2nd Quarter PANTHER PRESS 2017-2018

Principal Dr. Teresa W. Hargrett 6th Grade Administrator

Ms. Twyla Hinton 7th Grade Administrator

Ms. Susan Turner 8th Grade Administrator Ms. Eva Miano Student Services Admin. Ms. Crysta Caruthers Counseling Dept. Ms. Kim Gray Ms. Tanyika Butler Language Arts Coordinator Ms. Tara Mann Math Coordinator Mr. Todd White Science Coordinator Ms. Oneisha Young Social Studies Coordinator Dr. Bethany Harrison Gifted Coordinator Ms. Laura Thomson ESOL Coordinator Ms. Melissa Guglielmi Academic Coaches Ms. Sara Folk—Math/SS Dr. Joy Jones—LA/SC

Floyd Middle School Cobb STEM Certified School 2017 Operational PBIS Award

2016 Bronze National Healthy Schools Award Title I Distinguished School

ASME INSPIRE Certification

Newsletter Date

January, 2018

4803 Floyd Road, Mableton, GA 30126 PH 770-819-2453 Fax 770-819-2455

http://www.cobbk12.org/Floyd/ http://teresahargrettblog.wordpress.com/ https://twitter.com/TeresaHargrett

SCIENCE

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At the beginning of Quarter 2, sixth grade science started off with an in-school field trip from Bio- Bus. The Bio-Bus team came in and conducted labs with the students

(see pictures below).We also investi-gated how weathering and erosion changes the Earth’s surface. The 6th grade scientists ate their way through an Edible Soil Lab that they

truly enjoyed (see pictures below). Students developed a model to demonstrate how natural processes and human activity changed rocks and the surface of the Earth. They

designed and evaluated solutions for sustaining the quality and supply of natural resources such as water, soil and air. As Quarter 2 came to a close, we took a journey to the center of the earth exploring the crust, the mantle, and the core. Students were able to compare and

contrast the different layers of the Earth including the temperature, density, thickness and composi-tion. As we journey back to the surface of the Earth, we will dive into the waters that covers the Earth.

Seventh grade Life Science students learned all about Cells and Human Body Systems dur ing 2nd quarter. This unit included the structures and function of cells. They also explored how nutrients come into and out of cells using gummy bears in the Gummy Bear Osmosis Lab. Students created 3D projects of cells or used their creativity to develop cell analogies. AC students presented their projects to their classmates and guest judge, Ms. Chaney. Finally, students determined how organ systems work together to maintain balance in the hu-man body! May the Force be with You! During the 2nd nine weeks’ eighth grade students explored the units entitled “Force and Motion” and “Energy and Energy Resources.” In the Forces and Motion unit, students learned about the nature of forces and how forces act on objects to impact their motion. In the Energy and Energy Resources unit, the students learned about different forms of energy, about energy conversions, and about how we use en-ergy resources in daily life. By the end of the two units, students began to demonstrate a clear under-standing of the unit’s concepts through their Roller Coaster PBL to be completed during the 3rd nine weeks. Make sure to check your student’s Edmodo account weekly for class assignments and additional re-

sources.

January, 2018 Page 3

LANGUAGE ARTS Recently, sixth grade Language Arts students were excited to participate in the #Hour of Code 2017 with Mrs. Penny Chaney, Floyd Middle School’s Teacher-Librarian. They were able to apply the critical thinking skills used daily in their Language Arts with completing the coding tasks. Many students could not wait to continue the coding at home! Great job 6th Graders! We are completing several grammar activities and assess-ments in class. Currently, students are completing a Topic Sentence Assessment, a mini plot project, and have begun to create a nouns board game to display mastery. After the holiday break we will begin our novel study. Clas-ses will be reading one of the following school provided novels: Maniac Magee, Freak the Mighty and Walk Two Moons. Please continue to check your child’s teacher’s blog for an update of the novel they will be studying. Also, con-tinue checking Synergy for updates to your child’s grades.

