Poplar Grove Post
October 2018
NOTE FROM THE PRINCIPAL:
Making Morning Drop Off Quicker
Now we have your attention, right! We have a couple of suggestions to help make your morning commute much smoother. If all of us do these two things it will make a tremendous impact on the overall flow of our morning drop off traffic. First, be sure your child is ready to get out of the car when you enter the drop off lane. This means, hair is done, backpack is in hand, hugs have been given, shoes are on, etc. This will prevent the rest of the line from being delayed. If these things aren’t done (because some mornings are like that) simply pull into the left lanes and take the time you need. Secondly, when exiting please turn RIGHT when you leave the parking lot. This will decrease the number of cars on the road that are trying to turn into the school. After turning right out of the parking lot, you can meet back up with Hwy 96 by turning left on Del Rio or taking Hillsboro Road to 96.
CLINIC NEWS FROM NURSE LIZ:
The arrival of cooler temperatures, changing colors of leaves on the trees signify the transition from summer to fall. The arrival of fall means that it is time to get your yearly flu vaccination. This year, “The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older get a flu vaccine, preferably by the end of October.” Once you receive your flu vaccination, it takes about 2 weeks for antibodies to develop in your body, that help fight the flu virus. Vaccination later is beneficial than not vaccinating at all and usually continues throughout the flu season. Vaccination is important for anyone who has chronic medical conditions, such as Diabetes, or Asthma, who are at higher risk for serious complications from the flu. 2017-2018 was a very active flu season nationwide, including our school district. The FSSD will be partnering with the WMC Public Health Department, offering Flu vaccinations to all students at PGS on Thursday, October 25. Look for further information regarding this in your child’s Tuesday folder soon.
Meningococcal disease is a rare but serious bacterial infection that can cause permanent disability or death. The bacteria responsible for causing meningococcal disease can cause meningitis, an infection of the lining of the brain or spinal cord and bloodstream infections. The CDC recommends vaccination with meningococcal conjugate vaccine for all 11-12 year olds, with a booster at 16 years. If your child has not received this vaccine, I encourage you to speak with your child’s healthcare provider about vaccine preventable meningococcal disease and consider immunization. For more information about this, visit the CDC web site at www.cdc.g
COUNSELOR'S CORNER:
To 7th and 8th Grade Parents:
During September and October, Poplar Grove Middle students in the 7th and 8th grade will be using the Kuder Navigator. The Kuder Navigator is an online career and educational planning system that helps direct middle and high school students toward making informed decisions about their career futures. Students will create a personal account that they can login into wherever they have internet access.
The Kuder Online Career Portfolio provides a gateway to lifelong career planning that allows individuals to store personal and academic information; search and save educational and occupational data; build resumes; and access assessment progress and results 24 hours a day from any Internet connection. To find more information about the Kuder Assessments go to www.planningyourdreams.org.
The Kuder Navigator system includes the following features:
-Education Planner – for planning coursework and tracking educational progress
-Planning Timeline – for guiding education and career planning with a suggested sequence of events
-Note Taker – for documenting the career development process
-Occupation Search and Career Comparison – for career exploration by cluster, title, or Holland Code
-College Major and Instructional Program Search – for learning more about a major as well as the postsecondary options within your state.
-College Search and Comparison – for researching approximately 7,000 postsecondary colleges, universities, education training centers, and other institutions.
-Financial Aid Information and Scholarship Search – for understanding your college financing options.
-Resume Builder – for creating and managing multiple resumes.
Students can access their results by going to www.planningyourdreams.org, clicking on “Returning Users”, and entering their username and password. The online system provides student assessment results immediately and gives parents additional opportunities for involvement in their child’s career goals. If you have any questions please contact Keith Welch (PGMS Counselor) at 615-472-3993.
GRADE LEVEL NEWS:
5TH GRADE NEWS:
6TH GRADE NEWS:
Students have been working hard in the sixth grade hallway solving ratio's, reading novels, making maps, conducting investigations, and much more! In Science, students participated in a thermal energy lab where they had to conduct an investigation to demonstrate how thermal energy moves through objects. Our sixth graders had to engineer an insulated cup to keep water hot as long as possible. Each group received 4 cups. They tested 3 different materials and kept one cup as a control. Students tracked data and graphed results. Then they repeated the investigation with a fan blowing on their cups and compared results.
7TH GRADE NEWS:
In 7th grade science, students have been investigating properties of matter (such as mass and density in the photo) and will be working towards the periodic table. Math classes are studying exponents and integers. Language arts classes have completed The Bully and are working on roots and affixes. Social Studies classes are delving into Africa and China through the Middle Ages in October!
8TH GRADE NEWS:
RELATED ARTS NEWS:
LIBRARY NEWS:
Our 5th Annual FSSD Battle of the Books is underway. The list has been posted (see below) and the date has been set (May 8th, 2019). This is a great opportunity for students to show off their reading skills and compete against other PGMS, FIS, or FMS students by working together with a team to answer questions about some great books. Let the READING begin!
Fuzzy Mud
Garvey's Choice
Ghost
Ghosts
Refugee
Restart
Secret Horses of Briar Hill
Soar
Strong Inside
LIBRARY DEDICATION BOOKS
Would you like to honor someone (teacher, student, loved one) by donating a book to the PGMS Library Media Center in his/her name? This is a great way to commemorate your graduating 8th grader’s years at PGS, or celebrate a teacher or child’s birthday, or remember a lost loved one. Your child can come to the library and choose from one of next year’s VSBA nominated-books. An honor plate will be placed in the front of the book so that PGMS students will remember your honoree for years to come! Click here for the form to fill out.
http://poplargrovemiddle.fssd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/01/BookDedicationForm.pdf
SPANISH NEWS:
Students hosted Franklin's Mayor Moore in Spanish class. We enjoyed our time together. During our time together, we spoke in Spanish and he talked to us all about the importance of learning a second language. This month we will have our second parent event on September 21st. Here is the electronic invite evite.me/V4KTKAwcej . I hope to see you there!
