Glasgow Community Gazette - December 1

Glasgow Community:

Happy December! ‘Tis the season to gather and celebrate. Students will have the opportunity to recognize staff members via Panther Cards for Staff beginning on Tuesday during 2nd Period. These notes from students serve as an encouragement and reminder of the many ways our staff members are impacting lives of our students both inside and outside the classroom.

Speaking of impact both inside and outside the classroom… this Wednesday, December 4, principals and other leaders in the county will visit Glasgow to learn about our “Honors for All” approach in Science 7. Kaitlyn Marmarou, our Science 7 lead teacher, will share how her team collaboratively plans and implements high level academic tasks with scaffolds to support all students. The team will also share how they plan student-centered instruction and use data to regularly pull targeted small groups and make other instructional decisions. Our guests will visit classrooms to see instructional implementation and observe how the CT collaborates to plan for instruction.

Finally, I want to continue to encourage you to play an active role at Glasgow this holiday season. There are a number of events that need parent volunteers such as the upcoming Book Fair, Grab-N-Go Breakfast and Panther Store. If you do not have the time to volunteer, please consider donating gift cards that we could use as incentives and thank you's for our staff. Link: http://www.glasgowpta.org/. 

Parent involvement and support is an essential element of all great schools. So, get involved and sign up today! As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely, 
Shawn DeRose
Principal

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

Dorothy in Wonderland - December 6 & 7: The worlds of Oz and Wonderland collide in this fun romp, cleverly and carefully adapted from the works of Frank Baum and Lewis Carroll. Dorothy Gale has made her way to the end of the Yellow Brick Road, and to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz or has she? Just as we think the Wizard of Oz is about to help Dorothy get back home to Kansas, she is swept away in another whirlwind with Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion to Wonderland.

Come watch Glasgow's fall play, Dorothy in Wonderland on December 6th at 7:00pm and December 7th at 6:00pm. Tickets are $8.00 and children (5 and under are free) and refreshments will be sold during Intermission.

Important Dates

December 2-6 - Scholastic Book Fair

December 2-11 - Candy Cane Sale

December 6 - Fall Play - “Dorothy in Wonderland” - 7:00pm

December 7 - Fall Play - “Dorothy in Wonderland” - 6:00pm

December 9 - All A Honor Roll (6th and 7th Grade)

December 9 - Parent Info Night "Drug Use and Teens" at Justice HS

December 10 - PTA Meeting

December 11 - Winter Chorus Concert, 7pm

December 12 - Winter Band Concert, 6pm

December 13 - All A Honor Roll (8th Grade)

December 16 - A/B Honor Roll Certificates Distributed

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

December 19 - Panther Store

December 19 - Orchestra Concert, 7pm

January 9 - Rising 9th Grade Orientation and High School Curriculum Night

Scholastic Winter Book Fair - December 2-6: The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to the Glasgow Library from November 26 thru December 6. This event will provide a great opportunity for students, families, and teachers to browse the bookshelves for new and interesting titles, and there will be some fun activities and opportunities to win raffle prizes too.If you are interested in volunteering, click here.

Candy Cane Sale - December 2-11: National Junior Honor Society is selling candy canes Monday, December 3 through Wednesday, December 11 in the cafeteria. Candy canes are $1 each and students must know their friend’s Panther Time teacher! Candy canes will be distributed on December 16 during Panther Time. NJHS will be selling fruit flavored candy canes in addition to the traditional peppermint candy canes. If you have any questions, please contact Shannon Gray at scgray@fcps.edu.

Parent Info Night "Drug Use and Teens" at Justice HS - December 9: Justice HS is offering a parent information night about drug use and teens on December 9 from 7-8 p.m. in the Justice High School Auditorium. The event is sponsored by JHS administrators, FCPS substance abuse counselor, and FCPD Crime Prevention Specialist. 

All A Honor Roll Celebration – December 9 and 13: Congratulations to those students that have made all A’s Honor Roll! Their hard work has paid off and we are so proud of each and every one of our students. We will recognize these students for their outstanding commitment with a ceremony during Panther Time. On Monday, December 9, we will recognize 6th and 7th Grade students. On Friday, December 13, we will recognize 8th Grade students. Please note the event is for students only. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Akon Otoyo at ajotoyo@fcps.edu.

A/B Honor Roll Certificates Distributed - December 16: Congratulations to those students that have made A/B Honor Roll! Their hard work has paid off and we are so proud of each and every one of our students. We will recognize these students with certificates to be distributed through Panther Time on Monday, December 2. If your child is absent, they can obtain their certificate from Student Services the following day. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Akon Otoyo at ajotoyo@fcps.edu.

Rising 9th Grade Orientation and High School Curriculum Night - January 9: The Justice HS Rising 9th Grade Parent Orientation & Curriculum Night will be held on Thursday, January 9. Pre-orientation sessions for special populations will be held at 6:00 pm 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 of all high school grade levels 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 13. 

