March 17-21, 2014 Year 3: Volume 24 Remember to check Florence Middle School Website and Facebook Page. REMEMBER, STUDENTS, YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE! MAKE YOUR SECOND SEMESTER A GOOD ONE!! ***SnapChat, and any app that provides disappearing pictures, messages, or text, is prohibited on Florence City School- owned iPads. Downloading SnapChat, or any similar app, will be a violation of use and will incur disciplinary action. Students may continue to utilize iMessage and similar apps that offer exchange of text and pictures, but any app that is designed for disappearing text or pictures is prohibited.*** New Online Registration begins March 31, 2014. Visit florencek12.org for information. Monday, March 17th is club/activity picture day. Wear the appropriate clothing for your group. Congratulations to Mr. Crosslin, 8th grade accelerated science teacher, for being recognized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as having a profound influence on one of their outstanding students! Congratulations to Sara Holcombe!! She earned a Presidents Volunteer Service Award, granted by @PruSpirit, on behalf of the president. The month of March is Brain Injury Awareness month. We are asking all FMS students and teachers to wear green throughout the week of March 17th-21st to recognize and show support for Brain Injury Awareness. Florence Middle School is FOCUSED on attendance. For the month of February, we had an average attendance of 92.66%. The 7th grade averaged 24 absences per day, while the 8th grade averaged 28 absences per day. Please help up stress the importance of daily attendance! Thank you! The 8th grade counselor is working on 4-year plans. They will be sent home with students for parental approval and signature as they are completed. Emma Kate Griffin will be travelling to attend workshops at the Alabama State Thespian Festival. She was chosen from the middle school theatre class to attend the festival with the high school students. Please congratulate her! Our coupon book fundraiser ended Friday, Feb. 14. Please be returning all sale books and orders as soon as possible. The funds raised are for general school projects. Please join me in congratulating Ahbee Orton for winning the Lauderdale County a spelling Bee! The state spelling bee was held on Saturday, March 8. She placed 8th in the state of Alabama! Congratulations, Ahbee!! UPCOMING EVENTS Students interested in trying out for the FMS 8th grade cheer squad or the FFC 9th grade cheer squad needs to pick up a cheerleader candidate packet from the FMS office. There was a cheerleader tryout interest meeting on Thursday, February 20. All forms in the packet were due by March 5th. Cheer tryout clinics will be held March 17th – March 20th from 3:15 – 5:00 pm in the Coffee Gym. Tryouts will be held Friday, March 21st @ 3:30 in the Coffee Gym. Student Council is sponsoring a book drive. We are going to start a book exchange, and we would LOVE for you all to help us get this started. Our plans are that students and families will donate required books to the media center. Then, students will be allowed to take a book that they need, free of charge, and return it to the shelf after they are finished with the reading. We hope that you LOVE reading and will LOVE bringing in books to help support this project. *Parent Night* Where: Florence Middle School Auditorium When: March 18, 2014 Time: 7:00p.m-8:00p.m Whom: All parents of rising 7th grade students Please join us to gain more information on what to expect for your student entering FMS in the 2014-15 school year. FMS students participated in anti-bullying activities during February to show our school support for a bully-free school. We want to thank you for your help in spreading the word to all our students Florence Parks & Recreation Acoustic Music Night – Royal Avenue Recreation Center, 420 N. Royal Ave. Singers, Songwriters, Musicians and Acoustic Bands come show your talents! Grades 7-12, $5/person. Contact Scott Dorroh to book your spot. 256-760-6425 or email Scott at [email protected]. Performers need to be at the venue at 6:30pm. Event dates are March 28, April 25 and May 23. *Parent Night* Where: Florence Middle School Auditorium When: March 18, 2014 Time: 6:00p.m-7:00p.m Whom: All parents of rising 8th grade students Please join us to gain more information on what to