Eagle Eye JMS Parent Newsletter #18

November 28-December 2, 2022

"Family is a lifejacket in the stormy sea of life." - J.K. Rowling

"Family is a lifejacket in the stormy sea of life." - J.K. Rowling

Hello, Jefferson Middle School families and parents!


We truly hope all of our JMS students and families enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday and break. As we continue our academic, social, and emotional journey here in the building, students and teachers are working diligently to prepare for upcoming benchmarks, our Capstone project, and the juggling of classes and assignments. We consistently teach our students that a "productive struggle" brings about high levels of growth and learning. We believe that our teachers are the very best at equipping students during each productive struggle in every class. We hold the highest expectations for all of our students because we know that they are so capable of soaring to limitless heights. We are so honored to have consistent family support.


The newsletter is a bit "short and sweet" for this upcoming week, but nonetheless, we have a packed calendar of events.


  • We would love to see families attend our Winter Band Concert on Wednesday at ORHS!
  • Also, please come out Thursday at JMS to support our Eagles and Lady Eagles basketball and cheer teams!





We appreciate and encourage all of our families to reach out with any needs, questions, or concerns.


Have a wonderful week!


Phil Cox, Principal, pcox@ortn.edu

Ben Fowler, Vice Principal, bjfowler@ortn.edu

Brian Tinker, Dean of Students, bjtinker@ortn.edu

Elizabeth Leavitt, Instructional Technology Coach, ealeavitt@ortn.edu

"Family is a lifejacket in the stormy sea of life." - J.K. Rowling
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Wednesday Zero Period and Social Emotional Learning

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We look forward to continued Wednesday sessions for our zero period after our Thanksgiving break!

2022-2023 JMS Student Handbook

Week at a Glance!

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Week of November 21-25 , 2022

Monday, November 28 B Day

  • Cheer Practice 3:00-4:30
  • Chess Club Library 2:45-3:45
  • Atomic Eagles Meeting Science Wing 2:45-4:30
  • RadioActive Brix Meeting Rm 223 2:45-4:30
  • Master Builders Meeting Rm 102 2:45-4:30
  • Girls Basketball Practice Gym 3:00-5:00
  • Boys Basketball Practice Gym 5:00-7:00


Tuesday, November 29 A day

  • STAR Math Universal Screener
  • Girl Scout Meeting Rm 208 3:00-5:00
  • Atomic Eagles Meeting Science Wing 2:45-4:30
  • RadioActive Brix Meeting Rm 223 2:45-4:30
  • Master Builders Meeting Rm 102 2:45-4:30
  • Girls Basketball Practice Gym 3:00-5:00
  • Boys Basketball Practice Gym 5:00-7:00
  • Winter Band Concert ORHS 7:00


Wednesday, November 30 B day

  • Written Expression Screener
  • Boys & Girls Basketball Picture Gym 12:45
  • Garden Club 1:00-2:00
  • Ski and Snowboard Club Meeting JPAC 1:00
  • Girls Basketball Practice Gym 1:00-3:00
  • Boys Basketball Practice Gym 3:00-5:00

**No Homework Help on this Wednesday!


Thursday, December 1 A day

  • STAR Reading Universal Screener
  • RadioActive Brix Meeting Rm 223 2:45-4:30
  • Atomic Eagles Meeting Science Wing 2:45-4:30
  • Basketball Game vs. Lafollette at JMS BJV – 5:00, GV – 6:00, BV – 7:00 (ORHS Jr ROTC will provide Color Guard)


Friday, December 2 B day


  • Youth for Christ Band Room 7:10 AM
  • Girls Basketball Practice Gym 3:00-5:00
  • Boys Basketball Practice Gym 5:00-7:00
  • RadioActive Brix Meeting Rm 223 2:45-4:30
  • Atomic Eagles Meeting Science Wing 2:45-4:30


Saturday, December 3

First Lego League Competition Hardin Valley Academy

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*Special Announcement: There will be no Wednesday Homework Help this week.

