WKMS Back POCKET

9/1 - Labor Day: No School

9/3 - Drill: Shelter/ Hazmat

9/3 - Spirit Day: Sports/ Jersey Day

9/11 - Spirit Day: Red, White, and Blue/ Patriot Day

9/12 - Drill: Evacuation

9/17 - Drill: Severe Weather (Drop, Cover, Hold)

9/17 - Spirit Day: Class Color Day

• 6th grade Yellow
• 7th grade Green
• 8th grade Purple

9/19 - 3.5 Hour Early Dismissal

9/22 - Drill: Active Assailant

9/23 - School and Offices Closed: Rosh Hashanah

9/26 - 2 Hour Early Dismissal

9/29 - Picture Day

Please be familiar with AND share the 2025-2026 WKMS Student and Family Handbook with your child.

• SchoolMessenger - We frequently send out communications to our families using this service; this process is our main form of communication with the WKMS community.

• The Back Pocket – This is our school-wide newsletter that is sent home electronically every month. Check it out for calendar dates, upcoming events, photos of school happenings and important information and updates.

• The WKMS website – https://wkms.sites.fcps.org/

• Facebook - Windsor Knolls Middle School FCPS

• WINDSOR “KNEWS” - Windsor "Knews" is a “live” document that is updated in real time. It contains daily announcements, birthdays, reminders and helpful information for students and their families. This is linked for all students on their Advisory pages on Schoology.

In previous years, teachers were able to send messages to parents using a platform called TAC. That program is currently not available for us to send whole class emails. Moving forward you will see teachers communicating class updates through either Schoology or TalkingPoints. You can respond to a teacher directly through TalkingPoints and your response will only go to the teacher and not the entire class.

A common question is, "How will you be notified if you a teacher sends you a TalkingPoints message?"

• A Text Message will come through your cell phone number stating that you have a message from a particular teacher.
• If you have downloaded the TalkingPoints for Parents APP, all of the messages will go to your APP.
• There is a setting within the APP to still receive notifications on your phone to alert you when there is a new message to view in the APP
• Login to your account on https://talkingpts.org/. From this site you will be able to navigate your messages, download attachments and save links that are shared.

Please continue to notify the school of absences through WKMS.Attendance@fcps.org instead of using the APP. The individuals in charge of the attendance notes do not have access to the Windsor Knolls Middle School TalkingPoints APP.

With every new shift in technology there is a learning curve and know that we are here to help you navigate the new platform. With any questions please reach out to the assistant principal, Laura Boyer, at Laura.Boyer@fcps.org.

Here is a Guide for Parents to onboard onto Talking Points

We are mandated by MSDE, MCSS, and FCPS to conduct 15 drills each school year. In addition to 8 fire drills, these drills will also take place:

1) Evacuation such as a bomb threat or chemical spill (EvacB)

2) Shelter

3) Reverse Evacuation

4) Lockdown

5) Drop, Cover, Hold

6) Severe Weather

7) Active Shooter/Active Assailant

Please refer to FCPS Safety and Emergency Management for more information.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us!

Students can check the lost and found during lunch, as well as before and after school. They are located in the cafeteria on the stairs as well at the east stair case. It may make it easier to retrieve lost items if they are labeled with your students name.

The Windsor Knolls Cafeteria is here to feed your children everyday and we are glad to see them for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is available at 7:35 each morning.

Information about menu options can be found on the FCPS Website. Click on “Families and Students” then “2025-26 School year info” then School meals.

You can access menus for your school, connect to the link to monitor or add funds to your students account and file an application for free or reduced priced meals.

It is important and very helpful to keep money on your student’s account. Cash or checks (payable to WKMS) are accepted here at school or online payments at the above-mentioned link.

If you would like to add a note to your child’s meal account to restrict snacks, a la carte items or second meals, you can contact food and nutrition services at food.service@fcps.org or call the food service office at 240-586-8152. We cannot restrict a child from purchasing a breakfast or a lunch even if they do not have money on their meal account, but we can add notes that help our cashiers and food service staff remind a child that their parents do not want them to buy certain items.

