Tennessee Middle School

There will be no LEAPs Thursday 10/23 at TMS. We encourage our families to come see us at Trunk or Treat at 5:30.

Leaves are falling, and fall break is calling—turn in your library books to Mrs. Ball before Friday!

Today is the last day to register for fall intersession!
Link for parents to register online: https://forms.microsoft.com/r/LkckRmhgRZ

Upcoming Events at TMS:
Parent Teacher Conferences- 9/30 3-6PM
Picture Day-October 1

TMS picture day is one week away! Ask your student for their form today!

Want to better understand your child’s learning progress? The TCAP Family Portal gives parents access to personalized information, test results, and resources to support learning at home. Schools are in the process of sending home each student's printed state TCAP score reports from last school year. Once you receive your child's report, we encourage you to visit the TCAP Family Portal for more information about your child's TCAP results. For instructions on accessing the portal, go to https://www.btcs.org/page/tcap-family-portal.

Tennessee Middle School's annual Title 1 Meeting will be held on August 4, 2025, at 4:30 PM on the learning stairs!

Save the Date for the first annual TMS Back to School Bash- August 4, 5 to 7 in front of TMS and the Fieldhouse area! You will meet your student's teachers on this night! Food and games provided by PTA and Communities in Schools!

🎶 Calling all rising 6th graders! 🎺🥁Beginning Band Camp is coming to Tennessee Middle School on July 14–18, from 2–4 p.m. daily! Whether you're picking up an instrument for the first time or just ready to make some noise, this is your time to shine! Enter through Door #25. Questions? Email finchs@btcs.org.

Tennessee Middle School Supply Lists are available here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:73f3114b-83c9-4be6-bc73-c7a40cce2a44

TMS Athletics - 2025 Tryout Dates & Information: *Girls' Soccer - Tryouts: May 28–30, 5:00–7:00 PM @ Central Fields (HutchinsonJ@btcs.org) *Girls' Volleyball - Tryouts: May 23, 1:30–4:30 PM @ TMS Gym (SlaughterA@btcs.org) *Football - Workouts Begin: June 2, 5:00 PM @ TMS (ArnoldJ@btcs.org) *Boys' Basketball - Tryouts: May 23, 5:00–7:00 PM @ TMS Gym (RobinsonT@btcs.org) *Cross Country - Workouts Begin: June 3, 8:30 AM @ TMS Track (Murrell_T@mac.com) *Tennis - Tryouts: July 30, 3:30 PM @ Ida Stone Courts (BuckmasterA@btcs.org) *Dance - Tryouts: May 31, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM & June 2, 6:00–7:30 PM @ TMS Gym (HackerH@btcs.org) *Cheer - Clinic Day 1: May 20, 4:30–6:00 PM; Clinic Day 2: May 21, 4:30–6:00 PM; Tryouts: May 29, 9:00–11:00 AM @ TMS Gym (WrightA@btcs.org) For information on TMS and THS 2025 athletic tryouts, visit https://www.btcs.org/o/athletics/page/tryouts .

