Hawk Highlights
February 26, 2023
February 26, Volume 2, Issue 22
Dear GVMS Families,
We have had another great week at GVMS. Here's an update on what's good at Gainesville:
A huge congratulations goes out to the GVMS robotics team. We have three team that qualified for the VEX State Championship on Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4! GVMS is so excited to cheer our Hawks on!
Join us in congratulating the GVMS Battle of the Books Team, The Astute Abibliophobes. Teammates Emily B., Ryqah S., Allison C., Emmalyn H., and Stella J. fought 14 other schools in the region to clinch the championship. They read 20 books and answered over 100 questions about the books in a battle for the title. The Astute Abibliophobes were supported by Battle of the Books students, Lief K., Luis G., Audrey B., Kate M., Mannat D., Lili F., Adeline G., Janiah J., Noah M., Anushka M., Jonah N., Ethan R., Alyssa W., and Megan R.. A special thank you to Mrs. Klassen, our fabulous librarian, for her support and sponsorship! RISE up and read HAWKS!!
The 8th-Grade Band will be doing their Assessment performance on Friday 3/3 at Colgan High School. This is their most important performance of the year. Students will be judged and rated (Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair or Poor). The results for each school in Virginia will be posted on VBODA.org. Please wish them luck next Friday!
This upcoming Tuesday, GVMS will be sending a quick survey to students for them to complete during AM Hawk Time. The goal is to collect data to progress monitor our efforts for Positive Climate and Culture on our Continuous Improvement Plan and to make adjustments as we continue this year. Results from the survey will be shared at the next Advisory Council Meeting on Tuesday, March 14. There are 9 questions on the survey and the results will be anonymous. If you would like to preview the questions, they are listed below.
Our 8th-grade students will be taking their writing SOL on Wednesday, March 8, 15, and 22. Please avoid scheduling appointments on these dates, as student attendance at testing sessions is important. When students are absent for the testing session, we are required to pull them out of class at another date/time.
Over the past few weeks, it has been reported to GVMS administrators that students are purchasing candy, snacks, and energy drinks and selling them to classmates at a huge markup. Selling items during the school day is not only against the Code of Behavior, it is against PWCS regulation. Any student that is caught selling items will have the items confiscated for parents to pick-up from school and potentially other consequences per the Code of Behavior.
GVMS Yearbooks - last year we sold out of yearbooks and we don't order more once they are gone. Please order your yearbook today.
As always, we thank you for your educational partnership and look forward to another great week at GVMS.
Best,
Mary Kate Graham
Proud Principal
Twitter: @HighFlyingHawks
GVMS Battle of the Books Champions
GVMS School Climate Survey Question Preview - Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Each question provides the following response choices for students:
- Strong Negative
- Negative
- Positive
- Strong Positive
- Uncertain
- I don't know what this means
GVMS School Climate
1. How are the rules for students at this school?
2. Students at this school are held equally responsible for their behavior.
3. At GVMS, how much does the behavior of other students affect your learning?
4. How often do your teachers seem excited to be teaching your classes?
5. How is the energy in this school?
GVMS School Belonging
6. How well do teachers and staff understand you as a person?
7. How much support do the adults at your school give you?
8. Overall, how much do you feel like you belong at your school?
9. What grade are you in?
Monday, February 27, 2023
- Wrestling Meet @ Home vs. Marstellar MS
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
- Wrestling Meet @ Home vs. Metz Middle
Thursday, March 2, 2023
- Read Across America Day
- March 2 - PWCS Safety and Security Zoom webinar (please register in advance for this webinar) 7:00 PM
Monday, March 6, 2023
- History Bee Club - 3:00 - 4:30
- Girls Basketball Home vs. Bull Run MS
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
- 8th Grade Writing SOL - Multiple Choice
- PTO Meeting over Zoom @ 6:00 PM
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
- Advisory Council Meeting over Zoom @ 6:00 PM
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
- 8th Grade Writing SOL - Short Paper
- Girls Basketball Home vs. Nokesville
Monday, March 20, 2023
- Girls Basketball Home vs. Reagan MS
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
- 8th Grade Writing SOL -Integrated Reading and Writing Test Item Sets
- Girls Basketball Home vs. Marstellar MS
Friday, March 24, 2023
- Students vs. Faculty Basketball Game @ 3:30 PM
PWCS Safety and Security Briefing Events - March 2
PWCS families and community members are invited to attend one of the Safety and Security Briefing events PWCS has scheduled to give you an opportunity to join the discussion about the school division's comprehensive approach to “deter, detect, and defend,” including the use of new preventative technology currently under consideration.
