Hello Charger Families & Happy Spring!

Just like that, we've reached Quarter 4! It's unreal to think of how close we are to the end. We started this year strong, so we're going to finish this year strong. One way we can do this is by making attendance a priority. Please make sure your child is here every day so that they receive the most instruction and have a chance to complete all assignments. This is especially important as we approach the dates for state testing, which is approaching in May. Your child has worked hard all year, so it is time for them to SHINE! Students should get a good night's rest on the nights before the tests and remember to charge their Chromebooks. It will also help if the student has a good breakfast on the day of testing. Together we can ensure that the students do their best!

We have plenty to look forward to non-academic-wise as we near the end of the school year. We just hosted our Spring Fling, our production of Annie the Musical is coming up at the end of April, and we have field trips as well as end-of-year celebrations to look forward to! We are thankful for all staff, students, and family members in helping to ensure these events are a success. Let's finish this school year strong!

Respectfully,

Stacia Winfree

Principal – Challenger Middle

Tuesday, May 9th:

6th- Civics Pre-test

7th- Civics EOC

8th- Science NGSS

Thursday, May 18th:

FAST PM3- Math

STAR (Alg/ Geo)

Monday, May 22nd:

FAST PM3- Reading

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 8 - 12, 2023

We are saying 'thank you’ during this week, and throughout the year, to the extraordinary educators who work tirelessly to help all students learn, grow, and fulfill their potential.

Please join us in celebrating our wonderful teachers and staff members at Challenger all throughout the week of May 8th.

Students will meet in the gym at dismissal. The first day of the sport, students will receive information about what is needed to continue. All sports are free of charge, with buses provided to each event. Intramural and insurance information must be signed and returned prior to practice. These forms will go home the first day of sign ups. The day of sign ups, please have a ride by 5:00 pm, or approval and registration to go to After Care.

Please feel free to email Coach Mac (tennis) at johnmac@leeschools.net or Coach Brooks (golf) at christophejb@leeschools.net for any questions or concerns.

On March 10th, four of our students were able to travel to the Latinos in Action Convention to attend different workshops. The event was held in Boca Raton at Florida Atlantic University.

LIA stands for Empowering Latino youth to lead and strengthen their communities through college and career.

Thank you Ms. Aulet for organizing and leading this, as well as encouraging our young students!

Our April Bus Driver of the Month is Paloma from bus 2356! We are so thankful for Paloma especially because she's always willing to take multiple bus routes to ensure all of our students get home safely.

Each school nominates a teacher and student who they feel go above and beyond in and out of the classroom. This year, our school has chosen Aubrey Duncan as our Student of Excellence, and Ms. Dyan Spero as our Educator of Excellence.

We would like to congratulate and celebrate our All-County Jazz Band students, Maxwell Leontes, Aidan Devitt, and Jonathan Dalesandro. They all did a fantastic job representing Challenger and they had a wonderful performance. Both Maxwell and Jonathan earned the privilege of soloing with the band. We are so proud of these students and this wonderful achievement!

For the first time in Challenger history, we participated in Choral MPA (Music Performance Assessment). Our Challenger Concert Choir, comprised of 60 awesome students, (77.42% of which were brand new choir students/beginning singers this year), received the following scores for their Music Performance Assessment on March 7th:

1. Repertoire Performance - Overall Excellent!

2. Rhythmic and Melodic Sight-Reading - Straight Superior!

**The rating scale for reference:

1. Poor, 2. Fair, 3. Good, 4. Excellent, 5. Superior

Superior is the highest possible score that you can receive from the judges. We are so very proud of our choir students!

If you have been keeping up with our information regarding the Spelling Bee, we had two of our amazing and brilliant students attend the Lee County District Spelling Bee last month on March 9th at Three Oaks Middle School. 6th graders Dominic Lopez and Austin Stout represented Challenger against 14 other local schools in a battle against the dictionary. Our very own Dominic Lopez made it all the way to 8th place in the entire district.

While they may not be advancing to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, we are still so very proud of both Austin and Dominic!

PTO/SAC Meetings occur the first Thursday of every month. Our next meeting will take place on April 6, 2023.

PTO will start at 5:30pm and run until 6:00pm.

SAC will then begin at 6:00pm and go until 6:30pm.

All PTO/SAC Meetings will be held in person at Challenger Middle School in the Media Center.