IMPORTANT DATES

2018-19

Dear Trafalgar Families and Friends,

It seems hard to believe that we are already

half way through the school year! Teachers

have been working hard to prepare our

students to become innovative thinkers,

creative problem solvers and inspired learners. Our students continue

to study diligently as they work through the challenging middle school

curriculum. We are very thankful for all of the parental support we receive

to help prepare our students for success both in and out of the classroom.

We are excited to say that our School Choice Open House on January 16th

was a huge success! We were happy to see so many families come out on

such a cool evening to see all the great things we are doing at TMS. I want to

thank our teachers for presenting our curriculum and our volunteers for help-

ing park cars. I would also like to give a special thank you to “Ms. Kelly”

Sigler and the TMS dance team and Mr. Tim Kiernan and the TMS Choir for

putting on amazing performances for our prospective students.

Family involvement in your child’s education is a key to their success. The

administration is honored to work with you and your student this year. Please

contact us if we can assist you in any way. Thank you for being partners with

us in educating your child.

Dr. Michael R. Galbreath Mr. Kevin Beckman Mrs. Darcia Borel

Principal Assistant Principal Assistant Principal

GREETINGS

FROM THE HELM

Trafalgar Middle School | 2120 Trafalgar Parkway | Cape Coral, FL 33991 | http://

February 1, 2019

Trafalgar Newsletter

Tutoring for 6th, 7th and 8th grade math is available on Wednesday from 4-5:20pm.

Call the school for more information.

Feb 8 Interims

Feb 11 Track Begins

Feb 14 PBS Mid Qtr Reward for Clean Crew Card

Feb 18 President’s Day-NO SCHOOL

Feb 19 In-Service Day-NO SCHOOL

Mar 1 Jog-A-Thon Fundraiser Kick-Off Decades Dance sponsored by the Builder Club 4-5:20pm (TENTATIVE)

Mar 9 8th Grade Reward Trip to Busch Gardens

Mar 13 PBS End of Qtr Reward for Clean Crew Card

Mar 14 Jog-a-Thon Schoolwide Fundraiser and Field Day

Mar 14 End of Qtr 3

Mar 15 Duty Day-NO SCHOOL

Mar 18-22

Spring Break-NO SCHOOL

Mar 25 Tennis & Golf Begin

Mar 30 7th Grade Navigator Team Reward Trip to Busch Gardens

Apr 4 Report Card Mail Out Date

Apr 19 Good Friday-NO SCHOOL

Apr 22 Easter-NO SCHOOL

Apr 24 Interims

May 10 7th Grade Navigator Team End of Year Celebration

May 15 End of Year Band Concert 6pm

May 24 6th Grade End of Year Celebration

May 27 Memorial Day-NO SCHOOL

May 29 8th Grade Dance 6-9pm

May 28-30

Early Dismissal @ 2pm

May 28 8th Grade Sun in the Fun Day

May 30 8th Grade Promotion Ceremony 10am-12pm

*PARENTS PLEASE READ*

SchoolMessenger replaced Parentlink. If you are not receiving messages, TEXT 67587 and type either YES or Y to opt in so you can start receiving emergency broadcasts, attendance

alerts and event reminders.

Trafalgar Newsletter

Trafalgar Middle School | 2120 Trafalgar Parkway | Cape Coral, FL 33991 | http://tfm.leeschools.net

COMMUNITY BOARD

PLANNERS Students should use the plan-ners to write down assign-ments and homework. The Positive Behavior Support (PBS) and discipline crew cards are located in the plan-ners, as well as restroom pass-es. Homework assignments will also be posted electroni-cally in Google Classroom.

