Jaguar Junction

It's hard to believe we are in February already!! First, thank you so much for your patience and support with the weather days this last month. It is always the Topeka Public School's priority to ensure the safety of our students. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate this month for students to be in school on a consistent basis.

When February rolls around, it means that life at JMS gets a little bit busier for a lot of students. 8th graders are pre-enrolling for high school as well as completing their four year plans of study. All students are preparing for the upcoming State Assessments in March/April with all grade levels taking both math and reading, and the 8th graders are participating in the state science assessment.

In addition, students will begin working on their parent teacher conferences and student lead power points for the upcoming conferences in March. AB teachers will be reaching out setting up your conferences. As usual, once you are here, we encourage you to meet up with as many teachers as you wish. Connecting home and school together is a priority for Jardine. We do have a goal of 100% participation in parent/teacher conferences.

I want to extend a warm welcome back as we return from our winter break and dive into the exciting challenges and opportunities ahead in the coming months. As the days get colder make sure students come to school with appropriate winter attire. From the student handbook:

“Coats, hats, bandanas, book bags, string bags, and purses will be placed in student lockers. Backpacks,

bookbags, string bags, and purses will not be allowed to be carried around to classes.”

Topeka Public Schools has partnered up with the nonprofit organization #BeMoreLikeClaire.org in an effort to empower students with tools and opportunities to develop healthy relationships with friends, family, and future romantic partners. Our Science department will be implementing the “Have a Heart: Healthy Relationships Toolkit” program. It is a 5 lesson curriculum, geared towards learning the signs of unhealthy relationships and creating and maintaining healthy relationships. Mr. Haag has sent out a permission slip with more information. Jardine Middle School is a special place to work each and every day and we look forward to a great semester!

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Click this link for a step by step with pictures!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qL34CZPfQvHPEog9rNYRTaYB1DmqG5eG/view?usp=drive_link

HELLO JARDINE JAGUARS

Welcome back from our very long holiday/snow break. While we are all in the transition phase of doing school five days a week I wanted to share some cold weather information from the Topeka Rescue Mission. If you know anyone who could use this information--please share.

click the link below

Jardine Elementary and Jardine Middle will combine for this musical that features a variety of charming school and sea-creature characters who admire the famous Rainbow Fish, the most beautiful fish in all the ocean. When Rainbow Fish refuses to share his vibrant, shimmering scales, the whole ocean seems to turn against the vain creature. Unhappy that no one adores him anymore, the Rainbow Fish seeks out the wise Octopus, who helps the young fish learn that it’s far better to be admired for being kind than for being beautiful.

Join us for this musical version of the children’s book “The Rainbow Fish.”

Auditions are February 24-26. Rehearsals begin March 3.

Performances are May 8-9, 2025 at 6:30 pm in the Jardine Middle School Commons. $5/adults, $3/students, children age 5 and under are free.

Contact Mrs. Rowe if you have questions. trowe@tps501.org

Dear Families,

As we embrace this new term, we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt appreciation for your continued support and partnership. Your involvement in your child's education makes a significant difference, and we are grateful for all that you do!

Important Announcements: Kitchen Safety and Sanitation

This month, we are focusing on an essential topic in our curriculum: kitchen safety and sanitation. Our students will learn about:

• Foodborne illness

• Cross-contamination

• Burns and fire hazards in the kitchen

• Falls in kitchens

• Electrical shocks

• Kitchen cuts

We encourage you to discuss these topics with your child at home. Understanding kitchen safety is vital for their well-being and confidence in the kitchen!

Celebrations from the Week: 7th Grade FACS Students

We are thrilled to announce that our 7th-grade Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) students have officially started their classes after the holiday break! They are eager to learn and engage in hands-on activities that will enrich their understanding of essential life skills. Please join us in celebrating their enthusiasm and dedication!

