The Bulldog's Woof

  (1.) The June PTO meeting is tonight, Tuesday, 6/9, at 7:00 PM in the South Media Center (2.) Late Bus service ends at South this week. Wednesday, 6/10, will be the last day students can ride the Late Bus home. If you need to stay after, please be sure to arrange for a ride home with a friend or family member. (3.) This Thursday, 6/11, is an early dismissal day for teachers' professional development. Dismissal is at 11:45 AM and there will be no lunch served in the Cafeteria. If you would like a complimentary lunch, please order a Grab-N-Go bagged lunch, and remember to pick it up in the Main Office at the end of the day. All students must leave school property at dismissal and may not stay on any Braintree School property after dismissal. Please plan accordingly!  (4.) Reminder:   South will celebrate our 8th graders' completion of middle school on Wednesday, 6/17, at 6:00 PM. We plan to hold the ceremony outdoors on the field beside the school. All guests should brin...

SOUTH MUSIC Congratulations to our Music students who performed in the Trills and Thrills music festival last Friday and faced adjudication. The judges recognized our students' talent and hard work, as well as that of Music teachers Ms. Ouellette and Mr. Coronella! Concert Choir won Gold, Band won Silver, and Orchestra won Gold. We are  thrilled to celebrate our musicians! SOUTH PTO The June PTO meeting will be held at South on Tuesday, 6/9, at 7:00 PM in the Media Center. (Please note, this meeting was rescheduled due to sports games needing to be made up after rainouts!) GRADE 8 APPRECIATION CEREMONY All South Bulldogs and their friends and family are invited to celebrate our 8th grade "graduates" as they mark the completion of 8th grade on Wednesday, 6/17, at 6:00 PM outside South.  Guests should bring your own lawn chairs or blankets to sit on, or be prepared to stand. Only 8th graders and staff will be provided seating for the ceremony. Please, no umbrellas or suns...

  We are immensely proud of our 7th grade English teacher, Mrs. Christine Norris, who was honored last night at the Norfolk County Teachers' Association annual awards ceremony. Mrs. Norris was nominated by her colleagues for the NCTA Honor Award, saying:  Christine’s contributions to South are immeasurable. She is the type of person who, if she’s going to do something, she’s going to take the time to do it right. This year alone, she’s co-running the Grade 8 Washington, D.C. trip, co-creating the Yearbook, co-creating the Field Day Murder Mystery activity, co-running the South dance, and co-running the South Student Council, which this year was combined with the Community Service club because, you guessed it, she runs that, too! When you ask her about running all of these things, she humbly downplays her involvement. Don’t let her fool you--she’s one of the hardest-working teachers at South.  To be honest, even that extensive list of projects is incomplete; Mrs. Norris is...

Grade 8 Students & Caregivers: Next week, your child is scheduled to participate in an MCAS grade 8 Civics field test on Monday, 6/3 and Tuesday, 6/4. In order to administer a new grade 8 Civics test in the future, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must try out new test questions before the test becomes operational and scores can be provided to parents, schools, and districts. Your child’s participation is important and allows the state to build a valid and reliable test by helping to ensure a representative sample of students from across the state.   On Monday, 6/10, the 8th grade is taking the annual end-of-year trip to Level99 in Natick. Please make sure you have filled out the Level99 waiver  AND  the school's online permission slip in ParentSquare in order to participate. Contact a team teacher with any questions. Grade 8 Appreciation Night will be held at South on Thursday, 6/13, beginning at 6:00 PM. Families and loved ones are invited to joi...

Springtime in a middle school is an exciting period full of field trips & culminating projects. Between celebrations & state testing, student schedules get tinkered with and tweaked on a seemingly nonstop basis. Although the end of the school year is looming in everyone's mind--and especially on the sunny, hot days-- we still have over 10% of the school year left.  Please make every effort to arrive at school on time in the morning  by 8:02 , to schedule appointments outside of school hours, and to avoid early dismissals from school. Beyond teachers' academic goals for their classes and the social growth events that make lifelong memories for our kids, it reinforces to good habits to be on time and present at school throughout the day.  If you do have to report an absence ,  please email the school nurses or call the Main Office to let us know.  A medical note is required for an absence to be excused and a provider's office will give you that at the time...

There will be no Homework Lab today or afterschool help, due to our April Staff Meeting. Play rehearsal will go on as scheduled, and we return to the regular afterschool schedule tomorrow. April's PTO meeting will be held on Thursday, 4/11, starting at 7pm in the South Media Center. (Please note: this is a change from the previously posted date.) Agenda will be sent next week. The April Calendar raffle is underway! Students can continue to sell tickets and submit them along with payment to the Main Office or your homeroom teacher. The sooner you get tickets into the raffle, the more chances you'll have to win! MCAS testing starts this week and continues for the next 2 months. See full schedule: 8th grade parents who missed the Informational Night at Braintree High a few weeks ago: the slideshow is linked here. Term 3 ends this Friday, 4/5 . Make sure all work is up to date and let your teachers know if anything doesn't appear to line up in Aspen. Report cards will be sent h...

