Happy Holidays! Meade Middle School is delighted to have one of our teachers recognized as West County Middle School Educator of the year.  Ms. Jennifer Shelleman, 6^th Grade Science Teacher and Team Leader, was one of four Anne Arundel County Public Schools educators to be honored by the West Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce. This prestigious award was bestowed upon Ms. Shelleman at a recent community awards dinner. As a school community we celebrate Ms. Shelleman’s accomplishment.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Shelleman’s recognition is an indication of the quality of instruction our teachers are delivering on a daily basis. This past week while walking through the building and visiting classrooms, I was pleased with the level of active teaching, relevant instruction and rigor that I witnessed.  This is evidence that our teachers are working hard through their collaborative planning sessions to develop engaging lessons aligned with the voluntary state curriculum.

 Over the next several months we will be working with our school system’s Talented and Gifted office to explore the implementation of an Advanced Scholars program for the 2008- 2009 school year. While we are currently entering the planning stages, we are optimistic that a program of this magnitude will promote an even higher level of academic performance, especially for our advanced level students.

To provide another means of engaging you as parents and stakeholders in shared responsibility for student success, our teachers have begun sending grade reports via email. In order for teachers to forward an electronic report of student progress, a consent form for each student must be completed and returned to the main office. You will find a copy of the consent form after page 10 of this newsletter.

 Kudos to Ms. Spicer-Lane, Chorus teacher, and Ms. Bethann Dixon, Band teacher, for orchestrating a wonderful Winter Chorus and Instrumental concerts on December 4 and December 12, respectively. I would also like to acknowledge the skill and performance of students who comprise of the chorus and band ensembles. Many of you as parents have made sacrifices to transport your child to early morning instrumental rehearsals and have supported the chorus. We thank you for this!

 To keep a focus on school safety and security our Crisis Intervention team has rehearsed several simulated emergency drills. The drills are consistent with Dr. Maxwell's, Superintendent of Schools, direction to schools to review on a monthly basis the Emergency Crisis Plans. Within the next couple of months, as you visit our school, you will notice that our door bell to gain access to the building will be totally different. We will have a camera and door bell unit installed that will allow our main office receptionist, Ms. Mary Stum, to identify visitors to the building from the office.

 Lastly, our next PTSA meeting will be January 8, 2008 and it will be held at Brock Bridge Elementary School. The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) will meet January 31, 2008, in our school’s Media Center. During both meetings we will take some time to share data with you that shows increases in our daily attendance this year and a decrease in discipline referrals in comparison to last school year. I wish you and your family a safe and enjoyable Holiday season.

 

 SAFE AND DRUG FREE

SCHOOL PROJECT SERVICES UPDATE

My name is Vikki Carter and I am the Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist for the Safe & Drug-Free Schools project.  I have the pleasure of serving the students, staff, and parents of Meade Middle School twice a month.  My focus is to teach substance abuse prevention classes to all of the 7^th grade students at Meade.  I began teaching these classes on October 18^th and the students were receptive to this lesson and had many questions.

Prevention is about education and parents are their children’s best teachers.  Parents can teach their children about substance abuse prevention at home by talking with their children about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.  The lesson at school focuses on understanding the process of addiction and how vulnerable the adolescent brain is to drugs.  The process of addiction happens much faster for adolescents than for adults because an adolescent’s brain is not finished developing until the age of 21.  My lesson discusses the influences of media in our society on our decision making and our choices.  Unfortunately, the messages about drugs, such as alcohol and cigarettes, are giving our children the wrong message.  As a parent, you can help your children by talking to them about social influences on their choices.  This lesson also educates students about stress, which is a normal part of life, and teaches students positive coping skills for dealing with stress.  Talk to your children about how you handle stress and let them know that they can talk to you about their problems.

These seem like simple things that parents can do and they are simple.  I am always surprised to hear some of the myths and misconceptions that adolescents have about drugs.  You won’t know what myths or misconceptions your child might have about drugs unless you talk with them and ask questions. 

