SHARK MAIL
Saturday, October 17th 2020
Saturday Message:
Happy Saturday, Sharks!
What a week! A huge thank you to everyone for pushing through the first MAP test of the year. Math MAP tests were administered on Wednesday and Thursday at all grade levels. A reminder to students that next Wednesday is the Language Arts MAP test as well. There will be no asynchronous work that day to help give students the screen time needed to accomplish the test. All 8th-grade students will take the test on Wednesday, regardless if they are enrolled in English this semester or next. The MAP data will be useful once they start English in January. 8th-grade students who have English second semester have been in contact with the Language Arts department in terms of testing details.
We have also had our first round of Teacher Conferences this week. It was great to see so many folks took advantage of the Zoom conferences. We have our second round on Thursday of next week. Wednesday night, we had our October PTO meeting. A huge thank you to those who continue to help make Sutherland such a terrific place.
One final note: next Friday is our first virtual ICA. Students will sign up next week for their activities. ICA is purely optional as it falls on a Friday, but we really do encourage kids to select an activity. The number one concern our students listed on their survey was that they missed their friends. This is a great chance to see some old and new faces and connect with others here at Sutherland through the Zoom activities.
That's all for now. Have a great rest of your weekend!
Grade Level Newsletters
Schoology Help
Here are two videos that should help families better understand how Schoology works.
1. This first video is a tour of what features Schoology offers. It is a great introduction to Schoology features and should help you navigate the different classes.
2. Ms. Percival has made an additional quick video for how both students and families can access work reports on Schoology. This is an excellent way to learn more about checking to see your student's grades, what work has not been turned in, and what work has been turned, but has not yet been graded. This is a great way to learn more about keeping up with student work.
News from SMS:
ICA Activity Information: We are having our first ICA Virtual Activity Period next Friday, Oct 23rd from 12-1 pm. Students will sign up for one activity next week during their homeroom. Students can look at a few examples below and have a couple of choices in mind for sign-ups next week (In case their favorite fills up).
Some of the choices are Kahoot baseball, yoga, weight lifting, book club, no-sew bag making, spooky stories, songwriting, Kahoot trivia, origami, mindfulness meditation, writing workshop, drawing like Disney animator, Zentangle art, Quizizz video game trivia, pet meet and greet and maybe a few more. Students will see more detail about the activities when they sign up. Sign up is optional.We now have an Attendance e-mail you can use instead of calling the school when your child is sick for the day on when you are going on vacation. The e-mail address is: SMSAttendance@k12albemarle.org
Flu Shots: There will be a free flu shot drive-thru clinic at Jack Jouett Middle School on October 20th from 5:00 - 7:00 PM. Details can be found here.
Holiday Help: Although we are just starting to decorate for Halloween, we also start turning towards those in need for the holiday seasons soon approaching. If your family may need support for either Thanksgiving or the Winter holidays, please make sure you contact your child's counselor in October. If you are a family interested in helping our fellow Shark families in need, please also reach out to your child's counselor for ways to help. Thank you!
Cloud Computing Form: In addition to the resources already provided by ACPS, our teachers have selected more tools to further enhance learning throughout the school year. Some of these tools require parent/guardian permission for students to create accounts.
Each of the tools listed below has been thoroughly reviewed by the Department of Technology to ensure student safety, age appropriateness, and data privacy. For a detailed look at the criteria they use to review the technology resources and to learn more about the Children’s Online Protection Act (COPPA), please visit this informational guide bit.ly/ACPStechReview. Click here to complete the form.
Extracurricular Activities
I am Diana McCullough, the Talent Development Resource Teacher here at Sutherland, and wanted to let you know about four opportunities that will be starting soon. I will be advertising these to your children via morning announcements, but as they are extracurricular activities, I wanted you to know about them ahead of time. All activities will be virtual.
The first for sixth and eighth graders only is the Writer’s Eye Contest, which will take place on Friday, October 23rd, from 2:15 to 3:15 PM. (Note that seventh grade ELA teachers plan on having all their students attend at another time.) Every year the UVA Fralin Art Museum hosts the Writer’s Eye Contest where students write a story or poem based on an inspiring work of art of their choice. This year we will be taking a virtual tour of the museum where students will learn about the art pieces selected for the competition and complete their entries before the submission deadline in November. Winning entries will be published in the yearly Writer’s Eye anthology. As we have a limited number of available spots at this time, I am only taking requests directly from students. If your child loves creative writing, please encourage them to email me at dmccullough@k12albemarle.org.
Next is the Piedmont Regional Science Fair (PRSF) which Sutherland attends annually. Middle school students from central Virginia compete in any number of categories from psychology to botany to engineering. Projects can involve either the scientific or engineering process. If your child has a passion for science, they may be interested in participating. This activity will require that they complete their project outside of school hours. We will also be meeting after school on Tuesdays from 4:45 to 5:45. Initially, these meetings will be used for me to guide students through the process, and then for one on one or group conferences similar to teacher office hours on Fridays. Any interested student can participate in this process. The fair is usually in March but I don’t have the exact date yet.
National History Day is for those students that love history and learning about the past. NHD is somewhat like a science fair, but for social studies. Students choose a topic fitting the year’s theme, which for 2021 is Communication in History: The Key to Understanding. They can choose topics from any time and place as long as it is historical, fits the theme, and has available sources. This activity will also require time outside of the classroom and involves research followed by the creation of a project in the form of a paper, website, documentary, exhibit, or performance. Meetings for this group will be after school on Thursdays from 4:45 to 5:45 and will be similar to the science fair meetings in that at some point they will be used as office hours to discuss projects. Any interested student can participate in this process. NHD usually takes place in the spring but I haven’t seen a specific date yet.
The final opportunity another one for those students that enjoy creative writing, Writers’ Groups. In this activity, we will be doing brief writing exercises, discussing writing tips, and sharing and receiving feedback on current writing projects. If your child is always working on their latest story idea, there should be no extra work. Otherwise, they will be required to bring current writing samples to our meetings. This group will meet on most Fridays from 12:00 to 1:00 PM. On ICA Fridays, we will not have a Writers’ Group meeting. Any interested student can participate in this group.
I will be advertising these activities to all students over the next few weeks, so they can email me if they are interested in participating. If you have any questions as a parent, please email me at dmccullough@k12albemarle.org. Thank you.
Student Verification
We are excited to announce that online registration verification for the 2020-2021 school year is now open! This process replaces the paper forms traditionally sent home in First Day Packets at the beginning of each school year. Your verification is now available online. You will need to use the PowerSchool Parent Portal to access the PowerSchool Enrollment registration system. We request that you submit registration verifications for all students by Friday, October 9, 2020.
Note: Only students attending an ACPS elementary, middle or high school will complete registrations using this method. Students served by Ivy Creek, CSA, or our special education department will continue to update their information in the same manner as they have previously.
How do I get started?
If you have a PowerSchool Parent Portal account, go to https://sis.k12albemarle.org/ and sign in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal. From the Parent Portal:
1. Select the student you wish to update along the top.
2. Either:
- Click the Student Registration Verification button on the left sidebar; OR
- Click the Applications icon in the top-right corner and select Student Registration Verification.
3. Enter your student's date of birth to verify access to the form.
4. Follow the prompts to begin the form.
5. Review all information on each page and make changes where necessary.
If you do not yet have a Parent Portal account, please contact your student’s school.
Social Media
Email: cguy@k12albemarle.org
Website: https://sms.k12albemarle.org/
Location: 2801 Powell Creek Drive, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Phone: (434) 975-0599
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sutherlandpto
Twitter: @SMSSharks