Rookie Teachers Awarded At PCSD

Devin Woodruff and Kerisa Thrasher were recently awarded for their beginning of school efforts as rookie teachers. Mr. Woodruff and Ms. Thrasher are both new teachers and new to the district. Mr. Woodruff teaches at D.T. Cox Elementary School and Ms. Thrasher teaches at Pontotoc Junior High School Congratulations to these two outstanding new teachers.

District Events  

PHS Events 

➢ Sept. 10 Volleyball at Shannon, 5:30, 6;30 ➢ Sept. 12 Volleyball vs New Albany, 5:30, 6:30 ➢ Sept. 12 Swim Meet at Oxford ➢ Sept. 12 College & Career Night at the Pontotoc

Ridge Career & Technology Center 5:30-7:30p.m. ➢ Sept. 13 Football vs Desoto Central, Band

Night, HOME ➢ Sept. 14 XC at Saltillo Invitational

PJHS Events 

➢ Sept. 9 Volleyball vs Lafayette ➢ Sept.12 Volleyball vs New Albany ➢ Sept. 10 Football vs Shannon

PMS Events 

➢ Sept. 26 Warrior 5K race , 7 p.m.  

DT Cox Events 

➢ Sept. 17 Cub Scout Recruitment Meeting 6:00 ➢ Sept. 19 Girl Scout Recruitment Meeting 6:00 ➢ Face Paint Fridays!! Bring $1.00

 

PES Events

➢ Sept. 13 Kindergarten Nursery Rhyme Parade

Pontotoc High School

Student Spotlight: 

Joe A. Top Workplace Strengths : Team Player, Improviser, Goal Setter, Brainstormer, Abstract Thinker What I learned about myself:

● I have the potential to lead and bring out the best in people ● I can fill gaps on a team because I can be a collaborator ● I will have many opportunities for leadership

Top Career Matches: My top career matches were detective and law enforcement. They align with my goal of being in the Marine Corps. How did YouScience help you? It helped me learn more about myself and reminded me of my capabilities and how I can help others on a job.

Career Connections  Taylor Kelley, Recruiter for Itawamba Community College, visited Career Cafe on September 4th. She spoke to students concerning the various career programs which are offered at ICC, as well as promoted their upcoming Junior Preview Day which will be held on Thursday September 19th. Additionally, Ms. Kelly provided brochures concerning admissions and financial aid information. Taylor Kelley welcomes you to call her office at (662) 862-8281 or email her at tlkelley@iccms.edu with any questions you may have. Additional information about ICC can be found at www.iccms.edu . Thank you, Ms. Kelley, for visiting PHS and helping our students learn how to have a smooth transition from high school to college.

 

Golf Tryouts   Golf tryouts for boys and girls will be Sept. 26th at 3:30 at the Pontotoc Country Club. Students must have a physical and sign up on the office ledge. Bring your golf clubs!

Mu Alpha Theta  Any student interested in joining Mu Alpha Theta, a National Mathematics Honor Society, may go by Mrs. Bean's room 135 and read the requirements. The sign up sheet is on her door.

 AP Calculus  

Advanced placement calculus students spent the week in the library utilizing the new progress checks on the college board's website. Students can monitor their progress throughout the calculus sequence using the MyAP classroom. MyAP classroom gives immediate feedback along with detailed explanations for every question.

Speed Debating 

In Mrs. Kelly’s debate classes, students have been learning about how to use Rhetorical Devices and Persuasive Appeals to make their debates stronger. After learning about all the devices and appeals, her students made a flip book to use as a reference for their assessment this week. Instead of a typical assessment, her students participated in Speed Debating. Much like speed dating, the students sat in pairs, with a topic between them. They would get 30 seconds of silent preparation, and then 30 seconds a piece to argue their side. After that they would each have 30 seconds for a rebuttal. While each person is speaking, the other person is making notes about how many rhetorical devices and appeals their partner used in their arguments. The more devices and appeals used in their argument, means more points for that person.

