The Cougar News

Hello AMS Families,

As we approach the end of the school year, we are excited to finish strong! Our focus remains on maintaining consistency in all of our school processes and procedures through the final day of school, including our cell phone policy. Please remind your students that cell phones must be turned off and put away during school hours. Your support in reinforcing this policy at home is greatly appreciated.

Additionally, I want to remind families that once students leave our campus in the afternoons, their behavior and actions are no longer the responsibility of the school. WCPSS policy supports school administrators intervening if an outside event directly impacts the functioning of our school. Behavior at locations such as downtown Apex, nearby parks, or small businesses should be closely monitored by parents. I encourage you to use GPS apps to track your student’s location and check in regularly, especially on Friday afternoons.

As a parent myself, I understand how important it is to balance giving our children opportunities to develop independence while also ensuring their safety. However, it does make me nervous when students are spending extended time unsupervised, especially on Friday afternoons when there are crowds of students who walk to an afterschool destination. We appreciate the collective efforts of our community to keep all students safe and reiterating what it means to BE PEAK! 🌄

Have a great week,

Mrs. Raleigh Bame
Principal, Apex Middle School

• Mon 4/21:

• ⚾ Softball game away versus HAMS

• Tues 4/22:

• ⚾ Softball home versus LRMS

• Wed 4/23:

• 🏃 Track all conference meet

• 🏫 Rising 6th grade Open House, 6:00 - 7:00 PM

• Thurs 4/24:

• ⚾ Softball home versus FVMS

• Fri 4/25:

• none

• Sat 4/26:

• 🎶 7th grade Band and Chorus trip to King's Dominion

Wake County Public Schools has launched a districtwide family survey - Panorama Education Survey, to learn more about you and your child’s experiences in our schools, more specifically here at Apex Middle School. Your responses to this survey will be confidential and only reported in combination with other responses. No one will be able to see individual responses from any parent or guardian. The survey should take about 10-15 minutes. Your honest feedback is essential as we work to create the district, school, and classroom environments that are most supportive for our students.

WCPSS Parents and Guardians,

This spring, students in grades 5-12 will be asked to complete the annual WCPSS Student Engagement Survey. Your child will be given an opportunity to complete this survey during the school day. The survey includes questions about their school experience, including topics such as teacher-student relationships, relevance of school work, and future aspirations and goals.

The results of this survey help schools monitor their School Improvement Plans, and help the district track student perceptions about their educational experiences. Student responses to individual questions are not shared with the school. You can click here to review the questions included on this survey and click here to review results of the survey from previous years. The survey will be offered on Monday, April 28th during homebase.

If you have any questions concerning the content of the survey, please contact the Wake County Public School’s Data, Research, and Accountability Department at wcpss-data-accountability@wcpss.net

ELA UPDATES:

Students will continue working on their End of Unit Task essay explaining the PEAK behaviors seen in a character in FLUSH.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assessments:

• Fri 4/25: Essay Due (Major)

• Mon 4/28: NC Check In C (Simpson & Grzeszczak)

• Tues 4/29: NC Check In C (Schroeder)

• NC Check In is NOT a grade on Q4 Report Card

• Wed 4/30: Daily Language Check In (Minor)

MATH UPDATES:

All 6th grade students should be completing their assignments in DeltaMath and at least 5 lessons in Dreambox each week.

Math 6: We will continue working on Unit 7: Rational Numbers, completing workbook lessons 7-9. Students will receive their Mid-Unit Study Guides on Wednesday and will take the Mid-Unit Assessment (major) on Friday.

Math 6+: We will finish Unit 12: Data Sets and Distributions, completing workbook lessons 11-14. Students will receive their End of Unit Study Guides on Tuesday and will take the End of Unit Assessment (major) on Thursday. We will begin unit 8: Introduction to Proportional Relationships on Friday, completing workbook lesson 2.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assessments:

• Math 6: Mid-Unit 7 Assessment (MAJOR) on Friday 4/25
• Math 6+: End of Unit 12 Assessment (MAJOR) on Thursday 4/24

SCIENCE UPDATES:

Students will continue their unit study on the relationship between the Earth, moon and sun.

