2009-2010 Daily Schedule

As many of you know, our school's start and end time have changed slightly. In an effort to keep parents up-to-date we have outlined both our normal daily schedule and our "Early Dismissal Wednesday" schedule. You can find those schedules, as well as many other resources on our school website.

2009-2010 Supply Lists & Meet Your Teacher Nights

Check out what you'll need for the upcoming schol year.
2009-2010 Supply Lists

Meet Your Teacher nights for the 2009-2010 school year, are as follows: Tracks 1, 2 and 3 - June 29th from 5:30-7:00 PM. Track 4 - July 23rd 6:00-7:00 PM

Students will receive their schedules and may visit each of their classrooms and meet their teachers. The PTA will be on site for membership and with spirit wear items to purchase, as well as the PE uniforms. Apex Transportation will have bus route information and supply lists will be available, per Track. The cafeteria manager will be taking pre-registrations for lunch accounts, too.

New Cell Phone Policy

Effective the first day of school, we will implement a stricter policy on misuse of cell phones by students. Students are required to keep their phones in their lockers during school hours. Student's whose phone is visible or being used (for any reason) will be given to the grade level administrator, promptly. The administrator will log in the phone to the Front Desk and contact the parent for pick up. No phone will be returned to a student without the parent coming to pick it up. Repeat offenders will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis by administration and COULD lose all cell phone privileges for the remainder of the school year and/or face other consequences (ISS/OSS).

Futures for Kids

Futures for Kids is a website that the Career Development in Wake County and NC use to do career exploration with students. You can learn more about Futures for Kids here at http://www.f4k.org/. Futures for Kids bridges the gap between the hopes and dreams of our students and the workforce development needs of our communities.

Another benefit of this site is that it supports North Carolina's required graduation project for all students.

F4K supports the North Carolina Graduation Project ! Click here to find out more about Futures for Kids

Salem Student Wins Art Award

Under the guidance of our very own art teacher, Nancy Icardi, one of our 7th grade students was recently recognized as the 3-D winner in the Gifts of Gold competition through Wake Ed. Partnership.

The awards ceremony will be March 3rd at 5 pm at Memorial Auditorium, we hope you'll be able to join us for this special event. Her artwork will be on display March 3rd-4th in the lobby of Memorial Auditorium as part of the 26th anniversary performance of Pieces of Gold.

The Latest Information and Forms for the year-round process

For the latest information, important dates, and forms connected to year-round schooling click here.

New Policy for Picking Students Up in the Afternoon

Effective immediately, Salem Middle will begin implementing a new policy for afternoon pick ups. Students will not be available for pick up between 2:00 and 2:15 PM, due to the frenzy of the end-of-day activities. Please plan any early dismissal arrangements accordingly. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Also, as a reminder, if your student is tracked out, they should not be on campus during the school day with the exception of band and yearbook. Students are not allowed to come and join friends during lunch. Parents, thank you for helping us to enforce this policy.

Teacher's Run to Support Autism Awareness

The Autism Ribbon Run is the signature awareness and fundraising event of the Autism Society of North Carolina. Over the past six years this event has raised over $500,000 to help provide vital services for the 30,000 North Carolina families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Autism Spectrum Disorder is the second most common developmental disability and affects 1 of every 166 children born today.


Salem's very own Erin Duffy, Jessica Grant, Sara Matherly, and Kari Balk participated in this special event on Saturday October 10th. This year's event was held in City Market in downtown Raleigh. Congratulations to all of them for their excellent running times and more importantly for supporting such a worthy cause.

Student Artists Gain Local Recognition

Five eighth grade students have been selected to have their art work auctioned at the First Annual Student Art Auction on November 12 at the North Carolina Museum of Art. They are:

One of our students earned the Auction's highest recognition, The "Best in Show" award. We are proud of all five of our artists and wish them continued success.

Each student will be presented with a $50 savings bond and our "Best in Show" receipent will also recieve an additonal $250 at an Artist Reception on November 8.

Check out some of their work:

Check out the website for more information:
http://cary.mync.com/site/cary/Community/story/10452

Additional Bus Routes For After School Activities

We wanted to make everyone aware of two additional bus routes that are available for students participating in after-school activities. These buses arrive between 4:30 - 4:45 and will pick students up in the bus loop. Please make a note of bus routes below:

Rt. 1 Bus 1046

Food Lion/HWY 55

Green Level Nursery/Green Level Church Rd

Harris Teeter/HWY 55

Turner Creek Elementary School

Lowes Food HWY 55

State Employes Credit Union

Rt . 2 Bus 991

Food Lion/Cary Parkway

Laura Duncan/Smokemont/Center Point

Salem Church/London Way

Krogers HWY 64

Swimming Pool @ Park Village Play Ground

SMS School Improvement Plan

Improvement is a continuous process used to ensure that all students are achieving at high levels. All schools can create better environments so that more students are successful. Continuous improvement of schools is essential to providing increased student performance and quality results.


