DCMS Antlers are S.H.A.R.P.
S.afe H.elpful A.spiring R.esponsible P.ositive
March 9-23
Spring Break March 14-March 23
MMN
If you are not familiar with Deer Creek Middle School or Monday Morning News, this is a newsletter that provides information to parents about what is taking place at the Middle School. It is a great communication tool for us and a great way for you to know how you can be involved in your child’s school. Attachments are noted with quotations Example: “name of attachment”. This will be sent out in email every Monday. If you know of someone who is not receiving the newsletter, please have them contact the office to get signed up.
PIZZA DAY - MARCH 13th
PSG 2018 will be hosting a Pizza Day on Thursday, March 13th. Please fill out the attached order form “pizza dcms” and return to the office with payment no later than Wednesday, March 12th. Please send EXACT cash or checks payable to PSG 2018. Students will also have an extended lunch that day. 8th Grade will eat from 10:00-11:00 and 7th Grade will eat from 11:00-12:00.
PSG 2019 CANDY GRAMS
PSG 2019 will be selling candy grams for 1 dollar during lunch tomorrow. Candy grams will be delivered on Thursday.
2014-2015 PTO
If you are interested in serving as a PTO Officer next year at DCMS, please reply to this email by Friday, March 14th. We have 4 elected officer positions. The officer positions include President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary. All four of the current officers will be running again next year. If you would also like to run for one of these four positions, please let me know which one you are interested in. We also have many non-elected positions that you could participate in if you do not want to run for an elected position. We always welcome parent involvement at DCMS and would love to find a place for you in the PTO.
DCMS SPECIAL OLYMPICS T-SHIRTS FOR SALE
Take a look at the attached shirt “DCMS Special Olympics 2013 copy”. This is a great looking shirt that anyone can order to support our Special Olympics program. Help send our students to Special Olympic's in Stillwater!
T-shirts are $15.00 and can be purchased in the office or in Mrs. Baileys classroom.
BASEBALL FUNDRAISER
Attached “Fundraiser 2014” is the flyer regarding the restaurant give back night to support DCMS baseball. It is scheduled for this Thursday at Ghengis Grill. Just mention the fundraiser to your server.
CAREER DAY TECHNOLOGY TALKS
The Technology classes are inviting you to speak to our classes in April for career talks about technology in the Workplace. The goal is to discuss how technology is used in the everyday workplace to show how important what they are learning is. If you use any form of technology, please come and share with our technology students. Since we cover all forms of technology, it could really be about most anything. Sign up here! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0448A9A92C7-computers. Email Jamie Brehm @ brehmj@deercreek.k12.ok.us with questions.
CONGRATULATIONS BAND
The 7th Grade Band made an "Excellent" rating on their stage performance and a "Superior" on their sight-reading.
The 8th Grade Band also made an "Excellent" rating on their stage performance and a "Superior" on their sight-reading.
For sight-reading, kids get a piece of music they've never played before. They get to look at it (no playing allowed) for 8 minutes and then have to perform it! Both bands got really great complimentary comments from the judges.
CONGRATULATIONS BASKETBALL
7th Grade Boys, 7th Grade Girls and 8th Grade Girls all won the conference championship in basketball this year. The 8th Grade Girls are Back to Back Champions!
CONGRATULATIONS WRESTLING
Wrestling won the conference championship for the second straight year. That should be good for the report. Thanks again for representing us.
CONGRATULATIONS CHOIR
We had 3 students sing solos at district competition and receive Excellent ratings.
DCMS AWARDS NIGHT-SAVE THE DATE
The DCMS Foundation Academic Awards will take place on Monday, May 5th at the PAAC building. We will send invitations in April if your child will be receiving an award.
ATHLETIC PHYSICALS
We will have the district physical night on May 12th at the PAAC building. This would be for anyone playing sports next year. We will have more information as it approaches.
8th GRADE BRIDGING CEREMONY-SAVE THE DATE
The 8th Grade Bridging Ceremony will take place on Tuesday, May 20th at the PAAC building. This will be for all 8th graders and their families. Please save the date.
TESTING MONITORS-HELP NEEDED-See attached full schedule “2014 DCMS Testing Calendar”
With testing coming up, we will be in need of parent volunteers to help monitor students as they test. With so many test sessions, it is impossible to cover this with our MS staff alone. If you are available on any of these dates for either a half day or full day, please let me know. We could really use your help. Monitoring is very easy. Monitors simply watch students take the test to make sure that a good testing atmosphere is maintained, and each room will also have a teacher to help as well. Please reply to this email if you are available to help.
