Sycamore Springs

Hello Sycamore Springs Middle School Families,

Happy Sunday! I hope you and your family are enjoying the weekend and relaxing after an amazing homecoming week in Dripping Springs. Just a reminder that this Friday is the end of Term 1 and Monday, Oct. 14 is a district holiday. All schools and district office will be closed.

If you need anything or have any questions, please reach out to your student's teacher, counselor, or administrator.

Go Tigers!

Sincerely,

Kelly Miller

Principal

1. Celebrate your student with a Recognition Ad! Order your Yearbook Ad HERE.

2. Did you miss picture day or want to retake your picture? Picture retakes are 10/22. Stop by the front office to pick up an order form. https://shop.imagequix.com/g1001151617

3. Yearbook is looking for baby photo submissions! Be featured in a special part of the yearbook - submit your baby photo by emailing cassandra.martinez@dsisdtx.us

4. On October 1, the 2024-2025 Credit by Exam for Acceleration, Credit Recovery, & Grade Placement Guide, the Advanced Academics & Gifted and Talented Parent Meeting presentation, and the credit by exam testing calendar, referral links, and study guides will be available here. The referral deadline is Friday, October 25th, and testing will occur on Saturday, November 11th. Parents of students who register for fall testing will be provided with test day details at a later date. All fall testing results will apply to the 2025-2026 school year. Questions may be directed to Dr. Rhonda Whitman via email or a phone call (512-858-3053).

5. The DSISD GT Referral window for K-12 opens on Oct. 1 and will remain open until October 31st. Click HERE to access the flyer. Click HERE (on or after Oct.1) to complete the referral form.

6. Calling all 7th and 8th graders who want to join us this May on the Close up trip to Washington DC! If you are interested in learning more about The Close up trip to DC, please join us and a Close Up representative on Wednesday, October 23rd at 6pm in the SSMS cafeteria. The trip is scheduled for May 25-29, 2025. For questions, reach out to Coach Hulett at megan.hulett@dsisdtx.us or check out the FAQ. More information can also be found further down in the newsletter.

We hope you all enjoyed the weekend!

We have 2 meetings left of our Smart but Scattered Book Study. Thanks to those parents who have been participating! If you want to join us next week please do so! For more details and to sign up click here. This week we are looking at chapters 9-16 and picking 1-2 chapters to share out.

On Oct. 9 & 10, 6th graders will receive a guidance lesson on Global Satisfaction & Hope via their huddle class.

Tiger leaders will be in Tiger Win classes for all grade levels on October 15-17 & October 21 & 22. They will present their Better Together lesson on Bullying/Self Advocacy.

Red Ribbon week is October 21-October 25. Our awesome student council is putting together activities for this week.

Dripping Springs ISD has partnered with Terrace Metrics to understand & support the resiliency & well-being of our students. All 7th Grade students will have the opportunity to take this assessment on Oct. 23rd or 24th via Tiger Win classes. Active consent is required from parents/guardians for their student(s) to participate in the evaluation. This means that we will not administer the assessment to any student with a parental/guardian consent status of no and no response consent. Only students with a parental/guardian consent status of yes will be allowed to participate. Before the Terrace Metrics parental consent window closes, we will host two 7th-grade parent meetings to provide information and answer questions about the Terrace Metrics Assessment. Please join us on October 7th from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. or October 8th from 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m., both in the Pecan room at SSMS.

We hope you all had a great weekend and wish you a great week ahead!

LaDonna Caroselli, 6th Grade A-K & 7th Grade Counselor

Sandy Zimmerman, 6th Grade L-Z & 8th Grade Counselor

SSMS Fall Choir Concert is this Thursday at 7:00 pm. We hope you can join us!

Nurse Smith will be conducting state-mandated health screenings this semester. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) mandates that all children must be screened or have a professional examination for possible vision, hearing, Acanthosis Nigricans, and spinal curvature problems. Please click on this LINK to read the full letter from Nurse Smith.

Round 1 will take place on October 10th and 11th during Social Studies and will involve:

-All of 7th grade: Vision, hearing, and Acanthosis Nigricans screening (marker on back of neck for Type 2 Diabetes)

Round 2 timing TBD (notification will be sent out) and will involve:

-All 7th grade girls: Scoliosis

-All 8th grade boys: Scoliosis

Special Olympics Basketball starts December 2nd. Athletes can begin registering now. We also need volunteers! Anyone interested, can email me, Garrett Moreno, (garrett.moreno@dsisdtx.us) or Jessie Turner (jessica.turner@dsisdtx.us) for more information. Thanks so much!

Hey Tigers!

We are calling all 7th and 8th graders who want to join us this May on the Close up trip to Washington DC! The Close up trip to DC has a long tradition here in Dripping Springs and we want you to participate! We are scheduled to go May 25- 29th, 2025. I have included some links if you are interested and want more information below. Please click on the FAQ or frequently asked questions link for more information about the program and see a sample itinerary linked as well. If you are interested in participating please complete the Close up trip Interest form so we know how to reach out to you.