Innovative, exemplary, and research-based programs, coupled with professional development, focused and aligned resources, and public participation in planning, are critical factors in schools that demonstrate continuous growth. You can view Salem's School Improvement Plan by clicking here.

NJROTC (National Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps)

Hello. My name is Mark Moldovan and I am a 6th grade teacher here at Salem Middle School. I am pleased to announce that I am the coordinator between the Cary High School NJROTC and our NJROTC Club. I am looking forward to working with all the cadets from Cary High as well as the NJROTC Club students here at Salem.



What is NJROTC?

The Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps curriculum emphasizes citizenship and leadership development through history, drill, color guard and rifle team. The club is open to all 6th, 7th & 8th graders.

When Will We Meet?

The NJROTC Club will meet approximately twice a month on Wednesday in a designated spot. (Please check daily announcements for location) The meetings will be held from 2:20pm to 3:45. Since the club occurs after school, the student will need to be picked up at the front of the school. Please be mindful that I cannot leave the school until all students have been picked up by a parent/guardian. If timely pick up becomes a problem, the student will no longer be allowed to participate in the club.

The dates for the meetings are listed below:

August 27, 2008
Sept 3 2008
Sept 17, 2008
October 1, 2008
October 15, 2008November 12, 2008
November 19, 2008
December 3, 2006
December 17, 2008
January 7, 2009
January 21, 2009
February 11, 2009
February 25, 2009
March 11, 2009
March 25, 2009
April 8, 2009
April 15, 2009
May 13, 2009
May 27, 2009
June 10, 2009

This schedule may change during the year. If any changes should occur, they will be on the announced during school. The Color Guard Uniform consists of black pants and a white collared shirt or black pants. Each person is required to buy a green Cary High JROTC T-shirt ($10.00) to achieve uniformity.

I am excited about this NJROTC Club and working with your child. Information about the JROTC Club is also on my Blackboard site. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 363-1870 (Salem Middle) or email at mmoldovan@wcpss.net.

School Pictures Made Easier

Enhance your Schools Communications Plan with Lifetouch

During the past 3-4 months Lifetouch has been working with a web programmer to establish a system that will provide students and parents with picture day information and printable order forms for pictures from our school website.

The link below will constantly be updated as new information and new picture dates are scheduled for your school. When you click on this link, picture dates and flyers for the year with packages and pricing will be visible. They then have the option of printing an order form to bring to the photographer on picture day. (Note: Only prepay programs will have flyers listed).

Click here for the latest school picture information.

A New Way to do Research

Destiny Library Software is here! We are excited to start the school year with a cool, new Internet-based system which will allow students and teachers to search the media center catalog from home via http://destiny.wcpss.net/.

Not only does Destiny search for books, it searches for websites which are recommended and updated on a regular basis. When you get a chance, log-on to Destiny and give it a try.

Good News- VoCATS Testing Results

Congratulations are in order for Mr. Fisher, Mrs. Thomson, Mrs. Smith, and their students.

Salem Middle School did extremely well on last year's VoCATS testing.

In fact, Salem had the highest scores in the county.

Way to go Salem....Spartans Lead the Way!

Student Services

WELCOME TO SALEM MIDDLE SCHOOL

Staff:

Brenda LaCorte Guidance Technician 367-2460

TRACK 1: Kerri Bridges 367-2469
kbridges@wcpss.net

TRACK 2: Katherine Blanton 290-2064

kblanton@wcpss.net

TRACK 3: Barbara VanOostrum 367-2462
bvanoostrum@wcpss.net

TRACK 4: Jerry Decker 367-2463
jdecker@wcpss.net


School Counseling Program Mission Statement:

The mission of the Salem Middle School Counseling department is to deliver a comprehensive program targeting the academic, career, and personal/social development of all students, to help remove barriers to student learning, and to provide opportunities and resources that will empower students to become, life-long learners, productive individuals, and responsible citizens.

