The Cougar News

Dear AMS Families,

Thank you to everyone who braved the rain to attend our 7th and 8th-grade Family Information Night! A heartfelt thank you goes out to our dedicated staff for staying late to share valuable information and engage with our community. We hope your time on campus was informative and beneficial.

Powerschool is updated to reflect the mid-quarter interim point for each student. Please make sure you have access to this important resource and review your student's progress in real time. As a reminder, if you have any questions regarding your student's progress, please start with the teacher of record. Thank you!

NOTE: When we have a day off of school, our A/B day elective schedule for 7th and 8th graders is affected. In order to get our calendar back on track, we operate the day after inclement weather as a "C" Day, which means that 7th and 8th graders will attend both of their electives for a shorter period of time. Monday, September 30th will be a "C" Day.

Kind regards,

Mrs. Raleigh Bame

Battle of the Books

There will be a Battle of the Books interest meeting on Wednesday, October 2, in the media center at 7:45 a.m. If you have questions or cannot attend, please email Mrs. McAlonen for information.

AIG Update:

The purpose of the Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) Program is to provide an appropriately challenging educational program for students who perform, or show potential for performing, at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared to others of their age, experience, or environment. Nominations for AIG evaluation during the fall testing window can be made now through October 4, 2024 using this form:
https://forms.gle/8VtRu4DrgJFe7Qcf6

For more information or questions, contact our AIG teacher, Dana Pilkington, at dpilkington@wcpss.net or visit her AIG website at https://sites.google.com/wcpss.net/aig-at-ams/frequently-asked-questions

Need to Access Grade Level Admin/ Counselors?

6th: Arvis Bridges Epps (AP), Kelly Mueller (Counselor)

7th: Melissa Faircloth (AP), Ayesha Kazi (Counselor)

8th: Dr. William Kimble (AP), Harper Dabagian (Counselor)

* Please contact your grade level admin/ counselors if you need assistance

Chorus Update:
Hello AMS! Here is the link to the presentation about the Performing Arts Boosters and Musical here at Apex Middle! We are in the process of finding a date to reschedule our parent meeting, but I wanted to send preliminary information about auditions and our booster board for your review! Please reach out with any questions to me at hgbrowning@wcpss.net!

Athletics Update:

SEE FULL SCHEDULE HERE

Next Week:

Football: 10/2/2024 Apex at Fuquay Varina

Girls Soccer: 10/1/2024 Apex at Fuquay Varina

Lost and Found

Attention AMS Families! We are only halfway through our first quarter and our Lost and Found area is filling up. Our Lost and Found Trackers collect items weekly from all over the campus. Included are items collected after Club and Sporting Events. Please encourage your student to check this area if they are missing something. Family members are also encouraged to search for lost items. At the end of the quarter, all remaining items will be donated.

Lost and Found is located in our Electives building in the foyer area near Ms. Clark's and Mr. Browning's rooms.

School Pictures - Fall 2024

• Fall Picture 1st take: October 16, 2024
• Retake: December 3, 2024

In our continuing efforts to support the well-being of all our students, we will be administering a universal screener of social, emotional & behavioral health. Our district is using the Behavior Intervention Monitoring Assessment System-2 (BIMAS-2) research-based screening tool. We believe this will help all of our students thrive academically by identifying students who may benefit from additional social and emotional supports and interventions, much like some students benefit from additional academic supports and interventions.

This will not require you or your child to do anything. Your child’s second period teacher will complete a questionnaire about your child’s actions and emotions displayed in class during a one-week time span.

Examples of some of the questions include:

• During the past week, this student shared what they were thinking about.

• During the past week, this student had trouble paying attention.

• During the past week, this student followed directions.

• During the past week, this student acted sad or withdrawn.

For each question, the teacher will answer “never,” “rarely,” “sometimes,” “often,” or “very often.”

This information helps us to understand the needs of all our students and how we can best serve and support them. This will also provide us with data to help determine school-wide programs, interventions, and training needs for staff. If you would like more information about the universal screener, please visit our website at www.wcpss.net/universalscreener.

