News from Sullivan Middle School

Seventh Grade News:

Seventh grade students will be provided an opportunity to attend The Children’s Theatre of Charlotte to view the dramatic presentation of Step Afrika. “Step Afrika is the first professional company in the world dedicated to the tradition of stepping. Founded in December 1994, the company is critically-acclaimed for its efforts to promote an understanding of and appreciation for stepping and the dance tradition’s use as an educational tool for young people worldwide.” All permission forms and fees are due by February 17, 2012.

Junior Civitan News:

Sullivan Middle School in conjunction with Junior Civitans collected over 3,000 cans of food and non-perishable items which were donated to the local Salvation Army on December 16th. All food items were donated to local residents.

The next Junior Civitan project will be the annual Pennies for Patients fundraiser which benefits the South Carolina Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of South Carolina. The fundraiser will take place during the month of February. Information regarding this fundraiser will be sent home during the week of January 23rd.

Academic News:

Morning and afternoon tutoring is being provided. Students should contact their Falcon Time teacher for more information.

Selected seventh grade students will be taking the SAT on Saturday, January 28th in conjunction with Duke University Talent Search (Duke TIP).

Supporting Our School:Harris Teeter – ongoing (Remember to use your VIC card)
Del Taco Loyalty Program – ongoing (tell them you are from SMS – This program donates 10% of your total purchase to the school.)

Important Dates:

January 23rd and February 13th – School of Choice Open House – 6:00
January 25th – Late Start (School day begins at 10:30 AM.)
February 2nd – Job Shadowing (8th Grade students only)
February 7th – PTO and SIC Meeting – 6:00 PM
February 15th – Individual Graduation Plan (IGP) – (8th Grade students only)
February 17th and 20th – Student Holidays

(This is an electronic version of the newsletter that went home Friday.  Please remember report cards went home Friday as well.)

Principal’s Message

The year is progressing quickly!  It seems as if the first day of school was just yesterday and we are already starting the second semester.  We are off to a great start and I would like to thank all of our students, teachers and parents for a fantastic first semester.

We have many great things going on at SMS.  The news was recently here to cover the story of Ms. Lee’s classes donating their time and talents to ConKerr cancer.  We are a school of choice and there is growing interest from those zoned to other schools.   We just received our first I-Pad cart (30 I-Pads) and our students love them.  We are planning to offer Mandarin Chinese next year. We will be the first middle school in Rock Hill to field a soccer team.   With your support, we are soaring to success!

One of our goals is to have great communication between the school and home.  We have a variety of ways to keep you informed about SMS.  Please visit our school website at http://sms.rock-hill.k12.sc.us/  Our website contains a wealth of information about our school.  You can also find links to the school Face book account, Twitter account, Falcon News blog and the student showcase website.  I encourage you to take a look!

Sincerely,

Michael Waiksnis

Principal

Mandarin Chinese

SMS plans to offer Mandarin Chinese as our third language B next year.  This is an exciting addition to our language program.  Did you know 1/5th of the entire world speaks Mandarin Chinese?  If you are interested in the possibility of taking Chinese, please call you grade level counselor and let them know!

Thank you to those who have been able to join our PTO this year.  We have more members and have raised more money through membership this year than the last 5 years!  Thank you.  If you have not joined and would like to, please call the school for more information. Do you shop at Harris Teeter?  Link your VIC card to Sullivan!  Finally, the next Box Top turn in date is 

IB MYP

Sullivan Middle is a School of Choice for our IB Middle Years Programme.  Any middle school student is eligible to apply to attend our school.  If you are zoned for Sullivan, you do not need to apply for admission as you are automatically enrolled at our school.

We had our five year re-authorization visit earlier this year.  A team of educators came from the U.S. and Canada to evaluate our progress in the programme.  We do not get the official results until later this year but they left us with an extremely positive exit report.  The external evaluation process is a strong part of the programme.  We can not simply claim to be an I.B. school – we are “inspected” and have to prove we are carrying out the programme as it was designed!

Do you know someone who may be interested in attending Sullivan but does not live in our zone?  We have two upcoming school of choice open houses at Sullivan and both are 6:00-7:30.

January 23

February 13

We also do school tours.  Please call Chris McLean at 981-1450 to arrange a visit.

