Pembroke Community Middle School

HEALTH OFFICE: Beginning on Monday, September 30, the school nurse, Mrs. Joanne Earner, will be conducting height, weight, vision and hearing screening for 7th grade students at PCMS. In accordance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Regulation (105 CMR 200.500), the Registered Nurses of the Pembroke Public Schools measure the height and weight of students in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10. Nurses use these figures to calculate the students’ Body Mass Index (BMI). Previously, these results were required to be mailed home. On October 16, 2013, the Public Health Council voted to amend the regulations, eliminating the need to mail these results home but if you would like a copy of the information, please reach out to Mrs. Earner. If you would like to opt your child out of this screening, please fill out the opt-out form. Contact Mrs. Joanne Earner if you have any questions.

The PCMS Band will be playing with the PHS Marching Band at the home football game on Friday night, October 4.

Thank you to all the parents/caregivers who attended Open House last night!

Thank you also to our wonderful PTO who provided dinner for our staff during Open House.

It's that time! Students will be receiving Calendar Raffles during Titan time to sell to friends and family. This is the PTO's one and only fundraiser, which funds the end of year carnival and other school related activities. For every 10 calendars a student sells, their name will be entered for a chance to win $30. Three names will be drawn from each grade. The top seller from each grade will receive $100. The top 3 Titan rooms will get to have a pizza party! Students are encouraged to sell as many calendars as they can, return the calendar slips and money to the front office and request additional calendars to sell. Let's see who can sell the most calendars, win some money and celebrate with a pizza party! Good luck!

Our talented 8th grade Fundamentals of Art students have been creating fall landscapes on the windows in our main hall across from the cafeteria. FOA is an 8th grade elective option. It is a year-long course (150 days/year) forG8 students looking to advance in their creative and artistic skills.

Calling all artists! PCMS is running their fall art contest! Deadline for submission is Friday, September 27. Specifications: 1. all entries must be the original concept of the artist, not copies from any published materials 2. Entries should be submitted on 9 x 12 paper. Come by the art room to pick up the appropriate sized paper 3. Artwork must be school appropriate. Artists should submit their artwork to Mrs. Gillis.

Once all the artwork has been submitted, PCMS students will vote on their favorite art. The winning submissions will be hung in the main hallway outside of the cafeteria.

PCMS (and PHS) use a scheduling software program called Enriching Students to assign students to specific classrooms during Titan Time if those students need to make up tests, get extra help, etc. Teachers will begin assigning students, as needed, to different classrooms next week. The default is that students stay in their Titan Time room where they can complete work to stay up to date on their academic progress. Students can also email teachers during Titan Time, if they have specific questions whatever room they happen to be assigned to.

In addition, there are opportunities for students to be signed up for Titan Time enrichment in the library or gym. Titan Time Teachers sign up their students for these locations. Library TT: G7 (Mondays & Wednesdays) G8 (Tuesdays & Thursdays). PE TT: G7 (Tuesdays & Thursdays) G8 (Mondays & Wednesdays).

The first Pembroke SEPAC Meeting of the year will be on Monday, September 30th at 6:30 PM at the community center.

PCMS Clubs are free clubs that meet after school for an hour. See below for a list of clubs, their descriptions and start dates. More clubs may be added as teachers sign up to host them.

Students attending after school clubs may be picked up by parents/caregivers or if they have a bus pass, they could take the late bus home. See the details on how late buses work below the clubs.

Students in the drama club will participate in the school musical, which will meet after school in the auditorium from November until March. We will be performing Frozen Jr. this year. Students will learn to read music, sing, and dance on stage in full costume. Auditions will be held in November in the PCMS auditorium. During production week mid March, rehearsals and performances will be at PHS.

• Advisor Mr. Hovey
• Mondays & Thursdays (November-March). Audition Day- Thursday, November 21st
• Auditorium

GSA is a safe place for all students to talk about gender and sexual identity. The club will have fun activities twice a month and will serve as a space for communication and discussion. The GSA welcomes all students regardless of gender, sexual identity, or sexual orientation.

• Advisor Mrs. Larson
• 1st & 2nd Tuesdays: starting September 24th
• Compass Room

Jazz Band is for instrumental music students who want to learn how to play jazz and rock music. Students will practice, improvise, and record songs that will be shared with the group. Each week, students will listen to famous artists of jazz and rock music.

• Advisor Mr. Hovey
• Tuesdays- starts September 17th
• Band room

This year the club will focus on introducing basic robotics using Hummingbird kits. This club will also allow students to have the opportunity to dive deeper into any of the materials used in class. Such as 3D printing, Microbit, Makey- Makey, Snap Circuits, and App Creator.

• Advisor Mrs. DeBellis
• Tuesdays- starts Tuesday, September 17
• Stem Lab 8 room

PHS/PCMS 2024-2025 ~ 3 Late Bus Routes ~ North, Center, South

Start Date: Monday, 9/16/24

Bus Passes are required and must be presented to driver upon boarding

Late Buses Run Monday,Tuesday, and Thursday only

Routes are general, stops depend on ridership, students should let the drivers know where they are on the route.

