THE HERON S CALL. A letter from the Principal. Michael S. Carson

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1 Dear Parents, I hope everyone enjoyed the time off over the Thanksgiving holiday. The Beginning Guitar Ensemble will have their Winter Concert on Monday, December 15 at 6:00pm. Come out and enjoy our wonderfully, talented students. It is that time of year again for our eighth grade students to enroll in high school. The Student Assignment open enrollment dates for Batch 1 begins January 20, 2015 and ends March 27, Eighth grade students will be receiving their enrollment packets by mail. Please make sure your address is correct and up-to-date. The upcoming winter break will begin on Friday, December 19, 2014 and students are scheduled to return on Monday, January 5, Students should take advantage of the winter break and read, read, read. I wish all our students and parents a restful winter break and a safe and healthy new year. Sincerely, Michael S. Carson Michael S. Carson Principal THE HERON S CALL Lee County School District A letter from the Principal Parent Newsletter December 8, 2014 Dates to Remember Monday, December 8 Volleyball Tournament Round 1 Tuesday, December 9 Volleyball Tournament Round 2 CROPS and Scholars Club Meeting Wednesday, December 10 Volleyball Tournament -Boys Student Council Meeting Thursday, December 11 Volleyball Tournament Girls Monday, December 15 Beginning Guitar Winter Concert 6pm Volleyball Semi-finals-Boys Tuesday, December 16 Volleyball Semi-finals-Girls CROPS and Scholars Club Meeting Wednesday, December 17 Volleyball Team Practice Student Council Meeting Thursday, December 18 Optional Volleyball Team Practice Fri., Dec. 19 Sun., Jan. 4, 2015 Winter Break Students Return Monday, January 5, 2015 Attention all Eighth Grade Students Important Open House Dates for High School Estero High School Dunbar High School South Fort Myers High School Fort Myers High School Cypress Lake High School December 9, 7pm January 16, 7pm January 12, 5:30pm January 20, 6pm January 26, 6pm

2 The Juvenile Assessment Center of Lee County Perspective One Wish Commercial advertisements bombard us this time of year telling us what we should buy, trying to convince us they have the answer to finding the perfect gift. A tradition for some parents this time of year is to ask children to make a list of the gifts they would like. What if the question was asked differently? If children could have one wish of something they would like from their parents, how would they answer? A few years ago one of the JAC s community partners asked that very question to youth in their after school program. The majority of the youth wished for things that money can t buy. Some wished that their parents would respect them more. Some wished that their parents would listen to them more. Some wanted their parents to talk to them more. Most wished that their parents would spend more quality family time together. As we approach this holiday season, The JAC Perspective reminds our readers that not all gifts we give to our children can be purchased. Spending time with youth, taking time to talk, taking time to listen, making time for family meals and other family activities, and being emotionally available to our children, are gifts we can give to our children every day. We don t have to wait for special occasions. In doing so, we may be giving our children the gift that they want and need most of all. Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) of Lee County 2107 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. Ft. Myers, FL Soccer Intramurals begin January 6, 2015 Student Council This year student council collected enough food and gift cards to supply eight families of Three Oaks Middle School students with food and trimmings for a Thanksgiving dinner. Students donated gift cards and student council members collected sweet potatoes, mashed potato mix, gravy, vegetables, and stuffing mix to round out a Thanksgiving dinner. Student council sponsors various fundraisers throughout the school year to help fund different activities and requests for the student body and teachers of Three Oaks Middle School. One of the ongoing fundraisers is the sale of cold, bottled water in the courtyard before school. Page 2 Parent Newsletter

3 Lee County School District Student Assignment 2855 Colonial Blvd. Eighth grade students, it is extremely important to have a current home address entered in our computer program by the end of December if you want to receive an application for choosing a high school to attend next year. Applications will be printed and mailed out in the middle of January. Student Assignment January 20 March 27, 2015 Parents of currently enrolled students in Lee County Public School grades five, eight, and students in Pre-K attending Lee County Public Schools who are eligible for kindergarten for 2015/16 will be mailed their child s personalized application on January 20, This is a very exciting time of year for students and parents as they plan for ! Those receiving the applications can save time by applying online! Please read the documents sent to you very carefully, and determine if you want to apply online, mail it back to the school, or bring it to one of the Student Assignment offices in person. This is a ten-week application period. There is no need to stand in long lines the first few days since you have ten weeks to submit the application. All applications are processed as a group. Parents of children who will be five on or before September 1 st, 2015 and who are not enrolled in one of the district s Pre-K programs must visit one of the Student Assignment offices to register for kindergarten for the 2015/2016 school year (bring registration requirements). This should be done during the first application period (January 20 March 27) to increase the chances of being assigned to your preferred school. Brand new students cannot apply on-line they must be registered in person. There are no automatic assignments parents need to register incoming kindergartners even if they have an older sibling already attending the preferred school. Please visit for registration requirements and all Student Assignment Office locations. Selección Escolar Enero 20 Marzo 27, 2015 Los padres de familia de estudiantes actualmente asistiendo a las Escuelas Públicas del Condado de Lee en los grados quinto, octavo, y Pre-kínder atendiendo a una de las escuelas públicas que son elegibles para Kinder recibirán en el correo una aplicación personalizada en enero 20 del Este es un tiempo muy importante del año para los estudiantes y sus padres para planear para el año Los que reciben esta aplicación pueden ahorrar tiempo aplicando por computadora. Por favor lea los documentos que le enviamos cuidadosamente y determine si usted quiere aplicar por computadora, mandar la aplicación por correo, o traerla en persona a una de nuestras oficinas. El periodo de aplicación es de diez semanas. No hay necesidad de pararse en líneas largas los primeros días de aplicación ya que usted tiene diez semanas para aplicar. Todas las aplicaciones son procesadas en grupo. Los padres de los niños que cumplirán cinco años antes o el día 1 de septiembre, 2015 y que no están matriculados en una de las escuelas del distrito en el programa de Pre-K deben visitar una de nuestras oficinas para matricular a sus niños por primera vez en kindergarten para el año escolar 2015/2016. Por favor aplique durante enero 20 y marzo 27 para aumentar los chances de ser asignado a una de las escuelas de su preferencia. Estudiantes nuevos no pueden aplicar por computadora, estudiantes nuevos deben aplicar en persona. No hay asignaciones automáticas los padres de familia necesitan matricular a todos los niños que van a entrar a kindergarten aun cuando tengan hermanos que ya están asistiendo a esa escuela. Por favor visite la página del Internet para los requisitos de matrícula y para información acerca de donde están situadas nuestras oficinas. The heron s call Page 3

