Summerour Blue Devil Blast

We were unable to subtitle today's video. We should be back up and running next week. Here's a synopsis:

1. It's November and the first semester is beginning to wind down, stay on top of grades.
2. If you feel you need a Parent-Teacher conference but you didn't get one, reach out to your child's teachers and schedule one.
3. Come and visit Rosanna Carlson in the Parent Center: see what tools she has on offer for all of our parents to help you help your child.

• November 7 - Basketball @ Radloff
• November 7 - Orchestra Solo & Ensemble (select students)
• November 8 - PTA Krispy Kreme Fundraiser Ends
• November 9 - ESL for Parents
• November 10 - Norcross Choral Cluster Concert
• November 11 - ESL for Parents; English & Civics for Parents
  
• November 11 - Basketball @ Northbrook MS
• November 12 - Gear Up to Maxwell HS
• November 12 - Local School Council Meeting
• November 13 - Café con Leche w/ Dr. Looney
• November 14 - Basketball vs. Richards MS (Home)
• November 16-20 - American Education Week
• November 16 - School Photo Day
• November 16 - ESL for Parents
• November 17-20 - JA Biztown (6th grade only)
• November 18 - ESL for Parents; English & Civics for Parents
• November 18 - Basketball @ Pinckneyville MS
• November 19 - Dance: Paul Duke Fall Show
• November 19 - National Parent Involvement Day
• November 19 - ACCESS for Success (for MLL families)
• November 19 - GCPS Board Meeting (Suwanee)
• November 20 - Progress Reports Go Home
• November 23-27 - Thanksgiving Break

Join us for “Unlocking the Future: Supporting Student Success” on November 12, 2026, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM via Microsoft TEAMS for an engaging virtual evening designed to help families support student success at home and at school! Learn about the different Academies and Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) pathways available across GCPS, explore the Multilingual Learner Program, and discover literacy strategies and resources available through our schools and the Gwinnett County Public Library. Together, we can build strong partnerships, support learning at home, and unlock a bright future for our students!

Let's partner together to unlock the future for every student!

Event Link

Join Us For

Café con Leche with Dr. Looney

Friday, November 13 9:30 - 10:15 AM

Blue Bucks Cafe

An opportunity for families to share concerns, ask questions, and engage with the principal in a welcoming and supportive setting. We look forward to seeing you there!

For information, call the Parent Center at 770-582-7545.

November 4 - 10

French: Find Your Inspiration

French Club and teachers are celebrating National French Week this week. On the Digital Learning Day, teachers were given some tasty French snacks and chance to sit and chat with each other. Thank you Ms. Fejokwu and Ms. Menos for a great spread and a good time.

November 5, 2026

Dear Parents/Families,

Every child will have many teachers before they walk across the stage on graduation day. They’ll learn about reading, math, science, art, and so much more. They’ll learn how to interact with others. They’ll learn about life.

But a child doesn’t meet their first teacher inside a school building – they meet them inside their home. Parents and families have an immense, lasting, and irreplaceable impact on a child’s education. The month of November is Family Engagement Month in our nation, a time to collectively recognize and honor the contributions of parents and families to student success.

Summerour Middle School is committed to educating the whole child. We strive to provide high-quality programs that improve teaching and learning across and equip our school with the information and resources we need to help parents actively engage in their child’s academic achievement.

Family engagement is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community organizations are committed to communicating with, reaching out to, and building ties to engage families in meaningful ways.

Research on family engagement suggests that when schools, families, and communities support each other, students of all backgrounds and abilities achieve at the highest levels.

First and foremost, to every parent and family member who pours their time, resources, efforts, and hours into their child’s education: thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Nothing could be more important than your engagement and involvement with your child’s education, and in their school.

I want to invite you to join the celebration throughout November and all year round, as schools and districts across the state plan special events and recognitions to honor the crucial role parents and families play in students’ education. Additionally, November 19 is National Parent Involvement Day, a time reserved, as a nation, for all parents to reflect on ways they can get more involved in the education of their children.

For ideas on how you can get engaged, please visit the Information for Parents page on our school’s website at https://www.gcpsk12.org/SummerourMS. Here you can access a variety of resources, including the parent newsletter, ParentVUE, ParentSquare, MyPaymentsPlus, instructional videos, Title I information, activities that help build parent-school partnerships, as well as testing and PTA information.

