PCMS Weekly Update

Here’s a quick recap of our Pirates in action from this past week.

Archery: The PCMS Pirates aimed, fired, and CONQUERED at Nationals!

Special Olympics: This past weekend, our Special Olympics athletes competed in the 2025 Spring Games in Lee's Summit — and they had an incredible showing! Jaxon Asher came away with 1st in Long Jump, 3rd in Softball and 4th in the 50m. Gemma Hammil placed 1st in the 25m, 2nd in Softball and 4th in Long Jump. Nati Samuel came away with 1st in the 25m, 1st in Softball and 2nd in Long Jump. Isla Swenddal received 3rd in the 50m, 3rd in Long Jump and 3rd in Softball. Way to go, Pirates!

The CharacterDare is a heart workout, inviting students and adults to practice kindness, patience, and respect with themselves and others. These school-wide challenges encourage staff and students to put character into action, fostering personal growth and positively impacting school culture.

This Week's CharacterDare is: Hidden Thanks (see below).

Next week, we start MAP testing. Your students will need wired earbuds and a charged Chromebook for testing. If your student needs to purchase wired earbuds, they can be purchased in the office for $1. Chargers can also be purchased in the office for $20.

Also please make sure that your students get a good night's sleep the night before and eat a healthy breakfast! We look forward to a successful couple weeks of MAP testing.

As we prepare for state testing on Monday, it is important to recognize that this can naturally bring added stress for students. While some anxiety is normal, the increased attention around state tests can heighten that pressure. As a school, we want to support students and share a few helpful tips families can use at home:

• Practice Deep Breathing: In any stressful situation—whether it’s a test, competition, or big event—deep breathing can help calm the nerves. Encourage your student to visualize something peaceful and take slow, deep breaths. A great technique is 5-Finger Breathing: start at the base of the thumb, inhale while tracing up the finger, exhale while tracing down, and repeat on each finger.

• Try the 1+3+10 Strategy: Educational psychologist Dr. Michele Borba suggests this simple approach for moments of tension: 1—stop and tell yourself “Be calm,” 3—take three slow, deep breaths, and 10—count slowly to ten.

• Get a Good Night’s Sleep: A reminder to head to bed a bit earlier the night before testing can go a long way in helping students feel more rested and less stressed.

• Normalize the Feeling: Let your student know that it’s completely normal to feel nervous before something important. Sometimes students become more anxious when they think feeling that way isn’t okay.

Perhaps the most important thing students can do is “try their best and forget the rest.” These tests are designed to provide feedback to teachers and schools so we can better understand what areas we can continue to improve in our instruction, as well as help us identify the learning needs of individual students.

These students were nominated by their teachers for doing it the Pirate Way by showing great character! These students were recognized at our Assembly yesterday where they received a certificate and a gift bag with goodies. Today, they were able to have a pizza lunch with a friend and play in the game room with a friend during Advisory. Congratulations - we’re super proud of them!

Our Lost & Found is exploding. We have over 100 items that need to be claimed. At the end of the school year, all of these items will be donated to a local charity if they are not claimed. Please have your students check for their items as soon as possible.

Our 8th Graders will have the opportunity to go on a Field Trip to the Kansas City Zoo. The High Tide and the Anchor Down Teams will be attending the Zoo on Wednesday, May 28th. They will leave the school at 8:45 am and return to the school around 2:15 pm. There is a $11 admission fee for this field trip and our amazing PTO is paying $6 per student, so parents are responsible for $5.

A permission slip is now available to fill out on the PowerSchool Parent Portal. PLEASE FILL OUT THE ONLINE FORM EVEN IF YOUR STUDENT WILL BE ABSENT THAT DAY. All permission slips need to be returned by May 16th.

If you are using the app on your phone, please select the "More" icon at the bottom of your Dashboard screen. Then you will select the "Forms" icon to find the 8th Grade Field Trip Form. If you are on a Desktop, you will just need to select the Forms tab from the Home screen. (see pictures below) While you are filling out the permission slip, you will be able to pay the $5 for the trip via debit/credit card. If you have any questions, please contact the office.

We are in need of parent volunteers in order to go on this field trip. Below is a Parent Volunteer Supervision Sign Up for parent volunteers. Please pay attention to the slot you sign up for. The link is split between the High Tide team and the Anchor Down team. We are able to provide some tickets for free for volunteers so please pay attention to the sign up slot. . (Parents who sign up and pay for their own ticket… you will have to purchase tickets online for $20 or at the door for $22).

Please fill out the form below to register.

Northland Career Center is holding a silent auction to raise money for students travelling to the SkillsUSA national contest in Atlanta, GA this summer. We have 14 students who have qualified to attend, and the proceeds from this fundraiser will go directly to bringing down travel costs for students.

The silent auction will be open through Monday, May 5th at 8:00pm, so be sure to get those bids in! Auction site is LINKED HERE!

Parents of existing Kindergarten through 11th grade students: Yesterday, you should have received an email to complete re-enrollment for your returning student. If you haven't already done so, please complete online re-enrollment forms and electronic proof of residency by Tuesday, May 27, via your PowerSchool Parent Portal Account and clicking on the "Returning Student Registration 2025-26" link. If you need assistance, please contact your child's school. Please note: This must be done via a browser, not on the Parent Portal app. If using your phone, please turn your phone horizontally.