We are here to assist you and your student, please contact the grade counselor with concerns, questions, or just to talk! We do ask please, that you call and make an appointment to see us. We often are in classrooms with students, meetings, professional development, and working with students and cannot meet on a drop in basis. If you do need emergency assistance, please contact Mrs. LaCorte and she can find one of us for you. We look forward to helping your student be successful her at SMS!!

Helpful Links

http://www.schoolcounselor.org/

Understand the role of the School Counselor- also contains great parent articles

http://www.cfnc.org/

College Foundation of North Carolina

http://www.dougy.org/

Dougy CenterNational Center for Grieving Children & Families website with great information

Study Skills:
http://www.how-to-study.com/
http://www.infoplease.com/homework/studyskills1.html
http://testtakingtip.com/study/index.htm
http://hoetodothings.com/education/a
http://middleschoolguide.com/

Parenting:
http://parenting.ivillage.com/
http://www.familyeducation.com/home

Academically Gifted Program

PAGE

PAGE of Wake County (Partners for the Advancement of Gifted Education) is pleased to announce two upcoming events.

We will hold a Parent & Educator session on double-identified children on March 25, 2009. Dr. Michelle Brownstein will provide a brief overview of the general characteristics of the gifted and disabled child, as well as what they need to be successful. There will be a Q&A session at the end.

Our semi-annual event for children, Super Saturday, is scheduled for April 18, 2009. This event will offer some of the same popular classes, as well as a number of new classes for K-8 students, allowing children to explore a subject with their peers in a fun and engaging environment.

Additionally, we have two exciting speakers for our Parent & Educator sessions that run concurrent to the children’s classes. We are pleased to have NC legislator Representative Rick Glazier in the morning session. In the afternoon we are thrilled to have Sonia Dupree, WCPSS Curriculum Instruction's High School Senior Math Administrator, speak on Acceleration Options in Middle and High School Math. You can learn about them at http://www.pagepage.org/.

Young Writers, Take Note!

North Carolina State University is offering two summer writing workshops to help young people develop their creative writing talents. Each is a two-week non-residential camp with afternoon sessions from 1:30-4 p.m. Cost for each is $200.
For kids who will enter grades 4-8 next year, information about the 25th Annual Young Writers Workshop, June 15-June 26, may be found at http://english.chass.ncsu.edu/youngwriters/youngwriters.html .
The 3rd Annual Teen Writers Workshop for students entering grades 9-12 is scheduled for July 13-July 24. To learn more, visit http://english.chass.ncsu.edu/youngwriters/teenwriters.html

LOOKING AHEAD

Next summer seems a long way off, but it never hurts to look ahead. For those students who want to exercise their minds during summer trackouts, NC State University offers several week-long summer camps.

Environmental Science Camp: Lytle bio@ncsu.edu
Young Writer’s Workshop: dahooker@unity.ncsu.edu
Math and science: www.engr.ncsu.edu/summerprograms

Clemson University also offers a summer enrichment program for gifted middle and high school students. Find out more at www.clemson.edu/summer.

Healthful Living & Physical Education

Today, health status is determined more by one's personal behaviors rather than advances in medical technology, availability of health services, or other factors; and research demonstrates that education in schools can influence the health-related behaviors of students.

Healthful Living is a combination of health education and physical education. The two courses complement each other and the coaches a Salem Middle School strive to provide a sequential educational program, which involves learning a variety of skills that enhance a person's quality of life.

It is expected that all students and parents read and sign The Salem Middle School Health and Physical Education Policies and Expectations form. This form can be viewed and printed by clicking the link. After reviewing and signing please return to your son/daughter's P.E. Coach.

In keeping with Salem Middle Schools "Zero Tolerance for Zeros" policy we require that all students dress out and participate in all activities. In the event that a student does not dress out and/or participate they are expected to complete an alternative assignment. Details of this assignment can be found here. Should you have any questions don't hesitiate to contact one of the coaches.

Meet Our Coaches:

Dispelling Common Myths about Online Safety

One of the major concerns that parents of middle schoolers have is, "How safe is my child online?" We often don't know enough about what our kids are doing on the Internet to make good judgments about which digital activities to allow and which to ban!

What's worse is that we're constantly surrounded by stories of children that are harmed by predators that seek them out online. Our first reaction is to unplug our children, taking away access to tools that they've grown to see as a vital part of their lives.

While even one incident of a child being victimized by online behaviors is too many, new research is beginning to show that our kids are safer---and far more savvy---than we could have ever imagined!

Interested in learning more?

