FMS Parent Newsletter

The end of quarter two is this Friday. Make sure you check your child's PowerSchool to see if they have missing assignments they need to make up before the end of the week.

There will be no school Monday, January 20, in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Tuesday is a teacher workday, so there will be no class on January 21. Students will return to class on Wednesday, January 22.

Basketball, Cheerleading, and Wrestling are all in full swing - check the school website for game information.

Invitation! Parents of 8th grade students: Early College High School will visit FMS on Thursday, 1/23 at 9:00. Staff and students from the school will share their recruiting presentation and speak to all 8th grade students about the Early College program and their application process. Parents of 8th grade students are encouraged to attend.

Monday, February 10, is a Teacher Workday, meaning no school for students.

NC Check-Ins #2 will be February 12, 13, & 14.

Our next Early Release day is February 19.

Check out YEARBOOK information below!

Need to sign up for FCS FindOutFirst for bus changes, school closings, important messages from the county and our school? Click here to go to the county page.

Need to sign up to pay lunch or Chromebook fees online? Click here to get started.

Traditional school calendar for 2019-2020 CLICK HERE.

FMS school day master schedule - CLICK HERE.

Franklinton Middle School's Knitting Club and Service Club are working together to help animals that have been orphaned, dislocated or injured by the mega-wildfires in Australia.

The students are collecting donations of crafted items, or soft fabrics used to make items, to send to Australia. Donations of cotton, flannel, fleece, wool, or other usable natural fibers and fabrics are the materials needed to sew pouches, pouch liners, nests and bedding for the suffering animals. Synthetic materials, such as polyester, cannot be used. Pre-made pouches, etc. are also welcome donations.

“We're happy to collect sewn pouches, liners, bedding, bat wraps and/or knitted or crocheted pouches or nests,” said Mary Moore, school counselor at FMS. “Links for patterns are available (Google or visit YouTube).”

The most recent project completed by FMS’ Knitting Club was a shipment of knitted baby caps that was sent to the East African Preterm Birth Initiative.

All materials collected during January and February will be sent to the Animal Rescue Collective Craft Guild in Newcastle, Australia. Materials are being accepted during school hours in the main office at FMS. Contact: Mary Moore, school counselor, Franklinton Middle School: marymoore@fcschools.net; or, 919-494-2971.

Battle of the Books competition - March 10th at Terrell Lane Middle School

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO!

We are finalizing plans for our 7th and 8th grade MPA and Spring Band trips! Information will be sent out regarding those trips in the next week or two. To help offset the cost of these trips, we will be kicking off a fundraiser next month that we hope will cover most, if not all of the travel expenses.

Any students who need to make up or retake any of the playing quizzes/tests for this quarter will need to do so by this Thursday January 16. Students may stay after school or come in during RAM time with their teacher’s permission.

**Any student who missed our Winter Concert will need to have a note from a parent turned in to me by Thursday with a valid excuse for missing the concert. Concerts count as a test grade plus 10% of participation.**

The last week of the quarter will be so much fun! 8th grade will be learning a little about stage makeup and how to make bruises. (we will be doing this in class and they will have to wash it off before they leave the classroom) They will also be dressing their mannequins for the last time and decide where they will be staged. 7th grade will be working on extra credit (if they want it) and finishing up their chapter 11 work/test. 6th grade finished their masks last week and we will be playing games. It’s great to be able to end the semester on a high note, and these classes have put in the work and deserve some fun.

YEARBOOKS

Information about our yearbook will be coming out soon. You will get a paper from your child if you want to send in payments to the school. There will also be information on how to pay for your yearbook online. You can make payments on them from now to the end of the school year. Yearbooks are $20 and have the option to upgrade to a hardcover for an additional $5. Other add-ons are available for additional fees. Please be on the lookout for this information!

MR. GENTILE - MATH

We are continuing to work through our Integers & Absolute Value unit (unit 6). Please monitor and remind your child(ren) to consistently work on their vocabulary slides in order to stay relevant to what we are covering in class. Students have been using the Dreambox program since last week and it has been a huge success! Please encourage your child(ren) to get on Dreambox as much as possible, the more time spent on the program relates to better math scores/grades :)

MS. SMETANA - SCIENCE

6th graders just wrapped up our unit on Earth in the Universe. We have now begun our new unit on Matter. This will be our most important unit of year. On the NCFE at the end of the year, most of the questions will be about this unit. Students will have a quiz on atoms/matter on 1/30. Students took notes to study 1/13.

MS. MCINTOSH - ELA

6th graders will start reading “Bud Not Buddy” this week.

Our learning targets for this week: :

• I can use evidence from the text to make inferences about Bud. (RL 6.1)

• I can determine the meaning of figurative language in Bud, Not Buddy. (RL 6.4)

• I can explain how the author’s word choice affects tone and meaning in the novel. (l 6.5)

What can I do as a parent to help?

Please remind students to turn in all missing assignments NLT Friday, January 17th. Please encourage students to read any book of their choice for at least 30 minutes a day. The more vocabulary our students are exposed to, the better the reader. Let’s Rock this EOG!

Need to practice reading and answering on RI standards (Reading Informational text)? Practice reading and answering questions on Achieve 3,000.

Upcoming Events: Achieve Level Set Test on Wednesday, January 15th.

MS. NEUJAHR - SCIENCE

Students are finishing up the introductions to the life science unit and reviewing for their 2nd Nine weeks benchmark coming up in mid-february. In the next week, they will be starting the third nine weeks grading period which is entirely based on the Human Body Systems. They will learn the ins and outs of each system and be creating a sketchbook chapter book on each system for the upcoming nine weeks project.