expect for your student entering FMS in the 2014-15 school year. F.A.S.T Florence Alabama Swim Team Registration April 1st – May 2nd Ages 6-18 Register online @ florenceal.org Go to Parks and Recreation and Then click on the Green Register button twice Registration Fee $35.00 CLASSROOM NEWS Tutoring after school takes place Monday-Thursday, room 211, from 3:15-4:15. Students need to be prompt in arriving before 3:15, and parents need to be prompt in picking up their children at 4:15. Congratulations Mrs. Christy and Florence Middle School for receiving the NAESP Sharing the Dream Grant in the amount of $5000.00!!! Mrs. Holliss English Language Arts classes – Students in Mrs. Holliss English class began reading The House of Dies Drear, by Virginia Hamilton, on February 18. You were to have had your copy by then. **Accelerated Reader due dates are as follows: A/R Test #1 was due on March 6 A/R Test #2 was on March 14 NOVELS THAT STUDENTS CHOOSE FOR A/R TESTS MUST MEET CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS and must be approved by Mrs. Hollis. 8th Grade Accelerated English: The assessment about Joan Bauers Hope Was Here will preliminarily begin on Monday, May 5. Ms. M. White’s classes - We will begin reading Lois Lowrys The Giver Monday, April 7th. FIND A COPY ASAP. The AR deadline for the 4th nine weeks is 8th period, Monday, May 19. Students are responsible for one (1) book. Be sure to follow requirements discussed in class. Mrs. B. White’s Classes- Mrs. B. White’s students need to have a copy of The Giver by early April. Mrs. Bragwells Science classes - You need to return your signed homework policy sheet if you have not yet. This is a homework grade. Mrs. Bragwell will mail home copies to be signed and returned. If you have a zero in INOW for this grade, you have not returned this sheet. 8th Grade Science - This is the start of our new semester of AMSTI! Parents, Mrs. Holt will be staying after school on Tuesdays (instead of Wednesdays) until 4:15. Please make arrangements for your child to stay if he is not doing well in Pathways. Science teachers would appreciate donations of glue sticks for the classroom. The FMS Science and Math departments are doing a joint fundraiser for Science Olympiad and Math Team. We are selling Florence Falcons stylus pens for $2 each. Please contact Melissa Waddell ([email protected]) or Melanie Harris ([email protected]) to purchase the pens. 7th Grade Math and Pre-algebra - We still have a lot of concepts left to cover! Please encourage your child to BE AT SCHOOL and COMPLETE THEIR HOMEWORK assignments! It is easy to get in the play mode and forget to focus and be serious about our work. Regular math student are to be completing a vocabulary book project. Pre-algebra students have just started working on linear functions. Mrs. Reaves Art classes - The annual juried exhibit of art work by 7 through 12th graders has just been judged. FMS was represented well. We entered 26 artworks and two were awarded Honorable Mention. The two artists are Alex Calvo and Chasady Vandiver. We also had a seventh grader, John Morton, enter artwork on his own and he was awarded Best of Show! The exhibit is open to the public March 4 through April 11. We have several students with artwork accepted into this exhibit: Alex Calvo, Sydney Petree, Claire Williams, Maggie Huang, John Morton, Garrett Dickinson, Haley Grissett, Kywn Garrett, Makaila Swinney, Mary Elizabeth Lane, Morgan Freebeck, Elizabeth Infanger, Stephen Money, Kortnee Nichols, Glenn Rogers, Karly Grace Holt, Abby Nipper, Alex Moses, Eve Pennington. All of these students have artwork on display. Below are just three examples of the 386 artworks included in the exhibit. LABELS FOR EDUCATION - Labels for Education are being collected to add to the art room supplies. Please collect and bring to the Middle School office. The website for Labels for Education has a complete listing of participating products. BAND NEWS Music Performance Assessment – – Please feel free to contact me with questions at [email protected] I am very proud to announce that the Florence MS Concert/ Beginner Band received ALL Superior ratings on the stage performance and an Excellent in their sight reading performance. These students are to be commended for their outstanding performance Thursday! Equally as impressive were the FMS Symphonic Band ratings of ALL