FMS PARENT INFORMATION SMORE
January 24
CALENDAR DATES
JANUARY 25
- i-Ready Diagnostic testing - Math *testing schedule today
- Bball HOME vs Butner Stem MS 4:30 pm
- Wrestling AWAY @ TLMS
JANUARY 27
- Report cards go out in the mail - look for At-Risk letters for students who are in danger of failing the grade.
JANUARY 30
- Bball AWAY @ Vance County MS
FEBRUARY 1
- Bball HOME vs Wake Prep 4:30 pm
- Early College High School 8th grade visit to talk about applying for next year
FEBRUARY 2
- Wrestling match AWAY @ Hawley MS
FEBRUARY 3
- Louisburg Magnet High School 8th grade visit to talk about applying for next year
FEBRUARY 6-10
- SCHOOL COUNSELOR APPRECIATION WEEK
FEBRUARY 6
- Wrestling match AWAY @ Cedar Creek
FEBRUARY 7
- Bball HOME vs N. Granville MS 4:30 pm
FEBRUARY 8
- FMS PARENT GROUP 6PM *VIRTUAL
FEBRUARY 9
- Bball AWAY @ Bunn MS - LAST GAME!
FEBRUARY 13
- MATH NC CHECK-INS ALL STUDENTS - make sure your child is ready to do their best!
FEBRUARY 16
- Franklinton High School 8th Grade visit to talk about what high school will be like
- EARLY RELEASE (12:30PM RELEASE)
FEBRUARY 17
- NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
FEBRUARY 20-21
- ACCESS testing for all English Language Learner students
FEBRUARY 21
- FRANKLINTON HIGH SCHOOL SPRING SHOWCASE - 8th grade families go tour the highschool, meet teachers, staff, and coaches. Learn more about what high school will be like!
FEBRUARY 22
- Bus Driver Appreciation Day - show your appreciation for our very hard working bus drivers!
COST TO GET INTO ALL SPORTING EVENTS: $5.00 & LITTLE ONES ARE FREE
ONCE YOU ENTER THE GAME, IF YOU LEAVE IT IS $5.OO TO RETURN TO THE GAME.
FMS HAS FREE TUTORING!!
Our teachers are available Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday to tutor students after school from 3:30-5:00 pm. Take advantage of this FREE one on one help! Pick-up is on Vine Street at the cafeteria entrance.
REPORT CARD DESIGNATIONS
- Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 all tell you the grades that your child has for that particular quarter. For each quarter, this is the grade that your child currently has in that class.
- S1, S2 shows you the cumulative grades that your child has for that particular semester. Each semester is two quarters (one half year). This grade will change all semester and is finalized at the end of each semester (January and June).
- F1 shows you the grade that your child has for the year. This grade will change as the year goes on and is finalized in June.
SCHOOL COUNSELOR CORNER WITH MS. GILBERT
SEE HELPFUL LINKS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS NEWSLETTER
MORE AND MORE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE VAPING - WE NEED YOUR HELP!
THE TRUTH ABOUT VAPING AND E-CIGS
Nationally, about 1 in 10 middle and 1 in 6 high school students vape. Your child’s brain is still developing until the age of about 25. Nicotine is highly addictive, and is present in vapes and e-cigs, along with other harmful chemicals and particles. Vaping is not a safe alternative to cigarettes. It actually leads to cigarette smoking and other drug use. Even worse, the damage done to a young brain and young lungs is irreversible and can lead to serious physical and mental health issues in adulthood. Learning, decision making, and impulse control are impeded when the brain suffers damage while it is still developing.
Watch: Vaping: The Hit Your Brain Takes
Read: The Risks of E-cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults
8th Grade Parents!
The deadline for 8th grade students to apply to Early College High School or Louisburg Magnet High School is February 10th!
There is one application for both programs. CLICK HERE to apply to either program, or both!
Early College High School is a FREE 5-year program at the VGCC campus in Louisburg, that blends high school and college so students have the opportunity to earn a high school diploma and Associate’s Degree from VGCC at the same time. (For free.) ECHS will visit FMS for a presentation with our students and answer any questions you may have. You can visit their website at Franklin County Early College High School to learn more about the program. (There’s no fees for college courses or for college textbooks, because it’s free.)
