Wow! What an exciting week at Northwestern! We announced our finalists for Teacher and Professional of the Year, we celebrated our students with 2nd Quarter Pride Wall, and our Music Program received their GMEA Music Program of the Year award! (lots of pictures below)

If you have any feedback on the early release from Monday, February 24, please send me an email at petersonj1@fultonschools.org. Since this was our first early release Monday, I would like to know how this worked for your student and family.

Please report any positive COVID-19 cases to the Parent or Employee portals. Pending test results and direct exposures no longer need to be reported.

If there is anything we can do to support your family, please let us know. I hope all of our families have a wonderful weekend!

I'm looking forward to seeing our students again on Monday!

• Saturday, January 29 - Junior Beta Service Saturday (1:00 pm)
• Wednesday, February 2 - NMS Basketball vs. Haynes Bridge MS (5:30)
• Friday, February 4 - NMS Basketball @Crabapple MS (5:30)
• Wednesday, February 9 - NMS Basketball vs. FAST (5:30)
• Friday, February 11 - NMS Basketball vs. River Trail MS (5:30)
• Wednesday, February 16 - NMS Basketball vs Taylor Road MS (5:30)
• Friday, February 18 - Professional Development Day (No School for Students)
• Monday, February 21 - President's Day (No School)

We're excited to announce our three finalists for Teacher of the Year:

Ms. Ivy Downey - 8th Grade Spanish

Ms. Johndra Jordan - 8th Grade Math

Ms. Leah Robinson - 7th Grade Science & Social Studies

We're excited to announce our three finalists for Professional of the Year:

Ms. Michelle Robbins - Graduation Coach

Mr. Ghandi Satsangi - IT Support Professional

Ms. Mary Beth Tokarz - Instructional Support Teacher

Northwestern Middle School was named Music Program of the Year by the Georgia Music Educators Association. This is an amazing honor for our music students and teachers.

Congratulations. Ms. Evelyn Champion, Ms. Suzanne Grant, Ms. Christy Naughton, and Mr. Steven Rushing.

Our Orchestra students performed at GMEA State Conference yesterday. These students are so talented. They were simply amazing!

6th Grade Pride Wall Recipients

7th Grade Recipients

8th Grade Recipients

• Healthcare Science Teacher
• Adaptive Special Education Teacher (MIMO)
• Interrelated Resource Special Education Teacher (IRR)
• Spanish Teacher
• Instructional Paraprofessional, Special Education

We will update our open positions throughout the hiring season.

Please email a resume and letter of interest to Mr. Peterson at petersonj1@fultonschools.org.

We are seeing an increasing amount of damage to students’ Fulton County laptops—specifically cracked screens and damaged ports. Please reiterate to your students that they need to be careful of their school laptop and not risk incurring a fine due to damage. Remind your student:

• not to roughhouse around their laptop.
• not to let other students use, or even touch, their laptop.
• not to stack heavy books on top of the laptop or be careless with their bookbag while the laptop is in it.
• not to insert anything into any laptop port that isn’t supposed to be there. For example, iPhone chargers may look like they fit a ThinkPad port, but they will damage the port if inserted.

Parents might want to consider purchasing an inexpensive padded sleeve on Amazon or at retailers (anything for a 13” screen will fit).

For more information about FCS Device responsibilities, you can refer to the Device Agreement every student received when they got their laptop.

The candidate declaration phase will begin on Wednesday, February 2nd and will end Wednesday, March 2nd at 5pm. Candidates who wish to run for election should visit our Charter System Website on February 2nd.

Eligibility Requirements for All Council Members

• May only serve on one (1) School Governance Council at a time
• May NOT be an elected official of a government entity
• Must be the ONLY member of their family serving on the Council
• Must be 18 years or older (with the exception of high school student members)

Eligibility Requirements for Parents

• Must have a child enrolled at the school for the duration of the term they declare candidacy for
• May NOT be an employee of the school
• MAT be legal guardians listed in Infinite Campus

Eligibility Requirements for Teachers

• MAY be the parent of a child enrolled at the school
• Must be a school based employee with a "home school".
• Must be paid from the teacher salary schedule.

