Herget Happenings

Happy Fall!

I am honored to be the Principal at Herget Middle School where there are ongoing improvement opportunities around thinking, evolving, and continued opportunities for reflection and change. We recognize that our students are at an important milestone in their lives that encompass change physically, socially, and academically.

I am thankful for the dedication, effort, and commitment of our staff and school community to meet the intellectual and developmental needs of our students. We look forward to continuing to provide students with social opportunities, empowering them with a voice in decision making, and providing them with challenging and engaging learning opportunities for growth.

Ms. Larry, Principal

Hello Herget Families,

September was a busy month for us at Herget with testing. We took iReady tests and AIMSWEB tests in the middle of September. Based on these tests we will look to set goals as a school for our middle-of-year (MOY) testing. This was our first implementation of the iReady test, and we will review and determine how best to use that data going forward in our year.

October brings an end to our first quarter, so please be aware that grades will be available in Home Access on Friday, October 21, 2022.

We continue to be committed to creating a culture that demonstrates a clear…

Commitment to Learners

• Relationships are important and matter to create environments where learners feel welcomed, safe, and connected.

Commitment to Dialogue

• High-quality dialogue enables learners to generate ideas and think more deeply leading to transferable learning

• Dialogue creates space for learners to expand and reinforce ideas that share and deepen their perspectives

• The learning environment and culture of each classroom encourages learners to make their thinking visible

• Planned dialogue opportunities are created and modeled to intentionally challenge student thinking and understanding

Dates, Events, and Information to put on your radar…

• Parent Teacher Conferences - Held Virtually 10/4 & 10/7

• No School - Non-attendance Day - 10/10/22

1ST Quarter Report Card (RC1)

• First Quarter ends Friday, October 14th, 2022 (all assignments must be dated Oct. 14th or earlier).

• First Quarter Grades are due Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 by noon.

• First Quarter Grades available to students via HAC on Friday, October 21st, 2022.

All math classrooms at Herget are working hard to incorporate opportunities for dialogue into our daily routines. Having students be able to discuss their strategies to approach problems, their thinking in solving problems, and asking questions when they need more information helps to reinforce their math learning.

Students can learn as much or more from talking with each other about their thinking as they can from their teachers or whole group instruction. Sometimes students can have a difficult time verbalizing what they are thinking though. Talking with siblings or parents about math at home can help give students some practice and confidence using this skill at school.

Many teachers encourage students to use question stems or sentence starters such as these to get the conversations rolling:

• Can you explain how you got that solution?

• Can you prove that your answer is correct?

• I’m confused about…

• Can you show that in a different way?

• How did you figure that out?

• Why are our answers different?

• Another strategy to use is…

• The keywords that helped me figure this out are….

• I noticed that…

• I know the answer is reasonable because…

• What will you do next?

• Why did you decide to do it that way?

• Can you draw a picture or diagram to help me understand?

• I got a different answer because....

• I agree or disagree because….

Read more...

Easy tips to support math learning at home

Happy October!

It has been an exciting school year so far. Here are a few things that have been happening in ELA this year. We have been working hard to develop the curiosity, complexity, and joy of learning. The students have been engaging in meaningful dialogue about plot, character traits, and different types of conflict. The students really enjoyed the dialogue activities. We continue to learn and apply our vocabulary words in a variety of ways. We have also been working on grammar rules, and how to use the different parts of speech in our writing. We like to remind the students that “Reading is like breathing in. Writing is like breathing out.”

Becoming a better reader takes time and work. We encourage our students to read daily. There are 1440 minutes every day. Spending 20 minutes reading every day can make a big difference in their future and it only takes 1.3% of your entire day. Take a few minutes to share about what you are reading and ask questions about what is happening in the book. Dialoguing with your student about their reading will encourage them to continue and make it a priority. It also is a great way to check in with what they are reading and make connections. Remember reading for pleasure is something that we want everyone to do. If you get a chance, sit down and read quietly with your student to show them that reading for fun is something we do even after we leave school.

Thanks for all your support, and effort to make this year as successful as possible. We look forward to continuing our work together!

Check out our At-Home Reading Strategies on the next page

At-Home Reading Strategies

Music/Choir

The 7th and 8th Grade Herget Choir are doing incredible things! Here is a video of them singing the West Aurora Alma Mater in class. Here we are in week 3, only singing for 14 days, and learning 9 songs for our first concert Thursday, October 13, at 7:00 PM! We don't normally sing a-cappella this early in the year! The men are strong! It is going to be a great year! https://youtu.be/97ohTSsrefc

● Art - 6th graders have started making their scary clay monsters just in time for the

Halloween season! 7tth and 8th Grade classes are finishing up their “Design

Portraits!”

● Music/Choir

● Band

6th Grade Early Morning Band begins October 11th! These rehearsals will

take place every Tuesday beginning at 7:30 a.m. The 6th graders are

preparing for their Premiere Concert, which will take place on October

18th at 7:00 p.m. here at Herget. Come hear the growth our students have

made it such a short time!

● PLTW

● CTE - 7th and 8th grade CTE students are putting the finishing touches on their first

woodworking project. In October, the focus will be on curved cuts using the coping saw

and scroll saw as students begin project #2.