Explorers: continue learning about how the position of the moon and Earth to the Sun affects tides, phases of the moon and creates eclipses.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assessments:

• none

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES:

Next week, we will begin another short unit. The Decline of Civilizations unit introduces students to factors that led to the decline of ancient civilizations. Students will analyze geographic, economic and political factors that played a part in the fall of ancient societies. During this time, students will also learn about specific historical figures and groups that impacted the decline of civilizations.

Grade Level News:

ELA UPDATES

Upcoming Minor/ Major Assessments:

• Circles with Mrs. Kazi:

• Tuesday 04/22: Francis

• Wednesday 04/23: Telke

• Thursday 04/24: Hayes

• End of Unit Assessment (Major):

• Tuesday 04/22: Hayes and Telke

• Wednesday 04/23: Francis

Math 7

• Angles Quiz 4/25 (Minor)

Math 7+:

• Volume Quiz 4/24 (Minor)

SCIENCE UPDATES

• Digestive System Quiz Mon 4/21

• Immune System Quiz Wed 4/23

• Endocrine System Quiz Fri 4/25

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

Upcoming Minor/ Major Assessments:

• Hall of Fame Project due 5/01- Major

An 8th grade yard sign is available for purchase this year for $11.

You can pay on the AMS Store or directly at this link:

👉 https://apexms.givebacks.com/store?limit=21&live=true&category=Eighth%20Grade

ELA UPDATES

Students will continue exploring the way an author presents an argument and deals with conflicting viewpoints.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Quick Quiz- Text Structures

• Quick Quiz-Author’s POV

• Independent Book Title for Q4 Due

Math 8

Students will review Pythagorean Theorem, take the quiz, and then review square roots, cube roots, and ordering numbers.

Weekly Agenda

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Pythagorean Theorem Quiz on Tuesday, April 22nd. Spiral Quiz on Friday, 4/25.

Math 1

Students will continue working on Quadratics and factoring.

Weekly Agenda

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Quiz and Spiral Quiz on Friday, 4/25.

Math 2

Students will engage in the course review for Module 7 which is the last one!

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Students only have four more graded assignments before the final exam on May 13.

SCIENCE UPDATES

Students will be continuing with our Diseases Unit, focusing on the spread of disease through a population and the difference in pandemics and epidemics.

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• Lab Quiz - Disease Transmissions

• Vocabulary Quiz - Diseases

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

Students will be working on an informative poster project about the New Deal. Students will choose a cause of the Great Depression and explain how the New Deal addresses that issue,

Upcoming Major and Minor Assignments:

• New Deal Poster Project Due

Webinar for families April 16 and 17: Guiding your child through depression

Educational Leave Policy – Wake County Public School System (WCPSS)

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) policy for educational leave is designed to support excused absences for educational experiences that are comparable to what a student would have experienced in school.

As per the policy:

“For an excused absence for educational reasons, the intent of the experience should have been educational from the outset and comparable to that which the student would have experienced in school. Family trips and vacations that were not designed, initially, to be educational will not be excused. Signing this form documents that this absence is for valid educational purposes.”

Educational leave is typically granted for experiences such as cultural visits, academic programs, or enrichment opportunities that align with the academic mission of the school. It is important to note that family trips or vacations that are not designed to be educational in nature do not qualify under the WCPSS policy.

Apex Middle School’s Educational Leave Flexibility

At Apex Middle School, we recognize that family travel and extracurricular activities, such as tournaments, can provide valuable experiences that contribute to a student’s growth. While these types of travel may not meet the strict requirements for educational leave as outlined by the county, we have elected to offer some flexibility for our middle school families.

To support our families, Apex Middle School will allow up to five days of excused travel per student, per year, even for non-educational travel such as family vacations or tournaments. This is a courtesy designed to help families balance educational responsibilities with extracurricular and personal opportunities. These absences will be excused under this flexibility, even though they may not meet the specific criteria for educational leave outlined by WCPSS.

However, beyond these five days of excused travel, any further requests for educational leave will need to be based on experiences that are rooted in academic or educational purposes. This includes academic programs, enrichment opportunities, or other educational experiences that are comparable to what the student would have participated in during a regular school day.

NOTE: for the 2024-2025 school year, use the form below for both and educational leave or travel leave request. We are working on creating a separate travel leave request form for the 2025-2026 school year.

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