Roadrunner's Digest
Mrs. Rivas-Smith's Newsletter for the Farquhar Community
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Message from the Principal
There are only ten school days left until winter break! Thank you for your continued support and partnership as we wrap up 2023. Our community is blessed with so much support and commitment to help our Roadrunners reach their full potential. We are stronger together! During this holiday season we wish everyone in our diverse and vibrant community a joyous holiday season filled with warmth, peace, and shared moments of celebrations.
In this week's newsletter you will find:
- This week's bell schedules
- This week's Roadrunner Shout Outs
- NEW: Congratulations to our Cross Country Roadrunners
- TIMELY: Support Dickens Day for Seventh Grade
- Personal Body Safety Lessons December 12
- Yearbook Sale, Early Bird Discount
- NEW: Lost and Found
- NEW: Seventh Grade Parent Chaperones Needed
- TIMELY: Instrumental Music Updates
- POMS Clinic @ Springbrook HS
- Support FMS by shopping at Harris Teeter
PTA Corner Updates
- TIMELY: Tuesday PTA Special Guest "The Screens Between Us"
- NEW: Sweet Treats for FMS Staff
- NEW: Healthy Minds Initiative
- NEW: Support Girl Scouts Silver Award
Need to get back to an previous edition of the Digest? Find them in the archive on our school's website: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/farquharms/.
Schedules for December 11-15
We will operate with the main bell schedule December 11-14, then the Open ROCK schedule on December 15 to celebrate a job well done at interims!
Main Bell Schedule: December 11-14
Open ROCK Schedule: December 15
After School Activities December 11-15
This Week's Roadrunner Shout Outs!
Thank you to the following Roadrunners who have made a positive impact on our learning community!
- Ms Rub
- Ms. A. Williams
- Erin Yi
- Ms. Merchant
- Mr. Rodriguez
- Mr. Davis
Would you like to recognize a student, community member, or staff member?
Congratulations Cross Country Roadrunners!
On December 2nd, the following students competed in the AAU Cross Country National Championship with their team placing 4th overall. Please congratulate the following students when you see them in the hallway for their individual placements in the race. Dimitrios Rementelas (11th place) Ioannis Rementelas (14th place), Avery Smith(15th place, metal not pictured), and Alexander Zirkelbach (12th place).
TIMELY: Support Dickens Day for Seventh Grade
One of Farquhar's cherished traditions, Dickens Day, a day of service for our seventh grade students, is approaching quickly! Please review this linked letter for details about the vision for this event and how you can support. If you would like to donate supplies for this event, you can go directly to the Signup Genius Wish List.
If you want to learn more, take a few moments to see how last year's seventh graders blessed their local community with their service projects! (Watch video)
Personal Body Safety Lessons December 12
Montgomery County Public Schools is taking an active role in the prevention of child abuse and neglect through early prevention and intervention education.
On December 12, students will be receiving a lesson on the topic of child abuse and neglect through their advisory classes. The lessons are known as Personal Body Safety Lessons (PBSL) and their purpose is to help students to:
Develop knowledge, decision making skills, and behaviors which promote safe living in the home, school, and community;
Learn skills for self-protection and identifying child abuse and neglect;
Learn skills for asking for help for self and others and practice reporting to a trusted adult
Engage in positive and appropriate interactions with peers and adults.
If you have any questions or concerns about the topics that will be covered, please contact your child’s grade level counselor.
Yearbook Sales, Early Bird Discount!
Yearbook sales are up and ready to be sold on the Walsworth Website. They can be purchased at yearbookforever.com , when parents buy them now, they will be cheaper. The price is $35 from now until 12/23/24 when they will be $40.
NEW: Lost and Found
We have a large amount of clothing and other items in our lost and found! There are a variety of coats, sweaters, water bottles, lunchboxes, and more. These items will be organized and placed on display in the cafeteria this week during grade level lunches. We encourage any students who may be missing clothing items to check our lost and found. Items remaining on December 15 will be donated.
NEW: Parent Chaperones Needed for Finance Park!
Preliminary planning for the JA Finance Park field trip is underway! If you are the parent of a seventh grade student, and you would like to support the field trip to JA Finance Park this year, please email Ms. Page. (Miya_V_Page@mcpsmd.org). This field trip is taking place on March 14 and 18, 2024.
TIMELY: Instrumental Music Updates
6-8th Grade Band Field Trip 12/12
Permission slips went home this week and are due 11/28. You can view and print from this link if you lost your paper copy.