I am available to talk to parents with any questions or concerns and can be contacted on my cell phone at #443-603-4841.  A helpful website to visit for information about talking to your children about drugs is www.TheAntiDrug.com.

2007 School Year Bullying Survey:  Addressing Bullying – A Barrier to Learning

Meade Middle School has a strong commitment to providing our students with a safe and caring environment in which to learn.  The Anne Arundel County Public School system has been implementing a Bullying Prevention Initiative for the past three years, to support this commitment.  This initiative focuses on teaching students skills to avoid being victimized by bullies and empowers students to take a stand against bullying in our school.

To assist schools in gathering data about bullying in each school, the county will be administering a web-based bullying survey on November 19 – December 21 to all students in grades 4 – 12. The survey will be also available on-line for parent and school staff responses.  Parents can access this survey on the Anne Arundel County Public Schools website or at http://survey.aacps.org .  The passcode for parents for this administration is pfk361.

Results from the survey will be available to the school beginning January 7, 2008.

This program is most effective when the parent community, administration, staff, and students all share the belief that kindness and respect contribute to a positive environment which results in increased academic success.  Bullying and aggressive behaviors do not have a place in our school. When we all have a common language for discussing these issues, our efforts to increase respectful behaviors and decrease incidents of bullying will have great results.

We appreciate your support and encourage your participation in the survey when it is available on-line.

 

Team 6A News

Team 6A would like to congratulate the following students for being selected as "Student of the Month"

October

 Ariel Ayala-Delgado, Michael Booth, Trishna Chowdhury, Amanda Clevinger, Yamile Guraieb, Sarah Hayes, Myesha Hicks, Neicco Howard, Monique Jackson, Franklin Mai, Stephen Martin, Giana Miles, Yoann Mouzannar, Megan Reyda, Jonathan Smith, and Valencia Tynes.

November

Jaylen Avery, Ariel Ayala-Delgado, DJ Butler, Amanda Clevinger, Langston Craft, Nicole DeVos, Akintomiwa Falodun, Yamile Guraieb, Sarah Hayes, Myesha Hicks, Neicco Howard, Monique Jackson, Hayden Johnson, Franklin Mai, Giana Miles, Devin Outten, Crystal Parks,

Rebecca Patterson, Samantha Ross, James Sherwood, Jonathan Smith, Salihah Spicer, Daniel Spruill, Valencia Tynes, Tanairi Vera-Vera, and Mark Woodard,

6B Students of the Month for October

Congratulations to the following 6B students for making “Student of the Month” for October.

Bryan Bentley, John Caldwell,   Samantha Carpenter, Thomas Crouse, Charles Deinlein,   India Eady, Karen Harris,   Mark Hicks, Duwa Jafri, Chelsea Scott,  Abubakarr Kargbo,  Byron Lee, Pierce Lee, Johanna Lozano, Kevin Mayfield, Asha Modali, Rachel Norsworthy, Victoria Ortiz,

Chad Otsuji, Nicki Parker,  Anthony Paul, Kathyana Philippe, Jada Powell, Jelani Prue, Rachel Richardson,  Chelsea Scott, Randy Sellner, Meaghan Smith, Gabrielle St. Luc, Tiffany Tindal-Pagan, and Kevin Villeneuve.

News from Team 7B

The teachers of Team 7B would like to congratulate the following students who were selected as students of the month for November:  Darius Flanders, Stephen Reading, Breonna Thomas, and Selina Williams.  Also, a big thank you goes out to the PTSA for hosting, on Dec. 14, such a wonderful appreciation breakfast for the staff.  Finally, we would like to wish students and parents a safe and peaceful winter break.  See you next year!

News from the PE Department

While the weather is starting to change and we change into autumn the Meade Middle School Physical Education Department is rewarding the encore day in each grade level that has the highest changing for physical education class an incentive. The encore day out of each grade level with the highest dressing out for physical education percentage for each unit will be reward a free day of activity at the end of each unit. Students will be able to choose from a variety of activities such as basketball, indoor soccer, ultimate ball/ultimate football, jump rope and more. 

