South MS Friday Blast

It was a big week for smiles at South MS as we conquered Picture Day. Picture Day is always such a fun day to see our students looking fine for their annual school picture. If your student was absent on picture day, no worries, picture re-take day is Wednesday, October 23rd.

• Sept 14/15 - Sellersville Schools Showcase at Sellersville Museum
  
• Sept 16 - Deadline to order South Spirit wear (details below)
• Sept 16 - Intramural Volleyball begins - 3pm-4pm
• Sept 16-20 - Math Benchmark
• Sept 17 - 6th Grade Intramurals begin - 7:00am
• Sept 17 & 19 - HW Club begins after school from 3pm-4:15pm
• Sept 17 - SCN Ice Cream Fundraiser @ The Hickory Stick, 5-9pm (details below)
• Sept 18 - "Wear your crazy socks" spirit day
• Sept 23-27 - ELA Benchmark

• Sept 24 - Magazine Drive/Cookie Dough Fundraiser Kick Off Assembly
• Sept 25 - "Denim" spirit day
• Sept 27 - "Pink Out" Flag Football Tournament
• Sept 30-Oct 2 - Science CDT benchmarks
• Oct 1 - Coding Club begins (after school)

If your child is going to be absent, late, or have an early dismissal, parents/guardians can send us an e-mail regarding the absence. Please provide the student's name, grade, and reason for absence (sick, family trip, dentist appt, etc.) and send the e-mail to SMSattendance@pennridge.org so it can be noted on the daily attendance list. That way teachers are in the know about their students. Doctor/dentist notes may also be sent to this e-mail address. Thank you!

If you are looking to start the new school year off with some South spiritwear, here is the link to the order form. Payment must be attached to the order form and may be dropped off at the South MS main office. All orders must be submitted by Monday, September 16th. Don't miss out on some new South MS apparel.

After-school Homework Club begins next week. What is Homework Club? Students who are feeling a bit overwhelmed or just need a little help with their homework are encouraged to come to Homework Club from 3:00 - 4:15PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A teacher and/or teaching assistant will be available to help get students back on track with their homework so they aren't trying to play catch-up at the end of the marking period. Students do not need to sign-up ahead of time and are invited to attend as needed. Parents/guardians can pick-up their child after Homework Club or students can take the 4:15PM bus home. Keep in mind that the 4:15PM bus sometimes covers a large territory so it may take additional time to get all the students home. As always, we are here to help.

Hey 6th grade! Looking for something to do early on Tuesday mornings? 6th grade intramurals will start this coming Tuesday, 9/17 at 7:00AM. Our activity will be dodgeball. You can arrive any time between 6:30-7:00AM but our dodgeball activity will not start until 7:00AM. Please have parents/guardians drop you off in the back of the building to enter through the gym lobby doors. You don’t need to sign-up and you don’t need a permission slip. Any questions, please ask Mrs. Welsh, Mr. Bosler, or Mr. Bech. Hope to see you Tuesday morning.

Attention 7th & 8th grade students interested in playing intramural volleyball: We will have our 1st meeting after school on Monday, September 16th. We will meet from 3:00-4:00PM in the gym and you will need a ride home promptly at 4:00PM. Questions – see Mrs. Welsh, Mr. Kehs, or Mr. Bosler

When the students were issued their laptops, they were instructed to charge the laptop every night. While most students have been faithful in doing so, some need more parental support. So, parents/guardians, we need your help with this. Please remind your child every school night to charge their laptop. We recommend keeping the student's backpack next to their charging laptop so that the laptop not only gets charged but the student also remembers to bring the charged laptop to school the next day. Thanks so much for your help in this matter.

As we finish our third week of school, we are happy to report that’s its been a very smooth start. The students are adjusting well to their class schedules and everyone, both teachers and students, are getting to know one another. It’s great to see and experience it with them. However, even though its been a great start at school, other things are happening outside of school involving very negative uses of social media.

When we meet with the students during their class meetings, we stress the importance of being very aware of what you post on social media and what comments you make in response to other people’s comments. Once you post it, it becomes public and permanent, and you are no longer in control of where your comments end up. This is where we ask that parents and guardians partner with us in helping our students make good choices outside of the school building. Please be sure and monitor your child’s social media usage and have conversations with them about being appropriate when posting their thoughts and opinions.

While attending many parent meetings throughout the years, one topic of conversation that usually arises is parents wishing they could limit their child's technology use at home, especially at night (bedtime). Many parents don't realize that most cellphone and internet providers already provide parental controls where service and/or wifi signals can be shut off between certain hours, preventing students from gaming and using social media well into the night. If this is something that you would like to explore, contact your service provider(s) directly for assistance.

Together we can make a positive difference!

Our annual Pink Out celebration is only 2 weeks away. Pink-Out will be on Friday, 9/27 and we have a few different things going on that week. We will once again hold our flag football tournament. Students can sign up in teams of 7 to play and it costs $2 per person ($14 per team). Registration forms are available outside of room 112. Registration ends on Wednesday 9/25. The tournament will take place during the school day on 9/27. If students do not wish to play, they can purchase a spectator ticket for $1 the week of 9/23. Students should listen to announcements regarding purchasing spectator tickets. Students not wishing to spectate or play will remain in homeroom that day. Students who purchased a South Pink-Out shirt do not have to pay the $2 to play or $1 to spectate.

We are also going to be running bake sales again this year to help raise donations for Pink-Out. Please see the sign-up genius link for a list of items we are looking for.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E49A5AD23A4FBC07-51367428-pink

Items can be homemade or store-bought but must be individually wrapped. Items should be dropped off in room 112 or the main office on the morning of the date you signed up for. Note: We will have the bake sale on 2 days this year: Wednesday 9/25 & Thursday 9/26. Please consider donating some baked goods for our bake sale. Any questions, please reach out to Ms. Meneeley at dmeneeley@pennridge.org

Stop by the Sellersville Museum on Saturday, September 14th or Sunday, September 15th to check out the Sellersville Schools showcase. There are some very interesting historical items from South MS on display so stop by and check it out.

After-school Coding Club will be starting soon, but it is open enrollment at any time. All students are welcome, and no coding experience is necessary. Students are self-directed and learn or code in languages of their choosing. This year there will even be some robots to code! We meet every Tuesday after school. Information and permission slips are on the window outside Room 112 at South or you can access it here. Contact Celise Hall-Huber at chall-huber@pennridge.org if you have any questions.

Fall weather can be quite unpredictable. Games and practices can change at a moment's notice and football, field hockey, and soccer team members are welcome to use the main office telephone to call parents/guardians regarding schedule changes. Keep up with the fall sports schedules here.

If you want to make a donation to Rachel's Closet, you can drop off donations at South's main office lobby or purchase items from our Amazon Wish List. To learn more about ways you can help our students, please see our flyer here. Thanks for your ongoing support of this much-needed service to our South community.

RamPacks is a CONFIDENTIAL program for families who need assistance with food over weekends. This is a FREE program, without cost to participating students but you must sign up to receive RamPacks. Please fill out this form or contact your child's guidance counselor (lrusso@pennridge.org or mdeflavis@pennridge.org) to sign-up for this program.

Website: https://www.pennridge.org/Domain/11
Location: 610 South 5th Street, Perkasie, PA, USA
Phone: 215-257-0467