I first want to give a shout out to our students because they have done a great job transitioning into our second semester. It has been really cool seeing our students getting a little taller, making new friends, and learning more and more in their classes. I know I might be biased, but I really do think we have the best students.

Secondly, I want to say thank you for everyone's support as we have navigate COVID and eLearning snow days this past month. I know there have been some challenges, but when teachers, students, and parents work together we can overcome anything.

Finally, I am excited to announce the start of our 21-22 STEAM Challenge. All students will participate in this competition during SOAR time. Each student will design and create a product for one of our characters from our One School, One Book - I Will Always Write Back. Winners of this school-wide competition will be able to win some really cool prizes. Click Here to see our STEAM Challenge Introduction Video. On Monday, students will learn what the product will be. In addition to our school-wide STEAM Challenge, our 8th graders have put together 3 fundraising opportunities to support their campaign Love = Hope. All proceeds will help build a school in Kenya. Check out the flyers in this newsletter to find out more details about these fundraising opportunities.

We look forward to seeing our students SOAR in Quarter 3.

Go Knighthawks!

Cori Hustedt

• Jan. 27th - KONA Ice

• Jan. 27th - Basketball vs. FCMS

• Jan. 31st - FMHS Curriculum Night for 8th Graders (In Person)

• Jan. 31st - 1st Day of our STEAM Challenge

• Feb. 1st - NaFo Curriculum Night for 8th Graders (Virtual)

• Feb. 1st - School Board Meeting

• Feb. 2nd - Academic Challenge vs. ILMS

• Feb. 7th - SIC Meeting

• Feb. 8th - NAEP Test

• Feb. 9th - Academic Challenge vs. GHMS

• Feb. 15th - School Board Meeting

• Feb. 16th - Academic Challenge vs. Oakridge

• Feb. 18th - Instructional Half Day

• Feb. 21st - No School

• Feb. 24th - KONA Ice

• Feb. 24th - 27th - Honors Chorus Field Trip

Reported COVID related absences or school generated quarantines may take up to two days to be reflected as SC-VTP in your child's attendance profile. Thank you for understanding.

8th Grade Charleston Field Trip Information:

There is still time to sign up for the 8th Grade trip to Charleston on May 12-13. Students that are signed up or interested in going need to turn in the permission slip and behavior contract to the homeroom teacher as soon as possible.

If you need to sign your student up for the trip, please access the trip website: https://orangeskytravel.com/10576

If you are interested in chaperoning the trip, please fill out the google form: https://forms.gle/Tq4tekHsC3tX3NgC9

(Individual Graduation Plans)

Important Info for High School Planning:

It’s that exciting time of year when we begin looking ahead and planning for the transition to high school for our 8th grade students. Our PKMS counselors will meet with each 8th grader and parent for an IGP meeting to discuss course selections for 9th grade and begin thinking about high school and post-secondary plans. Please review the important information below regarding the timeline of events for the IGP process.

*Jan. 26 -IGP Presentation by counselors in 8th grade classes

-Students receive Program of Studies & Course Registration Form

-Letters mailed to parents with appointment date/time for

IGP Meetings - appointment also noted on Registration Form

-IGP Presentation emailed to parents and on PKMS website

*Jan. 31 -FMHS Curriculum Night - 5:30 - 7:30 pm in person

*Feb. 1 -NFHS Curriculum NIght - Virtual event

*Feb.3 ***Completed Course Registration Forms DUE back to PKMS to

Homeroom teachers***

*Feb. 14-Mar. 4

-IGP Meetings with all 8th grade students and parents

-Students will meet individually with a counselor at school and parents will join via phone call

*FMVA students - Pick up student packets at PKMS office beginning Jan. 18. Return completed Course Registration Forms to PKMS office by Feb. 3. IGP meetings will be scheduled with Allison Davis, Counselor at FMVA.

*IGP Meetings should take approximately 15 minutes. We appreciate your support in honoring the scheduled date/time for your child’s IGP. We look forward to working with you to help your child have a successful transition to high school! If you have questions, please contact your child’s counselor.

