Glasgow Community Gazette - December 16

Fairfax County Public Schools sent this bulletin at 12/16/2018 05:53 PM EST
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Glasgow Community:

I hope you had a great weekend. I am currently sitting in the back of our minivan traveling back from visiting family in Long Island. If your time with family is anything like mine, it is an opportunity to share what we are most proud of about our children and their school experience; as well as share the challenges of being a parent, especially to tweens. Sharing with my family this weekend led me to reflect on the many ways I am proud of students’ experiences at Glasgow Middle School.  

Diversity - Researchers have documented that students’ exposure to other students who are different from themselves and the novel ideas and challenges that such exposure brings leads to improved cognitive skills, including critical thinking and problem solving. It is exciting to know that students at Glasgow get to benefit from diversity of our student body.  

Knowing Each Student By Name and By Need - Although large in size, Glasgow uses data and collaborative teacher teams to meet the needs of each and every student. When students are ready for new challenges, we know it and are ready to provide it. Similarly, when students need extra support, teachers are able to provide opportunities to practice and relearn as soon as possible, so students can continue to be successful with grade-level standards.

Teacher Collaboration - In many schools, the quality of instruction -and sometimes even what is taught- may greatly vary depending on the individual teacher. At Glasgow, our teachers collaborate at the highest level. They meet throughout the week to develop quality lesson plans together using a lesson planning document.

Focus on Academic Task - As a school, we know that nothing matters more for students’ learning than the rigor of the tasks they encounter in class each day. As a staff, we talk about the importance of ensuring students are reading, writing, thinking and discussing at a high level each and every day. In their Glasgow classes, students are analyzing, evaluating, comparing and predicting. By applying these high-level thinking skills on a daily basis in middle school, Glasgow students are prepared for the complex world that they will encounter in high school and beyond.

Care and Belonging - Finally, but perhaps most importantly, Glasgow is a school that invests explicitly in communicating care and belonging to each and every one of our students and their families. Our staff greets students every day, for every class. We take time to celebrate students’ accomplishments, both academically and with our Panther Principles of kindness, commitment and safety. We know that students must know that we care about them and that they belong before they will learn. Panther Time advisories, Panther Cards and Open Campus are just some of the many ways we show students that we care about more than just their learning.

For all these reasons and more, we are incredibly proud of the experiences your students have at Glasgow each and every day. Our staff is outstanding in their commitment to providing the values above, and it is an honor to work with your students this school year. Thank you for allowing us to play a part in your child’s growth this school year. I hope the next few weeks means time spent together as a family, celebrating the growth so far and resting up for all that is to come when we return in January.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Shawn DeRose, Principal


Contact Information
Twitter: @ShawnDeRose
Email: spderose@fcps.edu
Website: http://www.fcps.edu/GlasgowMS/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlasgowMS.FCPS/

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Getting Ready For High School

Justice High School Rising 9th Grade Orientation & Curriculum Night - January 10

The Justice HS Rising 9th Grade Parent Orientation & Curriculum Night will be held on Thursday, January 10. Pre-orientation sessions for special populations will be held at 6:00pm for parents interested in hearing more about the following topics: ESOL, IB/MYP, and Special Education.

The full orientation will kick off at 6:30pm and is geared towards providing information for Rising 9th grade students and parents. At 7:15, students and parents will have the opportunity to talk with teachers, department chairs, school counselors and administrators about course offerings, course requirements, and scheduling choices.

In the event of inclement weather, the program will be held on Monday, January 14. The Justice HS counselors will be visiting Glasgow 8th grade students on Wednesday, January 9 and Thursday, January 10 to review course options and graduation requirements.

 

8th Grade Night at Neighboring High Schools:

Annandale High School - January 17 at 7PM

Falls Church High School - January 10 at 6:30PM

Edison High School - February 26 at 7PM

Important Dates

December 18 - Grab-n-Go Breakfast sponsored by the PTA

December 18 - Orchestra Concert, 7PM

December 21 - No After School Program

December 24 through January 4 - Winter Break

January 7 - Staff and Students Return!

January 9 & 10 - Justice HS Presentation to 8th Grade Students

January 18 - 3HR Early Release Day

January 21 - MLK Holiday (Closed)

January 24 - 2nd Quarter Ends

January 25 - Teacher Workday (No School for Students)

January 30 - Glasgow Rising 6th Grade Night, 6PM

 

Pre-Winter Break Breakfast - December 20 - The PTA will provide a Pre-Winter Break breakfast for Glasgow teachers and staff on Thursday, December 20. Please consider volunteering at this event or contributing food and beverages: https://bit.ly/2TYsQlL. Monetary donations also help to provide snacks and supplies and can be made here: https://bit.ly/2Q5lcHF.

