THE SCHOOL SCOOP

The School Scoop is our monthly digital newsletter that keeps parents and students up to date on everything happening here at Taylor. You will find information on upcoming dates of events/activities, clubs/organizations, athletics and important announcements. You will also get a glimpse inside the classrooms in our building with tons of pictures and videos. Happy reading!

“I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds…” The National FFA Creed Speaking Leadership Development Event (LDE) recognizes outstanding FFA members in seventh through ninth grades for their ability to present the National FFA Creed from memory and answer three questions related to it.

The FFA Creed outlines the organization’s values and beliefs regarding the industry of agriculture, FFA membership, and citizenship and patriotism. Students participating in the Creed Speaking LDE learn to communicate in a powerful, organized and professional manner and build self-confidence.

Two TMS students, Pamela Saenz (8th grade) and Lilly Spearman (7th grade) traveled to Roswell recently to compete in the Creed Speaking Event. Congratulation to Lilly Spearman who placed 5th overall. She will move on to compete at the State level in February in Albuquerque.

Lea County Electric offers a program that provides funding for innovative classroom-based education projects to K-12 teachers in the service territory. The grants are intended to support projects outside typical school funding. Grants are for classroom projects, not professional development or class trips. The maximum award per classroom project is $2,000. This grant opportunity will be available annually. TMS teacher, Mrs. Bailey Jameson was notified recently that her application was awarded the grant for this school year. The grant money will be used to purchase innovative horseshoe learning tables that promotes effortless interaction and collaboration among children throughout their projects. Horseshoe activity tables provide a spacious and expansive work area, perfectly tailored for a diverse range of activities including studying, reading, engaging in crafts, collaborating on projects, or pursuing individual tasks. Thank you to Lea County Electric for helping TMS elevate our learning environment with these innovative tables, which are certain to boost productivity and cultivate a collaborative spirit among our students.

TMS students created a popsicle indicating one of many reasons why they are drug free during Red Ribbon week. Although Red Ribbon Week has come to an end, the quilt will stay on display all year as a reminder of their reason.

The top 15 LiveSchool point earners from each class are awarded Platinum Club status! Students are able to earn LiveSchool points through our Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) system every day by wearing their ID's, being prepared for class, staying on task, and exhibiting many other positive behaviors. The points can be saved to spend at our store at the end of each 9-weeks grading period.

Planning a soccer tournament can be a fun and rewarding project. It involves a lot of teamwork, organization, and creativity. These 8th grade students were excited to announce the upcoming TMS Soccer Tournament. All students were encouraged to form a team and sign up with friends to join the fun. After weeks of planning, students had the chance to showcase their soccer skills and compete for the title of tournament champions.

The organizational team met with the team captains to outline the plan, draw for game date, and go over the rules. The tournament then began on November 12th with the Championship was played on November 25th. All games took place on the TMS field during lunch time.

Congratulations to the winning team:

Isaac Lozano, Edgar Garfio, Manuel Armendarz, Angel Placencia

Luis Chaves, Ricardo Ayala, Tadeo Ponce, Jesse Laredo

The Classic "Egg-Drop" experiment has been a standard in science instruction for many years. Essentially, students in Mrs. Crawford's and Ms. Stock's classes were asked to construct some type of container that wouldkeep a raw egg from cracking when dropped from a high elevation.

Objectives of the project include:

• Demonstrate curiosity and show inventiveness.

• Brainstorm in a team to generate ideas.

• Use problem-solving strategies in building simple structures.

Mr. Castellanos was on hand to launch the eggs to ensure fairness and safety!

TMS Band students are preparing for their Christmas Concert on December 10th at 6:30 pm at Pannell Auditorium. Some students will be traveling to Clovis on December 7th to audition for All-District Band.

Please see the calendar below for a complete list of events for TMS Band students:

TMS students in Mr. Jacob Caballero's Choir classes are preparing for their Choir Concert on December 13th at 6:30 pm at Pannell Auditorium. We hope to see you there!

Students are getting ready for Thanksgiving in Ms. Garcia's Life Skills Class.

PE Coaches De La Cruz and Cruz put their students through a workout that consisted of six different stations located around the gym.

Many parents ask, “When is my child sick enough to stay home from school?”

This is not always an easy question to answer! We hope that these tips can help!

A child who is sick will not be able to perform well in school and is likely to spread the illness to other children and staff. We suggest making a plan for childcare ahead of time so you will not be caught without a comforting place for your child to stay if he/she is ill.

Our school guidance states that you should not send your child to school if he/she has:

• Fever in the past 24 hours ***If your child has a fever, please DO NOT medicate your child and send them to school***
• Active vomiting (more than twice in a day) in the past 24 hours
• Diarrhea in the past 24 hours
• Chills
• Cough-A child with deep or uncontrollable coughing belongs at home even without a fever.
• Strep Throat (must have been taking an antibiotic for at least 24 hours before returning to school)
• Bad cold, with a very runny nose or bad cough, especially if it has kept the child awake at night
• Head lice – until your child has been treated according to the nurse or doctor’s instructions

If your child becomes ill at school and the teacher or school nurse feel the child is too sick to benefit from school or is contagious to other children, you will be called to come and take him/her home from school. It is essential that your child’s school has a phone number where you can be contacted during the day and an emergency number in the event you cannot be reached. Please be sure that arrangements can be made to transport your child home from school and that childcare is available in case of illness. If your daytime or emergency phone number changes during the year, please notify your child’s school immediately.

If you have any questions, please contact your school nurse.

Thank you!

We have something for everyone! TMS has many opportunities for students to get involved. It is so important for students to find their place on campus and find friendships with their peers who are interested in similar things. Information on signups and meetings are announced each day on the morning and afternoon announcements. Here are the clubs and organizations students can join:

Students participating in Art Club created totem poles and owls for their November projects.

Students from LHS, TMS, and SGA recently joined together for a collaboritive Science Olympiad Build Day. All participants worked hard and took advantage of the time to work on their projects. We are looking forward to seeing great success from the Science Olympiad team during their competition season this coming February. Good luck, Wildcats!

TMS students were able to attend a local conference at Hobbs High School that provided a great experience and opportunity for students to learn about Skills USA. They connected with students from other schools, attended professional development sessions, participated in community service at Habitat for Humanity Restore, and wrapped up their weekend with a meal at Texas Roadhouse.

Several TMS students earned Statesman Awards by going through an interview process and achieving specific scores. The following students received Statesman Awards:

• Shyanne Dean
• Hector Gomez-Plascenia
• Denise Guillen
• Yahir Montoya
• Kiara Ramirez

The Competitive Girls and Boys teams are off to a great start and the coaches are impressed with the work ethic and tenacity of their players so far. We are looking forward to a fantastic season of growth and skill improvement from bothe the Competitive teams, as well as our Intramural teams. The girls will always play first followed by the boys for every home game. Please see the schedules below so you can plan to come out and see these Wildcats in action:

Reminders:

December 20 - end of the 2nd 9-weeks

December 20 - Early Release for the Christmas Break

Christmas Break - December 23 - January 3. Students return to school on Monday, January 6th.

Taylor Middle School is currently following a 6-period day for the 2024 - 2025 school year. Here are the bell schedules:

Reminder for parents that may need to pick up their student(s) early: In order to ensure that we are able to get your student from class, to their locker, and to the office before the bell rings, the cutoff deadline for early student pick-up will be 2:45 pm on regular school days and 1:30 pm on Wednesdays.

The Lovington Municipal Schools instructional calendar shows school holidays, parent/teacher conferences and early release days throughout the school year. It can be found on the home webpage or by selecting the image to the left.