Meetings will begin at 7 p.m. and are scheduled at three high schools around the county and one session offered virtually via Zoom.
- March 2 as a Zoom webinar (please register in advance for this webinar)
March 2 - Read Across America Day
March 2nd is Read Across America Day. The day was established by the National Education Association to help youth get excited about reading. On National Read Across America Day, students, teachers, parents, and community members around the nation come together to read books and celebrate the joy of reading.
Join us by playing a reading trivia game on Gimkit.com with your Hawk Time advisory class. The questions were created by the Battle of the Books Club, so thank you to B.O.B. Club!. All of the books in the game can be found in the GVMS library. Have fun playing Gimkit with your hawk time class on Thursday. Ready, set, go!
8th Grade Superlatives
The results of our 8th-grade superlatives are in! Our 8th-grade students nominated their classmates for the categories below. Any student who was selected for a superlative should let Mrs. Albright know ASAP if you do not want to keep the title. Students will have their photo taken for the yearbook soon. Mrs. Albright will provide students with a pass for the photo. Congratulations!
Most Stylish - Isaiah Y. and Melina A.
Most Athletic - Kamdon B-C and Grace E.
Most Talented - Andrew S-B and Charlotte E.
Most Humerous - John O. and McKenzie K.
Most Likely to be a Billionaire - Linda P., Kohnica O., and Caden A.
Most Talkative - Ray G. and Leah R.
Friendliest - Kate M. and Paa A.
Most Inseparable Pair - Jackson M. and Camden W. / Riese D. and Sadie R.
Most Likely to Become TikTok Famous - Amari R. and Ariana L.
GVMS Parent Notes - Yearbook
Attention Parents/Guardians,
The yearbook staff has decided to include “Parent Notes” in the back of the yearbook again for the 2022-2023 yearbook. This opportunity is available to all parents. not just 8th-grade. It is a fun place to wish your child good luck in high school or congratulate them on an awesome year. This section is separate from the grade level sections and is only the back 4 pages of the yearbook.
**There are limited spaces available for "Parent Notes" in the yearbook, so spaces will be first come, first serve.
Please email Mrs. Albright (albrigea@pwcs.edu) with any questions or to submit a digital photo.
If you would like to include something, it must be turned in by Tuesday, February 28th.
$15 - Include and picture AND a note (72 words or less) to your student.
Make checks payable to Gainesville Middle School.
Student Name: _________________________________________________
Message: ________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Black History Month at GVMS
We will kick off our celebration by sharing the important accomplishments and contributions of Black Americans throughout our nation's history. Black history month was first proposed in 1969 by a group of educators and students at Kent State University. The first celebration of Black History month occurred the following year at the university. Six years later, it was being celebrated all across the country in schools and community centers. At the US Bicentennial in 1976, Gerald Ford urged Americans to, “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Listen to the announcements each morning to find learn more!
Five Below Book Review Contest: Winners week of 2/24/2023
Congratulations to this week's winners of the Five Below Book Recommendation Contest: Niveditha A. and Mannat D. Come get your prize in the office. The contest is not accepting entries anymore at this time. Thanks to all who entered to share good reads! The Literacy committee enjoyed reading all of your awesome recommendations.
Attn Hawk readers: Here are a few reviews of books that you might like to read:
The first book recommendation is for a book titled Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly. "This is a Cinderella story told from the stepsisters' points of view. The stepmother tells them to do ridiculous things, just to make their feet fit the glass slipper. They face all kinds of tough situations because the townspeople have figured out what they've done to Cinderella. The plot twist in the end will leave you astonished and thinking in a different perspective. If you love adventure and mystery, this dystopian story will have you wanting to read more."
Another book that was highly recommended is Where You'll Find Me by Natasha Friend. "Anna's BFF dumped her because she got popular, so now Anna sits at the weird lunch table. She's trapped in a house with her dad and stepmom and their baby while her mom recuperates in a mental hospital. She thinks her life is gone, but her life is just about the change. This book is full of suspense, excitement, and a mix of all emotions. Once you start, you don't want to stop reading it."
Girls on the Run/ Heart & Sole at GVMS!
Girls on the Run/ Heart & Sole is coming to Gainesville Middle School! GOTR/ H & S is a physical activity-based positive youth development program for middle school students. The program teaches life skills through dynamic interactive lessons and running games. The goal of the program is to unleash confidence through accomplishment while establishing a lifetime appreciation of health and fitness.
