Panther Pride News

Check out our future health professionals work on an anatomy challenge

Students got to access their creative side in this week’s project for the Hands/Feet/Jump assignment. They were able to edit their footage using Adobe Photoshop and Photopea accessing FX(special effects tools) creating illusions and dreamlike visual effects in this digital art project.

1:30 pm - 4:15pm @ Kincaid Park

For every item donated, students will earn votes towards "Project Pie Face" at our next pep rally!

6:30p: Join Virtual Meeting Link

The conference scheduler will open up on Friday, October 11, 2024. You will be able to schedule a 20 minute time slot with your student's academic core teaching team (ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies). Appointments with members of our electives team, including PE and Health, and other specialists are also available to schedule in 10 minute intervals.

No School and Mears will be closed

No School for Students.

Support our school wide fundraiser at the Dine to Donate event with our School Business Partners at the Lucky Wishbone.

1:00p Student Dismissal

1:30p-4:00p Conferences

4:00p Teacher Break

5:00p-8:00p Conferences

1:00p Student Dismissal

1:30-4:00p Conferences

No school for students.

In Art this week, students looked at examples of Australian Aboriginal Sun paintings, and made a small dot painting of their own.

As we continue through year two of our construction project at Mears, the visitor access systems is the next visible change you can anticipate. I anticipate by the end of the week, all visitors to our campus will need to have your identification ready and push the button to notify the front office you would like to enter the building. The camera will activate and the office professionals will be able to communicate with you, please respond by:

• Stating your name
• Purpose for visit

The next enhancement you will see will be the our visitor management kiosk, running our school safety software. This will give us:

• School-wide view of visitors and contractors who enter and exit our building
• The ability to track student tardiness and keep the most up-to-date information in Q
• Screen visitors against various national databases
• Another measure of security for our school community

This October we are having a canned food drive, with a twist! Every two cans you donate, you get a ticket to vote on which staff member you want to see pied in the face! That’s right it’s PROJECT PIE-FACE! Donations are being collected in the morning and during lunch from October 7th to October 25th. The grade with the most donations gets to pie TWO extra staff members!

As the end of Q1 approaches, the library will be checking in with students who have overdue materials. Remember that books can be renewed twice if your student isn’t done reading them yet - the student does have to come in to the library to have that done, but the book doesn’t need to be with them!!

This is a Canjo. It is a one string instrument that uses an empty can as the resonator. The 8th grade students will be making these and we need empty cans. Soup, olive, tomato sauce, beans, whatever you have we’d love to have them. Please rinse them out before you send them in.

Here is an example of shou sugi ban. It is a Japanese technique for finishing wood. First you torch the wood then apply oil.

SHOUT OUT to Alaska Resource Education for their 3 visits with two of the 6th grade classes. A Big Thank You to ARE for their lessons on Natural Resources and Solar Energy. The students were engaged and had a ton of fun racing the solar cars. -Ms. Sharp

Alaska Resource Education also included 3 visits with two of the 7th grade classes. A Big Thank You to ARE for their lessons on Natural Resources and Solar Energy. The students truly enjoyed the opportunity and are looking forward to your next set of visits.

-Ms. Madison

Students have been busy making quilted Chromebook covers. Thank you for the donations of broken tape measures! They make a great closure.

Your partner in education,

Mrs. Cindy Trawicki, M.A.T.

FCS Teacher 6-8

Team Alliance is focused on success! The team is helping students be prepared with regular binder and supply checks. Students are accessing Student Connect and Canvas to see their grades and assignments.

In English language arts, Ms. Thomas is working with students on the concepts of compare and contrast and cause and effect. NOTE: the last day to turn in missing work is Friday 10/11. Assignments after this date will be for quarter 2.

Students in Mr. Buchanan’s class are showing their creativity and knowledge of the 5 themes of geography with collages. NOTE: the last day to turn in missing work is Friday 10/11. Assignments after this date will be for quarter 2.

In math, Mrs. Bookman’s students are working on iReady Lessons 5-7 and connecting exponents and variables to the world around them, because “everything around you is mathematics” S. Devi. NOTE: the last day to turn in missing work is Friday 10/11. Assignments after this date will be for quarter 2.

Mr. Cernek’s science classes are working on the Scientific Method using Gizmos. Working on partnerships with other students is stretching all of us. NOTE: the last day to turn in missing work is Friday 10/9. Assignments after this date will be for quarter 2.

Team announcements: Please notify us of upcoming absences and have your student regularly check CANVAS for their work.

Wishlist: Tissue, hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes.

Panthers, we have 8 school days left in the quarter! Let’s FINISH STRONG! The last day to turn in assignments and do make up work for Team Nexus is on October 15th, Tuesday!

Team Nexus presents Kiera Lardizabal as our Student of the Week. Kiera is a student who owns her learning. She is responsible, engaged, and compassionate towards others. Kiera warmed our hearts when she went an extra mile to cheer one of her friends who had been ill and been absent for an extended period of time. You make us so proud, Kiera! Thank you for your big heart!

In Science students are setting up their ecosystem models! We have pillbugs, duckweed, and seeds. Most importantly, students are learning how to work in a Science lab.

Social Studies did collaging on the 5 Themes of Geography last week.