Louisburg Magnet High School will have a STEM focus. Staff and students from LMHS will present info to our 8th grade class on Feb. 3rd. Check out the LMHS website for updated info at Louisburg Magnet High School
We’ll be doing registration for ALL 8th grade students with Franklinton High School this quarter. Their counselors will visit FMS mid February to talk to our students about high school and registration. They will return to FMS in early March to register our 8th grade students for 9th grade classes.
This year the FHS Spring Showcase is the evening of February 21st. The Showcase provides a great way to introduce students to the FHS campus, classes, and extracurricular activities. 8th grade students and their parents can visit the school and speak to teachers, staff, and coaches and learn more about the school at their rising 9th grade presentation. Please plan to attend!
Keep informed about FHS at Franklinton High School.
Please encourage your students to finish 8th grade strong, as we are preparing them for high school classes!
i-READY IS A LARGE PART OF YOUR CHILD'S GRADE IN MATH AND ELA
READ MORE BELOW - SEVERAL TEACHERS ARE MENTIONING THAT WHEN TALKING ABOUT POOR GRADES!
NEWS FROM THE 6TH GRADE TEAM
SCIENCE: MS. DOWNUM
We have had a busy month with NC check ins and i-ready testing. The students are really enjoying the dive into the scientific method we are taking by doing a mini introduction to the forensics unit we are working on. Today they were able to take their fingerprints and bring them home to share with you. This has been great practice with honing their skills in the scientific method.
MATH: MR. MITCHELL
Hello and thank you for taking the time to read!
Grades:
The quarter has come to an end today and some of you may be unsatisfied with your student’s grade. This was the first quarter that iReady was taken as an assignment grade. iReady can be completed at home and each student is required to complete 60 minutes and pass 2 lessons every week. It begins on Monday and restarts on Sunday, so please ensure that your student is getting this completed at home if they do not use their time wisely during school hours.
Tutoring:
If any of you are convinced that your student needs some extra help, I highly encourage you to have them attend tutoring. Tutoring is every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 3:30-5:00pm and it would be beneficial for their general understanding, as well as, their grades.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me at brandonnmitch316@gmail.com. Enjoy the last couple weeks of winter and I will see you around!
Mr Mitchell
UPDATES FROM THE 7TH GRADE TEAM
SCIENCE: MS. NEUJAHR
Welcome to Quarter 3 in Science!
This quarter, we are learning all about Physics! Students will learn energy, motion, gravity, and much much more. They have been assigned their scientists for the wax museum for their Q3 project so please ask them about it! If you have any questions regarding assignments or the project, please contact me at danielleneujahr@fcschools.net
ELA: MS. BAECHLE:
Welcome to quarter three students and families, we are at the half year mark and are definitely keeping ourselves busy!
Students took the second round of the ELA Check-in’s last week and I can say we had some growth, more specifically in the standards we honed in on during remediation the week prior. Your students enhanced their understanding and showed growth on six plus standards from Check-in one to Check in two. This week we take the second round of both the ELA and Math I-Ready Diagnostic. ELA will be on Tuesday 1/24 and Math on Wednesday 1/25. Remind students to take their time and to do their best. Diagnostic results show us what skill-sets students have mastered, and which areas need more practice.
We are just over the halfway mark of our second text “A Long Walk to Water,” and students are doing a great job making connections among the characters of Salva and Nya, as well as between “ALWTW” and our first text “Lyddie.” Students continue to grow in their understanding of NF texts (informational) and F texts (literature), as well as selecting appropriate textual evidence to support their claims. Students will have a mid-way project between Q3 and Q4 that will entail a six page research paper on a social issue of their choice, as well as a two to three minute “green screen” commercial on what can be done to either improve or abolish their chosen social issue. More info to come on their next project towards the middle of Q3.
Please make sure students are completing 45 minutes of I-Ready for both ELA and Math weekly in order to increase their reading lexile and overall comprehension. In addition, please make sure Powerschool is checked on a weekly basis to ensure work is completed and missing work is made up in a timely manner.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me at: kimberlybaechle@fcschools.net with any questions.
UPDATES FROM THE 8TH GRADE TEAM
ELA: MS. FROST
New Unit: The Civil Rights Movement and the Little Rock Nine
We have begun a new unit of study using the novel titled, A Mighty Long Way by Carlotta Walls LaNier. Students will study the U.S. civil rights movement, focusing particularly on The Little Rock Nine. They will consider the question “How can stories be powerful?” as they learn about segregation, the civil rights movement, The Little Rock Nine, and the role various mediums shape differing perceptions of historical events (photographs, song lyrics, videos, informational articles, court documents, and excerpts from Carlotta’s memoir A Mighty Long Way). In Unit 1, students will build background knowledge as they study the history of segregation and Jim Crow laws in the United States. They will begin by reading primary sources, such as the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision and the dissenting opinion by Justice Harlan.