If you do not want your child screened, please complete the attached Opt-Out Form and return it to your child’s school by October 11, 2024.. If you want your child included in the universal screening, no further action is required.

Social, Emotional & Behavioral Health Universal Screener
Opt-Out Form

(please print, sign, and turn in)

Hello Cougar Families!

I am Courtney Broadbent, the School Psychologist at Apex Elementary and Apex Middle Schools. I will be coming to you monthly with some tips, tricks, and strategies to help you and your students make this a successful school year. Please feel free to reach out if there is a topic you’d like to see featured, or if you have specific questions about your child/children. Email is always a best way to reach out cbroadbent@wcpss.net

Please click here to learn more about Bully Prevention Month

6th Grade Parent Night Slideshow and Recording (From 9/10/24):

Navigating 6th grade part 2 video

Navigating 6th grade part 1 video

Slide deck

We have reached the halfway point in the quarter and grades have been updated in PowerSchool. Please review your student’s progress by logging into PowerSchool and reviewing their grades in each class. If your child brought you home a green piece of paper, they currently have a D/F in one of their classes. Please sign it at the bottom of this page and return it back to your student’s homeroom teacher by Wednesday, October 2nd.

Congratulations to our 6th grade Students of the Month! These students have exemplified what it means to be Prepared in the first month of school. We are so proud of their continued effort and dedication to their studies.

Islander: Annie Sperlein

Explorers: Julianna Lane

Pirates: Anderson Looney

Reminder: No school Thursday, October 3: Teacher Workday

ELA UPDATES:

This week we will continue to identify how Percy’s experiences in The Lightning Thief align with “The Hero’s Journey.” We will continue gathering character traits, working on annotation skills, identifying text based evidence to support a claim, as well as writing well written constructed responses.

Students will be assessed on the following skills on Wednesday during their End of Unit Assessment:

• Direct and Indirect Characterization

• Figurative Language

• Using Context Clues to determine unknown words

• Comprehension of a myth

• A Constructed Response using 2 texts

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Mon. Sept 30th: Daily Language Check in (Minor)

• Wed. Oct 2nd: End of Unit Assessment (Major)

MATH UPDATES:

Math 6: Students will complete lessons 16-18, which will finish off Unit 1. We will complete a Study Guide to help us be ready for the End of Unit 1 Assessment.

Math 6+: Students will begin Unit 2 - Introduction to Ratios, completing lessons 1-5 in our student workbooks.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Math 6: End of Unit 1 (Major) Assessment on Friday 10/4. Study Guide will be given on Wednesday 10/2.

• Math 6+: Mid Unit Progress Check (Minor Assessment) given as homework on Wednesday 10/2 - due on Friday 10/4.

SCIENCE UPDATES:

This week our scientists will be carrying out investigations to learn about physical properties of matter. These include things such as density, melting and boiling point, and solubility.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Friday 10/4: Phase Change and Physical Properties Quiz (minor)

• Our next major assessment is a test scheduled for October 9th covering the entire Matter unit

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES:

Our historians will be discovering the factors needed for building a civilization and how physical features of the land influence settlement patterns.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Friday 10/4: Students will begin working on their Physical Features poster project. It will be due Monday 10/7 at the end of class.

• 7th Grade is going on a field trip to the NC Zoo on Monday, November 4th! Students were sent home with letters and permission/medical forms last Monday. All permission and medical forms must be returned to your student’s homeroom teacher by NO LATER than October 14th. If you are interested in chaperoning for the zoo, please sign up at this link: https://forms.gle/qb3PAo67tHSuVHkF7.

• Thank you to all of our families who showed up to Curriculum Night this past Thursday evening. It was great to share information with everyone and make new connections!

• Fun Dinner Conversation Topic Featuring Math: Why are pizza boxes square, but pizzas are round and we eat them in triangles? How much ice cream do you get in a cone compared to a cup?
  

ELA UPDATES

Upcoming Minor/ Major Assessments:

• No major assignments or tests.
• If you would like to purchase your own copy of our book, A Long Walk to Water, you may use this link. It is not a requirement but may be helpful.
  

