Kindergarten registration for Murfreesboro City Schools will be held May 7 through May 15 for students entering kindergarten for the 2020-21 school year. All children entering kindergarten must be five years old on or before August 15, 2020.

Families of incoming kindergartners have two options for registering for the upcoming school year. Online registration can be accessed at Kindergarten Registration beginning Thursday, May 7 through Friday, May 15.  Simply follow the instructions on the kindergarten registration page.

Families with limited access to the internet may choose to register via paper registration. These registration applications and instructions can be found outside each school in a learning bin labeled “Kindergarten Registration”.

Early registration allows schools to prepare for the upcoming school year. It also allows families to receive resources and updates throughout the summer.

A complete registration includes:

• * Your child’s Official Birth Certificate
• * Tennessee Dept. of Health Certification of Immunization
• * Proof of Physical within the last year
• * Verification of Your Address. This must be a current utility bill with name and address.  (Example: Water, Electric, Gas).

Parents are urged to register their children online or through a paper application even if they do not have all of their required forms or certificates.  Missing forms may be turned in prior to the first day of school.

Note to Parents from the Director of Schools –

To continue supporting your children during the time we are apart, Murfreesboro City’s teachers have prepared optional activities for student learning. 

Beginning after Spring Break, on Monday April 6, learning activities can be accessed via:

• Online:  Activities for each grade level will be posted on your school’s webpage by 8:00 each Monday.  The location will be on the right side of the webpage heading bar under your school’s initials and the word “Home.”  For example, Black Fox parents will go to the Black Fox webpage and look for BF Home; Cason Lane parents will go to the CLA website and look for CLA Home, etc.  There will be ongoing activities that can be done at any time.  Also, there will be week-specific activities for individual schools and grade levels.  So check the website each Monday for new grade-specific activities.
• Paper copies in crate at school: Each Monday by 8:00, a crate will be placed outside your school’s front door.  Inside will be paper copies of what is posted online, arranged by grade level.  As with the online access materials, there will be ongoing activities as well as week-specific activities.  If all copies have been taken when you stop by, call the school’s office, and additional paper copies will be available the next day.  The crates will remain in place Monday through Thursday.
• CHOW bus:  Each Monday at lunch, volunteers will follow the CHOW buses and hand out copies of the online activities.  If all copies have been distributed, the volunteers will take the student’s name and grade level and have copies available on Tuesday.

Beginning Monday, the 6^th, under the Home to School heading, on the right side of the district website www.cityschools.net and on each school website, you will find a link to Resources for Families.  These will include:

• Online websites/resources per content area
• Activities that can be done without a computer
• Weekly teacher read-alouds of books
• Access to the Internet–Comcast and Xfinity are offering free access for a period of time; after that period ends, there will be a cost associated with the service.

Also, beginning on the 6^th, watch instruction via MCS teachers each day at 9:30 and 4:00 on CityTV or visit the City’s YouTube channel and click on the MCS playlist, MCS at Home.  New instruction will be added on an ongoing basis. https://www.youtube.com/user/cityofmurfreesboro/playlists. 

Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m, Teaching Tennessee will air on PBS.  Tennessee teachers will provide a virtual classroom lesson on English Language Arts or Math for grades 1-8.  Four hours of content will also be streamed overnight, which viewers can watch live or record.

Books are available at the Little Free Libraries that are located on each campus.  In addition, books are being distributed by the SROs at CHOW bus locations.

The CHOW buses will continue to roll with free breakfasts and lunches to anyone 18 and under.  Please check www.cityschools.net for the locations and times.  Beginning on the 6^th, we will be serving lunch and sending home the next morning’s breakfast each day.

Thank you for your support of this school district and for caring about your children.  It is our goal to serve your children in the best way possible.  You have our commitment to work with you to meet that goal.

Respectfully,

Linda Arms Gilbert, Ed.D.