Will your child’s encore day be reward the incentive for the highest percentage of dressing out for physical education?

Remember we offer Meade Middle School P.E. uniforms for $18.00 (black mesh shorts and a Meade Middle School T-shirt). Also available are Meade Middle School sweatshirts for $15.00. Help making dressing a success for your child.

We will keep you posted on the progress throughout the 2^nd marking period.

Here’s for Dressing for Success!

Eighth Grade News

The teachers of eighth grade would like to take this opportunity to recognize our students’ many accomplishments during the first marking period.

Students of the Marking Period

We had many students who stood out in October as positive role models for their fellow students. These Students of the Month successfully displayed the characteristics of B.A.R.K. – Being prepared and ready to learn, Acting responsibly, Respecting others and themselves, and Keeping safe by sometimes re-thinking through situations that would be wrong choices! These nominated students are: Ms. Lunney - Kristin Jones, Ms. Towne - Gladis Faiz, Ms. Pitaniello – Daniel Santiago, Ms. Sayers - Karim Dilday, Ms. Rousseaux - Adam Raymonds, Ms. Beynon  - Andrew Butler, Ms. Ruchti - Heidi Thiele, Ms Swiggett - Destiny Morning, Ms. McCallister-Kathleen McPartland, Ms. Thon - Kaan Balimitas, Mr. Sullivan - Palak Patel, Ms. Espinas- Greg Godwin, Ms. Harris-Monique Dodd, Ms. Queen - Trenell Turner, Ms. Lentz -  Guadalupe Jimenez, and Mr. Anglade - Gabriella Damewood. Congratulations to these students!

Perfect Attendance

Many of the eighth grade students achieved perfect attendance in the first marking period. The students were: Alonzo Abraham, Devante Allen, Katherine Angel, Laterria Arizola, Maritza Ayala-Delgado, Christine Baierlein, Ya-Maila Bangura, Aminata Barrie, Heather Biesel, Kurtis Boulter, Victor Bravo, Desiree Bruce, Sean Bruno, Andrew Butler, April Byers, Tolabi Campbell, Andre Cassell, Evelin Castro, Sara Constantine, Dymarus Cooper, Desirae Corry, Lukas Craig, Alyssa Cruz, Gabriella Damewood, Sarah Daniels, Aaliyah Davis, Chelsea Dennis, Justin DeSouza, Christina Diak, Monique Dodd, Kaneisha Doughty, Adam Evans, Gladis Faiz, Phebe Ferguson, Gregory Fields, Victoria Gambrah, Christopher Geraghty, Shannon Gierl, Esosa Guobadia, Briana Hamlett, Trisha Harlow, Jordan Harper, Matthew Harris, Stephen Harvey, Sarah Hunley, Lytease Industrious, Matthew Jacobsen, Ghalib Jama, Rosa Johnson, DaQuan Jones, Rayshawn Jones, Kiana Knight, Larry Lowery, Trevaughn Mahone, Davon Manigault, Caleb Martinez, Xavier McNeill, Kathleen McPartland, Shannon Meader, Stephen Metz, Gabrielle Moleski, Maxim Mouzannar, Buban Ndeta, Christopher Outland, Whitney Parham, Helen Park, Anthony Parker, Palak Patel, Imani Peterson, Malcolm Pinckney, Cyle Porter, Houman Qadir, Diamond Quigley, Adam Raymonds, Kristofer Richardson, Brady Rock, Darius Samsingh, Preston Sesay, Tiffane Smith, William Smith, Jung Hwa Song, Geogina Sorto, Mariah Stevenson, Andrew Taylor, LaVonne Tynes, Shanelle Vaughan, Coldon Viator, Marcus Wallace, Ashley Ward, Tiffany Washington, Leslie Webster, Shaquille Welch, Nina West, Imani White, Tayvon White, Blair Williams, Crystal Williams, Alexis Winchester, Eric Withers, Kenton Woodard, Antoine Wright, and Caitlyn Youse-Reese. Whew! That was a long list! What an outstanding accomplishment being here every day!