Teacher and Teaching Assistant of the Year

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Ms. Lisa Webb - JMS Teacher of the Year

From some of the nominations for Ms. Webb:


“I can't imagine anyone works harder for their classroom than Ms. Webb. She has literally created her own textbook (seriously - no kidding) for her class through OneNote, yet she is always on the search for new material. Recently she has translated many parts of her OneNote to Spanish for her ELL students. She holds her students to a high standard of learning and consistently achieves what seems like ridiculously high levels of proficiency in her testing results. This can be attributed to her style of teaching as well as an abundant amount of parent communication. She stays in constant contact with households, and, as a result, hosts numerous students during lunch and planning periods and Wednesday afternoons to complete assignments. The time spent with these targeted students often allows her to develop a relationship with the student that some of these students have never experienced. Additionally, I have witnessed weekends where Ms. Webb has easily put in another 10 hours or more just addressing or preparing lessons. Part of those weekend preparations involve giving congratulatory accolades ("Temple of Brilliance," "Hall of Wisdom") to students that have worked hard and achieved in her classroom. Many of those students go on to maintain a work habit that they didn't exhibit at the beginning of the year. She manages this while being involved with her PLC partner and school activities (basketball book-keeper). All in all, Ms. Webb has the whole package going on in Social Studies.”


“She is a great PLC partner & has helped me tremendously the past two years as a new social studies teacher. Her students achieve extremely high test scores & she is constantly working through lunch with students in her classroom, giving them the extra help they need to achieve.”


“Ms. Webb is so dedicated to seeing her students succeed. She invites them to lunch and afterschool to work with them. She doesn’t take an “I don’t know” from a student. She calls home and conferences with parents weekly. She has fantastic success with student achievement and growth, and makes Reading a pleasure for kids to hook them into a lifelong habit. She also is constantly working sporting and afterschool events. “

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Ms. Huddleston- JMS Teaching Assistant of the Year

From some of the nominations for Ms. Huddleston:


“My! How much she does for us! She keeps students in ISS in line with compassion and firm, yet patient, resolve. She facilitates the much-loved and highly-appreciated tutoring at JMS. She embodies all that is great about JMS.”


“She is always willing to do anything that will benefit our students. She keeps the ISS room in order and makes sure those students make progress while with her. She is such an asset to JMS and I cannot wait to see where her future takes her.”

Ski and Snowboard Club Information

Meeting Wednesday, November 30: JPAC: 1:00

Meeting Wednesday, November 30: JPAC: 1:00

The JMS Ski and Snowboard Club will have its first meeting at 1pm on Wednesday, November 30th in the JPAC. The Club is open to any 6th-8th grader. The fee will be $250 this year; however, we will not be collecting until December; so, do not bring a check to the meeting. The fee includes transportation to/from JMS to Ober Gatlinburg, Ski/Snowboard and Helmet Rental, and Lessons for four outings. We hope you come to the meeting to learn more about this fun opportunity for JMS students. The meeting will last one hour and is mandatory for all that are interested. Make sure to have rides available no later than 2:10.
Meeting Wednesday, November 30: JPAC: 1:00

PTO NEWS!

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JMS New Sign has been installed!

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Thanks to our School Board, our Maintenance department, and the City of Oak Ridge for giving us one more tool to communicate with our students and family! We are quite pleased with what we can do now to keep our families in the know.

PORTRAIT of a GRADUATE NOVEMBER Focus: 4 Cs: Critical Thinking

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4 Cs: Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity

4 Cs: Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity

November FOCUS: Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is just that--CRITICAL! Critical thinking is crucial for middle school students to be equipped to respond to academic, social, and emotional challenges successfully. We must provide learning opportunities, experiences, and platforms that allow and even insist that students think critically


CHALLENGE: One part of our rubric, "Clearly explains the new knowledge gained through the task."


Ask your child to share some new knowledge gained in Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, or any elective class this week. Ask them what task or tasks helped them to gain this knowledge. Finally, ask them to connect it to his or her life and world.

4 Cs: Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity

November Character: Empathy

STUDENTS of the WEEK

STUDENTS of the WEEK

We want to congratulate our Student of the Week winners, nominated by their teachers. We are so proud!

  • 5th grade: CJ Stewart
  • 6th grade: Ronnie Perry, Laney Harper
  • 7th grade: Kaylen McClendon, Valón Nayi (Vandan) ,Kory Gentry
  • 8th grade: Ava White, Aubriela Consaul
STUDENTS of the WEEK

The Reading Eagle - Messages from Ms. Haverkamp!

