Gov. TJMS Newsletter
April 2022
Our Mission
At GTJMS, we strive everyday to create an inclusive environment that celebrates diversity, academic achievement, and well-being. Our mission is to empower students for success today and persevere through tomorrow’s 21st century challenges.
Our Vision
Governor Thomas Johnson Middle School is a diverse community of students, educators, support staff, parents and local organizations working collaboratively to provide an academically rigorous education, which includes the technology skills necessary for the 21st century. By holding students, educators and parents accountable for success, we are creating lifelong learners who take responsibility for their own educational goals and positive personal development. Excellence in teaching and learning is paramount to developing productive citizens who have promising and successful lives.
Upcoming Important Dates
School Improvement Plan Spotlight
This section is dedicated to GTJMS School Improvement Plan (SIP)! Last month we went over a detailed update of where we are at with Math and ELA goals. This month we will detail some more information.
This month, we will review our updated goals for Chronic Absenteeism and Social Emotional Learning.
Review of Goals
Goal 1 Chronic Absenteeism: GTJMS is committed to decreasing our chronic absenteeism by 3 percentage points during the school year.
Goal 2 Social Emotional Learning: Due to the previous virtual year, students struggled to make connections with adults at school. During this school year, we are focused on increasing how students feel about talking to adults on a survey scale by 23 percentage points.
Current:
Goal 1: Currently, we are 2.3 percentage points below our goal. GTJMS understands that current protocols for the school year may be impacting this goal.
Goal 2: Currently, we are continuing to increase social emotional lessons and positive interactions with staff through schoolwide lessons and events.
Cultural Heritage Information
April is here! April is dedicated to two celebrations for the month.
Check out this link to learn something each day! April Calendar
April is:
Autism Awareness Month
Arab-American Awareness Month
Students in Mrs. Galla's Creative Arts classes learning about different dances in various cultures.
**FREE KONA ICE FOR 8TH GRADERS**
Contacts
If you have questions about the PTSA, please feel free to reach out to one of our board members:
Caitlyn Reed- President
Jenny Lazarus- Treasurer
Susan Myers- Secretary
TJMS Counseling Department
- Sarah Gunter- 6th grade/ sarah.gunter@fcps.org 240-236-4851
- Laura Rudy- 7th grade/ laura.rudy@fcps.org 240-236-4852
- Brian Dwyer-8th grade/brian.dwyer@fcps.org 240-236-4884
- Sara Rogers-Behavior Support Specialist/ sara.rogers@fcps.org
School Culture
Testing Information from our School's Testing Coordinator: Mr. Hoover-Beet
6th grade chromebooks were collected. 7th and 8th grade students need to bring their FCPS issued Chromebook and chargers for testing all days next week.
7th & 8th grade are testing in the morning. 6th grade in the afternoon.
Students in Mr. Parker's class using film strips to create beautiful pieces of artwork
Mrs. Osif-Bleam took over for Mrs. Hoffman who just went out on maternity leave. She will be with us until the end of the year.
Math: 6th grade math students are starting Unit 6. We will be learning about ratios and equivalent ratios. We will be graphing ratios, and we will be solving problems with equivalent ratios.
Science: 6th grade students in Mrs Tapley’s classes are working through the Our Extreme Planet module. Students have learned the basics of weather - air pressure, water cycle, and winds. Now, they’ll be able to apply those basic principles to real world weather as they learn about hurricanes and tornadoes. Each day they have been charting the weather for an assigned city in the US. This allows them to notice weather patterns as well as overall climate patterns and see how weather moves across the US. A storm affecting California today…might affect us this weekend!
Social Studies: As we continue to soar through history, 6th grade is finishing with learning about ancient Greece and will be starting ancient Rome. As we continue to work through our units we are constantly trying to grow our writing skills for our argumentative writing. To help your student you could remind them to complete their assignments by the due dates so they are not falling behind as well as asking them questions that help them to use their argumentative writing skills.
Food Science: 6th graders are currently working on Financial Literacy, working through their Everfi Vault lessons. Stay tuned for more information for their final projects and what’s cooking!
Lab 21: 6th Graders are currently working their Digital Literacy unit, working through their Everfi Ignition lessons. Their final project is an unplugged hands-on infographic, which uses recyclables and junk mail as their medium to display a message about the importance of being a digitally literate student in the 21st century.
Tech Expo: By now, you should have seen your student’s latest wood project - the Nickel Hockey game. Tech Expo students put a great deal of work into this project and should be very proud of what they did. We have spent this week reinforcing the 8-Step Design process, introducing how to use spreadsheets in the planning process
Students in Mr. Ridenour's classes working on experiments.