Continue reading →

We are looking forward to a great second half of the school year.  All students will receive their report cards on Friday, January13.  Please review your child’s grades and then sign the report card and send it to school with your child.

We encourage all students to use their agendas to write down all homework and upcoming tests, quizzes and projects in order to help them stay organized and help keep parents better informed.  The teams also use the following methods to help better communicate homework information to parents.

Team 6-1  Parents can call 985-7330 and listen to voice mail with information after 4:30pm daily

Team 6-2 Parents can access information at http://twitter.com/SullivanTeam62

Team 6-3 Parents receive a daily email blast.  If you need to be added, contact Mrs. Knowles at sknowles@rhmail.org

Team 7-1 Parents can access information at http://twitter.com/smteam71

Team 7-2 Parents can access information at http://www.facebook.com/people/Sullivan-Wells/10000158048181

Team 7-3 Parents can add their name for the daily email blast.Please contact Mrs. Doan at mdoan@rhmail.org

Team 8-1 Sends a daily email blast to parents.  If you would like to be added contact Mrs. Reynolds or Mrs. Carnahan at rreynold@rhmail.org or pcarnaha@rhmail.org

Team 8-2  Parents can access information on http://twitter.com/smteam82

Team 8-3  Parents can access information on http://twitter.com/smteam83

Here are some general homework tips for parents from the U.S. Department of Education:

1. Make sure your child has a quiet, well-lit place to do homework.
2. Make sure the materials your child needs, such as paper, pencils, and a dictionary, are available.
3. Help your child with time improvement.
4. Be positive about homework.
5. When your child asks for help, provide guidance, not answers.
6. If homework is meant to be done by your child alone, stay away.
7. Stay informed.
8. Help your child figure out what is hard homework and what is easy homework.
9. Watch your child for signs of failure and frustration.
10. Reward progress in homework.

Sullivan Middle School

PTO/SIC Meeting

January 10, 2011

1. Welcome and Introductions

15 people were in attendance including parents, community members, and the principal

2. Safe Routes to School
1. Follow up conversation from the national course held at SMS
2. We will investigate a “walk home from school” family program on 3- 7.  York County Eat Smart, Move More, the City of Rock Hill and SMS is involved
3. School officials will meet with City to look at traffic signal timing options

3. Principal’s Report and a thank you from teachers to PTO

Items discussed include:

Addition of Mandarin Chinese as a language option

Report Cards will be sent home this Friday

Washington D.C. info meeting on Jan. 17 at 6:00

School of Choice Open House – Jan. 23 and Feb 13 6:00-7:30

4. Additional student opportunities (Mandarin Chinese, Drama, Soccer)
1. We are excited about the additional opportunities for our students!

5. PTO President’s Report
1. Teacher appreciation – “Souper Bowl” lunch on Feb.3

6. PTO Financial Report

7. Fall Fundraiser

1. The next fundraiser was discussed but nothing was decided on at this time.

8. New Business

We raised close to $1,000 by collecting box tops!  This is our all time record.  We discussed last year’s school of        choice open house.  Parents reported they were very pleased with the student performances, the student ambassadors  and the teachers in attendance.  The next box top collection date is Feb. 17.

The meeting for February was moved to Feb. 7, 2012.

We are pleased to announce that several of our 8th grade students took advantage of the opportunity to gain high school credits through the Phoenix Bound Program. These students traveled to the Flexible Learning Center to work on a high school credit, while also taking their normal 8th grade classes at SMS.

Sullivan had ten students who will now be moving to the Cross Roads Program. These students will now be able to work as ninth graders for the remainder of the year.  Next year, they will be in tenth grade classes.   Congratulations to all of these students!

The will be an informational meeting on Tuesday, January 17th for all interested Sullivan students to participate in the school trip to Washington DC.  The trip is scheduled for May 16-18, with a charter bus leaving the evening of May 15, 2012.

The cost of the trip is approximately $450 per student which includes lodging with 4 students per hotel room, all meals, round trip transportation via motor coach, and admissions and tours in the itinerary.  One charter bus will be hired to carry approximately 45-50 students and 4-5 adult chaperones.

Trip highlights include: Tours of the US Capitol, an Embassy, Holocaust Museum, National museums on the Mall, Monuments and Memorials on the Mall, and visit  the Woodrow Wilson International Center.

The parent meeting will be at 6-7pm in the Sullivan Auditorium.  Permission and Medical forms, itinerary and payment options will be discussed.