Honor Roll

Many eighth grade students earned their way onto the Principal’s and Honor Roll Lists in the first marking period. What an accomplishment to earn all A’s and/or B’s! The 8^th Grade Team is very proud of these students whose names are listed elsewhere in this newsletter.

Congratulations, Eighth Graders, for a great first marking period!!!!!!

Academic Excellence

Congratulations to the following students for achieving academic excellence and making the honor roll for the first marking period.

 

Principal's Honor Roll

6^th Grade:  Ariel Ayala-Delgado, Batu Balimtas, Frank Barreca, Derrick Butler, John Caldwell, Trishna Chowdhury, Amanda Clevinger, Akintomiwa Falodun, Sarah Hayes, Connor Jones, Sindy Lemus-Hernandez, Asha Modali, Rachel Richardson, and Daniel Spruill.

7^th Grade:  Hunter Cox, Phylesia Fralin, Karan Patel, Stephen Reading, Jennifer Wagner, and Sarah Walsh.

8^th Grade:  Devante Allen, Monique Dodd, Kathleen McPartland, Andres Perez, James Taylor III, Christian Unkenholz, Blair Williams, and Caitlin Youse-Reese.

Honor Roll

6^th Grade:  Alonzo Abraham, Jaylen Avery, Avery Baker, Delonte' Barnes, Frank Barreca III, Michael Booth, Zachary Brannan, Logan Brentzel, Daniela Burdick, Samantha Carpenter, Jessica Costlow, Thomas Crouse, Nicole De Vos, Destiny Eaddy, India Eady, Madukaife Ezimorah, Yamile Guraieb, Selena Ha, Lauren Hall, Bianca Hammond, Karen Harris, Michael Hazelton, Fareed Hester, Myesha Hicks, Samantha Higgins, Stacey Hug, Monique Jackson, Duwa-E-Zhera Jafri, Abdul Johnson, Alexis Jones, Abubakarr Kargbo, Nicole Krug, Horizon Logan, Johanna Lozano, Diana Lucas, Franklin Mai, Aaron Masters, Kevin Mayfield, Ashley McFate, Alex McIntosh, Giana Miles, Alexia Moorman, Yoann Mouzannar, William Muffley Jr., Brittany Nau, Rachel Norsworthy, Stephanie Oghomienor, Carrie Ohanyerenwa, Victoria Ortiz, Cristell Ortiz-Arreola, Niya Otis, Chad Otsuji, Devin Outten, Nicki Parker, Crystal Parks, Rebecca Patterson, Anthony Paul, Kathyana Philippe, Jada Powell, Emmanuel Pratt Jr., Megan Reyda, Paulo Roldan, Samantha Ross, Gabrielle Saint Luc, Chelsea Scott, James Sherwood, Eric Simms, Jonathan Smith, Meaghan Smith, Zachary Smith, James Talley, Tiffany Tindal-Pagan, Ngoc Chau Tran, Valencia Tynes, Kellianne Venit, Tanairi Vera-Vera, Kevin Villeneuve, Deisha Ware, Yokimah Williams, and Mark Woodard.

7^th Grade:  Adnan Ajanah, Jorge Araya-Sanabria, Jamie Au, Jessica Avila, Mekah Baker, Leah Banks, Julie Benton, Elyse Blume, Jessica Boatman, Lauren Boyd, Zsanae' Bracy, Bethany Brent, Aaron Broennimann, Georgia Bussink, Phillip Byczkowski, Miranda Carrell, Brooke Coligan, James-Warren Cooke, Addison Craig, Aliza Danzer, Leah Dorsey, Abigail Ferguson, Darius Flanders, Kevin Fonseca, Sarah Fortner, Mary Gad, Omar Garcia, Lily Gomez, Dana Grindstaff, Jacqueline Griswold, Deysha Hall, Salem Henok, Chad James, Jenny Kintaro, Ashley Laing, Anchalee Lowmack, Shaleah McQueen, Raymond Myers Jr., Mihir Patel, Travis Platt, Pricilla Polanco, Melyssa Quan, Lauren Rosenstock, William Rothrock II, Gregory Scott II, Patrick Shepard, Michael Smith Jr., Elizabeth Spearman, Kendra Spruill, Susan Tarabishi, Sumaira Tranam, Edgardo Vera-Vera, Chanel Viator, Danielle Villeneuve, Jessica Wayson, Selina Williams, and Jason Ziegler.

