Attention 8th Graders

ACADEMY OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

“OPEN HOUSE”

THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013

FROM 5 PM - 8PM

INTERESTED 8TH GRADE STUDENTS ALONG WITH THEIR PARENTS, WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TOUR THE SCHOOL AND HERE ABOUT THE UNIQUE PROGRAMS OFFERED.

 

March Newsletter

Dear Parents,

It’s hard to believe that spring break is upon us! Believe it or not, we are already planning for next school year. This month I’d like to ask for our parents to complete an online survey. The link can be found on our website or you can request a paper copy by contacting Mr. Baumer at the school.  Your input is important to us as we continue to strive to be the best middle school! Thank you in advance for completing this important survey.

We all know that middle school students are leading digital lives. As parents, we must make sure that we are talking to our children about what they can and can’t do online. I feel strongly that we must monitor what our children are doing on the information highway. Please take a few minutes to review the following guidelines with your child in regards to internet safety:

• Spend time with your children on-line. Have them teach you about their favorite on-line destina-tions.
• Keep the computer in a common room in the house, not in your child's bedroom.
• Utilize parental controls provided by your service provider and/or blocking software.
• Use of chat rooms, in particular, should be heavily monitored.
• Always maintain access to your child's on-line account. Be up front with your child about your access and reasons why.
• Teach your child the responsible use of the resources on-line.

Ask your child to show you what’s cool. Have them show you great websites for kids and fill you in on areas that you might benefit from as well. Make "surfing the net" a family literacy experience. Use it to plan a vacation, pick out a movie, or check out other family activities. Make this one area where you get to be the student and your child gets to be the teacher. These simple guidelines will keep you in the loop of what is happening with your child online, while also providing quality time together.

Once again, thank you for your support and I hope you have a wonderful spring break!

Respectfully,
Trish Douglas

***To read more from the March Newsletter CLICK HERE. :)

February Newsletter

Dear Parents,
I can’t believe that February is already upon us! Please keep an active eye on our school calendar as we begin a very busy time of the school year.  On Tuesday, February 26 our eighth grade students will be taking the FCAT Florida Writes test.  Our students are well prepared and I am confident that they will do their very best.  Our other FCAT testing will take place from April 15-30. Our sixth and seventh grade students will be taking the FCAT reading portion of the test on the computer this year.  If you have any questions regarding the schedule or the FCAT assessment, please contact Karen Tyler at our school.

Another area of focus on our campus has been SAFETY.  We have been meeting with our administrative and district staff on a regular basis to review our safety routines and proce-dures.  Please know that while we strive to maintain a welcoming culture at IMS, we’ve also taken reasonable measures to reduce the risks of unauthorized access on our campus.  You will notice that we will have more lock down drills as we take practical steps to maintain the safest campus possible. If you have any questions or concerns regarding safety on our campus, please feel free to contact Mr. Darby or Mr. Susi.

Once again, we appreciate the continued support from home!

Respectfully,
Trish Douglas
Principal

***To read more from our February Newsletter CLICK HERE. :)

December/January Newsletter

If you haven't already seen it - CLICK HERE to view the December/January Newsletter!

We hope you all had a wonderful break, and enjoyed the holidays!

Curriculum Open House & Newsletter

There is a very important event coming up in a few days!  Please click the link below to view the brochure...

Curriculum Open House - Thursday, December 13th - 4:30 - 6:30

• View science fair projects in the media center 
• Visit our Book Fair in the media center 
• Learn about our AVID program (Advancement Via Individual Determination 
• Learn about parent access to our new web-based computer program Skyward 
• Visit your child’s classrooms
• Review Common Core Standards and graduation requirements for your child in the cafeteria at 4:45 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. (powerpoint presentation and time for questions)

We hope to see you there!

Also...CLICK HERE to view the December/January Newsletter!

Skyward Access

Team Guidance is very excited to let you all know that Skyward "Student Access" is now available, and that "Family Access" will be available in January!

Skyward Student Access is a web-based component of Skyward, our student database management system. This access will enable students to view their educational information. At this time, this is only available to our middle school students in grades 6, 7, and 8. This access is secured by a unique username and password.

 

With this system students will now have access to the following information:
Student Demographic Information—View general information and emergency contact information to make sure everything is up to date in our database records.

Student Grade Book Information—View students current grades , missing assignments, and teacher com-ments.

 

Message Center—View messages from your student’s teachers to you and the ability to reply back on a one-to -one basis.

 

Student Attendance—View every absence or tardy recorded for the student in an easy to use calendar format.

 

Student Schedules—View the student’s schedule as well as teacher and contact information for each class.

Student Health Information—View immunization records and other health related information on file about your student.

***Current grades--There are many factors that determine how soon a teacher can assess and return assignments. Essays and research papers take longer to grade than a quiz or daily work. Coaching, club sponsorships, and fami-ly commitments can also affect turnaround time, as well as a teacher's student load. We have encouraged our staff to post grades every 3 business days at the minimum for quizzes and daily work, and every 5-7 business days for research papers and projects. We urge students and parents to be patient as teachers do their best to return as-signments and post grades as promptly as their schedule allows.

Also, we are excited to announce that our Skyward Family Access will be available in January. At our Curriculum Night on December 13, Skyward Family Access will be one of our featured topics. We will demonstrate what this system has to offer and how to navigate through your child’s school information. Please mark your calendars and join us as we will share the vast capabilities of Family Access.

For now, you can use your child's login to monitor their academic progress.  In January, you will receive your own login ID and password to view more detailed information under the "Parent Access" portal. 

***Student Access:
Login ID = Student ID #
Password = 8 digit birthday (after first log in - will be prompted to change password)

November Newsletter

CLICK HERE to view the November Newsletter!