The Panther Post
May 9, 2022 Volume 16
Principal's Corner
Welcome to May! We have 12.5 days remaining!! Please continue to encourage your students to finish strong!!
There will be NO early final exams given. Make up exams will be June 1st and 2nd from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. Exams will be posted in Schoology and be completed off campus unless otherwise directed by teachers. The exam schedule can be found at the bottom of the newsletter.
EDCBA schedule this week
Advisory is ON Tuesday "Leadership"
Current/Upcoming Events
The spring football game against Liberty will take place on May 12 at 6:00pm
- Bowling tryouts for the 2022-23 school year will be held May 18th and May 19th at the Madison Bowling Center. Students only need to attend one of the tryout days. Middle schoolers are encouraged to come on the 18th and high schoolers on the 19th, but students may attend whichever day works best for them. Tryouts will be from 4:00-6:00 PM.
Students must have a current physical and parental consent form in order to participate. Both can be found at https://www.bjpatriots.com/documents
Please email Coach Joy at eejoy@madisoncity.k12.al.us if you have any questions..
The website for summer reading, mcssummerreading.com, has been updated to reflect changes for the 2022-23 school year.
Le Grand Concours (National French Contest)
Celeste Shurtz, Alex Milonopoulos, and Oore Odesola of Madison City Schools ranked 6th in the Alabama Chapter and 7th nationally, with the 90th percentile, earning a Silver Medal Award. Krista Brodeur, Julia Ehrman, Eddie Xiao, and Siri Koduru ranked 12th nationally at the 79th percentile earning a Bronze Medal Award. Mona Ingram earned Honorable Mention in the 51st percentile in the 87th annual event, according to Lisa Narug, National Director of Le Grand Concours. Le Grand Concours is a national competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French. Despite the pandemic and all of the difficulties overcome in schools this past year, nearly 43,000 students in all 50 states competed in the 2022 event. These are all 8th-grade students at Discovery Middle School and are students of Madame Perry.
Mrs. Whitaker's EL Newcomer Class
The English learners in Mrs. Whitaker's EL Newcomer class are making tremendous gains this year with learning the English language. They have progressed from writing simple words to writing sentences using adjectives. The students walked around the grounds at DMS to describe what they saw, using the English language. They are no longer dependent on their translation devices to write complete sentences. Congratulations students for working so hard to learn the English language this year!
Mrs. Harbison's Literature Projects and Presentations
This started with a “Book Tasting” activity in which students read a sample of six different novels and then rated their top three novels. Students were placed into reading groups based on their top novel choice and spent the next three weeks reading and discussing the novel in groups. Last week Russel Johnson, our Secondary Instructional Tech Specialist, visited classes and helped students create project platforms for their presentations. Students spent the next few days creating presentations for their classmates and other classes. These projects range from Instagram pages, to book trailers, to community and social awareness projects.
Scholar's Bowl
DMS Scholar's Bowl traveled to Chicago for the NAQT Middle School National Championships this weekend. Our team made it through the preliminary rounds with a 5-3 record. The team advanced to the playoff rounds. Our record for playoffs was 4-2. We played teams from across the country. DMS placed 8th! Please tell our team congratulations!
Team: Karsten Wallace (8th- captain), Owen Bruyns (8th), Mark Allison (8th), Arnav Maskey (8th), Alex Fedoseyev (8th), Louis Johnson (7th)
Into the Woods, Jr. was a great success! We had practically a full house each night! The audience roared with applause and laughter and we received rave reviews! Thank you for all your support!
Congratulations to Ms. Jenkins and her DMS choir on the hard work put in this year. The Spring show at Bob Jones last week was amazing!
Creative Writing II:
For five of the nine weeks in the 3rd term, Mrs. Breeding's Creative Writing II class furiously plotted and typed. They wrote long short stories. Students like the term novella, since for this age group, these stories are longer works than most have completed to date. Click on the button below for their writing reflections and advice.
Chess:
Congratulations Discovery Middle School -- All Girls Chess Under 16 National Champions!
Left to right:
Coach Sarah May, Ms. Ranae Bartlett, Christina Yang, Caroline Wang, Nirvana Rajbhandari, Julie Goldston
Nirvana Rajbhandari receiving her 8th place individual trophy. Five of her games lasted nearly the maximum possible of three hours.
Christina Yang, Caroline Wang, and Nirvana Rajbhandari
Congratulations to Nirvana Rajbhandari and Christina Yang for winning 1st place team in the CK Girls and Women's tournament! Nirvana also placed 3rd in her section. They will be invited to the GM camp as a prize.
Band
We want all of our rising 6th graders (current 5th graders) to consider joining our band program at Discovery! Feel free to save and share the graphic below on social media. Any current 5th, 6th or 7th grader is welcome and encouraged to join the band program!
FCA
FCA meetings for the remainder of the year are as follows:
May 13th
We will meet at 7:30 AM in the library! Everyone is welcome! We would love to have you! See Mrs. Cooper if you have any questions.
Important Reminders
- Please ensure that your students adhere to the dress code. All clothing must meet appropriate guidelines as noted in the DMS Student Handbook and MCS Code of Conduct. Also, students may bring a jacket or sweater if they are cold; however, blankets and stuffed animals are not allowed as a cover at school.
- Attendance is very important. Please be sure to send absence notes to dmsattendance@madisoncity.k12.al.us whenever your student is absent from school.
- Students should arrive to class on time and be in their seats when the tardy bell rings.
- For morning drop off and afternoon dismissal, parking in the front northeast lot or in the loop at the front office will soon require a clearly marked parking pass. Those without this pass are asked to use the car line. Thanks to everyone for using the car line unless you have an "approved reason" from the DMS administration. Approved reasons are for SRO, medical/emergency, special needs, late arrival, etc. We are working for the safety of all of our students and staff at DMS. Thank you for your continued support!
Lost and Found
- Please encourage your students to check the DMS Lost & Found near the front office if they have misplaced any items.
- The Lost and Found will be cleared out on the first day of each month and unclaimed items will be donated to a worthy cause.
We need volunteers to help at the 8th Grade Awards Day and Celebration this year. Anyone can volunteer - not just 8th grade parents! In fact, this can be a great opportunity for 6th and 7th grade parents to learn about this event. Please sign up if you are available!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0d48aca728a4fc1-8thgrade3
Discovery Middle School
A place for excellence, innovation and discovery.