If a student does not have funds for meals, we always provide breakfast and lunch at the elementary, middle and high school levels by allowing students to charge meals. When a student charges a meal, our policy is to email the family to let them know. Please pay these charges as soon as possible to clear any negative balance. We have quite a few accounts that are very past due, please send a payment today.

Families can apply at any point during the school year for Free or Reduced meal benefits. Fill out the application for free or reduced-price meals to verify qualification. Only one form is necessary for a family if you have children in multiple schools. The link is https://linqconnect.com/public/meal-application/new and the district you would search for is "Frederick County Public Schools." If your student qualified for free or reduced meals last year, that status is continued for the first few weeks of school this year. If a new application is not submitted for this school year, status will change to full pay on October 6, 2025. Please submit applications as soon as possible.

Again, we look forward to seeing your child at breakfast and lunch and feel free to contact us if you have questions or concerns.

Taina Schweitzer

Cafeteria manager

Greetings from the English Language Arts Department! We are so very excited to welcome your learners back into the building this year. Students have been busy in LA classes learning new routines and discussing the first quarter ELA priority standards. All students were able to "Show What They Know" by completing the i-Ready Reading Assessment in their Language Arts classrooms.

Students in Read180 classes have been reviewing the expectations of independent reading and software rotations, and students have received their new workbooks for this year's R180 workshops.

Students in foundational reading courses have "hit the ground running" by seamlessly transitioning back into their respective programs.

For your planning purposes, mid-term is on Friday, September 19, and the ELA department is anticipating a fabulous first term with your students. Please reach out to your student's ELA teacher or to the WKMS Literacy Specialist, Ginny Hines, Virginia.Hines@fcps.org, with any questions or concerns.

Mrs. Clark and Mr. Hull (7th Grade Science) are in search for guest speakers with careers in the STEM field. Our goal is to introduce careers that students haven’t thought of before, show different paths someone can take to successful careers, and learn about various careers. If you are interested in joining us for a day, please email either Mrs. Kelsey at Kelsey.Clark@fcps.org or Mr. Hull at Evan.Hull@fcps.org

2025 Bernard "Pappy" Lorenzen Memorial Cross Country Meet

The 2025 Bernard "Pappy" Lorenzen Memorial Cross Country Meet is on Wednesday, Oct 1st (Rain Date - Wednesday, Oct. 8th) at Utica District Park, Frederick, MD. This event is open to all 6th, 7th, and 8th students in FCPS, students will be running a 1-mile course and will compete against other middle school students from around the county. Unified athletes will be running approximately 1,000 feet around a designated area.

Students interested in attending the meet need to return a completed permission slip to the PE department. Parents and/or guardians have to provide transportation to and from the event and stay with their child for the duration of the event. Below are links to the permission slips. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Ryan Burkey, Christine Donohue, Nicki Conlon, Evan Wolcott, Ishah Malik, and Todd Stocks

2025 Pappy Student Permission Slip

2025 MS Pappy Unified Permission Slip

Zombie Run

Save the date: Wednesday, Oct. 22nd (rain date Thursday, Oct. 23rd) from 3-4:30

All grades invited!!

More information to come in mid September.

This will be a fundraiser for PE and the American Heart Association.

Family Life Preview

Information for the Family Life Preview will be coming in mid September.

GUIDELINES FOR A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Each month, we try to focus on a resource that we hope provides parents with strategies to support your child. Check out the article Starting Middle School for ways to help students successfully handle the expectations and challenges of a new grade level.

We are committed to making sure that our students and families are aware of the many resources available if your child is struggling with a mental health challenge. Please check out this RESOURCES link on the WKMS Counseling website for support services as well as information on the Mental Health Association’s walk-in clinic in downtown Frederick.