Happy Holidays 7th and 8th Grade Parents and Students! Two down, one to go ~ Our ELA stu-dents are taking their second Reading Inventory (RI) assessment for this school year. According to the National Center of Intensive Interventions, the RI is “a research-based, computer-adaptive reading assessment for students in grades K-12 that measures reading comprehension on the Lexile Framework for Reading. The student is asked to read a passage taken from an authentic text and then choose the option that best fills the blank in the last statement. To complete the statement, the student must respond on a literal level (recall a fact) or inferential level (determine the main idea of the passage, draw an inference from the material presented, or make a connection between sentences in the passage).” Their scores reveal if they are below basic, basic, proficient, or advanced readers. In 7th grade, a student is proficient with a score range of 925 to 1100. An 8th grader is proficient with a score range of 970 – 1150. You will receive your student’s current Lexile level in their Qtr. 2 report card envelopes. Until then, please ask your student about his/her score. We are truly excited and encouraged about the growth shown on our students’ second reading assessment; they will take their last RI during 4th quarter. Additionally, all of our students are engaged in critical reading and writing skills as they finalize their Unit 2 Spring Board Embedded Assessments (EA). These assessments are not the typical multiple choice or short answer questions of the past. With the newly adopted College Board curriculum, all students must now incorporate weeks of rigorous text analysis and writing into a culminating composition as they prove their knowledge of content standards and cognitive abil-ity. Looking ahead, quarter three promises many school-wide opportunities for intensive writing as we race confidently towards the End of Grade Assessment. We look forward to the accountabil-ity and celebrations ahead, and, as always, we thank you for your continued support as we work together as one team, one goal, STUDENT SUCCESS.

SOCIAL STUDIES In sixth grade social studies we began the quarter by learning about the history of Eu-rope to include: The Russian Revolution, Rise of Nazism, Treaty of Versailles, Holo-caust, Great Depression, Cold War and German Reunification. We also learned about the economics and political systems of the region. Our goal this quarter was to in-crease student inquiry by having students to interpret real world demographic data.

Students have been working on drawing conclusions and inferences based on data shown to them. Students have also been learning how to analyze maps, photos and documents. A project will be upcoming for the students that will have them create a Country Shape Book. This project will include researching the Geography, Econom-

ics, Government, and History from a country chosen in Europe. Next Quarter, we will be moving on to Australia. We will be starting with the Geography of Australia.

Seventh grade students have gotten off to a fantastic star t dur ing the second quarter of social studies. Students have transitioned from Southwest Asia (the Middle East) into Africa! Many of the topics and tasks were challenging and rigorous. We began the quarter by finishing up government and economics of Southwest Asia.

Government and Economics are something that middle school students see in all grade levels. It is important to build on the foundation they got in sixth grade to improve their skills for milestone testing in these critical areas. We finished up Southwest Asia with a fascinating book “The Breadwinner” by Deborah Ellis. This book takes place in Afghanistan and follows the struggle of a young girl living under Taliban rule. The

students were so engaged with this real life, hands on approach to “seeing” their stand-ards. After we completed reading the book the students were able to complete a project based upon book topics and Georgia Standards of Excellence.

After completing “The Breadwinner” we continued our journey on into Africa. Stu-dents created maps of the continent helping them get a hands on approach to the con-tent and standards.

For the 2nd quarter, Georgia Studies students were busy learning about the Civil War and The New South. They are currently working on a DBQ (Document-Based Ques-tioning) activity that will culminate with an essay that answers the question: How Free Were Free Blacks in the North?

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MATH

We are at the half way point and it's time to pull out all the stops as we push to the finish line. Beginning January 2018 your sixth grade math team will offer Math 911! Do you need extra help? Do you want to do your home work with someone that can answer ques-tions close by? Do you need to make up a mini or test? If you answered "YES!" to any of these questions then Math 911 can and will help. Math assistance will be available Tues-days, Wednesdays and Thursday mornings and afternoons! You can go to any session re-gardless of who your math teacher is to handle your math business. Morning sessions will start at 8 am and afternoon sessions are from 4:30 to 5:30. Please drop off and pick up at the bus depot. Stay tuned for details. We are half way to the finish line. Let's do this! In Quarter 2 our seventh graders focused on two step equations, proportional relationships, and scale factor. During Unit 2 they focused on how to solve one and two step equations us-ing their understanding of Integers to find values of unknowns that would make their state-ments true. They then took their understanding of equalities to discover concepts related to inequalities of one and two step equations. They discovered why a variable can have more than one value with inequalities as well as procedures to solve inequalities. In Unit 3 stu-dents learned how to recognize and create proportional relationships from tables, graphs, and equations. They took this information to solve real world examples of proportions as well as discover how maps, geometric figures, and models are drawn to scale using a scale factor.

In Quarter 3, students will be focusing on a geometric unit as well as a unit that focuses on inferences. In the Geometry unit they will discover how to find the area and circumference of circles and derive the relationship between them. They will be able to find unknown an-gle measures, as well as find area, volume, and surface area 3D objects. In our Inference unit students will use data from random samples to draw inferences about population, gen-erate multiple of the same size to gauge variation in estimates or predictions, as well as use measures of center and variability for numerical data from random samples to draw infor-mal comparative inference about two populations. Eighth grade students have been working hard on many concepts this year – every-thing from geometry to number sense! During Unit 2, we learned all about integer expo-nents, scientific notation, and solving equations with variables on both sides! In Unit 3, we explored Pythagorean Theorem and its uses in real life as well as finding the volume of cyl-inders, cones, and spheres. In Unit 4 we learned how to identify functions in different for-mats as well as identifying independent and dependent variables. Please be sure to visit our blogs and complete as many practice problems on IXL as possible so that you can all be successful math students!

