A day of thanks . . .

Thanksgiving is coming up next week, what do you have to be thankful for? This has been a very difficult time in our country but I believe we have much to be thankful for. We all have jobs and a pretty good place to work (well . . . maybe the boss could be easier to work for - I'm referring to me:) Most of you are in good health and are blessed with wonderful families. Reflect on the positives . . . life is definitely too short to not enjoy what you do have. Think about the pictures of the children in Africa when you start having a pity party for yourself - definitely helps me!

The book fair was a big hit this week. Thanks for Mr. Schoulda, Mrs. Argabright, and all the parent volunteers for their help. Students seemed excited about getting new books to read. To all the LA teachers - thanks for giving up some class time to let the students purchase new reading material!

Tiger Kim's Tae Kwon Do put on a performance Tuesday to the 6th grade PE classes. Thanks to all the PE teachers (Denise Francis, Martin Patrick, JR Wilkerson, and Amy Peverall) for helping to organize this event. Also, Kim Pickell was a major contributer to making this event happen. They will be coming again next Tuesday (5th and 6th periods) if you would like a taste of some Tae Kwon Do - they are amazing!!

Students from 6th grade (Barbara Strange, Cynthia Booth, Debbie Etheridge, and Mike McDowell) went to make luminaries for the Ronald McDonald House on Wednesday - community service project. Kathy MacDonald also took about 40 students (student council)after school to make the luminaries on Wednesday. Students had a great time and this was a good educational experience about doing things for others.

The cultural infusion walk throughs were conducted Wednesday by Willette Nash. She had extremely positive comments about the imagery and inclusive classroom decor in Mr. Charles Jones' class. His lesson was about African Kings.  Notably, she gave high praise to Mrs. Kirby Carespodi who used rubrics, small groups, students were enthusiastic about learning and were responsible for their own learning. She commented on the utilization of Myers Briggs in her classroom as well. Mrs. Humphrey... excellent lesson involving American History relative to slave trade. Well done!

Today, we had about 300 students qualify (from their magazine fundraising efforts) to watch the BMX bike show. These guys were flying everywhere. It looked like they would go through the roof!! Elaine Hartle is the best - I'm glad you couldn't tell how close they were to you. The kids were absolutely amazed at this show. Mrs. Strange/Ms. Miller - I know you two are bikers. Could you do this?!!

Another great week at TJMS. Short week next week then a nice break. Be thankful for what you do have. Take some time to think about your blessings and "smell the roses".

You have worked hard. Thanks for your best efforts with your students. Enjoy the weekend.

Go Patriots!!

When it rains, it pours . . .

Looking at the weather channel on Sunday, it looked like we would get "some" rain Tuesday and Wednesday then clear the rest of the week. Well . . . it's now Friday and we are still wet!! A cold wet at that! Should have known,with the Fall Fling today, that we would be thrown a curve ball. I learned how to hit a "curve ball" early in life so we will make the best out of this situation!

This week, I conducted 8th grade CWTs. We have a pretty good bunch of prisoners - I'm referring to the students! The efforts you (staff) make with your interesting classroom activities really make a difference with our students. Thanks for the creativity and energy you give to the students each day!

Mrs. Fox got the results for All County Band. 20 students made All County from TJMS! I'm not sure how many tried out but that is a huge number of students that received this honor! Congratulations to Kathy and her students!!

I know that I mentioned at Monday's staff meeting that Leigh Walters was selected Chorus Teacher of the Year for the State of NC!!! But what an accomplishment! For those of you who don't know Leigh, drop by her classroom sometime and see her in action. I've seen many music teachers - Leigh is phenomenal. Congratualtions Leigh - well deserved!

And today's Fall Fling . . . I'm writing this prior to the fling but I know the students will have a great time! These kids just want to socialize and it really doesn't matter what activities there are. It's fun just watching them have fun with each other. Now taking a pie in the smacker and getting dunked . . . well -when it rains it pours!

The sun is coming out (somewhere) . . . have a wonderful weekend!

Go Patriots!

And the beat goes on . . .

Does it seem like we have completed 51 days of school? Again, maybe it is age but I look up and we have completed another week! I even saw commercials about Christmas on TV last night. Yikes!!! John - get a tree ready for me :)

Last couple of weeks you gave your EOQ tests. Benika - Thanks for your diligence with this! I didn't see any real surprises with the results. Keep up the good instruction in the classroom and the scores will be fine. If you haven't already, plan to discuss your results in your PLC meetings and develop some strategies to reteach concepts that may have been missed.

Grade level trips - Trailblazers (Meredith Ebert, Amy Kennedy, and Leigh Walters) were at the coast last week for the 7th grade trip. I didn't hear about any issues. Guess they had a good time :) MPods (John Cardarelli, Kirby Carespodi, Kim Pickell, Lacey Brigman, and myself) were in DC last week with the 8th graders. The Surfers (Mark Schnably, Gail Frank, Gena Loflin, Jan Sullivan, and LaJoi Wilson-Moore) are completing their trip to DC - they should be home this afternoon. This is always a fun/educational trip. We saw so much in such a short period of time. I truly believe these trips are memories the students will never forget when asked "What did you do in middle school"? Thanks for giving up your personal time to be a part of these trips.

Volleyball started the season this week. The boys are 2-0 with victories over Southeast and Northwest - Congratulations to Daniel Bryant and Mark Mercer. The girls are 1-1 with a victory over Northwest. Congratulations to Denise Francis. We play Hanes (home) on Tuesday. Come out and support your Patriots - we will even give you a free bag of popcorn!

Coin drive kicked off this week. Thanks to Lisha Vannoy and Kathy MacDonald for their efforts. There is a "buzz" in the school about this service project. I'm impressed with the sense of giving from our students. Thanks for supporting this - you can make a huge difference in the success of this project.

And . . . I know you can't wait til next Friday (FALL FLING)!! The students always have fun no matter what. Thanks for all of your help with supervision. This is for a great cause (Scholarships for field trips) and you might even have fun:)

180 - 51 = 129 more days! Have a great weekend - get some rest.

Go Patriots!!