Superiors in their stage and sight reading performances Thursday!!! They received straight As in the assessment categories for their onstage performance (3 judges gave them 8 As each, which is amazing)!! I am so proud of these young musicians! To achieve such a high level of success at the state level is impressive! Thank you for your support and encouragement! The following students auditioned and were selected to participate in the 2014 Shoals Area Honor Band Friday, March 7th. Katherine Pitts – 1st Chair Flute Melanie Diaz – 7th Chair Flute Sydney Grissett – 1st Chair Clarinet Rebecca Branham – 2nd Chair Clarinet Donovan Elsey – 2nd Chair Trombone Emma Phillips – 1st Chair Oboe Nathan Grissett – 1st Chair Timpani Please note the number of 1st & 2nd chair placements. FMS is well represented by these outstanding young musicians. Are you interested in being a part of the Falcon Color Guard? Majorettes? or Danceline??? There was a MANDATORY meeting on Monday, March 10th at 6:00 p.m. in the FHS Band Room. You must have attended this meeting to tryout, and a PARENT should have attended the meeting also. VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION was given at this meeting regarding clinic, tryouts, fees, and band camp information. Any questions call Mrs. Lorie Earwood or Robert Groves at Florence High School. SPORTS NEWS FMS Football- 7th & 8th gr. – season over JV – season over Freshman Center – season over Varsity Football – season over The FMS Falcon & Lady Falcons basketball teams – MS – season over 9th/JV/V – season over FMS Volleyball – season over JV Volleyball – season over Wrestling Team – Softball - V, JV – The Florence Lady Falcons opened up area play Tuesday evening with the James Clemens Lady Jets. The Lady Falcons knew that James Clemens was coming to Florence with a mission to take out the Lady Falcons softball team. The Lady Falcons defeated James Clemens by the score of 6-3. With the win, the Lady Falcons improve 8-3, 1-0 in area. The offense was led by Ellison Barrett, Alex Jones and Lakien Dillard, with 2 hits each. Ellison Barrett picked up the win, pitching 7 innings, giving up 6 hits, 11 strikeouts and 4 walks. The team played Thursday at home against Hazel Green, then travels to Hendersonville this weekend for the Commando Classic. I must say, if you did not come out and watch the Florence Lady Falcons Thursday night, you missed a tremendous softball game. The Florence Lady Falcons defeated Hazel Green 9-8. This was a game of momentum, and I cannot be any happier for these young ladies. The fight and never-quit attitude made the difference in the outcome. The Lady Trojans jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st. We cut the lead to 3-1 at the end of one inning. The Lady Trojans came back to take a 7-1 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd. The Lady Falcons came alive and cut the lead to 7-5 going into the fourth. The defense held its own going into the bottom of the 5th, tying up the ball game at 7-7. We took the lead in the bottom of the 6th going ahead 9-7. The top of the seventh, Hazel Green decided to make a run at the Lady Falcons by scoring a run to cut the lead to 9-8. They were not done, as Hazel Green loaded the bases with one out, and brought the top of the order to the plate. With a strikeout and a line out to the pitcher, the ball game ended in fashion. Madison Kasmeier started her first game of the season pitching 3 innings, with Ellison Barrett coming on in relief to pitch 4 innings for the win. The offense was led by Lakien Dillard with 4 hits, 3 stolen bases and an RBI. Hannah Shollenberger and Davis Watkins each had 3 hits. The win was a team effort, with every member contributing in the win. The Lady Falcons travel to Hendersonville this weekend to play in the Commando Classic. There are 52 teams signed up. MS – The Florence Lady Falcons Middle School team travelled to Ardmore last weekend and did exceptionally well. They finished 1-1 in pool play, which put them in the silver elimination tournament. The middle school team won 2 games in elimination to advance them to the championship game. The Lady Falcons lost to Lawrence Co. by the score of 7-6 in international tie breaker. Congrats to all the Middle School softball players on a job well done. Baseball – FMS – Monday, March 17, with Rogers (DH), THERE, 4pm; Tuesday, March 18, with