Additional Information: First Food Lab

We are excited to inform you that our first food lab will commence on January 31st. This hands-on experience will be a fantastic opportunity for students to apply their learning about kitchen safety while preparing delicious recipes. More details will follow, so please keep an eye out for updates!

Thank you for your ongoing support in cultivating a safe and enriching environment for our students. Together, we can empower them with the skills they need for a successful future.

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!

Warm regards,

Janet Wentz
FACS Teacher
Jardine Middle School

Short entry for this month. We are starting to review the basics of computer programming with Code.org and then we will dive into the high school content in February. Please speak to your child about the importance of keeping organized and on top of their work. My class will snowball quickly if they are continually missing due dates! Please don’t hesitate to email me at besau@tps501.org if you have any questions.

Mrs. Remer

P.E. Teacher

bremer@tps501.org

6th grade is working on unit 4. It's all about expressions and equations. Students will be developing a deeper understanding of the mathematical properties with applications. They will revisit the order of operations with the addition of exponents and parentheses. 6th graders will be introduced to the concept of letters that replace numbers and writing expressions using mathematical language. Finally, students will understand and practice the distributive property. This is a wonderful unit that introduces students to more mature abstract thinking and the development of foundational concepts for future mathematics!

7th grade: ELA is continuing our unit on informational writing. Students will soon begin the District Writing Assessment where they will write a five-paragraph informational essay about a natural phenomenon of their choosing. Students will be researching their topics and finding credible sources as well as citing sources using MLA format. We are also learning how to write compound and complex sentences, so students can incorporate a variety of sentence structures in their essays.

8th grade: We're working on reading "Mississippi Trial: 1955". At the end of this novel, we'll have a Socratic Seminar discussion over the book. We're also gearing up for our District Writing Assessment here in a couple of weeks.

In 7th grade math this month, students are diving into concepts related to circles and three-dimensional shapes. They are learning how to calculate the circumference and area of a circle, using formulas that help them understand the relationship between the radius and the space inside the circle. Additionally, they are exploring the surface area and volume of 3D shapes, which will help them visualize and solve real-world problems involving spheres, cylinders, and other geometric figures. It’s a great time for students to apply their skills to practical situations!

8th Grade math students are currently investigating slope and graphing linear equations. As 7th graders last year, they had the opportunity to learn about proportional relationships and their equation, y=kx. “k” functioned as the constant of proportionality, and the graph went through the origin, (0,0) and had a constant rate of change- the “k”. In 8th grade, we are still working with linear relationships, such a proportional relationship, but this year the line may or may not go through the origin, (0,0). The updated equation for this year is y=mx+b, with m representing the constant rate of change that all linear relationships must have and the b represents where the graph of the line will cross the y-axis, thus b=y-intercept. Students will be asked to write, interpret, and graph information in two variables from various situations.

You can expect to see homework that asks your child to do the following:

Write and solve problems with proportional relationships involving speed, distance, time, and other constant rates.

Write a linear equation in two variables.

Given the value of one variable, solve a two-variable linear equation to determine the value of the other variable.

Compute information for a constant rate problem, or a linear equation, and graph the data in the coordinate plane.

Given data in a coordinate plane, determine whether the data represent a given linear equation. Find solutions to an equation, and plot the solutions as points on a coordinate plane.

Graph linear equations on the coordinate plane.

You can help at home in many ways. Here are some tips to help you get started.

Point out activities involving rate in everyday life (i.e., things you do that can be measured in terms of the time it takes to do them, such as number of words typed per minute or number of hot dogs sold per hour). Have a conversation about whether those rates are actually constant or whether we simply speak of the average rate as if it were constant. For example, do you actually drive through town at a constant rate of 30 mph, or is that your average rate? We will use constant rate often in this topic to mean average rate.

Give your child a rate, and have her determine an equivalent rate. For example, if you walk at an average rate of 3 miles per hour, how many hours will it take you to walk 9 miles?