Again, I want to personally thank you as a parent or family member of a child in Summerour Middle School. Thank you for entrusting us with your child’s education. We could not do the work of educating Georgia’s future without you.

Dr. Natalie Looney

Principal

Celebrating Our Families!

Join us as we recognize and honor parents and guardians for their dedication, support, and involvement in the education of their children.

Thursday, November 19

7:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Summerour Cafeteria

Special Guest: Dr. Arlene Beckles, Georgia State Representative

Dr. Beckles will join us to honor parents for their commitment to student success and their invaluable role in supporting the academic achievement of our students.

• Fine Arts Performance
• Recognition of the Student Essay Contest Winers
• Raffles & Prizes

Strong Families Successful Students. Stronger Communities.

IB Learners are thinkers. They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.

IB students contribute to discussions in a meaningful way. They do not shy away from challenging questions and, once they know the answer, follow up by asking “why?”

Summerour Middle School’s Homeroom Canned Food Drive Competition runs through Thursday, November 12!

Each grade level will have its own winning homeroom, and the homeroom that collects the most canned goods in each grade will earn a pizza celebration.

How it works:

• Students may bring canned goods daily.

• Drop-off stations: Ms. Hall, Room 2.134 and Mr. Yelinek, 1st floor.

Thank you for helping us make this a fun, schoolwide competition while supporting our community. Please encourage your students to participate and remind them that every can count! 🙂

11/07 - at Radloff

11/14 - vs. Richard

11/18 - at Pinckneyville

12/05 - vs. Sweetwater

12/09 - vs. Coleman

12/12 - vs. Trickum

01/06 - vs. Berkmar

01/09 - vs. Crews

Ms. Belinda Terry

6th Grade Assistant Principal

Belinda.Terry@gcpsk12.org

Ms. Tannia Sims

6th Grade Counselor

Tannia.Sims@gcpsk12.org

770.417.2491

Math

Students are on day 2 of unit 3 a/b. We are focusing on identifying and understanding

Mr. Al Sadler

7th Grade Assistant Principal

Al.Sadler@gcpsk12.org

Ms. Yasmi Velasquez Rocha

7th Grade Counselor

Yasmi.VelasquezRocha@gcpsk12.org

770.417.2480

Science

Students continued to learn about Genetics. This week they learned about different types of traits, such as physical, biochemical and behavioral traits.

Individuals & Societies (a.k.a. Social Studies)

This week, students learned about the types of economic systems, specialization, trade barriers, and entrepreneurship in Southwest Asia.

(pictured: Students in Ms. Dueñas' room analyzing texts)

Ms. Christy Gray

8th Grade Assistant Principal

Christian.Gray@gcpsk12.org

Ms. Robin Blackwell

8th Grade Counselor

Robin.Blackwell@gcpsk12.org

770.417.2487

Science: This week, students prepared for their common assessment by completing a digital learning day study guide before taking the exam on Wednesday. On Thursday, students worked on test corrections to clarify misconceptions and boost their scores, and on Friday, we kicked off our final unit of the semester, covering force, motion, machines, and work.

Individuals and Societies: This week, Individuals and Societies took their Unit 4 Assessment. They then started Unit 5, which is about the American Revolution. This week's lessons focused on the causes of the American Revolution and how they impacted Georgia as a colony.

Math: 8th grade math students continued learning point-slope form and are reviewing for their Unit 2 B test.

This week, Enhanced and Gear Up math students continued learning different characteristics of quadratics and learned to convert intercept form to standard form and vice versa.

ELA: 8th graders took their Unit 2 Assessment and started their summative writing task. They will write a literary analysis of how a story they selected from the unit uses key elements of horror. They will analyze how suspense, plot, setting, theme, and source of fear all contribute to how a story fits the horror genre.

GearUp Literature & Composition: Gear Up students created Venn diagrams/flow charts/infographics to cement their understanding of expository techniques and organizational structure. Students completed Unit 2 and took their test.

The 8th grade newsletter is a Canva slideshow this week.

Click on this link or on the image of a slide below for the newsletter.

The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology is a unique high school that focuses on advanced and challenging studies in the fields of engineering, biosciences, and emerging technologies. Enrollment for the 9th grade class is open to all 8th grade students who are residents of the Gwinnett County school district attendance zone; who are successfully promoted to 9th grade by the end of spring semester, 2027; and who successfully complete an 8th grade math curriculum that is a full unit of Carnegie-eligible Enhanced Algebra: Concepts & Connections or higher.