Students interested in learning more about the field of education or coaching as a career are encouraged to participate in the Teaching As A Profession pathway! Teaching as a Profession is for students in grades 9-12 considering a career in education. The Teaching As A Profession pathway is a relatively small class composed of three levels of students: first year, second year and third year. It meets first period and the students describe the class as "family". Highlights include:

• Internship at CCES
• Job Shadow Day at CCES
• FGE (Future Georgia Educators) Club

• Educational retreats and field trips to KSU, UNG & UGA
• Create lesson plans and lead the class in interactive classroom activities
• Facilitate team building activity
• Hear from speakers representing a variety of educational fields
• College credit opportunity for students who take all three years, complete portfolio and pass EOPA

Go to bit.ly/MiltonTAP or contact Mrs. Saren at sarent@fultonschools.org for more info!

Why Take Latin at Milton High School?

The answers might surprise you!

Latin is NOT hard – the Latin I class average last semester was 90+!

SAT scores – 2 year Latin students outscore others by 100+ points!

Unlimited Test Recovery – students can retake tests until they pass!

Milton was rated the #1 medium-division program by the Georgia Junior Classical League!

Student choice on homework: you pick the assignments you like the best!

Every Latin student who took the National Latin Exam won an award!

Latin Club is planning a trip to Italy summer 2023!

!!!NO PBAs!!!

Why Take Latin at Milton?

Milton’s Latin program competes in more national contests than any other world language program in Fulton County, giving your student more opportunities to show off how AMAZING they are!

2021 National Latin Exam

Gold Award: Williams Swan, Alina Vennel, Micah Lim, Teddy Sambol, Xenia Villa, Jenna McCulloch, Ethan Kim, Vishaal Ram, Drew Gaylor, Joey Lund, Maxym Shtyrbulov

Silver Award: Camille Block, Anna Najarian, Ken Wang, Luke Ortwein, Insiya Motiwala, Joseph Ruth

Magna Cum Laude: Addison Terry, Nicole Nelson

Cum Laude: Sydney Lynch, Moses Lim

2021 National Latin Vocabulary Exam

*William Swan scored the third highest in the nation.

Gold Award: Nicole Nelson; Gabe Fontanez; William Swan

Bronze Award: Vishaal Ram; Anna Najarian

Special Recognition: Sydney Lynch, Joey Lund, Insiya Motiwala, Luke Ortwein, Joseph Ruth

2021 National Roman Civilization Exam

Gold Awards: Joey Lund, Gabe Fontanez, Nicole Nelson

Silver Awards: Sean Gallagher, Insiya Motiwala, Vishaal Ram, William Swan

Bronze Awards: Sydney Lynch

Special Recognition: Luke Ortwein, Quinn Cross, Teddy Sambol

2020 National Classical Etymology Exam

Gold Awards: William Swan

Silver Awards: Vishaal Ram

Bronze Awards: Gabe Fontanez, Nicole Nelson

Special Recognition: Joey Lund, Insiya Motiwala, Sydney Lynch

2020 CAMWS Translation Contest

Certificate of Commendation: Vishaal Ram

2021 Classical Literacy Exam

Gold: Jenna McCullogh

Silver: Luke Ortwein, Gabe Fontanez

Bronze: Sean Gallagher

Fulton County Schools’ Office of Student Supports is helping launch a game-changing tool called Connect Fulton to all of Fulton County. Anyone - not only FCS students and employees, but also parents and community members who live and/or work in Fulton County - can go to connectfulton.findhelp.com, enter their zip code and access thousands of local, reduced-cost resources. Whether the need is for food, housing, financial, medical, clothing, job training, etc., a multitude of services and solutions are available. For more information, please reach out to Fulton County Schools Office of Student Supports at 470-254-0451.