February 28th am only
April 10th
April 15th
DC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
In October 2013, Amazon launched a new fundraising opportunity for non-profits and charitable organizations. The program is called Amazon Smile. Here’s how it works. When someone purchases items from Amazon at checkout they have an opportunity to designate a non-profit of their choice for the receipt of donations from eligible items. Once they search for the group they want to support that group becomes their default organization for any future purchases/donations. The Deer Creek Schools Foundation (listed as the Deer Creek Community Enrichment Foundation on the site) will receive .05% of every eligible purchase. As an example, the purchase of $600 worth of eligible items would result in a $30 donation directly to the Foundation. Since we spend on average $15.00 per student per grant cycle that contribution essentially would help pay for 2 students funding and it would help us increase our endowment for future generations.
PTO MEETING
Our next PTO meeting is scheduled for April 8th at 9:00 am in the Office. We hope you can join us.
DRAMA BANQUET
The drama awards banquet is May 9th. Save the date, and plan on some good food, entertainment and more information to come soon. If you have questions contact Mellissa Bokesch mbokesch@yahoo.com.
GRADE LEVEL INCENTIVES
Students and Parents, We want to let you know that we will be having grade level incentives to reward those students throughout the year who make good choices in school. Below is some information about the upcoming incentives for each grade. The criteria to attend the incentives is also attached “Grade Level Incentive Requirements” and includes…
Ø No more than 3 marks
Ø No “ISS” or “OSS”
Ø No more than 4 Tardies
Ø No D’s or F’s
Both the 7th and 8th grades next incentive day will be on March 13th. The cut off day for the incentive eligibility list was last Thursday. It is possible that students might have brought their grades up since last week, but we had to have a cut-off point to organize our lists and activities. We will begin tracking the next incentive after Spring Break.
DC GLOBAL EDUCATION PROGRAM – COSTA RICA 2015
The next DC GEP travel opportunity will be to Costa Rica over Spring Break of 2015. If you are interested in zip-lining through the canopies, hiking to La Fortuna Waterfall, touring the wildlife refuge, and visiting the Poás Volcano, then this is the ideal educational trip for you! There is even a $100 discount for those who enroll before the end of February! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Laura Crawford (8th grade) at crawfordl@deercreek.k12.ok.us or Jennifer Ingram (7th grade) at ingramj@deercreek.k12.ok.us
MIDDLE YEARS NEWSLETTER FOR PARENTS
Middle Years is a newsletter with great articles and information about how to be a successful student and parent during middle school. It is a very quick read and has great information. I would like to thank our PTO for sponsoring this newsletter for our school. See attachment “Middle Years March 2014” for the new edition
ATTENDANCE
Parents, I would like to remind you that your child must be in attendance 89% of the school year to be eligible for promotion into the next grade level. This equates to no more than 20 absences. If your child misses for an extended period of time for emergence or illness, please provide a doctor’s note for documentation. We have begun sending out generic emails to parents about absences if your child has missed a certain amount of days. We will continue to send these out throughout the year regardless of the reason for the absences(excused or unexcused). These emails are simply a reminder throughout the year.
ANTLER SHARP Students (Sponsored by Deer Creek Chamber of Commerce) http://news.deercreekchamber.com/2012/09/deer-creek-middle-school-news/
As a part of our DCMS Antlers are SHARP theme this year. I would like to tell you about the SHARP students incentive. Any student that is seen making positive choices or doing great things that fit our theme, may receive a slip of paper with their name on it. They will then bring it to one of the principals, so we can thank them for making DCMS great. That slip of paper will then go into a daily drawing for prizes. Their name will stay in the drawing until they win or until the end of the year. We would like to thank the Deer Creek Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring this program by providing gift cards as one of the potential prizes.
These are the Antler Sharp Students for the week of March 5-7:
Carter Noble
Shayla Derry
Rachel Sanders
Kameron Orel
These are the Antler Sharp Students for the week of February 24-28:
Brendan Hancock
Matthew Harberson
Stansell Daxton Byers
Jenna Phillpott
Kieran Bethel
Adrianna Carrethers
J.J. Valentine
Dhanasheel Muralidhuran
Rachel Sanders
Matthew Loftis
These are the Antler Sharp Students for the week of February 17-21:
Dane Matthews
Ally McFadden
Kenna York
Jessie Frimberger
Ellie Damerval
Dario Viviani
Hamzah Albitar
Lex Oldham
Congratulations to last week’s winners!!!!
MAZZIO’S STUDENT OF THE MONTH
Will we be recognizing many students every month as the Students of the Month. This is an award given by each team of teachers and elective teachers every month. Mazzio’s donates a pizza party to these students. We would like to thank Mazzio’s for partnering with us on this great program and rewarding our students with a pizza party. We would also like to thank the PTO hospitality for providing the dessert. Students pictures will be displayed in the main lobby every month as well. We will announce the recipients at the end of every month. Mazzio’s is located on Santa Fe and Danforth. Support this sponsor by calling direct at - 341-6012.
