TJ Today
November 2022-23
November
Nov. 8 - eLearning day for students/teacher workshops
Nov. 17 & 18 - TJMS Variety Show
Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break
Nov. 29 & 30 - NWEA Testing
Nov. 28 - Dec. 2 - Book Fair
Honoring Our Veterans:
This year in honor of our veterans, all TJ students will have the opportunity to dedicate a star to a family member/friend who has served in the military. These stars will be on display for all students and staff to see. It is our small token of thanks to all of the men and women who have served and currently serve our nation. TJMS will honor veterans with our annual Veterans Day program during the day on November 11th.
eLearning Day -- November 8th
Red Ribbon Week
Students and Staff celebrated Red Ribbon Week with a variety of activities including an excellent presentation by Judge DeBoer and Officer Morris. Law Enforcement Officers also joined students for breakfast. TJMS student council also had a variety of dress up days to raise awareness and encourage students to choose a drug free lifestyle.
6th Grade - Thank you parents
The TJMS 6 th Grade Team would like to thank all parents that took time out of their busy
schedules to attend Parent Teacher Conferences.
Don’t forget the 2 nd grading period has started so, please keep checking your child’s grades!
It is important that all of us reinforce the importance of staying connected—parents,
students, and school.
Congratulations to Micah Cram and Charlie Rowe! They earned a spot on the Science
Olympiad team! Well done!!
ELA had fun this week working with scary stories: close readings, plot diagrams, conflict,
and so much more! Pictured: students working on analyzing The Elevator by William
Sleator.
Parents, as always, if you could please: Check grades and assignments on Skyward/Canvas weekly. If you see a missing assignment, communicate with your child and let them know it needs to be completed/turned in. Students will need earbuds for classes. Contact your child’s teacher with any questions/concerns if your child is struggling academically—We all want your children to be successful!
8th Grade - Keeping Busy
8th graders are in full gear as we near mid term on Nov. 11. Spanish classes are celebrating Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the dead holiday Nov. 1 & 2nd with food, music, and holiday traditions. In Project Lead the Way students are learning how to code in preparation for creating an app of their very own. Students are getting deep into their English novels reading The Outsiders and The Help.
Teachers will be posting the Nov. 8th E learning assignments early next week for students to complete. Nov. 11th is when we will have our veterans day program. Band, choir, and orchestra have been practicing hard in preparation of their performance.
Mark Your Calendars: First Semester Book Fair!
Congratulations to our New 2023 TJ Science Olympiad Team
Our Science Olympiad traditions continue here at TJMS as our new team was just chosen last week. We will begin now to organize and prepare for our 23 different events. Our team has high expectations, as our goal will be to repeat as Regional and State champions. The team is coached by Richard Bender and Carol Haller along with many volunteer coaches.
Good luck this season and congratulations for making the team.
Clara Warren 9th Grade
Ben Barriball 9th Grade
Jennifer Wang 8th Grade
Helen Hann 8th Grade
Ava Bosman 8th Grade
Caroline Dyer 8th Grade
Madden Hartz 8th Grade
Wesley Moye 8th Grade
Mia Green 8th Grade
Dallas Wells 8th Grade
Adam Warren 7th Grade
Nora Duncan 7th Grade
Ahana Bhardwaj 7th Grade
Micah Cram 6th Grade
Charlie Rowe 6th Grade
Alt. Sophia Norrod 8th Grade
Happy Fall TJMS Families!
The PTSO wanted to express its extreme gratitude to all the volunteers that took the time and care to assist with the 2022 Tailgate. It would not have been such a successful event without YOU and YOUR support. We were able to celebrate our 160 fall athletes with 200 hotdogs and an infinite amount of pop and chips. We sold a mind-blowing 131 Tailgate tickets! It was a wonderful, sunny, fun day for everyone.
Upcoming Events:
- Give yourself the night off from the kitchen! TJMS PTSO is hosting its first Community Night at McAlister’s Deli! Wednesday, November 2nd from 10:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Drop your receipt in the bin and McAlister’s will donate 20% of your bill to TJMS PTSO.
