8/22/2014
We have had another great week at SCMS!
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Student Government elections were held this week. Emerald Gibbs was elected school President by the entire
Middle School student body. Allen Van Brocklin was elected 8th grade Senator by the 8th grade students. Each
Advisory group (homeroom) elected a Representative. Our 8th grade Representatives are: Michelle Grenevitch,
McKenzie Ellington, Xavier Burke, Josh Engstrom, Jade Ford, Mitchell Thompson, and Aaron Witherspoon.
Students will be taking their 4 ½ week assessment next week. Social Studies and Language Arts will test on
Thursday. Math and Science will test on Friday. Please encourage your child to study for their assessments.
The teachers are working very hard to ensure success for each child. Please email your child’s teachers if you
have any concerns or questions:
lynn.addison@socialcircleschools.org
kristina.mikel@socialcircleschools.org
jason.austin@socialcircleschools.org
john.pittard@socialcircleschools.org
annette.bennett@socialcircleschools.org
tonya.simpkins@socialcircleschools.org
kathy.boyd@socialcircleschools.org
trish.thurman@socialcircleschools.org
eileen.mccullough@socialcircleschools.org
tawny.wright@socialcircleschools.org
sheri.wortham@socialcircleschools.org
This week students in Ms. Boyd's ELA classes finished analyzing a story and took an
assessment identifying genre of texts with first person point-of-view.
Next week they will examine reliable and unreliable evidence and construct various arguments using credible
evidence and text citations.
Mrs. Simpkins: Last week in Language Arts, students completed a Criminal Analysis using Edgar Allan Poe’s short
story, The Tell-Tale Heart. Students worked with a partner in order to create an Interrogation Report containing
textual evidence to support their claims. Also, students created an FBI Most Wanted poster of the main character
using an authentic FBI poster as a guide. Examples of current FBI Most Wanted posters were projected in class in
order to familiarize students with various white collar crimes. Students were made aware of the dangers of wire
fraud, unauthorized access to a protected computer, and embezzlement. Next week, we will continue our study of
Figurative Language and review for our 4 week assessment. Students will be tested over the material that we have
covered thus far.
I am currently using Remind 101 and have combined two classes in order to eliminate confusion. If you would like
gentle reminders, please subscribe by entering the phone number as a text and messaging the code for your child’s
class period. The information is as follows:
 Homeroom/1st Period: (706) 410-2267/ @fac52
 3rd Period: (706) 410-2267/ @e0667
 4th and 5th Period: (706) 410-2267/ @da9e
Mr. Pittard and Mrs. Bennett-Students are studying solids, liquids, gases and states of matter. We
will have a 4 ½ week test next Friday. Chapter 3 vocabulary cards will be due. It is important that they start studying
a little every night in preparation for this test.
Trish Thurman: We have completed our final quiz for Unit 1. Students are encouraged to continue to
attend morning tutoring from 7:30-7:45 in order to receive extra help and improve their grade. All students may redo
assignments other than a test if they make less than an 80. They must attend tutoring and redo the assignment
during that time. Review syllabus for details.
This Friday, math students will complete a 4.5 week assessment. This will provide valuable data on how well they
understand the standards thus far and count as a test grade. We will continue using the skills from Unit 1 and explore
more about congruency throughout the year. Our next unit, Unit 2 Exponents, provides students a chance to explore
and understand operations with expressions and equations while focusing on number sense.
Finally, students received a handout with information about REMIND and ConnectEd on Thursday. REMIND is a textbased service that allows you to register and receive text messages about upcoming quizzes, projects, and
assessments in my class. ConnectEd is the on-line text for 8th grade math. Students have detailed instructions to
register. The website provides video resources and additional practice in additional to access to their textbook.
Please make sure that your child is registered with ConnectEd by Monday, August 25th.
Ms. McCullough's math class is finishing up with Chapter 1 by completing a "City Project" where students will be
creating a city which includes streets that create parallel lines cut by a transversal as well as streets that create
perpendicular lines. The students will have fun naming their city, streets, and buildings. Students who failed Chapter
1 quiz have an opportunity to retake the test. The original test must first be signed by a parent and then student can
bring back the signed test in the morning before school starts and retake the test. I hope some students will take
advantage of this opportunity.
Ms. Wortham- Students have been learning about the Native Americans that lived in
Georgia before the Europeans arrived and the effect the European explorers had on the Native Americans. Next
week, students will be learning about the founding of Georgia. On Thursday, August 28th students will have their 4 ½
week assessment. Students will receive a Study Guide on Monday. They will need to complete the Study Guide and
study it for the Assessment on Thursday.
Mrs. Wright- This week we will be studying the founding of Georgia and reviewing for our 4 1/2 week assessment,
which will be given Thursday. In preparation for the test, I will be available for tutoring on Tuesday from 3:00-4:00. If
you would like to stay for tutoring, please let me know that you are planning to stay and bring a note from your
parent. The note should state that you have permission to stay after and how you will be getting home: car rider or
walker. I'm looking forward to a great week and to excellent test results!
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Next Thursday, August 28th at 6:00 pm in the Cafeteria, we have our Spaghetti & Speeches dinner. We have a
great meal planned and you will hear from our newly elected Student Government Officers and PTO officers as
well. I plan to give an overview of the new Georgia Milestones Assessment which will be replacing the CRCT this
year. You don't want to miss this event. We will also have a PTO membership drive that night too; so please come
out and eat with us and fellowship.
Next Friday, August 29th at 9:00 am in the Media Center, we will have our monthly COFFEE & CONVERSATION.
This is an hour long discussion with the administrative team. If you have things that you might not want to
discuss in a large forum, this is the place to be. We will have coffee and doughnuts. This event will start at 9:00
am in the Media Center. Please come out and chat; the administrative team would love to see you there.
Bring Your Parent to School Day, September 9th, 9:00-11:00am. (more information later)
Curriculum Night, October 16th @ 6:00pm (more information later)