SEPAC Parent & Caregiver Support Group Meetings for 2025 Announced

We’re excited to share the schedule for the SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council) Parent & Caregiver Support Group Meetings for 2025. Thank you to all the families who provided feedback on preferred meeting times—your input helped shape this schedule.

All meetings will take place at the Pembroke Community Center

Here’s the schedule for the upcoming year:

February: Monday, February 10 | 6:30–8:00 PM
March: Monday, March 10 | 9:00–10:30 AM
April: Wednesday, April 2 | 6:30–8:00 PM
May: Monday, May 12 | 9:00–10:30 AM
June: Wednesday, June 11 | 6:30–8:00 PM

We hope to see you at one or more of these meetings!

The PCMS Chorus had a great time performing at the Providence Bruins Here is a great picture of the PCMS Chorus students that sang at the P. Bruins last Friday night.

The music department is thrilled to share the news that 25 students have been accepted to the 2025 SEMSBA music festival based on their outstanding audition yesterday. PCMS students accepted to the Junior SEMSBA Festival are: Chorus Tenley Grey (alto), G8 Orchestra Declan Long (violin), G8 Violet Carson (violin) G8.

Please help us in congratulating the following Pembroke musicians who have been accepted to the 2025 Junior District Music Festival! The students were accepted based on their outstanding audition in a very competitive field.

Accepted to the Chorus: Violet Carson, soprano, G8 & Tenely Grey, alto, G8

Accepted to Jazz Band: Hunter Glass, drum set, (#1 Score!) G8

Accepted to Band: Ben Meehan, snare drum (#1 score!) G8, Beckett Hawkes, alto saxophone G8, & Landon Smith, Tuba (#1 score!) G9

Accepted to Orchestra: Luke Finch, violin, G9

Annually the PE department at PCMS (20th year) has participated in the American Heart Challenge to increase awareness about the lifestyle choices that may affect heart disease and what each of us can do to help live our healthiest life.

Physical Education and the American Heart Association are aligned in the fact that daily exercise, eating a variety of foods, working on reducing stress as well as getting enough sleep are huge factors that help fight heart disease and stroke.

The PE curriculum is about movement and finding games/skills and fitness activities that will help motivate each of us to do a 60 minute workout. This may include stretches and reflective breathing exercises as well.

The week of February 10 through the 14th we dedicate to these activities in PCMS:

• Event week is February 10-14 (PE classes will have games/information re: heart health)

• School Wide Red out on Feb 14 (wear red)

• Dollar Drive to sell AHA bracelets for a dollar: hearts 2/$5 and Jump Ropes for $2 (sold during lunches)

• Online donations may be made all month at the PCMS webpage: PCMS AHA fundraiser

• Students/families/staff may register online to learn more information about reducing heart disease, recipes, signs and symptoms of heart disease, Finn's Challenge and donations to the AHA if interested.

The school wide RED OUT on the 14th of February is to help those fighting heart disease to know we understand and we support them. Any and all funds we collect go directly to the American Heart Association which is responsible for research, lifesaving technologies for cardiac care, educating millions of Americans about heart disease and funding surgeries for children who are born with genetic heart disease.

Our goal is to increase the awareness of all of our staff, students and parents and if you would like to donate you may do so by accessing the website , looking up the Pembroke Community middle School and making any donation you would like to. There is a lot of good information about helping others educate themselves on signs of heart risks, recipes for healthy eating and exercise tips as well.

We thank the AHA for the important work they do and are proud to help the cause in the fight against heart disease.

Order your PCMS Yearbook. The deadline is April 8, 2025.

There are several upcoming events to support our PCMS G8 students to understand all of the wonderful options available to them at Pembroke High School. Additional events, including the Program of Studies night at PHS, will be shared as we get closer to that date.

Beginning at the end of January, the 8th graders will attend a series of grade level assemblies during Titan Time. The schedule and focus area(s) of these assemblies are listed below:

If interested in learning more about the PHS athletics assembly, please view this very informative presentation

In addition, the PHS School Counselors will be visiting G8 21st Century Skills classes to focus on course offerings and the course registration process. These are the first of two series of counselor visits. There will be a second series of counselor visits later in the spring.

The G7 & G8 top sellers for the PTO calendar fundraiser! Thanks for all your hard work!

Our thanks to Molly and Olivia for taking the lead in this week’s announcements!

Thank you Bella and Jessica for leading us in last week’s announcements!

Any other 8th graders interested in being morning announcers? Log in to your 21st Century Skills Google Classroom to sign up!

Please check the athletic website for most up to date information.

