JMS Family Newsletter

JISD is looking for volunteers who want to make a difference! Students with mentors are 52% less likely to skip school, 46% less likely to start using illegal drugs, and 27% less likely to start drinking. In only 1-2 hours a month, you can help a child and our community! Scan the QR code or click the link if you're interested in helping!
https://forms.gle/MuGVNGeW2CxD9jC68

On Friday morning at 7:00 a.m. I would like to invite you to join me for a cup of coffee in the Library. This is a great place for us to get to know each other better and for you to ask questions about what we do here at JMS. Hope to see you there!

Monday:

Volleyball at Home - Our VERY FIRST Parent Night

Thursday:

Football at Smithville

Friday:

7:00 a.m. - Community Coffee with the Principal

Saturday:

Cross Country at Marble Falls

Student attendance is VERY important for student growth and success. JMS has consistently been between 90%-95% attendance for students. Our goal is to consistently hit 98%.

We ask that parents/guardians please try to make appointments for their students as late in the day as possible so that students are not missing valuable instruction. When students are absent it becomes difficult for them to get caught back up.

I am so excited to announce that as an incentive for student attendance we will be giving away two bikes at the end of the nine weeks. All students who have had perfect attendance the first nine weeks will go into a drawing. We will draw one boys' name and one girls' name from the perfect attendance kiddos. Those two young people will win a brand new bike just for coming to school! We will continue to do this at the end of each nine weeks.

On Monday, our 8th grade girls volleyball team will host their very first parent night! Parents will need to start arriving at 4:15 p.m. on Monday and we will begin at 4:30 p.m. We are so excited to celebrate the parents/guardians that have supported these young people throughout their middle school years.

Come out and support the cougars as we celebrate our 8th graders and their families!

Families,

The eligibility grace period for free or reduced-price meals will end on Friday, September 27th. This means you must fill out the Free or Reduced-Price Meals application so your child can continue receiving meals for free or at a reduced price. Starting Monday, September 30th, you will no longer be eligible if you haven't completed your application.
Copies of the application are on our website.

Even if you qualified last year, a new application must be submitted every year. If you think you won't qualify, please still consider submitting the application. It helps ensure your child's school gets all the funding and benefits available to support all our students regardless of income.
If you have any questions about this program, please contact Tanya Edgar, our Child Nutrition Coordinator.

Email: tanya.edgar@jarrellisd.org
Phone: 512-746-2124 ext 1110

Just like students practice their instruments, sports, or even singing outside of school hours; it's just as important that they practice their academics outside of school hours as well.

Each week you will start to seeing some pointers or ideas that you can do at home to help your student become more successful in their academics.

This week we will focus on literacy. If your student is having trouble with fluency (they have to sound out most words, or their reading is "choppy") then here are a couple of tips to help them.

- When watching TV, turn on the closed captions so that they can read along while watching.

- Find a genre of books that students are interested in and encourage them to read each day. If you are unsure what they like you can ask them or reach out to their RLA teacher for assistance. Our Library has a wide-variety of books and genres for all students.

Our students and staff continue to astound me. They are working so hard and I love it when kids can tell me "why" they need to learn something. It's so refreshing. We have so many students doing good things and it makes me smile on a daily basis.

Thank you so much for the partnership we are building together for the betterment of our campus and students. Your input in invaluable.

Mostly, thank you for sharing your most prized possessions with us each day. Please know that we love and care for your students and want what is best for them.