Dec. 4—Grade 6 Honor Roll/Perfect Attendance Breakfast

Dec. 6—Grade 7/8 Honor Roll/Perfect Attendance

              Breakfast

Dec. 6—Interims distributed

Dec. 11—Winter Choral Concert, 7:00 PM

Dec. 13—Parent conferences, 3:30-6:30 PM

Dec, 18—Winter Ensemble Concert, 7:00 PM (canceled)

Dec. 17-20—Winter Wonderland open to students

Dec. 21—Winter Break begins at the end of the school day

Jan. 2—Schools reopen

Jan. 21—Martin Luther King’s Birthday—Schools closed

Jan. 25—Second marking period ends

                  With the ending of the first quarter, we have 29% of our students on the Honor Roll.  This is a slight decrease over last year, but at the same time, we have fewer students with low grades.   We are very proud of our students.  In addition, 34% of our students had perfect attendance for the first quarter! Most of the students with perfect attendance are also on the Honor Roll…so you can see the direct connection between attendance and academic performance.

                  A number of factors contribute to this strong showing. These include the consistent routine of binder checks and organization, AVID strategies in many classes, after-school coach classes, exciting language and math courses, and an attitude by the faculty to do “Whatever It Takes” to help our students. All students are invited to attend coach classes on Tuesday-Thursday. An after-school bus is provided on these days as well.

Congratulations and thanks to the Language Arts Department for a very successful Literacy Night. We look forward to the upcoming Math Night.

 Canned Food Drive Results

This year’s canned food drive was a huge success.  DMS collected nearly one thousand non-perishable items that were picked up by the Maryland Food Bank on November 19th.

Ms. Sylvester's homeroom brought in the most donations with 241 items. Her class received a pizza party for their amazing efforts. Ms. Knight's class came in second with 194 items. Mr. Wojcik’s class took third place.  A big thank you to all who participated!!

AVID

Success in school, and life for that matter, cannot occur without organization. Part of the organization process is the ability to evaluate ourselves. Time and time again, we as parents and teachers stress the importance of achieving goals. But, all too often we fall short in helping kids understand how to formulate solid meaningful goals.

To ensure that students are able to fulfill their goals, it is important to teach them about the goal-setting process. Just as we know that our middle school students are all capable of tying their shoes, because they understand the process, we must make sure they are all capable of analyzing and prioritizing academic and extracurricular activities. 

With that as the cornerstone, we here at Dundalk Middle School are engaged in teaching our students the aspects of SMART goals. SMART is an acronym which stands for Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Reasonable, and Timely.  SMART is part of the DMS AVID program and is being applied school-wide.

The DMS staff works with students in identifying academic areas in need of improvement and then apply the SMART attitude to setting a goal. Goals are looked at on a bi-quarterly process, pre and post interim, in order to keep them relevant. 

At DMS the attitude is to teach and inspire students to become career/college-oriented high school students. SMART goals is a new tool in our cache.

Anyone interested in knowing more about SMART goals or AVID, please contact Mr. Joyce.

Making the Most of Middle School

One of our goals as middle school educators is to ensure that our students are well prepared for high school and post-secondary education.  To this end, we are collaborating with other middle schools in the Southeast Area to increase high school preparedness as well as college and technical school awareness.  Our message is simple, Middle School Counts on the road to higher education!  We want to send the message to all of our students that their coursework and grades earned now help to lay the foundation for their future educational opportunities.  In an effort to reiterate our message, we will be sending home various brochures and literature regarding how to “Make the Most of Middle School”.  Please look for these attachments to come home with the report cards, interims or future newsletters.  We hope that you will support our mission and encourage your child to “Make the Most of Middle School”! 

Magnet School Applications

A flyer is included in this newsletter regarding the Magnet School Program.  Eighth grade students must submit all applications by November 30, 2007.  No applications will be considered after that date.

Students of the Month

6^th

Zach Moore

William Yates

Deja Adams

Nicole Whitaker

7^th

Jose Tutt

De’Shawno Alexander

Chelsey Cook

Addie Matheny

8^th

Dragan Vujatovic

Micheal LeValley

Brittney Moore

Chrisielle Pagarigan

Winter Wonderland

              Winter Wonderland is a school-sponsored event run by our Positive Behavior and Interventions (PBIS) committee where students use the HOOTS they have collected to “purchase” holiday gifts for family members.  Items available for “purchase” are donated from a variety of sources including: staff and community members, area businesses or churches, and school resources.  The DMS PTSA is working with the PBIS committee this year to help collect items and volunteer to staff the event.

This year’s Winter Wonderland will run from Monday, December 17-Thursday, December 20.  Special blue Winter Wonderland HOOTS began to be distributed to students who earned them on November 1.  Students will have the event made available to them through their social studies classes and their lunch shifts.

If you are interested in donating items, gift bags, tissue paper, or gift tags, please contact the school at 410-887-7018.

· On Left side of screen-click on “Magnet Program Applications and Assessment Guidelines”

· Click on “High School”

· Scroll down and click on each program you have applied to and print it out

Remember - all applications must be received in the Office of Magnet Programs or postmarked by November 30, 2007.  Applications that are postmarked after November 30^th, will not be considered.

If you do not have access to the internet at home, you may use a school computer.

DUNDALK MIDDLE SCHOOL

Honor Roll—Quarter 1

Grade 6	Grade 7	Grade 8
Adams Deja Bartucci Blaise Baskette Bryanne Bell Chasity Chiveral Ian Clayton Rachael Clinton Olivia Cypress Shermyka Davis Jimmy Dudley Taylor Duncan Todd Forbes Robecca Gilchrist Shantice Goins Jamielynn Hargrove Kirsten Harrah Leslie Harris Mandell Headspeth Brenda Idzi Alex Jones Eric Jones Miranda Kaniecki Leonard Kasoff Rebecca Kearney Ashley Marous Amanda Mattson Kathryn Mcglone Trennakay Miller Selena Moore Zachary Moss Carl O'Neill Kyle Oxendine Courtney Pugh Hailey Ramos-Quintero Delmy Ray Destinee Ray Diamonds Rivera Jamie Rohlfing Jessica Sands Ryan Schluter Brandi Scott Joseph Sensibaugh Steven Slater Logan Sparks Chantanee Stone Jordan Tanner Crystal Thomas Daniel Thomas Trae' Thompson Mercedes Timchula John Trojan Tyler Tsapalas Dimitri Whitaker Nicole Williams Zachary Wolferman Margaret Yates William		Allmond Kalonji Bond Tania Bosley Jesse Bu German Bynaker Chelsie Chavis Dustin Costilla Daniela Davis Brandon Dove Rebecca Dozier Danielle Fleming Keenen Gribble Sarah Hargrove Corsica Jacobs Shadyrra Kaniecki Katie Kidd Brittany Leary Walter Lee Rachael Mack Danielle Marshall Dwayne Merritt Kendall Miller Christian Newton David Pagarigan Chrisielle Pagarigan Edrielle Robinson Brooke Simmont Thomas Sisler Trevor Valerio Iris Vujatovic Dragan Williams Brooke Williams Ryan Willis Tarra Wilson Marina

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