Language Arts: Seventh grade Language Arts students are finishing up the Identity cycle. We have been reading texts around the topics of culture and identity. Students have analyzed several pieces of text as we are working to compare and contrast how points of view help to reveal the theme of a piece of text. Students have also had a chance to create some original products around the cycle themes.
Math-Students are working through Unit 6 and solving equations and inequalities. We are also practicing writing equations and inequalities as well.
7ACC- Students are have learned to identify relations that are functions as well as how to graph functions using function tables and equations.
Science: 7th graders are wrapping up their Chemistry and Matter module. Students will be learning about conservation of mass and understanding thermal design. During the conservation of mass topic, students will learn about how mass does not change after a chemical reaction. The substance may change, but the mass does not. During the thermal design topic, students will learn about the difference between endothermic and exothermic reactions.
After Spring break, we will move into our last module for the year, Human Impact on Earth.
Social Studies: 7th grade history is working through their unit on Medieval Europe and will be working through Renaissance, Reformation and enlightenment. As we continue to work through our units we are also trying to strengthen our writing for argumentative writing that has us writing a thesis, finding evidence such as quotations that support our arguments. We need to make sure students remember to have their assignments turned in by due dates so they are not falling behind and getting confused as we work through the assignments.
Creative Arts: Students are exploring the world of Graphic Design using Adobe Creative Cloud Express to design their own Meaningful Quote Posters.
Invention and Innovation: All I&I students had a tremendous time making their race cars over the past couple of weeks. Congrats to all! We have now moved into our TinkerCAD and 3D printing unit. This consists of 80 points in total and approximately half of these points are student choice of which projects they want to demonstrate their skills.
Life Skills: 7th Graders are doing Service Learning. This unit is all about what Service Learning is and how we can give back to our community. Our final project will be creating our own learning projects that fill a need in our community or school.
Mrs. Galla's students working on the new building mural.
Math: 8th Grade Common C0re: students are working in Unit 5 right now. We have graphed systems of equations and are moving on to using substitution and elimination methods to solve these systems.
Algebra: Students just finished up Unit 5: Quadratics. We will be moving onto Unit 6 Solving Systems of Equations and Inequalities.
Science: 8th graders are finishing up their unit on inheritance by doing projects on genetic technologies. After Spring Break, we will be revisiting Newton’s Laws and motion by designing and building paper roller coasters.
Social Studies: Students are currently learning about the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction. This unit examines effects of the war on individuals, society, and politics, causes of Union victory, as well as the brilliant successes and enduring failures of the Reconstruction period. Students will take the state MCAP social studies exam in May. Their score on this test will not be weighted in their report card grade for American Studies I. Following our study of the Civil War, students will complete their final unit about 19th century industrialization. This unit will serve as a bridge to the American Studies II course that most students will take as freshmen in high school.
Foreign Language
Spanish 1: Students are working with Unit 6.1 - Sports
Spanish 2: Students are working with Unit 6.1 - Filming a movie
WLEX: Students have begun working with Spanish. They are looking at cognates and a conversation.English Language
Expressions Program
Expressions students working on their art projects with their Peer Power Buddies
Reminder: April 15th to the 22nd is spring break! We will return on Monday, April 25th.
April 11th-14th: Reading: Finding Peace
Math: Spring themed math
Science
Earth Science-layers of the earth and what they mean-what we use
April 25th-
Reading: Spring themed story
Math: Problem Solving
Science: Life cycles
SCIENCE TESTING FOR THE 8TH GRADERS
PE & Health
All students in PE have been working on track and field events the past two weeks in preparation for the…
2022 Hugh B. Nolan Memorial Middle School Track & Field Meet
The 43rd Annual
Frederick High School
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
(Rain Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2022)
Interested students should see a PE teacher for permission slip/information packet!
Health & Wellness Tip
Stress Awareness Month has been recognized every April since 1992. Learning to cope with our stress and finding healthy ways to deal with these situations can go a long way in living a healthy and positive life. After all, stress can impact many aspects of your body. Try exercise, time outdoors, drawing, or music to relieve stress!
Life Skills
8th Grade Life Skills - This past week, students got some kitchen time learning to make sunny side up and over-easy eggs. This week they are researching Nutrition and the importance it has on our bodies. This information is leading to a 2 to 3 week Food Truck Challenge where students work in a group to create a design, plan two nutritious menu items and budget for sales that could be used in the real world. Each group will get the opportunity to make one of their items for students to taste and rate using a food critic survey.
8th Graders are doing Service Learning. This unit is all about what Service Learning is and how we can give back to our community. Our final project will be creating our own learning projects that fill a need in our community or school.
Visual Arts
6th Grade- Students will create still life paintings of candy.
7th and 8th Grade - Students will create non-traditional self portraits showing the two sides of their existence.