FEBRUARY STUDENTS
Sydney Mathena
Braxton Forgery
Dilon Dremel
Owen Dremel
Miles Slater
Andi Anderson
Sophia Dickson
Simon Fickenscher
Katelyn Hill
Brock Bowers
Hannah Mays
Alex Matos
February Arts Students of the Month
Art Makenzie Cordell
Band Griffin Nelson
Choir Georgia Fishburn
Drama Gracie Davis
Tech Isabella Bahm
February Readers of the Month
Sarah Stell
Willow Gergens
Tyler Wilson
Ethan Roberson
February BoxTops winners (They will each receive a Sonic gift card. Please keep your Box Tops coming to the library!)
Congratulations to our February “Student-Athletes” of the Month! This recognizes athletes who perform well in the classroom and on the field.
AJ Jackson Logan Huslig Morgan Stevens Jackson Roden
Kate Turner
Logan Scott
Tiag Campney
Samantha Dougherty
DOUGHNUTS FOR SALE
The library will be selling doughnuts every Thursday morning beginning at 7 a.m. in the gym concession stand. Help support the library by buying a chocolate, glazed, or maple doughnut for $1.
GRADE CHECKS
We encourage you to constantly check your child’s progress in their classes. You should only look at the S2 grade for all other classes to see how your child is doing in those classes. Please contact the teacher or office if you have any questions about your child’s grades. We want every child to be successful, and we know how important it is to have parents working with teachers to make this happen. Click on this link to access the parent portal. http://powerschool.deercreek.k12.ok.us/public/home.html
DOES YOUR CHILD NEED TUTORING?
DCMS will be offering tutoring on Mondays through Thursdays from 2:30-3:30 every week we are in school. Students who go to tutoring will need to have transportation at 3:30. Tutoring will be in room A-10. Students do not need to let us know they are coming in advance, but we ask that they stay in tutoring until their ride arrives. We hope this will help our parents and students get the help they need.
FRIEND MAIL
Research shows that reporting bullying is one of the most difficult things for kids to do. We have created a program that focuses on anonymous reporting and positive encouragement. This is called FRIEND MAIL. This is an in school mail system that will enable students to send notes of encouragement to each other or their teachers. Teachers and parents may also use Friend Mail to send notes to their children as well. In addition to positive notes, students may help a friend by placing notes that report incidents of bullying. This makes it more anonymous because no one will know the reason a student is putting a note into the Friend Mailbox. Please know that all letters/notes will be screened by an adult before it is delivered.
BOX TOPS
Remember to collect and bring all your box tops to the media center in sets of 50 labeled with the student’s name. Each set of 50 will earn the student a spot in our monthly drawing for a special reward. This is a great way for us to purchase new books for our library. Please see two attachments regarding box top vendors.
DISTRICT OPPORTUNITIES
In order to better inform parents about opportunities that are available across the district, we have a new link that will share all of this information with you. Please check these links to find out if there is something your child would be interested in that is not sponsored specifically by DCMS. Click on the link for more information about each event.
Deer Creek Optimist- Football, Basketball, & Wrestling Upward Flag Football TOPSoccer- Soccer Program & Support for students with disabilities
Please visit http://www.deercreekschools.org/parents/opportunities_for_students to see available CAMPS,
CLINICS, and many OTHER OPPORTUNITIES that are available to your student.
For ATHLETIC and CHEER OPPORTUNITIES please visit http://www.deercreekschools.org/parents/deer_creek_optimist_club
to see what all Deer Creek Optimist has available for ALL AGES.
HS SHOW CHOIR
Please see the attachment regarding the HS Show Choir Auditions in May “show choir audtions”
OUTSIDE SCHOOL ENRICHMENT THROUGH SYLVAN
Sylvan of North OKC Events/Activities
(Pre-Registration required for all Events. Call 405-842-7323 to register today!)
Saturday, March 15
Free Practice ACT/SAT Exam 9:30-11:30
Spring Break March 17-21 (space is limited)
Abrakadoodle and Sylvan Camp: Fun Art and Academic Camp offered during spring break only! Mon-Fri 9:00-4:00 $398 for both camps (50% savings)
Monday March 24
Free Parenting Workshop: “Student behavior and its Effects in the Classroom”
5:30-6:30 (refreshments provided) Sponsored by OK Parents and Sylvan
Tisha Clay
Center Director
Sylvan Learning Centers
1710-G Bell Isle Blvd
Oklahoma City, OK 73118
Tel (405) 842-7323 | www.sylvanlearning.com
RECEIVING MONDAY MORNING NEWS?
If you are not receiving MMN and would like to, please send us the email address that you would like us to send it to. We also have forms in the office that you can fill out to receive it. We will try to get this in as soon as we receive the information. If you still are not receiving the emails, please let us know immediately. We are sorry for any delays in receiving the newsletter. If you are receiving this email in error or if you would like to stop receiving the newsletter, please email us that information as well.
Reuben Bellows
Principal
Deer Creek Middle School
bellowsr@deercreek.k12.ok.us
Phone: 405-348-4830 ext. 3634