Tuesday, November 21st

Happy Tuesday, Shark Families,

Short and sweet this week, folks. Most of the adults here are in a food daze after Mr. Briesemeister’s and Mrs. Coleman’s class made the annual Thanksgiving feast. I think many of the students may feel the same way as I saw plenty of parties during CHOMP today. When we return on Monday, it will be a Black Day schedule. The Corn Hole Tournament is next Friday, so teams can still sign up at lunch. The last day to register is next Wednesday and the cost is $10 per team. Very few announcements to share, so I will wrap up here. From all of us here at Sutherland to all of you, we hope you have a terrific Thanksgiving vacation!

Next Week @ SMS:

Monday, November 27^th: Black Day

Tuesday, November 28^th: Teal Day

Wednesday, November 29^th: Black Day

Thursday, November 30^th: Teal Day

Friday, December 1^st: Black Day

4:00 – 6:00 PM: Corn Hole Tournament

News from SMS:

1. Come celebrate "FESTIVALS du monde francophone" before school on Wednesday mornings at 8 am! We will be traveling virtually around the French-speaking parts of our world to explore different winter festivals! We will celebrate Mardi, Gras, the International Circus of Monaco, the Winter Festival of Quebec, and more. Each week will involve a fun art project that reflects the festival. Come eat King Cake with us and have fun learning French! Sign up forms will be in the office and outside of the gathering area starting Monday 11/27. No experience necessary - you don't have to be taking French to join in on the fun! 

2. 6^th graders interested in joining the morning news team, WSMS, can see Mr. Wynne Taylor to sign up. Those interested must be able to come to school early on assigned days in order to prepare the morning broadcast. 

Happy Friday, Sharks!

Just a brief message today as we are all getting ready for the pep rally and dance this afternoon. There have been some great moments this week as students start to get ready for a short break. Last Friday, we had a great turn out at the Veterans Dinner. Our student volunteers did a great job waiting tables for the evening and running food from the kitchen. It was terrific seeing so many of our families come out for this event. Two of our robotics teams, the Roboticists and the Toxics, competed in the Regional Robotics Tournament this week. Roboticists won 1st place in team work & the Toxics won 2nd place overall. Both teams were selected to advance to the Virginia state level competition at JMU. The PE teachers have been doing Elementary Games Week, which has been a trip to watch as they work in great Star Wars and Indiana Jones games down in the gym. Today, we start the Pep Rally here at 3:00, so a reminder that dismissal between 3:00 – 4:00 PM may take a bit longer. We have the Tie Dye Dance from 4:00 – 6:00 PM tonight, so hopefully we have a big turn out and a lot of fun.

A reminder next week is a short week with schools closing Wednesday – Friday for turkey break. We have a few general items below, including information on the Golden Apple Award. I hope you all have a terrific weekend!

Next Week @ SMS:
Monday, November 20^th: Black Day
Tuesday, November 21^st: Teal Day
Wednesday – Friday: Thanksgiving Break (Schools are closed)

News from SMS:

1.      The Golden Apple Award honors outstanding teachers in Albemarle County and Charlottesville City. One winner is selected from each school, and eight winners also will receive a $1,000 Golden Apple Grant for classroom materials or professional development. The deadline to return nominations to the school's principal is February 1, 2018.
More information »Nomination Form »

2.      Parents: The seventh-grade robotics team is doing research on possible contamination of bottled water due to heat exposure resulting in chemicals leaching into the water. They have come up with a solution and need feedback from consumers.  They are requesting that you complete a quick two-question, anonymous survey to help them obtain data for their project.  It should only take a few seconds.  Thank you for any support you can give the kids.  Here’s the link to the survey

3.      This year’s Mustache Madness fundraiser has begun here at SMS. Students (and parents) can now register for the Corn Hole Tournament on December 1^st from 4:00 – 6:00 PM. For every $20.00 raised, one of our SMS staff members will shave their beards, dye their hair, or take a pie in the face. Our hope is to raise $1000.00 for The HEADstrong Foundation to help with cancer research. If you and your child would like to form a team for the tournament, the cost is $10.00. Students can sign up at lunch. 

Friday, November 10th

Happy Friday, Sharks!

It was a short week here at SMS, but the students dug deep and got a whole lot accomplished. The time change tried to throw us off with its shenanigans, but clocks were changed and folks complained as darkness sets in early. Most (but somehow not all) of the Halloween candy seems to have been eaten as the week ends. We had our Honors Band trip this week that took a number of our students out to Western Albemarle High School. 1st quarter grades should be posted in Parent Portal by the end of the school day today. We have our Veteran’s Day Dinner tonight from 5:30 – 8:00 PM. We talked about this on WSMS this morning, but knowing that we have a number of military families here at Sutherland, we here would like to thank all of those who serve or have served (as well as their families) for all that you do. We look forward to spending this evening with many of you.

Looking ahead, we have a full week next week as Thanksgiving Break looms in the distance. Next week is Spirit Week with a pep rally on Friday (as well as a dance). Each day has a specific theme, so see below for more details. We have also started our Mustache Madness fundraiser here at Sutherland to help raise money for cancer research. More details below on what this looks like. Lots of items coming next week, so we wish you all a wonderful weekend. On with the news…

Next Week @ SMS: Spirit Week!

