2. Bear Necessities about Becoming a Grizzly “Embracing Opportunities” The Five “A’s” of Piney Grove A Day in the Life of a Grizzly Daily Schedules, Homeroom, Literacy and LST Curriculum and Instruction Grading, Re-learn and Recovery, Advanced Studies Courses Communication – Get Connected!

3. “Embracing Opportunities” The Five “A’s” at Piney Grove Middle School Academics Arts Activities Athletics Altruistic Endeavors

4. Green Day Typical Day Start in Grizzly Time (aka Homeroom) Seven 50 minute periods Gold Day Start in First Period LST (Learning Support Time) after Second Period “The Gift of Time” for Personalized Learning

5. Daily Homeroom School-wide Announcements Character Education Lessons Short Time for Remediation & “Work on the Work” Silent Reading Homework Completion Study Time

6. 6 th Grade Literacy Literacy comes in several forms Gifted Literacy On-Level Supportive Daily opportunity for Personalized Learning based on academic needs of students

7. Connections Schedules

8. The purpose of assessment is to measure the level of a student’s mastery of the content. Teachers re-teach before and after school (“office hours” posted, LST, Literacy). Teachers give students opportunities to “re-learn” through tutoring sessions, on-line activities (via itslearning), take-home packets, etc. Students have the opportunity to re-assess after participating in a re-teach and re-learn session.

9. Offered to PGMS students as an opportunity for students to complete missing work, take assessments or participate in re-assessment. Students may also be “invited” by a teacher to attend. Teachers give students a pass to Grizzly Academy for parent signature. Students return signed pass to teacher.

10. Advanced classes are open to all students at Piney Grove 6 th Graders may take up to two advanced classes Options include ELA, Math and Social Studies 7 th graders may take up to three advanced classes 8 th graders may take up to four advanced classes Accelerated Math counts as an advanced section Students must register for advanced classes! No student will be automatically placed in any advanced classes.

11. For more information, please visit the Piney Grove website. Copies of Readiness Guide, PowerPoint Presentations and Registration Forms. All Forms are due by May, 13 th 2016 by 6:00pm. Also, feel free to email Assistant Principal, Ross Wason if you have any additional questions about Advanced Studies at Piney Grove rwason@forsyth.k12.ga.us. rwason@forsyth.k12.ga.us

12. Students may register for Band, Chorus, or Drama All other connections classes (art, PE, technology, etc. are randomly assigned). Band and Chorus are year-long classes. Drama is a semester-long class. Follow link from PGMS homepage to sign up for Band, Chorus, or Drama. The registration page will be available until May 13 th

13. Over 25 clubs at Piney Grove this year! Intramural Sports VEX Robotics Academic Bowl Fantasy Football Book Club Fellowship of Christian Athletes And many, many more! (check out the club brochure on our webpage and in the fall when you return to school).

14. Attend games to support our Grizzlies! Football Basketball Track Intramural Sports Options…

15. Get Connected! For the most information about what’s going on at Piney Grove, be sure to check out… PGMS Website PGMS Facebook and Twitter Feeds Grizzly Gazette and Grade-level eNewsletters Itslearning (Instructional Resources) Parent Portal (Assessment Information) Teacher contacts (Phone, Email)