Convention Here We Come!

It's hard to believe that it is already a week into November! Wow! Only a couple of weeks left until Thanksgiving break. While the students have the entire week off, teachers will be available for conferences on Monday, November 23 from 12:00 until 7:00. Please contact your child's teachers directly for appointments.


All three counselors will be attending the Virginia Counselors Association convention in Williamsburg on Nov. 12 and 13. We will return to FMS on November 16 and will be able to return any calls or e-mails received while we are away. If you or your child must speak with someone while we are out of the building, please contact one of the administrators for assistance.

Benchmark Time!

Well, it's Benchmark time again! Just when we thought we could take a breather after Reality Store, the Benchmark tests arrived. Mrs. Becker has been working hard to get the testing schedule in order for us. Once the tests were at FMS, all three counselors were able to prepare each teacher's "bucket". Since I work with the 6th graders, I prepared all the buckets for 6th grade teachers. Mrs. Becker prepared for 7th grade and Ms. Waldmann prepared for 8th grade.

We will be testing most of this week. Today, Monday 10/26, is Science day. There will be a break on Tuesday for students to receive the H1N1 vaccination. On Wednesday, we will administer the Math tests. Thursday will be Reading test day and Friday is History day.

Now for a little teaser for 8th grade students......

The week of December 14-18 will be Career Week at FMS! Stay tuned for exciting updates about activities planned.

Reality Store - Oct. 15

We are gearing up for the 2009 Reality Store on October 15, 2009! This is a fun activity for 8th grade students to learn about budgeting and making wise decisions in life.

Back in September, the counselors met with all 8th grade students to talk about Reality Store. Each student was able to look at the Virginia VIEW website (http://www.vaview.org/) to gather information about various careers. They got to choose a career for the game, as well as choosing whether they want to be single or married, how many kids they want (if any), and the highest level of education completed. The game is played as if the students are 28-30 years old.

On game day, students will receive tickets to go to the gym at a designated time. They will receive packets of information that will include their monthly salary for their chosen careers. At various stations located throughout the gym, students will pay taxes, buy insurance, obtain housing and transportation, and possibly even have enough money left over for entertainment or vacations!

We are excited to offer Reality Store again this year and hope you enjoy the game of life!

Welcome!

Hello everyone! Welcome to Ms. Gilley's Guidance Blog! This is where I will post important guidance information, plus some fun tidbits. I would like to encourage student, parents, and others to post questions and/or comments. There are a few rules and guidelines that will apply to this blog. One important thing to remember is that I will approve all comments before they make it to the web. So, consider the following as you blog:

Make sure your comment/question:

• is something you would want everyone to see


• is respectful


• uses appropriate language and proper grammar and spelling
  

Please feel free to ask me questions through the blog. For questions that may be common, I will post the answers for all to benefit from (no personal student information will be shared).

Have a wonderful 2009-2010 school year!