A Message from the Principal
 
Willow Springs Middle School Principal Newsletter - December 6, 2018

 
 
 
 
 
 


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Dear WSMS Parents and Guardians,

WSMS is finalizing our plans to wrap up the 1st semester.  It is hard to believe we are approaching the halfway mark of the 2018-2019 school year. Our teachers and students have had a great week in preparation for next week's final exams. Remember that final exams begin next Friday, December 14th.  Please find information below about final exams, as well as other upcoming events at WSMS. Tomorrow, our front office will be closing at 4:30. If you need immediate assistance after 4;30, please feel free to contact the LISD administration building at 469-742-8000 or you can call my cell at 214-293-9938. Have a great weekend.  

WSMS Needs You
Would you like to help out at Willow Springs?  Please view this short video on how you can help out at WSMS during final exams.  



2018 Fall Final Exam Scheduled Time Slots for the CAT
December 14th  8:50-10:23 & 2:32-4:00
December 17th   9:45-11:13 & 1:41-3:09
December 18th   8:50-10:23 & 12:51-2:19
December 19th    8:50-10:48 & 10:52-12:50
 
We would appreciate your help in volunteering in the CAT to support our students.  To sign for one of these times and/or dates, please click here.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Center for Academic Training (CAT)?

  • What is the purpose of the CAT? The CAT is designed to assist all students by providing before and after school support in all subject areas. It is also where all students with testing accommodations such as small group testing, oral reading of exams, etc. take their test during class time.
  • On average, how many students use the CAT during semester exams? On the testing side alone, we will see approximately 330 students during the week of final exams who have some type of testing accommodation. This number does not include the students without testing accommodations who utilize the CAT during finals weeks.
  • Who else helps students?Teachers and Instructional Aides are available to help; however, their priority is helping students in class during instructional time.
  • Does a volunteer need previous knowledge of an exam before they arrive? Volunteers do not need any special training or knowledge to help in the CAT. Volunteers will be reading the questions and answer choices on an exam to a small group of 1-5 students.  The students are not permitted to have help understanding any of the content on the exam, so the volunteer would strictly be reading verbatim from their own copy of the exam.



Kent Messer
Principal
Willow Springs Middle School
1101 West Lucas Rd, Lucas 75002
Office: 469-742-8417
Mobile: 214-293-9938
@WSMSLovejoyISD
#wsmslovejoy


Technology Survey - December 3rd-19th
Lovejoy ISD is partnering with BrightBytes, an educational research organization, to learn more about our students' school and home technology use and the impact it has on instruction. We are reaching out to ask you to take part in the Technology & Learning questionnaire. This is a semi-annual initiative, and your participation is essential in helping us form a more complete picture of the role technology plays in your students' learning.

Please know that all of your responses will remain anonymous to protect your privacy. Please click here to begin the survey.


Advisory Schedule - Friday, December 7th
On Friday, December 7th, we will be on an advisory/activity bell schedule.  For a copy of that schedule, please click here .


8th Grade Yearbook Recognition Ads - DEADLINE, DECEMBER 7TH
It's that time of year to purchase recognition ads for our 8th graders in the yearbook for this school year. All recognition ads must be paid for and submitted online by Friday 12-7. Click here to create and pay for your 8 th grade recognition ad is:
 
The attached flyer will help explain the recognition ad process in more detail. Note all recognition ads will be created online this year.  Should you have any questions, please contact Kate LaForge at catherine_laforge@lovejoyisd.net .


New! LHS School Store Offers Special Holiday Shopping Night - December 12
Are you looking for spirit wear for people on your holiday shopping list, but don't have time to shop during school hours? You are in luck! The LHS School Store will be open from 6:00 - 8:00 PM on Wednesday, December 12. We hope you will join us for the special shopping event.

Don't forget... the school stores, located at Lovejoy High School and Willow Springs Middle School, are getting ready for the cooler weather.  Don't miss special sales as they make room for the new season.

All Gildan and Comfort Color Short-Sleeved T-Shirts - 50% off!


