Cougars ROAR: TEMS Community News

We are wrapping up this month with a lot of energy and celebrations throughout the building. I know we are all excited for the well-deserved break. I would like to use this month's message as an opportunity to share my gratitude- I appreciate the TEMS family- the students, staff, and families that are all part of the fabric of this community- your collective support of our learners and programs allows us to continue to bring high quality experiences to our middle schoolers. I wish you well this holiday season and sending all my best as we ring in the new year!

I am so happy to be able to share some wonderful highlights from the past month. Winter sports are up and running, with the boys and girls basketball teams having their first games this week. For those that joined any of the musical performance I know you would agree that TEMS students certainly have talent and we have the Chorus concert to look forward to after break.

On December 2nd, nine students participated in the Regional Finals for the International Academic Competitions for Geography, History, and Science in West Hartford. Aarohi Mudakatte, Landyn Smith, Arnav Malpure, and Sri Gaddam qualified for nationals in Orlando, Florida. Aarohi, Landyn and Sri also qualified for the international competition in Vienna, Austria.

As part of the Stock Market Game, three 6th Graders-Abigail Lee, Shambhavi Raghuvanshi and Regina Shama-amassed a total of $120,970.57 over the ten weeks of trading, a 13.59% growth above the performance of the S&P 500. (YES, they made more than $20,000 in only ten weeks of investing!!) They outperformed a total of 185 other middle school teams in Connecticut.

This past weekend more than 70 TEMS debaters traveled to Smith Middle School in Glastonbury to participate in the Connecticut Middle School Debate League's Tournament. In the Novice Division, the team of Nevin Joseph and Jaden Shiju were a "perfect" 3-0 on the day, earning awards for their performance. Individual speaker awards were plentiful as Smirrthi Manikandan finished in the TOP 10 as the number 9 speaker out of a field of 222 debaters. In addition, Simone Kaur was named the #5 speaker and Yilin Lin was the top speaker from TEMS placing 4th! A total of 105 students entered this tournament in the Open Division, with Keshav Prem finishing in 10th place and Aarav Pruthi was awarded a medal as the 4th place speaker of the tournament!

Finally, I wanted to give a huge shout out to our student representatives who presented at the Board of Education meeting Tuesday. Alex Rizza, Aarohi Mudakatte, Mahima Sasikuma, Lilah Gartman, Kaelyn Bates, and Cam Moriarty shared their experience with matinees. I couldn't be more proud of all the things our students do to embrace their middle school experience by trying new things and showcasing their unique talents.

Please click here to see a month-at-a-glance for January. You can also reference the school event's calendar that can be found on the school's website. Follow TEMS on Facebook, Twitter, and Threads.

• IMPORTANT: Updated 2023-2024 Calendar (information about changes below)
• South Windsor Public Library Teen Events
• Hartford Public Library Teen Events
• TEMS Athletics Schedules

You should have received notification from me last week about an important update regarding the 2023-2024 school calendar. At the December 12th Board of Education meeting a change to the 2023-2024 district school calendar was approved. This change moves our district-wide professional development day from Tuesday, March 12th to Tuesday, March 5th. Thus, students will not be in school on March 5th, and March 12th will be a regular school day. I've attached the updated 2023-2024 district school calendar here.

Additionally, the 2024-2025 has been approved by the Board of Education and that can be found here.

In case you missed my email last week, I am thrilled to share exciting news with the TEMS community. On Thursday, December 7, 2023, the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) announced that they had selected Jarrid Clifton, Assistant Principal at Timothy Edwards Middle School (TEMS), as their 2024 Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year. He was chosen for the award based on his “unwavering dedication, visionary leadership, and tireless commitment to the well-being and success of every member of his school community.”

I couldn’t be prouder to work alongside such an exceptional educational leader. In the last seven years of working with Jarrid, I have grown to appreciate, and depend on, his commitment to excellence and to ensuring that we provide the highest quality learning experiences to students in South Windsor. As a professional colleague, I have learned with him and from him, and know that his experience and personality consistently benefit the entire school community. He is incredibly deserving of this recognition, and I am grateful for everything he has done to make Timothy Edwards a wonderful place to learn and grow.

Here is a note from Mr. Clifton- It is with great gratitude and genuine pride to have been able to host the CAS panel to visit our school to highlight the phenomenal students, staff, families, and administrators of South Windsor. Timothy Edwards Middle School is a dynamic community of learners and educators committed to developing students who are respectful of themselves and others, take ownership of their learning and actions, accepting and inclusive of others and their points of view, and are resilient to conquer challenges they face. South Windsor Public Schools has given me the opportunity to grow as an educator and administrator; and to work collaboratively to create an equitable, welcoming environment for our students and families. I like to say that middle school is a great time for a student to make mistakes - learning is messy - and TEMS is the perfect place to help a student get through this unique chapter of their lives. I could not have achieved this recognition without the incredible support of my family - Meg, Silas, and Andrew! I am so fortunate to have been given the chance to help lead this special school and staff and I look forward to what all of them will do in the future.