We are hosting an informational meeting with one of the representatives from Close up on Wednesday, October 23rd at 6pm in the SSMS cafeteria. In the meantime please reach out to Coach Hulett with any questions at megan.hulett@dsisdtx.us

Close Up Trip FAQ

Close Up Trip Interest Form

Students must WEAR their student IDs at all times. If you are not wearing your ID as you enter the building you will be directed to get a temporary badge in the front office. If you lost your ID, you must order a new one from the district. Click HERE to order a new ID badge.

If your student has their ID, but needs a new plastic nametag holder or lanyard you can have them check the front office or you can buy them on Amazon. Click HERE for an example plastic nametag holder and HERE for a two-pack lanyard w/ plastic case.

Congratulations to the following students!

6th - Liam Grimes

7th - Stanley Bielejeski

8th - Noah Brooks

Happy Birthday to all our SSMS Faculty and Staff! We ❤️ You! Go Tigers! 🐯

🎉 Congratulations to our Tiger of the Week: Nico Biagini

Please help me in congratulating Kylie Quintero for being our Tiger of the Week! We are so proud of all the hard work and effort you put into athletics!

We are so proud of all our Volleyball players! We especially want to recognize the following players of the game! Thank you for all your hard work!

SSMS Runners of the Week

This week's Cheerleader of the Week is Mila. Mila is an extremely hard worker! Not only is she diligent, but she also has a heart of gold. Mila’s positive spirit is contagious and motivates us all to work hard and never give up in practice every day.

• Friday, October 11th is our next PTA General Membership meeting at 8:15AM, and the Executive Director of DSISD Education Foundation will be our guest speaker. Please be sure to RSVP and allow time to have your badge pre-printed, or expect an ID scan if this is your first time on campus. You can also let your voice be heard by suggesting future PTA Meeting Topic Ideas that you'd like to learn more about. RSVP for the meeting and suggest topics through our SSMS PTA Linktree: https://linktr.ee/SSMSPTA

• The SSMS PTA is excited to open the call for volunteers for two departments that greatly help and influence our staff and students - Workroom Helpers and Hospitality! Please go to our LinkTree to sign up for Workroom Help or other volunteer opportunities!
• PTA Scholarships are open for faculty and seniors! Teachers can get up to $500 for continuing education and seniors can get up to $1,000 for higher ed. Go to txpta.org/scholarships for more info!
  
• If you haven’t joined PTA yet, we welcome you to support SSMS students and staff! The Yeti membership drawing will happen at the November meeting! Please share ideas, concerns, and experiences to make the school year better for everyone. Go to joinpta.org to join.
  
• Be sure to Like and Follow our Facebook and Instagram - we post information and updates daily, and we’ll show up more often in your feed the more you react to the posts!
  

• Announcing our SSMS PTA One & Done Fundraiser! Donate now to ensure we only need one fundraiser this year. SSMS PTA supports our staff and student Tigers throughout the year, and your contribution makes a huge difference! Please scan the QR code or Donate Here!

• Our annual Chili & Hot Dog Bar is Oct. 25, so bring your best crockpot of chili and win bragging rights! Want to help? Sign up to bring items or help decorate and serve up spookiness! Email: volunteers@ssmspta.org to get more information!

• Calling all creators of tomorrow! PTA Reflections is open and ready to see your original work that interprets the 2024-25 PTA Reflections theme: Accepting Imperfection. Please check with the front office or our LinkTree to enter!

DSISD Employee Recognition Program

Are you looking for a way to honor a Dripping Springs ISD employee? Whether you are a staff member wanting to recognize a co-worker for a job well done or a parent who is impressed by your child's bus driver for going that extra mile, this is the program for you! Anyone can nominate any DSISD employee through the district's employee recognition program, Tiger Stripes for Staff.

The program invites DSISD staff, students, parents and community members to participate by leaving a positive note about a staff member. Please click HERE to go to the district Tiger Stripe page.

DSISD Taxpayer Tuesdays return next week at Dripping Springs Elementary! Next week's session, "From Pennies to Programs: Navigating School Finances", will take an in-depth look at how Texas schools and their programs are funded and include a tour of the newly-renovated DSE campus. If you're interested in attending, please RSVP at dsisdtx.us/taxpayertuesdays. We hope to see you there! #iamDSISD

Looking for a good scare and a fun time this October? Hell Country Haunt presents “Outbreak”, haunted house and hayride at Dripping Springs Ranch Park! Open every Friday and Saturday in October. For tickets visit, www.hellcountryhaunt.com. Proceeds go to the Burke Center for Youth.