Starting the week of March 6th, the team will meet every Monday and Thursday from 3-4:30 pm. The program culminates in a celebratory 5K at the end of the season! The standard program fee is $185 and includes 20 lessons/practices, a t-shirt, a water bottle, entry into the 5K, a 5K medal, and more. Financial assistance is available for anyone who needs it, with the lowest program registration cost being $22 for the season. Registration begins on February 6th at www.gotrnova.org.
Did you know that all PWCS students can get free help from Paper tutors?
- If you have an important assessment coming up, reach out for free tutor support.
- Do you need to catch up on your assignments or need extra help remembering how to do something you had in class a few weeks ago? Paper tutors can help.
- Do you need to see an example of how to work through a problem? Reach out to your own personal tutor.
- It's fast, easy, free, safe, and encouraged by PWCS.
- There is no limit to the amount of help you can get, and there is absolutely no charge to you for using the service.
- The tutors will meet you in less than 30 seconds from the time you contact them.
- Tutors are available to you anytime, day or night, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
- To contact your free tutor, visit Paper - Online Tutoring - Prince William County Public Schools (pwcs.edu).
*Note: Teachers can see the names of the students who use Paper in their classes. You'll grow in your confidence as you get help with the areas you might be having difficulty learning.
Why wait until it is too late? Start using a tutor today. Paper can be found in Clever as well.
Student Behavior Reminders:
In our return from winter break, we want to provide some reminders about student behavior at GVMS:
- It seems as if the trend of bathroom destruction has returned to GVMS. When we receive reports during the school day, we have to lock the bathrooms until our custodial team is able to attend to them. We know this is frustrating for students, however, they pose a safety risk and can be gross. Parents - please talk to your students about their behavior in the bathroom and encourage them to do the right thing. Students - please make sure you are keeping the bathrooms clean and encourage your friends to do the same.
- AirPods and headphones are not to be worn at GVMS in the hallways and during instruction. They pose a safety risk and should be kept off and away.
- We also want to provide a reminder to students about the dress code. Shirts that bare the midriff (stomach) are not allowed to be worn at school. We will ask students to wear a sweatshirt/t-shirt over the top of their shirt. Repeated reminders will result in discipline referrals.
Integrated Reading and Writing Test Item Sets - GVMS
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has developed a new type of test question for future Standards of Learning (SOL) Reading assessments in grades 5, 8, and high school. Before this new type of test item can be used in practice, it will be tried out with students this spring during what is called a field test. The field test will be completed sometime between March 20, 2023, and March 31, 2023, at Gainesville Middle School
Students in grades 5, 8, and high school (usually grade 11) who are scheduled to take the online SOL Reading test this spring are expected to participate in the field test. During the field test, students will read a nonfiction passage online that may be about a history or science topic and then answer four to six questions about what they read. One question will be a writing prompt, which will ask students to write about what they read. Students will complete the online field test in one day. Currently, VDOE is only trying out this item type in an online format. However, in the future, this item type will be available in other formats such as paper. Examples of the new item type are available for students, parents, and teachers to view online in what is called “Integrated Reading and Writing Item Sets.” These item sets include examples for grade 5, grade 8, and high school students.
More information can be found on the SOL Practice Items page of the VDOE website located at: https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/student-assessment/sol-practiceitems-all-subjects
Families of participating students should note that individual test results from the field test will not be available to students. Rather results from the field test will be used to make decisions about the use of the new integrated reading and writing item type on future state assessments.
PWCS Stormwater TMDL Action Plan Survey
As part of Prince William County School’s commitment to the environment and compliance to Virginia’s MS4 regulations concerning stormwater pollution prevention, PWCS has developed Bacteria Total Maximum Daily Load Action Plans for the Potomac River, Anacostia River, Neabsco Creek, Bull Run, Little Bull Run and Occoquan Rivers.
Please click on the following links to review the documents and take advantage of an opportunity to leave a comment for consideration to be incorporated into the document.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWCS_Bacteria_TMDL_Action_Plan
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWCS_Neabsco_CreekBacteria_TMDL_Action_Plan
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWCS_Occoquan_River_Bacteria_TMDL_Action_Plan
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWCS_Bull_Run_Benthic_TMDL_Action_Plan
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWCS_Potomac_Anacostia_Rivers_PCB_TMDL_Action_Plan
Thank you for taking an invested interest in PWCS’s efforts to prevent stormwater pollution on our properties. If you want to learn more about other stormwater pollution prevention efforts at PWCS, please click on the following link to the PWCS website where you will find additional stormwater pollution prevention resources.