ABSENT? If you know your child will be absent, please contact the school at (239) 283-2001 and also provide the student with a written excuse upon returning. The following is a list of the only legal excuses for being absent from school:

Personal Illness – The school may require a note from a doctor for prolonged illness

Illness in the family Death of a close relative Observance of a religious holiday

COUNSELORS’ CORNER All current 8th grade students will need to enroll for high school with student assignment. If you did not receive a pa-per copy with your PIN number during open enrollment via the US Mail, you may email StudentEnroll-ment@leeschools.net. Applications are due on or before March 1, 2019. If you have any additional questions or need assistance, please call the counselors or the information specialist at Trafalgar Middle School, 239-283-2001. As the testing season approaches parents often seek out resources for FSA (Florida Standards Assessment) preparation. fsassessments.org/students-and-families/practice-tests/ is an excellent starting place to practice for the upcoming assess-ments. All of the FSA tests by grade level are at this site. Additionally, http://fl.pearsonaccessnext.com and http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/assessments/k-12-student-assessment/science.stml are beneficial sites for the 8th grade FCAT Science test and the 7th grade Civics test. We have officially passed the half-way point in the academic year. Please continue to monitor your child’s grades, up-coming assignments, projects, and homework. It is our sincere goal that all of our students complete the year with pass-ing grades. We also request that you continue to monitor your child’s internet and phone usage. Many of our students are using their phones and computers on social media sites and various platforms. Some of the content is concerning. Please be aware of your child’s log-in and password(s) so as to stay abreast of their internet safety and usage.

Results!

Reminder The Community Cooperative Mobile Food Pantry comes to our school

every 3rd Wednesday of the month from 4-5:30pm.

Once again, the Builders Club did an amazing job collecting items for this years Salvation Army Canned Food Drive. Their collection goal was 1,000 cans and our students, parents and faculty collected 1,022 food items. Way to go TMS!

For over 20 years, various clubs have sponsored a Giving Dance during the holidays. It is the only dance held during the school day and students pay $5 to attend. This year the TMS Honor Society and the Builders Club sponsored the dance. As in the past, this was a well attended dance! Every year, the money raised has been donated to the Cape Coral Caring Center. This year they were able to make a donation of $2,327! We are so proud of our stu-dents and thankful to our parents for supporting this great cause.

NURSE NOTES ATTENTION 6TH GRADE PARENTS: The State of Florida Immunization Program has guidelines for mandatory immunizations for school enrollment and attendance. 7th grade students who do not provide evidence that they have all of the required immunizations will not be allowed to attend class the first day of school. Immunizations can be obtained from your family physi-cian or free of charge at the Lee County Health Department (332-9601).

Say BOO to the FLU! Wash those hands. Eat healthy meals, including breakfast and drink plenty of water (try out one of the new filtered drinking fountains located in the gym and in the guidance office). Get enough sleep at night. Our bodies do much of their healing and infection fighting while we are asleep. Last but not least...GET A FLU SHOT! Children hold more of the flu virus than any other age group.

TEST SCHEDULE (Dates are subject to change)

4/2 FSA Writing (6,7,8) 5/1 & 5/2 FSA Reading (6,7,8) 5/7-5/9 FSA Math (6,7,8) & Alg EOC 5/9 FCAT Science (8) 5/14 Civics EOC

Parents: Please make sure your child comes to school with his/her charged Chrome-

book!

Trafalgar Middle School | 2120 Trafalgar Parkway | Cape Coral, FL 33991 | http://tfm.leeschools.net

Trafalgar Newsletter

Soccer season is off to a great star t! Track season will begin on February 11th and Golf and Tennis will begin on

March 25th. Students are welcome to participate in our Intramural Program, as long as they have turned in an In-tramural Permission Slip, which they received in

their packet on the first day of school or they can pick one up from the front office. Students must

have at least a 2.0 overall GPA from their last quarter to participate.

PARENT RESOURCES

SPORTS

SCHOOL MESSENGER replaces the system currently known as Parentlink, but works very much the same way and enables

us to send you emergency broadcasts, attendance alerts and event reminders. YOU MUST TEXT 67587 and OPT IN TO RECEIVE MESSAGES

TMS GOOGLE CLASSROOM-Students have access to our TMS Google Classroom on their Chromebooks. Make sure to ask them about it!

TMS WEBSITE Check out our TMS school website for school information. Stay informed by logging in at: http://tfm.leeschools.net.

