The Bulldog's Woof

Congratulations to all the students that participated in the Trills and Thrills music festival this past Friday - your hard work and effort paid off! Your playing and love for music impressed one of the adjudicators so much that he wrote an email to our superintendent letting him know how much he appreciated South Middle School’s music program!  7th & 8th grade orchestra won gold and the 7th & 8th grade Band and Concert Choir both earned silver.  This Thursday, 6/5, is the last day for Late Bus this school year. Students can still stay after for extra help, but you’ll need to arrange for a ride home or plan to walk! Homework Lab also ends this Thursday, so if you plan to stay after, you’ll need to make plans with one of your teachers. Don't forget! Bus registration ends next Friday, 6/13.  See the Districtwide post for bus registration information. Please check the Yearbook Sales list posted at your homeroom entrance.  If anyone thinks they purchased a y...

Three from South: (1.) Tomorrow--Friday, 5/23--South will host our annual Memorial Day Assembly starting at 1:00 PM. 8th graders have been working hard to prepare their Veterans Projects and a group will present them while our entire school honors local veterans and the fallen heroes of our Armed Services.  Students are encouraged to  wear red, white & blue  to show your patriotic spirit for our veterans and honored guests.  There will be  no student dismissals after 1pm , as it is too disruptive to the memorial assembly.  This year's assembly will be held in the large Gym due to the nor'easter, but guests are still welcome! If you would like to attend the assembly, please enter through the Main Entrance to get a visitors sticker and then proceed down to the Gym. Mark your calendars! All 8th grade Veterans Projects will be on display in the Media Center on Friday, 6/6, for the public to view and explore our students' research. If you're looking for an e...

  Happy Tuesday! (1.) South Middle PTO will hold the May meeting  THIS EVENING  at 7pm in the South Library Media Center. See you there! (2.) Last call to register for the Student Council Volleyball Tournament! Form a team or let Ms. Norris or Ms. Pyliotis know that you'd like to join if a team has open spots!

  Five from South: (1.) South Middle School The Musical 2: The Musical Revue debuts this Friday May 9th, at 7pm, with shows on Saturday May 10th at 2pm and 7pm.  Tickets are $10 and are available online at  https://southms.seatyourself.biz.  Contact Ms. Proulx ( kelly.proulx@braintreeschools.org ) with any questions. Break a leg! (2.) View  the extracurricular activities calendar here . We encourage all students to try different clubs to see what interests them, spend time with friends, and form connections with new students--and you should encourage your child to as well! (3.)  South PTO meets next Tuesday, 5/13, at 7pm for our May meeting. Agenda to follow. (4.) On Friday, 5/23, starting at 1 PM, South's annual Memorial Day assembly will begin. During this event, select 8th graders present the research from their Veterans Project, a civics program that teaches students about the sacrifices made by family members or local heroes who served in the Armed For...

  Five from South: Reminder:  please return to your child's homeroom teacher, if you have not already done so:  one copy of your child's  report card , signed by a caregiver signed  Course Selection  sheet Trivia Night is this Wednesday, 5:45-8:30pm  (at the latest).  See Mr. Sturtevant  if you still want to sign up your team. Braintree SEPAC's May meeting  will be this  Thursday, 5/1, 7:00pm , on the 3rd floor of Thayer Public Library .  Please see prior notice.   SEPAC is free & open to all. There are just over 2 weeks left to  sign up for  SPARK Summer Program ! Registration is open online until 5/15 for all students through grade 6, but program registration is first-come-first-served, so don't delay! Enjoy Ms. Nguyen's May newsletter from the  South Library/Media Center :

  Many of us were slow getting to South today, after returning late on Saturday night from the annual 8th grade Washington DC trip. It was a great trip! Thank you to Mrs. Norris and Mrs. Clark who coordinated the trip, to all the teachers who chaperoned overnight for 4 days, and to the students who represented South well! (1.) CALENDAR RAFFLE Tomorrow is the official first drawing of the South PTO April Calendar Raffle! Bring in all sold tickets to enter every drawing! Tickets & rules were sent home from homeroom. Once you sell tickets, bring the filled-out tickets & money to your homeroom teacher or the Main Office! You can also pay to the South PTO Venmo-- https://www.venmo.com/u/SouthMiddlePTO--and  just let your homeroom teacher know that you paid online. (2.) GIRLS ON THE RUN An outside group is using South's field as their meeting spot for two great activities:  Girls On the Run  and  Heart and Sole !  South students are encouraged to check ou...

What do you remember most from middle school?   Middle school was a lot different when we were kids, no matter what generation you were growing up in: Late practices in the warming weather; the smell of the grass in that first baseball game of the season.  School dances; awkwardly approaching your crush to ask for a dance, your friends and theirs standing around you in a circle, hooting and hollering.  Putting off homework while you talked to your friends on the phone--always keeping one ear open for the  click  if someone picked up the phone in another room.  Passing notes in class. Doodling all over your papers and binders with flowers, spiky "S"s, and 3D boxes. What do these memories all have in common?  Nobody had a smartphone to take your picture at that school dance & post it later. No alerts and buzzes in your pocket drew you away from the moment on the ballfield. To call your friend, you had to call their house and ask a parent if they were...

  1.  SOUTH PTO The March meeting of the South PTO is  this Thursday, 3/13 @ 7pm.  See attached agenda. 2.  MARCH MADNESS We are going to try something new this year and have a March Madness 3v3 Tourney here at South. It will be a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament with 5th and 6th graders matched up, and 7th & 8th.  The tourney will be held on Tuesday, 3/18,  after school in the Gym. Money raised will go to South's PTO.  See Ms. Ricketts with any questions or to register your team. All forms and registration must be submitted directly to her in room 1045 since this event is first come first serve. No forms will be accepted without payment. 3.  PARENT  DISCUSSION GROUP:  The Anxious Generation  - THURSDAY, 3/20 The final meeting of  The Anxious Generation  book club has been moved to  Thursday, 3/20  to allow more people to join the conversation. In the final meeting, we will talk about what we...

  Spring cleaning?   Consider contributing to South Mrs. Joyce, one of our 6th grade Math teachers, has long used Lego bricks to help students visualize fractions. This year, she excitedly told me about the breakthrough of using MagnaTiles to visualize geometry in 3D. How many sets of magnetic blocks do  you  have sitting in box in your attic?? If your family's days of playing with magnetic tiles are a distant memory,  please  consider donating them to your friendly Math teacher! Once they're here, we find they are also a great way to spend indoor recess. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly middle school kids let their inner child run free as soon as certain things happen: You give them something to color, You read aloud to them, or They have downtime and toys like fidgets, MagnaTiles, Lego, etc. It never fails!  30 seconds in, and suddenly the kids are giggling and chatting--or attentively following along with a story--entirely engrossed in their ...

We were happy to have everyone back at South this morning, hopefully, refreshed--and germ-free--after a week away! (1.) Student report cards were due back, signed by a parent or guardian, before the break. Please send that in if you haven't already done so.  This month, South Middle School also received  our  report card! The state's  school  &  district report cards  are available for review on the DESE website. There is a link for families' convenience on the  South website , under the  About Us  section. Please let me know if you have any questions about our report card, or would like to discuss further. (2.) There is still time to  donate to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital  to support childhood cancer research, as well as children with cancer and their families. This is an annual fundraiser organized by Ms. Mac and supported by South's Student Council for this noble cause. Everyone's support is greatly appreciat...