Otwell Middle School

Congratulations to Ms. Ashley Mayabb - Otwell Middle School’s Teacher of the Year!

Congratulations to Mrs.

Flowers for receiving a $5000

grant to purchase new

multilingual books for the

Media Center!

We would like to Spotlight these teachers for incorporating wonderful Instructional Strategies within their classrooms.

We had a great time celebrating our athletes at our Pep Rally Thursday!

Celebrating the champions of accuracy and organization this National Bookkeeper Week! Your hard work keeps everything in balance. Thank you for all that you do Mrs. Laura Ring! #BookkeeperWeek #ThankYou.

PICTURE DAY IS APPROACHING!

ATTENTION PARENTS & GUARDIANS:

Students-Don’t be a blank spot in the yearbook! Otwell’s school picture day is on Tuesday, September 17th. School portraits will be taken by BPI Photography and are a great way to preserve your child’s school memories. These pictures also serve as a school fundraiser, so please remember to participate.

Order forms will be be sent home with your student closer to the event, but for those who wish to order online using a debit or credit card, click our school’s prepay link below to order:

1. Online Prepay Purchase / Credit Cards:

https://bpiphotography.net/view-order-photos/

2. Cash or Check (with an order form, collected by a BPI photographer)

a. ONLY accepted on Picture Day

b. Cash - Exact Change only

c. Checks made payable to: BPI Photography

Pre-Orders are available through picture day, and those packages will deliver back to the school for your child to bring home. You CAN still order pictures after picture day all-year long, but post-picture day orders ship directly home, so there will be a residential shipping charge. BPI guarantees 100% satisfaction. If you are unsatisfied, upon return of your original package, you may receive a full refund. You may also have your student retake their picture on makeup day and BPI will reorder that package for you. Otwell’s makeup picture day is scheduled for October 22nd.

Questions regarding Otwell’s school picture day can be sent to msessa@forsyth.k12.ga.us.

Visit our photographer's website at www.bpiphotography.net or call (866) 363-6936 with questions. As always, thank you for your continued support!

Spirit night at Los Rios is Sept 11th!

https://www.otwellpto.com/omsspiritwear?category=Family%20Portrait%20Event

Check out Season II/Episode 1 of Bulldog Bites! Bulldog Bites will keep you informed of the highlights happening each week at Otwell Middle School. In this episode, for the week of 9/2/24, we talk about:

· Basketball Clinic (9/30-10/4)

· Volleyball practice (9/5)

· OMS Pep Rally (9/5)

· OMS Math Team (1st meeting 9/11)

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2119366/15695456

SCOLIOSIS SCREENINGS for all 6th and 8th grade students will be MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH. Students who are absent that day will be called up for the screening when they return to school.

Scoliosis screenings involve examination of the spine, therefore all students will need to remove their shirt for the screening. Girls are encouraged to wear a bra, sports bra or bathing suit top under their shirt on screening day. All efforts will be made to respect each student's privacy and modesty.

If you do not wish for your student to take part in the scoliosis screening at school, a parent/guardian must 'opt-out' by signing the refusal form electronically in Parent Portal (Campus Parent) or printing a paper copy and returning it to Nurse Michelle prior to screening day.

Additional information about Scoliosis, a printable version of the refusal form, and guidance on how to electronically refuse the screening can be found on the School Nurse webpage located here: https://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/Page/54763

Please feel free to reach out to Nurse Michelle via email if you have any questions: mwinsness@forsyth.k12.ga.us.

LOS EXÁMENES DE ESCOLIOSIS para todos los estudiantes de 6º y 8º grado serán el LUNES 16 DE SEPTIEMBRE. Los estudiantes que estén ausentes ese día serán llamados para la evaluación cuando regresen a la escuela.

Los exámenes de escoliosis implican un examen de la columna vertebral, por lo tanto, todos los estudiantes deberán quitarse la camisa para el examen. Se anima a las niñas a usar sostén, sostén deportivo o camiseta de traje de baño debajo de la camisa el día de la evaluación. Se harán todos los esfuerzos posibles para respetar la privacidad y modestia de cada estudiante.

Si no desea que su estudiante participe en la evaluación de escoliosis en la escuela, un padre/tutor debe "optar por no participar" firmando el formulario de rechazo electrónicamente en el Portal para Padres (Campus Parent) o imprimiendo una copia impresa y devolviéndola a Enfermera Michelle antes del día de la evaluación.

Puede encontrar información adicional sobre la escoliosis, una versión imprimible del formulario de rechazo y orientación sobre cómo rechazar electrónicamente la prueba de detección en la página web de la enfermera escolar ubicada aquí:https://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/Page/54763

Email Nurse Michelle with any questions or concerns: mwinsness@forsyth.k12.ga.us

Fill out this form if your child is absent

Llene este formulario si su hijo esta ausente

https://forms.office.com/r/wBSD2ypALk

• Please remember that NO outside food or drinks are allowed to be brought to the school

• Por favor recuerde que NO se permite traer a la escuela comida o bebidas del exterior

We had our Sources of Strength Adult Advisor training on 8/22 and our Peer Leader training on 8/27. We are looking forward to starting our Source of Strength program and planning our first schoolwide campaign. Look for more information coming about this in the future.