Deshler (DH), THERE, 4pm; Friday, March 21, with Russellville (DH), THERE, 4:30pm FMS Tennis team - This week they traveled to Jasper to play Maddox Middle School. They have one of the best tennis programs in North Alabama. The girls won their doubles matches 2-1, with outstanding play. They lost in singles 2-4 in very close matches. Even though we lost the overall match 5-4, our players played great and showed much class on the courts. The boys lost 3-6, but fought hard against a very tough Maddox team. Both the boys and girls have won 2 matches and lost 2 matches. We travel to Muscle Shoals on March 20th to play our next match. Coach Stanhope Varsity Swim Team is comprised of 7th thru 12 Grade Students. Cross Country – season over Track - FMS Boys Soccer – FMS Girls Soccer – Monday, March 17, middle school tournament, arrangements TBA Golf - Those interested in being a part of the FMS Golf Team need to see Mrs. Howell ASAP! CLUBS NEWS Junior United Nations Assembly (JUNA) – National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) – Thank you, thank you, thank you! Once again, the Honor Society members and their parents did an outstanding job supplying toys for gift bags for children in the hospital. These were delivered to children at ECM, Keller and Childrens hospital in Birmingham. Science Olympiad – Science Olympiad is done for this school year. We will have an end-of-the-year party during the 4th nine weeks. An announcement about the party will be made at a later date. The Florence Middle School Science Olympiad Team competed in the Regional Competition at the University of Alabama Huntsville on Saturday, February 15. Due to the three snow days during the week before competition, our team was not as prepared as we would have liked to have been. In order to alleviate anxiety, we chose not to compete in three out of the twenty-three events. Nonetheless, the team placed 14th out of 23 middle school teams and we medaled in three events! Grant Brown and Seth Robinson placed 2nd in Road Scholar; Abby Coats, Margaret Jenkins, and Maggie McDuffa placed 3rd in Experimental Design; and Minnie Blackman and Seth Robinson placed 4th in Rocks and Minerals. Other team members are: Kaleigh Adams, Rachel Armstrong, Valerie Chobot, Sarah Kate Coussons, Tucker Persell, and Tyrus Williams. Please congratulate these students if you see them. The math team and science Olympiad team are selling Florence Pocket Ts. Choose from a comfort color blue or grey, short or long sleeve shirt with a monogrammed F or school initial pocket. Short sleeve are $25 and long sleeve are $35. Email Melanie Harris at [email protected] to order or ask questions. MathCounts - The FMS MathCounts Team participated in the Regional MathCounts Competition held on Saturday, February 22, 2014 at the University of North Alabama. The team had an outstanding performance and placed 2nd in the region. The team will advance to the Alabama state competition to be held on Saturday, March 15, at the Auburn Montgomery Campus. Team members are Maggie Huang (captain), Haley Grissett, Shaun Vickers, and Rebecca Branham. In addition to the team award, Maggie Huang (7th grade), had an exceptional performance and scored #1 in the top ten of student point totals. She continued on to win the 1st place individual award in the Countdown Round. Please congratulate these students when you see them!! Student Council - All members need to join our Student Council Group. The code is tmuhsj. I would like to say thank you to everyone that worked at career fair. You all did a marvelous job. Be sure to check edmodo for current events that we have going on! There will be a meeting Monday, March 17. At this meeting, those interested in entering the oratorical competition at the ASCA Leadership Conference on April 7th will be expected to give their speech. We will be picking the two speakers and two alternates at this meeting according to judging scores. Anyone interested in going on the trip (you do not have to speak) need to see Mrs. Howell or Ms. Jones to pick up a permission form. The permission form and $75 are due March 20. Please continue to encourage everyone to support and give donations to TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) Awareness this month. FBLA - Join FMS FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) today and be a part of the leaders