The Braintree High School programming orientation for parents/guardians concerning grade nine courses and leveling will be held in the Braintree High School auditorium on Thursday, February 29th at 6:30 PM. Anthony Garofalo, Director of Guidance, will review key aspects of the Program of Studies and the course selection process. Please bring your child's yellow "grade nine course selection sheet" to this program.  Also,  BHS is hosting a tournament game for girls basketball at the same time that night, so traffic in the parking lot may be backed up.....best to arrive on the early side. Unless we get any more snow days or other unexpected school closures, the last day of school will be Tuesday, 6/18. South's grade 8 Appreciation Ceremony is currently scheduled for Thursday, 6/13 at 6pm. This ceremony is for all 8th grade students and their loved ones and runs about an hour. Afterwards, 8th graders  ( students  only)  will enjoy a Dinner-Dance until 9pm to make so...

(1.) Field Day is tomorrow at South!  Donations of small water bottles  are requested  to keep kids hydrated throughout the day.  All donations can be dropped off in the Main Office this afternoon or tomorrow morning  (if you drop off after we're closed tonight, you can leave them by the front door.) Thank you in advance! (2.)  Closeout sale for Yearbooks ends today!  See Ms. Norris to purchase a copy of the Yearbook for $40 (cash or check payable to "South Middle School"). Reserve your copy  today , because it's first-come-first-served:  when they're gone, they're gone! (3.)  Congratulations to our 8th graders , who were celebrated in the final Appreciation Ceremony at this school building, after 65 years in service as a junior high/middle school! We squeezed in the outdoor ceremony between rain showers & before the lightning, which then provided a dramatic light show for their PTO Dinner-Dance! 

  Important dates/events next week: Next week is Spirit Week!  Thanks to South's Student Council for squeezing in one more opportunity for high-spirited fun before summer! 7th Graders:  On Monday, 6/12, we will hold an informational meeting about the  optional  8th Grade Washington DC Trip . The trip will be held on March 20-23, 2024. We want to give students an opportunity to register this June in order to begin an installment payment plan as early as possible, and to begin fundraising for this costly but one-of-a-kind trip. There will be an informational night for adult caregivers in the early fall. Don't forget:   our online Scholastic Book Fair is open through 6/12! Order from the Scholastic Book Fair here:  https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-ecommerce/parent-store-2.html?fairId=5353399 You can also order summer reading (or anything!) from  Bookshop.org  anytime to support South:  https://www.bookshop.org/shop/smsbraintree South's...

  South PTO's final meeting for this school year will be this evening at 6pm. South's  Grade 8 Appreciation Night  will be held on 6/14 at 6pm to recognize & celebrate their graduation from middle school: Graduating 8th graders will have assigned seats on the driveway. Family & friends are invited to bring lawn chairs or blankets and to pick your seats on the "island" lawn. Speeches, awards, and certificates of completion will be given from the front of the building. After the ceremony (typically around 7pm) graduates are invited to move to the back lawn for the PTO Grade 8 Garden Party. There will be a DJ, pizza banquet, ice cream truck, photo opportunities, and countless good memories being made! Check  the PTO Facebook page  for information about fundraisers to support the Grade 8 Graduation Party. Donations are always welcome; make checks out to South Middle School PTO and send them to the Main Office (with "Gr8 Party" in the memo line) or Venmo ...

  We have a number of fun events planned at South as we move into the Spring! (1.) Trivia Night - Thursday, 3/24, 6:00-8:45 PM Please see the flier & registration form for more information about Trivia Night. Student teams can register by returning the attached form to your homeroom teacher, or by filling out this online registration:  Trivia Night Registration . If your child is interested in participating but hasn’t been able to form or join a team yet, please reach out to their Guidance Counselor or homeroom teacher for help getting them set up with a team that is looking for members. Mr. Sturtevant is also looking for help as he researches and writes the trivia challenges; students are invited to fill out the following questionnaire to share what topics they’re interested in:  Trivia Topics 2022 . This fun, team event was once an annual extravaganza at South, which we’re looking forward to reinvigorating this year!  If you have any questions, please contact...

We all went home on Thursday, 3/12, expecting to come into school the next day and making jokes about Friday the 13 th . Who knew that 3 months later, almost to the day, I’d be writing to discuss your next & last opportunity to come into school for this year! Next Tuesday, the final set of RLP assignments is due, and then Friday, 6/19, is the last official day of the school year. During the 3 days from 6/17-6/19 we have a variety of activities planned, which we hope will help provide some sense of closure and let us move into summer. Please read each of the 3 items listed below.   1.)   Personal belongings – on 6/17, 6/18, and 6/19 students will be able to sign up for an appointment to come to the school to collect any personal belongings. SIGN UP HERE! I will be limiting the total number of people in the building in line with the Governor’s recommendations for building occupancy. Masks are required to enter the school and gloves are recommended. It is also rec...

Feedback from the early responses to the South Poll make it very clear that parents & guardians appreciate the updates in the Woof and miss it when I don’t send one… So, here it is!   We’ve got a busy final few days coming, so this is a good time to get a Woof into your in-boxes!   If you haven’t filled out this year’s South Poll yet, please take this opportunity to do so: https://forms.gle/tUVohn9SvnU6vJ7MA . Eighth grade students enjoyed the opportunity to show off their Veterans Projects this Thursday.   A number of local veterans came in to see the students’ hard work on display and to speak to kids about their research and interviews.   One gentleman remarked to me what how important it was to him, after the GIs returning from Vietnam faced so many personal attacks at home, to have young people asking about their stories and honoring the soldiers’ sacrifices.   We’re proud of their efforts! Friday, 6/14, will be the 8 th grade Science Fair,...