 

Glasgow PTA Meeting: January 15 - The next PTA meeting will be held on January 15, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. The featured topic will be the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program. We will hear information presented by Middle Years Program Coordinator at Glasgow and the IB Coordinator at Justice High School.  PTA membership is not required for attendance. Spanish and Arabic interpreters will be present. We hope to see you there!

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Opportunities

Get Involved, Volunteer Today! - The Glasgow PTA needs YOU! See volunteer opportunities at Glasgow Middle School, supporting our teachers and staff, throughout the year: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c084aa4a92da0fc1-glasgow12

 

Pre-Winter Break Breakfast: December 20 - The Glasgow PTA is still looking for donations of time, food, and funds for their December 20 Pre-Winter Break teachers/staff breakfast. Please consider volunteering at this event or contributing food and beverages. Link: https://bit.ly/2TYsQlL. Monetary donations also help to provide snacks and supplies and can be made here: https://bit.ly/2Q5lcHF

 

AVID Guest Speakers Needed - Do you have an interest in sharing your college or career experience? Then sign up to be an AVID speaker! Many Glasgow students possess a desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard, but many of them do not truly have the opportunity to be college-ready. These are often the students who will be the first in their families to attend college and are from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education. Glasgow AVID classes help these students succeed on a path to college and career success. Sign up here: http://bit.ly/2rEaRE1

Important Information

TJHSST Invitational Science Fair 2019 - The TJ Mythvestigations Club would like to cordially invite any interested students at your school to participate in our sixth annual Invitational Science Fair. Participants will complete a research project and prepare a presentation for our science fair on March 16, 2019. Now is the time to register for the event and start work on projects! The final pool of approximately 40 entrants will be chosen first come, first serve from all registrants on January 10, 2019. Students may register at http://bit.ly/isf2019. If you have any questions, email the TJ Mythvestigations Team at tjhsstsciencefair@gmail.com.

 

Yearbook On-line Store is Now Available - Families who still have not paid for their 2018-2019 yearbook can now pre-order on-line. The website is: https://www.balfour.com/virginia/alexandria/glasgow-middle-school. Students may continue to bring in money and turn in to the front office. The price of the yearbook is only $25, but will increase to $30 in early February. Extra items will be available until March: name stamping ($5), clear plastic cover ($3), autograph sheets ($2), arrow stickies ($6), jewel pack ($6) and pen signing set ($4.99).

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Glasgow Goodies!

 

Thank You for the Gift Card Donations - Thank you to those of you who donated gift cards. We recently used the cards as prizes for our Ugly Sweater Contest. It is amazing how much a $5 gift card is appreciated. If you would still like to donate gift cards, please feel free to drop them off at the main office or drop them in the mail to my attention. I will share the love with staff throughout the school year. Thank you so much! (It can be for any business you want to support, in any amount. Nothing is too small!) 

 

Panther Store - Thank you to those parents who supported the Panther Store this week! It was great to see so many students with Panther Cards and fun to celebrate the many ways our students show kindness, commitment and safety!

 

Glasgow’s Winter Chorus Concert - Congratulations to Miranda Lansberry and our incredible chorus students on their Winter Concert, “All Is Calm,” this past Thursday! It was a beautiful evening filled with songs to celebrate the season. Our students did a wonderful job! If you missed it, or would like to watch it again, here is a link to the YouTube videos: http://bit.ly/2QC490k

 

Glasgow’s Winter Band Concert - On Wednesday evening our outstanding Glasgow Band students performed their annual Winter Concert for a packed house. Congratulations to Andrew Sharrock, Tamara Freeman and the Glasgow Band students on a fantastic evening of music and celebration with our community!

 

Study Skills Workshop - Student Services has been working to support some of our students who need additional help with work habits and organization. On Monday, December 10, the counselors hosted a Study Skills Workshop session for ~50 students in partnership with an organization called Learning Rx. The presentation covered the following topics:

  • Understand the difference between passive and active study techniques
  • Learn how to help students retain and use knowledge easier and faster
  • Learn six researched-based study techniques.

Thank you to the Student Services team for their collaboration on this work and for teachers who supported students’ attendance!

Glasgow Middle School Panther Mascot, image

Be Informed, Stay Involved!