Girls Head Coach: Rachel Dresser

E-mail: rachel.dresser@pembrokek12.org

Boys Head Coach: Jim Shannon

E-mail: james.shannon@pembrokek12.org

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
• Meets the 2nd & 4th Tuesday of the month
• 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.

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

The current unit in 7th grade 21st century skills classes is stress management. Attainment of a healthy mind and body begins with understanding how to balance the demands of life. Understanding stress is foundational in maintaining personal health. This unit will provide an overview of what the stress response is, and how stress affects the body and mind. Students will demonstrate an awareness of their own levels of stress, develop an awareness of their unique stressors, and how to cope with stress in healthy way

Parents/Caregivers were sent this email several weeks ago, outlining this upcoming health unit in 2st Century Skill. The letter is below:

School counselors are working to teach students about mental health and how to seek help if they are worried about themselves or a friend. In seventh grade, we will be using a program called SOS Signs of Suicide. The program teaches students about this difficult topic and encourages them to seek help.

SOS has been used by thousands of schools for over 20 years. Studies have shown that it effectively teaches students about depression and suicide while reducing the number of students’ self-reported suicide attempts.

Through the program, students learn:

• that depression is treatable, so they are encouraged to seek help

• how to identify depression and potential suicide risk in themselves or a friend

• to ACT (Acknowledge, Care and Tell a trusted adult) if concerned about themselves or a friend

• who they can turn to at school for help, if they need it

Beginning on January 31st in Grade 7 21st Century Skills classes, students will watch age-appropriate video clips and participate in a guided discussion about depression, suicide, and what to do if they are concerned about a friend.

At the end of class, students will complete an exit slip. This exit slip will ask students to identify their adult supports, both at school and at home. The exit slip also asks students whether they would like to talk privately to an adult about any concerns. Counseling staff will conduct brief individual meetings with any student asking to talk.

We encourage you to visit www.sossignsofsuicide.org/parent for information on warning signs for youth suicide, useful resources, and some of the key messages students will learn.

We are including a link to an information sheet with resources: SOS: LOCAL RESOURCES.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s participation in this program please contact me at donna.mcgarrigle@pembrokek12.org or your child’s guidance counselor at erin.goitia@pembrokek12.org.

If you DO NOT wish to have your child participate in the SOS program, please complete the SOS opt-out form by Monday, January 27.

PCMS is continuing a focus on college and career planning, referred to as MyCAP (My Career and Academic Plan). MyCAP is designed to provide students with ongoing and school-wide opportunities to plan for their academic, personal/social and career success in high school and beyond. Through the MyCAP process, students will explore their individual interests and skills to help them discover careers that may be a good match. This will help students make connections between their current and future coursework and their postsecondary goals.

Throughout this school year, 21st century skills classes will utilize MyCAP to further support students in their journey to plan for academic, personal/social and career success in high school and beyond. There will be a strong focus on transportable skills such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and ethical reasoning and mindset, which are all important for future success regardless of a student’s chosen college and/or career path. In addition to the ongoing focus on college and career readiness in 21st century skills, each PCMS department is also planning a lesson with a focus on college and career readiness to help students understand how course material may align with their future career goals.

The Physical education teachers focused on team building in their MyCAP lesson during the volleyball unit.

In Volleyball, teams were responsible for communicating specific strategy throughout the game and decision making.

The team was challenged to have a high degree of sportsmanship in which they called the line for or against their team. At times some students even suggested a compromise if they were unsure which was a great sign of personal growth and leadership.

We modified the rules to allow a bounce, used an oversized ball, and multiple hits. As the teams improved their coverage of the court, knowledge of rally scoring and how to best communicate a successful strategy to defend and attack we went to 3 hits and fewer bounces.

Students have been encouraging their peers and working together to rally or come back from points down.

The games are rotated so teams that are out are working on team skills and strategy before and after a game; reflective of the practices they displayed and communicating skill tips to each other for improvement in the next game.

The students show kind, inclusive and skillful play. The area of communication during a game was emphasized and the one area that may need more work and emphasis in the future.

We did not do any written work around this as we felt the movement time is essential to our student's health.

We listen, learn, discuss and do to make the most of the tangible benefits of an authentic game. We are able to use each situation as a teaching time to reinforce or ask how it could be responded to differently; many groups utilized time outs to regroup their ideas/decision making.

Middle school Physical Education plays a crucial role in preparing students for their future careers after high school. Here are two ways it relates to career readiness:

1. Health and Fitness: Physical Education classes provide students with the knowledge and skills to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. By engaging in regular physical activity, students develop physical fitness, motor skills, and an understanding of the importance of maintaining good health. These habits can carry over into adulthood, promoting overall well-being and reducing the risk of chronic diseases. Many careers require individuals to be physically fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle, such as jobs in the military, law enforcement, sports, and healthcare.

