Hello Jefferson Middle School families and parents!

Monumental Moments this past week:

• JMS Football Eagles won their first game of the season versus Jacksboro! Congratulations to the team and coaches. Be sure to check out the pictures below.
• Our SEL Zero Period continues to be a place and space for students to build community and connections!! JMS Soaring Eagles are immersed in becoming Character Strong alongside of high academic expectations and endeavors.

Once again, we want to thank each of you for your support and efforts at home as we continue to push all of our students to maximize potential and be the best citizens they can be in our world. This week's newsletter includes many picture highlights of what is happening in athletics and academics; be sure to check it all out. Also, please consider volunteering for the book fair; the information is below.

Be sure to check out our Portrait of a Graduate September focus: 4 Cs: Collaboration.

We believe that our students are clearly becoming the best Portrait of Graduates as they practice critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity in each of their classrooms.

We appreciate and encourage all of our families to reach out with any needs, questions, or concerns.

Have a wonderful evening!

Phil Cox, Principal, pcox@ortn.edu

Ben Fowler, Vice Principal, bjfowler@ortn.edu

Brian Tinker, Dean of Students, bjtinker@ortn.edu

Elizabeth Leavitt, Instructional Technology Coach, ealeavitt@ortn.edu

Students will receive their individual photo card from their teacher; they will provide this card when it is their designated time to take pictures. We will remind students of picture day through announcements on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Our second session on Wednesday was incredibly meaningful and productive! All grades were immersed in "Building Connections" for session 2 as teachers facilitated discussion, journaling, and games.

What is it? Please scroll to the bottom of the newsletter to access our informational videos and explanation of scheduling for our Zero Period SEL Character Strong and Capstone.

Monday, September 5, 2022

• NO SCHOOL: Labor Day!

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

• City-wide Tornado Drill 9:00
• Atomic Eagles Meeting Science Wing 2:45-4:30
• Master Builders Meeting Rm 102 2:45-4:30
• RadioActive Brix Meeting Rm 223 2:45-4:30
• Girl Scouts Meeting Rm 208 3:00-5:00
• Football Practice 3:00-5:15
• Cross Country Meet Panther Creek All Comers, Morristown Girls 5:40, Boys 6:00
• Volleyball Game vs. Grace @ Grace JV-6:00, V-7:00
  

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

• Board of Education Visit 8:30
• Football Practice 1:00-3:15
• Volleyball Game vs. Robertsville @ Robertsville JV-4:00, V-5:00

Thursday, September 8, 2022

• PICTURE DAY!
• Cross Country Practice 3:00-4:30
• Football Game vs. CAK @ Blankenship Field 6:00

Friday, September 9, 2022

• Youth for Christ-Band Room 7:10
• Ms. Kala’s class to ORHS 1:45-2:00
• Student Council Meeting Library 7th period
• Dr. Borchers, Mr. Lay, Ms. Williams to visit
• Cross Country Practice 3:00-4:30 Volleyball Practice 3:00-5:00

Sunday, September 11,2022

• FLL Sumo Bot Competition 2:00-6:00 Chilhowee Park-TN Valley Fair

Mrs. Mayes is organizing a trip to France in June 2024. The trip is open to current 7th and 8th grade French students, and to 6th grade students who plan to take French next year. An informational meeting will be held on Monday, September 12th at 6:00 p.m. in room 209 at RMS. If you plan to attend the meeting, or if you would like more information about the trip, please complete this form.

FOCUS: Collaboration

CHALLENGE: One aspect of collaboration from our 4 Cs rubric: "I am a productive team member who effectively works with others." Ask your child to share a moment from last week when they were working with others and being productive to create something or to solve a problem.

It is chess time at JMS! The chess club will start meeting every Monday after school until 3:45. Chess club allows students to learn, develop, and practice skills and strategies for chess. We host a variety of chess sets and rules to challenge players to think critically and creatively, including 3-dimensional chess, Circular board chess, 3-man chess, etc. Starting Monday September 5th, 2022. If your child is interested in joining chess club, please fill out the information below. All students at all levels of chess play are welcome.

September's Character trait focus is RESPONSIBILITY. We want to congratulate our Student of the Week winners, nominated by their teachers. We are so proud!