Director of Schools 

10 a.m. to 12 p.m, Teaching Tennessee will air on PBS.  Tennessee teachers will provide a virtual classroom lesson on English Language Arts or Math for grades 1-8.  Four hours of content will also be streamed overnight, which viewers can watch live or record.

Twenty-seven teachers from Murfreesboro City Schools (MCS) received their Tennessee Employment Standard for Gifted Teaching on March 7 after completing the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and MCS Gifted Academy. Since its inception in 2015, 167 teachers have graduated from the academy.

The Gifted Academy, sponsored by The Jennings and Rebecca Jones Foundation, MTSU and MCS, aims to expand gifted education programs by equipping teachers with tools to identify and engage gifted students. The program presents teachers with advanced training to assist in planning higher level thinking activities and detailed tasks for gifted learners.

The 2019-20 Gifted Academy Cohort Graduates are: Hollie Berry, Olivia Outland, Allison Cole, Olivia Cowan, Jennifer Defere, Mary Dobbs, Neely James Embree, Kristen Goodman, Alison Harris, Elizabether Hurst, Carla Vandygriff Jackson, Donna Karrh, Jacqueline Keller, Devontae Kelley, Kasey Landreth, Erin Nunley, Sarah Primm, Kayla Richards, Kelsey Rone, Bailey Rose, Taylor Sams, Dana Stem, Kirstyn Tackett, Brittney Tate, Robyn Clifford Trowbridge, and Stephanie West.

The Academy allows classroom teachers to participate in professional development to learn additional approaches of delivering instruction to address the unique needs of advanced students. Additionally, MCS has four Gifted Specialists working in the schools with teachers and parents to assure that gifted and talented students are connecting to thought-provoking learning experiences.

Murfreesboro City Schools is a district of thirteen schools committed to the academic and personal success of each child.

Murfreesboro City Schools invites the public to the MCS Music Festival on Monday, March 9. The performance will take place at 6:00 p.m. at World Outreach Church and includes over 450 students singing in celebration of Music in our Schools Month.

The concert showcases students from Black Fox, Bradley, Cason Lane, Discovery School, Erma Siegel, Hobgood, John Pittard, Mitchell-Neilson, Northfield, Overall Creek, Reeves-Rogers, Salem and Scales. The performance features pieces from a wide array of composers ranging from classical to contemporary and will be narrated and conducted by the MCS music teachers.

The evening promises to be a spectacular event showcasing the vocal talent of MCS students. Additionally, the choir’s voices will be accompanied in select songs by the music of Scales Steel de Boro and the Northfield Drumming Ensemble.

For more than 30 years, Music in our Schools Month has been recognized and sponsored by the National Association for Music Education. The observance brings music education to the forefront of schools across the nation.

Parents and guests are encouraged to arrive by 5:30 p.m. to ensure ample time for seating. World Outreach Church is located at 1921 Hwy 99 (New Salem Highway) in Murfreesboro. The performance will be held in the Three Crosses Sanctuary.

Join MCS at the sixth annual Boro Book Battle on Thursday, March 26. The event begins at 6 p.m. in the Hobgood Elementary gymnasium. Students from across the district will compete against one another in a quiz-bowl-style tournament to test their knowledge of books on the Volunteer State Book Award list.

Librarians from MCS work with the student teams throughout the school year to prepare for this friendly competition. Teams are formed from 4^th-6^th grade students who expressed interest in being a part of this core group of readers.

Four team members compete in each tournament category. Students are responsible for individually reading each of the books and school librarians help prep the students for the competition.

MCS invites families to join the madness during March Math-ness at Patterson Park on Thursday, March 19. This exciting free event engages families and students through the use of math games and strategies.

“Students and their families will have the opportunity to visit over 70 booths and learn new card and dice games and other great ways of making math come to life,” says Cindy Cliche, MCS Math Coordinator. “Games will be classified by grade level to allow everyone to find plenty of opportunities to join the fun.”

