The eScoop
October 20, 2017
The eScoop is a weekly publication of the Shaker Heights Middle School PTO.  
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SMS Weekly Calendar
SAVE THE DATE  

October 28 | Fall Play, 2pm
November 1 | Tour Your Schools
November 1 | PTO Meeting, 7pm
November 2 | Orchestra Concert, 7pm

Visit the  Online Calendar  and filter by Shaker Heights Middle School for more upcoming events.
From Mr. Glasner
Hello Shaker families!
Thank you to all of our parents and families for attending parent/teacher conferences this past week. We always appreciate having the opportunity to discuss your child’s performance and progress with you.

Come see the Middle School’s production of Our Town next Friday, October 27, at 7pm, or Saturday, October 28, at 2pm in our auditorium. Admission is free and our SMS actors have put on a wonderful fall play!

October is National Bullying Prevention Month and the SMS Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) is sponsoring some great activities to help everyone be kind to and accepting of each other. See below for more information.

The first quarter ends next Friday, October 27. Please support your students as they spend the next week making sure that all work is turned in and working to keep their grades up!

This is a reminder that Halloween is on Tuesday, October 31. As in the past, we will be adhering to the following guidelines:
  • Students are permitted to dress up, but may not wear masks and are not permitted to bring in any toy weapons, real weapons, or items that can be confused as a weapon.
  • Costumes must adhere to the dress code and must be appropriate for school (for example, no vulgar language, no diapers, etc.).
  • Students are not permitted to distribute candy to each other in school.

Finally, I would like to remind all parents and guardians to check your school food account balances regularly. For balances that are low or negative, please submit payment through PayForIt immediately. Please call the main office with any questions.

I look forward to seeing everyone soon!
Sincerely,

From Your PTO Co-Presidents
A big thank you to Mary Ellen Miller who chaired the middle school book fair this week! She is an expert on the book fair and we appreciate her knowledge, hard work and many hours to make this event a success! We also want to thank our librarian, Mrs. Quarles, for her dedication and passion to literacy!  

Our next PTO meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 1. We are excited to give you a sneak peek into our guest speaker for that night. Dr. Tameka Taylor, owner of Compass Consulting, a diversity consulting business based here in Cleveland, will facilitate a dialogue around race, inclusion, and our generation of middle school children—Generation Z. Through research, activities, and frank discussion, parents will take a deep dive and receive tips into how to have a discussion with your son and daughter on the state of race and inclusion in today’s modern times. 

We hope to see many of you at the meeting! 

SMS News & Events
Thanks for Making the Book Fair a Success!

We raised $500 to buy books for our classrooms! Thanks to all who bought books at our fair this year, and a special thank you to the volunteers who gave up their time to make our fair a success!

If you missed the fair, or a book you wanted, it’s not too late! Order online until October 21.
Bullying Prevention &
Awareness Week

October is National Bullying Prevention Month and the SMS Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) is inviting you to join the cause by participating in Bullying Prevention and Awareness Week, October 23–27. During this week, GSA is asking you to spread the word to stomp out bullying and unite in kindness, acceptance and inclusion.   Students will be participating in activities/discussions during Community Circles to continue the conversation about bullying prevention, teaching kindness and seeing things from a different perspective. Here's a link to the suggested activities.

Also, October 25 is Unity Day! Unity Day is the signature event of National Bullying Prevention Month and has been recognized in the United States since 2011. To participate in Unity Day, individuals, schools, communities, and businesses wear or display orange to show support for students who have been bullied and we’re asking the SMS community to join the cause! GSA will be decorating the hallways and cafeteria with displays of kindness and support and the main hallway will be home to a compliment wall where students and staff are invited to post a compliment. 

Change begins with you, so let's continue the discussion, stand together, and stomp out bullying!

Shaker CommUnity Market
~ nourishing, connecting, and unlocking the potential of our community...one market at a time ~

Thursday, October 26, 4pm–6pm
Woodbury main gym and door L hallway near parking lot

Join your Shaker neighbors for an evening of live music, resource and information-sharing, a collaborative art project, fresh produce from local partnering farms, cooking demonstrations and samplings, a pumpkin carving contest, and much more.  Look for flyers in student backpacks for more information. 

Parking available on Woodbury Road, perimeter lots and streets. Don't miss it!
Orchestra News

Shaker Middle School Orchestra played the National Anthem at the CAVS pre-season opener. What an amazing experience and the students delivered with a fantastic performance. Here are two links to the performance from different angles.

The picture above is from the “backstage” area where we saw some players come in and others were warming up on the court. Ms. Sharpe bumped into Khloe Kardashian, oops!

Thank you to more than fifty family members who came down to support our Middle School Orchestra. We had a great time at the game. GO CAVS!

CONCERT SEASON IS JUST AHEAD! 
Our November 2 concert is just around the corner! Time to try on those old clothes to see if they still fit. If they don’t please consider donating them by bringing them in to Ms. Sharpe or Mrs. Clouser. 

Concert Dress
  • Black pants (belts too)
  • Solid white blouse or button down shirt
  • Black socks
  • Black dress shoes
  • Dark neck tie for boys

Dates   All take place at the SMS Auditorium and start at 7pm. Students should be tuned and ready for warm up at 6:30.
    
Thursday, November 2   | 7th and 8th Grade Orchestras
Monday, February 12  |  7th and 8th Grade Orchestras
Monday, April 30  | 7th and 8th Grade Orchestras
Saturday, May 12   | 8th Music in the Parks. Adjudicated Contest and Cedar Point. All day event. Details TBA.


We have a new Facebook page for the Middle School & Woodbury Orchestra programs. Please “like” us.
Box Tops

Welcome back! SMS has been very fortunate to have amazing parents and students who are diligent about collecting Box Tops. If you have a stash of Box Tops that you have been collecting over the summer, please send them into the office. Each Box Top collected earns the school 10 cents. That adds up quickly! 
Heinen's Teaming Up for Education

Don't forget: when you use your Tasteful Rewards Card throughout the school year, Heinen's will donate 1% to Shaker Middle School. Be sure to select SMS as your preferred school this year, either online at Heinens.com/schools or in-store at the Customer Service Desk.
Helpful Links
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