• 5th grade- Yefer Carrasco and Pearl Jean Baker

• 6th Grade- Tytan Chatman

• 7th Grade- Malea Breeden, LeeLu Wilson, and Brooke Slattery
• 8th Grade- Kevin Hurst, Carly Sweet, and Luis Soria Hernandez

Click on each picture to enlarge!

Wednesday Homework Help is in FULL SWING. If students have questions about an assignment, need guidance about their homework, or are looking for a quiet place to work, Mrs. Huddleston and Mrs. Ozcan will be available in the Innovation Center on Wednesdays after dismissal. Students will need to be picked up by 3:00 pm. All grade levels are welcome to attend. Please e-mail Mrs. Huddleston (cdhuddleston@ortn.edu) or Mrs. Ozcan (mozcan@ortn.edu) with any questions.

Remember when dropping off/picking up your student:

• JMS's weather policy is to load busses and release car riders during most weather events EXCEPT lightning or severe rain/wind. When lightning is present we will push our students back to the building and delay releasing students. We have had three major lightning issues and a major wind/rain events during our releases over the last three weeks, and we wanted to reiterate what our hold policy is. We thank our parents for their patience as we do our best to keep our students safe.
• DO NOT enter the bus loop when buses are present!
• Please pull your vehicle all the way up so we can keep as many cars as possible off of Fairbanks.
• When dropping off AFTER 7:30am, students will be directed towards the main entrance. Go ahead and pull all the way up.
• Make sure your child is ready to exit the vehicle and doesn't have to access the trunk for items, as this holds up the line.
• DO NOT park or leave your vehicles in the neighborhoods across the street from Jefferson. Traffic is heavy during pickup and drop off and parking on those streets only increases the danger to our students and parents attempting to navigate the traffic.

We at Jefferson are very excited to bring these two new initiatives to your students. We have spent lots of time examining how best to implement these two new projects. As the school year started, we realized we needed a bit more time to refine our expectations and structures before we launched. As with all new programs, there will be some changes after implementation as we see what obstacles appear. We appreciate your support.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Fowler bjfowler@ortn.edu

Through our Portrait of a Graduate, Oak Ridge Schools is helping our students achieve the heights of academic and personal growth as they go out in the world as strong, capable adults. Part of our mission is to build capacity in our students to engage the diverse world socially and emotionally in addition to academically. To that end, we are implementing Character Strong.

Because we are a 5th through 8th grade school, our 5th graders will be doing the Grade 6 lessons, our 6th graders will be doing Grade 7, and our 7th and 8th graders will be splitting the Grade 8 curriculum, as we have some more plans for the 8th grade students. See below to find out what those are!

Every Wednesday for the rest of the year, students will start their day with small groups to talk about social and emotional skills with caring teachers using engaging curriculum. 5th, 6th, and 7th grades will be focusing primarily on the SEL curriculum, but 8th grade will be engaging in the SEL curriculum AND our Portrait of a Graduate Capstone project. See below for an explanation!

The state department has released an updated Family Portal where you can view scores and understand how to interpret results. Below, you can: click on the picture to be taken to this site, or download the TCAP Parent Brochure included below the picture.

Ms. Katie Cormack (Left- 6th and 8th Grade)

Ms. Candie Price (Right- 5th and 7th Grade)

Please contact our school counseling department with any other questions at 865-425-9302. Ms. Amy Myers, school registrar, is happy to assist with enrollment, withdrawal paperwork, transportation, Skyward, school updates, etc.

Character Strong Update: September is Responsibility Month!

This month we are talking about Responsibility. Our district wide Social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, Character Strong, defines responsibility as “taking action and understanding the impact of our choices.” Taking action can mean doing the right thing or completing the tasks you have been assigned. Understanding the impact of our choices means that our actions matter. Positive and responsible actions can help people and irresponsible actions can hurt others. Responsibility is 1 of 3 traits we will focus on throughout the year that helps students Be Strong. Throughout the school, students will be developing skills like focusing, organizing, and goal-setting.

Fun Family Challenge #1:

As a family, think of ways in which you might make someone’s life a little easier by helping a neighbor or family friend with 1 of their Responsibilities. Could you bring the garbage to the chute or out to the curb? Could you carry things in from the grocery store? Could you invite someone over for a meal or a show?