There are two guiding essential questions students will refer to when engaged in lessons and completing assignments.
How can I make connections with different texts about the same historical event and draw my own conclusions based on text evidence?
How can I analyze a memoir as it makes connections to individuals, ideas, and events in narrative form?
Testing Updates: Last week students completed the Mid Year NC Check-In for Reading. It is a state assessment administered to students three times a year. Once I receive the results, I will share the data with students. I am looking specifically for growth based on the beginning of year assessment in comparison to mid year assessment.
Check out a book talk on A Mighty Long Way
Click on the picture to check it out!
SCIENCE: MS. HEAD
We are continuing to dig into Earth History and will then move into Evolution. The next vocabulary quiz will be January 31st. The next unit test will be Thursday, February 2nd on Earth History. In the Second Step lessons we are going to start back up by finishing up the bullying and harassment unit. Please encourage your student to get online and work on IXL (through classlink) and complete at least 15 correct questions per week. Please let me know if any questions come up (my email: nadinehead@fcschools.net). Thank you!
SOCIAL STUDIES: MR. DOWNUM
The next two weeks are going to be busy for the kids. On Tuesday and Wednesday 1/24-25 the students will be working on Iready diagnostics. Please make sure that the kids are getting lots of sleep, and that they have a fully charged Chromebook. The diagnostic is an important tool that we can use to help find where the students are and how we can best help them.
In social studies we are continuing the unit growing pains. The Students are looking at events in this era that start to help define our national identity. I am hoping to finish this unit in the next two weeks but I will move at a pace that the students can handle, and actually grasp the content.
MATH: MR. HURD
New Unit: Functions
This unit is one of the most crucial for EOG’s for about a third of the years curriculum is based around functions, these fun graphs are going to be the main center of the next month or two. Because of this I really hope everyone is able to attend and be ready to ask any questions they may to make sure everyone understands before going deeper into the topic.
A reminder for students iReady still counts, I was looking back at the last quarters grades and I was impressed with the amount of lessons some students did. I am trying to find a way to treat those who did vast amounts of iReady. Again this is a responsibility, and one that I will not hound for the grades of, even though I do provide reminders during class.
We are in a new quarter folks, so be prepared and remember anything can change for the better, if anyone is concerned about their grade from last quarter, you can fret over the past, but I would recommend moving past it and focusing on the units at hand.
UPDATES FROM THE ELECTIVES TEAM
DRAMA: MS. HATTEN
Students finished up the First Semester STRONG!
8th grade students created food props and did a great job!
HELPFUL LINKS FOR ALL PARENTS
Ms. Gilbert’s Google Site (School Counselor): click here
Helpful Resources
NC211.org (or call 211)
Food Finder (FoodBank of Central NC)
Hope4NC (or call 1-855-587-3463)
TransitionsLifeCare.org (or call the Grief Line 919-719-7199)
National Domestic Violence Hotline (or call 800-799-7233)
SuicideCrisisLifeline.org (or call 988)
National Alliance of Mental Illness/NC (or call 800-451-9682)
Vaya Health (or call their Behavioral Health Crisis Line at 800-849-6127)
How to Contact Ms. Gilbert:
Complete and submit this form: Counselor Request Form
Or send email to: marygilbert@fcschools.net
Or call FMS at 919-494-2971 ext. 298
DOWNLOAD THE NEW FCS APP!
- View grades
- View attendance
- View bus info
- View the lunch menu
- Access school and staff info
- Receive important alerts
- View news stories
- View calendar info
IT'S EASY! GO TO THE FCS WEBSITE, LOOK FOR THE AD FOR THE APP, CLICK ON THE LOGO FOR THE APP STORE YOU USE FOR YOUR PHONE, AND DOWNLOAD THE APP. EASY!
*ONCE YOU ARE IN THE APP, CLICK ON THE PARENT PORTAL ICON, PUT IN YOUR PHONE NUMBER THAT YOU HAVE IN POWERSCHOOL, AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE YOUR CHILD'S GRADES AND ASSIGNMENTS. EASY!