Then check out this blog post , which includes an embedded video presentation created by eSchool News that spotlights several Internet Safety experts detailing the real risks faced by students online. Throughout the video, you'll learn the kinds of specific behaviors that put children in danger---and the kinds of students that are most likely to end up in trouble.

You'll also be interested in this Internet Fact Sheet , created by the Crimes Against Children Research Center, detailing the kinds of language that parents and teachers should use with students when talking about online behaviors.

Finally, you'll be interested in this PBS Special titled Growing Up Online , which was designed to look inside the mind of today's teen in an effort to understand exactly what kinds of effects technology is having on our kids.

Working together, the parents and teachers of the Salem Middle School community can prepare our students to protect themselves while taking advantage of the potential of digital tools to transform teaching and learning!

Athletic Participation Form

Wake County Middle School require that all athletes participating in school sports must have an athletic participation form on file before practicing or playing in a game. You can print the athletic participation form from here, fill it out, and return it to Coach Daniels.

Request for Educationally Excused Absence(s)

At Salem we recognize the importance of educational opportunities that exist outside of the classroom. One example, which occurs every school year, is the "Take Your Child to Work Day".

We know that these experiences are valuable to our students and want to support these efforts. The following form must be filled out and approved my the principal prior to the educational experience. Please print the Request for Educationally Excused Absence form, fill it out, and return it to the school.

SMS Bus Route Locations

Here are the bus route locations for Salem Middle School for the 2008-2009 school year.

Spartan of the Month

Our “Spartan of the Month” program honors one (or more) staff members each month for an extraordinary job well done. This recognition would not be possible without the help of our community. Salem Middle School would like to recognize the following sponsors for their generous donations.


Conratulations to Gene Daniels on being the January Spartan of the Month. Coach Daniel's does so much for our school and we congratulate him on this honor.

Please join us in thanking these establishments upon your visit. We couldn't do it without them! Click on their logo to view their website, menu, and more!

Salem Middle School Philosophy on School Work

Salem Middle School Philosophy:

At Salem Middle School, we believe that all children can succeed. To ensure that every student in our school achieves this standard, we commit to the following principles:

~All students will complete every assignment. We have “Zero Tolerance for Missing Work.”

~All students will be held accountable for assignments in accordance with the pyramid of interventions: (* As always, extenuating circumstances will be considered throughout the process of intervention.)

In an effort to clarify what WE will do to ensure student success we have created a pyramid of interventions, which will serve as a guide for staff, students, and parents.

Student Council ~ A.K.A ~ STUCO

Salem Middle's STUCO is looking forward to another year of fun, festivities, and service. The council consists of representatives from each homeroom at every grade level that are elected at the beginning of the school year. From the pool of representatives, the council elects its president, vice president, and a secretary. Students that want to become involved in STUCO must be elected by their homeroom class.

STUCO stays busy all year with its various projects. We are responsible for dances in the fall and spring. Our fall dance is paired up with a fall festival. Past year's festival was such a success; we were able to purchase Sammy, our school mascot. We also take on service projects to help the community. In the past, we have done flood buckets for hurricane victims, canned food drives for the Food Bank of North Carolina , care packages for residents of a local nursing home, pillowcases of goodies for patients at North Carolina Children's Hospital, Pennies for Patients fundraiser and providing dinners to needy families at Christmas. We have the honor of raising and lowering the school flag every day; we establish a schedule for representatives to serve flag duty for a week at a time.

STUCO is looking for leaders who are interested in getting involved, making decisions, and serving those in need. We meet on Thursdays in about every two weeks depending on our current projects. Students that are tracked-out are not required to attend meetings but are always welcome if they are available! STUCO is sponsored by Ms. Taylor and Mrs. Russell.

Newbery Book Club

Salem's Newbery Club meets on Tuesdays after school to read and discuss young adolescent books published in 2008. Then, in January 2009, we choose the book that our club honors as “most distinguished” for the year. Each member is required to read at least two books per month, but encouraged to read as many as possible so that we each have a chance to discuss and vote for our favorites. Students may apply for to the Newbery Club in February of each year for membership that begins in March. We have space for 30 members, so students are asked to seriously consider the responsibility of the reading requirements when they apply. Happy reading! If you have any questions about Newberry Book Club please contact Teresa Brantley or Debbie Dupree in the Media Center.