Fun Family Challenge #2:

Review Responsibility as a family! Responsibility is taking action and understanding how our choices affect others. Choose 1 household chore (or more!) that requires multiple steps. Then have each member of the family select 1 step to complete to help get the job done! Maybe it is washing the dishes, doing laundry, cleaning the living room, or unloading the groceries - whatever it is, see who can be the quickest or most effective at their task!

Clothing Closet Accepting Donations

JMS is pleased to offer support for students in need through our “clothing closet”. We are accepting clean, gently used clothing items for students in need. All sizes are welcome but our largest need is for junior sized clothing. Please make sure all donated items meet JMS

dress code policy. Donated items can be dropped off in the JMS counseling office. Thank you for your support!

Oak Ridge Schools Family Resource Center

The Oak Ridge Family Resource Center offers many types of services to our families!

Information and Referral to Community Resources

• Network to provide families with needed services
• Aid with applications to community resources
• Program Development and Implementation
• Eliminate gaps in services
• Case Management
• Home visits
• Emergency Transportation
• Family Advocate
• Educational Goals
• Readers and Leaders Tutorial Programs
• Attend parents teachers conferences at the request of the parent
• Attendance Support
• Student Programs
• Food for Kids
• School Supplies
• Children’s Clothing Closet
• Adult Programs
• Parenting Classes and Seminars
• Job Skill/Resume Assistance
• Budgeting Classes and Seminars
• Emergency Assistance
• Provide emergency assistance for rent/utilities
• Provide emergency assistance for medicines and gasoline
• Provide emergency assistance for food and clothing

The family resource center has two offices located on the west and east side of Oak Ridge. Their offices are located at Willow Brook Elementary and Glenwood Elementary.

For assistance, please contact Jo Bruce, FRC Director at 865-425-3205/jbruce@ortn.edu

or Sharon Gleason, FRC Assistant at 865-425-9369/slgleason@ortn.edu

• Ms. Cormack - 6th and 8th Grade Counselor - khcormack@ortn.edu
• Ms. Price - 5th and 7th Grade Counselor - clprice@ortn.edu
• Ms. Myers - Registrar - amyers@ortn.edu

We have another jam packed week of JMS Athletics this week!

• On Monday night, The Lady Eagles volleyball team will travel to Grace Christian on Tuesday for a JV game at 6pm, followed by a varsity game at 7pm.

• On Tuesday night, The JMS Cross Country team will travel to Panther Creek State Park for a meet—girls will run at 5:40pm, followed by boys at 6pm
• On Wednesday night, the JMS volleyball team will travel to Robertsville for the second City Championship match—JV will play at 4pm, followed by varsity at 5pm.

• On Thursday night, the JMS football team and cheerleaders host CAK at Blankenship Field. Kickoff is at 6pm. Go Eagles!

  
  

Please make plans to come out and support the JMS athletic teams this week! Go Eagles!

Volleyball, Football, and Cross Country Schedules are below!

Bus Routes: https://www.ortn.edu/district/bus-routes/.

SIGN UP FOR MYSTOP - BUS TRACKING APP!

Once you are registered for transportation, you will be able to track your child's bus using the app information detailed below. Please see information on how to register for MyStop below.

MyStop - Parent/Student Login

• Username: (use student’s name - case sensitive) firstname.lastname
• Password: (use student birth date) in this format 03122007 for March 12, 2007

MyStop Phone App Available In Your App Store

Go to: Versatrans My Stop™ provides mobile access to bus information. This app displays the location of the user’s assigned school bus, as well as the estimated time of arrival to their stop. Students can plan for late or on-time arrival, and prevent missed pick-ups or being left outside in inclement weather.

Can’t Access the MyStop App?

If you are having difficulty accessing the MyStop App please take the following steps:

1. Please confirm the following:
2. You have downloaded the App from Tyler Technologies.
3. You are using the legal student name as listed in Skyward.
4. You have selected all lower case letters.
5. You have placed a period between the first and last name.
6. The birthdate is correct and only consist of 8 numbers.

If this information doesn’t allow you to successfully download your child’s MyStop App account, please contact Amy Myers at 865.425.9302 or email amyers@ortn.edu. You can also view more information on the ORS District website at https://www.ortn.edu/district/bus-routes/.