STEM NEWS
Let the games begin!! One of our 8th grade activities last month was the creation of Hydraulic Arm Bots. Eighth graders enjoyed the competition between their battle bots. These students learned about hydraulics as they created these hydraulic arm bots. Students operated the master syringes which in turn affected the slave syringes on their hydraulic arms. One syringe operated the lifting of the arm and the other operated its rotation. Each student demonstrated persistence and grit in the process of putting together their masterpiece!
EXTRACURRICULAR NEWS:
FALL FEST
Thursday October 11, 2018 from 11:30am-2:30pm
PGMS is doing Fall Fest differently this year. We will not be selling bands or tickets!
We are simply asking you to invest in your child’s education!
When is Fall Fest?
* Fall Fest kick-off begins on Monday September 24th!!! Packets went home in Tuesday folders on September 25th! Please see the packet for all the details.
* Spirit Days run Monday October 8th-Friday October 12th
* Last day to turn in Fall Fest Fundraising money will be Tuesday October 9th!!!!
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT
October has a lot of fun and exciting PBS news! We will have PRIDE Time on Friday, October 12th, which will also be another fun filled House Day. During PRIDE time we will be awarding students who have gone above and beyond to show KINDNESS to others. We have really enjoyed filling each other’s buckets during the month of September and are excited to celebrate our top students demonstrating kindness to others.
In addition to kindness, we are always working on our Poplar Grove PRIDE. We have done a great job this year demonstrating PRIDE! Overall our office referrals are down by 75% since last year at this time. Also, we are continuing to see a rise in positive Jupiter referrals, which means our staff, is doing a great job at recognizing exceptional behavior. Be sure to help your child show PRIDE in their homework by completing each and every assignment on time. It makes everyone feel better when they are caught up!
We are very excited to begin our electronic Positive Behavior system. After fall break, students will only be earning Positive Behavior Support tickets on PBIS Rewards. Tickets are now going to be called PBS points, but students are still able to spend them in all the usual places. They may be asking you to help them download the student app! The new grade level weekly incentive will be an ice cream treat – YUM!
We are having a year long House Competition to collect pull-tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. This competition encourages our students to understand the importance of service within their community and raises money and awareness for a great cause! Way to go Sapenta for taking an early lead!
TECHFIT NEWS:
Ms.Shuler and Ms.Lavery are teaching an 8th grade TECHFIT class. TECHFIT stands for Teaching Engineering Concepts to Harness Future Innovators and Technologists. Our class seeks to spark STEM interest in middle school children by demonstrating the impact information and technology have on our world and inspiring this next generation of innovators to design and implement technology-based fitness games to get people moving and having fun while simultaneously and positively improving their health.During our time together we work on learning all about wiring, safety, nanoline, scratch, and excel. https://techfit.tech.purdue.edu/ The final competition is December 10, 2018 at Purdue University.
Businesses Needed to Exhibit or Sponsor Career Quest 2018
Career Quest will be held Thursday, November 8, 2018. This comprehensive career day provides eighth-grade students in the Franklin Special School District, Williamson County Schools and public, private and home school students with valuable information about the many career opportunities available. The schools recognize there are specific workforce needs for Williamson County and Middle Tennessee and are taking an active role in introducing students to current and emerging career opportunities by offering more career education within the curriculum. Career Quest engages students in authentic learning about careers. For more information or to find out how to participate, please visit the Career Quest 2018 online
PULL TAB COLLECTION
The Ronald McDonald House is a place where families of sick children get to stay at little or no charge to them. Families are able to stay close to their child while receiving medical care. Families not only have a place to stay, they receive meals and playrooms for siblings.
The Ronald McDonald House receives donations in many different ways. One simple way is through the collection of pull tabs! Not only are you recycling, but you are raising money at the same time!PMGS is participating in the 14th Annual Pull Tab Challenge that benefits Ronald McDonald House Charities of Nashville. Last year, 84 schools participated, collecting 9,051,900 (6,963 lbs) of tabs. These were recycled at $.50 per pound, totaling $3, 481.50. We will begin collecting this week and continue through THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR! At different periods throughout the school year, updates will be given as to which house is leading based on the weight of the tabs brought in. The first update will be given on Monday, November 12th. The RMH challenge ends November 9th, but we will KEEP COLLECTING until May. In the lobby, there will be gallon containers under the House Point Board. When you have collected tabs, you can drop these into your house’s container. Where can you get the tabs? Soda cans, certain dog or cat food cans, soup cans……ANYTHING with a pull tab. As the containers get full, they will be emptied so the filling can begin again. At the end of the school year, the house that has collected the most pull tabs (in weight) will be the awarded 750 points. The REAL WINNER will be the Ronald McDonald House! If you have any questions, come see Ms. Womack!
PICTURE RETAKES: Thursday, October 4, 2018
POPLAR GROVE MIDDLE SCHOOL
Email: treadwaychr@fssd.org
Website: poplargrovemiddle.fssd.org
Location: 2959 Del Rio Pike, Franklin, TN, United States
Phone: 615-790-4721
Twitter: @FSSDpgms