Sources of Strength

Camp MAGIK, a FREE healing camp for bereaved children and adolescents, who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or other close loved one, is announcing its fall 2024 camp session. This session will be held October 4-6. Applications need to be postmarked or emailed to us no later than September 20, 2024. We will provide free transportation to camp and back based on need.

Camp MAGIK - Fall Announcement 2024

Camp MAGIK - Fall Announcement 2024 en Español

There is a Law in Georgia, The BRIDGE Bill, that requires all students in 7th and 9th grade to be given the opportunity to complete an aptitude test and an interest profile that matches student to possible careers and career clusters. In Forsyth County, we use a program called YouScience to meet these requirements. In September, school counselors will start implementing these activities.

6th Grade:

Complete Career Cluster Inventory

7th Grade:

Complete Interest Profiler Inventory and Aptitude Assessments

Explore three career clusters

8th Grade:

Save three occupations/occupational information in student portfolio

Update Individual Graduation Plan

Receive Dual Enrollment information regarding earning College Credit in High School

For more information, please contact your school counselor or explore the following links.

https://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/Page/32899

https://www.gadoe.org/Technology-Services/Enterprise-Systems-and-Applications/SLDS/Pages/CounselorCompanion.aspx

Why movement is important for kids and how to motivate them.

Kids’ Fitness: How to Get and Keep Kids Active | Strong4Life

Saturday, September 7th

Horizon Christian Fall Invitational

https://ga.milesplit.com/meets/619474-horizon-christian-fall-cross-country-invite-2024

Tuesday, October 1st

Mountain Invitational

https://ga.milesplit.com/meets/625738-mountain-invitational-middle-school-2024

Science: Thank you so much for signing up to send in items for our Edible Comet Lab. All items need to be here by Tuesday, September 17th. We are continuing our study on Earth’s ability to support life and comparing it to other planets in our solar system. Students will be working on a CER in class comparing data among many objects in our solar system that will be a formative grade.

Advanced Science: What type of songs do the planets sing? Nep-tunes! Advanced science students will finish their choice solar system project and present what they've done, then we'll dive into the smaller celestial objects: comets, meteors, and asteroids. We will test over this part of astronomy the following week of 9/16, and exact day will be updated asap.

Enrichment: This week our mini-lessons have focused on theme. Students are diligently reading for 30 minutes each class. It has been fun getting to know readers during conferences. The September Lexile check will be on Monday.

Math: Next week we will learn about how to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions and mixed numbers.

Advanced Math: Next week, we will begin Unit 3- Number System Fluency. Our topics for the week will include divisibility rules, GCF, LCM, and word problems with GCF and LCM. We will have a quiz on Friday, Sept 13.

Accelerated Math: Next week we will be working on all four operations involving fractions. We will quiz over operations with fractions on Friday.

Social Studies: In Social Studies, we are beginning unit 2 about government and economics. During this unit, we will be going over the types of economic systems and the types of government. We will finish this unit by fall break.

Advanced Social Studies: Students will continue building their civilization by adding government and economic information. This summative project is due at the start of class on Monday 9/16.

ELA: We are continuing with our novel study, Flipped. Students will be taking another partial summative on chapters 5-8. Remember, students wanting to retest may do so by notifying their teacher and arranging for reteach/recovery work. Many students will complete this during synergy. Students have also been applying the events of the novel to plot development. We continue to analyze how the 2 main characters, Bryce & Juli, are changing through their thoughts, spoken words, and actions. We will explore present themes in the novel so far and gear up for a quiz later in the week.

Advanced ELA: Advanced ELA students have practiced character and theme analysis of our in-class story and their own novels. This coming week, they will apply this information as they create a project to present important aspects of their novel. This project will count as their first of two summative scores for this unit. After project presentations, we will shift into narrative writing practice with dialogue lessons.

Science with Mrs. Joseph, Mrs. Pennington, & Mrs. Roth

Students are working on identifying and explaining the functions of the organelles of a cell. Students will finish a summative project creating a model of a cell and take a test on cells.

Math with Mrs. Coley, Mrs. Kittrell, Mrs. Moore, & Mrs. Smallwood

Students will continue working with negative and positive rational numbers. Students will take unit 1B Summative assessment before we leave for Fall Break.

Advanced Math with Mr. Bruce

Next week we will be working on solving multi-step equations. We will begin with combining like terms on one side, move into variables on both sides of the equation, and then move into equations with no solution, one solution, and infinite solutions. I’m expecting to have a quiz on Friday.