Flapjacks for Finals - Thursday, December 13th
As a middle school tradition, we will be kicking off final exam week with "Flapjacks for Finals" on Thursday, December 13th from 8:00 a.m. - 8:50 a.m. in the cafeteria. Please encourage your son or daughter to stop by the cafeteria for hot cakes.


Chick Fil A in the cafeteria - Thursday, December 13th
Next Thursday Chick Fil A will be available in the cafeteria during all lunches.  Sandwiches are $4 and with two sides it is $5.

Students will need to have money on their lunch accounts or bring cash.  If this purchase will bring their account negative, they will not be able to charge this to their accounts, as this is considered an extra.


Principal's Coffee - Friday, December 14th
I would like to invite you to our upcoming Principal's Coffee, on Friday, December 14th at 9:00 a.m. The Principal's Coffee is a forum discussion for all 7th and 8th grade parents.  Topic for this session will be Test Performance and Final Exam Prep.



Early Release/Student Holiday
Just a reminder that we will have full days each day until December 19th. Due to exams the high school has half days on December 14th-19th. However, our only half day is December 19th. Students will be taking their 4th period final exam from 8:50 a.m.-10:48 a.m. and 8th period exam and lunch from 10:52 a.m.-12:50 p.m.  School will dismiss at 12:50 p.m.

Thursday, December 20 - Friday, January 4 is Winter Break. School will resume on Monday, January 7.



Campus Information and Reminders
Safety Corner
For security purposes, all exterior doors to the campus are locked during the day.  If your student is dropped off early or picked up late for tutorials, practice, rehearsal, etc., please encourage them to stay inside the building when the weather is cold.  Once they exit the building in the evening, the doors will lock behind them. During the winter months, please encourage your student to wait inside until you arrive. They can wait in the rotunda in the front hall at WSMS.


Inclement Weather
School closures will be determined based on safety. In the event of a school closure, notifications will be announced on the district's website, Facebook, and Twitter pages. We will also announce any closure through the media and by phone. Links to our social media accounts are shown below.

Lovejoy ISD App
The Lovejoy ISD App is available for download on both Apple and Android devices.  To download the app for Apple devices, please click here .  To download the app for Android devices, please click here .  





Twitter and Facebook
Are you following the district on Twitter ?  Have you liked us on Facebook ?  Join us on social media for news and announcements.


Final Exam Reviews
Teachers provided students with a copy of the final exam review December 7th. In addition, an electronic copy will be posted in Google Classrooms and on the WSMS website under "Parent Resources." Teachers will be going over their review in class prior to the final exam. Each review will provide vocabulary, concepts, and/or skills needed to be successful on the final. Students will be expected to take the information from the review and apply it to questions on the exam that include graphs, charts, maps, diagrams, and excerpts. These application based questions provide a foundation for the level of thinking that aligns with the higher level thinking of our state standards in middle school and high school. Rather than studying the review for 2-3 hours the night before the final exam, we encourage students to prepare for each exam by studying for approximately 15-20 minutes a day. In addition, students should refer to notes, handouts, assignments, and their textbook to support their learning and preparation. For an example of a final exam review topic and how it might be tested on the final exam in each of the core subjects, please click here (these questions are from the 7th grade curriculum in ELAR, math, science, and social studies).


Final Exam Grades
Final Exams are a summative assessment over material that has been covered during the first semester. Teachers will be closing out their grades for the first semester once final exams have been completed. As a result, students will not have the opportunity to re-take their final exam. The summative data from final exams will provide teachers with a road map for instructional planning and intervention during the spring semester. As the semester comes to a close, please continue to work with your son or daughter to stay on top of their school responsibilities. This time of year is traditionally very busy for our students and families, both often get pulled in several different directions as we approach the holidays. If you or your student needs any assistance or support with academic or behavioral support, please partner with our teachers, counselors, and administrators. Let's work together to ensure that our students finish strong in their first semester of learning.
 

