Dumbarton Middle School 300 Dumbarton Road Baltimore, MD 21212 410-887-3176 Sue Harris, Principal Liz Heil, Assistant Principal Grade 6 Cheryl Scott, Assistant Principal Grade 7 Jennifer Burch, Assistant Principal Grade 8 APRIL 2017 From the Principal’s Desk…. Three quarters of the school year has been completed and we are proud of all Dumbarton students have accomplished. Over spring break our new library, new nurse’s suite and seven new classrooms will open. We are excited about this transition and look forward to showing parents the library when you visit for our May music concerts. I also wanted to commend your children for their patience and willingness to adjust as they transitioned to the use of different hallways and bathroom locations during this renovations process. Students have been wonderful and are appreciative of the beautiful areas that are being created for their educational benefit. It is exciting to see so much construction occurring so quickly! As always, safety is our first concern and we want to remind parents that drop off or pick up students on our property that busses have the right of way. There will be times when cars will not be permitted on site as we need to make room for busses to enter and exit our bus loop safely. Feel free to coordinate pick-up and drop-off locations with your children on Dumbarton Road instead of trying to access our site during these busy times. We also ask that you reinforce that your child take the time to use their lock on their gym lockers or hall locks. Lockers that aren’t locked enable curious peers to access other’s belongings without permission. Thank you for reinforcing that locks only work when they are used effectively. PARCC testing will begin for DMS students after spring break. Our sixth and seventh graders will be testing utilizing their devices so they need to be charged well each evening. Below are tentative dates. Additional dates will be planned for extra time accommodations. Please do your best to have students present these testing days. 4/25 -4/27: Sixth Grade PARCC testing on-line with laptop computers 5/3 – 5/5: Eighth Grade PARCC testing on paper 5/8 – 5/10: Seventh Grade PARCC testing on-line with laptop computers I wish you and your family a sunny, restful spring break! Dumbarton Middle School is committed to fostering the development of every student to be global citizens and life-long learners through (P.R.I.D.E.) Perseverance, Respect, Intellectual growth, Diligence, and Empathy. “OUR PRIDE IS OUR FUTURE” School Counselor News 6th grade counselor CORNER During the month of April, sixth grade students will participate in a counseling lesson about goal setting and early college awareness. Students will identify and analyze their individual skills for success which assist them in developing a personal improvement plan. The career manual My Future, My Way will be used as an introduction to the first steps toward college and life after middle and high school. Please ask your child to show you this manual and begin a discussion about goals, jobs and future careers. I look forward to working with your child during the career exploration process. Please contact Dr. Laurent in the School Counseling Office at any time. 410-887-5654 [email protected] th From the 8 Grade Counselor The year is flying by! Students in 8th grade Language Arts classes have begun to explore their strengths by using the Family Connection website and taking the “Strengths Explorer” survey. Ms. Campbell has been visiting LA classes to work with students on this program. Students have discovered their top 3 strengths and how these can assist them in achieving their academic goals. As a parent, you can log into Family Connection to view your child’s results. Simply go to: https://connection.naviance.com/family-connection/auth/login/?hsid=dumbarton And enter your login and password. Not sure what they are? Contact Ms. Campbell in Guidance to be given access. [email protected] Dumbarton Middle School is committed to fostering the development of every student to be global citizens and life-long learners through (P.R.I.D.E.) Perseverance, Respect, Intellectual growth, Diligence, and Empathy. “OUR PRIDE IS OUR FUTURE” 7th Grade School Counseling Updates Six Year Plans Six year planning continues for grade 7! Students are being introduced to information about high school magnet programs and how to process service learning hours. For your reference please visit the following websites: 1) Service Learning Program: http://dumbartonms.bcps.org/students/service_learning http://dumbartonms.bcps.