- Join the PTSO on Thursday, November 3rd at 5pm in the Flex Room for our next meeting. We will be discussing upcoming events such as the January Snow Ball Dance!
Builders Club News
Our membership has grown to 44 members and our leadership team has been established. Our president is Brendan Dorsett (8th grade), Victoria Fuentes-Avila (7th grade) is the vice president, and Megan Winland (6th grade) is the secretary. If you are interested in joining Builders Club, it’s not too late.
Last Saturday was our monthly hike to our Meadowbrook Nature Preserve adopted trail. Six members met to hike and help maintain the trail on an absolutely gorgeous day! Our next hike is scheduled for Saturday, November 19. There are other ways for members to get involved, too. We are currently collecting 100 cans of green beans for 500 Turkeys, November 12 will be spent with other Valparaiso Schools service organizations raking leaves for families throughout Valpo, and we will do our annual Angel Tree shopping at the end of the month. November meetings are November 2 and November 16. Hope to see you there!
“Those who are the happiest are those who do the most for others.”
-Booker T. Washington
Student Services News
Attention 7th & 8th grade parents and guardians! Have you heard about the Twenty-first Century Scholarship program? It is a scholarship for which students must get enrolled in during 7th or 8th grade only. Indiana eighth graders must get signed up by June 30, 2023.
This is an opportunity for your child to have all or part of his or her college tuition paid for by the state! The 21st Century Scholars program began years ago as a way of helping students afford a college education. The scholarship eligibility is based on family income. Once a student is enrolled in the program, he or she will pledge to meet good citizen guidelines throughout the rest of their school years which will include some check in points each year in high school.
In order for a student to be enrolled, parents must fill out an application online before the deadline. Please click on this link for more information about eligibility and for the link to the application:
https://learnmoreindiana.org/scholars/students/middle-school/
Para leer este informacion en espanol, haz click aqui https://scholars.in.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/21CS-Enrollment-Flyer-2019-Spanish-Flyer-1.pdf
Please reach out to your child’s school counselor for any help or additional information you might need. We are happy to help and excited for the chance at your student attending an Indiana college or university with free or reduced tuition!
Did You Know?
You can set up Skyward to let you know when your child's grades drop below a certain percent? That you can also set up Skyward to notify you if your child has missing assignments?
Setting up email notifications is THE BEST way of staying informed of your student’s grades.
Log into your account.
Click on “My Account” in the top right-hand corner of your Skyward homepage. See Figure D.
At the bottom of the window, look for Email Notifications.
Check all the boxes that you would like information about and how often you would like to receive the information. The second checkmark item allows you to set a parameter if a grade falls below a certain number. In the example below, this parent put “70” in the “Low:” text field. This means the parent will be immediately notified if their student receives any class assignment, test, quiz, etc. that falls below a grade of 70. See Figure E.
Below is the link to the video instructions.
School Wide Contact Information
Mark Maudlin -- Principal
Erin Strauss -- Assistant Principal
Shannon Morris -- School Resource Officer (SRO)
Laura Dull -- Secretary
Kristin Scheub -- Secretary/Treasurer
Jami Carlson -- Guidance Counselor, Last Names A-K
Erik Shive - Guidance Counselor, Last Names L-Z
Heather Himes -- Social Worker
Shawn White -- Nurse
Supply Lists
DAILY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Please encourage your student to view the daily announcements that can be found on our website or by clicking here to watch for important call out information, upcoming daily schedule changes or general school announcements.
Calendar 2022-23
P.E. Uniforms
P.E. uniforms will be required in P.E. classes this school year. Uniforms (t-shirt and shorts) can be purchased at Blythe’s Sporting Goods on Calumet Avenue. Uniforms can be purchased as a set or individual pieces. The same uniform will be worn in 6th-8th grades, so purchasing one that’s a little looser may be a good idea. Students are welcome to use the uniform an older sibling used while attending TJMS.
Students who are not enrolled in band, choir or orchestra will have a full year of P.E. Students enrolled in band, choir or orchestra will have least 2 rotations of P.E. during the year.
Sport Physicals
Student Handbook
Attendance
Becoming A Canvas Observer
Dropping Off Forgotten Items
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