MATH UPDATES

Upcoming Minor/ Major Assessments:

Math 7

• Quiz on Wednesday 10/2 (minor)

Math 7+:

• Quiz on Tuesday 10/1 (minor)

SCIENCE UPDATES

Upcoming Minor/ Major Assessments:

• Students will start Weather Logs this week. Each day they will need to use Zoom Earth to complete their logs. This will be from 9/30-10/25.

• Energy Transfer Word Art due Tuesday 10/1 (minor)

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

Upcoming Minor/ Major Assessments:

• Age of Exploration Unit Quiz on Monday 9/30 (Minor)
• End of Unit Essay due 10/8 (Major)

Attention 8th grade families!

Interested in learning more about the 8th grade Washington, D.C. trip? Join us on a virtual information session on Tuesday 10/1 at 7pm. You can join the google meet at: bit.ly/AMSDCTRIP25

We have officially made it to the halfway point of Quarter 1. 1st Quarter Interim Report notifications were sent home at the end of last week. Please reach out to your student’s teacher with any questions or concerns.

ELA UPDATES:

Students will continue reading chapters 10-13. By the end of the week, students will be preparing for a Fishbowl Discussion centered around character analysis. The Fishbowl Discussion is part 1 of the end-of-the-unit assessment.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• 10/8-Fishbowl Discussion (Major)

• 10/9-EOUA (Major)

MATH UPDATES:

Math 8

After the mid-unit assessment, students will discuss naming angles and their relationships. Delta Math is due Friday at 3 pm. Spiral is due the following Monday at the beginning of class.

Weekly Agenda

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Unit 1 Mid-Unit Assessment on Monday, 9/30

Math 1

After the Module 1 assessment, students will start identifying key components of graphs, such as discrete vs. continuous, and their domain. Delta Math is due Friday at 3 pm. Spiral is due the following Monday at the beginning of class.

Weekly Agenda

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Module 1 Assessment on Monday, 9/30

Math 2

Module 1, Lesson 3 is about Line of Symmetry and Rotational Symmetry

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Pathway Activity 1

• Pathway Activity 2

SCIENCE UPDATES:

We are going to finish the first half of our Chemistry Unit with a test on Wednesday. Then we will continue exploring the difference between physical and chemical changes of matter with a lab.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• MAJOR: 8. PS.1.1.2.3 TEST

• Study Guide for Test

• Chemical and Physical Changes Lab Quiz

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES:

We’re continuing our unit on Native Americans, Exploration, and Colonialism. We’re setting the stage for the upcoming portion of our unit focusing on the 13 Colonies.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Skills check

• Mid-Unit Assessment on 10/1 (Major grade)

2024-25 Volunteer Renewal Link

https://www.wcpss.net/Page/57875

As a valued member of our volunteer community, we would like you to renew your volunteer status for the 2024-25 school year.

The volunteer renewal process is quick and simple for all volunteers who were approved for the 2023-24 school year. The renewal window is now open through Oct. 1, 2024. Go to the MyVolunteer Volunteer Renewal site to renew your volunteer status today! Log into your MyVolunteer account and follow the directions for Volunteer Renewal. The process should only take a few minutes. Once approved, the renewal date in your MyVolunteer profile will be updated.

All 2023-24 approved volunteers received an email on July 1 from no-reply@criminalrecordcheck.com with a link to renew your approved volunteer status for the 2024-25 school year.

If you have any issues during the renewal process, contact the MyVolunteer customer support team at 877-272-0266 or customercare@mycrc.com.

Apex Middle School uses SchoolCash Online (SCO) to collect payments for many school items and activities such as field trips. If you haven’t registered yet please take a moment to create an account. This will help save time and reduces the risk of lost payments. In addition, you are automatically informed about school activities! Scan the QR code and follow the directions below.

Search for "Apex Middle School News" and follow us!

Email: apexms@wcpss.net
Website: www.wcpss.net/apexms
Location: 400 East Moore Street, Apex, NC, USA
Phone: 9193872181