If you have any questions, please call Ms. Knight at 981-1450.

The I-Pads are here!

Technology is changing!!  We are very excited to announce that Sullivan now has an iPad cart for use in the classrooms.  We have currently started training with a group of teachers to help them implement this great new tool in their lessons.  The cart contains 30 iPad 2′s, and we have already downloaded a ton of free apps to use in all the core classes.  Mrs. Wells broke them in with her science classes for use during their human body unit.  7th graders on the Team 7-2 have been creating a comic strip on the iPad 2 and incorporating vocabulary and images of the human body using a Comic Book Builder app.  We will be sure to post some soon on our Student Showcase Wiki.The holiday concerts have arrived.  The chorus concert will be held Tuesday, December 13th, at 7pm in the auditorium.  The strings concert took place on  December 6th,and the band concert was December 8th.

At the 6th grade Strings concert on Tuesday, December 6th, audience members were amazed at the performance quality of the musicians and the number of solo performances.  These kids only picked up their stringed instrument in late August, and were able to flawlessly perform several pieces in front of an audience.  The band concert was just as great.  We have some very talented musicians at all grade levels. Kudos to Mrs. Gross, the orchestra teacher, and bravo to Mr. Guzewicz, the band director, for wonderful musical performances this week.The sixth grade students will be having a talent showcase Thursday, December 15th, at 2:15pm in the auditorium.  We have so many talented students here at Sullivan including: singers, dancers, artists, pianist and various other musicians.  All sixth graders are invited to attend the performance.  The scheduled acts have been practicing relentlessly every day with Mrs. Seabold.  Parents are welcome to attend this fun performance.  A few surprise celebrity “judges” have promised to join us as well.

This school year the end of first semester falls one week after winter break.  Students need to make sure that all work is completed and 7th and 8th grade students should be studying for exams.  Exams are next week. The exam schedule is posted on our facebook page.   Please discuss with your 7th and 8th grade students the importance of getting plenty of rest, good meals, and taking time to prepare for their exams.  Good luck Falcons!!!

 IB Visit

Sullivan hosted visitors from the United States and Canada as part of our five year IB re-authorization visit on November 17^th and 18^th.  The visiting team gave a very positive exit report.  They had many great things to say about our current implementation of the Middle Years Programme.  We will not receive the full report for several months.  The team sends their findings to IB North America headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland and then it is sent to IB headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.  Thank you to everyone who participated in the visit!

Exams

Our 7^th and 8^th grade students will take mid-term exams later this month.  The 8^th grade exams will take place on December 14, 15 and 16.  The 7^th grade schedule is below:

7^th grade

Dec 13 – Core 1

Dec 14 – Core2

Dec 15 – Core3

Dec 16 – Core4

Winter Concert

We will have our annual in-school winter concert on Friday, December 16^th at 2:45.  Our band, chorus and orchestra will perform for our students.  We will also present the totals from our canned food drive to The Salvation Army.

Evening Concerts

Tuesday, December 6 – 7:00 pm – Orchestra Concert

Thursday, December 8 – 7:00 pm – Band Concert

Tuesday, December 13 – 7:00 pm – Chorus Concert

In lieu of charging an admission fee to the evening concerts listed above, we welcome a donation of canned foods.  You can bring your donation to the concert and leave it in the collection area in the auditorium lobby.  All cans collected will be added to our donation to our local Salvation Army.

The Sullivan 8th Grade Chorus will be performing with the Rock Hill High School choirs on Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 pm in the Rock Hill High School Auditorium.  Tickets are $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for children & students.

Distinguished Climbers

Each month the school district recognizes employees who are exemplars in one area of the Rock Hill Climb (the district strategic plan).  In November, the district recognized employees for excellence in planning.  Two Falcons were selected this month!

Mrs. Knowles was selected by SMS and Mr. Waiksnis was selected by the Instruction office.

Media Center

The Scholastic Book Fair will be in the media center from Thursday, December 8 until Thursday, December 14. The book fair will be open each school day from 8 AM until 4 PM. All students will preview the book fair with their English Language Arts class next Thursday and Friday. Students may make purchases any time during the fair.