MS. KEITH - SOCIAL STUDIES

Students are currently going through the French Revolution unit. They are working this week on completing some assignments in their interactive notebook and completing a project about the French Revolution. Please remember that Friday is the last day of the Nine Weeks. If a student is missing work it can be found on Canvas and they can still turn it in for credit. We also have our next field trip coming up on Feb 21st to Galaxy Fun park. We sent waivers home with every student going today! THEY HAVE TO HAVE A SIGNED WAIVER INTO TO GO ON THE TRIP. If you have questions please email me at rebeccakeith@fcschools.net.

MS. BAECHLE - ELA

We are currently finishing up our second text “Lyddie.” We are doing daily powerpoints to allow for rigor and structure as well as, to keep students on track with the lesson. Our current focus is on central themes, claim, and key vocabulary. In addition, we are working on more in class articles to practice for the upcoming Benchmark 2 with a focus on: topic, annotating text, and claim or author’s purpose. Lastly, students Q2 projects are due this Friday, the 17th (students were given 8 weeks and several reminders to complete). Any missing work can be found on PowerSchool with an associated zero, which they have been provided with additional time to makeup as well. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at kimberlybaechle@fcschoos.net or on my google classroom.

MR. HOOPER - MATH

You are now able to find missing work in Powerschool by clicking the View button next to the assignment. This will take you to a link to the assignment. Please check out my Google Classroom pages as well as the my Canvas page for assignments and helpful links.

MS. FROST - ELA

Promote Literacy at Home!

What can I do to encourage my child to read?

As your child's most important teacher, parents and guardians can positively influence children's attitudes about reading. Studies have shown that when parents and guardians are involved in their children's learning, children perform better at school. Here are some simple tips to help you support your child's reading at home during the new year!

Parent Tips

Be a positive role model for your child by reading for pleasure in the home and replace (cell phone, TV, video games etc.) time for reading.

• Talk to your child about the importance of reading and how it impacts you everyday.

• Talk to your child about your favorite books and why you enjoy them.

• Get a library card with your child. Upon request, librarians are happy to give tours of the library.

• Build your child's own book collection (online, book stores, used book stores, garage sales)

• Expose your child to many different types of materials to read at home – comics, poems, instruction manuals, newspapers, information books, magazines, books on CDs, novels, etc.

• Subscribe to the newspaper and magazines of child’s interest.

• Set aside specific times during the week when the entire family reads together.

Click on Free Literary and Informational Texts to access thousands of free online texts!

Invitation! Parents of 8th grade students: Early College High School will visit FMS on Thursday, 1/23 at 9:00. Staff and students from the school will share their recruiting presentation and speak to all 8th grade students about the Early College program and their application process. Parents of 8th grade students are encouraged to attend.

Stay well! Cold and Flu season is well underway in North Carolina. If your child is sick with symptoms and fever, please keep them home. If your child is absent, a note or email must be sent to us explaining the absence. With no note or email, the absence is unexcused.

Please encourage the following healthy habits when you or your children are sick:

• Stay home if you have a fever and symptoms of cold or flu

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, after sneezing, blowing your nose, coughing, after toileting, before eating, when you come home from school, work, shopping, etc.

• If soap and water are not available use a hand sanitizer

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth

• Sneeze and cough into a tissue or into your arm/sleeve. Always covering your sneezes and coughs!

• Sanitize surfaces that are touched frequently, like light switches, remotes, door knobs, etc.

• Do not share cups, bottles, straws, toothbrushes, etc.

• Make sure everyone gets enough sleep - sleep deprivation doubles your chances of getting a cold or the flu.

Cyberbullying: (from stopbullying.gov) Know how your children are using their devices and how they're behaving online. Many of the warning signs that cyberbullying is occurring happen around a child’s use of their device. Some of the warning signs that a child may be involved in cyberbullying are:

• Noticeable increases or decreases in device use, including texting.

• A child exhibits emotional responses (laughter, anger, upset) to what is happening on their device.

• A child hides their screen or device when others are near, and avoids discussions about what they are doing on their device.

• Social media accounts are shut down or new ones appear.

• A child starts to avoid social situations, even those that were enjoyed in the past.

• A child becomes withdrawn or depressed, or loses interest in people and activities.

If you notice warning signs that a child may be involved in cyberbullying, take steps to investigate that child’s digital behavior. Cyberbullying is a form of bullying, and adults should take the same approach to address it: support the child being bullied, address the bullying behavior of a participant, and show children that cyberbullying is taken seriously. Because cyberbullying happens online, responding to it requires different approaches. If you think that a child is involved in cyberbullying, there are several things you can do:

• Notice – Recognize if there has been a change in mood or behavior and explore what the cause might be. Try to determine if these changes happen around a child’s use of their digital devices.

• Talk – Ask questions to learn what is happening, how it started, and who is involved.

• Document – Keep a record of what is happening and where. Take screenshots of harmful posts or content if possible. Most laws and policies note that bullying is a repeated behavior, so records help to document it.

• Report – Most social media platforms and schools have clear policies and reporting processes. If a classmate is cyberbullying, report it to the school. You can also contact app or social media platforms to report offensive content and have it removed. If a child has received physical threats, or if a potential crime or illegal behavior is occurring, report it to the police.

• Support – Peers, mentors, and trusted adults can sometimes intervene publicly to positively influence a situation where negative or hurtful content posts about a child. Public Intervention can include posting positive comments about the person targeted with bullying to try to shift the conversation in a positive direction. It can also help to reach out to the child who is bullying and the target of the bullying to express your concern. If possible, try to determine if more professional support is needed for those involved, such as speaking with a guidance counselor or mental health professional.

Email: heidiboardman@fcschools.net
Website: fcschools.net/Page/25
Location: 3 North Main Street, Franklinton, NC, USA
Phone: 919-494-2971
Twitter: @FranklintonMS