The Curriculum Hub provides a variety of resources to assist parents in supporting their student's learning in the areas of English Language Arts/Reading, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies including:

• A year-at-a-glance for each course with the standards taught in each unit
• Unit plans detailing the specific learning targets to be mastered
• Parent resources to preview or review concepts and skills taught in each unit

Breakfast/Lunch Fees. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has waived fees so all students will continue to receive meals at no charge for the 2021-22 school year, allowing school nutrition professionals to focus on nourishing children for success.

Our School Governance Council has discussed the need to do more as a school community to better understand our student's use of social media and cell phones, and provide education for students and families around this issue. This school year, our students will engage in more discussions with staff around safe and responsible use of cell phones.

Representatives from Bark presented at one of our previous PTO meetings. As a company, Bark provides monitoring service and resources for families. I will be sharing information from Bark and other sources weekly in our newsletter.

There is also a Facebook group that is a great resource: Parenting in a Tech World

Parenting in a Tech World | Facebook

Northwestern will continue to offer many clubs and student activities for our students during the 2021-22 school year. Check back often for more information!

Students interested in joining the NMS Newspaper Staff should contact Ms. Denna Warrayat at warrayat@fultonschools.org.

Each year, NMS honors a Teacher and Professional of the Year. Donations of gift cards (restaurant, shopping, entertainment, beauty& health to name a few) or any other gift items that would be appropriate to include in a gift basket for our winners would be greatly appreciated. If you have any items you would like to donate or own/know a business that is willing to donate an item, please bring all donations to the front office labeled TOTY/POTY PTO Donation by February 9. NMS will announce the winners on Friday, February 11.

Yearbooks are ordered directly from Balfour, click HERE to place your order

Attention 8th Grade Parents

There is only one month left to submit a baby photo or

purchase a shout out or ad for your student.

We are happy to present the following options to honor our 8th grade students!

Steps to purchase/process your submission –

1. Go to www.balfour.com and choose “Shop My School”; search for and select “Northwestern Middle School”

2. Select “Order Now”; select “Add Student”, enter student info and select “Shop for this student”

3. Select the items you would like to purchase (baby photos are listed as $.01, this will be refunded to you once you are checking out). Add items to your cart.

4. Once you check out, you will receive an email within 24 hours with the subject line “Your yearbook ad space is ready”. Follow the steps in the e-mail to create your submission. If you have “ordered” both a baby photo, as well as a shout out or ad space, you can toggle in between each item by clicking the drop down at the top of the ad submission page.

FAQS

· What is the due date for submitting baby photos/ad space?

o February 1st is the deadline, don’t miss out on honoring your 8th grade student!

· How do I know if I have ordered a yearbook?

o There are 2 ways to verify whether or not you have ordered a yearbook. You can check your inbox, if you have ordered a yearbook, you will receive an order confirmation from Balfour. Or, you can log into your Balfour account and click on “My Account” on the top right hand corner of the screen, then click on “My orders” on the left hand side of the screen.

· What is the deadline to order a yearbook?

o The last day to order a yearbook is April 15.

· How do I know if I have completed the process correctly?

o We will be reviewing each order extensively. As long as you have processed your order (i.e. add your items to the cart and then check out completely), we will follow up if we have any questions.

· Do I get a proof to review?

o Since we utilize the exact image that you upload, we do not provide a proof for you to view.

· If you have any questions about your order, call 1-800-BALFOUR or email at contact.us@balfour.com.

Spirit Wear is 25% off until the end of the year. New styles have been added!

Spirtware is available for purchase! A wonderful amount of different NMS Wildcats items for purchase and shipped directly to your home! CLICK HERE!!

Support North Western Middle School and purchase a PTO Membership! All funds go right back into the school to benefit teachers and students. CLICK HERE!!

Home of the Wildcats!

Email: nmsfrontdesk@fultonschools.org
Website: https://www.fultonschools.org/northwesternms
Location: 12805 Birmingham Highway, Milton, GA, USA
Phone: (470) 254-2870
Twitter: @TheNMSWildcats

Thank you for your continued support of Northwestern Middle School!

Sincerely,

Joel - Principal

Northwestern Middle School: Teach Hard, Love Harder - The Wildcat Way!