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Middle School Leadership Academy Participants @ Tapp MS

Alexus Berry Josiah Carter

Bernice Ekwueme Elizabeth Ekweme Allyson Kirksey

Ashley Oleka Crystal Oleka Chloe Reese

Ting Ting Yan

News from ESOL and World Languages

ESOL students continue to work on improving their linguistic skills in all four domains: listen-ing, reading, writing, and speaking. This quarter Mrs. Lyles’ eighth grade class completed the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, and is currently reading the short story, The Necklace, by Guy de Maupassant, while Mrs. Guglielmi’s class completed the novel Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, and is currently reading the novel, White Fang, by Jack London; the seventh grade has completed the novel, The Top Ten Ways to Ruin the First Day of School, by Ken Dar-by, and is currently reading the short story, The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry; and the sixth grade has completed the novel, The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells, and is currently reading the novel, The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas. Our focus this quarter has been writing! The sixth graders have completed a comparison essay, and are now working on descriptive writ-ing. The 7th grade has completed an essay in conjunction with the novel read in class. The eighth graders have also completed a five paragraph essay in conjunction with the novels read in both classes, as well as a narrative paragraph.

Viva el mundo hispanico! The eighth grade high school credit Spanish classes are currently studying the verbs estar, tener, and haber, in addition to vocabulary for numbers, salutations,

time, and school subjects. The students will also be learning vocabulary for the family and de-scriptive adjectives. Seventh graders in the Introduction to Spanish Connections class are re-viewing the verbs ser and gustar, as well as vocabulary for salutations, colors, numbers, cog-nates, emotions, shapes, body parts, and adjectives. Continuamos!

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Students learned more about integrity, effective communication, confi-dence, and teamwork to apply in their lives and leadership opportunities.

Panther Press, 2nd Quarter 2017-18

How can PTSA help YOU help YOUR child? Greetings to Floyd MS and a special welcome to our new parents and students. We’re off to a great start to supporting Floyd’s initiatives and overall school curriculum by way of commu-nications, engagement and fundraising. We look forward to working together, making a dif-ference, one child at a time. Stay connected with us and find out how you can get involved. PTSA is looking forward to a fabulous 2017-2018 year.

Self-confidence is the best outfit; rock it and own it! Upcoming events you don’t want to miss:

Contact us: Our website www.floydmiddleptsa.com

Email us at floydptsa@gmail.com

Jan 26, 2018 (6:30pm) Talent Expo (all parents, teachers and students are eligible for audi-tions)

Floyd Middle School PTSA

2017-2018 PTSA Officers

President Jennifer Smith Vice-President Kiva Riley Vice-President Tracy White Secretary Kate Keib

M.O.M.S. CLUB stands for Mom’s On a Mission for Success. Our mission is to en-gage parents as partners, and to help create positive change for our school, families, and community, so that together we can positive-ly impact our childrens’ education. We’re active volunteers that work collaboratively as a team with the PTSA. The M.O.M.S. Club is in its 4th consecutive year. We meet monthly at Floyd Middle School. Our meet-ings are typically on Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30pm. During our meetings this year, the members of the M.O.M.S Club have shared various community outreach projects and programs which have benefited our Floyd students, as well as their family members and friends. Our school’s Floyd Beta Club worked in conjunction with the M.O.M.S. Club and participated in various outreach projects. The culminating project for 2017 will be Teacher Appreciation Day Goodie Bags. We will be in need of volunteers to prepare the goodie bags for our teachers. All student volunteers will receive credit hours for the time allotted with this project . For more information, please contact Odessa Harris at oharrismomsclub@gmail.com .

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Principal’s Advisory Council 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade

Olivia Hale Dzenan Cerimagic Jermaine Jones Jayden Robinson Allyson Kirksey Dika Obiegbu Emerson Thomas Tamari Stockdale Kierstyn Smith

Teachers of the Month:

November Mr. Glenn Evans—6th Grade

Ms. Francina Blackwell—7th Grade Ms. Malikah Coardes—8th Grade

Ms. Kathrine Stewart—Connections

December Mr. Timmothy Coefield—6th Grade

Ms. Aubree Sweat—7th Grade Dr. Bethany Harrison—8th Grade

Ms. Keke Hurt—Connections Ms. Amy Jefferson & Ms. Normandy Huff -Special Areas

Students of the Month

October Vince Abraham

DeMarcus Boykins Antony Bustos-Flores

Mariam Gaye Jayden Harvey Brianna Kamau Kara McInnis

Alexander Mendoza Zoe Solarte Valdes

November Emanuel Alam Nathan Garcia Mariah Garrett

Michael Iheanacho Jayro Loredo

Melanie Perdomo Nayeli Rendon Mariana Zetina

STUDENT COUNCIL President

Kierstyn Smith

Vice President Nila Smith

Treasurer Sofia Patka

Secretary

Baxter Keib

6th Grade Rep Jordan Tate

7th Grade Reps.