WSMS Orchestra Student Performs With The Greater Dallas Youth Philharmonic Orchestra
Each year, the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra (GDYO) offers concerto competitions for four of the ensembles. These competitions cultivate solo performances, encourage personal excellence, and acknowledge the high degree of talent and hard work exhibited by the musicians in this organization.

WSMS 8th grade student Ayana Dalley was named the winner of this concerto competition and performed Symphonie Espagnole (movement 1) by Lalo with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the GDYO. She performed this piece on Sunday, November 11. Ayana was born in Wales, UK and moved to Dallas when she was one year old. She began studying violin at the age of 5 with Yukako Jones and currently studies with Jina Lee-Aleman and Lucas Aleman. A member of the local orchestras since she was 8, this season she is a member of the GDYO. At Willow Springs Middle School Ayana is concert master of the Chamber Orchestra. When she is not playing her violin, Ayana is passionate about ballet. She has been a student at the Ballet Academy of Texas in Coppell for 8 years and is currently an apprentice with the Ballet Ensemble of Texas, their official company.





PALS Food Drive for Vogel Alcove
The PALS would like to thank the WSMS student body for their help in the Vogel Alcove Bye-Bye bag food collection. Thanks to your help WSMS will be donating an abundant amount of items for Vogel Aclove to use through the holiday season.


Results of our Thanksgiving Box Food Drive
WSMS NJHS students organized a Thanksgiving Box Food Drive, and they want to thank students, staff, and parents for making this year's food drive a huge success!  Thanks to your generosity, WSMS contributed 2,431 pounds of food and 42 gift cards to Allen Community Outreach. ACO reports that they were able to serve 1,250 due to donations this year.  WSMS NJHS students want to thank everyone who donated food items or gift cards to this year's drive!


Students feeling under the weather?
As you know, it is prime cold and flu season. To help best manage our students and to keep in line with the policy in the Student Handbook, if students are not feeling well at school, they need to be checked out through the school clinic. The student must be fever free (Temperature of 99.9 or less for 24 hours without the use of over the counter medications to keep the temperature down) and must NOT have vomited or had diarrhea in the last 24 hours. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.


Reporting an Incident at WSMS
One of our top priorities at Willow Springs Middle School is to ensure the safety of all of our students.  Our most important asset in this is the eyes and ears our students can provide us on campus. We will begin using the Safe Schools Alert System this year for students and parents to report incidents they are aware of happening.  You can access the system by going to www.lovejoyisd.net .  Under Quick Links click on "REPORT IT!"  You will have four ways to submit an incident.  Furthermore, you will receive an access code to follow the progression of how an incident is being handled.  


LISD Calendar
Please go here for LISD calendars.



Athletics
 
8th Grade Girls Basketball vs. Wylie Burnett
A Team:48-12
B Team: 43-16
C Team: 24-20
 
8th Grade Boys Basketball vs Wylie Burnett
A Team: 43-39
B Team: 41-05
C Team: 32-12
 
7th Grade Girls Basketball vs. Rockwall Utley
A Team: 38-27
B Team: 29-4
C Team: 24-13
 
7th Grade Boys Basketball vs Rockwall Utley
A Team: 39-33
B Team: 31-16
C Team: 29-18




Wrestling Update
I am glad to report that we had a long but productive showing at this past weekend's A-Town Showdown.  Here are the results:
 
 
Willow Springs A-town Showdown results:
4th :  Reid Jacob, Jackson Dubree, Luke Richards, Andrew Kotecki, Mathias Alling, Nate Doelling

3rd :  Jaden Bennett, Ashton Edwards, Mercher Ashley, Koen Kramer, Clay Diercks, Aidan Scanlon, Dylan Hernandez, Jack Terwege, Alec Miksa, Luke Hardwick, Corey Soliz

2nd : Braxton Aubel, Hudson Thomas, Kollin Yow, Cale McNeese, Blake Redding, Michael Modine, Isaac Maashio

Champions:  Jackson Lambert, Kyle McClure, Mason Wallace, Eva Underwood
 
All of our wrestlers gained some valuable experience and we look forward to tomorrow when we get to compete again.




