Late Dismissal Monday

Don't forget we'll be dismissing 15 minutes late on Monday the 27th to accommodate the big news that will be announced at our afternoon assembly. Can't wait until the big reveal!

6th Grade Orientation Day

It's back to school for our new 6th graders this Monday. We'll run on a half-day schedule, and students will meet their suites, run through schedules, and learn about life as Cherokees. The program starts in the auditorium at 8:00, and parents are welcome to remain in the auditorium for a Q&A with the administrators after students are dismissed to their suites at 8:30. We're looking forward to a big turn-out like we had for the Bash. See you Monday!

A Behind-the-Scenes Look

The building has been abuzz with activity over the last few weeks, with most of our teachers coming in during their summer break to work on their rooms and lesson plans. Now that everyone is back, rooms are in order, and the teachers are working with their colleagues to make sure that we maintain and exceed the positive trends we started last year. Here are a few snapshots of what's been going on:

Back-to-School Bash

We had a HUGE turn-out for our Back-to-School Bash on Friday night! What an awesome start to the new school year! PTSA sold t-shirts, Moe's provided dinner, and band recruited new blood. Students picked up their schedules and had an opportunity to walk through them and meet their new teachers and catch up with old teachers and friends. With a radio station and two television stations in attendance, we garnered some great publicity for our school!

Thanks to all the parents who came early to help set up, the custodians for making sure the building looked great, parents and students for braving the downpour, and the teachers for giving up their Friday night to greet all our Cherokees! The dunking booth was ready to go early in the day with all the administrators and our school board rep Pam Trainor sentenced to turns. Mr. Cameron (Curriculum Principal), Mrs. Blevins (Head Principal), and I had our gear ready for a dunking. but the lightning gave some of us a last-minute reprieve. The good news is that Mr. Cameron still got dunked--a couple of times!

Top Ten Exciting Things for 2012-2013 (In No Particular Order)

10. Common Core Math Standards This will truly change how we teach math and how our students learn math. The new standards are about depth and perseverance, and over the next months we will all be learning how to support our students with this challenging new approach to math. Visit tncore.org for more information. 9. New Counselor Ashley Perkins Over the summer Ms. Youmans left to work at a school closer to her children, and we were lucky to find Ms. Perkins to replace her as the 6th grade counselor. Ms. Perkins comes to us from Kentucky and has a background in school psychology as well as counseling. She brings a wealth of skills to SDMS and is passionate about educating students about cyber-bullying, a topic which has affected us just like every other middle school in America. Welcome, Ms. Perkins! 8. THREE New Teachers Ms. Maryanski recently accepted a position as a math coach, so we scrambled to find a replacement for her on 6B. Luckily, we'll still keep her as a coach, and we were able to snag Jennifer Shehan as the new 6B math teacher. Rebecca Bitner and Ann Cortese also joined us as resource teachers, and they are already bringing new ideas and enthusiasm to an already strong 6th grade team. 7. New Babies and New Faces We'll have some temporary faces in the 6th grade hallways this year because of maternity leaves. Ms. Vartan welcomed a baby boy over the summer, and Ms. Wiberley will be filling in for her for the first three weeks. Ms. Adcock will return to us in January, and Ms. Jordan will teach in her place until then. Ms. Jordan just retired from SDMS in May, so we're thrilled to have her back! Ms. Stewart will be 6. New Rewards At the end of last year we installed a dozen new picnic tables for students to use during lunch, and we've come up with new incentives for this year to reward students for being responsible. Students will be able to earn rewards (like eating at the picnic tables) for following expectations. We want to highlight students who come every day and live up to our high expectations. 5. Spanish Course For the first time, SDMS is now offering elective Spanish courses. Students who maintained a C average last year were eligible to take our 9-week rotation course in Spanish (8th graders could take the year-long EOC Spanish for high school credit). 4. New Technology Mr. Carter worked tirelessly over the summer to update and develop programs that will help us streamline administrative tasks during the day. Now checking in and out, awarding and tracking KEES for our School-Wide Positive Behavior System, and so many other daily duties will be MUCH easier. Time-saving programs like this help us to focus more time on instruction and improving programs for our students. We can't believe NASA hasn't snapped up Mr. Carter yet! 3. Year Two of TAP When you see the data for this past year, I don't think anyone will be able to argue that our first year as a TAP school was anything but an overwhelming success. We worked hard and demanded more of our students (and ourselves!) than ever before, and we are so proud that our numbers reflected that at the end of the year. With that level of success under our belts, we can't wait to see where we can go this year. Watch for more data to be released! 2. New Administrators Fresh from the Leadership Academy, Mark Jones will be the 7th grade principal, and Nicole Wilson (soon to be Dr. Wilson) will be the 8th grade principal. They bring a lot of experience and enthusiasm to the administrative team, so we are glad to have them! 1.New PTSA Leadership This year Angie Bush is taking over as PTSA President, and considering that our PTSA is hands-down the best I've ever worked with, we can't wait to see what she has up her sleeves. We are so grateful to have Angie and so many new PTSA members on board for the new year. South Knoxville is a unique community, and we couldn't have made all the gains we made last year without their support.

Welcome to 6th Grade!

Over the summer I heard a lot of feedback about communication and how difficult it is to keep up with school events and what is happening in the daily lives of our students, so the sixth grade faculty of SDMS has committed to maintaining a blog of our school year. The objectives of our blog are to 1.) inform about important dates and events, 2.) provide tips and resources for academic and social success, 3.) celebrate our accomplishments, and 4.) spotlight some of the exceptional instruction in our building. I am so excited to be the 6th grade principal this year and to be working with such a dedicated, passionate, and skilled group of educators, and I want to make sure that our parents and community members see how hard our teachers and students work and what they're able to achieve. Things are starting to hum again at the home of the Cherokees, and we'll have lots to share in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned, and we'll keep you updated about the 2012-2013 6th grade journey!