The Woof

This afternoon is the  final  date for in-person browsing at the Book Fair!  From  now until 6:00pm , everyone is welcome to join us in the South Media Center to look at books and make purchases. Teachers' Wish Lists have also been posted if you'd like to gift a book to your child's teacher(s) or contribute towards a book for their classroom library. So far, we have sold over $3,500.00 worth of books, which is  outstanding!  Online sales will continue through Sunday night at  https://bestbookfairs.chrislands.com/ . Thank you for supporting South's library! 6th grade Australia students presented their book talks with a creative element. Their projects came out great! This week, health screenings were conducted in Phys Ed classes, with the help of nurses and counselors across the District. I have gotten multiple compliments from visiting support staff who commented on how pleasant and courteous South's student body is. They were blown away by the number of students wh

For this Wellness Wednesday, let's talk for a minute about teaching kids financial literacy. Even our youngest students will be out in the real world in just a few short years, and if you get your first credit card during orientation week at college or after you've moved into your first apartment, you can get yourself in hot water quickly! As adults, we have a great opportunity through the teen & tween years to help kids experience some financial wins and losses that will put them on a great path for early adulthood. Don't take  my  word for it!  I started getting more into financial literacy in my late 20s, after I'd wasted a lot of money, time, and opportunities. A few years ago, I started listening to a podcast that made the topic interesting and accessible-- Stacking Benjamins --and they have  a  great  episode on  fun  ways to teach kids about money . It's a little over an hour, but well worth a listen if you're feeling motivated. Put it on my card!  On

Last week, several of Ms. Barrett's 8th grade Math classes built "sculptures" out of specific objects and then students calculated the volume of their sculpture. They brought in "found objects" to compose their sculptures: spheres, cylinders, rectangular prisms, cubes, and cone-shaped items--which were the hardest to find! The creativity in these creations made for some  tricky  calculations! This Friday  at 5:00pm , join us at the Braintree High School track for the first annual  Incredible Inclusion Walk !  Show your support for Including Everyone and spend some quality time with your friends and friends-to-be!  BHS Student Council created "Be Inclusive" t-shirts for purchase, and all proceeds will benefit the BHS special education programs. Contact  Mr. Patrick Hubbard  for more information. Shout out to the 6th Grade Girls' Braintree Youth Basketball team, who  also  went 17-0 on their season. Way to go!  If you're involved with a local gro

South's Book Fair kicks off tomorrow in the Media Center. Students will be visiting the Book Fair over the next 3 days in their English classes and can make purchases then. The Book Fair is also open 3-6pm on Thursday, 3/31, so families can come by to browse or make purchases. Online sales opened last week and will remain active through Sunday, 4/3:  https://bestbookfairs.chrislands.com/  See attached flyer for more information. All proceeds raised will benefit the South Media Center, so we thank you for your support! The Inaugural South Spring Carnival was a huge success last Friday! The Student Council did a great job organizing the event, and we can't thank the parent and staff volunteers enough for their support. The Community Service Club also did a great job organizing their raffle to support the Marge Crispin Center, raising $234 in just 3 days! Everyone who attended brought a great spirit of fun, and it was an excellent social night of entertainment, games, and great fo

(1.)  One day left until the Spring Carnival!  Tickets can be purchased  at lunch  for $5.  Admission includes:  1 meal from Mom On The Go food truck (Your choice of a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon, tomatoes, or buffalo chicken, or regular. Every sandwich comes with tater tots and a drink: freshly-squeezed lemonade or water.) 1 treat from the Ice Cream Truck 1 popcorn 1 cotton candy Access to all the games: There will be carnival games where you can win a prize, and lawn games to challenge your friends! Entry in the prize raffles! Glitter tattoos! Photo booth! Music by DJ Bubba! SO MUCH FUN!  Bring  cash  for additional treats.  If you want seconds at the food truck, the meals cost $10; seconds at the ice cream truck cost $4. And, you can buy treats at the Bake Sale!   6th grade:  4-5pm;  7th & 8th grade:  5:30-6:30pm. Pick up & drop off in the lower parking lot.   Please  carpool  to lessen traffic in our tiny parking lot! (2.)  The Community Service Club will still be se

