Adjusted MCAS Dates for NMS Spring ELA Tests

Adjusted ELA MCAS Schedule

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has allowed schools to adjust their testing calendar with all of the Snow Days, which affected instruction.

On the calendar (to the right and below) the dates have been adjusted, but I also want to highlight for parents the new dates.

Grade 6 and 8 Reading Comprehension Test Sessions – Wednesday, March 25 & Thursday, March 26

Grade 7 Long Composition on Thursday, April 2

Grade 7 Reading Comprehension Test Sessions – Tuesday, April 7 & Wednesday, April 8

Grade 7 Long Composition Make-Up Day on Wednesday, April 8

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me:  mgeoghegan@middleboro.k12.ma.us

Much more information to come about these very important days and tests, but please mark your calendar with these dates.

Thank you.

Lots of Fun Being Had at the NMS Winter Carnival

Winter Carnival Fun

Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade Students shared some fun at the Winter Carnival on Friday, February 27, after-school.

Whether students were playing Dodgeball in the Gym ...

Or playing "Minute to Win It" games in the cafe ...

Or making 3D Snowflakes in the hall ...

Or trying to win the Cake Walk with their friends ...

Or performing a play with the Burt Wood Theater ...

Or getting a photo in the Photo Booth ...

Much fun was being had.

Thank you so much ...
                                     to the PTA for hosting;
                                     to the NMS faculty and staff for helping;
                                     to Mr. Rothemich and Ms. LaPerriere &
                                            the NMS StuCo for helping to 
                                            to organize;
                                     and to all or our NMS parents & 
                                            community members who made this
                                            event possible.

Registering for NMS Spring Baseball/Softball Directions

Registering for Spring Baseball/Softball

I know you won't believe this, but Spring Sports are actually right around the corner.  For NMS, we have two sports available to all students here at Nichols.  There is a Boys Baseball team and a Girls Softball team.

With almost 900 students in the school, tryouts are sometimes an interesting sight to behold, but we do hold open tryouts for all three grades to be on the two teams.

Dates and times of Tryouts will be announced, put in the Calendar below and to the side, as well as put in Twitter account (also on the right-hand side of this blog).

All of our sports go through our District Athletic Director, Mr. Michael Perry.  His contact information is:  508-946-2010 x3116; mperry@middleboro.k12.ma.us 

As all high students have to do in the district, we too have to enter all information online if interested in participating in sports.

I have posted the information below with some helpful hints and direct links to guide you through this "paperwork" portion of the registration.  If you are going to follow my directions, then you can read through and just click on:  https://www.familyid.com/middleboro-athletics and Follow the Directions from Step 3 below.

Please remember that filling out the paperwork is a "have to do" but you DO NOT have to pay the fee until you have confirmation as to whether your child has MADE the team.

Again, if you have any questions, please contact Mr. Perry for I know he will most certainly help you out.

Thanks.

SPRING ATHLETES

Prior to trying out, all SPRING athletes must complete the following:

1. Physicals must be returned to the school nurse
2. Parents must fill out the paperwork on line using the following directions
1. Go onto the Middleboro Public Schools website http://www.middleboro.k12.ma.us/

                                                           

2. Click on Athletics Department (top choice) on the left hand side   http://www.middleboro.k12.ma.us/Page/1060

3. Click on Family ID Athletics Registration (fourth choice down) on the left hand side   http://www.middleboro.k12.ma.us/Page/2188

                                                            

3. Scroll to the following: “REGISTRATION BY A PARENT OR GUARDIAN CAN BE COMPLETED BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK: https://www.familyid.com/middleboro-athletics” (Third Heading on the main part of the page.)

a.      Once on the FamilyID site click on sign up in the upper right hand corner

b.      Click on sign-up as a family or individual on the right hand side

c.       You will be asked for your family’s last name, e-mail, and password

d.      Once you complete this, FAMILYID will send you a confirmation e-mail
e.      Sign in https://www.familyid.com/sign_up to FamilyID using your created LOGIN then complete the paperwork and save (you will need Doctor’s info, insurance info, etc.) or SIGN UP as a Family or Individual.

f.        Register under Middleboro Athletics- 2014-15 Spring Sports

g.      You will receive a confirmation email once everything is completed. Make sure to submit as the final step.

4. User fee is due by March 30, 2015. User fee must be paid online

1. Return to the Middleboro Athletic Website
2. Click on UniBank User Fees in the left hand column
3. Click on MHS athletics User Fees Pay Portal
4. Under Winter Athletics choose your son/daughters sport (Nichols or MHS)
5. Complete payment form using Mastercard or Discover ($5 fee) or an automatic withdrawal from your checking account (.20 cents)
6. You should receive an email confirmation when completed.

Our next meeting of our NMS School Council is Wed 2/25 at 3 in NMS Media Center

NMS School Council Meeting on Wed, Feb. 25 at 3 PM in Media Center

2014-2015 John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School Council

Are you interested in getting involved with your child’s education in another way besides PTA or fundraising?  Would you like to be more involved in the academic aspects and decision making of your child's education here at Nichols?  If you are, then seriously consider whether you would be interested in joining the Nichols Middle School Council (also called a School Improvement Council).  By law, every school in the country has to have a School Council.  

The law outlines four major areas of responsibility for councils.  School councils are to assist principals in:  

1. Adopting educational goals for the school that are consistent with local educational policies and statewide student performance standards; 
2. Identifying the educational needs of students attending the school; 
3. Reviewing the annual school building budget; and 
4. Formulating a school improvement plan.