• North Late Bus route
• South Late Bus route
• Center Late Bus route

Please note all stops are group stops. There is no door-to-door service with late buses. Stops can be up to one mile from home. Parents/caregivers may want to make arrangements to meet their child at the designated group stop.

In honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, join us this September as we GO GOLD for HOPE! Pembroke Community Middle School is proud to be partnering with South Shore Action for Hope to show our support and bring awareness to childhood cancer.

During the week of September 23rd - September 27th, PCMS will have a Gold Boot on display at 7th and 8th grade lunches to collect spare change to benefit Pediatric Cancer research, along with collecting homemade cards for children battling cancer.

On Friday, September 27th, we invite students and staff to wear gold or yellow to show their support for those in the community who are impacted by childhood cancer. Wear your own gold gear or purchase official Go Gold gear at South Shore Action For Hope.

Let’s help give childhood cancer the boot!! 💛🎗️

Please join us for the first PTO meeting of the year on Monday, September 9- 6pm in our library!

President: Karen Laffey

kballant1999@yahoo.com

Vice President Brandie Seavey

bseavey627@gmail.com

Hospitality Melissa Archambault

melanthoney2@gmail.com

Secretary Kathryn Jarrett

Kathrynilean@gmail.com

Last week, 7th grade 21st century skills classes worked on a group decision making activity. Students were presented with a hypothetical scenario in which they are on a board of directors tasked with giving one deserving person one-million dollars. Each student took some time to think about ten candidates and their stories. They are then asked to individually rank them from most deserving to least deserving. Students then break into groups. Students are not allowed to use the “majority rule” method of making a decision. Students engage in great discussions about their varying viewpoints, but ultimately, have to choose just one person as the winner. They are then asked to share out on who they picked, how they came to a consensus, and what challenges they were presented with during this process.

This activity helped emphasize the importance of lifelong skills such as listening, compromise, and cooperation, which are essential while working with others!

This cycle, 7th grade 21st century skills classes have focused on helping students learn to use PowerSchool and write emails. Students utilize PowerSchool to check their schedules, monitor their grades, and check for any missing assignments. Parents/caregivers can also use PowerSchool to stay on top of their child’s academic progress!

Email is a way that students can connect with their teachers and counselor with questions or concerns. Students are walked through an email etiquette lesson, to make sure they know the mechanics for email writing. They also practice writing and sending an email to test out their newly learned skills!

The 8th grade students worked on building a sense of community in the classroom. Students were asked to identify facts about themselves and then use those facts to identify commonalities within their small groups. They are currently working on posters to showcase what they learned about themselves and each other. The posters will be showcased around the 21st Century Skills classroom.

The last activity our previous 8th graders (now high school students!) was to create banners of helpful advice on how to be successful in middle school. These banners have been posted around the building. Families will be able to see this sage advice when they are here at PCMS for Open House.

PCMS buses drop off/pick up students using the front parking lot. (green line) No cars should enter that area during arrival and dismissal times.

When dropping off/picking up seventh grade students, families should line up around the circular driveway. (blue line)

Eighth graders should be dropped off/picked up near the basketball courts/gym. Families should drive around back of the building on the fire road. (yellow line)

Thank you.

Here is a link where you will find PCMS course descriptions:

PowerSchool and Google Classroom are the two primary programs that are used at PCMS. Below are two brief descriptions of the differences between the two.

PowerSchool is our student information system. This program has increased functionality once a student enters 7th grade. Through this program, parents and students can access attendance information, schedule information, current grades and forecasted assignments. If you hit on the cumulative grade within a specific class, a different screen will open that will provide more detailed information on the grade breakdown. Parents can also set up their account preferences to receive automatic reports (e.g., daily/weekly/monthly) emailed to them. Here is the Parent PowerSchool login link: Technology / PowerSchool Login Instructions

Google Classroom: This software has more course-specific information. Assignments, instructions and other class-based announcements are posted here. There are no grades. Most parents are probably already very familiar with Google Classroom from the last few years. Most teachers will have already sent invites out to parents, using the primary email you have listed in PowerSchool. If you haven’t yet been invited to join your child’s classrooms, just send the teachers an email.

PCMS runs a 6-day, 7 period schedule. We start the year on a ‘Day 1’ and then the days move consecutively from there. Here is a link to the schedule of PCMS Days: 24.25 PCMS DAY SCHEDULE

Mrs. Alicia Clancy is our front office secretary. She can be reached at alicia.clancy@pembrokek12.org

Mrs. Tracey Smith is our special education/guidance secretary. She can be reached at tracey.smith@pembrokek12.org

Email: donna.mcgarrigle@pembrokek12.org
Website: www.pembrokek12.org
Location: 559 School Street, Pembroke, MA, USA
Phone: 781-293-8627
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PembrokeCommunityMiddleSchool
Twitter: @PemSch_news