Dr. Sue Harrell, Principal Anchored in Excellence
Surfside Shark Bites
Dr. Sue Harrell, Principal “Anchored in Excellence"
February 2015
From the Principal’s Pen~
With the arrival of February, students are keeping up the pace with boys’ basketball, and girls’ soccer, dancing the night away at our Valentine’s Dance, visits to Arnold High School, and “thinking outside the box” at the Regional Odyssey of the Mind Competition. Academically, we continue to prepare our students for state assessments, which will begin in March with writing. Some of the best learning opportunities of the year occur as we count down the weeks. We have Biophilia Center field trips, Frontier Days, Pi Day, Wet Week, Odyssey of the Mind competition, Bay Days, Science Fair competition, and Relay for Life occurring in the next few weeks. Lots of learning remains to be done, so help us keep our students focused on their learning goals.
Did You Know?~That 38% of Surfside students achieved the academic honor roll the second 9 weeks? That represents 281 students who made either all A’s or all A’s and B’s. These students will enjoy an ice cream party to celebrate this awesome accomplishment. Our 6th graders continue to lead, with the highest percentage (41%) of students achieving this status, followed by our 8th graders (39%) and 7th graders (33%). Eleven percent (11%) of our students made all A’s during the grading period, reflecting a lot of hard work on their part.
Support Employee of the Year Finalist~Our beloved Vicki McMIchael was selected as one of the top five finalists for Bay District Support Employee of the Year. Vicki is truly the face of our school since she is one of the first folks new students/parents meet when they come to Surfside. We are so proud of Vicki’s recognition.
Teacher of the Year~Band director Daniel Holmes was selected by our faculty to represent Surfside in the Bay District Teacher of the Year Recognition program. Daniel is one of the most talented musicians and teachers I have ever known, and he has dedicated himself to the growth of our music programs. Students at Surfside earn compliments for our school at every public appearance due to his instruction. Mr. Holmes’ band was the only middle school band to earn Superior marks in every category during last year’s judging in the 8-county district to which we belong. We are so proud of Mr. Holmes, who will be recognized in February at the Teacher of the Year banquet.
GUIDANCE DEPARTMENT
The Bay Education Foundation announces the open application period for the next round of Take Stock in Children scholarships for eligible sixth grade students. Eligibility is defined as eligible for free/reduced lunch, 2.5 GPA, nothing less than a "C" and good attendance.
Flyers have been distributed to all sixth grade students. Interested students should pick up a scholarship application from Ms. Robb in the Guidance office and return the completed forms no later than March 11, 2015.
In addition to the two-year tuition scholarship, the Take Stock in Children program provides mentors, staff support, and guidance to ensure that the students are prepared for the rigors of college coursework. Students also receive book scholarships from the Gulf Coast State College Foundation and the Florida State University-Panama City Foundation. Take Stock in Children scholars are required to maintain good grades, exhibit exemplary behavior, and remain drug-and crime-free.
We are planning on doing CELLA testing with our ESOL students on February 18th. CELLA is a four-skill language proficiency assessment for our ESOL students. It tests their proficiency in the domains of Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.
CLASSROOMS and CLUBS
Choir News
The Choral Music Performance Assessment (CMPA) will be held on February 21st at the 1st Baptist Church in downtown Panama City. Time is TBD and will be announced soon. Students will be performing 2 selected pieces and will be sight reading music they have never seen before. This is a very difficult task even for the most trained musician. Our students are all striving for superior ratings. GO SINGIN’ SHARKS!!
Choral Solos and Ensembles will be held in March. Make sure you check the March edition of Shark Bites for more information on this event.
Surfside Musical Theatre has begun rehearsals for High School Musical Jr. We are very excited and have had our first read through! Rehearsals will be held after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:00pm sharp. Main cast AND Cast A students must be on hand. Any Parents with theatre experience, who would like to lend a hand, please call Mr. Mullen at 767-1096. Cast member parents, please remember pick up times are promptly by 5:00 PM in the choir room. You are welcome to come early and listen!
Band News
The Surfside Middle School Band will be marching in the Mardi Gras Parade at Pier Park on Saturday, February 14th. Band members should meet behind the Target at 4pm.
The Band Musical Performance Assessments (BMPA) will be held on March 7th at Arnold High School. Rehearsals for the Intermediate and Advance Bands will begin Thursday 2/5 and will be held every Thursday right after school until 5pm. For a complete list of rehearsal dates, please see the attached calendar.