FOCUS is a system that gives students and parents access to grades and attendance. To register on Focus you will need your child's Student ID and your child's Date of Birth. You can log in to Focus via the internet at: https://lee.focusschoolsoftware.com/focus/

PEACHJAR-Gone are the days of digging crumpled up flyers from the bottom of your child’s backpack. Or worse yet, never seeing the advertisement for that important event at your child’s school. The School District of Lee County is furthering our commitment to “going green” by moving to an electronic flyer (e-flyer) system called “Peachjar.” The initiative will save our schools paper, reduce copy costs and remove a significant administrative burden from teachers, office staff, and volunteers. You will be able to view newsletters, information about school activities, enrichment opportunities and community events online. In addition, they will be sent directly to your email. No action is required on your part. You will receive a welcome email from Peachjar that includes a username and password. This is provided to give you the opportunity to manage your account and flyer delivery preferences. You do not need to login to receive or view school digital flyers. To ensure smooth delivery of this communication, we suggest you add school@peachjar.com to your email contacts. When you receive your first digital flyer, be sure to click “always display images. This system is used exclusively for distribution of school-approved flyers. Your email address will not be shared or used for any other purpose. You will also be able to access the flyers on your school’s website, just look for the Peachjar icon.

You can still purchase a yearbook and have it personalized if you order by February 25th. The current price is $40. Order forms are in

the front office or online at www.JostensYearbooks.com

THIRST PROJECT TMS students are on a mission to raise $12,000 to build a well in Swaziland, Africa through the Thirst Project. Through this project, students have learned that around the world 663 million people do not have clean water. The Thirst Pro-ject is the world’s leading YOUTH water activ-ism organization. The Thirst Project is a move-ment of high school and college students who build freshwater wells in developing nations and impoverished communities to provide communi-ties with safe, clean water. Trafalgar Middle School is proud and excited to be the FIRST middle school in Florida to be a part of the Thirst Project. Students and staff have already raised over $5000 toward our goal! If you would like more information on how to donate, please con-tact the school at (239) 283-2001.

Jog-A-Thon 2019 is our Annual Fundraiser-It will be held on Thursday, March 14th. Unlike other school fundraisers where much of the donations go to professional fundraisers, all of your donation will remain in our community and will be used to directly benefit our students. Collection envelopes with more detailed in-formation will go home with students on March 1st. Students can raise money to participate in the Jog-a-Thon from March 1st through March 14th.

Field Day will also be taking place on March 14th.

Volunteers are always welcomed to help with either event. If you haven’t already completed an application this year to volunteer at TMS, please contact Mr. Gentile ASAP either via telephone (239) 283-2001 or email him at AngeloG@leeschools.net.

JOG-A-THON 2019 & FIELD DAY

Trafalgar Middle School | 2120 Trafalgar Parkway | Cape Coral, FL 33991

Trafalgar Newsletter

The School Board of Lee County, Florida

Gwynetta S. Gittens, District 5 (Chair) Chris N. Patricca, District 3 (Vice Chair)

Mary Fischer, District 1 Melisa W. Giovannelli, District 2

Debbie Jordan, District 4 Betsy Vaughn, District 6

Cathleen O'Daniel Morgan, District 7

Dr. Gregory K. Adkins Superintendent

www.leeschools.net

The School Board of Lee County, Florida, prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, color, disability, gender, national

origin, marital status, religion, or sexual orientation.

Trafalgar Middle School | 2120 Trafalgar Parkway | Cape Coral, FL 33991 | http://tfm.leeschools.net

Florida State Statute 1012.42 recognizes that teachers at times must be assigned duties in a class outside the field in which the teacher is certi-fied. The following teachers at Trafalgar Middle School are certified, but may be assigned one or more classes outside their areas of certifica-tion and are required to take appropriate steps to comply with the statutory regulation: Jacqueline Davis-MG Math, Nicole Romano-Reading Endorsement and Kathlyn Hendee-MG General Science. In addition, the following teachers are engaged in training to add English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) to their certificate: Thomas Hall (2nd year), Pam Kotovsky (6th year) and Nicole Romano (3rd year)