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Dear Holmes Families:
Happy Friday, everyone! Thank you for all of your patience and understanding yesterday, today, and throughout the year. We have had some unique and challenging situations to navigate this year while still working extremely hard everyday to ensure that quality instruction and learning are still happening for all students. I cannot tell you how much I value all of your feedback: Your positive feedback has been encouraging, and your constructive feedback has helped me grow in my leadership to ensure that we are responding to your concerns. Keep it coming, please! Teamwork makes the dream work!
I am truly amazed that we are already halfway through May, and SOLs begin next week! See below for an updated calendar. A few reminders for your students:
- Consistently get a good night's sleep: At least 8 hours, but adolescents really need more (take the devices away at night if you need to!)
- Eat a healthy breakfast
- Find ways to decompress when the stress is getting high; take brain breaks to re-energize between study sessions
- Ask teachers for help in areas where you need review!
A note about retakes: As many of you know, a passing score on the SOL is a 400 and above, and pass advanced is 500 and above. The highest score possible is 600. In the past couple of years, the state of Virginia has instituted retakes for students who score between 375-399 on the SOL. If your students score in that range, they will bring home a letter for you to indicate whether or not you agree to allow them to retake the SOL. Before the retake, teachers will work with students individually or in small groups to review where they made errors on the first test in order to review and remediate prior to the retake.
In next week's update, I'll share a few more specifics about the grade level activity days and awards ceremonies that will take place the week of June 19th. In this week's update, you'll see information about an upcoming parent night on Gang Awareness and Prevention and about two summer programs we will have at Holmes this year. As always, please let me or the point of contact know what questions you have.
Thank you, and Happy Mother's Day to all of our moms!!
Sincerely,
Margaret Barnes
mfbarnes@fcps.edu
 
Our Holmes MS Capital One Coders had their app showcase last night along with students from Cedar Lane High School, Cooper Middle School, and Glasgow Middle School. What an exciting night! It was so amazing to see the products our students created showing all they had learned. We are excited for Round 2 in the fall! Great job, Coders! Check out our Twitter page for more pics!
Thank you to Capital One, to the FCPS Office of Business & Community Partnerships, and to our amazing staff - Mr. Diggs, Mr. Malkowski, Mr. Cabezas and Miss Koppen - for making this happen!
JUMPSTART - RISING 6TH GRADERS
As you may know, for
the last 10 years Holmes Middle School had a federal grant that allowed us to
run a sizeable summer program. The grant has expired, and we can no longer offer
the same level of programs as we did in the past. However, thanks to the management
of the grant, we still have some money left that will allow us to offer a small Jump
Start Program for rising 6th graders with a focus in Math and Reading
remediation. We are going to work with the counselors in our feeder elementary schools to identify a limited number of students who may benefit the most from
this initiative. The program will start on Monday July 10 and ends on Thursday
July 20. More information will be provided.
YOUNG SCHOLARS - RISING 7TH & 8TH GRADERS
Fairfax County Public Schools is offering an exciting Young
Scholars program this summer. Holmes Middle School has been identified as one of the sites to host a program. This half-day program will run Monday through Thursday from
July 10th through July 27th.
This program will provide a selected group of
students the opportunity to enrich and apply their knowledge. These students
will explore hands-on new concepts in technology and life sciences. The program
has a limited number of openings based on numbers allotted to us by FCPS. Therefore, teachers of rising 7th
and rising 8th graders will help us to make a fair and objective
decision in the selection process. Parents of the identified students will
receive an invitation to join the program within the next two weeks.
For more information about either program or about the VIP program at Kilmer MS (we have 1 or 2 spots left!),
please contact Mr. Cabezas via e-mail at GDCabezas@fcps.edu
or phone (703)658-5906.
As a follow-up to the Mason District Town Hall on Gang Awareness that was held in March, we will be hosting an information night for parents only on Wednesday, May 24th. Representatives from Holmes, the FCPS Office of Student Safety & Wellness, and the Fairfax County Police Department Gang Unit will present to parents. Interpreters in Spanish will be present, and child care will be provided.
On Monday, May 8th, PTA members elected a new board for the 2017-18 school year. Congratulations to:
- President: Julie Strandlie
- Vice President - Membership: Vanessa Ventura
- Vice President - Fundraising: Tammy Murphy
- Treasurer: Dan Aminoff
- Secretary: Rob Hardin
Thank you to Michelle Leete, Ralph Johnson, and Paula Palmore for serving on the board this year whose students will be moving onto Annandale and Edison next year as 9th graders. Thank you for your service!
Join us for our last meeting on the evening of Monday, June 12th, to celebrate all of our wonderful parent volunteers this year!
- Monday, May 15th: 7-period Day
- Tuesday, May 16th: Even Block Day (with ER 1 & 2)
- Wednesday, May 17th: Odd Block Day
- Thursday, May 18th: Even Block Day (with ER 3 & 4)
- Friday, May 19th: Odd Block Day
- Thursday, 5/18 - Chorus & Orchestra Concert, 7 PM
- Wednesday, 5/24 - Parent Only Info Night, Gang Awareness & Prevention, 6:30-8:30
- Friday, 5/26 - 2-hour early release
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Monday, 5/29 - Memorial Day Holiday / NO SCHOOL
- Friday, 6/2: Hershey Park Field Trip (Music students) / Last Day for After School Clubs
- 6/5, 6/7, 6/8: Academic help only after school
- Tuesday, 6/6: Band Concert, 7 PM
- Thursday, 6/8: Last Day for Late Buses / Music Department Recital, 7 PM
- Friday, 6/9: Theater Production, 7 PM
- Monday, 6/12: PTA Meeting
- Friday, 6/16: 8th Grade Dance/Event
- Saturday, 6/17: 2nd round of TB testing for those with negative results from the April 29th testing
- Monday, 6/19: 6th Grade Activity Day & Awards Ceremony (1 PM)
- Tuesday, 6/20: 7th Grade Activity Day & Awards Ceremony (8:30 AM)
- Wednesday, 6/21: 8th Grade Activity Day & Awards Ceremony (8:30 AM)
- Thursday, 6/22: Schoolwide Activity Day
- Friday, 6/23: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL / 2-hour early release
Remember that the first day of school next year is BEFORE Labor Day: Monday, August 28th! We will have one Back To School Night next year, which will be on Thursday, August 31st.
Please stay in touch with us throughout the year by:
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