8^th Grade:  Alonzo Abraham, Maritza Ayala-Delgado, Darryl Bagley Jr., Christine Baierlein, Kaan Balimtas, Ya-Maila Bangura, Aminata Barrie, Brooke Blasy, Kurtis Boulter, Dikiara Brinson, Sean Bruno, Andrew Butler, Kathryn Compher, William Cooke, Gabriella Damewood, Sarah Daniels, Justin DeSouza, Dylan Devine, Shannon Gierl, Mark Groom, Morgan Hall, Briana Hamlett, Brian Hammond, Jordan Harper, Matthew Harris, Guadalupe Jimenez, Rosa Johnson, Caleb Martinez, Seth Martinez, Shannon Meader, Karen Million, Maxim Mouzannar, Helen Park, Palak Patel, Imani Peterson, Bruce Pitcher Jr., Houman Qadir, Brady Rock, Darius Samsingh, Daniel Santiago, Wesley Schmidt, Nathan Seter, Tiffane Smith, Jung Hwa Song, Georgina Sorto, Heidi Thiele, LaVonne Tynes, Shanelle Vaughan, Coldon Viator, Denzel Warren, Emily Wayson, Imani White, Taylor Williams, and Chenelle Witty.  

Homeland

Security

Signature

Announcement!

 

Next fall Meade

High School

will be launching

Anne Arundel

County’s first

Signature

Program,

Homeland

Security.

 

 

Meade’s

Homeland

Security Signature Program engages students in real world learning which will provide the necessary skills and opportunities for career development for the 21^st century.  Students who wish to be part of the first Homeland Security Signature must apply during the upcoming high school registration process.

 On January 8^th and 10^th, representatives from Meade High School will be at your child’s middle school to discuss scheduling opportunities for next year.  Information about and applications for the Homeland Security Signature program will be given out at that time. 

 A Parent Information Night will be held on January 14, from 7-9 pm, in Meade High School’s Auditorium.  All parents and students are welcome to attend.  Applications will be handed out at this time.

 Coming Soon!

Informational Kiosks will be in your school’s media center and local libraries after the holidays.  Come take a look at possibilities the Homeland Security Signature has to offer. 

  Uniform items are needed

We are in need of uniforms items such as shirts, pants, belts, etc.  All sizes needed.  Please see page seven (7) for a description of the items.  All donations are greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your generosity!    

 

 

Campbell Labels/Box Tops for Education

We are collecting Campbell Labels and General Mills “Box Tops for Education” coupons.  With your help the school can purchase educational equipment and/or items for the children.   Please have your child drop off the labels and coupons in the Campbell Soup barrel located in the Volunteer Coordinator’s office.  Mr. Bob loves to give out bulldog bucks to students for the labels and coupons. 

 Calendar of Events

Dec. 24-Jan. 1 – Winter Holiday; School Closed

Wednesday, Jan. 2 – School open for teachers and students

Jan. 7-11 – High School Assessment (HSA)

Tuesday, Jan. 8 – PTSA/Guidance Services Night,Brock Bridge Elementary, 5:30 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 14 – Meade High School, Parent Information Night – Homeland Security

    Signature Program, 7:00 –  9:00 p.m.

Wed., Jan. 16 – PTSA Fundraiser, Cantina Mamma Lucia Restaurant

Jan. 17, 18, 22, & 23 – Two- hour early dismissal forstudents

Monday, Jan. 15 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Commemoration; School Closed

Jan. 31, - CAC Meeting, 6:00 p.m.