Write a two-variable equation for the situations described above, making sure to define the variables. For the example above, if m represents the number of miles walked and t represents the number of hours you walk, the two-variable equation is m = 3/1 t, or just m = 3t.

6th Grade: Hello from the Jardine 6th grade Social Studies department. We are working through the civilizations of ancient Greece. We will be looking at comparing two very different societies: Athens and Sparta. Greek mythology and more to come. After the Greece Unit we will be looking at civilizations from China! Dynasties - Bronzes - Terracotta Army - Yin and Yang and more.

8th Grade: The school year is flying by so fast. It is hard to believe that the 8th graders are working on enrolling in high school and figuring out what classes they might want to take.

In United States History Class, the students finished up the unit on Manifest Destiny and the expansion of the U.S. during the early and mid-1800s. We will focus on the causes of the American Civil War and then the war.

As always, please ask your child about what they are learning about in their classes.

6th Grade: This month, we’re diving into the exciting world of forces and motion! In our 6th-grade science journey, we’ll explore Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion, which explain how things move. First, Newton’s First Law tells us that an object will stay at rest or keep moving unless a force acts on it. This means if you push a soccer ball, it will keep rolling until something (like friction or your foot!) slows it down. Next, Newton’s Second Law shows us that the harder you push, the faster something moves—so, a heavier object needs more force to speed up. Finally, Newton’s Third Law tells us that for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction, like when you push against a wall and feel the wall push back! Get ready to experiment and see these laws in action—whether it's rolling cars, bouncing balls, or launching rockets!

7th grade: Our fabulous seventh graders are completing learning all about States of Matter and Changes of State. We will move on to the Periodic Table of Elements, chemical formulas, chemical equations/reactions and balancing chemical equations. Our learning will be through classwork, computer simulations, investigations and labs to help them learn this material.

8th Grade: We are finishing up our unit on Space Science, learning about our Solar System, Gravity, Life Cycle of Stars and Universe! We will then move into our Chemistry unit learning about Acid and Bases, EndothermicExothermic Reactions and The Law of Conservation of Matter.

Happy New Year! We’ve certainly had an interesting start to our school year due to the inclement weather. Despite the snow slowing us down, our year has started off with a bang. We spent many class periods reviewing expectations to prepare us for a good start to our spring semester. Newcomer 1 classes started called “On the Job” back in December and Newcomer 2 classes started “Our Living Planet”. We are still working on these units and hope to finish them in the next few weeks to come..

We have also been studying and preparing for the KELPA Test (Kansas English Language Proficiency Assessment) which is a state and federal mandated test for all English Language Learners to take every spring. It is an English proficiency test that students will take every year until they can pass it. We will start testing students the week of February 3rd, 2025.

Parents with students in my class, we need your help with the following:

1. Making sure your child is in attendance the week of February 3rd. The KELPA will take 4 days to administer.

2. Making sure your child gets to bed on time with a good 9-10 hours of sleep each night, so they are well rested for the test.

3. Making sure your child has a good breakfast each morning to help power their brains to do well on the test.

4. Thank you for your help!

Follow this link to become familiar with our student handbook! This should answer most questions you will have!

https://cdnsm5-ss11.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_8259061/Image/JMS%20Planners%20handbook%2024-25.pdf

We Support Equal Opportunities

The Topeka Public Schools, Unified School District No. 501 is committed to affirmative action and equal opportunity. No person shall, on the basis of age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, disability, national origin or ancestry be denied lawful access to any appropriate educational service, program, or activity provided by the school district. For students, the Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504 compliance coordinator is the General Counsel for the district. For employment, the EEO/AA and Title VII compliance officer is the general director of human resources. Compliance coordinators may be contacted at 624 S.W. 24th Street, Topeka, KS 66611-1294, (785) 295-3000. The clerk of the Board of Education has been designated to receive and redirect or handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies, regulations, and procedures. The clerk may be contacted by calling (785) 295-3059 or by writing to 624 S.W. 24th Street, Topeka, Kansas 66611-1294.