cultural pride.

It's Book Fair time! Join us for a week of reading and fun. Grab a new book just in time for Thanksgiving break, or get a head start on your holiday shopping. Visit the link to our our Book Fair below. There you can set up your eWallet for cashless payment, browse the Scholastic Fair catalog, view book preview videos, and shop online.

Shop in person 11/11, 11/14-11/18.

Shop online 11/9-11/22

https://www.scholastic.com/bf/vickerycreekmiddleschool1

Back by popular demand, we will also have our Blow Pop Prize Board fundraiser for students to enjoy during the fair. All funds raised during the fair will go directly back into our VCMS media center.

THANK YOU to all who support the Book Fair and our media center through book purchases, prize donations, and volunteering your time! We could not make this the success it is without you.

Here at VCMS, reading is a cornerstone of our world. We believe that reading for pleasure is a clear way to continue learning for both students and adults. Each month, we love to share the books staff members are reading.

Back by popular demand VCMS students and teachers participated in a pumpkin decorating contest. This year we held two separate competitions, one for teachers and one for students. Pumpkins were decorated by Powertime classes. The entries were amazing as you can see. Eight judges rated each pumpkin on a scale of 1 to 5. The winning Teacher was Coach Ryan Miller with his BB8 pumpkin. Mrs. Link was a very close runner-up with her Dino-egg entry. There was a tie for the student created pumpkins between Mrs. Alabaster’s 8th grade class with “Gumball Machine” and Ms. Patton’s 7th grade class with “Let’s Go to the Movies.” Each Powertime class will receive a donut party on Tuesday November 1st. Coach Miller will receive a gift card. Thank you to the 20 teachers and over 100 students who participated!

The VCMS Chorus presented their Fall Concert on October 13th. They performed to a packed house of almost 1,000 audience members including proud parents, supportive teachers, and adoring community members. Mark your calendar for our winter concert that will be on Thursday, December 8th at 7:00pm at Cumming First United Methodist Church.

PTO wrapped up our fundraiser with our Day of Awesomeness! Students had a great time and we profited $18,000 for our school! The Annual Fall Festival was success! We had a great turnout- thanks to your PTO donations we were able to host this fun free event for our families!