Admissions information is posted on the GSMST website.

Has your 8th grader considered going to Gwinnett School of Math Science and Technology?

The Lottery Application Window is open now and ends January 15.

Do you need more information?

Informational Meeting for the Norcross Cluster will be held on December 8 at 7:00 pm at GSMST.

Can't attend on December 8?

November 12, 7:00 pm - meeting for other clusters

January 7, 7:00 pm - Make Up Meeting Date

Address of School (and Meetings)?

970 McElvaney Lane, Lawrenceville, GA 30044

Dr. Toni Weir

Gear Up Assistant Principal

Toni.Weir@gcpsk12.org

Ms. Allegra Morgan

Gear Up Counselor

Allegra.Morgan@gcpsk12.org

770.797.2960

Ms. Tamica Jones

Connections Principal

Tamica.Jones@gcpsk12.org

Dual-Language Immersion (a.k.a. DLI)

6th and 8th grade Dual Language Immersion students are getting ready to take the AAPPL exam in November, where they will be assessed on their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills in Spanish.

Orchestra

Good luck to orchestra students participating in Solo and Ensemble on November 7

....as usual.

Our JLC was out there doing Summerour proud again last Saturday! Thank you to all of them, Sgt. Ray and the students, for the hard work they do each week.

GCPS is excited to invite you to our first Family Advisory Council (FAC) meeting on Friday, November 13, from 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. at the Instructional Support Center (ISC).

The Family Advisory Council provides a meaningful opportunity for GCPS to partner with families from across the district in a collaborative and meaningful way. Your experiences and insights are important as we reflect on where we are today and begin thinking together about the future of GCPS.

During our first meeting, we will share updates on the Superintendent’s Entry Plan, including how the Listening and Learning Tour, Transition Team, and Strategic Planning Task Force are informing the district’s next phase of work. Most importantly, we want to hear from you. Your insights and feedback will help inform the development of GCPS’s strategic plan and strengthen how we partner with families to support every student.

Meeting Objectives

During our time together, we will:

• Provide an update on the GCPS budget process.
• Build relationships and establish a shared understanding of the Family Advisory Council’s role in bringing family perspectives into district improvement and strategic planning.
• Explore how the Superintendent’s Entry Plan, including the Listening and Learning Tour, Transition Team, and Strategic Planning Task Force, is informing the district’s next phase of work.
• Gather your perspectives on what GCPS should protect and build upon, the experiences every student should have, and how families and schools can strengthen their partnership to support student success.

Before the Meeting

Please complete the questionnaire by Friday, November 6, to confirm your attendance at the November meeting.

Meeting Details

• Date: Friday, November 13
• Time: 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
• Location: Instructional Support Center (ISC)
• Address: 437 Old Peachtree Rd NW #2978, Suwanee, GA 30024

Thank you for considering this opportunity. We look forward to learning from one another, building connections, and beginning this work together.

Summerour Middle School Invites You To...

ACCESS for Success

Understanding the ACCESS Test: A Guide for Families of Multilingual Learners

Thursday, November 19, 2026 6:00-7:00 PM

Cafeteria

This workshop will help families understand the test, English language proficiency levels, and ways to support their child's academic progress. Participation is strongly encouraged, as this information is essential for helping students succeed on the ACCESS assessment and achieve their English language proficiency goals.

Call Ms. Carlson at 770-582-7545 for more information.

September 26 - December 29

Gwinnett County Government is partnering with Vision To Learn to deliver free eye exams and prescription glasses to children in underserved communities, ensuring they receive essential eye care.

• For children ages 5 to 18
• Available at multiple locations in Gwinnett
• Appointments required
• 
  

Book your appointment today!

Family Literacy Classes (English Classes)

• Free family literacy classes for newcomer parents and guardians of GCPS students who would like to learn English
• Registration is closed for fall 2026. Please check back later for January 2027 registration dates.
• No childcare provided
• Contact Myra Coria for more information

If you will be attending a GCPS sporting event, please remember: middle school students will not be permitted to attend athletic events at Norcross High School (or anywhere within GCPS) without the direct supervision of a parent or guardian.

Make a difference. Join the Summerour Middle School PTA.

SummerourPTA.com