The TEMS PTO meetings are a great way to stay involved and connect with the principal and with other parents. You are welcome to submit questions or agenda items to our meetings by using this link in advance of our meetings.

Join us for our next meeting on February 8th at 6:30 in the TEMS Library Media Center. You are welcome to join virtually- the link will be sent with the reminder I send in February.

Coming Soon: The PTO is sponsoring a Scholastic Book Fair the week of January 22nd. If you are interested in volunteering please email the PTO President, Dee Corticelli, at teptopres@gmail.com

On Thursday, January 25th we invite all families to join us for an evening to celebrate literacy and the arts. Starting at 6:00, we will be showcasing student readings of individual narratives and poetry in the auditorium. We will also feature a scene from the Entertainers musical this year, Finding Nemo Jr.

Immediately after the student presentations you are all invited to the foyer and library for a hot chocolate bar and access to the Scholastic Book Fair.

SWHS School Counseling's Grade 8 Parent/Guardian Night on Tuesday, January 9th beginning at 5 p.m. in the SWHS Auditorium. This is an in-person event.

At this program, SWHS Counselors will discuss the following:

• How to prepare for the upcoming transition to high school
• How middle school is different than high school
• SWHS culture and expectations
• Key SWHS policies and procedures
• The grade 9 course selection process
• The SWHS Course Catalog
• And much more...

Grade 8 students will receive this same information via a classroom lesson at TEMS during the

following week and thus should not attend this evening program.

Throughout the program, there will be plenty of opportunities for parent/guardian questions.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is being administered to SOME students on February 2nd. NAEP is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is different from our state assessments because it is a common measure of achievement across the country. The results are released as The Nation’s Report Card, which provides information about student achievement to educators, parents/guardians, policymakers, and the public.

If your child is one of the 8th graders that have been randomly selected to take the test in reading, mathematics, or science you will be notified individually in January. This letter will include more information about what the test is and information for opting out. More information about NAEP can be found here.

Mrs. Alison Fetta and Mr. Kent Besocke are instructional coaches that support faculty and staff in providing instruction that meets the needs of our diverse learners at TEMS.

Instructional Coaches continue to explore various classrooms at TEMS, and are seeing Challenging and High Expectations as teachers:

• create opportunities for learners to collaborate during lessons.

• engage students in challenging tasks.

• exude positive attitudes about students’ abilities to achieve.

• share learning targets and success criteria when teaching.

Next month, the Instructional Coaches will continue to highlight the Teaching and Learning Framework with the focus of Deep Student Engagement: going beyond basic understanding, having voice and choice, and being involved in cognitively challenging activities.

During the months of November and December, all sixth grade students learned how to access our district and school databases through the TE Library Media Center page. For this lesson, we specifically focused on using Britannica School and Britannica ImageQuest. Students also created an account and correctly cited one or two sources using our district wide citation generator, NoodleTools.

We talked about the difference between using a database versus a website and how a database was a good place to start any research when looking for reliable background information on a topic. Many students already knew the importance of citing one’s sources. All students brought up the importance of giving credit to where credit was due as well as practicing being ethical users of information.

I was proud of all sixth graders who worked diligently as we walked through the process of creating correctly formatted citations within NoodleTools. The exposure to knowing where to go for good, vetted information before going to the open web, along with knowing how to access and use NoodleTools will serve students well as they progress through middle school and help prepare them for their assured research experience as freshmen.

The daily TETV Morning News serve as our primary vehicle for communicating important information to students each day. This is where students can learn about upcoming events, tryouts, clubs and activities, and current events. In addition to playing during homeroom each day you can access the daily news on our school website.

On October 24th the board voted unanimously in support of a Plan to Improve Our High School Campus and Increase Recreational Assets for the Community. A link to the plan is below which includes an overview of the campus improvements, costs, and rationale for each investment. As you will see, the plan is designed to benefit many stakeholders including high school students, youth sports, and seniors who access the Community Center. At Tuesday’s Board of Education Meeting, board members voted unanimously to request that the Town Council set a referendum date of March 5, 2024 so that if the community votes in favor, the work could be done this summer.

Link to the Plan

The Preschool Outreach Program (POP) is currently accepting applications for the 2024-2025 school year (attached is the application and the POP flyer). Please submit your application at your earliest convenience as the role model screenings are occurring. More details regarding a date and times for screenings will be sent to you from the POP staff once they receive your application.

POP Role Model Application
POP Role Model Flyer 24-25

The South Windsor Teen Center is a valuable partner. Please visit their site for information about upcoming events and programming. The South Windsor Teen Center is located in the Charles N. Enes Community Center at 150 Nevers Road in South Windsor.