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_3702361/File/Guidance/ Independent-Project-Forms.pdf 2) Magnet Programs: http://www.bcps.org/offices/omp/ Social Media Tips from CommonSenseMedia.org: By age 13, millions of kids have created accounts on social-networking sites such as Facebook. Here are the essential safety guidelines for middle schoolers: Follow the rules. Many social sites have an age minimum of 13 for both legal and safety/privacy reasons. Encourage kids to stick with age-appropriate sites. Tell your kids to think before they post. Remind them that everything can be seen by a vast, invisible audience (otherwise known as friends-of-friends- of-friends). Each family will have different rules, but, for middle school kids, it's a good idea for parents to have access to what their kids are doing online, at least at first, to be sure that what's being posted is appropriate. Parents can help keep kids from doing something they'll regret later. Make sure kids set their privacy settings. Privacy settings aren't foolproof, but they can be helpful. Take the time to learn about default settings and how to change privacy settings on your kids' favorite sites, and teach your kids how to control their privacy. Kindness counts. Lots of sites have anonymous applications such as "bathroom walls" or "honesty boxes" that allow users to tell their friends what they think of them. Rule of thumb: If your kids wouldn't say it to someone's face, they shouldn't post it. Dumbarton Middle School is committed to fostering the development of every student to be global citizens and life-long learners through (P.R.I.D.E.) Perseverance, Respect, Intellectual growth, Diligence, and Empathy. “OUR PRIDE IS OUR FUTURE” *Family Connection (Naviance) Seventh graders are continuing to gain familiarity with the Family Connection website. Students can access this resource from home at the following URL: connection.naviance.com/dumbarton. *Students who were with us last year will use their BCPS student username and their 8 digit birthday (ex. MMDDYYYY- 09012004) as their password to log on. *Students new to BCPS will use their BCPS student username and their external password. Just Checking In It is that time of year! The fourth quarter is beginning and students will be excited for the end of the year! Please make sure to take the time to clean out those binders and file away any important or helpful papers in a safe location at home. The sixth grade students are really excited about the STEM Day at the end of the year! Looking Ahead and Striving for Success ◊ The fourth quarter is full of fun and exciting events. Students can’t wait for summer vacation, but it is important to make sure they are still focused and ready for school every day to learn and grow so they are prepared for seventh grade. ◊ Teachers still hold coach classes to help students finish the year strong, and encourage students and parents to check BCPS One daily to ensure students are not falling behind. ◊ PARCC testing will be here before we know it and we need to make sure students are charging their devices nightly and bringing them to school each day. Dumbarton Middle School is committed to fostering the development of every student to be global citizens and life-long learners through (P.R.I.D.E.) Perseverance, Respect, Intellectual growth, Diligence, and Empathy. “OUR PRIDE IS OUR FUTURE” DMS SGA Review and Upcoming Events March Review ◊The SGA has been working hard to help teachers with the upcoming move into newly renovated areas of the building over Spring Break. Their team work is amazing and the teachers really appreciated all of their help. ◊ Several 6th grade students traveled to Goucher College on March 17th to attend the BCSC Spring General Assembly Meeting. Students had the chance to engage in team building activities with other Baltimore County Student Government Associations. ◊The SGA was been planning some fun events for the 4th quarter and the end of the year. Stay tuned! April Events ◊ The SGA will have a grade level competition to help Finish Sarcoma! Students from each grade will get to make their favorite teachers into ice cream sundaes based on how much money they raise! The collection will begin after spring break and run through May 11th! ◊ Several students will take a trip to Goucher College on April 21st to attend the BCSC 2nd Spring General Assembly Meeting. ◊ The SGA is helping to plan the 8th grade end of the year dance with the PTSA. Dumbarton Middle School is committed to fostering the development of every student to be global citizens and life-long learners through (P.R.I.D.E.) Perseverance, Respect, Intellectual growth, Diligence, and Empathy. “OUR PRIDE IS OUR FUTURE” In the Middle of the Middle- 7th Grade Greetings from Dumbarton's team of grade 7 teachers! So many rigorous lessons and activities were undertaken this past month! In Families and Consumer Sciences with Mrs. Evans, students are wrapping up their child development/childcare unit, where they are learning how to become effective babysitters.