UPCOMING: Camp Jamie - Teen Grief Camp in September

Frederick Health Hospice is sponsoring a day camp on September 20, 2025, at Thorpewood Retreat Center in Thurmont, MD, for grieving teens in grades 1 - 8 to come together to talk about their feelings and learn coping skills for dealing with death. There is no cost for this event, but there is an application to complete as space is limited. All applications are due September 5,2025. For more information or to register, please contact 240-566-3030 or go to www.frederickhealthhospice.org/grief-loss/camp-jamie/

Kids Like Us

Here at Windsor Knolls Middle School, we offer an award-winning program called Kids Like Us (KLU). We are now enrolling new participants in our 6th,7th,8th grade groups, so I wanted to get the word out. Participation is a choice and requires permission from a parent or guardian.

• KLU is for students that are impacted by someone in their household who: Is using alcohol or drugs in a harmful way, has a substance use disorder, or is in treatment or recovery.

• To respect family privacy, I do not need to know who the household member is or details about the situation for a student to participate.

• KLU participation is private and confidential. Other students and staff are not told who is in KLU.

• KLU is engaging, positive, and fun. KLU helps kids build resilience skills so that they can make healthy choices.

If you would like to enroll a student or get more information, please contact me at William.Migliorini@fcps.org or call 227-203-2750.

IN NEED OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES? Please contact the counseling office at 227-203-2750, extension 47515, if we can help your child with any needed materials.

Back to School Logistics

As we begin this school year, it is crucial for our registrar to have the most current information on your child. Please review the following to make sure that WKMS has all needed information. Thank you!

Additional changes in phone numbers or email address:

Please contact Ms. Caudill, as soon as possible at Gwendolyn.Caudill@fcps.org if you need to update your phone number and/or email address.

Change in residence or mailing address:

You will need to supply Windsor Knolls with an updated proof of residency. This may be a lease or sales contract, water, gas or electric bill with your new address listed. Any bill should be dated within the last thirty days.

Hello from Advanced Academics! This is Laura Shearer, Advanced Academics Teacher Specialist, serving Windsor Knolls Middle School and Gov. Thomas Johnson Middle School. I am excited for my second year in this role supporting our Wolverine students!

The Highly Able Learner Program

Advanced academics instruction is embedded in the classroom curriculum, so students who have been identified to receive highly able learner instruction will be receiving that instruction in their normal classroom settings. Additional information about the HAL program can be found at the FCPS website for the Office of Advanced Academics: https://www.fcps.org/academics/advanced_academics

Conversation Starters for Families

One way to support your student(s) at home is to ask them about their day! Since middle school students are sometimes reluctant to share and sometimes just have trouble remembering their day, here are some focused conversation starters that you could use to get them going:

• “What challenged you about your work?”
• “What are you most proud of that happened today?”
• “What is another way to solve this problem?”
• 
  

Making Friends

With their complex vocabulary, love of elaborate games, focus on rules and fairness, and emotional sensitivities, some gifted children find it difficult to make social connections with their same-age peers. If you are interested in learning more about supporting your gifted child in building relationships with peers, here is a short article from the National Association for Gifted Children on Making Friends. You can view additional articles and resources from the NAGC at their website: www.nagc.org

If you have specific questions about the highly able learner program at Windsor Knolls Middle School, please reach out to me at Laura.Shearer@fcps.org. Thanks!

Hello and welcome to math in this new school year! I am Heather Wurster, the math specialist. My job is to ensure that students are being challenged and supported academically in mathematics. I work closely with all our teachers to review student data for math support and math classroom opportunities. Together we work to utilize grouping strategies, independent practice, and computer adaptive programs to support personalized learning. Students have learned how their teachers will be organizing their classroom both in person and online through the Schoology platform. Have your students show you their digital classroom of resources.