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JMS ATHLETIC UPDATES from COACH BOLLING!

Athletic Update:

The Jefferson Eagles basketball teams and cheerleaders will host district-rival Lafollette on Thursday. Boys JV will play at 5pm, followed by girls varsity at 6pm and boys varsity at 7pm. Admission is $5.

Plese come support our JMS students!

Go Eagles!


Coach Katie Bolling

Meet our JMS Basketball Lady Eagles...

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JMS CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETES and AWARDS!

Counseling Corner

Counseling Corner

Ms. Candie Price (5th and 7th Grade)

Mr. Paul Sudderth (6th and 8th Grade)

Please contact our school counseling department with any other questions at 865-425-9302. Ms. Amy Myers, school registrar, is happy to assist with enrollment, withdrawal paperwork, transportation, Skyward, school updates, etc.


  • November Character Strong Trait: Empathy

Leadership is how we influence others. It’s a powerful way to positively impact the world around us. This month we will help students build their leadership skills while practicing EMPATHY. One way to think about Empathy is “understanding and connecting with other people’s feelings.” It is a practice we can use to help us grow strong relationships.

  • Family Fun Activity:

Review Empathy as a family! Schedule a family movie night so that you can specifically watch for feelings and emotions. Let everyone know that you’d like them to point out how the characters in the show are feeling and that you will pause periodically to discuss Empathy. As emotions are identified, invite one another to Empathize by sharing about a time they felt that way or imagining how they might be feeling in that moment.

  • Emotional Support through the Winter Months

Although the holidays are a wonderful time of year, the winter months can also bring more frequent emotions like depression and anxiety. If you have seen an increase in these emotions in your child and need further support, please visit the website below from Kids Health. There are many helpful parenting tips of how to support your child during this season!

Please know the JMS School Counselors are always happy to help as well. https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/sad.html



Clothing Closet Accepting Donations

JMS is pleased to offer support for students in need through our “clothing closet”. We are accepting clean, gently used clothing items for students in need. Please make sure all donated items meet JMS dress code policy. Donated items can be dropped off in the JMS Counseling office. Thank you for your support!


Counseling Corner

JMS EXPECTATIONS

Click on each picture to enlarge!

Student Success Assembly Information

WEDNESDAY Homework Help!

Wednesday Homework Help is in FULL SWING. If students have questions about an assignment, need guidance about their homework, or are looking for a quiet place to work, Mrs. Huddleston and Mrs. Ozcan will be available in the Innovation Center on Wednesdays after dismissal. Students will need to be picked up by 3:00 pm. All grade levels are welcome to attend. Please e-mail Mrs. Huddleston (cdhuddleston@ortn.edu) or Mrs. Ozcan (mozcan@ortn.edu) with any questions.

SIGN UP for CANVAS to See What Your Child is Doing Each Week!!

Reminders about Drop Off and Pick Up

Remember when dropping off/picking up your student:


  • JMS's weather policy is to load busses and release car riders during most weather events EXCEPT lightning or severe rain/wind. When lightning is present we will push our students back to the building and delay releasing students. We have had three major lightning issues and a major wind/rain events during our releases over the first term, and we wanted to reiterate what our hold policy is. We thank our parents for their patience as we do our best to keep our students safe.
  • DO NOT enter the bus loop when buses are present!
  • Please pull your vehicle all the way up so we can keep as many cars as possible off of Fairbanks Road.
  • When dropping off AFTER 7:30am, students will be directed towards the main entrance. Go ahead and pull all the way up.
  • Make sure your child is ready to exit the vehicle and doesn't have to access the trunk for items, as this holds up the line.
  • DO NOT park or leave your vehicles in the neighborhoods across the street from Jefferson. Traffic is heavy during pickup and drop off and parking on those streets only increases the danger to our students and parents attempting to navigate the traffic.
HOMEWORK HOTLINE: Monday-Thursday 5-9 PM

Did you know Tennessee has its own Homework Hotline only for students in Tennessee? This is a free service offering live online tutoring, an interactive whiteboard, along with help resources for every subject and grade level! Click the link ABOVE!