Glasgow Goodies

Glasgow Students Selected for District 10 Honors Orchestra: Congratulations to the following students on being accepted into the District 10 Honors Orchestra: Aresema Ata, Amel Benhamouda, Paco Herrera, Amy Telleria, Karli Torres Hinjosa! These students worked very hard to prepare an audition and were accepted based on their preparation, playing ability, and talent. All of these students will be attending the District Honors Orchestra Event at South County High School on January 9-11. They will spend three days working on music with a guest conductor and perform a concert on Saturday, January 11.

Nineteen Glasgow Students Named Receive District Chorus Honors: Nineteen students from Glasgow were named to the District 10 Honor Chorus! Congratulations to the following students: Sopranos: Bridget Barron, Sofia Hemmens, Madeline Jensen, Tran Nguyen, Crystal Tran. Altos: Sophia DePasquale, Feben Gebreegziabeher, Kaliyah Graham, Jessie Huang, Mia Korin, Charlene Luong, Gabriela Simmons Robles, Dibora Yilma. Tenors: Colt Armstrong, Elias Homer, Ketan Kane. Basses: Elijah Kassa, Brian Zheng

Volunteer at Glasgow!

Scholastic Winter Book Fair - December 2 thru December 6: The Scholastic Book Fair is here till December 6. If you are interested in volunteering, click here.

Gift Card Donations Wanted: When I first started at Glasgow in the spring of 2015, I requested parent support by donating $5 gift cards that we could use as incentives and thank you's for our staff. Your response was overwhelming and I have finally used the generous stash that you all provided.

I am requesting your help again since we are not permitted to use any kind of FCPS funds, local or otherwise, for this purpose. It is amazing how much a $5 gift card is appreciated. If you are so inclined, 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!)

Grab-n-Go Pre-Winter Break Breakfast - December 18: The PTA will provide a Pre-Winter Break breakfast for Glasgow teachers and staff on Wednesday, December 18. Since it’s a school day, we’ll set up the popular grab-n-go format so teachers/staff can pack a bag of goodies to eat whenever they get a chance during the day! We’ll need lots of volunteers and food and beverage donations to make this breakfast possible. Volunteer here. 

If you are short on time to volunteer or bring a donated item, the PTA would be happy to receive your monetary donation to purchase supplies for this event.

After School Program News

The after-school program is going great! Students are enjoying the different clubs and activities that are being offered. As we get closer to the Winter Break, the after-school program would like to provide you with the upcoming schedule of programming.

On Wednesday, December 11 and Thursday, December 12 after-school activities will be limited due to the band and chorus winter concerts.  The ASAP program will continue as planned. If you have any questions about Glasgow’s After School Program, check out our website, email Greg Williams, After School Coordinator at gwilliams2@fcps.edu or call 703-813-8885.

Important Information

Panther Time and Flexible Instructional time (FIT) at Glasgow: Emily Boydstun, Behavior Intervention Coordinator, and Joash Chung, Director of Student Services, presented information about Panther Time and Flexible Instructional Time at our most recent PTA meeting. If you would like to know more about how these classes support our students, please access the presentation slides using this link. 

Sign Up for Weekly Progress Reports: All parents/guardians of middle and high school students who have registered for a SIS ParentVUE Account and have a primary email address recorded in SIS ParentVUE can receive Weekly Progress Reports via email. This report provides a summary of your student(s) grades for the current quarter. 

To activate the Weekly Progress Reports via email, login to your SIS ParentVUE Account and first verify that you have a primary email address within the system. It is listed under the “My Account” tab. If it is blank, enter the email address where you would like to receive the progress reports and click on update account. Once confirmed, parents/guardians are able to activate and select their preferences for receiving these reports within the SIS ParentVUE “My Account” tab.

Weekly progress reports for all of your middle and high school students will be included in one email. FCPS Elementary Schools do not use the SIS grade book and therefore are not included in these reports. For questions about a specific progress report or grade you can login into your SIS ParentVUE Account to find detailed grade book information. Additionally, your student’s teacher is always the best resource to answer any grade book questions that you may have. Weekly Progress Report Parent Quick Reference Guide.

TJHSST Invitational Science Fair 2020: The TJ Mythvestigations Club would like to cordially invite any interested students at your school to participate in our seventh annual Invitational Science Fair. If you are interested, they will be holding an additional interest/brainstorming session for students and parents to learn about the science fair and experimental design basics. It will be at TJHSST in Room 65 on December 6 from 6:00 to 7:00PM. The registration link to the session can be found here. While optional, the session covers helpful information about the science fair process. We will send out further information through email as the date approaches.

Participants in the science fair will complete a research project and prepare a presentation for our science fair on March 21, 2020. 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 16. 

Be Informed, Stay Involved!

• Sign up for News You Choose. 
• Visit the Glasgow Middle School website.
• Follow Glasgow on Twitter.
• Visit Glasgow Middle School on Facebook.
• Monitor your students academics with a SIS Parent Account.
• Join the Glasgow Middle School PTA and attend meetings.
• Keep your contact information up-to-date.