To better assist us in promoting student progress we have a district wide digital math platform called ALEKS, that students will access on a regular basis to build their independent knowledge of content. The ALEKS program is a proven learning tool that supports students on their course standards through prerequisite skills support, standards practice, and extension opportunities (to dive into standards beyond the classroom instruction). The platform has built-in help including embedded video tutorials, direct links to the Reveal textbook lessons, descriptive reviews, example problems, and guided practice problems. The school wide expectation is that students will be working on their ALEKS topic work every week. Students this year have time specifically during ELT that offers thirty minutes of work time at school. The weekly ALEKS topic goal is separate from any ALEKS assignments that teachers may assign to students. The weekly topic goal is due each week, it cannot be made up, nor can students bank topics forward week to week. This platform is the daily practice that builds fluency and increases accuracy. We aim for students to complete their total ALEKS pie and reward students that meet this goal at the end of the year with a pizza pie party! If you have not seen your student's pie yet, have them log on to ALEKS through the McGraw Hill (red) icon on their Chromebook in Clever under the FCPS Bookmarks. Their personal pie progress will populate for you to see how they are starting this year.

Additionally this year, all students will have digital access to support materials online with our textbooks series that will be coming home, Reveal, and all students will be able to use Schoology again this year to support their learning. Please remind your student to charge their Chromebook and bring their wired earbuds daily.

Our school hosts a MathCounts Club. This is an opportunity for mixed grade level groups of students interested in learning more about math while doing math, to come together in a club. We will begin meeting on Tuesday, September 16 in room 200 (Coach Gallagher’s room) at 3pm. Students can get information sheets and permission slips to participate in the club from any math teacher or the info board outside Mrs. Wurster’s room. Students must have a signed form to stay after and a ride home by 4pm. MathCounts Club information will be available on the Windsor “Knews” and morning announcements.

The math teachers are excited to be working with your students while looking forward to developing their understanding and appreciation of math. If you have any questions about the curriculum, digital access, or how best to help support your student at home please do not hesitate to contact me at Heather.Wurster@fcps.org. I am happy to answer questions via email or set up Google Meets to better facilitate our discussions. We are so very excited to develop math knowledge and look forward to a great school year.

Greetings from the WKMS Learning Commons/Library Media Center

I am beyond ecstatic to be able to begin working with your children for the 9th year at this school and 26 years in total. Windsor Knolls is a gem, and we are gearing up to prepare our scholars for another year of fun learning (not an oxymoron)! So, if you are new to WKMS, students come to the LMC with their classes to learn about digital citizenship and/or to be supported in their classwork and projects. Teachers and I plan and co-teach lessons where we discuss and practice how to research using our Database/Search Apps, write, create citations, and avoid plagiarism. Students also come to the LMC with a pass from their teacher beginning Friday, August 29th to check out books, do homework, get tutoring, read, study, etc. Students can check out books at any time except during class exchanges or put books on hold to be delivered to their classes.

Another book fair will be coming this year. Stay tuned to the newsletters, and the social media platform listed below. Please encourage your child to read for a minimum of 20 minutes daily to support their learning and ask them questions about what they are reading. Why? Because reading helps boost memory, develops strong analytical skills, enhances learning capacity, expands vocabulary, increases verbal intelligence, improves concentration and empathy. Students can check out books online via our digital reading platform called Sora.

Feel free to call or email if you have any questions.

To stay updated and to possibly see your child on social media... please follow me on platform that we use by connecting to the following handles - Instagram: WKMSLibrary.

Mrs. Holliday

The Library Lady

We need people to fill committee chairs. We are actively looking for a Treasurer, Fundraising Chair and a Hospitality Chair. Without people in these positions we cannot provide events for our children. PTSA currently runs the Halloween dance, the Snowball dance, teacher appreciation and the 8th grade celebration. Please consider helping us by volunteering for the PTSA. For more information, please contact wkmsptsapresident@gmail.com. Thank you!

Important Dates to Remember:

September 10, 2025 - PTSA Meeting from 6pm - 7pm in Room 103

October 24, 2025 - Halloween School Dance 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Please click on PDF below for easier reading.