Salter's Shorts

A Great Day for the Sixth Grade!

MYTH MASTERS  What an awesome day at Lovinggood Middle School!  Students did an outstanding job on their Myth Master Day activities, they should be proud and parents should be proud of them.  If you were able to attend we thank you, and you were treated to a remarkable event.  The students put together presentations that were informative, interactive, and fun in little over a week.

A big thank you goes out to our parent volunteers and those of you that contributed items, we could not have done it without you.  The teachers deserve a big thank you for their support and guidance of the students and this activity.  And the biggest thanks goes out to several teachers that really gave a lot of extra time and effort to make the event a success; Ms. Mowry, Ms. Jackson, Ms. Nasta, Ms. Searcy, Ms. Holcombe, and most especially Ms. Frisch.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Early Release It is not just a myth (pun intended), this is really going to happen.  Yes, all middle school students will be released at 12:30 pm next Thursday and Friday.  Buses will run as normal at this time and students will be fed lunch.  Attached is the finals schedule for next Wed., Thurs., and Fri. Download Finals Schedule

Awards Ceremonies   Next Tuesday we will have our 6th grade awards ceremonies.  6A is at 12:45 pm and 6B is at 2:00 pm.  Both ceremonies will be in the theater.  If your child received an individual honor you should have a received a phone call from one of their teachers stating such by this point.  A dial-out was done for those students receiving honor roll recognition.  We will continue to send this dial-out up to the day of the ceremonies.  Please call me if you have any questions. 

I would like to say that is has been a pleasure working with your students all year and watching them begin to mature into fine young adults.  I enjoy my job at Lovinggood and a big reason for this is the students I interact with each day.  I look forward to working with the students and parents of the 6th grade in the future, and hope that you all have an enjoyable, fun, and safe summer.

Myth Masters Day!

Myth Masters Day!

Thursday, May 13^th

On Thursday, May13^th the sixth grade is planning an outdoor event based on the mythology unit being studied in Language Arts.  For this day we will need LOTS of parent volunteers and donations.  We hope you will help!

DONATIONS:

If you would like to help by making donations, please go to the following website:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/donations5

VOLUNTEERS:

If you would like to volunteer to supervise, set up or clean up, please go to this site:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/mythology

CRCT News

CRCT    As many of you are already well aware the CRCT starts tomorrow.  It is important that students get a good nights rest each night of the test and have a good breakfast before starting testing, whether at home or here at school.  In addition, it is important that students be on time to school each day, as testing will start promptly at 9:20 a.m. each day.  During testing students should only bring to class two #2 non-mechanical pencils and book to read when they are done with testing.

Registration for 2010-2011  Students that are currently enrolled at Lovinggood and live in our attendance zone will automatically be "rolled up" in our system for scheduling next year.  There is no need to register students again.  The only exceptions would be students on any kind of transfer and possible retention situations.

There is a possiblity that will be sending pre-printed registration forms home with your students with the fields already populated.  The purpose for this would be to check current contact information on file and update.  If we do decide to do this, we will let you.

4th Quarter Begins

My how time flies.  Our little 6th graders are soon to be big 7th graders, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Each new quarter is always a good time to reflect on student progress; where you are and where you want to be.  TIme to make goals and to develop a plan to get there.

CRCT Practice

CRCT practice tests have been made in all content areas.  Your student was given and access code and password as mentioned in a previous blog.  If they have lost this, please contact me and I can get you this information.  In addition, on the www.georgiaoas.org site students and parents can access general tests for all.

Remember that the CRCT tests will be each morning from April 14-20.  Please have your students get a good nights sleep and a healthy breakfast before each test.  In additon, please try to make appointments around these dates and times so students will not have to be pulled form class to make-up the test. 

Please email or call me if you need anything; chris.salter@cobbk12.org and (678) 331-3015, ext. 227.

Online Assessment System and Stuff

Parents-

Your child should have come home today with an instruction sheet telling them how to access the state's on-line assessment system, or OAS.  On this document was each students username and password.

Download Quick Start Student Guide

The OAS system is designed to give students practice on CRCT type questions in grade level content areas.  Your student may use this at home as review, and/or it may used here at school for the same reason.  A number of tests have already been created and linked to your student's classes.  More will be linked in the coming days.

Spring Pictures

Spring Pictures are scheduled for this Wednesday, March 10.  These pictures are not pre-pay.  All student will have their pictures made, you will receive the packet for viewing, and at that time you will decide whether you want to purchase the pictures or not.