Band & Orchestra Winter Concert is Thursday, December 14th at 7:00 p.m. Students report for warm-up at 6:30 p.m. All black concert attire for this performance. Jenny_M_Lipford@mcpsmd.org with questions about this required performance.
Performance Opportunities for Guitar Students
Guitar 1 & 2 students have several performance opportunities next week. Please check the email from Mrs. Lipford sent through Synergy.
POMS Clinics @ Springbrook HS
Springbrook Poms will have clinics Thursday, December 21st and Friday, December 22nd from 5-6pm. The cost to participate is $5. Families can pay at the door with cash the day of the event.
An online permission form/emergency form must also be completed for each child participating. This form can be found at:
https://forms.gle/3c85PbX15nBXMucb7
Families should contact Coach S at Nahal_Sojdehei@mcpsmd.org with any questions or concerns. You can also find information with links on our Instagram @Springbrookpoms
We look forward to supporting the Springbrook Community together.
LINK YOUR VIC CARD - LET'S GET 50 FAMILIES!
The Together In Education program gives schools a chance to earn funds when you link your VIC card and shop Harris Teeter.
Any VIC member can link their card to a school.
Link your VIC card to support Farquhar Middle School. Simply sign in to your account, search for Farquhar, and you're done!
Harris Teeter donated $376 to FMS last year with only 26 families participating. Thank you for helping us reach our goal of 50 families this year!
PTA Corner
TIMELY: Special Guest Speaker on Tuesday: The Screens Between Us
Please join the December 12, 2023 PTA meeting at 6PM via ZOOM (link below)
Lisa B. Cline, the creator of the Student Data Privacy Project, will discuss parenting challenges in the internet, social media and technology era and present “The Screen Between Us”.
Please bring your questions and be ready to participate in a lively discussion!
Por favor, el día 12 de diciembre, 2023 a las 6:00 pm, únase a la reunión del PTA (Padres, maestros, administradores) vía ZOOM (el enlace está en la parte de abajo)
Lisa B Cline, creadora del Proyecto de Privacidad de Datos del Estudiante, discutirá los desafíos de la crianza de los hijos en Internet, las redes sociales y la era tecnológica
en el presente. "La Pantalla Entre Nosotros".
Por favor, prepare sus preguntas y dudas, este listo para participar activamente durante la discusión!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86378978703
Meeting ID: 863 7897 8703
NEW: Sweet treats for our FMS Teachers and Staff
Help the FMS PTA by sharing some of your favorite holiday treats with our awesome FMS teachers and staff. If you are interested, please sign up here or just drop off your baked goods on Tuesday, 12/19 7:30 am-3:00 p.m. in the front office. The PTA will bring boxes to FMS so that the teachers can select a sample of baked goods to take home with them over the holidays. Thank you for your support.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F4CA4A82BABFC1-46694602-sweet#/
NEW: PTA Healthy Minds Initiative
FMS PTA has been selected as a Healthy Minds Grant recipient! We will be hosting an event in the spring, but we would like to design the program around the needs of our students/families. Please complete this survey to help us determine the programming for spring. Please note the questions below are anonymous and will not be shared with others, it will only be used to help the PTA select guest speaker(s) and/or the focus/topic of a spring PTA event.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kvrTlsWV2ARoyiHlQCn_pupNZqpsx2wGpM_d5MwbLT0/edit
jFMS PTA ha sido seleccionada como beneficiaria de la subvencion "Healthy Minds!" (MENTE SALUDABLES) para lo cual, organizaremos un evento en la primavera, para esto, nos gustaria disenar un programa en base a las necesidades de nuestros estudiantes / familias. Por favor, complete esta encuesta para ayudarnos a determinar la programacion a realizarse en primavera. Tenga en cuenta que las preguntas a continuacion son anonimas y no se compartiran con otros, solo se utilizaran para ayudar a los organizadores del PTA a seleccionar oradores invitados y/o en el enfoque/tema del evento que el PTA desea hacer en primavera.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dZY2b-bPKuiAMyqufxzdS1C-IFepEAddSEub2Eqtkcs/edit
NEW: Support the Girl Scouts Silver Award!
The FMS PTA is supporting one of the local Girl Scout Troops as they work toward their Silver Award, the troop is working towards stopping the stigma of periods and collecting products for those who are unable to afford proper products. The troop goal is to collect 1500 products that would be donated to Title 1 Middle Schools in Montgomery County (each grade level would be able to offer 500 products to students for daily use, use over winter break/spring break, and for use over the summer).
Contact Mrs. Rivas-Smith
Email: Angelica_L_Smith@mcpsmd.org
Phone: 240-740-1200
Twitter: @farquharms