Logic, thinking, and math meets fun and games during this inaugural March Math-ness event. MTSU’s Department of Education students along with MCS teachers will provide the staging for this interactive game night which will run from 5-7 p.m.

Families are encouraged to wear their favorite sports gear and compete for prizes. Each family that attends will receive a family math game packet for their home use.

February is the perfect time for tree tapping and when you have a school campus with healthy Maple trees, a lesson plan is soon to follow. As part of a first grade STEAM project, Hobgood Elementary students tapped Maple trees on the school grounds this week to begin the harvest of Maple syrup.

Hobgood first graders began their unit of study with a visit from a community partner who introduced the concept of tree tapping in Middle Tennessee. Students continued to learn the science behind Maple syrup through identifying healthy trees, collecting weather data, assembling the correct harvesting equipment and finally making the first taps on the trees this week with first grade teacher, Martin Ridgley’s assistance.

“This was definitely an experiment,” says Ridgely. “We measured, discussed and planned for weeks but until the sap actually started flowing, we were all a little on edge.”

Over one hundred students participated in this hands-on experience. Students identified healthy trees, drilled the initial hole and finally tapped the tree and inserted the tapping instrument.

Sap generally flows for four to six weeks.  The first graders will watch and document the process of collection including changing out the collection jugs and demonstrating the experience throughout the month to all grade levels.

“Students were engaged and amazed at the rapid reaction of the tree and the sap collection,” says Hobgood Principal Quinena Bell. “This was definitely a new experience for our students and many of our staff members.”

The final stage of the process will be to create maple syrup by filtering and boiling the collected sap.

Murfreesboro City Schools is proud to announce the 2020 Teachers of the Year. Teachers from each school were nominated for the prestigious education award given by the Tennessee Department of Education.

Teachers from each school were nominated for the prestigious education award given by the Tennessee Department of Education. Twenty-six teachers were chosen by their peers for the honor based on their commitment to teaching excellence both in and outside of the classroom.

School Level Teachers of the Year are:

Discovery School – Teresa McCarthy, Kelley Kleppinger
John Pittard Elementary – Deborah Collier, Molly Oliver
Cason Lane Academy- Shay Wilson, Latasha McFarland
Salem Elementary – Kinsey Johnson, Cynthia Martin
Overall Creek Elementary – Sara Brown, Christy Honey
Scales Elementary- Kimberly Hix, Isormari Pozo
Bradley Academy – Abbey Sanders, Regan Clark
Erma Siegel Elementary – Brandy Cheatham, Margaret Lane
Reeves-Rogers Elementary -Renee Maurtua, Danielle Johnson
Black Fox Elementary – Kim Gambill, Meredith Patrum
Northfield Elementary – Judy Gritton, Rachel Bjork
Hobgood Elementary – Terri Guess, Corynn York
Mitchell-Neilson School – Heather Konyar Curry, Beverly Sanford

Two educators were selected as System-level honorees and will represent MCS at the regional level. The 2019-2020 MCS System-level Teacher of the Year recipients are: Rachel Bjork from Northfield and Teresa McCarthy from Discovery.

The Tennessee Teacher of the Year program is designed to promote recognition, respect and appreciation for teachers, to stimulate interest in teaching as a career, and to encourage public involvement in education.

Murfreesboro City Schools will host a teacher recruitment fair from 9:30 to 11:30 am on Saturday, February 8 at Scales Elementary School located at 2340 St. Andrews Drive in Murfreesboro. The fair is designed to match qualified candidates to the available teaching positions for the 2020-21 school year.

Applicants will meet principals, peers and other support area administrators at the event and should bring multiple resumes, licensure documentation, portfolios and any additional relevant materials to the job fair.

With its unique focus on pre-kindergarten through sixth grade learning, Murfreesboro City Schools is creating a vision that embodies the highest levels of collaboration, professionalism, and excellence. The district strives to meet the needs of the whole child and is committed to the personal and academic success of each child within the district.