Alexus Berry Bernice Ekwueme

Jamianne Jeune

8th Grade Reps. Yama Bobb

Abrie Burrell Alana Bursey Ting Ting Yan

School Council Parent Representatives

Barbara Carrington Stephanie Kirksey

Joi Ladipo Tara Stockdale

Teacher Representatives

Kelly Gantek Dr. Bethany Harrison

Kara McCall

Business Partner Steve Taylor, McDonalds

Principal Teresa Hargrett

Floyd Middle invites all parents to be actively engaged in the edu-cation of our students. We welcome your participation through support organizations such as PTSA, Floyd Foundation, School Council, as well as your frequent interaction with teachers and staff.

Panther Press, 2nd Quarter, 2017-2018 January, 2018

WOW!!! What a magical turn out for our Math Magic Night!! About 115

Floyd students came out with their families to show off their awesome math skills!! We played math games,

made math art, had scavenger hunts, solved puzzles, and SO much more! Thank you to everyone who

came out and made this Math Night a success, and congratulations to all of our Candy Estimation & T-Shirt Raffle

Winners!! See you all next time!!

Above: Winners of the estimation and t shirt drawings.

We are capable of doing anything, when given the opportunity. This is Canaan's first year at Floyd Middle School. He is a true role model for his peers. When asked if he would like to be on "Floyd Broadcast," he responded, "Okay!" He practiced at school and at home. His natural abilities and per-sonality were portrayed through his presen-tation.

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Thank You Partners in Education for Honoring our Students of the Month!

SEPTEMBER, 2017

October, 2017October, 2017

4860 Floyd Road

Mableton, GAMr. Steve Taylor, Owner

November, 2017November, 2017

4860 Floyd Road

Mableton, GAMr. Steve Taylor, Owner

December, 2017 December, 2017

4860 Floyd Road

Mableton, GAMr. Steve Taylor, Owner

January, 2018 Page 11

CCSD Finalists: Art Station Water Smart Contest Winners Maria Herrera, Kierstyn Smith, Areli Garcia, Ashley Oleka, Cinthia Reyna, Alexandra Lara,

Zoi Ladipo Three of our finalists (Maria, Areli and Kierstyn) were published in the Cobb County WaterSmart printed calendar and the other four CCSD finalist (Ashley, Cinithia, Alexandra and Zoi) were pub-lished on the WaterSmart digital portfo-lio. Congratulations to Kierstyn Smith who was award “Most Creative” of the entire event.

Lion’s Club Peace Poster Contest Winners 1st—Ja’liayah Sims

2nd—Kaci Cosper 3rd—Nevaeh Nabors

4th—Avery Sunday

Hispanic Heritage Advanced Drawing Contest 1st—Yesenia Gonzalez

2nd—Areli Garcia 3rd Tie—Cinthia Reyna & Alejandra Gonzalez

*Their work is on display at the Mexican Consulate along with several other amazing Floyd submissions from the High School Visual Arts Class.

Art students would like to thank Ms. Weston for coordinating with Ms. Collins the Hispanic Heritage Events that took place in the art room. In addition to the Hispanic Heritage ad-vanced drawing contest, Mexican artist Raymundo Gonzalez gave a workshop to all art students. Pic-tured here is Edith Banos with Mr. Gonzalez after Edith completed an Otomi painting also featured are seventh grade students watching Mr. Gonzalez demonstrate his techniques. Club Sponsors Lisa Collins and Todd White would like to congratulate the art club for an amazing job

creating the seasonal deco-rations for the 8th annual community service project with our partner in education, Austell Road Chick-Fil-A. Also, a huge thanks to the art club students, parents and Ms. Casey Baker for assisting with the installation. This year’s decorations received great praise from the community and was spotlighted on the JOY 104.7 live broadcast.

Floyd Middle School celebrates being awarded by the Georgia Department of Educa-tion with the Operational Level for PBIS. We also had our 2nd annual soccer game, in which each student had to provide 5 Panther Bucks to attend. PBIS Team leaders also attended the GA APBS Conference recently. For more information about our PBIS initiative, please visit http://www.cobbk12.org/floyd/images/school_documents/PBIS.pdf .

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Page 13 January, 2018

ABOVE: TEAM REAL FLOYD—WINNERS OF THE TOURNAMENT!