FCMS Family,

I hope this message finds you well as we head into another productive week! It’s been a great

start to the month, and I’m incredibly proud of the hard work and commitment shown by both

students and staff.

This week, we are focusing on continued growth in the classroom and fostering a supportive and

positive school culture. Our assessments are helping us refine our teaching strategies, and we’re

seeing the impact in student engagement and success. Thank you for your ongoing support!

Important Announcements:

ILEARN Pilot Checkpoint 1 Assessments

• October 2nd – All Practice Tests
• October 8th – Math Checkpoint
• October 9th – Language Arts Checkpoint

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Our fall conferences are scheduled for Oct. 10th from 4:00-8:00 pm and on Oct.

11th from 8:00-11:00 am. This is a great opportunity to check in on your student’s

progress and collaborate with teachers on academic goals. Please contact our

secretary, Mrs. Gillman, to sign up for conferences

Early Dismissal

Don’t forget that we have early dismissal on Wednesday October 2. School will release at 2:50, so please plan accordingly.

Spirit Week:

9/30 – 10/4 Get ready to show your school pride!

Author Visit

• Author, Michael P. Spradlin, will be visiting with all 4th-8th grade students on October 15th in the Lew Wallace Auditorium. Author Information

Wildcat Work Ethic Incentive Day October 16th- Wildcat Work Ethic

• Students who meet the Wildcat Work Ethic may go bowling and a park visit that day.

Student Spotlight:

Student of the Month: Congratulations to Myles Payne (6 th ), Lilly Ison (7 th ) and Peyton

Boggs (8 th ), who were recognized as our September “Students of the Month”. They have

shown incredible leadership in class and are good role models at FCMS.

Classroom Achievements:

A special shout-out to Mr. Baldwin’s class for their outstanding performance in preparation to constructing their concrete block foundation walls. Your dedication to learning is inspiring!

Staff Shout-outs:

• We want to recognize Mrs. Ratz for her hard work in coordinating the Miami University field trip and ensuring everything ran smoothly. Your efforts don’t go unnoticed!

• Teacher of the Month – Congratulations goes out to our September “Teachers of the Month” Mrs. Ferman and Mrs. Kercheval. We are lucky to have such great teachers and are glad they are on our team.

Reminders:

Attendance Matters: Please ensure your child is present and on time every day.

Consistent attendance is key to academic success.

Thank you for being part of our school community. Let’s have a fantastic week ahead!

Trent Liggett

Principal

FCMS

This week's staff spotlight focuses on the 7th-grade math teacher, Mrs. Ferman.

Mrs. Ferman attended Franklin College. She played soccer and softball for 4 years in college. She majored in elementary education and minored in middle school math. Mrs. Ferman has taught for 24 years; she taught 5th and 6th grade special education for 17 years at Laurel Elementary School. She has also taught 6, 7, 8th grade math. She has been teaching 7th-grade math for the last 7 years at FCMS.

She has lived in Franklin County her entire life. When she was young, she went to Mt. Carmel School and then on to Franklin County High School. She and her husband have raised two beautiful daughters, Michaela and McKenzie, in Metamora.

Did you know that Mrs. Ferman was a lifeguard at Lake Santee before she became a teacher? She also mowed grass for DNR at the Mounds. Mrs. Ferman is not a coffee drinker. Mrs Ferman’s favorite things about teaching are building relationships with students and seeing the growth of students. She loves the ‘ah-ha’ moments when hard concepts finally click. She says it makes everything she does worthwhile.

From personal experience, she is a teacher that helps and explains things in ways all students can understand. Students feel like they can come to her without fear of embarrassment.

Mrs. Ferman is truly a great teacher and FCMS is lucky to have her.

---Lily Zloba, Journalism

Tuesday

Football @ South Dearborn Middle School

5:30 pm

Elizabeth Simmermeyer, from the Purdue Extension and 4-H Youth Development for Franklin County has been with us on Mondays for the past several weeks. Her lessons have included information on production labels and packaging on the foods we purchased. We have discussed how food is grown and raised. We have also created labels and simulated purchasing products and making decisions on what would be important to us as a consumer. We greatly appreciate her time with us.

Mrs. Arien's classes explored another great activity for weekly vocabulary practice. Presenting “Flashcard Factory”! Students worked with a partner to write and draw a representation for our weekly vocabulary word. “This is fun!” Is a student comment teachers love to hear! Collaboration and cooperation were skills students excelled in with this activity.

Mrs. Brown's advanced science class begins investigating thermal (heat) energy, particle motion, the state of a substance due to thermal energy, and phases changes. The students "geared up" for their lab and made their observations.

Mrs. Nobbe's class creates mantras and affirmations each week. Stop in room 226 if you need to be reminded how amazing you are or need a mantra to help you make it through the day!

October:

• 2nd - Early Dismissal, PLC

• 2nd- ILEARN Practice

• 3rd - Fall Choir Concert 7pm @HS auditorium

• 4th- Homecoming Parade

• 8th - End of First Grading Period Q1

• 8th- ILEARN Math

• 9th- ILEARN ELA

• 10th - Conferences 4-8pm

• 11th - Conferences 8-11am, no school

• 15th - Picture Retake Day

• 15th - Author Visit: Michael Spradlin

• 16th - Rewards activity 7th & 8th graders

• 18th - FFA Friday - SRT

• 21st-25th - Fall Break, no school

New wall painting added over the summer to FCMS building!

--Painted by Misty Ferman with her daughters, Michaela and McKensee Ferman.