  Did you know? Monday, 3/21, was the 120th day of school. We are ⅔ of the way through this school year, and 120 days smarter! On the 100th day of school–which also happened to fall on Valentine’s Day this year–I took some time to look at our attendance stats so far this year.  As of the 100th day: The majority of South students had missed less than 3 days of school 2 out of 5 Bulldogs had only missed 1 DAY or have perfect attendance 25% of South students had not missed a single school day this year!  As of Monday–the 120th school day– 1 in 5 students still has perfect attendance this school year! These statistics do not count absences due to COVID infection/quarantine, or any excused by a medical note. If you have unexcused absences, you can send a doctor’s note to your homeroom teacher or your doctor’s office can fax it to our school nurses at 781-356-0657. Notes from a parent/guardian/caregiver let us know that the absence is authorized (not truant) but cannot excuse absence fro

  The Community Service Club is running a flash fundraiser to coincide with Friday's Spring Carnival: students can purchase raffle tickets to win the opportunity to: Silly string Ms. Motta! Throw water balloons at Ms. Norris! Silly string Ms. Chiles! Throw water balloons at Ms. Clark!    Silly string Ms. Cortez!  Silly string Mr. Rainie!   Throw a pie in Mr. Puglisi's face! Tickets are 4 for $1 or 10 for $2. All money raised will support the Marge Crispin Center. Carnival tickets are on sale all this week in lunch. Open to all South students: $5 admission. March is Youth Art Month and the halls of South are a veritable art gallery! Our students' creativity and talent never fail to thrill us! Shout out to the Braintree Youth Hockey who represented Massachusetts last weekend in the Regional tournament: they advanced to the semi-finals, finishing in the top four. Amazing work, and we couldn't be more proud of their achievement!

South's Book Fair starts in person next week, but online sales begin today!  Read this flyer for detailed instructions , and go to  Best Books Fairs  and start browsing! Tickets for the Student Council Carnival went on sale today! Tickets cost $5 and can be purchased at lunch all week (cash purchases, please). As a reminder, the 6th grade carnival is from 4-5pm and the 7th and 8th grade carnival is from 5:30-6:30pm. There will be a food truck, ice cream truck, carnival and lawn games, a DJ, glitter tattoos, raffles and more!  This event is for South Middle School students only.   In lunches today, we discussed how gum-chewing is rampant at South, and now that masks are off, people are getting caught. Some of us need to work on "chewing with our mouths closed," but to be honest, the chewing isn't the serious issue:  disposal  is. Finding gum on the bottoms of desks & tables, on the floors, etc. is  gross  and a headache for our custodial crew. If gum keeps getting

Construction update:  The construction crews started pouring concrete foundations for the new school building this week. It's remarkable how much progress they're making! Blasting slowed down at the end of this week and they anticipate blasting will be fully completed next week. This is welcome news to those of us who startle every time there's a rumble! Shoutout to the crews from Bacon Construction, who run a street sweeper through our driveway a couple of times each week and clean up the mud tracks from our site onto Peach St. We appreciate their extra care in keeping our school and neighborhood clean! Students of the Term:  At the end of each term, we ask teachers to look through their rosters and take a moment to consider which students make a special effort every day. This doesn't mean the kids who just always get good grades, but it's those who really care about their learning and put an extra touch into their work. Moreover, it's the students who contribu

  Happy St. Patrick's Day, South! Today, all students received paper copies of the South PTO Calendar Raffle materials in homeroom.  We hope every student will be able to sell 2 sheets of tickets--12 chances to win! Each ticket earns a chance to win every school day in April, and the student who sold the winning ticket will also win a prize. There's a grand prize waiting for the student who sells the most tickets, too! Thank you for supporting South and our PTO! Futsal is back at South!  Beginning March 29th, we will hold an 8-week round-robin tournament of indoor soccer/futsal every Tuesday after school. Form a team of 5 players: 1 goalie, 3 on the "field", and 1 sub. Sign-ups are on a first-come, first-served basis; as soon as 8 complete teams have submitted their paperwork, registration will close. Check out the talented musicians of Braintree Schools in this year's All-Town Concerts! All-Town Choral Concert - 15 February 2022 All-Town Band Concert - 8 March 20

  One of the buzzwords in education is “executive functioning skills,” which refers to the “soft skills” that help you get things done. Getting a good grade doesn’t just mean knowing when the Magna Carta was signed and understanding how to divide fractions; it also requires you to remember all your homework assignments, show up to class on time, hand in your papers (with your name on them!), study for your tests. If you aren’t organized, you won’t be able to succeed. But if you’re not organized, it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to do well; it just means you need to build the skills for success. A lot of times, we look at our middle schoolers and say, “How old are you? Why haven’t you figured this out yet?!” In reality, it’s the perfect age to build these skills and the habits that will work for them as individuals. Scheduling Time As kids get older, they’re going to develop their own social lives. Get them started using a calendar. When they join a group or team, they should write out