Parents are welcome to visit the book fair as well either during the school day or on December 8, when we will stay open until 6 PM. Parents should sign in at the main office. The book fair will accept cash, checks made out to Sullivan Middle School, and credit/debit cards. We must charge tax on all items. Money from the book fair will be used to purchase new materials for our media center and fund media center incentive programs. Thank you for your support!

African Drummers

One of the goals of the IB Programme at Sullivan Middle School is for the students to understand and appreciate other cultures from around the world.  Sullivan recently was visited by the African Drummers from Winthrop University.  This was made possible through a grant that Mrs. Chris McLean, our Instructional Coach/IB Coordinator received.  Though Ms. McLean’s hard work, the students at SMS were able to hear music from a different part of the world, and see a wonderful performance.  Students were also exposed to the language as well.

The Winthrop University African Drummers helped tie together many links for our students: not only were we able to address international-mindedness, we were also able to show students a university music program.

French Class

Mr. Salisbury, French teacher, will soon lead his students in cooking traditional French fare.  They will be making “pain au chocolat” – a pastry with chocolate in the middle and either “crepes” (thin pancakes) or “croque-monsieurs” (a grilled ham and swiss cheese sandwich).  Mr. Salisbury will be collecting $3.00 from his students to help purchase the ingredients.

Athletics

Our basketball and wrestling seasons have started!  Basketball games are generally held on Mondays and Thursdays and wrestling matches are generally held on Wednesdays.  You can find schedules for all teams on our school website.  Come out and support our student athletes!

School of Choice

Do you have friends or family members who are zoned for another middle school but may be interested in attending Sullivan for our IB programme?  All middle school students are eligible to apply for admission for Sullivan as we are a school of choice.  We have two school of choice open houses planned for those who would like more information.

January 23 and February 16, both from 6:30-8:00

Coast to Ivory Coast

Sullivan Falcons are helping those in need in the Ivory Coast. We are also learning about the current unrest and turmoil in this country in Africa.  The Girls on Track team is collecting your gently used toys and clothes to send to Coast to Ivory Coast, a charity that supports the citizens of Ivory Coast.  Please drop off your donations to the big box in the main office.

Belt Drive

Do you have extra belts lying around the house?  We are always collecting belts for our clothes closet.  If you have any to donate, simply drop them off in the front office.  Thank you!

Box Tops

As you probably know, we collect box tops at Sullivan.  In fact, we are already closing in on our goal for the entire school year!  Wow, thank you and we look forward to many more box tops this year.  Did you also know there are other ways to earn box tops for Sullivan such as taking surveys?  Check out their website to learn more!

http://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/Default.aspx

One of the goals of the IB Programme at Sullivan Middle School is for the students to understand and appreciate other cultures from around the world.  Sullivan recently was visited by the African Drummers from Winthrop University.  This was made possible through a grant that Mrs. Chris McLean, our Instructional Coach/IB Coordinator received.  Though Ms. McLean’s hard work, the students at SMS were able to hear music from a different part of the world, and see a wonderful performance.  Students were also exposed to the language as well.

The Winthrop University African Drummers helped tie together many links for our students: not only were we able to address international-mindedness, we were also able to show students a university music program.
By Darin Pearson and Chris McLean

Principal’s Greeting

The weather has definitely started to turn cooler and the holiday season is quickly approaching!  I hope you and your child(ren) are having a great school year.  We have had many exciting events at Sullivan as this is a very busy time of year.  I encourage you to keep up to date on all things Sullivan by utilizing our social media resources.  There are links to everything on the left side of this email.  I especially encourage you to check out the SMS student showcase to see a sampling of our great student work!  Please remember my door is always open so give me a call, shoot me an email or stop by if you ever need anything.

Veterans Day

Sullivan will be honoring the brave men and women who have served or are currently serving our great nation.  We will hold a special ceremony at 9:45 that will include the White Table Ceremony.  South Point’s JROTC will also be taking part in the ceremony.  We are proud to salute the brave men and women who have served our country!

I.B. Visit

On November 17th and 18th, a team from IB will be visiting Sullivan.  All Middle Year Programme schools are evaluated by IB every five years.  I feel this is a very valuable service as it gives us a way to benchmark our program.  We have been hard at work and I am excited to show off our great school!

Music News

The SMS 7th and 8th grade Chorus students will be singing at the Winthrop University Women’s Basketball game on Saturday, November 19 at 3:00 PM.  Please come out and enjoy the game and hear our falcons sing the National Anthem prior to tip-off!