4 Three Oaks Middle Reading News Three Oaks Middle School students can now improve their reading skills at home with the same great technology program we're using in school: TeenBiz3000. At school each week, this reading program sends lessons to our students. Everyone in the class gets the same basic lesson, but the content is customized to match each child's own reading level. As your child's reading level improves, TeenBiz increases the level of difficulty so they remain challenged and interested. This program delivers differentiated instruction to each student while adjusting the reading level on the first of every month as progress is demonstrated in the program. In other words, the reading never remains at the same level. It adjusts as your child improves. During the school year, a majority of Three Oaks Middle students more than doubled their expected reading growth norms as measured by lexiles. In September, when our students were retested, those huge gains held in place for our teens! It was quite remarkable and clearly demonstrates the strength of the student readers at Three Oaks Middle School. This year, we would like to offer you home support through mini-lessons in the TeenBiz program. These lessons will not be entered into any gradebook. The lessons will not earn extra credit. The sole purpose in offering these lessons is to continue to grow our success with the readers at Three Oaks Middle. These weekly Reading Coach lessons will focus on fluency, discussion and comprehension. The first lesson will be a fun read aloud. These will be engaging pieces of text meant to promote opinions and discussions. I would suggest that your child open the article and read it aloud to you. Or, you can buddy read the lesson and take turns sharing the text back and forth. When completed, just engage your child in a discussion about whether they liked the article, how they felt about the topic presented and let them summarize it for you in their discussion. The article averages 500 to 700 words which should take less than six minutes to read aloud. The discussion can be just another six minutes spent with your child sharing thoughts and opinions on the current event topic. The process of reading aloud followed by text supported discussions is critical to student growth and your weekly engagement in this exercise will make a positive impact. The second lesson would be on a computer either at home or in the library. Your child will open the article, complete the poll question, read the article while highlighting and take the activity quiz. The quiz is eight questions and can be quite intense. However, this is open book so your child is encouraged to keep checking the article in pursuit of clues to the correct answer. Encourage your child to follow these four easy steps: Step 1: Respond to the Before Reading Poll with just a one sentence opinion statement. Step 2: Read the Article. Highlight key facts. Step 3: Do the Activity Questions. Step 4: Respond to the After Reading Poll. We hope you enjoy exploring TeenBiz with your child. If you have any questions about the program, me at peggybi@leeschools.net. It is one of the strongest reading supports I have had the privilege to work with and I would be pleased to answer any of your questions. Two lessons will be sent per week. The students will find them in their TeenBiz mailbox. Mrs. B, Reading Coach

5 STEM Club On November 15, Three Oaks Middle School had eight teams compete in the first event of the STEM Tour. The event was a Solar Oven Cook Off located at the Imaginarium Museum in Fort Myers. The teams were judged on several criteria including construction of a solar oven and the food that was cooked in the two hour time limit. Thirty two middle school teams competed and Three Oaks Middle was proud to have taken first and third place. 1 st place team were the Mighty Techs: Jordan Goldey, Ginger Goldey, Gavin McDavitt, Keegan Popple and Silas Sutton 3 rd place team: The Engineering Guys: Aiden Bruni, Michael McKeever and Nathan Obrochta Congratulations to the following students who have already made over 100 points in AR and it is only half way through second quarter!!!!! Joshua Babineau Sophia Verdino Dylan Lavis Alexia Castellon Kelly Poon Ceasar Rodriguez Connie Poon Keegan Popple Andrew Beauplan Nicholas Bongiorno Zoe Ritchotte The School Board of Lee County, Florida: Cathleen O Daniel Morgan, District 3; Chairman, Steven K. Teuber, District 4; Vice Chairman, Mary Fischer, District 1; Jeanne S. Dozier, District 2; Pamela H. LaRiviere, District 5; Nancy J. Graham, Ed. D., Superintendent.