Civics Department
Our Civics classes took another progress-monitoring test to gauge what they have learned so far. Of course, this is all in preparation for the end-of-course (EOC) exam that we will take during the last quarter of the year. If you have any questions regarding the EOC please contact your child’s Civics teacher.
Science Department
The following SMS students represented our school at the 3 Rivers Regional Science and Engineering Fair at FSU PC with great honors. Sarah Buckley, Kaleb Cunningham, Zach Frimet, Michael Graff, Madalyn Graff-McBeth, Darcy Hawes, Marcus Kurth, Kaitlyn Langley, Aaron Loturco, Tyler Lyon, Cullen McConnell, Taylor Warren, and Ezra Welborn.
The following received prizes and special awards.
Sarah Buckley - 3rd place in Chemistry
Kaleb Cunningham - Honorable Mention in Chemistry and the Navy Base Award for best representation of a STEM project as well as a Navy gold coin.
Zach Frimet - 2nd place in Environmental Science and the Bay County Islamic Society Award
Madalyn Graff-McBeth - 2nd place in Biochemistry
Darcy Hawes - 3rd place in Physics
Tyler Lyon - American Meteorological Association Award
Taylor Warren - 2nd place in Engineering
We are so proud of our STEM students at SMS - go Sharks !
Math Counts News!
We are extremely proud of our MATHLETES this year. TROPHIES are awarded to the top 3 teams in each grade level and MEDALS are awarded to the top 10 individuals in each grade level. Surfside received 3 trophies and 6 medals which means we placed in the top 3 teams and top 10 individuals in each grade level out of about 200 students. WOW!!!!!! Coaches-Mrs. Spires and Ms. Cerney are so very proud of all the time and effort these Mathletes put into preparing for this competition. IT ISN’T EASY!
6th grade won 2nd Place at District competition! Team members were: Michael Graff, Marcus Kurth, Zach Frimet, and Vincent Nguyen. Individual 6th grade awards went to: Michael Graff-2nd place and Marcus Kurth-10th place
7th grade won 3rd Place at District competition! Team members were: Merritt Reece, Jordan Webb, Max Hughson, and William Collins. Individual 7th grade awards went to: Merritt Reece 4th place and William Collins 7th place
8th grade won 3rd Place at District competition! Team members were: Madisyn Flammia, Jacqueline Tran, Jesse Chintanadilok, and Zachary Bull. Individual 8th grade awards went to: Madisyn Flammia-4th place and Alexis Hood- 7th place
2015 Sunshine Reading Challenge
Here’s what students will have to do: 1. Sign Up. 2. Read 3 Sunshine Books on this year’s list. 3. Complete Book Venn Diagram that compares all three books. 4. Complete 10 reading log questions per book (30 questions in all). 5. Vote for favorite book in Media Center. 6. Completed by March 20th for students. Please contact Mrs. Dupree for details and sign up in the Media Center.
Odyssey of the Mind
Surfside Odyssey of the Mind Emerald Coast Region will be sending seven teams to competition this year. The competition is Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 in Crestview FL at Shoal River Middle School. Surfside has an excellent record for success. We have always gone to state and placed 1st-6th every year. THAT’S THE LAST 14 YEARS! We went to World Finals twice. Look out world here we come!
Leo Club
In observation of Heart Awareness month, the Leo club will be sponsoring a “Red Day” on February 6th. Students may pay $1 to wear a red shirt. All money raised will go to the American Red Cross.
Show your Valentine how much you care by sending them a “Love Gram”! The LEO Club will be selling “Love Gram” lollipops ($1 each) during lunch February 9th thru February 13th. The “Love Grams” will be delivered during Reef class on Friday February 13th.
Kiwanis
Show your school spirit with SMS inspired Jamberry nail polish! Order from any Kiwanis member or online @ crystalpcbjams.jamberrynails.net. 20% of sales go toward Kiwanis Club community service projects. ***Surfside school spirit nail polish can be viewed on order forms only.***
PRE-ORDER YOUR YEARBOOK!
Yearbooks are still available for pre-order at the discounted price of $40 for a limited time. Prices will go up after Spring Break. Students can purchase yearbooks online at Jostens.com or in Ms. Land's room (cash or check made payable to Surfside). Order yours today!!! We will sell out at the end of the year!