GVMS Athletics Events Reminders
Student Behavior at GVMS Events
It is important to remember that the Code of Behavior still applies at all PWCS and GVMS athletics and extra-curricular events. If students are not following the Code of Behavior, they will be sent home, and may lose privileges to come to future events.
PWCS Bag Policy at Athletic Events
Please notice the safety rule for bags that was implemented last school year (21-22) in PWCS. Please plan ahead before attending any school event across the county and possibly out of county.
BAGS ARE NOT PERMITTED IN THE ATHLETIC FACILITY
(Includes Backpacks, Purses, Fanny Packs, Etc.)
Clear bags are allowed for use as a diaper or medical bag and are subject to search.
Parent Pick-Up
Please note the start time of sporting events and time accordingly to arrange for quick pick-up of students after sporting events. Administrators supervising the events provide reminders to students as to when to contact parents to arrange for pick-up and will send out a text to families with about 10 minutes left in the game.
Ways to Report Absences...
1. ParentVUE:
GVMS ParentVue and Canvas Cheat Sheets
Our fabulous Instructional Technology Coach, Mrs. Chrissy Richmond, put together some "cheat sheets" for Parent Vue and Canvas. Both documents can be accessed by clicking on the links below.
Paper Online Tutoring
Raise your hand if you could use some help with class assignments! The Office of Teaching and Learning is excited to announce that Prince William County Schools has partnered with Paper, a 24/7 academic support tutoring platform. Through Paper, our students can safely and securely chat with an expert tutor anytime, anywhere, for free.
Whether they need help clarifying homework questions or feedback on a written assignment, they can get on-demand and unlimited help when they need it! Teachers can also have students access this service during the school day for small group or individual support while in class!
To get started:
- Log into Paper via Clever or visit app.paper.co to connect with a tutor.
- Use this link to learn more: https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/ Instructional_technology/paper
PWCS Transportation Information
Wondering where the bus is? Check out Here Comes the Bus
Wondering if the bus is delayed? Check out the PWCS Bus Delay Website
Questions or concerns about your bus route? Contact Transportation Services
PWCS uses the “Say Something” Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS) designed specifically for students in grades 6-12 and staff to report any type of serious or potentially violent concerns of unsafe behavior or threats of harm to self or others. Say Something is a youth violence prevention program from the national nonprofit organization Sandy Hook Promise and is provided and sustained at no cost to PWCS.
“Tipsters” can send reports on anything from school threats they’ve seen or overheard to personal crises including sexual harassment, self-harm, and depression. The system enables school administrators and those in law enforcement to create effective interventions and intervene upon at-risk individuals to help prevent violence, suicide, bullying, self-harm, and other forms of threatening behavior.
All tips submitted receive an immediate response by one of the highly skilled crisis counselors at the Sandy Hook Promise National Crisis Center; this person then determines the necessary support steps. When credible tips are received that are life-threatening and require immediate attention, the crisis center will notify school-based representatives, even after hours. And, in cases of imminent threat, the crisis center will contact local 911 dispatch and involve law enforcement. Users can submit a tip by calling 1-844-5-SAYNOW or by visiting www.saysomething.net. The free app is available for download from the App Store and Google Play Store, where students can submit tips instantly.
Administation Team
Mrs. Mary Kate Graham - Principal - grahammk@pwcs.edu
Ms. Michelle Praul - 6th Grade Assistant Principal - praulmh@pwcs.edu
Mr. Ed Schultz - 7th Grade Assistant Principal - schultej@pwcs.edu
Mr. Steve Williams - 8th Grade Assistant Principal - williasp@pwcs.edu
Safety and Security Team
Mr. Antione Jeter - jeterad@pwcs.edu
Mr. Jeffrey Barnes - barnesja@pwcs.edu
Counseling Team
Mrs. Jessie Castles - Director of School Counseling - castlejm@pwcs.edu
Ms. Janaelle Robles - Last Names A - Cou - roblesj@pwcs.edu
Mrs. Erin Abbott - Last Names Cr - Hin - abbotte@pwcs.edu
Mrs. Sarah Ware - Last Names Hl - Mik - waresm@pwcs.edu
Ms. Alexis Hawkins - Last Names Mil - Rut - hawkinam@pwcs.edu
Mrs. Autumn Brown - Last Names Ruu - Z - brownal2@pwcs.edu
Mrs. Patricia Lopez - Registrar - lopezpa@pwcs.edu
Technology Team
Mrs. Christine Richmond, Instructional Technology Coach: richmocm@pwcs.edu
- Canvas
- Parent Vue/Student Vue
Mr. Joseph Evans, Technology Specialist: evansj1@pwcs.edu
- Device Information and support