Lightning Thief Field Trip 

By now you are probably aware that the 6th grade language arts teachers have scheduled a viewing of the Lightning Thief movie for all 6th grade students to attend on Friday, March 12.  To attend, your student must turn in the signed permission slip and pay $13.  The deadline for this trip has been extended to this Monday, March 5.

 

Last, but certainly not least, the end of the quarter is this Thursday, March 11, and report cards will go home the following Thursday, March 18. 

Have a great weekend and call me if you need anything, 678/331-3015, ext. 227.

Chris Salter

Duty Free Lunch

Did you know that middle school teachers are the only level that have to eat with their students at lunch.  Now don't get me wrong, they sit at a teacher table and our students are, I think, very well behaved in the cafeteria.  But, now and again it would be nice to get away from 200-300 of your closest 11-14 year old friends at lunch and have a little piece while you eat.  For this reason, I am trying to initiate Free Lunch Fridays for our teachers at Lovinggood. 

To make this happen I need parent volunteers to commit to just one hour long shift on a Friday.  If you can do more, GREAT!  Right now I am starting slowly and have just set the following dates; 2/26, 3/19, and 4/2.  You can work either the 10:50 am - Noon shift, or the Noon - 1:10 pm shift, or both if you would like.  If this is successful, I would like to continue this program each Friday through the end of school (except the last day of school) and maybe even into next year.

Believe or not, this small token of appreciation means a lot to our teachers.  And in these economic times, it is one gift that won't cost you a thing.

Please consider participating in this effort.  If you do decide to participate, please contact me at chris.salter@cobbk12.org or call me at 678/331-3015, ext. 227.

Thank you and have a great week,

Chris Salter

Three Day Weekend and Progress Reports

Students and Parents,

I am sure you are all aware, but if not, this coming weekend is a three day weekend for students and staff.  There is no school on Monday, February 15.

On Tuesday, February 16, progress reportswill be coming home to mark the mid-point of the 3rd quarter.

OAS - Parents, many of you may be familiar with Georgia's Online Assessment System (OAS) which provides practice test for students to help prepare them for the CRCT.  You can go to www.georgiaoas.org and click on the"Parent" tab to enable you student to take a few short practice test in each subject area.  In addition, we may be putting together some additional practice test for students to complete either here at school or at home. If this does occur, I will keep you posted and additional information will be coming home.

Student Led Conferences - From the feedback I received from all involved, it sounded like student led conferences were a great success.  I hope your experience was a good one, and that lots of meaningful dialog took place between all parties to make our students the most successful they can be.  Let me know what you think if you have any specific feedback or comments.  As always, I can be reached at (678) 331-3015, ext. 227, you can email me, or make an appointment to stop in and we can talk.

Have a great weekend,

Chris Salter

Conference Week

Parents and Students,

Conference week is upon us and I hope all will be able to attend.  By now you should have a date and time set.  If not, please contact me as soon as possible so I can look into the situation. 

Remember, that these are student led conferences, so all students should be in attendance.  If your conference time is set for immediately after school, or soon there after, your student can stay at school and go to the cafeteria at dismissal.  Here you can pick up your student on the way to your conference.

If you are unable to attend your conference, or have not secured a time, please work with your student's conferencing teacher to work out a time for your to come in.  We would like to see all parents at school this week and hope this is a rewarding experience.

Please remember to fill out the county School Improvement Survey either online or in the media center directly following your conference.  By doing this, your student will earn a coupon for a complimentary ice cream in the cafeteria.  Please print off the last page of the online survey that signifies you are "Done" and bring it into the media center before or after your conference to get your coupon.

Have a great week,

Chris Salter

Welcome Ms. Paul

Parents,

Lovinggood Middle School welcomed Ms. Laurie Paul yesterday as the supply teacher for Ms. Slaton on 6A for approximately the next 12 weeks.  Ms. Paul comes highly recommended from my friends at Lost Mountain Middle school and has been in that building the last 12 months in a 6th grade Earth Science classroom to fulfill her student teacher experiences for Kennesaw State University.  Ms. Paul has hit the ground running and is already blogging and grading work.  She also has her own email account and will be providing you with that information.

As you may or may not know, Ms. Slaton went out earlier than expected on bed rest and delivered her baby this past weekend.  We congratulate Ms. Slaton on the birth of her second child and wish her and her family the best as they welcome their new addition into the Slaton household.  Ms. Slaton is at home resting now, and we will miss her, but I know that your children are in good hands with Ms. Paul.

Chris Salter

My Black Eye, Literally

Parents,

As many of you have probably have heard by now, I indeed have a black eye.  No good story though, just slipped on the ice out in front of my house this past Friday and did a face plant into the street.  All is well; no stiches or consussions, but my daughter was a little freaked out. 

Chris Salter