News from the Nest

Dacula Middle School

137 Dacula Road, Dacula, GA 30019 / 770.963.1110

January 22, 2021

Mark Your Calendars

First Semester Report Cards were mailed home by GCPS the week of 1/19th.

All students will receive a copy through the mail at the current mailing address on file for the student.

Printed copies will not be distributed at DMS.

Final First Semester grades can also be viewed through the Parent and Student Portals under Gradebook and selecting Semester 1.

Picture Retake Day:

Thursday, 1/28th from 8:00-12:00

If your student has purchased pictures and would like to retake them, they will need to bring the purchased pictures on the day of retakes.

If you would like your Digital Learner to be a part of the yearbook, this will be your last opportunity to do so.

Digital Learning students can come to school between 8:30-9:00 or 9:30-12, without an appointment to get their pictures taken.

If you are bringing your digital learner in for pictures, remember to park in front of the school and wait for your child in your car. Please make sure your child is wearing a mask.

Face-to-Face students who were absent on picture day OR were digital learners first semester will take their picture during a scheduled time during the school day.

If you are planning to order pictures of your child, please visit the Lifetouch website: https://lifetouch.com/order-pictures/

The code you will use to order pictures is: EVT2R2QPM.

Picture Day Order Pick Ups

Digital Learning students who have Picture Day orders may pick up their items from the front office beginning Wednesday, 1/13th from 8:30a - 3:30p.

2021 Academic Assistance Program - AAP

PURPOSE OF THE ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (AAP):

AAP is an opportunity for a student to grade recover for 1st semester. AAP classes will be offered In Person and Digital students.

Additional information and orientation dates for students needing to recover a grade was emailed to parents this week.

Students will attend class after school from 4:15 – 5:30 and one Saturday from 9:00 am-12:00 pm per subject and complete asynchronous assignments.

Upon successful completion of the AAP course, the student’s semester grade will be updated to a 70. Students may take up to three academic courses as needed to meet promotion criteria.

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions, please contact your child’s counselor

6th Grade: Fabiana Fischer - 678.407.7266

7th Grade: Alecia Ellison - 678.376.8542

8th Grade: Monica Garcia - 770.338.4842

Assistant Principal responsible for AAP : Tasha Baumgardner - 770.338.4647

Car Rider Drop Off Reminders

Car Rider drop off is from 8:55 – 9:15 am each morning.

Parents will follow the designated path through the front parking lot.

Please do not stop early to have your child exit your car as this impedes our ability to safely unload. Parents should remain in their cars at all times and pull all the way up until the line stops.

Due to the increased volume of cars, this process may take some time and your patience is greatly appreciated.

Just a reminder...

GCPS Promotion Criteria

Please remember that all students are required to meet the promotion criteria established by GCPS. We encourage all parents to review the grades and promotion criteria with your child. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions.

2020-21 GCPS Promotion Criteria

2020-2021 Free and Reduced Meals Applications

If you have not completed a New Free & Reduced Application for School Year 2020-2021 please do so now.

**** YOU CAN NOW FILL OUT A SY 2020-2021 FREE & REDUCED APPLICATION ONLINE ****

SY21 Online Application Is Now Available!

This Free and Reduced Online Application Form is for School Year 2020-2021 Is Now Available!

The online application form is available 24/7 and is a secure environment.
Parents are welcome to complete and submit an online application form at anytime.
When you submit your online form, please make sure you receive a confirmation number.
Later, you will be able to use this number to find out the status of your child’s online application.
Please note that all online applications submitted this summer will not be processed until a few weeks prior to the beginning of school. However, your child’s approved Free or Reduced eligibility status will be available the first day of school.

If you have other questions or need this information in other languages, please contact the GCPS Free and Reduced Help Line at 678-301-6307.

Do you want more information about qualifications and/or application procedures regarding free and reduced meal prices? No need to look any further because this page contains answers to common questions, statistical data and the forms necessary to apply for the current school year. Before starting on an application, take a peek at our Free and Reduced Frequently Asked Questions.

8th Grader Information / Opportunities

Rising 9th Grader Parent Meeting

8th Grade Parents: Please mark your calendars for a very important meeting for your rising ninth grader! The meeting will be held on January 28th via ZOOM. Links and times forthcoming.

Rising Freshman Information Meeting for Parents:

Gifted/Accel Math
Special Education Parent Meeting
Main Meeting
Academic and Activity Virtual Site with Zoom Q&A sessions

Your students' PSAT™ 8/9 scores from the September–November 2020 administrations are now available to you in the K–12 score reporting portal.

Remind students 13 years old and over to create a College Board account so they can easily access their scores online and unlock a robust set of personalized resources to help them understand their scores. Students 13 years old and over who provided their email address on their PSAT 8/9 answer sheet will receive an email reminder to view their September–November PSAT 8/9 scores online on December 7 and 8.

If you have any questions, email us at k12reports@info.collegeboard.org.

Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (GSMST)

GSMST is now accepting registration applications for the 2021-2022 freshman class.

The registration deadline is January 22, 2021.

Detailed information and the registration forms are available on the school’s website.

The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology is a unique high school that focuses on advanced and challenging studies in the fields of engineering, biosciences, and emerging technologies.