Upcoming 8th Grade Summer Reading Guide Students in the BTCS school system are required to participate in a graded summer reading assignment. In place of a summer reading novel, 8th grade ELA has opted to read a few short texts and complete activities highlighting some of our focus skills in 8th grade. “Uncle Marcos” by Isabel Allende “Nikola Tesla: The Greatest Inventor of All? By Vicky Baez Excerpt from The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt As you read this summer, use the following checklist to keep track of each activity you need to complete before the first day of school. Please read the checklist carefully as you will not be completing every item in the textbook. Text 1: Uncle Marcos Skill Focus: Characterization Read “Uncle Marcos” by Isabel Allende (p.449) Answer the close reading questions on p. 449, 451, 453, 454, & 456. Complete the Analyze Craft & Structure activity on p. 459. For this activity, read the information about characters and answer the four questions that follow. Text 2: Nikola Tesla: The Greatest Inventor of All? Skill Focus: Text Structure Read “Nikola Tesla: The Greatest Inventor of All? By Vicky Baez (p.489) Complete the Analyze Craft & Structure activity on p. 492. For this activity, read the information about biographical writing. Then complete the chart and answer the two questions that follow. Text 3: from The Invention of Everything Else Skill Focus: Word Choice Read from The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt (p.495) Complete the Analyze Craft & Structure activity on p. 506. For this activity, read the information about figurative language and complete the practice choice at the bottom of the page. Dear Future 8th Grader, We are so excited to share these texts with you! Each text focuses on a skill you will grow and reinforce in 8th grade. By reading and participating in the summer reading assignment, you will be well prepared for our work during our year together. You were given a paper copy of these texts and assignments; however, there is a link to the digital copy of these assignments at the bottom of this letter if needed. You will take a quiz over this assignment and the paperwork will be graded. Please bring your work in during our first week of school together in August. We look forward to rewarding you for your reading time over the summer. Whether you take the time to read on vacation, at night before bed, or when you first wake up, reading enriches us and we hope to share our love of reading with you as we get to know one another. We hope that as you read these texts, you reflect on your middle school experiences so far and feel excitement for the next chapter in your childhood as an eighth grader at Tennessee Middle School. Looking forward to our days together, Deanna Baptist, Andrew Cleland, Taylor Booker *In case you need a digital copy of the texts and work, please scan the QR code below!

Upcoming 7th Grade Summer Reading Guide You will be reading two texts from the 7th grade curriculum to help you prepare for the upcoming school year. Summer Reading Text #1: “Four Skinny Trees” from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros Summer Reading Text #2: from Facing the Lion: Growing Up Massai on the African Savannah by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton Below are some questions to guide your reading. When you return to school, have the answers to the following questions. Analyze a character from one of your summer reading texts. How is the character introduced? How does this character change over the course of the text? Does this character remind you of someone you know? Do you personally relate to this character? Analyze the tone of an excerpt from one of your summer reading texts. What excerpt are you analyzing? What is the tone of this passage? What words from the text help create this tone? How does this tone impact the meaning of the text? What song would represent this excerpt? Identify examples of figurative language in one of your summer reading texts. How do these examples create meaning in the text? Why would the author include this figurative language? Identify three challenging vocabulary words. Look up the denotation (dictionary meaning) of these words. What is the connotation (the feeling a word creates) of each word? Use these words in a sentence. List synonyms and antonyms for these words. What themes, or life lessons, are developed throughout one of the text? What does a character learn throughout the story? What was the author’s purpose in writing this story? How can you apply this lesson to your own life? Create a plot diagram of the MAIN conflict in one of the texts. Exposition: How are your characters introduced? What is your story’s setting? Conflict: What was the main issue in your story? What type of conflict is it (external/internal)? Rising Action: What problems or events took place as your character faced the conflict? Climax: What is the turning point or most exciting part of the story? Falling Action: What happens after the climax? Resolution: How does the story end? What does the protagonist learn from the main conflict? Write an objective summary of one of the texts when you have finished reading. (An objective summary is a summary that does not include any opinions or judgments about what is written in the text.) Dear Future 7th Grader, We are so excited to share these texts with you! Each text focuses on a skill you will grow and reinforce in 7th grade. By reading and participating in the summer reading assignment, you will be well prepared for our work during our year together. You were given a paper copy of these texts and assignments; however, there is a link to the digital copy of these assignments at the bottom of this letter if needed. Please bring your work in during our first week of school together in August. We look forward to rewarding you for your reading time over the summer. Please complete these questions on clean notebook paper to submit to your ELA teacher for a grade. Whether you take the time to read on vacation, at night before bed, or when you first wake up, reading enriches us and we hope to share our love of reading with you as we get to know one another. We hope that as you read these texts this summer, you reflect on your own childhood experiences so far and feel excitement for the next chapter in your childhood as a seventh grader at Tennessee Middle School. Looking forward to our days together, Kevin Jones, Amara Bunten, Kendra Hale

TMS Math Fair and Art show will be Wednesday, May 14, 5:30-7:00 in the TMS Gym.

Save the date! All Tennessee Middle School students will have laptop collection on May 16, 2025.