Galla 8th Grade- 2nd period students are creating Pop Art projects using color theory and images from popular culture. 5th period is working on reverse shading of reptile eyes.Music/Choir
TJMS SPRING CONCERTs
Orchestra/Chorus - May 24th, 6:30pm
Band - May 25th, 6:30pm
Band - Students are working on music for their spring concert. We are also working on learning scales in new key signatures. 8th grade students are also learning how to identify all 15 Major key signatures.
Orchestra - Students are working on music for the spring concert. We are also learning how to color code our finger patterns and testing to make sure we are playing our notes in tune.
Chorus - Students are working on music for the spring concert. Students are also taking turns leading our daily warm-ups. We are also practicing evaluating music through a daily listening bracket.
Music Performance Lab - Students are now learning guitar! We are working on tuning the guitars as well as learning how to read and play TAB.
Theatre Arts
6th and 7th Grade - Students presented the plays they have been working on for a few staff members and did an amazing job!! They are excited for the next one coming before the end of the year. Currently, they are working on writing monologues for characters they previously created.
8th Grade - Students have been working on a play but due to the amount of time they are putting in, they are currently taking a short break with MCAP testing coming up. They are creating 2 to 3 minute skits and presenting to fellow students. Each skit is given two days to write, prep and plan. Afterwards, they change partners and pick a new topic. After Spring Break, students will be returning to work on the play with the hope of getting some stage time in before the end of the school year.
Pre-Engineering
8th grade students finished a transportation challenge designing and making gravity powered boats. Students tested their prototypes in steam tables and calculated the speed of their gravity powered boats.
CSI
7th grade students are continuing coding using javascript to control their sprites using their keyboard and mouse. Be on the lookout for a text messaged digital card from your child, you should receive before spring break. Students ultimate goal is to create a working video game by the end of our unit exploration.
Mrs. Lucas-Literacy Specialist
MCAP: All students will be taking the ELA/Literacy MCAP assessment on April 11-14. Please encourage your child to attend each day, get a good night sleep, and eat breakfast during that week. 7th and 8th graders will need to bring their charged chromebooks each day for testing. 6th graders will be provided with a chromebook for testing each day. All students should bring headphones/earbuds for testing.
Click here to access the practice MCAP assessment.
Performance Series: During the week of May 2nd, all students will be taking the final ELA Performance Series assessment of the 2021-2022 school year. We are excited to see all of the growth our students have made this year!
Mrs. Gemmill- Math Specialist
Mrs. Cole-Advanced Academics
SUMMER ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITY!
William & Mary’s Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) is an academically challenging program with an emphasis on inquiry-based learning for students. The program is not meant to replace the regular school curriculum; rather, it recognizes the importance of allowing able children to explore additional specialized areas of science, mathematics, humanities, and the arts. Click for More Information.
Summer 2022 SEP registration is now open for high ability students in grades 2-12. William & Mary’s Center for Gifted Education is excited to offer 2 weeks of virtual opportunities with courses available in the morning and afternoon each week. We have virtual courses available in the areas of robotics, civics, STEM, coding, writing, social science, and many more. Please see the Summer 2022 brochure for more information. *Note that there is a cost associated with this opportunity.
Student Service Learning
TJMS Book Recommendations
Ongoing Announcements
Arrival & Dismissal Procedures Reminder
Dismissal: All students must be picked up at the curb in the car rider line. Students are not to be in the parking lot. Do not pick up on Schifferstadt. It is not safe to have students cross Schifferstadt and it causes a back up on the road.
If you need to pick up your child from school early, or be one of the first ones out of the lot, please arrive prior to 2:45 to get a curb side space or one of the first backing in spaces.
There have been numerous close calls lately where students have jumped out of moving cars and almost got hurt. Safety is very important at TJMS. We need full cooperation to make this work.
Dismissal Line is clear between 3:20 & 3:25 (8-13 mins after student dismissal bell)
Attendance
Possible Attendance Scenarios since One Call is now active:
Scenario 1: If you know your child will be absent
- Send email to TJMS.attendance@fcps.org
Scenario 2: If your child will be leaving early for the day
- Send them in with a note to the front office to pick up a pass or
- Send email to TJMS.attendance@fcps.org
Scenario 3: If your child is absent and you receive a One Call voice message stating your child is absent from school
- Send email to TJMS.attendance@fcps.org
Scenario 4: If you receive a phone call from One Call stating your child is not in school, and you believe they are at school. please call 240-236-4900
If you are going to pick up your child from school early, please send in a note with them. Ask them to come to the front office to turn that note in. By doing this, this helps your wait time for pick up.
Buses
News From Our School Health Room
Frederick County Health Department / Frederick County Public Schools
If you have any health related concerns or questions, please reach out.
Reliable Resources
Frederick County Health Department
Maryland Department of Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Governor's COVID-19 Pandemic: Orders and Guidance