Oct. 28th: School Closed

Nov. 5th: School Closed

Nov. 11 -15th: Scholastic Book Fair

Nov. 13th: Family night at Book Fair 4:00-6:30pm

Nov. 14th: Picture Retake Day

Nov. 26th: 2 Hour Early Dismissal

Nov. 27th: No School - Thanksgiving Break

All grade levels have extended ELA books sales until Wednesday, October 30th. The benefits of purchasing a personal copy of the book include:

o Develop active reading skills by highlighting and annotating

o Make connections to the text

o Improve comprehension

o Find more accurate text evidence for assignments (discussions, writing, creative endeavors) in a timely manner

If you wish to purchase a copy of the text, please log on to your School Cash Online account https://frederickcounty.schoolcashonline.com . If you have any concerns about the cost, please reach out to your child’s ELA teacher or counselor.

Does your student like to be creative? Does your child enjoy the arts? Participate in this year's Reflections program! Students create artwork in response to the theme of "Accepting Imperfections." Students can enter into one or more categories: Visual Arts, Photography, Musical Composition, Dance Choreography, Film, and Literature. Students can earn recognition and prizes at the local, county, state, and national level! Entries are due through email to Jaime Stevenson (JSteve616@gmail.com) by November 15. Click here to visit our website with all necessary information.

This October, we are collecting new or gently used pairs of socks to donate to Frederick shelters. Students can bring their donated socks to their Hawk Talk teacher or the counseling office. Help us spread kindness and warmth this fall by donating socks for our neighbors in need. The Hawk Talk with the most socks donated will win a breakfast party! Please send in your donations by the end of the month.

If you would be willing to donate prizes (no more than $20 in value) that we could use for our Turkey Trot/1 mile fun run please let us know, drop it off at the office, or send it in with your student. The fun run will take place November 25. We are looking for prizes to award top runners, best dressed costumes for each of the 7 periods, and grade level raffles. Any donations would be greatly appreciated. Any questions please reach out to melanie.boyer@fcps.org and james.herbold@fcps.org

We are excited for our 5th annual “UMS Walk of Honor”. Students and staff are invited to submit one name of a family member that has served or is currently serving in the United States armed forces. Social Studies teachers will provide students with a link to a Google form that will go live from Tuesday October 29- Friday November 1. The form asks for the family member's name, branch of service and dates of service, if known. This is not a graded activity, but an opportunity for UMS students and staff to thank veterans in our community.

UMS staff will attach submitted names to American flags posted along the parking lot for families to view from Friday November 8 afternoon-Monday November 11(weather permitting). Thank you for helping UMS keep this tradition going!

Scholastic offers an alternative to sending in cash with your students to purchase items at the book fair with their ewallet accounts. See directions below to set up your child's ewallet today! Scholastic also accepts most major credit cards, Googlepay and Applepay.

Visit the UMS Book Fair Website Here

Our School Improvement Team would like your feedback on what topics would be most helpful for UMS families as part of our Parent University Series as we partner to help your student have the best experience possible here at UMS. Please consider filling out this form to help us plan our next sessions!

Looking for a previous version of a Tales From the Nest Newsletter, check out our website under the News tab. You can visit the link directly here.