Carol Eaker Tia Ellam Margaret Causey

School Counselor (A-G) School Counselor (H-N) School Counselor (O-Z) eakerc@fortmillschools.org ellamk@fortmillschools.org causeym@fortmillschools.org

Please click here for more information on PKMS spring sports regarding conditioning and tryouts for 7th and 8th graders.

Please consider donating to Pleasant Knoll Middle School’s efforts in raising funds for the Polar Plunge which benefits Special Olympics South Carolina. The administrator that raises the most donations will plunge into the chilly water at the Baxter Close YMCA on February 5th. Which administrator would you like to see take the plunge??

Cash donations can be placed in the jars in the learning commons. Online donations can be made at https://give.classy.org/PKMS2022 through February 5th.

Students may also support the cause by purchasing popsicles for $1 during all lunches on Wednesday, 1/26 and 2/2.

Pleasant Knoll has a new club called Knighthawks Give Back. This club will be using the Coca-Cola Give program as its fundraiser. When you make Coca-Cola purchases, you simply enter the product codes here: coke.com/give/schools and our school receives a donation. The codes are printed on the inside of bottle caps and the cardboard on 12-packs (any Coke product). If you would like to send the codes in with your student, the club members will enter the codes for you. Just send to your child’s homeroom teacher and we will take care of the rest. All donations will be used to give back to our community. Thank you for your support!

Real time tutoring is available from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. Sunday – Saturday for English and Spanish speakers with no appointment needed!

This service is available for all South Carolina residents of all ages.

Click here to access Tutor.com

Tutor.com offers:

• Math assistance Algebra I & II, Pre-calculus and Calculus, Geometry,
• SAT, PSAT, ACT, and AP test prep
• Grammar, literature, and vocabulary assistance
• Biology, chemistry, earth science, and physics assistance
• Writing tutors
• Computer literacy
• ESL and ELL
• French, German, Spanish, and Italian tutors
• Reading assistance for all grades

To purchase PKMS athletic tickets, please download the GoFan app and select Pleasant Knoll Middle School to purchase. You will receive electronic tickets to show at the game entrance.

We're looking for parents interested in running for the 2022-23 PKMS PTO board. Multiple positions will be open, including president, vice president, treasurer and secretary. Please pass on the word and email pleasantknollmspto@gmail.com to connect with us and ask questions.

We would like to keep all of our parents informed of upcoming events, classroom news, and school news. Please use the PKMS website, http://pkms.fortmillschools.org/. It should be a primary source of communication for our families. Please also use our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages for information as well.

Twitter - @PK_Knighthawks

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PKMSKnighthawks/

Instagram - pleasantknollmiddleschool

A - G - Carol Eaker: eakerc@fortmillschools.org

H - N - Tia Ellam: ellamk@fortmillschools.org

O - Z - Margaret Causey: causeym@fortmillschools.org

PKMS Counselor Website Link

The district plans to maintain the current COVID-19 Dashboard here.

• To report a positive case or close/household contact for a student, please click here.
• When a student is eligible to return to the school setting, please click here.
• Please email all vaccination cards to Kristin Zeppelin @ zeppelink@fortmillschools.org
• If you child is virtual learning due to quarantine/isolation, please have him or her follow our bell schedule. Students will either Google Meet into class or complete an indendepent assignment.

• Test Clinic Date: Saturday, January 29th
• Testing Hours: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Location: Fort Mill School District Office Training Center, 2233 Deerfield Drive (Enter in Building C at the left side of the District Office – Do not enter in the main entrance)
• NO APPOINTMENTS OR PRE-REGISTRATION NECESSARY.

Email: zeppelink@fortmillschools.org
Website: http://pkms.fortmillschools.org/
Location: 2320 Pleasant Road, Fort Mill, SC, United States
Phone: 803-835-3770
Facebook: facebook.com/PKMSKnighthawks/
Twitter: @PK_Knighthawks