We meet once a month on the 3^rd Wednesday of each month, except where specified below – with our next meeting on Wednesday, February 25, for about an hour, beginning at 3:00 PM and ending around 4 PM, to discuss such items as our School Improvement Plan, parent involvement, how we are working with MCAS data, what we are doing to improve teaching and learning, different curricular ideas, courses, etc.  In all, the group is not like the “PTA”; it is more a group of people who are looking into school improvement and how we can get the improvement we are looking for.

The group is made up of parents, teachers, and at least one community member.  If you are interested or would just like to come and check it out, please come to the next meeting, Wednesday, February 25, at 3 PM, in the Media Center at NMS or email me at mgeoghegan@middleboro.k12.ma.us. If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thank you.

2014 – 2015 NMS School Council Meetings

**February 25, 2015

March 18, 2015

April 15, 2015

May 21, 2015

June 17,2015

** All dates are the 3^rd Wednesday of each month – except where specified

NMS Winter Carnival -- This Friday, 2/27 -- Tix Sold All Week at Lunches

NMS Winter Carnival is ON for Friday, February 27

Nichols Middle School 2015 

Winter Carnival

Friday,  February 27, 2015

2:30-5 PM at Nichols Middle School

Tickets $5 per person

Hang Out with Your Friends!

Elsa and Anna from Frozen, 3D Snowflakes with Ms. Tucker, Volleyball, Make a Commercial with Burt Wood Theatre, DJ (Ben Sangiolo), Dancing, Photo Booth*, “Minute to Win It” challenges, Refreshments* and MORE cool activities!!!

*Denotes an additional charge

Permission Forms will be available in the Main Office and handed out during lunches.  They will need to be returned to Student Council members at lunch along with your $5.  We will also accept at the start of the Carnival on the 27th. 

Sponsored by the Nichols Middle School PTA

Boston Globe Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Announced

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards!

The Scholastic Art and Writing Alliance/Boston Globe has a legacy dating back to 1923 and is the longest running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in our nation.

The Alliance partners with more than 100 visual and literacy-arts programs nationwide to bring the Awards to local communities each year. Students in grades 7-12 can apply in 28 categories of art and writing for the chance to have their works published or exhibited.  The Awards are the nation’s largest source of scholarships for young artists and writers. In just the last six years, more than 60 top arts institutes and colleges have partnered with the Awards to make $40 million in scholarships and financial aid available to Scholastic Award winners. The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in conjunction with the Boston Globe, is the Regional Affiliate for the State of Massachusetts.

Submissions are juried by a panel of noteworthy professionals, some of whom are past award recipients. The judges look for works that “best exemplify originality, technical skill and the emergence of personal voice or vision.”

Congratulations to all our students for receiving Awards of Recognition for their entries!

The Scholastic Art Entries of these Young Artists will be on a special display at the annual Celebration of the Arts Show this coming May!

Pictured in photo from left to right (back row):

Dakota Silvia, Garrett Donohoe, Jacob Studley,Katelyn Harrington, Kassidy Cragin

(front row):Arianna Dones, Erica Correia, Hannah Melendy, Zoey Ricco, Cassidy Cave, Maggie Smith

(missing from photo): Shauna Sigren, Samantha Brownell

* Very special thank you to Ms. Jeriann Tucker for all of her work and guidance with our Art students as well as putting together this post.

#EdTech is Engaged at @JTNicholsMS

BYOD, WiFi, GAFE, and Other Great #EdTech (Educational Technology) Advances at the @JTNicholsMS

I don't know if everyone in the Nichols Community knows, but the John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School has become a BYOD school.

Some might not understand what exactly that means, but BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device.  In the last month or so, the MPS Technology Department has worked with us at the Nichols to pilot a BYOD environment for our students and faculty to take advantage of.

 

In order to make this happen, the WiFi had to be made available to all.  The WiFi is now open to all students throughout the building.  Students can bring in any device and log on to our Student WiFi log-in.  Students have been bringing in tablets, laptops, iPads, iPods, smart phones, and other devices to use.  One can see our teachers and staff utilizing this ability to have our students engage with their teachers, their fellow students, and the world.

We, again, are in our second year of using Digits, a completely digital, online math program.  This year sees us having a set of tablets for all students to use in every single one of their math classes.  Students use the tablets to practice their work or follow along as their teacher instructs on a lesson.

My favorite part of utilizing Digits, though, is still how one can see students in their math classes with the tablet open and then next to it will be "low tech" tools of paper, pencil, and notes.

We also became a true Google school just a couple of months ago, and with it, teachers and students have been starting to use the Google Applications for Education (GAFE) of Google Drive and Google Docs to work and share with their fellow classmates and their teachers.

We have been able to purchase one set of tablets for each grade level to again support our students in the ways they can learn.  Just another way to help us get as close as we can to a 1-on-1 environment for edtech to be available to all of our students.

In walking around the building these past couple of weeks, I have been able to see these advancements working to all of our advantages:

Students are doing research.

Students helping, supporting, and teaching each other.

Students who might not have access to devices at home can then utilize these devices in their DIAL classes.

Students continue to use the advantages of Digits online when they need some support or need to practice more problems in a certain area.

Students are engaged with the means to take notes or write papers from their own desks with their own devices.

Students are working collaboratively with each other in class.

Students are writing and sharing their work through Google Drive and Docs with their classmates and with their teachers.

Students and teachers are being given the tools they need in order to achieve more academic success.

My other favorite part of our 21st Century Teaching and Learning and how are teachers are not only figuratively working as the "guide on the side" instead of the "sage on stage."

All of this is putting the students at the center of their own learning.  This is what we continue to work towards as a school.  

We know that if we do this everything will improve, especially student achievement, which is exactly why we are doing what we are doing.