• Platte County School District is excited to announce that Summer School will be held June 2-30, 2025 (please note updated dates). All Platte County R-3 students are invited to attend and continue to grow as learners throughout the summer! The purpose of PCR-3’s Summer School Program is to provide an experience that is relevant, rigorous, and engaging, based on individual learner needs, in a safe and caring environment. Click here for more information about Summer School at PCR-3.
  

  
  

  • Parents of existing students currently in grades PreK-7 interested in K-8 Summer School: You can now enroll for 2025 Summer School via the Forms on PowerSchool Parent Portal (via a browser or the app). Please complete by May 16, 2025.
  • Incoming Kindergarten students will be able to complete summer school registration after they complete regular enrollment. Click here for 2025-26 New Student Enrollment. (Kindergarten Kickoffs will be held April 15 and parents will learn how to enroll your kindergartner in Summer School).
  • High School summer school program enrollment began April 14, 2025 via Parent Portal.

Middle School students will partner with the Missouri Department of Conservation to explore real world ecological issues on our campus, as well as participate in a Make48 Innovation experience.

• Missouri Department of Conservation: Students will be examining issues related to water and its impact on our land. Teachers will guide students through a project-based experience with the Missouri Department of Conservation, called "Unhooked."
• Make48 Innovation Experience: Students will work in teams for this innovation challenge, and will engage with a real-world client to work through a design problem and ultimately create a solution including a small-scale prototype, a one-minute marketing or informational video, and an informational sales sheet.

Click here for details on high school summer school offerings including traditional courses, credit recovery courses, and driver's education. Sign up via Parent Portal starting April 14.

Open to current 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students.

Cheer clinics: 5:30- 7:00 pm, PCHS North gym, May 5-7

Cheer Tryouts: Starting at 3:30pm, PCHS North gym, May 8

The high school robotics team will be holding tryouts for incoming freshmen in the new part of the high school from 3:15-5:00pm on May 20th - 22nd. (Enter through the main doors at the bus loop, Entrance 6. The robotics room is to the left.)

In order to try out, you will need to do the following:

1. Sign up for tryouts on this Google Form. You can sign up for multiple days if you want to present in two different areas (one each day).

2. Fill out this Questionnaire as part of the application process.

3. Get 2 teacher recommendations. Please send/share this Teacher Recommendation Form with 2 of your teachers. **Ask that they complete it by Friday, May 9th.

Below are the guidelines for each tryout:

Building: To demonstrate your building skills, you will be asked to reconstruct a small structure using typical Robotics parts.
Programming: You will program a simple autonomous and/or drive program that will be tested out on a bot.
Driving: You will be asked to demonstrate your driving skills through a predetermined course on the field.

Notebooking: You will have a short interview about your style of notebooking, and if you have previous notebooking experience, please present your best pages from your notebook. This may be shared in one of three ways: 1) email a selection of pages to assel.wendy@pcr3schools.org, or 2) digitize your entire notebook and email it to assel.wendy@pcr3schools.org, or 3) bring your physical notebook with you to tryouts.

If you have any questions, please email Coach Assel (assel.wendy@pcr3schools.org) or Coach Perkins (perkins.kyle@pcr3schools.org).

We'll be keeping our community informed of our construction timeline for each of our bond projects. Updates will be posted monthly on our website here.

Click here for a bond projects construction timeline.

Thursday, May 29 will be our last day of school, and will be a 3-hour early dismissal for students.

Click here for a link to next school year's calendar.

May 5

• MAP Testing Starts
• Top 2 Preliminary Track Meet @ Staley High School, 3 pm
  

May 6

• 7th Grade Only Track Meet @ Kearney High School, 4 pm
  

May 7

• Championship Track Meet @ Staley High School, 4 pm
  

May 8

• So This is Middle School Night for 5th Grade Parents/Guardians, 6 pm

• FCA Meeting, 7:10 am
• Robotics Vex World Championship
  

May 10

• Robotics Vex World Championship
  

May 11

• Robotics Vex World Championship
  

May 12

• Spring Choir Concert @ Wilson Auditorium, 7 pm

May 15

• High School Softball 8th Grade Student Informational Meeting, 7:00 am
• Spring Band Concert @ Wilson Auditorium, 6 pm

Pirates R.O.C.K. (Raising Outstanding Character Kids) is a program designed to surround our families with examples of strong character traits through school experiences, at home, and reinforced in their community. Each month our community focuses on a specific character trait and students are recognized for exhibiting these traits: Self Confidence, Pride, Responsibility, Citizenship, Compassion, Individuality, Self Control, Integrity, Perseverance, Respect, Honesty, and Cooperation.

• May's #PiratesROCK trait is RESPECT: being considerate of others, property, rules & authority.
  
  

  Leader in Me Connections to RESPECT:
  

  • Habit 1: Be proactive - You are in charge of you.
  • Habit 4: Think win-win - Find ways where everyone can win.
    
  • Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood - Listen first, then talk.
  • Habit 6: Synergize - Work together to do better.

  
  

  Character Strong Connections to RESPECT:

  • Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Patience, Kindness

Email: tomlinson.kristie@pcr3schools.org
Website: http://www.pcms.plattecountyschooldistrict.com
Location: 900 Pirate Drive, Platte City, MO, 64079
Phone: (816)858-2036
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plattecitymiddleschool/