of tomorrow! Have a chance to compete locally and nationally, help others, travel, learn leadership and teamwork skills, and meet students from everywhere! Membership is $10.00. See Mrs. Curtis or Coach Johnson. TSA – The FMS Robotics Team - will continue practicing on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:05 until 5 pm sharp starting Tuesday, February 4th. Go Falcons! Family and Consumer Science (FCCLA) - 8th graders who were enrolled in Mrs. Brooks’ class last year may participate in the FCCLA organization this year by picking up an application in Room 112. FCCLA is one of four Career and Technical Education student organizations on the middle school campus. Students must be enrolled or previously enrolled in the course that integrates the program. Math Team - The FMS math team meets on Thursdays from 3:05 until 4 pm. 7th grade meets in Ms. Harris room 215, and 8th grade meets in Mrs. Barnetts room 212. Please help me congratulate the 7th grade math team (Kyndall Crosslin, Maggie Huang, Erin Cody, Alycia Hawkins, Cameron McCance, and Rebecca Branham - picture below) for placing 5th at the Grissom Math tournament. Special congratulations to Maggie Huang for scoring perfect on the Pre-Algebra math test and receiving 2nd place as an individual. This year’s school-wide Geography Bee Winner is Adith Bondugula of the 7th grade. For those who know him, please congratulate him on a job well done. Yearbook 2014 - Send photos of school activities to [email protected] for possible inclusion in the yearbook. Spring picture proofs were mailed to FMS last week. Students will have until March 21st to place orders, to avoid an extra $10 late order fee. PTO – Come to the PTO meetings, join ($20) and be an informed parent. Officers: President-Cynthia Southward; Vice President- Debbie Williams; Secretary-Sandy Holcombe; Treasurer-Rhonda Blackburn Since 1996, the Box Tops for Education program has helped schools across America earn cash for the things they need. Support your school today and see what a difference you can make! The PTO is sponsoring a Box Top Drive. Turn in box tops now and until March 14, 2014 to win. The advisor’s room with the most box tops will win a pizza party. The advisor of that room will receive a $50 supply gift card. Please, advisors push the Box Top Drive and win a $50 supply gift card. Questions [email protected] Last day for the box tops drive was March 14, 2014. Chorus - The FMS Chorus participated in the State Choral Performance Assessment and State Solo & Ensemble on Tuesday, March 11 @ UNA. This was a requirement for all students and constituted the benchmark for the 3rd quarter. They were rewarded for their hard work Tuesday with 11 superior ratings! The Concert Choir received 3 superiors for the on-stage performance and a superior rating in Sight-reading. The Girls’ Choir also received 3 superior ratings for the on-stage performance and a superior rating in Sight-reading. The Boys’ Ensemble, the 7th Grade Girls’ Ensemble and the 8th Grade Girls’ Ensemble each received a superior rating as well for their ensemble performance. Thank you for helping the students to understand their responsibility of getting back to your classes!! I know not all of them accepted this gracefully, but your awareness and willingness to stand together with me on this hopefully kept problems to a minimum. Thank you, Mrs. Newton, for taking my enrichment class!! You are an angel of mercy!! April 3 & 4 are the dates for the Alabama All-State Chorus festival in Birmingham. 25 FMS students will be attending this. May 15 is the spring concert @ 6:30 p.m. May 16 is the talent show! If any of you are planning to perform, be getting your act together!! J Thank you once again for your support! The Florence Middle School Scholars Bowl Team – The Florence Middle School Scholars Bowl Team participated in a formidable competition against Deshler Middle School Friday, February 28. The results are as follows: Game 1: Florence Middle School (225); Deshler Middle School (90) Game 2: Florence Middle School (135); Deshler Middle School (215) Total: Florence Middle School (360); Deshler Middle School (305) Please congratulate our students for their noteworthy performance in the competition today. Thank you.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 18:54:00 +0000
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