WSMS Cross Country Results
We had another great race on Tuesday.  This group was challenged them to place better than the previous meet as well as beat their time trial time... and we had many who achieved both!  Below are the results from the meet.
 
MEDAL/RIBBON EARNERS:
 
7TH GRADE GIRLS - ANOTHER PERFECT SCORE - 15 POINTS - TEAM CHAMPS
Kailey Littlefield - Meet champ
Sara Morefield - 2nd
Gracyn Thompson - 3rd
Cambry Patrick - 4th
Taylor Person - 5th
Brielle Scholle - 9th
Abigail Godfrey - 10th
**Katelyn Helfand - 11th
 
 
7TH GRADE BOYS - 27 POINTS - TEAM CHAMPS
Colin Milliken - Meet champ
Luke Wright - 2nd
Andrew Poulton - 6th
John Witherspoon - 7th
** Maximo Sanchez - 11th
 
 
8TH GRADE GIRLS - 19 POINTS - TEAM CHAMPS --- EIGHT GIRLS IN THE TOP 10!!!!! WOW!!!!
Amy Morefield - Meet champ
Callan Snider - 2nd
Chloe Schaeffer - 3rd
Dresden Colston -6th
Emily Reyna- 7th
Emma Smith - 8th
Genevieve Jones - 9th
Morgan Streeter - 10th
**Ashlyn Dubois - 11th
 
 
8TH GRADE BOYS - 39 POINTS - 2nd Place
Logan Pedersen - Meet champ
Hayden Day - 7th
Devon Larimer - 9th
Jack McClure - 10th






Spring Tennis Tryouts, January 14-18
Students interested in trying out for the WSMS Tennis Team this spring, please see below for important information about the tryout process.  
  • Students interested in trying out will participate in a scheduled 2 day tryout at 7:30am at LHS during the week of 1/14-1/18.
  • The tryout will consist of 2 matches against 2 players of the same age level and skill level that are currently on the team.
  • Skill level evaluation will consist of forehands, backhands, serves, volleys, and match play.
  • Coach Cherry and Coach Davis will evaluate all players and base their decision on the players skill level and the scores that they have against players who are currently on the team. During match play games, Coach Cherry and Coach Davis will evaluate forehands, backhand, serves, volleys, and overall match play ability.  
  • There is not a certain number of athletes that we will keep.  The final team number will be determined based on the level and skill set of current players and players that are trying out.  
  • To schedule a day and time for a two match tryout with current players, please contact Coach Davis at will_davis@lovejoyisd.net to schedule.  Once he receives your email, he will schedule two matches with two separate players of equal skill set that are currently participating in the WSMS tennis program.  
  • Please contact Coach Davis at will_davis@lovejoyisd.net if you need additional information.


WSMS PTA

Volunteers: Final Exam schedule and Test Readers Needed
This year has flown by and Final Exams are right around the corner. We need volunteers to help our students achieve their best work in the Center for Academic Training (CAT). The Final Exam test schedule below is available for you to find the perfect time to volunteer and read an exam to a student. The CAT has two wonderful teachers, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. May, who will be on hand to guide you and explain any questions you may have. Each time slot has 2 volunteer opportunities. If you have any concerns if volunteering in the CAT is a good fit for you, please do not hesitate to reach out to Kasey Havens, kasey.havens@yahoo.com or Jennifer Archer,
 
Final Exam Schedule:
Friday, December 14th from 8:45 -10:30 and 2:30- 4:00pm
Monday, December 17th from 9:40-11:15 and 1:40 - 3:10pm
Tuesday, December 18th from 8:45 - 10:30 and 12:50 - 2:20pm
Wednesday, December 19th from 8:45 - 10:50am and 10:50 - 12:00pm
 
To sign up to read for final exams please sign up here :
 
Testing Dates with volunteers are also needed Friday, November 30th, Thursday, December 6th, 7th as well as Thursday, December 11th and Friday, December 12th a direct sign can be found here: WSMS CAT volunteers December '18


Kasey Havens
WSMS PTA President 2018-2019
kasey.havens@yahoo.com
 

Circle of Partners



On behalf of Lovejoy ISD we would like to thank Jones Solar and Roofing for participating in the Lovejoy ISD Circle of Partners . We thank Jones Solar and Roofing for their support of Lovejoy ISD and the important value they place on the education of our children.