2. Teamwork and Leadership: Physical Education often involves team sports and cooperative activities that promote teamwork, communication, and leadership skills. These skills are transferable to various careers where collaboration and effective communication are essential. Whether it's working in a team-based project, leading a group, or collaborating with colleagues, the ability to work well with others is highly valued in the workplace.

In summary, Middle school Physical Education helps students develop lifelong habits of physical fitness and health, while also fostering important skills like teamwork and leadership that are valuable in future careers.

Careers related to Physical Education are:

A physical education background can open up various career opportunities beyond teaching physical education. Here are a few careers that can be pursued with a physical education background:

1. Personal Trainer: With a strong foundation in physical fitness and exercise, a career as a personal trainer is a natural fit. Personal trainers work with individuals to develop personalized fitness plans, provide guidance on exercise techniques, and help clients achieve their health and fitness goals.

2. Sports Coach: If you have a passion for a specific sport, you can pursue a career as a sports coach. Whether it's coaching at the youth, high school, or collegiate level, your knowledge of physical education and sports can be valuable in helping athletes develop their skills, strategize for games, and foster a positive team environment.

3. Fitness Instructor: As a fitness instructor, you can lead group exercise classes in various settings such as gyms, community centers, or corporate wellness programs. Your expertise in physical education can be utilized to design and deliver engaging and effective workouts for participants of different fitness levels.

4. Recreation Director: A career as a recreation director involves planning and organizing recreational activities and programs for individuals of all ages. Your background in physical education can help you create engaging and inclusive programs that promote physical activity, health, and wellness within a community or organization.

5. Sports Management: If you have an interest in the business side of sports, a career in sports management may be a good fit. Sports management professionals work in areas such as sports marketing, event management, facility operations, and athlete management. Your understanding of physical education and sports can provide a valuable foundation for this career path.

6. Physical Education Teacher: You can obtain a degree in Bachelor of Science and or a Masters degree to teach in a school setting whether it is private, public or a charter school. Advanced degrees may also be obtained if a person would like to teach at the collegiate level and/or do research for Institutes of Aerobic research that produce software education and assessment such as Fitnessgram.

7. Professional Athlete: many lifetime sports can be learned and played at a competitive level as well as earn an income from competitions and then coaching those skills.

8. Athletic apparel/sportswear owner or worker: there are many jobs that sell equipment and/or clothes made for exercise and specific sports; expertise in a sport and having used equipment throughout your life gives you the ability to find the niche you want to sell to and/or be a more competitive and higher paid salesperson.

9. Fitness club owner: There are many aspects of fitness and movement that you could get a small business loan and open such as a Yoga studio, martial arts/kickboxing, cross training, cardio sport fitness as well as a gym that is for lifetime fitness. You can run it and employ specialized trainers or be your own boss and instructor.

10. Design sneakers: Many companies look for a degree in Kinesiology but that starts with exercise and PE ; Nike , Reebok and many other companies hire engineers, exercise specialists and educated movers to work in the creation, production and dissemination of footwear which is a billion dollar industry.

11. Sports Announcer in Media: the knowledge and interest of exercise and fitness you acquire can help pave the way and your credentials to pursue some Communications degree or Liberal arts to work on the Olympics and all its media productions, you tube exercise, sports commentator on Tv or the radio , as well as many web based podcasts. With the use of go pro and drones you are unlimited in the recreation and movement outlets you can access .

12. Recreation manager for HRTA: Many of the hospitality industries , cruise ships, yachts , go to destinations t(resorts), Disney , etc. employ people who are familiar with rock climbing, horseback, paragliding, golf, fitness, team games, recreational activities and know how to work with a variety of people. Tom Brady was just hired as a sports commentator and he will help Delta airline organize their team work to be more productive and cohesive.

13. Outward Bound Instructor: work with students who are overcoming challenges in the natural environment with a team of professionals. You may instruct in hiking, camping, survival in the wilderness strategies, compass reading, gps navigation, relaxation techniques, canoeing, kayaking and water safety. rock climbing and other outdoor pursuits . Nationally and worldwide instructors help teens work through the challenges of overcoming personal obstacles.

14. Physical Therapy: work with people in hospital or clinical settings.

15. Potential career, school nurse, social work, adjustment counselor potential , school psychologists or, sports science careers all addressing team building and working collaboratively with multiple stakeholders.

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.

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