  

  

  

Sarah Burrell  

Sarah graduated from Ole Miss even though she is a diehard bulldog fan. She 

has two sons that attend Pontotoc School,, Jay 4th grade and Collin in 2nd. Sarah is in her 6th year for the district, 

this is her 1st year as a reading interventionist . Sarah enjoys reading 

and traveling. She likes to travel to somewhere new each year. This summer 

she went to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. She loves a good competition although she hasn’t beat Mr. Gory’s 6th period 

class in Kahoot!! She is happy to be a part of the PJHS team. 

Birthday shoutouts for the month of September: 

 Brian Morgan and Gina Bramlitt

Tryouts will be held October 2-3 from 3:30-5:30 in the PJHS gym. Coach Walker can 

help with additional information. 

    

 The cheerleaders did a great job spreading school spirit! Students and teachers also 

participated in tug of war! The teachers beat the students for the win!

Students assembled for fundraising kickoff in the PJHS auditorium. Cash prizes, pizza parties, and a 

movie visit are just a few things students can look forward to earning! 

 The students finished well at MS College. The JHS girls finished 1st overall. Top 6 made the podium, finishing in the top 15: Reannon Hicks, Carla Ramirez, Haley Lowe, Carsyn Stevens, Ava Robbins, and Samantha Vickery. Braxton 

Whiteside made the podium for the JHS boys. The Varsity boys also finished 1st in 4A, the girls finished 3rd. 

 

Last Week was a success for the football teams! 

Both teams won with 7th grade winning 10-0, and 8th grade winning 20-0! 

Warrior 5K Race 

The 3rd annual Warrior 5K will be on Thursday, September 26th at 7:00 p.m. after the homecoming parade at the Pontotoc Court Square. Something new this year will be a 1 mile walk/run. Order forms were sent home with students. All proceeds from the race will help fund technology and physical education updates for PMS. You can print a registration form at the end of the newsletter or register online. Registration is 25.00; PCSD students receive a $10 discount with TRUEWARRIOR code.

If anyone would like to sign up to receive 

messages from PTO, sign up for the Remind App.  

 

Remind Code @pontotocmi to 

81010.   

 

We are needing volunteers to sign up to help with 

WARRIOR 5K -   

*registration table,  

*hand out water,  

*finish line, and 

*positions throughout race giving directions to 

runners.  

If anyone would like to help, they can text me at 

662-424-3064.

How Do You Use the Hours in a Day? 

 

You have 24 hours in a day. 6th grade UFO students are charting how they use their time and 

how it affects their growth, brain development, and memory. Students made a 24-hour clock/Pie 

Chart to represent an average school day. We, then, analyzed this data and set goals to meet our 

growth and development needs! I think it's safe to say, we could all stand a little more sleep! 

 

 

 

 

Spotlight on our PMS Staff 

 

Mr. Johnson, principal of Pontotoc MIddle School, is from Ellistown. He has degrees from Mississippi State and Ole MIss. He and his wife have two children, Rett and Reagan. Rett is a freshman and Reagan is a fifth grader at East Union. He is an avid MS State fan and enjoys cooking. Other hobbies include umpiring baseball games and traveling with his family. He has had the opportunity to umpire games at Cooperstown twice. The best vacation he has been on was when he went to the College World Series in 2013. The best part of his job is getting to see the teachers and students get credit for the great things they do.

Removing Color from Leaves  Students in Mrs. Hitt’s class removed the chlorophyll from leaves using isopropyl alcohol. They tore the leaves into small pieces then left them in the alcohol, which turned the water green. This process could have been faster if we had heated the mixture.

Extending the text 

Students in 6th Grade ELA completed a project of their choice after reading Jack London's "The King of Mazy May". Students could create vocabulary slides, complete a Jack London webquest, create a comic strip, or rewrite the story from another point of view.  

Shooting Rockets like NASA  Students just finished our unit on historical figures in NASA. We read Articles 

on John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Kathrine Johnson. We added 

an extra credit project to honor those Amazing people. 

Face Paint Fridays! DTC students enjoy getting their faces painted on Friday mornings!! If your child would like to join in on the fun, please send $1.00. We will be painting faces every Friday in the gym from 7:10-7:45. Parent volunteers are welcome!!