Chadd Jones of Jones Solar and Roofing is pledging 10% of their profits on roofing and solar work completed in the Lovejoy ISD. Jones Solar and Roofing provides free inspections of your residential or commercial roof and property. They also offer free estimates on Solar/ Battery and Energy Efficiency upgrades to your home or business. Their website is: https://jonessolar.com/ or you may reach them by phone at 214.412.7444 for residential or commercial properties. Members of his family have been supporters of the Lovejoy ISD since 1979. Chadd and Liesl Thompson Jones are the proud parents of Puster Elementary 1st grader Maxwell.




Lovejoy ISD is pleased to welcome Tutoring 101 to the Circle of Partners. Tutoring 101 and Lovejoy ISD have formed a revenue generating/sharing partnership to bring their services to Lovejoy families. Please see below for several offerings.

Private tutoring is available for students in grades K-12 in all subjects. Tutoring 101 recommends once a week tutoring for an hour to increase grades and learn subject matter more deeply. A once a week appointment usually results in an increase of one letter grade or more. Turn those C's into B's.

What is your SAT/ACT score? Want a better one? What do you need it to be?
Invest in a PSAT/SAT/ACT Prep program not just a class. Tutoring 101 helps high scorers get top scores, average students raise their scores and poor test takers achieve the scores colleges want. Tutoring 101 students have earned admissions and scholarships, and have saved thousands of tuition dollars every year.


Classes are conveniently located at Lovejoy High School. Call 972.359.0222 or email Robyn@Tutoring101.com for additional information.


 

District and Other News

Foundation for Lovejoy Schools
Denim and Diamonds - The Party - We Need Your Help
We need your help to make this year's Denim and Diamonds the best yet. How can you help?

Sponsor - the goal is to raise $100,000 in sponsorships. There are many levels available. Click here for options and/or contact The Party Chairperson, Kelli Litchenburg for additional information.

Donate - trips, parties, and fun items are needed for the silent and live auctions. Click here for the donation form. Please note - the donation deadline has been extended.




Purchase Tickets - Tickets are on sale now for $135 and will increase to $150 tomorrow. Click here to buy your tickets today!





Kendra Scott Gives Back Party - Thursday, December 13
Benefitting the Foundation for Lovejoy Schools




New! Foundation's Annual Appeal Reaches $190,400
$9,600 is needed to close the gap toward the 2018 goal of $200,000. Now is the time to make your year-end tax-deductible gift, which will impact the education of every Lovejoy student. You may click here to donate.


New! $27,000+ Received Through Corporate Matching
The Foundation for Lovejoy Schools has received the following Corporate Matching gifts for the 2018 Annual Appeal:

Texas Instruments - $9,037
Toyota - $7,587
Alliance Data - $2,510
Samsung - $1,150
Microsoft - $635
Various Other Companies - $6,231


Click here to see a list of companies that match donations and check with your HR Department for Employee Portal to determine how to submit your matching gift request.


New! Lovejoy Men's Tailgate Tournament Raises $8,000
Around 80 Lovejoy men participated in the Foundation's annual Tailgate Tournament. Congratulations to the 2018 Tailgate Champions: Brad Havens and James Miller, team Lovejoy HVAC. The tournament generated approximately $8,000 for the Foundation. Thank you to John and Kris Dunaway for hosting the event and thank you to event sponsors Renfrow-Dunaway Group, Fable Security, Lee Lewis Construction, Lovejoy HVAC, Chick-fil-A Twin Creeks and Stacy Road.




Lovejoy GT Holiday Social - December 10th