It is time again that we start looking for volunteers for our annual haunted house and hayride. We need both actors and volunteers to help run the haunted house. This will be our 4th year at Dripping Springs Ranch Park and we are running all 4 weekends in October. We have 2 forms for people to self sign up:

Actors: https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/12515872780107/false#/invitation

Staff: https://signup.com/client/invitation2/c5099b9f8abf6897dec19dfc844fd5ccdddda7cc/571396354085/false/#/invitation

We are fully non-profit and donate all proceeds to the Burke Center for Youth so we can and do sign community service hours.

The 2024-2025 Credit by Exam for Acceleration, Credit Recovery, & Grade Placement Guide, the September 26, 2024 Advanced Academics & Gifted and Talented Parent Meeting presentation, and the credit by exam testing calendar, referral links, and study guides will be available here on Tuesday, October 1st. The referral deadline is Friday, October 25th, and testing will occur on Saturday, November 11th. Parents of students who register for fall testing will be provided with test day details at a later date. All fall testing results will apply to the 2025-2026 school year. Questions may be directed to Dr. Rhonda Whitman via email or a phone call (512-858-3053)

The DSISD GT Referral window for K-12 opens on Oct. 1 and will remain open until October 31st. Click HERE to access the flyer. Click HERE (on or after Oct.1) to complete the referral form.

DSISD is seeking community input on the name for Elementary #6, which is scheduled to open for the 2025-26 school year. A survey is available through Friday, October 11 for stakeholders to share their suggestions for the name of the school. Scan the QR code or visit the link below to complete the survey!

More Information: https://www.dsisdtx.us/article/1756486

Survey: https://forms.gle/f2ZLMxcGGJQCQYB99

Monday, 10/7 - A Day

National Instructional Coaches' Day! 🙌

7th Grade Terrace Metrics Parent Information Session; 11:30am-12:30pm in Pecan Room

7th Football vs WRMS @ SSMS; 5:00/6:30

Tuesday, 10/8 - B Day

7th Grade Terrace Metrics Parent Information Session; 9:30-10:30am in Pecan Room

Tax Payer Tuesday (School Finance); 9:30 am @ DSE

8th Football vs WRMS @ Westlake HS; 5:00/6:30

Tiger Belles Parent Meeting; 5:30 pm in Sycamore Rm

Wednesday, 10/9 - A Day

FCA Meeting in Small Gym @ 8:30am

6th Graders: Guidance Lesson on Global Satisfaction & Hope in Huddle class

Thursday, 10/10 - B Day

6th Graders: Guidance Lesson on Global Satisfaction & Hope in Huddle class

7th Graders: Vision, hearing, and Acanthosis Nigricans screening (during Social Studies)

Volleyball @ Hudson Bend; 8B/7A 5:15pm & 8A/7B 6:15am

Choir Fall Concert; 6:30pm in Cafeteria

Friday, 10/11 - A Day

PTA General Membership Meeting; 8:15am in Sycamore Rm

7th Graders: Vision, hearing, and Acanthosis Nigricans screening (during Social Studies)

Saturday, 10/12

Volleyball District B Team Tournament @ SSMS; Time TBD

10/14 - District Holiday/No School

10/15-10/21 - Tiger Leaders will be presenting a Bullying/Self Advocacy lesson during Tiger Win

10/15 - 7th Football @ HBMS; 4:15/5:30/7:00

10/16 - National Boss's Day 🎉

10/16 - FCA Meeting

10/16 - 8th Football vs. HBMS @ SSMS; 4:15/5:30/7:00

10/17 - Volleyball @ DSMS; 8B/7A 5:15pm & 8A/7B 6:15am

10/18 - Varsity Football vs Lake Travis; Tiger Stadium@ 7:30pm

10/19 - Volleyball District A Team Tournament @ DSMS; Time TBD

10/21-10/25 - Red Ribbon Week

10/21-10/25 - Book Fair

10/21 - 7th Football @ DSMS; 4:15/5:30/7:00

10/22 - Picture Make-up Day

10/22 - PSAT Testing

10/22 - 8th Football vs. DSMS @ DSHS; 4:15/5:30/7:00

10/23 - FCA Meeting

10/23 - 7th grade Terrace Metrics Assessment (during Tiger Win)

10/24 - 7th grade Terrace Metrics Assessment (during Tiger Win)

10/24 - Congressional App Challenge Deadline

10/25 - PTA Chili Cook-off 🌶🍲

10/26 - District Band Auditions

10/28 - Girls Basketball Parent Meeting; 5:30pm in Big Gym

10/29 - Battle of the Books

10/29 - Orchestra Concert

10/30 - FCA Meeting

10/31 - No School/Staff PD Day - Happy Halloween! 🎃👻🦇

11/1 - No School/Staff PD Day

11/2 - Region Band Auditions

11/6 - 8th Grade - Social Media & Mental Health Presentation - Tiger Win

11/6 - Student Council Meeting; P10 during Tiger Win

11/7 - Coffee & Chat w/ Principal Miller; 8-9 am in Sycamore Room

11/7 - Principal's Student Advisory Meeting; Sycamore Room during Tiger Win

11/8 - PTA Board Meeting; 8:15am in Pecan Room