● World Language

Students in Level A have just completed their very first unit of study, Who Am I?

Students learned how to say their name, age, where they are from and some

contact information.

Level B students have just completed their first unit of study, What is a School

Day? Students learned about the school day in various target language countries,

and learned how to talk about school supplies and describe

Click for more:

The Joy of Reading

Greetings parents! We hope many of you had the opportunity to attend our back-to-school night in August. The social studies teachers look forward to this school year and getting to know your students. We would like to take this opportunity to give you a quick recap of what is happening in each grade level.

6th Grade and 7th Grade Social Studies have started the year with a focus on “Thinking Like a Social Scientist” and “Geography.” In our “Thinking Like a Social Scientist” unit, students recognized that there are skills and tools that are utilized throughout the social and behavioral sciences. Students identified, created, utilized, and interpreted the various tools and skills that a social scientist would use to better understand our world. In unit 2, students began to develop their geographical literacy. We have been focusing on map elements and map skills. Students identified and located absolute locations on maps to find cities, states, countries, and continents. As a result, our students are now able to read a variety of maps for a variety of purposes. For our next unit, students will understand and be able to differentiate the five themes of geography and the seven elements of culture. Since we are officially halfway through the first quarter, we would like to remind you to please make sure that your student is checking their course Schoology page every day. Teachers will post assignments and announcements here!

8th Grade US History students have wrapped up the unit on the American Revolution and are currently learning about the US Constitution. Students have been learning about the foundations of our government and the big ideas that the founding fathers thought of while creating our government. The unit will end with students thinking about how does the Constitution impact us today? Please make sure that students are checking into their US history Schoology page every day and utilizing the folders for each assignment.

Health Office News

This is a reminder for all new students and sixth graders. Please submit your sixth-grade physical exam forms and immunization documents, if you have not already done so. Our state exclusion date for missing health requirements is 10-15-2022. This means that those students missing vaccines or the sixth-grade physical exam on that date will be excluded from school as of Monday, 10-17-22.

Our nurses continue to review health records and create health plans for those students who require staff to be informed in case of emergency. Many students have been able to overcome health barriers by keeping school informed and submitting required action plans from the doctor. Asthma, diabetes, food allergies and seizure disorders are managed during the school day by partnering with your school nurse.

On September 20, 2022 Herget Middle School hosted a health services training as part of staff school improvement day. Alex Houston, who is an education coordinator for the Epilepsy Foundation, did a focused training completing our Smart School requirement to be educated on epilepsy. Our nurses Mrs. Brolley (630-301-5240) and Mrs. Silva (630-301-5243) are proud to say that we hold the label of Seizure Smart School. A great resource to learn more about seizure disorder is: www.epilepsychicago.org

Building Operations/ Student Services

• Green Sheets–a green sheet of paper that students can fill out whenever they feel they need to see our clinicians.

The options on the paper are:

1. To speak to a clinician because someone is in danger or may be hurt.

2. Speak to a clinician but it can wait a day or two yet it is still important.

Please Note:

• Tardies- Tardies will reset at the quarter. We are continuing to track them in Hero.

• Statements: If you see something, say something! We encourage students to let Student Services or any adult know when they see something that needs to be addressed in the school.

• ROE Inspection went well / Pt2 with AFD on Thursday 10/13

• Bus Evacuation (10/3) Students did a great job!

• Main Entrance Door Decal Signage and Athletic /Performing Arts Entrance Decal Signage are in the process ...

• Please remember your ID when visiting our school

EVERY DAY COUNTS!

Student Sign-In

Reminder: Late-start Monday tardy bell is 9:35 a.m. and Tuesday-Friday tardy bell is 8:45 a.m. If your child arrives after the tardy bell, you must sign your child in at the main office. If your child is going to be absent, please remember to call the Safe Phone at 630-301-5230 to report your child’s absence.

Picking up a student early?

Students being picked up from school during the day will need an authorized person from the student’s contact list; the adult must have and show a photo ID.

Visitor’s to our building must have a Valid Photo ID

In West Aurora School District 129, the safety and well-being of our students and staff are our number one priority; please be prepared to show an ID and share your purpose for visiting our school. Any visitor to our buildings and district facilities are asked to provide their driver’s license or state/country issued identification card. These IDs are scanned through our system as well as the sex offender registry website. Once the screening is complete, a one-time badge is printed and to be worn in the building for the entirety of the visit.

Feeling ill? Visit the health office

Students feeling ill should report to the health office. Students should not text or use their phones during the day requesting to be picked up. Students need to check in with the health office should they feel ill and the nurse will contact a parent/guardian if needed. Please remind your student that using their phone during the school day may result in consequences.

School Fees

A reminder that fees are due November 1st. All school fees must be paid before your child can participate in a sport; payment plans are available. Please contact our Bookkeeper, Carolyn Waitt, 630-301-5223 or cwait@sd129.org with any questions or concerns.

Mr. White, Athletic Director

Email: www.hergethuskies@sd129.org
Website: https://herget.sd129.org/
Location: 1550 Deerpath Road, Aurora, IL, USA
Phone: (630) 301-5006
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HergetHuskies
Twitter: @HergetSchool