7th Grade 2nd Period Advanced Science JONES: This next week, October 8-11th Alaska Resource Education will be here working with us to dive into energy, and both renewable and non-renewable resources. It should be an incredible week with lots of hands-on learning, experiential education, and higher level thinking! What a treat! If you would like to stop in on that day, our class is from 10:26 am -11:08 am and you are more than welcome to join (we would be thrilled!). I would ask that if you plan to join us, you email me a “head’s up” so if I need to secure a larger space for us that day I can be prepared. If you’d like to take a look at the incredible things ARE has to offer, you can find them at https://www.akresource.org/

Don’t forget, you are a scientist everywhere you find yourself- not just in science class! Keep asking questions and making observations… and turn them in for extra credit on Mondays!

Jones_kristin@asdk12.org

ELA students will create a Quarter 2 multimedia project on Myths, Fables, Legends, or Folktales from around the world. They will do the regular Springboard curriculum and work on the project. We went to the library for a lesson on Research Skills (taught by our esteemed librarian: Johanna Hubbard.) We will be learning the following skills/strategies: research skills, bibliography, paraphrasing, summarizing, revising, editing, technology skills, and presenting skills. When we present, we will be inviting parents to come in and watch the student presentations.

We look forward to speaking with parents at Parent Conferences on Oct 23rd and Oct 24th.

Parchman_tina@asdk12.org

Social Contract - As a part of the community building in SEL, the 8th grade Japanese immersion students created the social contract. It includes many positive words that help create a self-managing class. We are very proud of our learning community!

Where: Wrestling Room

Dates: October 7th - January 24th

Times: Monday evenings from 4:15pm - 5:15pm and Tue. - Fri. Mornings 8:25 am- 9:25am

Oct. 22nd - Jan. 24th Tuesday - Friday Evenings 4:15 - 5:15pm. in the Library.

Season begins October 15

Hello, robotics folks! Some interest has been expressed for a Robotics Club… more to come on that later! But, for now, I am opening my classroom for 7th grade lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays and this is definitely the place to be for some lunchtime coding fun! Find some new friends, find some old friends, come get creative!

Get a PASS from me before school or during passing periods BEFORE 4th period on Tuesdays and Thursdays!

Mears Panthers,

Our front office is busy with calls in the mornings and afternoons and if you do not leave a message on our attendance line, the office can not process blue passes in a timely manner. If you know you are in need of a blue you can always email the attendance line the morning of or day before. We do not accept blue pass requests after 3:15 pm and blue pass requests need to be in 1 hour prior to the pick up time.

Last week, we gave student attendance recognition awards to those who have demonstrated outstanding attendance so far this quarter! This is part of our ongoing initiative to encourage regular school attendance and highlight its importance for academic success.

We believe that showing up consistently is key to building strong learning habits and staying connected with the school community. By recognizing students who have made attendance a priority, we hope to motivate others to follow their lead and continue striving for excellence in this area.

Thank you to our students, families, and staff for their support in promoting a strong culture of attendance! Let’s keep up the momentum for the rest of the school year!

Please visit this link to stay up to date on all that is going on in our program Indigenous Education News.

Free to public event!!! UAA STEM Day is set for Saturday, November 2nd, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building. This free public event will showcase STEM activities and demonstrations hosted by UAA students, staff, faculty, and community organizations. Attendees can participate in various STEM-related activities, from engineering to health sciences, biology, chemistry, and more. Plus, there’s a fun challenge for students to collect stamps in an activity passport. UAA STEM Day offers a unique chance to engage students in hands-on learning, expose them to real-world STEM careers, and spark their interest in pursuing STEM fields. The event fosters collaboration between students and professionals while promoting the university’s STEM programs.

Yearbook will be looking for possible photos to use in this year’s yearbook! If you happen to take any photos at sporting events or after school activities, please e-mail them (highest resolution) to barclay_holly@asdk12.org.

Remember, all fees and fines are paid through Q Parent Connect this year. If you do not have the ability to make an electronic payment, or you have difficulty with Q, please email Ms. Robin in the office. spartz-hays_robin@asdk12.org

Is your child going to absent from school? Save time and send a quick email to our attendance email box, mearsattendance@asdk12.org or you can call the school at 907-742-6400 and select the Attendance Line option to leave us a voice mail, either option is a great way to notify us!

Our office staff is available daily, please don't hesitate to reach out if we can help you in any way, our hours are 8:45-4:15. Thanks so much, we are here to help serve you!

We do not accept, Door Dash/Uber Eats/ETC, food deliveries for students before, during, nor after school. We will NOT accept deliveries of any kind. We have a school meal program offering balanced meal choices daily. In addition, the Black Cat Cafe offers smart snacks daily for purchase

Lunch Detentions are held daily during each lunch wave in Room ST6.. Students are expected to check-in with the supervisor at the beginning of lunch. Students who need to purchase food from the cafeteria will be issued a fast pass to procure their food and return to Room ST6 to serve the assigned lunch detention.

Eighth Grade: Mrs. Nogg

Seventh Grade: Mr. Edwards

Sixth Grade: Ms. Trawicki

Detentions are 8:45 am-9:15 am, in Room 212, with Mr. Bennice Tuesday-Friday. Please drop-off your student at the NORTH entrance to access the building. Mr. Bennice will greet your student, they will sign-in on the attendance sheet and be escorted to Room 212. Please contact AP Svendsen or AP Matthews with any questions.

Everyone

Accepted

Respected

Safe

Email: marquand_carla@asdk12.org
Website: https://www.asdk12.org/mears

YouTube: @JaneMearsMiddleSchool
Location: 2700 West 100th Avenue, Anchorage, AK, USA
Phone: 907-742-6400