Veteran's Day
We will be celebrating Veteran's Day on Thursday, November 7th with our annual Veteran's Day festivities. We will begin our day with our assembly where we will be welcoming over 70 veterans from our OCMS community! We are excited to welcome Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton as our Keynote Speaker. She served as a Captain in the US Air Force and has a great perspective on being a Veteran. She will be sharing her story with the students.
The staff at OCMS has sponsored lunch for our Veteran's from Mission BBQ with the PTSA and Beta helping with breakfast and desserts. Thank you to all of those that are helping!
Towards the end the day, our students will be outside to watch the parade of Veterans as they make their way past Buckner and the Preschool.
Please ensure your child has warm clothes as they will be outside for a bit in the afternoon. We are also asking students to show their patriotism and dress in Red, White, and/or Blue to show American Pride.
If you would like to see the assembly, we will be trying our first ever live streaming on FB and attempting to stream parts of the assembly. Tune in to our FB page so you can catch a few minutes!
Red Ribbon Week Festivities
Our Red Ribbon Week was a huge success. Students took pledges to stay drug free and of course everyone had fun with all of the various "theme days". The students also had powerful lessons about the dangers about some of the choices.
As parents, we continue to be vigilant and want our students to make smart choices. However, we all remember being young and what that peer pressure can feel like. For some kids, they know the difference but they struggle with standing up to their friends to say no. Here is a great resource about helping your child stand up to a difficult situation and how you can establish strong communication with your child. I know as a mom, it was an interesting idea of encouraging my own children that they can leave a situation without being ridiculed by their friends. While all of it (or none of it) may be a fit for you as a parent, I am still inclined to share as a potential strategy. Enjoy.
Career Planning
Our students are beginning a new career planning project that is being offered through the district. Naviance is an online program that walks students through several tasks and assignments to help them determine what type of learner they are as well as future goals and aspirations. The students at all three grades have a different "path" of courses to take to help them with planning.
Every student at OCMS will have a Naviance account and will work through the various classwork. For student who have a computer or careers class, the Naviance work will take place in those courses. For students without those classes, our counselors will work within our REP time to have them complete.
The purpose of these courses are to help them as learners and determine their steps in middle school, but also high school and beyond. When they are in 8th grade, the resources and tools will be used to assist in their transition to the HS. Students at the HS are also working on their grade level appropriate lessons within Naviance too.
Here is the link to the Naviance site that includes some parent resources. Ask your child if they have started it yet. If they have, feel free to ask them to show the work. It is really great stuff!! If you have any questions, please seek out your counselor (Mr. Thomas for 6th grade, Ms. Hensley for 7th grade or Ms. Burns for 8th grade).
Lastly, we will not be offering conferences on November 4th. We offer conferences through out the year at the simple request of any parent. We find this to be more successful for Middle School as many parents may not have many questions this early in the year but would like support/ updates later in the year. If you would like a conference with any of your child's teachers, please just let us know and we will be happy to set this up at a time that is convenient to you.
Thanks for your time and enjoy the four day weekend! Don't forget to get out and vote.
Alissa Richards- Principal of Oldham County Middle School
Credits:
Created with images by twinsfisch - "Follow us over on Instagram @twinsfisch #fischertwinsphotography. Please tag us when using our photo. Thanks!" • Todd Trapani - "Taken during high school Veterans Day assembly." • Ian Schneider - "untitled image"