Enrollment for the 9th grade class is open to all 8th grade students who are:

-residents of the Gwinnett County school district attendance zone.

-who are successfully promoted to 9th grade by the end of spring semester, 2021.

and who successfully complete an 8th grade math curriculum that is a full unit of Carnegie-eligible Accelerated Algebra I or higher.

Students in Carnegie-eligible Algebra I will need to achieve a 1st semester grade of 90% or higher – AND – earn a Milestones (EOC) score in the Distinguished category (minimum scaled score of 92) OR earn a score of 550 or higher on the math portion of the PSAT 8/9 or SAT (test must be taken no later than January 22, 2021).

Tuesday, January 12, 2021 will be a make-up informational meeting date for those who did not attend in November.

Extra Help Sessions for Digital Learners

Does your child need extra help for a class?

For our digital learners, morning help begins at 8:15 each day for designated subject areas.

For our Face to Face learners, help is available during ELT each day.

§ Monday - Language Arts

§ Tuesday - Math

§ Wednesday - Social Studies

§ Thursday - Science

§ Friday - Connections

Happenings at DMS

Sign Up HERE!

Digital Learning Reminders & Resources

Zoom Access

Students MUST be using their GCPS G-Suite Account when logging into a Zoom session for their classes.

This means they must be logged in through their Student Portal and see the GCPS logo in the top right corner. If they are not logged in correctly access to Zoom sessions may not work.

CLICK HERE for instructions to make sure everyone is logged in correctly.

Digital Students are expected to Zoom each day in each class period.

The only exception would be if that class's teacher has specifically notified the class that they are not meeting that day and/or working asynchronously.

Digital Must Dos:

Students need to be doing the following every day during digital learning for each of their classes (academic and Connections):

1) Log into each course's eClass page:

From the Activity Feed, review the Week at a Glance.

2) Go to the course's eClass Calendar for that day:

Log their daily attendance using the link provided by that teacher.
Use the teacher's Zoom link to attend that day's live session.
Complete that day's assignment.

Students MUST attend each class's daily Zoom sessions in order to get attendance credit!

Attendance for Digital Learners

Whether students are digital or in–person, class attendance is greatly important for the academic success of students. Currently, a digital learning student who logs in any time during the hours of 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. during the school day receives a “DL” as their attendance code. While this process provides information as to which digital learners were online that day to access lessons and resources, it did not provide details as to which students were online during class time, benefiting from live instruction and interaction with their teachers.

Digital learners who are not present during teacher-led live instruction will be marked with the code “NPD“, which stands for “Not Present Digitally.” Teacher-led live instruction is generally the first 10-20 minutes of class. Additionally, you will be contacted via automated email if your child is marked “NPD”. Students who are present during live instruction will continue to be marked present digitally with the “DL“ indication.

The new process is better-aligned to our normal attendance procedures and the expectations of in-person students. More importantly, it will help you better support your child as you can clearly see that he/she was online during class and interacting with the teacher and classmates, not just logging on to the computer at some point during the day. This information will help families as they partner with the school to maximize their child(ren)’s school experience.

Digital Learning Help:

Need student password help? Wondering what happened to the Parent or Student Portals? Need help connecting your device to your GCPS account? Have general questions regarding DLD expectations and/or DMS requirements?

Check out the DMS Website for our Digital Learning Resources section in our Top 3 section!

Resources from our Digital Learning Schedules, Parent Guide to Digital Learning, Portal Updates, Password Resets/Activation, and MUCH MORE can be found and will be updated frequently.

Face-to-Face Learning Reminders & Resources

Any student who is a face to face learner will be counted absent if they do not attend school. Face to face learners are expected to be in attendance each day.

If your student(s) are not feeling well please remember to keep them at home.

Sick students should not be sent to school until they are symptom free to keep themselves, your family, and our school community safe.

All students and visitors must wear face masks when they are in the building.

Masks can be purchased on MyPaymentsPlus for $10 under School Fundraisers. Proceeds help raise funds for DMS.

Students returning to DMS need to bring earbuds or headphones with them.

These are also be available for purchase for only $2 at school.

Device Information for those Returning to Face-to-Face Instruction:

We HIGHLY encourage that students returning to face-to-face instruction that have access to a Chromebook, laptop, or tablet bring it with them to school to ensure greater safety and provide an added level of safety for our students since the sharing of materials is highly discouraged.

Borrow a Chromebook and/or internet hot spot for digital learning?

Dacula MS Chromebooks/Devices and hot spots MUST be returned when the student they were assigned to comes back to school.

Media Center News

Yearbook Information

Forms and Information:

Please log on to MyPaymentsPlus to complete important documents necessary for the start of school. These should be completed as soon as possible!

Click Here to go to the MyPaymentsPlus website

Please see our grade level supply lists below.

All three grade levels are listed on this document.

This list includes items students will need as we start the year digitally including optional items and novels needed for their Language Arts course.

2020-2021 DMS Supply List

Home of the R.E.A.L. Falcons

Going the Distance

Dacula Middle School will become a world-class school that provides a safe and nurturing environment where students acquire the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and beliefs to be successful in college and careers in a diverse society.

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