Mrs. Kristy Owen is the school secretary at DTC. She has been our secretary for 2 ½ years. She says the best part of her job is seeing the kids each day! She is married to Jason and has four children and two grandchildren. She takes care of all of us at school everyday. ***Submitted by DTC UFO students***

Coding Fun! Fourth graders had fun in the computer lab reviewing drawing with loops. Using loops in an algorithm saves time and energy. The kids were surprised at their creations!

Freckle juice Third grade ELs made Freckle Juice on Friday after reading the book of the same title. They really enjoyed this fun activity as well as the book!!

Junior engineers 

Mrs. Holmes’ science classes used the engineering design process to build weather instruments that measured two weather phenomena. The kids really enjoyed testing out their instruments!

Focus on the positive 

 Fourth Grade UFO students spent a little time soul searching last week. They were asked to find their “One Word” of focus for the year. The students did a great job with this activity.

Shhh! This is Top Secret  

Mrs. King’s fourth grade classes had a TOP SECRET homework assignment! After learning about inferencing in class, students were sent home to find something that would fit inside a brown lunch bag. The could NOT tell any of their classmates what they had chosen. After selecting the item, they were asked to write down four clues. The clues were read to the class. The idea was for their classmates to use the clues to make an inference about what was in the bag. This assignment was a BIG HIT!  

For the love of books  

Mrs. Chrestman’s EL class had their first “Book Day” on Tuesday. All third and fourth grade ELs received a free chapter book to keep. In an effort to encourage reading at home, Mrs. Chrestman asked friends and family to “sponsor” a student for $10 for the year. This will enable her to purchase a book each month for every student. By May, each child will have collected 10 books for his or her personal library. Our Music teacher, Mrs. Brown, and her daughter were kind enough to help set up “Adopt-a-Pet” for these students. Each student will be able to adopt a stuffed animal as long as he or she promises to read to their adopted pet for 20 minutes a night.

Pontotoc Elementary School

We Have Spirit, Yes We Do! 

 

Second grade students love to support the Warriors on Fridays by wearing black and gold!

Kids Corner

Which football team do you cheer for during football season?

“We cheer for Mississippi State.”- Connor “I cheer for my brother. He is a Warrior.”- Grayson “Mississippi State”- Tucker “Chicago Bears”- Keon

“Mississippi State”- Kendon “Mississippi State”- Harper “I cheer for the Warriors with the cheerleaders. “- Korbyn

“I cheer for the Ole Miss Rebels.”- Karmen “Mississippi State”- Morgan “Mississippi State”- Carly

Question by Second Grade UFO

Building a Firm Foundation!

Mrs. Hutchinson’s Bible class has been learning about “What’s in the Bible?” 2nd graders tried to build a cup house on paper (not a firm foundation). Then, they built a cup house on the Bible (a sturdy foundation). The lesson was to build your life on the firm foundation of the Word of God.

Typing Fun! 

Mrs. Pettit’s second grade class is learning to type using Typing club.com in Computer. They are doing really well typing.

Lunch with our Grandparents

On Thursday and Friday, second grade celebrated Grandparents’ Day by inviting their grandparents to come eat lunch in the cafeteria. Students and grandparents both loved

eating together and talking on these days.

Shape Friends!  

Kindergarten has been working hard this week in Math working on Numbers 0-5 and learning shapes. Mrs. Penny’s kindergarten class created friends using the four basic shapes. 

 

Mixing Colors 

First grade students in Mrs. Bethune’s class had a great time mixing primary colors to create secondary colors. They created artwork in the style of Wassily Kandinsky. Mrs. Bethune’s class also read a story about Curious George mixing colors.

Squiggle Art

Second grade UFO students took a squiggle and turned it into an original piece of art. They showed a lot of creativity and focused on adding many details to their piece!

Noun Town 

Mrs. Ward’s first grade class has been learning about nouns. The students created a mural of the nouns that are found in their town.  

Humpty Dumpty

In Language, kindergarten classes began their Nursery Rhyme unit and were working on recognizing words that rhyme. Mrs. Diana and Mrs. Melissa’s classes brainstormed creative ways they could put Humpty Dumpty back together.