Guys Read

SMS Guys Read Club's challenge is to promote reading across the world. There is one simple rule for students who want to be members, you must be a guy. SMS Guys Read meets weekly on Tuesdays with Mr. Hutchinson to discuss books, reading, promote literacy and blog all of our ideas. Come check out what we do at http://guysread.typepad.com/guys_read/ . So if you are a middle school guy interested in reading, writing, technology and general guy silliness meet us on Tuesdays when Track 4 is tracked in. Any questions can be sent to Mr. Hutchinson ( jhutchinson@wcpss.net )

Salem Online Newspaper Club

The Salem Newspaper club gives students an opportunity to express themselves, while also keeping students up-to-date on the latest news and events at Salem.

Editions of the newspaper can be found online where readers can peruse a variety of articles, surveys, quizzes, peoms, editorials, etc. Students meet to discuss and write their story ideas.

Students from all grade levels and tracks may participate. The meeting location is 101C, next to the media center. We typically meet every other Wednesday, but students need to check the video announcements for changes/updates.

For more information, contact Mrs. Coulter at scoulter@wcpss.net

Salem Middle School in the News

Over the past decade, a movement has begun in the United States to restructure schools as professional learning communities. Professional learning communities are buildings where faculty members work together in collabortive teams to identify and amplify instructional practices that work. Professional learning communities are committed to ensuring the success of every learner by carefully reflecting on student learning data and providing structured interventions for struggling learners.

While professional learning communities are a constant work in progress, Salem Middle School has had remarkable results in the first five years of our existence. Our school has consistently out-performed middle schools with similar student populations--both within Wake County and across North Carolina. We have been recognized as one of our state's top performing middle schools and as one of Governor Easley's 10 Real D.E.A.L. schools.

We attribute much of this success to our focus on functioning as a professional learning community.

Recently, Salem was added to the All Things PLC website as a Professional Learning Community to Watch. Being recognized by All Things PLC is a remarkable honor because it is a warehouse of excellent practices maintained by learning community expert Rick DuFour and his company, Solution Tree. Their confirmation of our accomplishments should be a source of great pride and validation for the students, parents, teachers and administrators of Salem Middle School!

You can see the Salem Middle School write up on the All Things PLC website by visiting this weblink.

We look forward to working together with you in the next few years in our efforts to ensure high student achievement and to value the unique needs of every learner. That's a mission we can all get behind!

New Lunch Money Payment Option

This year, parents will have a new payment option that will, hopefully, make forgetting to pay for their child’s lunches throughout the school year a thing of the past.
Starting July 7, parents will have the option of signing up with a new service called MyLunchMoney. The service is easy to use and allows parents to deposit funds into their child’s lunch account anytime they want from their home computer, phone or fax.

To get started, parents must enroll at http://www.mylunchmoney.com/ or they can call 1-800-479-3531. Parents will need their child's ID or NCWISE number to enroll. This number can be found on their child's report card or schedule. Parents can set their accounts to be used for “meals only” or to include snacks and a la carte items.

All information entered in MyLunchMoney is safe and stays at the child’s school. All personal and payment card information is protected by advanced Internet security.

Parents who choose not to enroll in MyLunchMoney will still have the option of paying for their child’s meals on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and may pay with cash or check. When sending money to the school, parents should indicate on the check or envelope that the funds should be used for “meals only” which includes breakfast and lunch, “lunch only” or “open” which includes meals, as well as snacks and a la carte items.

Meal prices this year remain unchanged from 2005-06.

Salem Middle School Program Planning

The middle school program provides students with opportunities to question and explore, to achieve and succeed, to belong and participate, and to think and create.

Middle schools are organized into interdisciplinary teacher teams in which two to five teachers assume joint responsibility for the instructional program of a given group of students. This organization offers advantages for students, teachers, and parents.

Please take a second to view our Program Planning Guide at Salem.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/892531/Salem-Program-Planning-Guide

Video Announcements

Video announcements are used for notifying our students of current news and all dropped off items. When a parent brings in an item, the student's name is placed on the video announcements. The announcements run throughout the day on our TVs located in each room. It is the student's responsibility to check these announcements and report to the front office. We pride ourselves on keeping the educational time protected and our video announcements eliminate the unnecessary calls into the classroom. It is our policy to ONLY call the classroom for medical and dismissal issues. Any exception to this policy requires a Principal's approval. Thank you for your support.

Visitor Sign-In

Sale Middle School now has a LobbyGuard for visitor sign-in. This is an electronic, self-serve, visitor management system. The LobbyGuard not only provides a personalized photo visitor badge but it also performs an instant background check. It takes a few moments to sign in and will ask for your driver's license. Please be sure to plan accordingly on your next visit to Salem!