Band, Chorus, & Orchestra fund raiser items (cheesecake, cookie dough, etc.) will be delivered on Monday, November 14.  If your child sold any of these items, they must be picked up Monday afternoon by 6:30 PM.  We do not have means to store these items & they will spoil if they are not picked up.  Pick-up can be made on the Cherry Park side on the Auditorium stage.

St-Arts

Remember St-Arts auditions are Tuesday, November 15 at RawlinsonRoadMiddle School.  Students must arrive by 4:45 PM to register.  For those students needing transportation, a bus will be located in the bus loop Tuesday afternoon.

Media Center 

The Boys Only Breakfast hosted by our library media center last Friday was a great success. Twenty-five boys were given the opportunity to enjoy a pancake breakfast while talking with athletes from Winthrop University’s Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams. The athletes and Coach Molinari talked to the boys about the importance of looking to their future, doing well in school, and staying on track both academically and in personal decision-making. The boys also received Basketball schedules signed by the players. Mrs. McManus appreciates the help of our parent volunteers and our male staff members who stopped by to help or show support. Be on the lookout for more of these events in the future, including something special for our girls.

Mrs. McManus was just notified that her grant request for $1,000 to purchase electronic books for Sullivan Middle School has been approved by the Rock Hill School District Foundation. Students and teachers will be asked to provide their input in the selection of the eBooks. We are excited to be able to add these resources through the generosity of the Foundation and Family Trust FCU, who is sponsoring the grant.

Internet Resources for home and school:

Follett Electronic Bookshelf:  Click link to the right - Book Shelf
-View our current eBook collection. Username: smsfalcons; Password: sullyrocks

SMS Library Resource Stacks (Delicious Bookmarks):

Click Here
-This work in progress pulls together a variety of resources for teachers, parents, and students including “Library Links” with connections to our school’s online catalog, “Games” featuring educational games to reinforce academic skills and spark creativity, and “Parent Resources” featuring direct links to Sullivan social media outlets and other helpful resources.

Atomic Learning:

Click Here
This tutorial guide provides short “How To” videos on a variety of topics from using MicroSoft Office products to getting your new iPod up and running. Currently, the district is piloting use of this program with the middle schools. Feel free to explore Atomic Learning and send any feedback to smcmanus@rhmail.org. Atomic Learning Username: smsfalcons; Password: atomic

ConKERR Cancer

Ms. Lee’s class is participating in a wonderful service learning project. As part of our school wide literacy plan, her classes were reading an article about how a family responded to cancer.  A young boy was battling cancer and his mother began making colorful pillowcases for him to brighten his day.  This started the organization ConKERR cancer.  Her classes are donating over 75 bright and cheery pillowcases with inspirational messages that they made to this wonderful organization!

York Tech Art Show

Sullivan was represented at the York Tech art show held this week.  Congratulations to all of our artists!    Whitney M. won 3rd place for her collage!  Ms. Barnette, art teacher, reports, “The best part was the OTHER KIDS in that class were going to take a photo of Whitney’s work and post it on Facebook because she could not come.  I loved their attitude and spirit.”  That sounds like IB in action!

Recent Grant Winners

Sullivan is proud to announce several recent grant winners:

Duke Energy School Improvement Grant (2 years in a row!) $1,000 on behalf of Mr. Sims, spouse of teacher Mrs. Sims

Ms. Knight and Mr. Pearson received a literacy grant for $1,000.00

Ms. Kania received a $2,000.00  grant for the District Middle School Honor Choir District Middle School

Several teachers received a grant for a total of $500 in free books to be used at the Friends of York County book sale.  This is to continue building their classroom libraries.

Safe Routes to School

SMS recently hosted a National Workshop from Safe Routes to School.  The aim of this program is to encourage a healthier lifestyle, in part by walking or riding a bike to school, and to make it safer for those who already walk or bike to school.  The majority of the day focused on how to make it safer to walk to school.  The group was impressed with our current dismissal procedures but developed a list of possible “upgrades” to the Cherry Road area that would make crossing the busy street safer.  We are currently working with the organization and the appropriate government agencies on the recommendations.

We will also be partnering with several local organizations that focus on creating healthy lifestyles. More information will follow!

Box Tops

Don’t forget, we collect box tops.  Please see the link below for great ways you can contribute!

Click Here

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