Break out those dancing shoes once again! The Valentine’s dance will be held on February 13th from 6 to 8pm in the cafeteria. We will crown the grade level kings and queens at the dance. You won’t want to miss this fun-filled evening with your friends. Tickets are $5.00 and will be on sale Feb. 9th – 13th during lunch. You will also be able to buy tickets at the door. A reminder to all parents of students attending the dance to be at the school by 7:45pm to ensure your child is picked up promptly by 8. If parents would like to volunteer to serve refreshments or donate food items, please email Mrs. Bailey
Smile!!
Spring Pictures will be on Thursday, February 19th in the gym. Spring Picture Proofs will be sent home in March and payments will need to be returned before Spring Break. Students may wear a spring outfit of their choice, as long as it is school appropriate. More information about dress code for picture day will be sent home the week before pictures are taken.
Thank you to all who have been sending in your box tops. We continue to collect Box Tops for Education throughout the year and request you please be sure to check the expiration dates as we do not get credit for those that have expired. Our choir students check and count all the Box Tops that come in. Putting them in zip lock bags of 50 would make the counting so much easier and would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again for helping our school raise much needed funds thru the Box Tops for Education Program!
HATS OFF TO OUR SCOPE MAGAZINE SPONSORS
We would like to thank the following businesses who provided the Language Arts department with Scope magazines - Gilmore Resorts, Burke & Blue Attorneys, Frank Wood Plumbing & Construction, Frimet to Z Auto Center, and Sand & Suds.
Scope magazines build core language arts skills through thrilling content in a range of genres. They also help to build higher order thinking skills. Using the activities provided by Scope is a fun way to learn. And after all, shouldn't learning be fun?!?!
COACHES CORNER
From Coach Baha
Congratulations to the following girls who made the 2015 Soccer Team: Madi Flammia, Anna Merrill Goolsby, Taylor Lehtio, Rachel Malko, Jamie McHugh, Sahara Moon, Anna Morros, Bethany Wohlford, Caroline Adair, Victoria Eagerton, Reagan Erbe, Alisa Popova, Brianna Turner, Emilee Wiser, Nixon Erbe, Christi Greier, Madi Greier, Darcy Hawes and Gracie Mae Hundley. A huge thank you to our managers: Callie Altman and Edward Gladin.
A schedule of our games can be found on the attached calendar as well as the Surfside website under Athletics and Girls' Soccer.
From Coach McGruder
Mandatory parent meeting for cheerleading tryouts for the 2015-16 year will be held February 23, 2015 at 6:00 in the Surfside Cafeteria. Tryouts are scheduled for the week of March 16-20 after school in the gymnasium.
For 8th graders going into High school there will be a mandatory parent meeting on March 2nd in the Arnold High School Media Center at 6pm. High school tryouts will be March 30, 31, and April 1, 2 (Time TBD). Flyers will be sent home. If you have any questions, please contact Coach McGruder.
HUGE Congratulations to the Cheer Squad and the Stunt Group (Ashley, Aleena, Emma, and Ava) for their first place wins at the 2015 Emerald Coast Cheer Competition! Your dedication and commitment truly paid off. We are extremely proud!
From Coach Wright and Coach Blair
Break out those track shoes because track season is rapidly approaching. Our first practice will be held right after school on February 23rd. Any student wishing to go out for track MUST have an up to date physical and consent packet prior to this practice. If you are not sure your packet is up to date, please contact your previous coach. If you have not played a sport this year, you can pick up a new packet in the front office.
From Coach Stem
The boys’ basketball team opened the 2015 season with a victory in the jamboree. They defeated Bay Haven by a score of 21-17. They followed up with a home 39-31 victory on January 27th against North Bay Haven. The "Silent Night" game was a huge success. In the next home game the sharks suffered a heartbreaking 41-36 defeat to Mowat. The Sharks will now travel to Brown on February 3rd and to Jinks on February 5th, Surfside will return home on February 10th to play Everitt. This game will be the "Camo game." We will then travel to beach rival Breakfast Point Academy on February 12th before wrapping up the regular season against Bay Haven at home on February 17th. The final game will be "Super Hero Day” and we will recognize the 8th grade cheerleaders at the game. Admission to all games is $3. Come out and support your Sharks!