S.O.A.R Weekly

We had a wonderful meeting yesterday. Our next meeting will be held January 6th @4:30. All parents and teachers are welcome to come. We want to hear your voice!

Student Council Middle School Dance February 9th. We need volunteers. Please contact Dr. Jordan or Dr. Singh at the school.

Please complete the parent survey for the state. http://gshs.gadoe.org/Lists/Parents/NewForm.aspx

Field Day, March 29th. Please contact Coach Todd if you can volunteer.

We need your help. Middle School students who walk to school are getting to school early and hanging out in the cafeteria. There is no one to monitor them at this time. The custodians are in the building but are cleaning and not monitoring them. If you have a middle school child, please do not allow them to leave for school before the duty schedule of teachers. The duty schedule starts at 8:20. No student should arrive at the school before this time.

https://youtu.be/ZPB5l67gpKk

If you are like me, and raising a child with ADHD, it can sometimes be a lonely place. Here is a link that I have used in the past, to help get me through some of the trouble spots. It is entitled "5 Trouble Spots and How to Avoid Them": https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/add-adhd/avoiding-adhd-trouble-spots?view=slideview

Many people are unaware that gifted education is also special education. Want to learn more about acceleration? Acceleration occurs when students move through traditional curriculum at rates faster than typical. Among the many forms of acceleration are grade-skipping, early entrance to kindergarten or college, dual-credit courses such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs and subject-based acceleration (e.g., when a fifth-grade student takes a middle school math course). Check out this website: https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/gifted-education-practices/acceleration

This means guiding students to explore new ideas and innovative strategies, challenging their ways of thinking and encouraging them to be confident in those decisions. This lifelong skill requires students to step out of their comfort zone and become courageous in their choices and actions.

“Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.” — Jimmy Carter

Welcome to FPS passport to knowledge. Student's use their cellphone to scan the QR codes to learn about different countries. Its a big small world.

The Freedom Park Golf Team will start practice February 12th. Please stay tuned for information regarding tryouts. Coach Scouten is a great source for information.

We want to congratulate our basketball teams and cheerleaders for a wonderful year. We learned so much watching you play. You taught us all the true meaning of self respect and perseverance. The student educated the educator! Congratulations.

First tee dates are Jan 30, Feb 14 and Feb 28!

Middle School Track and Field tryouts start Feb. 5th

We have had some amazing students play sports this year. We are raising money to help insure they have an amazing sports banquet. Please be advised of the athletic fundraiser- Blow pop sales during and after school dismissal in the concession area.

Pre-Kindergarten registration for the 2018-2019 school year will be January 15th - February 28th. All applications for the Pre-K lottery will be processed online through the District’s website at www.rcboe.org.

Let's try to stagger our dismissal. If we do that, it may not be so busy at the end of the day and you may not feel the need to "invent" ways to make it a more pleasant experience. And because my last name starts with an "S" and I am use to being last, lets start backwards. If your last name starts with the letter "Q-Z" try to get to the school around 3:55. We won't release until 4pm, but you will be first and out by the time others come. If your last name starts with the letter "F-P" try to get to the school at 4:07. That is usually after the first wave. If your name starts with the letter "A-E" try arriving at 4:10. Lets see how this works for the remainder of this week. Lets see if more parking spots open up and if the car line is shorter. If not, we can go back to business as usual. Let's just try it to see if it relieves some of the pressure.

We need your help. As you can imagine, the morning intake, lunch, and dismissal are some of the busiest times of the day. How can you help? If you can help at any of these times, please call the front office.

Morning (8:20-9:00)

• Help ensure cars do not park or drop off students in the bus loading area.
• Help ensure students are walked across the street safely (parents should not be letting students out to walk across the parking lot).
• Welcoming students to school in a cheerful manner (high fives, encouraging words, etc).
• Cafeteria helper (breakfast).
• Help students in the morning car line and ensure parents pull as far up as possible to get parents off the street.
• Help teachers get students started (unpacking, passing out items, collecting items, etc.).
• Hall monitor.

Lunch (anytime between 10:55 and 1:20)

• Managing lines and tables.
• Helping students open items.
• Any other assistance teachers or food nutrition needs.

Dismissal (3:30 - 4:30)

• Help ensure cars do not park or drop off students in the bus loading area.
  
• Help ensure students are walked across the street safely (parents should not be letting students out to walk across the parking lot).
• Help students in the afternoon car line and ensure parents pull as far up as possible to get parents off the street.
  
• Help teachers get students ready for dismissal (packed, passing out items, etc.).
• Help teachers get students to designated dismissal area.
• Hall monitor.

The following is general information about the test: http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Documents/Milestones/Parents/Parent_Brochure_17-18.pdf

Please use this link to find study guides to help your student: http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Pages/EOG-Study-Resource-Guides.aspx

Check out this app. It is a great way to help your student learn another language. What the research says: Language learning correlates with higher academic achievement on standardized test measures.

I personally use this app all the time and love it!

Look! This is another great app. News-O-Matic is a daily newspaper for elementary and middle school students, delivered electronically. Each story comes with Common Core-aligned questions for students to answer. News-O-Matic is available via iOS, Android and Kindle Fire apps. Talk to your kids! Ask them what they think. They are some very bright and amusing young people. Can you tell I love my job!

Yearbooks are still on sale. Online sales will end March 5th, as well as hardcover sales. To order online, go to ybpay.lifetouch.com and enter code 10154818. Forms are also available in the office.

February 23 will be our next picture day. Spring individual pictures, class pictures, track, golf, and clubs/groups will be taken. Spring individual and class pictures are prepay only.

March 16, cap and gown pictures will be taken for pre-k, kindergarten, and 8th grade students that prepay only.

Our special ed department is rocking. Ms. Newsome works so hard for our 4th grade students. She goes above and beyond to make sure that these students soar. The proof is in the data! You should see how all of our sped students iReady scores skyrocketed in both reading and math. Kudos to Newsome and all her hard work!

The T-shirt fundraiser is going on until Friday February 9,2018. All orders must be placed online or by phone. Please do not send money to the school.