Accelerated Math with Ms. Moore

We have finally completed Unit 1 and will be working on Geometry next week!! Hope you have a great weekend!

Social Studies with Ms. Foley, Mrs. Perkins, & Mrs. Jaeger

Next week we will be studying the history of the Middle East. Please be sure to keep an eye on Canvas for important formative and summative updates as well as useful resources.

Deadlines:

Foley: Unit 1 Re-Take- 9/10/24 (Must have reflection form signed by parent and all test corrections done.)

Perkins: Re-Take must be done by Thurs. 9/12. We will have our You Science on September 12th and 13th.

ELA with Mrs.Lazaro, Mrs. Jaeger, Mrs. Wolff, & Mrs. Sturtevant

We are wrapping up Unit 1, focusing on symbolism, connotation vs. denotation, and text-based vocabulary. Students are preparing for their first summative assessment of the year for ELA. Please encourage your child to review class notes, check Canvas, and stay engaged!

Boy’s 8th Grade Basketball

All those that are interested in trying out for 8th grade Boys’ basketball need to meet in room 459 September 11th at 8:15am.

8th Grade Field Trip:

Students will be going on a field trip to the Funk Heritage Center at Reinhardt University on either October 22nd or 23rd depending on their synergy class. This trip provides a hands on experience for students to better understand the American Indians that lived in Georgia, and the tough life that settlers experienced when coming to America. This trip cost $15. Please pay via School Pay before October 11th. A permission slip was sent home on Thursday, 8/22.

Georgia Studies:

Next week in Georgia Studies, students will be working on their Colonial Menu assignments. On Monday, the class will also be completing the notes over Colonial Georgia. be learning about the diverse group of settlers in Georgia. On September 11th , we will also be doing a short activity about September 11th 2001 and Patriot's Day. Towards the end of the week, be learning about the diverse group of settlers in Georgia. The students will need to complete their second formative quiz over Unit 3 by the end of next Friday. Be on the lookout for an email asking for parents to offer to provide items for our Colonial Dinner Party which will be held in class on September 20th. We will be asking for refreshments, cups, napkins, plates and small snacks for our activity where the students will be attending a dinner party as one of the people who were essential to the success of colonial Georgia.

Advanced Georgia Studies:

Students will continue to work on their colonial Georgia menu. Students will learn about the diverse settlers that helped create the colony of GA and how and why the colony changed over time. We will also observe Patriot’s Day on 9/11.

Spanish 1:

Students will be working on school items, followed by phrases used at school. Parents should see them studying vocabulary and their notebooks each night. Vista #3, our online assignments, will be assigned by the end of the week, and will be due 9/13/24.

Advance Math:

This week the Advance students will be modeling the real-world application for linear equations and analyzing a linear graph being able to tell Domain, Range, the function of the graph and Standard Form.

On Level Math:

On-Level Math will be taking a quiz on finding slope from graphs, tables, and ordered pairs. Students will then begin graphing lines in slope-intercept form.

Accelerated Math:

Accelerated Math will be writing equations for parallel and perpendicular lines. We will also review solving systems of equations.

Science:

In science we are moving on to our third unit which is all about trends and patterns on the periodic table of elements. Our first quiz will be on Friday 9/13 and another quiz on Tuesday 9/17 and our Summative assessment on Friday 9/20. Please be sure students are staying up to date on Canvas when they are absent. It helps tremendously when students return to school! Also, please have students check Infinite Campus for any missing grades or retake any summative assessments.

Advanced Science:

We will be completing our Periodic Table of Elements unit on Friday, Sept 13 with a test. This week, we will use the Bohr model to discuss the valence electrons in transition metals and learning the Lewis Dot Structure. We will be completing the Periodic Table labeling quiz on 09/10 and the multiple choice PTE quiz on 09/11.

ELA:

We have moved our summative assessment to Tuesday, September 10th. On Wednesday, September 11th, students will receive their narrative writing assignment, which will also be a summative grade. We will work on that for just over a week with various checkpoints as we go. The final narrative writing is due on Friday, September 20th. Students will also begin identifying prepositional phrases on NoRedInk this week.

Advanced ELA:

Students are finishing up their review webs for narrative stories. They will present them on Monday, September 10th in preparation for their test on Tuesday, September 11th. They are also working on their narrative writing assignment, and that work will continue through this week as well. Their final narrative writing is due on Friday, September 20th, and we will have various checkpoints as we go. Students have some new topics on NoRedInk to explore, all of which we will work on in class.

ESOL Literacy:

Next week we are continuing to work with identifying nouns and verbs. We will practice diagraming sentences, writing, and speaking in complete sentences.

https://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/domain/1752

Georgia Highlands Medical Center is excited to announce their partnership with Otwell Middle School!! see attachment below for more information.