Monday, November 13th: Teal Day
Spirit Week theme: Pajama Day

Tuesday, November 14th: Black Day
Spirit Week theme: Circle of Life Day (dress like a stage of one’s life…toddler – elderly. Or, if you are like me, get The Lion King’s song stuck in your head all day)
McCullough field trip to VMI
6:30 – 7:30 PM: Band Boosters Meeting

Wednesday, November 15th: Teal Day
Spirit Week theme: Team Jersey Day
School pictures retakes

Thursday, November 16th: Black Day
Spirit Week theme: Disney Day

Friday, November 17th: Teal Day
Spirit Week theme: Wacky Tacky Tie Day (Nice…I am ready!)
ICA schedule – 3:00 PM Pep Rally
4:00 – 6:00 PM: Dance!

News from SMS:

1. No-Shave November has started here at SMS! Folks new to the building may notice that the teachers have started looking a bit scruffy as the cold weather sets in. This is all for a good cause! Each year, we host a fundraiser that culminates with a corn hole tournament where parents and students can sign up to try and claim the golden belt. This year’s tournament will take place after school on Friday, December 1st. All proceeds from this tournament go straight to the HEADstrong Foundation to help support cancer research. For every milestone we hit with donations, one of our SMS Staff members must either shave something ridiculous into their beards, or dye their hair. This is a great event here at SMS, so we hope many of you can attend on December 1st.

2. Sutherland Library 2nd notices were emailed to students (with prices as necessary) on Thursday, Nov. 9. Please check with your student and help him/her return, replace, or pay for what's in their k12albemarle.org Gmail overdue/LOST/damaged book notice as soon as possible. Thank you!

3. We are in search of a few brave parents and guardians who love all the sights and smells when chaperoning a middle school dance! Next Friday, the 6th grade team will host their dance from 4 – 6 PM and need a few extra pair of adult eyes. Any and all interested parties can go to this sign-up to help out that evening. Thanks! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080d4bafab2fa2f85-nov17th

4. Thank you to all who made the yard sale a success! We earned $1200 for the PTO to use for our teachers!! Thank you to all those who donated items, donated their time to work the sale, and donated their baked goods and drinks to make this a great event! We appreciate all of you!!

Happy Friday, Shark families!

What a terrific week here at SMS. The big news of the day is that our girls’ basketball team ventured over to Burley yesterday for the championship game after a hard-fought win on Tuesday. They played Henley’s team last night, which was the only team to beat our girls during the season. Our SMS girls ended up winning 36-15!!! What an awesome season! We have also had a round of field trips to the Writer’s Eye contest over at UVA again this week, some terrific presentations from our geometry students through Mr. Wamsley’s ELT class, and enough left-over Halloween candy in the second half of the week to make any dentist cringe.

Next week is a bit different as the students have off both Monday and Tuesday.  When we return on Wednesday, it will be a Black day. On Wednesday, we have our Honors Band trip to Western Albemarle High School. On Friday of next week, we have the Veteran’s Day spaghetti dinner from 5:30 – 8:00 PM and grades are due that day, so check on PowerSchool to see the most updated version of grades for quarter one.

A reminder we have the October birthday celebration from 3:45 – 4:00 PM today and the PTO’s big Yard Sale here at SMS tomorrow (Saturday) from 8 AM until noon. Have a great weekend and hope your children get lots of rest with the extra days (and time change)!

Next Week @ SMS:

Monday, November 6^th: No school for students

Tuesday, November 7^th: No school for students

Wednesday, November 8^th: Black Day
Honors Band to WAHS
Thursday, November 9^th: Teal Day

Friday, November 10^th: Black Day
Q1 grades in PowerSchool
5:30 – 8:00 PM: Veterans Dinner

News from SMS:

1. Thanks to everyone who supported Book Fair! Because of a Scholastic shipping error, the final Book Fair orders were just delivered last week.  When the final tallies came in, the library made a bit over our fundraising goal! I look forward to scheduling a guest speaker and renewing subscriptions with the profits. We couldn’t have done so well without a raft of volunteers who gave generously of their time and brought their own smiles to add to those of our happy, shopping, READING students. Hope to see you soon at the library!
2. 2017-18 SMS Student Directories were distributed to CHOMP classes this morning. If your student did not pick one up and/or you need extras, please check in with the front office.
3. Attention 8^th Grade Parents; Start Something Saturday is November 11^th. Do you know a high school student (or 8th grader) interested in starting or joining a passion project? Start Something Saturday is bringing together students in grades 8-12 from the Charlottesville-Albemarle area for a day of project brainstorming on November 11! Students are invited to bring their ideas or just their interest in creative projects, and by the end of the day, they’ll walk out with a project around something they care about.
4. Final Notice: Yard Sale drop off today!!! YARD SALE THIS WEEKEND SATURDAY NOVEMBER 4th AND WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE IT A SUCCESS!
5. DROP OFF YOUR DONATIONS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3 FROM 5-8PM in the cafeteria. PLEASE SIGN UP HERE TO HELP OUT: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0b49aba82e5-annual
6. It’s not too late: Just a reminder that we would like to invite all Veterans and Current Members of the Military to join us for a night to thank you for your service! Please sign up your family and put the total number attending in the comment section. There will be a dinner serving group every 30 minutes. Please join us! The dinner is FREE. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4aaeaa22a3f94-sutherland